OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Rated a 1750 shakehand modern defender, I grew bored, and having admired the short pip penhold style decided to try it out. On and off for a couple of months when playing with my wife who is a beginner. Then about two months ago, went full on. Happy to report I'm probably playing in the mid 1500s, which is better than I thought I'd do.

I'm 35 and I play about 15 hours a week. I find the quick attack game fun. BHs are no problem now. I'm not doing the RPB, despite everyone telling me I should. The punch block is very effective; I want to master that before deciding to complicate the game with RPB.

I tried to find stories similar to mine as I debated whether or not this was a wise decision. In the end it doesn't matter much, since I won't be making money or going pro either way. I'm writing this so others considering the same may find some information. It's not that hard to switch -- perhaps it depends on the individual and motivation. I was motivated and practiced as much as possible.

If you decide to change, you'll meet quite a bit of resistence from fellow players who will think you're stupid or trying to find an easy way out, which is an absurd idea. SP PH play is not the way to jump up in rankings. I'm very surprised by the amount of people who have an aversion to playing against short pips, as if I were playing with some kind of strange rubber, when these are the same people playing with tensors, creating a ridicuous amount of spin and speed with little effort. Also, footwork will need to be upped, and this is a difficult spot for most.

Any questions I'll be happy to answer for potential convertees.

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BL: Joo Se Hyuk
FH: Narucross EX Hard
BH: Feint Long 3, 1.0mm

Thanks for sharing your "conversion". It is definitely a big change going from SH to PH, AND from inverted to SP.
I have seen more players switching from PH to SH. I guess you and I are the very few that switched from SH to PH.
I found that switching to PH was easy for me, because I used to play 10% PH anyway. I just cannot get used to SP (so, good for you!). Learning the RPB is OK for me although I still like using the TBH more. I think it is easier for SH player to learn RPB. A few PH friends of mine switched to SH, rather than learning and adding the RPB.

I switched from ph to sh after a long absence from tt and found the progress quite demanding... especially with my serves and push returns. However, I think I've finally gotten all aspects of my game to work now and hopefully will start to make some real progress.

It has been fun (yet frustrating) to learn a new style of play.

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viscaria : z1 / z2