Should I play short pips or inverted?

[dAbandit0]

So I play at home with my dad and friends (but my dad was coached in the 90s and I plan to join a club asap) anyways I have come to a crossroads. I am a penholder and I started with a yinhe 5 ply blade with h3 neo FH and focus 3 snipe on the BH and then I got a yinhe u3 (clipper clone) with 802 on the FH and focus 3 snipe on the bh. I now am unable to decide whether I want to play sp forehand or inverted forehand for the life of me. I am definitely still developing my exact style but can loop, drive and block great with my Rpb but I have more problems with inverted fh, I can drive and initiate loops fine but I find that my counter loops and blocks aren't very powerful or consistent but when I do it right I find that the topsin helps put the ball away. With short pips I find that I can effortlessly block and counterhit hard and consistently but I cannot put away balls very easily because of the lack of topspin. I tend to play a different game with both rackets ( further away and more spin variation with inverted) so I could really adapt to whatever. I have no aspirations of being a pro or competitive table tennis player, I just really love the sport and I would play all day if I could, but would it just be better in the long run for me to just improve my technique with inverted or should I just play short pips?

 

[lodro]

know how that feels. I have 3 favorite blades and go from 1 to the other but can never make up my mind to exclusively stick to one only. (which is the best way to go of course) I am playing in clubs and the quality of the players varies a lot . This gives me and excuse to choose one blade when playing against weaker players and another blade when playing against strong players. I also had a phase when I wanted to emulate Mathias Falck and/or Mima Ito using pimples on one side but this really does confuse the issue too much for me . My advise then would be : Toss a coin then stick with the choice for a couple of years. 😊

 

[chuckjordan2]

Why not start off playing shakehand? In the long run it's more dominant and will help you progress.

While you think about that, think about the top 10 men & women players. What's their hold (shareholders or penhold)?

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Of course, this is a question that, ultimately, you will need to answer for yourself. But I will lay a few pieces of information down.

I do think Chuck's idea for helping you think about things is not a bad one.

But, if you like playing Penhold and like playing smooth rubber, then, the issues you are having with the FH are really just simply an issue of doing the work to practice, get in the reps, and improve your FH.

However, if using SP makes you happier, there would be no real reason why you shouldn't just choose to use SP.

And, of course, you could just keep on switching back and forth if you like both, and work on the techniques that will make your FH with smooth better without needing to give up playing with SP. At a club, you would just have to show your opponent which setup you are using so they know whether it is smooth or SP.

 

[dAbandit0]

Of course, this is a question that, ultimately, you will need to answer for yourself. But I will lay a few pieces of information down.

I do think Chuck's idea for helping you think about things is not a bad one.

But, if you like playing Penhold and like playing smooth rubber, then, the issues you are having with the FH are really just simply an issue of doing the work to practice, get in the reps, and improve your FH.

However, if using SP makes you happier, there would be no real reason why you shouldn't just choose to use SP.

And, of course, you could just keep on switching back and forth if you like both, and work on the techniques that will make your FH with smooth better without needing to give up playing with SP. At a club, you would just have to show your opponent which setup you are using so they know whether it is smooth or SP.

Thank you very much for the replies I think that I will keep on improving my technique with inverted for a while while still playing sp sometimes and then make a decision in a few months. As for switching to shakehand I am very comfortable with my backhand and I am in good shape and young so I can move fairly fast and benefit from the extra wrist flexibility so I don't plan on switching.

 

[Lycanthrope]

Your idea of short pips on FH based on the purpose of better defense, but using FH for defense is not a very good idea, especially for penholder. The general idea of penhold playing is being able to initial attack and avoiding rally. Better defense and more consistent are the advantages for shakehand but not for penhold. I think you can try to think about your strategy on serve and return of serve, and to improve the quality of your FH loop as well. But if using short pips simply makes you happy, as an non-pro player I don't think there is any reason why you shouldn't use short pips..

 

[Gozo Aruna]

I wanna pen my two cents.

When Matthias Falck came into the scene and won Ma Long the Dictator is a ITTF major event, I was intrigued and tried buying a cheap Short Pip ( Yinhe brand ) and glue it to my blade. The result was disastrous for me as I even lost 11-1 to a regular club mate of mine whom I consistently beat usually. I loves to play spin and without the spin, I just wasn't myself anymore.

However, for the majority of us who play for fun and not for a living, changing equipment here and there, basically being a Equipment Junkie is part of the fun of TT. So, change it and play for a while. You may or may not like it. If not, just change back and know with exact confidence whether Short Pips is or not for you.

Hope this helps from a personal experience.

 

[pingpongpaddy]

So I play at home with my dad and friends (but my dad was coached in the 90s and I plan to join a club asap) anyways I have come to a crossroads. I am a penholder and I started with a yinhe 5 ply blade with h3 neo FH and focus 3 snipe on the BH and then I got a yinhe u3 (clipper clone) with 802 on the FH and focus 3 snipe on the bh. I now am unable to decide whether I want to play sp forehand or inverted forehand for the life of me. I am definitely still developing my exact style but can loop, drive and block great with my Rpb but I have more problems with inverted fh, I can drive and initiate loops fine but I find that my counter loops and blocks aren't very powerful or consistent but when I do it right I find that the topsin helps put the ball away. With short pips I find that I can effortlessly block and counterhit hard and consistently but I cannot put away balls very easily because of the lack of topspin. I tend to play a different game with both rackets ( further away and more spin variation with inverted) so I could really adapt to whatever. I have no aspirations of being a pro or competitive table tennis player, I just really love the sport and I would play all day if I could, but would it just be better in the long run for me to just improve my technique with inverted or should I just play short pips?

if y are going to use SP then make it a modern SP like moristo. It will provide much more power.
but dont become an EJ.
concentrate on footwork and technique which is where power should come from
also a flat kill will have more penetration than trying to increase topspin.
Use Topspin when you need to clear the net. On higher balls use flatter shot with improved technique
good luck