Ringers at the Open and Nationals

I've had a few people email me about this problem. At every Open and Nationals most of the rating events are won by "ringers," i.e. players who are way under-rated. Most, though not all, are rapidly-improving juniors. Because of these ringers, some of the fun is taken out of competing in these tournaments. After all, when you play, say, an Under 1500 event, you expect to play players whose level is under 1500, or at least not that far over it. The reality, of course, is that to win a rating event at the Open or Nationals usually you have to play well over the rating cutoff. To have a chance of winning, you probably have to be at least 200-400 points over the rating cutoff of an event. (The lower the event, the more volatility and the more you have to be over the event's cutoff.)

I considered putting this down as one of the issues in my "Other USATT Issues" portion of my USATT Election Page and mailing. But in contrast with the other issues I did put there, there is no easy solution to this. All we can do are find "less bad" solutions. But we really do need to address this.

There are three main types of "ringers" at these tournaments. They are:

1. Up-and-coming players - mostly juniors - who are playing tournaments regularly but have recently improved dramatically.
2. Players who haven't played tournaments recently and have improved dramatically since their last tournament. Again, these are often juniors.  
3. Players who intentionally dump matches to get their rating down for big tournaments. These are low-life scum.

There is little you can do (or perhaps should do) about players in Category One. They were legitimately under the cutoff, are playing tournaments regularly, but due to lots of practice have suddenly improved a lot, and now they are reaping the rewards. Congrats to them! Perhaps you can allow the tournament director or staff to rerate such a player once they realize how under-rated they are - but be somewhat lenient. If a 1000 player is playing an estimate 1500, perhaps let them play Under 1400 or even Under 1300, while taking them out of Under 1200 and Under 1100. Estimates are only so accurate, and you do want to let players compete when you can. Even if they are playing 1500 level they are going to have a tough time winning Under 1300 - they won't be the only ringer.

But there's a weakness to their new level, which experienced players can take advantage of, even if their level is no longer as strong - these rapidly-improving players are new to this level, and so under pressure are not always so good. They get nervous, they aren't sure what type of tactics to use, and they often either fall back onto old habits when it's close or begin to play wildly, as they aren't confident of their new level yet. Stick with them and keep it close (not always easy), and you have a good chance against them. (The downside is these players, mostly kids, usually have coaches - such as me - and we're pretty good at guiding them through these close matches. Sorry!)

What can be done about those in Category Two? There are several options.

1. You can have rules that don't allow players to play in their lowest rating event if they haven't played a tournament in, say, six months. Or perhaps add 100 points to their rating for eligibility purposes (but not for seeding). The downside is many long-time players with legitimate ratings don't play that many tournaments, and so may object to not being able to play in their best events at the Open or Nationals. I tend to like this one. Perhaps require a player to play at least a certain number of "competitive" matches in the last six months, i.e. players rated within 100 points, so as to get a more accurate rating.
2. You can run the rating events in reverse order, highest to lowest. If a player wins one event, he is no longer eligible for another. There are several problems here. First, it's a scheduling nightmare, and probably not feasible. (If not in sequence, you can still take players out of lower events, but then eligibility is often based on the order of events, which is somewhat arbitrary.) Second, suppose someone rated 1000 wins Under 1500 - then he can't play any lower events, and is out of U1100, U1200, U1300, and U1400? Suddenly it's not much of a tournament where he's taken out of four of his five rating events, and so not much is left for him to do in a five-day tournament. And third, suppose he loses in the final to some other ringer - he's obviously better than 1000, but by losing that final (because of an even better ringer) he gets to stay in U1100, U1200, U1300, and U1400. Suddenly it's sort of arbitrary, with eligibility for four events based on one match. (Strong incentive to dump even!)
3. You can allow tournament directors or staff to rerate players who are obviously under-rated. They should be somewhat lenient here - when in doubt, let the player play an event. But if a 1000-rated player is beating 1800 players, at least rerated to 1600 or 1700.
4. You can use a rating system with standard deviation, and not allow a player in their lowest events if their SD gets too high. This would be a complete revamping of the system, a possibility but not something I'm thrilled with. There are strengths and weaknesses to such a system, and which have been debated extensively - and I have no desire to get into another such debate.   

What can be done about those in Category Three, other than immediate expulsion from the human race? (I'm against execution, but it's a close thing.)

1. You can use a player's highest rating of the past year for eligibility. But what about the poor player rated, say, 1350, who has one great tournament, gets to 1601, then drops back to 1400, and suddenly can't play Under 1500 or Under 1600?
2. You can require that a player cannot drop more than 100 points from their highest rating in the past year for eligibility purposes. So if a player dumps matches and drops 200 points, he'd effectively only go down 100 points, and so wouldn't be able to really dominate that event. (Most likely he'd lose to a ringer from categories one or two - yay.)
3. You can simply give the tournament director (or a tournament committee) the power to rerate a player they believe has been dumping.

You'll note that allowing a tournament director or staff to rerate a player is in all three categories, and I believe this should be allowed - but as noted, it should be applied leniently. But overall, there are no easy solutions. And yet, the current situation is worse than some or most of the above. I think the USATT Tournament Committee (and perhaps a much-needed USATT Ratings Committee) needs to really address these problems, with the understanding that there is no perfect solution.

Monday's Coaching

Once again we had the headache of keeping the various balls separate. Fortunately, with the World Junior Championships (Butterfly plastic balls) and the North American Teams (JOOLA plastic balls) both over, we're mostly down to players training for the USA Nationals next week (Nittaku Premium plastic balls, very limited supplies) and celluloid. I still have eleven of the dozen Nittaku Premiums I ordered a few weeks ago and I'm religiously guarding them. When I coach someone going to the Nationals we combine our balls and usually have over 20 - almost enough to do some quick multiball! I've taken to using the two tables in the far back corner, which are barriered off separately, so as to keep these balls apart from the rest of the club.

