82 Forehands
Yesterday I was coaching an 8-year-old girl who’s a relative beginner. In our last session we had set a goal of hitting 50 forehands in a row (live, not multiball), but despite spending 20 minutes on the quest, she wasn’t able to do it, though she got 43 one time. We tried again yesterday, and made it past 20 a few times, but couldn’t break 30. (She did manage to get 54 backhands in a row.)

The problem was obvious – she’d get nervous and try to consciously guide her stroke rather than let her subconscious – i.e. muscle memory – guide the shot. So I made it my goal to fix that. As is well known at the club, I keep a bag of candy in my bag (Jolly Ranchers) which I give out as rewards. So while hitting with her I asked her about her favorite flavor. The discussion continued, branching off into gummy worms and chocolate, and various foods she liked. Meanwhile, she completely forgot about the forehands, which she continued to do mindlessly (i.e. subconsciously) as we chatted. When she finally missed one, I asked her how many she thought she’d hit in a row. She guessed 15! Actually, she did 82 in a row. And was quite excited!!!

Next week we’ll go for 100. We’ll probably set aside about 20 minutes of the 60-min sessions for this, if necessary, and perhaps we’ll discuss her other interests – soccer, basketball, and dancing. She’s working hard as she wants to get into the Talent Development Program at MDTTC, with tryouts in August. Besides working on forehand and backhand, we do pushing, serves, and footwork. Her backhand push is coming around – yesterday she pushed one that bounced backward on my table! – and yesterday I introduced her to the forehand push. I think next week I might introduce her to blocking, and see if she can block my (as I’ll explain it) unbelievably powerful forehand loop.

One Off Day and Everything Happens!
I take one day off (Tuesday), and everything happens in table tennis!!! But first, how did I spend my “rest” day? Well, I did get some rest, but not before spending the morning going over the USATT coaching certification process one more time. Soon I’ll be making recommendations for changes/updates to the USATT Coaching Committee, which I chair. I also made some more arrangements for the upcoming coaching seminars at the USA Nationals. I’m thinking now of doing three clinics – one on serves that I will likely run, one on either receive or looping (with a top guest coach, I’d assist), and on “How to Set Up and Run a Junior Program.”

NOTE - As mentioned in the last paragraph below, I'm taking a "LORD" on Tuesday - "Larry's Occasional Rest Day." Here's your chance to explore the 102 Best Table Tennis Animated Images or the original "Matrix Ping-Pong" video (1:43)!

Tip of the Week
Towel for Fast Serve Practice.

Fast Serves and Ready Position and Looping, Oh My!
Another super-busy weekend – and I’d like to think I’ve improved the worldwide level of table tennis perhaps a little bit. I coached nine players in private sessions, and another 16 in group sessions, so that’s 25 players. Let’s suppose, on average, they are all ten rating points better – that’s 250 points in level we just added to the world! So yes, the world is not better at ping-pong – by an average of 0.00000003 ratings points per person. I made a difference!!!

Normally I run two group sessions on weekends and assist with another, but one was cancelled in advance and the others had small turnouts due to Mother’s Day and the Capital Area League, which met on Sunday at the Washington DC TTC.

I worked with Serguei on his fast serves, bringing out a towel to help him get the first bounce near his end-line, which inspired the Tip above. (I’ve done this many times before.) As noted in the “Fast Serve” articles linked at the end of the Tip, it’s not really just about the speed of the serve; you have to do something else with it, either making it very flat, giving it a big sidespin break, or pulling off a quick one down the line to catch an opponent off guard (which is where straight topspin can be most effective).

Recent Doings
Has only 24 hours gone by since yesterday’s blog? I think time must have stopped; it seems like I’ve put in about 80 hours since then, mostly in one long binge since last night. I did a lot of arrangements for upcoming events, took care of a backload of emails, and can now sit back and relax on Friday (my “off” day) until something comes up. (3-2-1 – “Larry, can you do something for me?”…) Here’s a quick rundown.

Table Tennis Stuff I’ve Learned in the Last Few Days

USATT Coaching Committee and USATT Board Pages
I have a new picture of myself up at the USATT Board of Directors page and the USATT Coaching Committee page – call it “Laughing Larry.” But what do I have to laugh about? I’ll leave that to your imagination. Heh heh heh.

I blogged on March 17, 2017 on my plans as Coaching Committee chair. I’m pretty happy with our new Coaching Committee – together we will soon be orchestrating plans for world conquest. Who are they?

