Pictures of the V Grip (images flipped to appear right-handed)

• The round-bladed paddle is a regular (chinese penhold) paddle, with minor modifications. The handle is shorter than a regular shakehand paddle's handle.
• The rectangular-bladed paddle is a Korean-style penhold paddle designed for twiddling between red and black rubbers. This paddle can also be twiddled between V grip and penhold grips, in a short fraction of a second, by opening the hand and moving the thumb around to the other side of the handle.
• The butt of the handle is within the palm. A shakehand paddle feels and plays worse because of its longer handle. A better handle would be shaped like the grip on an 1850's woman's pistol, a vertical flange extending more downward into the palm and providing easier grip for the pinky. Also the paddles displayed don't quite make the blade perpendicular to the wrist. It's not too bad as a first try. But a variety of other ergonomic configurations are easy to imagine.
• Notice the cork "finger posts" or knobs under the forefinger and middle finger, which allow the grip to be relaxed, without having to pinch the blade between the forefinger and middle finger. The posts are made from a couple of regular bottle corks, with their inner surfaces shaped to accept a tight superglue fit onto the handle, and their outer surfaces shaped best fit in my hand.
• The post is somewhat triangular under the thumb in order to allow the thumb a place to rest, and that also allows the thumb to squeeze the post against the forefinger, for extra solidity. The effect is similar to my "Sung Yang Special" finger-posts which you can see here.
• The second picture shows how *BOTH* last two joints of the forefinger and middle finger are curled around the finger posts. Although it appears loose, with the finger posts the grip is actually very solid.
• Best seen in the final picture are two wedges attached halfway down the handle on both the top and bottom. These wedges add ergonomic shaping, helping both the thumb and ring finger grip the handle.
• Notice my posture in the forehand ring-finger side topspin stroke shown in the third picture. I'm leaning somewhat backward and toward the handle side, and my body is rotating with the stroke. I've found that doing this produces a dramatic increase in stability and control as compared with the normal forward-leaning posture appropriate for forehand penhold and shakehand strokes. Think of a jai alai player.

 
Copyright © 2001 Tom Veatch
All rights reserved.Last Modified: March 12, 2001.
Comments welcome!  Please contact the author at tv@sprex.com or 1-206-352-1407.