One of my students came in about ten minutes late. While waiting I was sitting on a sofa, with one of the cubicle shelves used for players to store their bags blocking my view of the door. I kept leaning forward and craning my neck so I could see the door to see if my student was coming in. I finally commented to others that their putting the cubicle there was going to cause me to wrench my neck, which would lead me to being unable to coach, which would leave me unemployed, leading to my living in the streets, penniless, hungry, and shivering in the cold. Sure enough, I did wrench my neck - I think I hurt it a bit while trying to watch the door, and aggravated it while coaching. So all last night my neck was stiff and hurting. I think I'll be okay - I only have one hour today, so I can mostly rest it. I've got a busy schedule Wed-Sun, and then I leave for the Nationals.

Christmas Stocking Stuffers

Looking for Christmas stocking stuffers for a table tennis player - or yourself? Here are a few suggestions.

• Training Videos by Brian Pace
• International Table Tennis Skills DVD by Samson Dubina
• Ping Pong for Fighters by Tahl Leibovitz
• Breaking 2000 and The Next Step by Alex Polyakov
  Here's my review of Breaking 2000.
• Get Your Game Face On Like the Pros! By Dora Kurimay
  Here's my review.
• History of U.S. Table Tennis by Tim Boggan (15 volumes - take your pick!)
• World Class American Table Tennis Players of the Classic Age, Volumes One, Two, Three, Four, Five, and Six, by Dean Johnson and Tim Boggan
• Adventures of the Ping-Pong Diplomats, Volume 1: The U.S. China Friendship Matches Change World History, by Fred Danner
  Here's my review. 
• My books!

Full-Time Coach Wanted

Here's the help wanted notice. "Full-time coach opening at Fremont Table Tennis Academy starting at the beginning of 2015. FTTA will need another coach to join its coaching team."

Coaching Articles by Samson Dubina

Here are two new ones.

• The First Tournament: Learn 2 Major Keys to Winning Your First Tournament!
• Ball Observations: 4 Aspects About the Poly Ball

Giving Advice During a Match

Here's the coaching video (7:27) from PingSkills - I don't think I posted this previously.

Ask the Coach

Episode 44 (13:46) - 10,000 counterhits

• Response to Yesterday's #PQOTD  - 1:07: How many counterhits can you do in a row?
• #PQOTD  - 4:04: In what year will a Non Chinese player win a World Mens singles championship?
• Question 1 - 4:26: I see lot of discussions here on footwork but am not able to understand why it is required cus I have seen many players in my colony not using efficient footwork but can play very well. Chandrachur
• Question 2 - 7:26: When using long pips what is the proper stroke to use against another long pips no spin ( dead) return assuming you are not going to twiddle to the inverted side? Should this stroke be only defensive or can it be use more offensively? Jeremiah
• Question 3 - 9:48: How many sets are required to win a match? I thought that the game is 3 of 5 sets till 11 points, but now i see matches with 4 of 7 sets. Is it fixed value or depends on tournament or judges? Or rules are changed? Dimitar Dimitrov
• Question 4 - 11:31: l bought a Grass D Tecs rubber last year and l am very happy with it , After playing a match this week my opponent was not happy , and produced a list of legal rubber which he stated it was not on his list and declared my rubber illegal. Robert Atwell

Barbara Wei Profile

Here's the feature on her from Butterfly. Barbara practically grew up at MDTTC, my club, starting at age 7, and eventually traveling the world as a member of the USA cadet and then junior team.

Great Rally

Here's video (28 sec) as Kalinikos Kreanga of Greece plays a great point. Among world-class players, I think Kreanga is the best at playing spectacular points.

Another Great Rally

Here's video (34 sec, including slow motion replay) of a great rally with a great finish between two kids.

Go All In - This is Table Tennis

Here's the video (1:42) of mostly junior training at a club, set to music.

Fundraiser in Florida

Here's the video (48 sec) "PongUniverse and The Florida Grassroot Table Tennis Association at the Pinellas County 2014 Annual Tennis Shoes and Tie fundraiser. Tropicana Field. Tampa, Florida."

World Chess Champion Plays Table Tennis

Here's the picture of Magnus Carlsen of Norway, care of Alberto Prieto.

Ping-Pong Balls in Mouth

How many? (Kids, don't try this at home; he's a trained professional. I think.)

***

Send us your own coaching news!

Tip of the Week

Keep Your Strokes Simple.

USATT Election

We're five days into the election. If you haven't voted yet, here's my Election Page, and here's the USATT Voting Page. Read over the various programs I will work on, and if you agree we need these things to develop the sport in this country, please vote for me. Equally important, ask others from your club to vote for me. Perhaps print out some of my Election Flyers to distribute!

I've heard some describe my plans as "grandiose," but they are only grandiose if I claimed I could get them all done, say, in my first year. I will do whatever I can to get the process started on all five the first year, and hope to have results to show after two. Four years in and I'll be up for re-election, and if I don't have good results to show at that point, then of course it's time to throw us scoundrels out. It really comes down to a Shakespearean question - to work to develop the sport, or not to work to develop the sport?

Two of my goals are to make the new CEO, Gordon Kaye, into the most successful CEO in our history, and to have this board of directors go down in history as the greatest ever - the equivalent of Eisenhower and "The Greatest Generation" after World War II. Let's get it done.

