To J-Pen Or Not?

A request for opinions from the TT luminaries in this forum



I am training kids in my neighborhood basic TT skills(7 to 15 yrs old, boys/girls). Around equal number of shakers and penners (shakehand, penhold )

One of the kids, around 11 yrs old, as of now proficient in penhold style of play but really wants to play J-Pen. He is a huge fan of me before I switch to shakehand defensive style of play (darkside)

My questions are:
Should I encourage or discourage him from J-Pen? Is this style still OK in this new TT era? Or is it going extinct?

A follow-up question, what are your opinions on Ryu Seung Min? Though he is still the best J-Pen player(WR#8 Sept. 2008), in his latest games since the 2008 Olympics, he lost more than he wins. Is he going out or he is just in a slump? Is the J-Pen style going out with him?

Thanks in advance for the ideas, opinions or comments...

Second what dalamchops said.  Top J-Pen players careers are usually shorter.  The minute they slow down or not in top physical shape (gaining weight) they will start to slump.  RPB might not be the sole answer but at least it should help to level the playing field against two-winged players.

If your student wants to try J-Pen, you should definitely encourage it.

Thylacine wrote:  Of course you should encourage him. I wouldn't teach him the RPB though which is not suitable for the j-pen style of play, at least in my view.       There is  a very slight  chance that he or she will become a leading professional player  so you shouldn't be worried that j-pen players have shorter career at the very high level. With some changes in the strokes you can play well even in your late 70's.  And to convince yourself watch the men's 70+  Consolation final at the World Veteran's Championship between Minoru Kohakura and Kozi Suzuki.     You can download it here:   http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4D7V2KHA     Thanks to Redoya for the upload.

Nice vid thylacine. Thanks. I am thinking of picking up my old J-Pen set-up once again...

Any recommendation for a faster J-Pen blade to compensate for the decrease in power of my playing arm due to injury. My injury is the main reason why I switched to a defensive style of play.