Fingers?

I know the wrists are very important in playing. I heard a Chinese coach once said that an even more advanced player would use his fingers.

How do the fingers help during play (not necessarily related to grip):
serves, backhand, forehand, smash, loops? In what ways do the fingers help, power, angels, stabilization?

This should apply to both shakehands and penholders.

Please share your tips.

I once hurt my wrist and put a brace on it.  I noticed that when I was stroking the ball, I was naturally trying to compensate with my fingers for what was missing with my wrist. The simple reason is that the shakehand grip is supposed to have most of the pressure/control in the thumb and the finger so they work as a control lever and can also generate some power in addition to the wrist, forearm, arm/shoulder, abs and knees.

W0LovePP wrote: I know the wrists are very important in playing. I heard a Chinese coach once said that an even more advanced player would use his fingers. How do the fingers help during play (not necessarily related to grip): serves, backhand, forehand, smash, loops? In what ways do the fingers help, power, angels, stabilization? This should apply to both shakehands and penholders. Please share your tips.

This has been one of the most important aspect my current coach has been emphasizing on for a long time and due to bad habits you tend to forget. To keep it simple let me explain what he(Chinese coach) had to say regarding fingers -  one needs to learn to use your thumb and index finger for controlling your movement over the table pushes / loops / Blocks ; in fact at times he enforces us to learn to just spin using those 2 fingers and having the handle be free flowing inside the palms. Personally from my playing experience i feel if i use these fingers whenever i am close to the table in returns i am very consistent.
So yes wrists and fingers are very important aspect for control as much as your bodily movements and foot work.

Imago wrote: Read this http://mytabletennis.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=57178&PID=694603

Oh, someone posted it already. Lol

W0LovePP wrote: I know the wrists are very important in playing. I heard a Chinese coach once said that an even more advanced player would use his fingers. How do the fingers help during play (not necessarily related to grip): serves, backhand, forehand, smash, loops? In what ways do the fingers help, power, angels, stabilization? This should apply to both shakehands and penholders. Please share your tips.

kenneyy88 wrote: Last three fingers shouldn't be used that much. Thumb controls your backhand and Index controls your forehand.

The index finger stabilizes with fh. Should the thumb be relaxed, or still pressured on the blade during fh?

pingpongpaddy wrote: If you watch that video of Zhuang DeDong giving effectively a seminar on his style he demonstrates how on BH especially how he could make bh smashes with an incredibly short stroke by using his fingers to add snap to his shots.

Edited by shaolinTT - 02/10/2013 at 2:12pm

shaolinTT wrote: shaolinTT wrote: pingpongpaddy wrote: If you watch that video of Zhuang DeDong giving effectively a seminar on his style he demonstrates how on BH especially how he could make bh smashes with an incredibly short stroke by using his fingers to add snap to his shots. Yes, that was a great video.  I felt like I was watching Bruce Lee demonstrating the "one-inch punch".   ZZD, the TT legend passed away on this first day of Lunar New Year. :(

For me, I'm learning to NOT apply any grip pressure at all, until just before I hit the ball. Again it's index finger for FH, thumb for BH. It's kinda similar to badminton in a way. 

V-Griper wrote: Just a quick comment.  If you are playing shakehands and you want a BH similar to ZJKs or Kreanga, then I would make sure the the thumb is pressing against the paddle slightly above the long axis of the paddle. Thumb is parallel with the long axis. When executing your strokes lighten the pressure on the index finger and "press and wipe/smear" lightly with you thumb as you execute your stroke mechanics.

V-Griper

Sometimes you have to make changes in your grip to improve stroke mechanics, but it is harder than it sounds and with even small changes you may go through a period where you have no confidence in anything you do.  It is the ninth circle of table tennis hell. This is especially true if you adopt something that requires substantially larger changes between forehand and backhand than you used before.