Nets and Edges

I've blogged about this before, such as on February 6, 2012. They don't even out - some styles do get more than others. I've tested this many times. Choppers, hitters, and blockers (especially those with deader surfaces such as long pips) hit with a lower trajectory, and so get more nets. Aggressive hitters and blockers hit the ball deeper on the table and so get more edges. Blockers who angle a lot get lots of side edges. So it is a matter of playing style. There is, of course, the argument that these players are playing a more aggressive style, playing life on the edge (yeah, pun intended, sorry) as they keep the ball low to the net, deep, and at wide angles, and so deserve those nets & edges - but then that's the argument, not that they all even out. Since they are hitting lots of shots dangerously near the net and table edges, they are also hitting a number of balls into the net or off the side. Some nets aren't as valuable as others - for example, choppers mostly hit the ball more slowly, and so it's not such a timing problem adjusting to their nets, plus since they are often off the table they can't always take advantage of your weaker returns off their net balls.

In the blog linked to above I was out net & edged 32-10. On Friday I blogged how two of my students beat me at it 19-8. This weekend Sameer decided to keep track of all nets & edges during our 90-minute session; he won 32-13. So for those three sessions I was out net & edged by a total of 83-31. Let me read that again: Eight-three to Thirty-One. That's a 52-point deficit. Of course, some would say it's a matter of level, but I used to keep track of this as well when I was developing and practicing regularly with Brian Masters, a future USA World Team Member and 1983 Pan Am Singles Gold Medalist. He was also rated higher, and would typically out net & edge me nearly 3-1 - but he was an aggressive Seemiller-style blocker who hit deep and at wide angles, with a low trajectory, and often flipped to the antispin on the other side. So he had all the ingredients for someone who would get lots and lots of nets and edges, and he did.

So, do you have the edge (sorry) with a net surplus (sorry) in the net & edge department?

China Sweeps the Medals at the World Junior Table Tennis Championships

Here's the ITTF press release for the championships that were held in Shanghai, China, finishing yesterday. Here's the ITTF home page for the event (results, articles, pictures, video). Here's the USATT page for the event, where you can see USA results (upsetting South Korea in the QF to get the bronze in Girls' Teams!), pictures, video, and lots of great quotes from the USA juniors. Here's the Boys' Singles Final (8:16, with time between points removed) between China's Yu Ziyang and Japan's chopper/looper Yuto Muramatsu. Here's the all-China Girls' Singles Final (6:14, with time between points removed) between Wang Manyu and Zhu Chaohui. (However, it was not all intense competition at the Junior Worlds as the world's best juniors took some time out to play with some school kids in Shanghai - here's the video - 69 sec.)

Kanak Jha vs. Kim Minhyeok

Here's the video (5:21, with time between points removed) of USA's Kanak Jha vs. South Korea's Kim Minhyeok in Round One (round of 64) of Boys' Singles at the World Junior Championships. (Kanak had to go through the Qualification RR to get there, while Kim was seed directly to the Final 64.) It's a nice match to watch, where you can analyze what each player did well and won or lost on. (I'll leave that as an exercise for you.) Spoiler alert - Kim wins the match 4-1, and wins the next two rounds 4-0, before himself losing 4-0 in the quarterfinals to eventual winner Yu Ziyang of China.

2014 North American Table Tennis Tour Update - ICC Stiga California Open

You can read about it and see pictures on the Bay Area Facebook Page.

Backhand Loop Technique Development

Here's the newest video (4:47) from Coach Brian Pace.

Ask the Coach

Episode 43 (16:55) - The New Plastic Balls

• Response to Friday's #PQOTD  - 0:56: When should local clubs start using the Plastic balls?
• Discussion - 3:56: World Junior Championships results, Chinese dominance and choppers.
• #PQOTD  - 6:04: How many counterhits can you do in a row?
• Question 1 - 6:16: After watching your demonstration of how to execute pure backspin on serving by contacting the ball underneath with a completely flat level bat please advise how you impart enough forward movement to get the ball up the table and over the net. Thanks. Les
• Question 2 - 9:14: I am a penhold player, and I play at my local high schools, table tennis club, I have difficult doing a backhand when people hit the ball hard and fast, and also when they hit in the middle, How do I have a strong backhand while playing penhold grip? Ben
• Question 3 - 11:00: I’m not sure if you guys have a video of it but i was wondering what the rules are when it comes to accidentally hit the ball with the finger or the racket handle, the ball goes over the net, and hits the other side of the table. Jayce Soberano
• Question 4 - 13:30: I am having a hard time with my forehand loops. It seems that I am able to loop it because it is a long ball but when I hit it I feel very awkward because it feels like the ball is too close to the table for me to do a proper forehand loop. Any tips? Mark

USA National Team Trials

Here's the USATT article. "2015 Pan Am, National and Worlds Team Trials will be held on March 6-8, 2015 in Fort Worth, Texas at Texas Wesleyan University. Prospectus and entry form will be posted on USATT webpage soon." I'll probably be there coaching. 

Topspin Charity

Topspin Charity is having an event on Dec. 10 (this Wednesday) at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City. "Who else is counting down the days until our 6th Annual Charity Ping Pong Tournament in NYC?? Join us for an exclusive event at Metropolitan Pavilion that helps out children's education in your own city." They also have this nice picture!

Marty Reisman Feature from Spin NY

Here's the trailer (65 sec), with a full version coming by the New Year. "On December 5th 2014 SPIN NY celebrated the LIFE of the GREAT "MARTY REISMAN" American Ping Pong - Table Tennis LEGEND. This fabulous EVENT was held at the famous SPIN NY. It was attended by many of the TOP players in the US."

See the Light

Here's the latest table tennis artwork from Mike Mezyan. (And like this picture, table tennis in the USA is still in the jungle, but we're starting to see the light!)

Ping Pong: The Ultimate Social Networking Tool

Here's the article from Pong Universe.

Stone Age Concrete Table Tennis

Here's the new video (1:50) on concrete tables, some of it showing how they are made.