USATT Teleconference
The USA Table Tennis Board of Directors had a teleconference last night from 7PM to close to about 8:45PM. All nine board members (including me) attended, as well as CEO Gordon Kaye, High Performance Committee Chair Carl Danner, and attorney Dennis Taylor. Here’s a quick rundown.

I had nominated Sydney Christophe to be the fifth and final member of the USATT Coaching Committee. The board approved him unanimously, so he joins myself (chair), Rajul Sheth, Han Xiao and Timothy Wang on the committee. Sydney is certified as a USATT National Coach, an ITTF Level 2 Coach, and is one of five USA ITTF course conductors. He’s a Lead Coach for the American Youth Table Tennis Organization, and a former Caribbean Men's Singles Champion.

The board also unanimously approved the Classic Table Tennis Committee. (They cover hardbat and sandpaper.) Scott Gordon was the previously appointed chair. The rest of the approved committee is Diann Darnall, Ty Hoff, Al Papp, Jay Turberville (Athlete).

There was a relatively short discussion of SafeSport. I say “relatively” since we had a very long discussion of this at the recent board meeting in California. One problem that’s come up is that some are reluctant to give their social security number for the background check. USATT is looking into other options for this.

Tip of the Week
Advantage of Passive Receives.

Coaching Level vs. Playing Level
It’s difficult for a low-level player can become a National Coach. It’s a simple reality. To be a high-level coach means spending years regularly working with, or at least watching and interacting with, top players as they develop, and the coaches who work with them, and then coaching and developing (or help developing) your own players. You can’t learn this by watching videos. Since top players become top players by training with other top players and working with top coaches, they automatically get this, and so have the potential to become top coaches.

I say potential because not all top players are suited to be top coaches. Some learn and really understand the game as they develop, while others do not. Some are good teachers, others are not. Some are emotionally suited to coaching, others are not. I've met at least one 1400 player who could be a National coach, and at least one 2800 player who probably shouldn't even be a club coach. Nearly all top players can, if they choose, become decent coaches.

But the reality is that top players are far more likely to become top coaches than non-top players. Non-top players rarely have the opportunity to spend years working with, watching, or interacting with top players as they develop, something top players do on their way to becoming top players. Lower-level players often become fine basics coaches, but not National level unless they have this opportunity. But some do get the opportunity, and if they are the type who is willing and able to learn, they can become high-level, perhaps National coaches.

USATT and MDTTC Stuff
As soon as I finish this blog I’m off to Ledo’s Pizza where I’ll spend much of the afternoon going over upcoming USATT coaching plans. (I was recently appointed chair of the USATT Coaching Committee.) There are two primary items.

First, I’m working with USATT headquarters to put together several coaching seminars at the upcoming USA Nationals, for both players and coaches. They would likely be held on Sun, Mon, Tue, and/or Wed nights, and range from 60-90 minutes long. Possible clinics we’re mulling over include:

Star Wars Table Tennis
Today is Star Wars Day. How did that happen? It is May the Fourth, as in, “May the Fourth Be With You!” And, of course, Star Wars and Table Tennis go together like ketchup and fries, chocolate and nuts, and table tennis and nets. (Seriously – my club has 18 tables and so 18 nets, plus about 12 ball pickup nets, plus the robot net.)

What does Yoda say to Luke Skywalker? Among other things, Yoda said, “Do or do not. There is no try.” At first glance (and perhaps many glances after that), this is rather unhelpful. Do we really want to tell our table tennis students not to try, that they should either do or do not? Everyone starts out as a beginner, unable to do proper shots, so that means they all “do not.” Does that mean they should not try? Perhaps a student should stop “trying” and instead just “do or do not.” At first there’ll be a lot of “do not,” but gradually there’ll be more and more “do.” Technically, they are “trying” to “do,” but you can think of each attempt as “do or do not,” since that’s essentially what happens. (We’ll ignore those gray areas where the shot is pretty good but not perfect – is that “do” or “do not”?)

In the same clip above, Yoda also says, “You must unlearn what you have learned.” This applies directly to table tennis as most coaching is not teaching a student to do something – it’s getting rid of bad habits and unwanted movements, i.e. unlearning what they have learned. Yoda might have made a fine table tennis coach!

Now let’s look at the Jedi Code.

There is no emotion, there is peace.
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
There is no passion, there is serenity.
There is no chaos, there is harmony.
There is no death, there is the Force.