OOAK Table Tennis Forum

The US commentators seem a little out of their depth.

I don't care who this Seemiller chap is, if people do all that shouting when winning points and sets etc you want to punch them. Well I do anyway. In the end I was pretty pleased to see him lose.

When I saw the second one I though we were going to see some 1970's style wrestling. Is he allowed to wear white to play?

Danny did use his "Seemiller" grip at that final. You could really tell when he blocked backhand. The finger and wrist were on the body side of the paddle. That is the trademark of that grip - using one surface to hit with. It helps make very fast BH and FH blocks. All you have to do is move the racket - turning the wrist is not needed and takes off a lot of the reaction time. Also, the grip allows a LOT of wrist snap to be added to BH shots for extra speed and power. He also useds anti on one side. In those days, they did not have the two color rule, so it could get him some extra points or setups.

I don't mind someone yelling something after a critical point, especially if they hit a great winner - understandable and acceptable. HOWEVER, yelling like that when the opponent misses a simple return is definately not necessary and definately very unsportsmanlike and irritating.

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I've seen Seemiller play in person and it's not noticeable at first that he is using his trademark grip, probably because his basic mechanics are so good.

Compared to at the table blockers I see using that grip and I've played a lot of them) Seemiller himself is as smooth as silk. Probably why he was one of the top players in the world.

-- Andrew

I'm fairly surprised long pip defenders don't use this grip when receiving serve & playing close to the table. It's easy to quickly change between Seemiller & Shakehand, and the Seemiller grip lets you loop long serves with your backhand

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Dr. Neubauer actually uses a version of the penhold grip at times for blocking. We have a number of Seemiller style players in the U.S. who use long pips on the backhand and Seemiller himself used anti on his.

-- Andrew

The quality of the video makes it hard to see some things. He is using "the grip". He is twiddling like crazy! His twiddle is Very fast, sometimes twiddling During the other players serve. If you watch CLOSE, you will see some of them.
I grew up in upstate NY and saw him play many times. I even got to play him in mens open once. I was rated about 1700 then but entered every event I could. He is why I use a (modified ) Seemiller grip.
He had a training camp in Penn back then but I could not afford to go. Wish I could have gone. He did give me advice once and I found him to be a nice guy.
I remember the finals from many Eastern Opens and Nationals. During the finals, the atmosphere was alot like Tennis. Lots of cheering. The players might yell after a good point. Still see that today.
Emotions run high at a national meet. I saw Danny lose in the finals to I think Eric. He had helped run the tourney and did not get his normal amount of play in. He walked over to a back door and threw his bat as far as he could. Some other players found his bat and returned it later.
Thanks for putting the videos on here, brings back alot of memories.

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Shakehand, left handed.
Blade, Yinhe, W-1
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Seemiller's book Winning Table Tennis which is still available mostly focuses on shakehand grip as that is what he teaches his students, but has a number of pictures of Seemiller mostly of him demonstrating forehand strokes. It's also the only book I've seen where the majority of demonstrations are made left handed.

-- Andrew

I coach mostly shakehand players and the forehand stroke is the same for Seemiller grip but backhand is very different. I have played in competition with both shakehand and Seemiller so to teach shakehand I usually use shakehands. I am lefthanded but can play righty for coaching demos for beginners. Kids can get confused trying to see mirror images.
Because you can use the wrist so well with Seemiller, the stroke is flatter with a shorter backswing. Loopdrives can be faster and spinnier than the forhand with just a 12" backswing. Blocking is the best and can be angled at the last second.
Seemillers book has been my standby for coaching. The sequence pics help people see the difference in strokes.
With shakehands, I can do the "start at your knee, finish up hi" backhand loops. With Seemiller I don't. I can take low over the table balls and loop drive. If it is too low, i will block or push or flip with the LP.
I do play backhand different than Seemiller does. I use the LP side without twiddling on the backhand by just turning my forarm over. Always wondered if Seemiller would have been even better if he did that.
There is one other guy around here that uses Seemiller grip but he is one of those guys that learned on his own and has sooo many bad habits that he can't break, I gave up on him. I volley with him but when you tell him to change something, it's like he can't tell what his own arm and body are doing.
I miss the old days, I have to look in the Senior Games results to see what the people I played then are doing.

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Shakehand, left handed.
Blade, Yinhe, W-1
Forhand, H-3 National
Backhand, Sriver FX Max

We want video.

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