Ibrahim Hamato Recognized at Al Maktoum Creative Sports Awards

Here's the article on Hamato, who gained fame earlier this year as a guest of the ITTF at the World Championships where he played points with the best players in the world. He has no arms, and holds the racket in his mouth. Here's video (2:43) of him hitting with the best players in the world at the World Championships. (There's an Internet rumor that he died - that's false.)

Table Tennis Best of 2014

Here's the video (12:56)!

Serious Racket Throw

Here's the video (9 sec) as a player reacts to losing. Amazingly the opponent doesn't even react to his opponent's paddle whizzing by at high velocity. Equally enthralling is the mournful cry of "Nooooo!" by a spectator as the thrower loses the last point. Do you think the racket survived the journey? Do you think the player survived without penalty?

Underground Pong with Santa

Here's the video (11 sec)! They're pretty good, and since they are miners, can they play in the World Junior Championships? (Okay, I know, I know, it's "minors.")

Plate Pong

Here's the video (41 sec) of some incredible ball bouncing off plates into cups. It starts pretty simple but by the end it's pretty wild!

***

Send us your own coaching news!

Election Stuff and Other Stuff

If you are sick and tired of reading about USATT and election stuff, jump past the first two items here! However, I think USATT members might be interested in the following USATT vs. USTA comparison.

USATT vs. USTA

I've pointed out for years how, when it comes to promoting and developing their sports, USTA (tennis, 700,000 members) seems to do so many things right, while USATT (8000 members) does not. As I've also pointed out, this is not the norm. Tennis is big in Europe, but in nearly every country there are more paid table tennis memberships than tennis. The U.S. is the big exception here. And yet we're so used to thinking of tennis as "big" and ourselves as "small" that we've come to accept it. But the only reason for this is that tennis does things right, and we don't. Here's a comparison.

Membership Rates

• Adult Membership fee: USATT $49, USTA $44
• Junior Membership Rate: USATT $25 (under 18), USTA $20 (under 19)
• Family Membership Rate: USATT $90, USTA $72

USTA does have the advantage of large numbers that allows them to keep low rates, but low rates often lead to large numbers. I'd like to see USATT lower their rates to match USTA, with the idea that they would likely come out roughly even with the lower rate by getting more members this way. However, USATT is currently facing budget problems, and would be unlikely to lower the rates. Perhaps we can at least freeze them until USTA at least catches up?

USTA Membership Benefits

As a former member of USTA, I have a copy of their main brochure. What do they focus on? In order, this is what the brochure advertises:

• Annual subscription to Tennis Magazine (a monthly print magazine)
• Special access to discounted and early ticket sales for seats to the US Open and other major tournaments across the country.
• Opportunity to participate in USTA League, the world's largest recreational tennis league.
• Members-only savings on sports gear, hotel reservations, entertainment, and dining.
• Travel discounts to major tennis tournaments around the world including the four Grand Slams.
• Special benefits and discounts on tennis instruction and your next great vacation.
• They also prominently advertise a US Open cap for those who join.

Also note that besides the regular brochure, they have a very nice brochure for the USTA League. Here's a picture, front and back - sorry about the poor resolution.

Let's also look at the USTA webpage and see what they offer:

U.S. Tennis Association ($44/year)

Membership Benefits

• USTA Leagues & Tournaments
  From recreational leagues to tournaments offering the opportunity to qualify for a national ranking, the USTA provides play opportunities for players of all ages and abilities.
• Top Tennis Publications
  Adult and Family members receive subscriptions to TENNIS magazine and Tennis Tuesday digital magazine offering tournament previews, insight into the professional game and its players, fitness tips, instruction and other features to improve your game. Junior members ages 11-18 receive Tennis Tuesday digital magazine, while Junior members age 10 and under receive Bounce.
• Special Benefits at Top Tennis Tournaments
  Beat the crowds! USTA Members have special access to discounted seats and early tickets sales for the US Open, Emirates Airline US Open Series and other major tournaments across the country.
• Savings & Discounts
  Enjoy a 10% discount on US Open and USTA merchandise, as well as, discounts on dining, travel, retail, and entertainment at well-known hotels, car rental agencies, restaurants and more.
• Resort & Camp Program
  Bring great vacations and tennis instruction together with benefits ranging from free private lessons, room and package discounts, complimentary restringing and more.
• US Open Travel Packages
  Steve Furgal’s International Tennis Tours, Inc. offers USTA Members packages to one of the greatest tournaments in the world—the US Open!
• Tennis Tuesday
  Delivered weekly, Tennis Tuesday provides coverage of the sport from its most renowned players, top instructors, exciting personalities and talented writers.  Each edition offers compelling on- and off-court insight into the pro tours, and offers tips and techniques for players to improve their games, including racquet, apparel and gear reviews as well as compelling features and video instruction.

Now we compare this to USATT:

USA Table Tennis ($49/year)

Membership Benefits

• Personalized help in locating clubs and coaches in all fifty states
• Liability insurance during USA Table Tennis Sanctioned Events
• Certification programs for Coaches and Officials across the nation
• Discounts with Hilton and United for hotel and travel for USA Table Tennis Sanctioned Events
• Ratings which allow you to compare yourself to other players who play in sanctioned tournaments. Ratings will be updated after information is received from each tournament.
• Monthly newsletter
• Bi-monthly digital Table Tennis Magazine

Quite a contrast, isn't it? USTA's biggest focus is on their print magazine, leagues, and US Open. USATT no longer has a print magazine, it doesn't have any sort of leagues to offer, and the US Open isn't something they advertise much. All this needs to change. (I plan to bring USTA brochures and their magazine to the USA Nationals to show at the USATT board meeting and USATT Assembly.)

USATT Election

If you haven't voted yet, now's a good time! Here's my Election Page, and here's the USATT Election page where you can vote.

I was up past 3:30 AM responding to 162 emails, all table tennis-related, almost all election-related. Lots of interesting comments! The most common theme was the call for the return of the print magazine.

