Seemiller Grip

I would love to see a response from Danny Seemiller

Seemiller grip is an intriguing option if you use a bat with two very different rubbers (such as LP or antispin on the BH side).  People who use these combination bats often want to be tricky and a Seemiller grip helps you keep the opponent on his toes.  This is not only because the seemiller grip is unusual but also because on the BH side you have to option of using either rubbers without the need to twiddle.  So you can sometimes bring your FH rubber over to your BH side and block, or you can turn over and hit with your LP backhand (for example).  People with Seemiller grips also often have pretty powerful drives.  In that way, it seems to me, a Seemiller grip approximates a Japanese/Korean penholder grip in that you mainly block with your BH but it compensates with a powerful FH.  However, it lacks some of the other benefits of penholders (wristy serves, good over the table attack).  The inability to BH loop is a major disincentive for players to pick up this style...though on the face of it you would think a RPB kind of backhand might be possible.  I tried this with a robot once, however, and it was a miserable failure...someone with more talent, time and patience than me will have to figure that one out!

Thanks Ji-Soo Woo.

just to add to this discussion, my coach uses a Seemiller grip with SP on his backhand is a strong 2100 blocker with a heavy forehand loop and he has a very unique game. There are a number of disadvantages to this style which I do exploit when playing him; it is difficult to get a lot of wrist motion for the backhand lift or even loop so if you are playing someone who uses an original Seemiller grip you can constantly attack the backhand without much fear of attack if you keep the ball low, however myself use a variant of this grip which has the pointer finger directly on the center of the back side of the blade and the rest of my fingers gripping the handle. If you use this variant, you will have to change your grip for pushes and chops, but it does solve the wrist mobility problem, and you can even get a sufficient loop with your wrist. You must have a very flexible wrist to try this variant or your risk injury. Once you have a player who uses a seemiller grip out of their comfortable position, it is very difficult for them to go on the offensive, and sharp angles to the backhand also give them a lot of trouble. I hope this response helps you.

Thanks for that insight Ken.

Regarding Seemiller grip....can you show how the basic strokes are played with this grip?
I really cannot imagine how a backhand looks like with it.
I have tried it,but I only ended up creating a sidespin block.

It is an awkward grip.  You can google Danny Seemiller and see how he plays to start with.  We will put this on our list of videos to make.

I watched it,but I only found videos where he either uses hsi backhand rubber,or does not use his backhand at all.

Keep looking... There are more.

OK