How to Hold a Table Tennis Racquet

Table tennis is the most popular racquet sport in the world with more than 10 million players competing in tournaments annually. The first table tennis racquets were made of cork, cardboard or wood, and covered with cloth, leather or sandpaper. There are two ways to hold a table tennis racquet and people generally fall into either the category of "shake hander" or "pen holder."

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Table tennis racquet

The Shake Hand Grip

1. Open your dominant hand with the thumb pointing up towards the sky and your remaining fingers touching each other and extended away from you.

2. Position the racquet in your hand so that the face of the paddle points to the side and the rim of the racquet points toward your chest.

3. Close your thumb, pinky, ring and middle fingers around the racquet handle.

4. Leave your index finger extended straight behind the racquet. Your hand should now look like you are pointing at someone.

5. Grip the racquet as tight as you can and up towards the top of the handle as high as possible. This is called "choking" the racquet.

The Pen Hold Grip

6. Position your the fingers of your dominant hand in a pincer grip with your thumb and index finger opposing each other.

7. Open your pincer grip and place the racquet in the webbing between your thumb and index fingers with the handle aimed upward and the head of the racquet pointing downward. The face of the racquet should point toward you.

8. Close your thumb and index fingers around the racquet.

9. Bend your middle, ring and pinky fingers against your palm behind the top portion of the racquet's handle. You should now have three fingers on the backside of the racquet and your thumb and index fingers gripping over the top of the handle.

Tips & Warnings

• The pen hold grip allows for a better range of motion--particularly in the wrist for serving.
• Table tennis became an Olympic sport in 1988 and China, Sweden and South Korea are the current table tennis world powers.
• You must score 11 points to win a table tennis match. If a game has a score of 10 to 10 then a winning player has to achieve a 2-point advantage to win.

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