If you are a USATT member age 18 or over, then you should have received the USATT election notice two days ago, and my email yesterday. (If you didn't, and you are sure you are a current member, then contact USATT to see if they have your correct email address.) However, not all adult USATT members received Jim McQueen's email of two days ago, and many former (but not current) USATT members did receive it. Based on a sampling of people from my club, I've come to the conclusion that the email list he used was probably from July, August, or September 2012. There's a member of my club whose membership expired on Sept. 30, 2012. He received the McQueen email, but not the other two. I found another who is a member now (and so received the emails from USATT and me), but apparently was not a member between June 30 and Sept. 30 in 2012, and did not receive the McQueen email. So presumably the email list he used was from July, August, or September of 2012. But we don't really know for sure. 

However, I don't plan to make an issue of this from this point on. I'm very much for transparency and do want to know what happened, but I also told USATT that if they allowed me access to their email list so I could also do a mailing by Thursday morning, that the issue would basically be resolved. They agreed, and so for me the issue is basically resolved.

One of the things I decided not to do in this election is use endorsements. I have a list of prominent players and people in the sport who have endorsed me in the election, but I'm not using those names. (I'm sure my opponent could get some as well.) Why? Because even the appearance of conflict of interest is a problem. The last thing I want is to appear to be favoring or to "owe" people for their endorsements. This doesn't mean individuals can't endorse my candidacy, just that I won't use them myself in the election. I was originally going to use them but I really want to think ahead to when I might be on the board, and decisions come up that involve them. Almost by definition many of them involve some of these prominent players or people. (I'm already planning to abstain from issues that directly involve Butterfly, since I'm sponsored by them - I put that in my application to be on the ballot.)

Regarding my own email to the membership yesterday, some of you may have noted it didn't have great formatting. I spent a lot of time creating it very nicely in Word (here's the original), but USATT uses a program called Constant Contact that lost much of the formatting. (Headquarters did the best they could to match my formatting, which I appreciated.)

Two of the coaches at my club had problems voting with their iPhones. When they tried to input the required date of birth, the dropdown menu wouldn't drop down - and without that, the software wouldn't accept their vote. They showed it to me, and I also tried it, but it wouldn't work. Both of them voted instead on an iPad. I know that the software was tested on other iPhones where it did work, so I don't think this is a widespread issue. (They both probably had the same make and model, and I'm told that the Chinese character set they have on it might have caused a problem.) Did any of you have trouble voting?

Thursday Coaching and Other Happenings

Thursday was a somewhat busy coaching day, with four hours of coaching. (For most of our other full-time coaches, five of whom coach at least 50 hours/week, this would have been a very light day!) In the junior class I taught the focus yesterday was on smashing, which of course is very popular among kids and non-kids alike. One question that always comes up is how much to enforce the "proper" grip. With smaller hands, kids often feel more comfortable with their hands lower in the handle, with their index finger more up the middle. But this leads to a floppy wrist and tightness in the forearm. However, some find it uncomfortable holding it higher. We often have to find a compromise. We do have some smaller kids rackets with smaller handles (which are easier to grip), but some of the kids don't like the smaller racket faces.

In two of my private sessions we had a contest to see who would get the most/least nets or edges. I've done this before, and I always get the least. Yesterday's results were actually among the closer results. In both cases we kept track for perhaps 15 minutes. Daniel got 10 to my 3, and Sameer got 9 to my 5.

On January 24, Saturday night, we're running a fund-raiser at MDTTC for Cystic Fibrosis. Sameer (13) is the driving force behind this. He and I will do a demo and exhibition, and then run a recreational tournament. The Baltimore Orioles promised to donate an autographed item, though they haven't said what yet. More on this later.

World Junior Championships

They are continuing in Shanghai, China, Nov. 30 - Dec. 7. Here's the ITTF home page for the event (results, articles, pictures, video). Here's the USATT page for the event, where you can see USA results, pictures, video, and lots of great quotes from the USA juniors.

Yesterday wasn't a great day for the USA juniors, with four of the five left in singles losing in the round of 64. In Girls' Singles, Prachi Jha lost 4-3 to Bernadett Balint of Romania; Angela Guan lost 4-0 to Soo Wai Yam Minnie of Hong Kong; and Crystal Wang lost 4-0 to Wang Manyu of China. Only Lily Zhang advanced, 4-0 over Giorgia Piccolin of Italy. In Boys' Singles, Kanak Jha lost 4-1 to Kim Minhyeok of Korea.

In Girls' Doubles, in the round of 32, Prachi Jha/Lily Zhang defeated Reem Morad/Aida Rahmo of Egypt 3-1, while Angela Guan/Crystal Wang lost 3-0 to Miyu Maeda/Hitomi Sato of Japan.  In the round of 16, Prachi Jha/Lily Zhang lost 3-1 to Ji Eunchae/Lee Zion of Korea.

In Boys' Doubles, in the round of 32, Kunal Chodri/Kanak Jha defeated Claus Nielsen/Tobias Rasmussen of Denmark 3-0, while Krish Avvari/Aashay Patel lost 3-0 to Tomas Polansky/David Reitspies of Czech Republic. In the round of 16, Kunal Chodri/Kanak Jha lost 3-0 to Liu Dingshuo/Wang Chuqin of China.

In Mixed Doubles, in the round of 32, Kanak Jha/Prachi Jha lost 3-0 to Patryk Zatowka/Natalia Bajor of Poland; Kunal Chodri/Crystal Wang lost 3-1 to Kilian Ort/Nina Mittelham of Germany; and Krish Avvari/Lily Zhang lost 3-0 to Asuka Sakai/Miyu Maeda of Japan.

