Next Blog – Monday, August 4
I’m going out of town. But the Tip of the Week will still go up each Monday.
Tip of the Week
Ten Tips for Faster Footwork.
The Perfect Storm of Messes
And when I say storm, I mean a storm of headaches. (Well, the first two, plus a bunch of time-consuming stuff.) I almost didn’t do a blog this morning – too many irritating, time-consuming things going on. Here’s a rundown.
=> Battle for the Bag. I wrote about this last Monday. I still don’t have the big bag I checked in, and at this point there’s a good chance I never will. Briefly, here’s what happened. Last Saturday I was supposed to fly home from the US Nationals, with an 11AM flight on American Airlines (AA). After boarding the plane, they couldn’t get one of the engines to work, and so they cancelled the flight, and we had to get off. I spent nine hours at the airport, finally getting on a 7PM flight. Instead of arriving home at Saturday at 9PM, I arrived at 7AM on Sunday. But they’d lost my bag. They said they would be on the next flight and that they’d deliver them to me. They weren’t on the next flight, but they finally arrived at 6PM. At around 7PM a delivery truck went out, with the promise I’d have my bag by 10:30 PM. It didn’t arrive, nor did anyone contact me.
On Monday I called AA, and they said the bags were supposed to be delivered by a company called Roadie, and gave me their number. After nearly 90 minutes on hold, I finally got through – and they told me the delivery truck, with my bags and lots of others, had been stolen while making deliveries! Since that time, I’ve called Roadie twice, both times waiting 90+ minutes but they never answered. I’ve spoken to AA multiple times, all they can do is verify that it’s been reported to the police. There’s no communication – I can’t find anything without calling and going through the usual long wait times. At some point I’ll have to fill out a complicated form where I list everything that was lost, and try to produce receipts. The good news is that I had my table tennis rackets and other important stuff in my carry-on bag. But I lost most of my USA Team shirts that had my name on them (six of them), a pair of USA warmups, and something like $1000 in all in miscellaneous items, even three statuettes I’d bought as souvenirs. So, to reiterate, AA cancelled my flight, stranding me at airport for nine hours; they lost my bag; they found my bag but lost it when the delivery vehicle was stolen. So, how was your day?
If you want to follow the action, it's Alexandria, VA Police Report #25-055671, from July 6, currently listed at "Pending."
=>”Ping-Pong Paddles Don’t Talk!” and a Jaw-droppingly Insane Threat. I’ve posted previously about my upcoming picture book, “Ping-Pong Paddles Can’t Talk!”, which is a humorous Seussian-like rhyming book for children. It introduces kids, roughly 7-10, to table tennis. It features a nervous boy and his talking paddle in their first tournament, where he meets and plays a girl who is really good, and they have an adventurous match. Along the way, kids learn about the sport, with themes on facing your fears, working toward a goal, honesty, and friendship. It’s about 3,000 words, 77 four-line stanzas and a few other miscellaneous lines.
The good news is I’ve hired an illustrator, and the book should be out by the end of March next year. I’m really excited about this project! I’m so tired of coaching kids but not having any age-appropriate table tennis books for them. But now the weird and crazy news.
There’s a local table tennis player who is also an artist. I’d mentioned to him that I needed to hire an illustrator. He said he knew someone, and messaged me the contact info, and said that he’d already let the illustrator know I’d be contacting her. But by the time he messaged me, I’d already tentatively hired someone. But since he said the illustrator was expecting my email, I emailed her, letting her know that I’d tentatively hired someone, but if that didn’t work out, would she be available? She politely emailed back that she was booked for the next 1.5 years, and so couldn’t do it. So, I messaged the local table tennis player who’d introduced us, and here is the exact message, including even the typo. (“Appreciated” is missing the “d” – I was typing quickly.) Note the exact wording. Anything offensive?
"Appreciate! I emailed her, and unfortunately she said she is booked for the next 1.5 years. However, I think I may have someone."
Then, yesterday, I received an email from the illustrator, where she wrote the following:
“I don’t appreciate you editing my email and showing it [to NAME REDACTED] in order to place me in a bad light. I am blocking you from contacting me again and I will be warning everyone I know in this industry of your unethical business practices.”
This was completely out of the blue, and I have no idea what she’s talking about. (I have a suspicion she has me mixed up with someone else.) I both emailed and messaged her a screen shot of my one and only message about her (see above), and guaranteed her that I had never written or said anything to put her in a bad light, and definitely hadn’t “edited” her email. But she’s blocked me, and who knows what will happen next. If she does make any false accusations against me to anyone in the industry, I will sue her, and it should an easy case to win. I ended up spending way, Way, WAY too much irritating time on this yesterday.
UPDATE - It turns out this illustrator was given mistaken info from a third party who had nothing to do with any of this. She's apologized via the local table tennis player, including the note that she was too embarrassed to apologize to me directly.
