Knowledge · Coaching Article
Why is it worth training pen-hold players? Because the best in the world do it, because it develops the coach and the player, because it provides an effective serve and attack — and because the history of table tennis shows that this style is still an equal tool of competition at the highest level.
01The Best in the World Do It
Asians have understood the need to build training groups the most — from small children's schools to national teams — according to the principle of the so-called "The Small World", meaning a group where players of different styles and types of play are present. Only development in such a group from an early age gives a chance to compete at the highest level against players using various styles.
For example, in China, in every training group of about 8 players, 1 plays pen-hold. Currently, there are 2 pen-hold players in the top 8 of the world rankings.
02If You Don't Like Going With the Flow...
Albert Einstein once said: "By walking with the crowd, you won't get any further than the crowd". The fact that children in Poland don't eat with chopsticks doesn't rule out the possibility of playing with the pen-hold grip. If the vast majority of players in Poland are trained in only one way, that's an additional reason to diversify the group of players and train someone who plays... differently.
It's harder to adapt to, it has its own characteristics, the player feels special, is effective, and is mentally strong — because for years they've been overcoming the criticism of the crowd.
03Develops the Coach and the Player
Working with a pen-hold player is an additional stimulus for developing coaching competencies regardless of experience and years of work in the profession. It is a challenge that forces one to search for new knowledge, compare technical patterns, and observe the best players in this style.
If someone doesn't like standing still, training a pen-hold player can be a great impulse for further coaching development and a fantastic adventure for both the coach and the player.
04Every Person Is Different
Table tennis would be incredibly boring and less spectacular for spectators if everyone played the same way. While in the broad world top women's field there is great variety of playing styles (defense, combination attack, fast attack with short pips), among men it is currently the pen-hold players who provide the difference and are the authors of many spectacular plays.
05Very Effective Serve and Attack
In modern table tennis there is a very effective part of the game with which you can score even 50% of their points. The pen-hold grip itself gives greater possibilities of adding rotation and making certain serves very difficult to read.
Additionally, the fact that players less often receive serves from pen-hold players causes them great difficulties, leading to exceptional effectiveness in this part of the game. The strength of pen-hold players is of course playing from the middle, playing short and half-long balls, and receiving serves — making them also excellent partners in doubles.
06The Best Pen-Hold Players Are Artists
- Felix Lebrun — with exceptional effectiveness in counter-attacking and smooth transitioning between defense and attack.
- Ryu Sung Min — with his incredible footwork.
- Liu Guoliang — with his fantastic, unreadable and varied serve and change of rhythm.
- Wang Hao — with his spectacular backhand play, breaking the European grip.
- Xu Xin — “The Cloud Walker”, with his sidespins; a true showman appearing in the TOP 10 plays of every Pro Tour.
07Economics
Import from Asia or would it be cheaper to train own pen-hold players? Many centers in Western Europe have understood the need for daily training against pen-hold players to compete against the top players. By importing Asians, they at least have the basics of daily training against this style.
The question is — wouldn't it be cheaper and systemically wiser to train this type of player yourself? Of course it takes time, but time... will pass anyway.
08The Champion Model
The fact that the current world #1 Fan Zhendong plays with the shakehand grip doesn't mean everyone has to. Even if you're ready to beat the current #1, know that to play in the final, you need to beat Qiu Dang or Felix Lebrun. Of course, the mentioned players play with the pen-hold grip.
09History
The list of Olympic Games gold medalists shows that as many as 4 out of 8 of them are pen-hold grip representatives (Yoo Nam-kyu, Liu Guoliang, Ryu Seung-min, Ma Lin), and a 3-time silver medalist in singles Wang Hao, playing double-sided pen-hold. Taking into account the number of pen-hold players compared to the shakehand grip, this is an extraordinary effectiveness of representatives of this style.
This article was not intended to show the superiority of the pen-hold grip over the shakehand. I wanted to emphasize that this style is still an equal tool of competition at the highest level, and for a coach and player it can be a fantastic challenge and adventure in mastering new skills. I experience this myself every day and feel a great need to develop this unusual style in our part of Europe (often despite various opinions).