So the only remaining USA player in the tournament is Lily Zhang, who is in the round of 32 in Girls' Singles, where she'll face Orawan Paranang of Thailand.

195 Tips of the Week

I just put in a direct link so you can browse all 195 Tips of the Week I've written since January 2011. You can buy the first 150 (2011-2013), formatted nicely by topic, in my book Table Tennis Tips! (Coming early in 2017: More Tips of the Week, with 150 Tips from 2014-2016.)

Ask the Coach

Episode 42 (17:31) - Table Tennis Strokes to Master

• Response to Yesterday's #PQOTD  - 0:40: Should Table Tennis players use a tennis grip?
• #PQOTD  - 3:22: When should local clubs start using the Plastic balls?
• Question 1 - 3:40: I wonder how often i need to change my racket if i take care of it. Jasper Nokkosmaki
• Question 2 - 8:33: It's clear that Alois and Jeff have mastered all the shots, forehand and backhand blocks, topspins, loops, flips and chops. But for the club player, should we focus on the few shots we are strong at or try to master all the shots? Mark Roberti
• Question 3 - 11:02: Can you please explain the angles required to execute banana flip on short and low serve with large backspin and moderate sidespin on it? Parkash Rawat
• Question 4 - 13:25: I am 13 I have started table tennis could I play international tt tournaments Gavish Pandya
• Discussion - 15:00: World Junior Table Tennis Championships

International Table Tennis

Here's my periodic note that you can great international coverage at TableTennista (which especially covers the elite players well) and at the ITTF home page (which does great regional coverage).

Which is the Table Tennis Star Point of 2014?

Here's the video (4:05) from the ITTF. "Vote for which shot/rally you think should be the Table Tennis Star Point by going to ITTFStarAwards.com!"

Great Rally

Here's the video (27 sec) of this counterlooping duel between two top lefties!

Triangle Table Tennis

Here's a video (5:50) by Jim Butler that features the gigantic Triangle Table Tennis Center in North Carolina. (When I hear "triangle table tennis," I think of a triangular table tennis racket I once saw many years ago. But I was unable to find a picture of one online, though I did find this and this - triangular TT medallions.)

1938 Table Tennis Poster

Here's a picture of a table tennis poster near the end of the Calvin Coolidge Administration.

1971 U.S. Junior Team

Here's a picture of the 1971 U.S. Junior Team to the World Junior Tournament in Canterbury, England. Back, L-R: Coach/Captain Dell Sweeris, Bill Lesner, Jeff Smart, Mike Veillette, and Dan Seemiller. Front, L-R: Kathy Scheltema, Elsie Spinning, Angelita Rosal (now Bengtsson); and Sue Hildebrandt. (Yes, we had a member of the Junior Girls' Team named Spinning!)

Soccer Pong

Here's video (3:45) of the "Top Ten" rallies in this new emerging sport - these are some incredible rallies!

"This is a Table for Two"

Here's the table tennis cartoon!

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USATT Election

USATT members on Wednesday received a mass email from my opponent in the election, the incumbent Jim McQueen. I don't know how he received access to the USATT email database for this mailing, but since he had access, USATT agreed it was only fair that I have access as well. They will send out my own email today at 1PM eastern time. It means he got a one-day headstart on this, with who knows how many of the 6000 or so adult members who received it already voting. I believe most of the membership agrees with me on what's needed to develop our sport, and if they read the campaign statements before voting they will side with me. 

Voting began yesterday - if you haven't voted yet, here's the ballot. And here's my Election Page. I need your support, and so do those who want to see the sport developed in this country - please vote!

Below are links to a series of blogs about my plans if elected to the USATT Board.

1. Create a Nationwide System of Regional Team Leagues
2. Create State Associations
3. Create a USATT Coaching Academy to Recruit and Train Professional Coaches
4. Turn U.S. Open and Nationals into Premier Events
5. Create a Professional Players Association and Professionalize the Sport
6. Other USATT Issues

Here's a perfect encapsulation of why I'm running for the USATT Board, which I've linked to before - "The Ping-Pong Apartments." I'm running to fix the Ping-Pong Apartments. And I plan to continue to be a Man in the Arena.

Coaching on Wednesday

I had three hours of coaching, including a half-hour session with a new nine-year-old who'd been attending our group sessions. He's already developing pretty well, but is a bit wrist-floppy on the forehand, and tends to hit the backhand too much from the side, sort of tennis style. After working on his backhand for a bit I was somewhat amazed at how fast he picked it up - soon he was hitting them really well, with decent topspin as well despite using a beginner's racket.

I spent time with two players getting them ready for the Nationals. One is focusing on getting his loop more into play. We're doing a lot of random drills where I push the ball to random spots and he has to loop from either wing. In practice he's getting pretty consistent, and follows them up pretty well, but will he be able to do it in tournaments?

I spent much of another session working with one of our up-and-coming juniors on serves. One of the best exercises is to learn to serve backspin so it comes back toward the net. This is not easy to do if you keep the ball low. It's also not something top players do very often - it's better to serve the ball a bit faster, so the second bounce is near the end-line. However, if you can learn to serve with great spin but so little speed that the ball comes back into the net - in other words, barely graze the ball - then it's easy to add a bit more pace so the ball goes out more. I think it's harder to learn the other way, where you aren't focusing on grazing the ball so finely that you are struggling to get it over the net. Acceleration is key, along with the grazing contact. The junior had never served a backspin ball so that the ball bounced backwards before, but after some work on this - where I had him almost scoop the ball up from underneath - he figured it out, and soon he was able to get almost half the serves to come backwards.

I discussed with one top player going to the Nationals the priority of his serve practice. Should he focus on just one serve (and its variations), and perfect it or, work on all his serves? I recommended focusing on the main one, but practice the others as well, both so they'll be ready when needed as variations, and so that they'll continue to improve for when he does focus on them. As I told him (to his great amusement), "Focus on the serves you are focusing on."