=>Classic Table Tennis in Brazil and South American Tour. The $50,000 Classic Table Tennis World Cup is in Três Coroas, Brazil, Jan. 18-25, 2026. This is for hardbat, sandpaper, and wood. I’m in the midst of planning for this, and there’s a lot to arrange – schedule, flights, hotels, sightseeing, etc. I plan to fly down Jan. 16, compete in the Over 60 category for all three events, and then spend Jan. 26-Feb. 13 touring Brazil (mostly Rio de Janeiro), Argentina (mostly Buenos Aires), and Peru (Lima, Cusco, and Machu Picchu). I’m trying to arrange it all this week before I go out of town on Friday.
=>Injury Rehabs. Due to my right side and shoulder injuries at the Nationals, I’m also busy rehabbing them both. Right knee is also giving me trouble. I had to drop out of the US Nationals last week (singles events, though I struggled through the doubles so as not to let my partners down), the Maryland Senior Olympics (held this past Saturday), and the National Senior Games in Iowa (July 31-Aug. 5). I hope to make a triumphal return at the Huntsman World Senior Games in Saint George, Utah, Oct. 6-9, and the US Open in Las Vegas, Dec. 16-21. (Also the Classic Table Tennis World Cup in Brazil in January (see above), and the World Masters Table Tennis Championships, June 5-14, 2026, in Gangneung, South Korea. (There doesn’t seem to be a webpage yet for this, but there’s some info here. It used to be called the World Veterans, but they are renaming it next year.)
=>The Never-Ending Odyssey. This Friday I will fly to Manchester, NH for this annual 9-day science fiction writing workshop. I went to the six-week Odyssey science fiction writing workshop in 2007, and this is the annual gathering of graduates, where we run our own workshop with master classes, critiques, readings, and so on. This will be my 16th time there, including 13 years in a row. I’m busy finalizing all the critiques of stories from others. (Four of my stories will be critiqued there.)
=>Jamestown/Yorktown/Williamsburg/Monticello. Alas, no. I was planning to drive down Tuesday (three-hour drive) and spend a couple days sightseeing. However, with all of the above, I’m going to postpone this until sometime in August.
=>My Own Writing. With all of the above, I’m not getting much of my own writing done, both table tennis and science fiction! It’s not just writing – it’s also rewriting/editing/proofing/submitting, and these take time that I currently have a shortage of. I was hoping to start a young adult table tennis novel by now, but with all these things going on, that’s on hold. (The hero, a teenaged member of the USA National Team, who trains and competes at table tennis by day, is a secret vigilante at night – he’s Pongman, who uses a special paddle and balls to smack criminals with great accuracy, even from a distance. When China is to play North Korea in the semifinals of the World Table Tennis Championships, with USA to play the winner in the final, the KingPing of North Korea kidnaps the Chinese team, hoping for a default, and it’s up to our hero to save them in time . . . even though Team USA would much rather play the weaker North Korean team in that final!)
US Smash
The ITTF event, held July 3-13 in Las Vegas, ended yesterday. Here’s the home page, with links for results and other info. (I was asked if I could attend and do news coverage, but I was just too busy. Maybe another time.) Here are news articles:
=>Steve Hopkins/Butterfly
=>USATT News by Joshua Dyke
=>ITTF News
Jha’s Strong Points with Jorg Bitzigeio
Butterfly Training Tips
Table Tennis Tips Every Veteran Needs to Hear!
Here’s the video (3:15) from Pingispågarna. “In this video, we present three powerful tips tailored specifically for players aged 60 and above who want to keep improving, stay competitive, and enjoy the game to the fullest. Whether you’re aiming to sharpen your technique, adapt to physical changes, or simply get more out of your training – these insights will help you take your play to the next level.”
Looping and Driving
Here’s the video (3:18) with Cheyanne Chen from PongSpace.
Lilian Bardet STUNS Liang Jingkun – Match Analysis / Watch Along
Here’s the video (15:51) from Andreas Levenko.
Dimitrij Ovtcharov Opens Up About Ma Long!
Here’s the video (12:26) from Table Tennis Daily.
New from PingSkills
Ask the Coach
Waldner '97, Best Table Tennis Player Ever
Here’s the video (4:13) from Taco Backhand.
Major League Table Tennis
Follow the action!
ITTF News
Table Tennis Cartoons from Cartoon Stock
Here’s the page! (I’ve linked to most of these in the past.)
Eight Is Enough
Here’s the video (16 sec) of eight players playing on one table!
The Most Unexpected Return
Here’s the video (22 sec)!
He Traveled 8,740 MILES for REVENGE!
Here’s the video (17:58) from Adam Bobrow! “Southern California was sunny, but the real heat came from the Orange County Table Tennis Academy. Watch how it unfolds!”
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