Two of the players I worked with yesterday are going to the Nationals, and so we used the limited quanitites we had of the Nittaku Premium 40+ poly balls. We used regular Butterfly celluloid training balls for the others (where we can do multiball with boxes of them). Sometimes it feels like we spend half our time keeping the balls segregated. (Yeah, we're segregationists.) 

My coaching was sort of interrupted when someone told me they'd received a mass email from my election opponent - see the "USATT Election" segment above. It was near the end of my last session, but as soon as I was done I rushed home to look into the matter. Not a fun way to end a coaching session.

USATT's New Look

See the new look for USATT's web page! I haven't had a chance to go over it closely yet. (Note that the cover picture changes about every eight seconds.) What do you think of the new design?

USATT Regional Leagues

One of the ironies of USATT so far not getting involved in developing a nationwide regional league structure is that they are going to someday miss out on the revenues from it if they don't get in on this soon. In much of Europe, players join leagues, and in so doing join (or essentially join) the national governing body, which gets some of these revenues. (I'm not sure of the percentages.) Why would they pay money to USATT if they started the league on their own? The national governing bodies of sports like tennis and bowling, and table tennis overseas, all are involved in this way, and get huge revenues from the ensuing huge memberships.

If USATT doesn't get on this, then at some point others will, and these independent leagues will spread. And if these leagues hit huge numbers as they do overseas, guess who's going to be left on the outside looking in, penniless and wondering what their predecessors were thinking? (Of course, if this happens without USATT involvement, that's still a good thing!) Without leagues to sell to the membership - the selling point for the hundreds of thousands of members in overseas countries - what will USATT have to sell them? We don't even have a print magazine anymore. If I get on the USATT board, I have a lot of work and convincing to do.

World Junior Championships

In yesterday's action, USA's Crystal Wang pushed European Champion Chantal Mantz of Germany to the limit before losing 4-3, 11-9 in the seventh. Here's the ITTF article. Here's the ITTF home page for the event, and here's the USATT's, where you can get USA results, videos, pictures, and quotes.

In the Boys' Singles Preliminaries, USA's Kanak Jha advanced to the Main Draw (Final 64) with a 1-1 record, where he will face Kim Minhyeok of South Korea. Alas, teammates Kunal Chodri (0-2), Krish Avvari (0-2) and Aashay Patel (1-2) did not advance.

All four USA girls, who already won the bronze in Girls' Teams, advanced to the Main Draw (Final 64). Lily Zhang was seeded directly into it, while the other three USA girls all advanced from the Girls' Singles Preliminaries - Prachi Jha (3-0), Crystal Wang (1-1 - see note above), and Angela Guan (1-1). 

Ask the Coach

Episode 41 (21:55) - Adjusting to New Conditions

• Response to Yesterday's #PQOTD  - 0:30: Would Waldner survive in the modern game?
• #PQOTD - 2:39: Should Table Tennis players use a Tennis grip?
• Question 1 - 3:12: Is it better to block at the bounce of ball or at the peak of the bounce. I find that when I block at the bounce, it gives less reaction time to my opponent, but when I block at the peak I can control the block better against heavy topspins. Luke Woodley
• Question 2 - 6:47: How do you know when you need to calm down? Should you call a time out when you are ahead, behind, or both? Should you call a time out when you are about to lose a set, or wait for the set to be finished? Nicholas
• Question 3 - 11:45: I have been playing table tennis for 18 months and I have made it my life and my world. This is my last year in Under 15 category and I have 12 months remaining to practice. Pls advise how to practice and win. Aditya
• Question 4 - 14:49: Our tt hall is small and the table is dead so that when we go to play matches in the bigger hall, we cant manage the strokes, and the speed of ball. When we change from small to big hall, how can we manage the speed, spin of ball. Akash
• Question 5 - 17:30: What do you think about the rubber tenergy 80 fx compared to tenergy 80 in terms of spin and speed ? Thanks. Dat Pham
• Discussion - 18:59: Vote for the ITTF Star Awards

Lily Zhang Willing to Give Up Studies for Table Tennis

Here's the article from Tabletennista.

Great Rally at the North American Teams

Here's the video (68 sec, including slow-motion replay) between Nigeria's Quadri Aruna (world #30, playing for Team JOOLA) and Ruifeng Xu of China (playing for the Atlanta team).

Susan Sarandon Dishes on New Flic, Plays Ping-Pong

Here's the video (6:35) from Good Morning America, with the table tennis starting at 4:25. (She's on to talk about her new movie, "Jeff, Who Lives at Home.")

Happiness is . . . sometimes no words, just the sound of a ball

Here's the cartoon.

Comeback Return

Here's video (30 sec) of perhaps the best (and funniest) example I've ever seen of a mistaken backspin lob that comes back for a winner. I just wish I could see the expression of the guy who did it, who is probably grinning like a Cheshire cat.

Sorcerers in Space (with Table Tennis!)

My humorous fantasy novel "Sorcerers in Space" (293 pages) is on sale right now at Amazon for $10.79! Retail price was $16.95. It comes in both print and kindle versions ($5.99). It's about the U.S.-Soviet race to the moon in the 1960s, but with sorcerers instead of astronauts, and the whole things takes place over one week. (Sorcerers work fast.) It stars a 13-year-old Neil [Armstrong] and fictionalized versions of many of the major political names from the 1960s - President Kennedy and his brothers, Jackie Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Bob McNamara, and Lee Harvey Oswald, as well as dragons and other creatures that keep trying to kill poor Neil - including an attack meteor named Buzz. Oh, and Neil is a wannabe table tennis champion who has to drop his dreams of ping-pong stardom to save the world.

Or you can just buy my table tennis books!

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USATT Election

Voting began today - and here's the ballot! Alas, the picture of me in the ballot makes me look like a pixilated monster. For comparison, the same picture I sent them is on my Election Page. I've already emailed asking them to fix it. (I'm told it's a technical issue. Or maybe that's what I really look like?)

If you've been reading my blog or have visited my Election Page then you know where I stand on the issues, and know something of my background. I really need your support - please vote!

Below is Part 6 of my series of blogs about my plans if elected to the USATT Board. Here is my Election Page, and here's the USATT Election Notice. Here's my blogging schedule:

1. Monday, November 24: Create a Nationwide System of Regional Team Leagues
2. Tuesday, November 25: Create State Associations
3. Wednesday, November 26: Create a USATT Coaching Academy to Recruit and Train Professional Coaches
4. Monday, December 1: Turn U.S. Open and Nationals into Premier Events
5. Tuesday December 2: Create a Professional Players Association and Professionalize the Sport
6. Wednesday, December 3: Other USATT Issues (Balloting opens on this day, and continues until Dec. 27.)

Other USATT Issues

I'd like to focus on the five issues I've blogged about - see links above. However, there are a lot of other important issues. Some might be just as important as the "Big Five," but as I've also blogged about, I want to focus on progressive issues that develop the sport, and I didn't want to have 17 main issues. That would be a shopping list. However, here are twelve other issues I'd like to take care of. Here they are, in no particular order.

1. Mailings to past members. There are something like 60,000 former USATT members on our database, and I'd like to try to bring them back. That's what other successful organizations do. I still get regular mailings (both email and postal) from USTA and other organizations that I once belonged to. We should do the same. We don't have emails for most of them, so we need to do at least one big mailing to all of them. We might want to wait until we've fixed the sport up a bit so we have more to offer, but eventually we need to do this. I'd like to have someone "famous" be the "face" of USATT. I want these past members to get a personal invitation from one of our past big stars to rejoin USATT. Sure, a mailing is expensive, but you can budget an overall profit from this - plus you get new members, which should be high priority. (I blogged about this on Feb. 19.)
2. Hidden serve rule. The current rule is that the ball must be visible to the opponent throughout the serve. The problem is that umpires cannot usually tell if the serve is visible or not. The rules state that it is the responsibility of the player to serve so that the umpire is satisfied that he is serving legally, and if an umpire can't tell if the serve is visible or not, then he cannot be satisfied that the serve is legal, and should warn or fault. In reality, few umpires do that, and so many or most of our national titles go to players who abuse this rule and hide their serve. I'd like the rule changed so that it says that the ball must be visible to both umpires, or where the umpires would sit. I'm going to keep pushing for this rule, probably looking for a USATT tournament to test it, and then to the ITTF. (I blogged about this on Nov. 11 and numerous other times.)
3. Rules changes and the plastic ball. I'm not interested in more rules and equipment changes, other than fixing the hidden serve rule. I'd be very hesitant on any others - I'm tired of rule changes. Aren't you? However, I am going to look into the problems with the new plastic ball - the ITTF jumped the gun on this. They shouldn't have made the change until the balls were high quality, standardized, and training balls were available.
4. USATT Advisory Committees. A few years ago most of the USATT committees had the word "Advisory" added to their names, which emphasized that they are only advisory rather than action committees. That was a mistake. We need committees that get things done, not just sit back and advise.
5. Committee Chairs. Too often committees are chaired by the first person who volunteers. We need to do searches and recruit the right candidate for each. I've seen times where a committee chair was decided like Jeopardy - whoever hit the buzzer first (i.e. raised their hand) got the position. Additionally, task force committees need to have deadlines set up for when they'll report back. Far too often these task forces are set up and never even meet, or if they do meet, nothing gets done and they are forgotten, and become just another inactive committee on the USATT committee page.
6. NCAA recognition. I want to work with NCTTA on this. Here's some info on this. I blogged about this on November 18.
7. Fix rating system. Too much to go into here. To start with we need a USATT Ratings Committee. We don't have one.
8. Publish USA citizens ranking lists. This was actually required by a past USATT board vote that's long since been forgotten. Too often U.S. players are buried in the rankings behind foreign players. We need both an open listing and a citizens listing.
9. U.S. Open and U.S. Nationals info. The dates and location of these events should be available at least one year in advance. The U.S. Open Tennis Championships the next two years will be on Aug. 31-Sept. 13, 2015, and Aug. 29-Sept. 12, 2016, at Flushing Meadows, NY. Where and when will the 2015 U.S. Open and Nationals Table Tennis Championships be held? We don't know yet. Many people need this info far enough in advance so they can schedule for it. Also, by getting the info out way in advance, players begin thinking about it, and are more likely to attend.
10. Bring back print magazine if financially feasible. About one-third of our membership doesn't play tournaments, and that's all they really get. U.S. Tennis still has a monthly print magazine, and it's one of their major membership recruiting tools. I think USATT jumped the gun in canceling it. I'd like to have both the online version and the print version - and by adding the online version to the previous print version, we can bring in more advertising than before. (I had two tenures as editor of USATT Magazine, totaling twelve years, and I increased advertising revenue by a factor of six.) USATT budgeted the advertising for the online version to be the same as the print version, which had no chance of happening, and advertising is dramatically down, unfortunately. (I blogged about this on February 11, where I predicted the large advertising decrease.)
11. Let members get on the USATT ballot by petition. It used to be that USATT members could get on the ballot with 150 signatures. That was changed a few years ago - now the entire ballot is chosen by the USATT Nominating and Governance Committee (NGC). We need to allow others on the ballot with the 150 signatures (from adult USATT members), and schedule the election so they can get these signatures during the Thanksgiving weekend (where there are major team tournaments), as they used to schedule it.
    There have been a pair of half-hearted attempts to fix this. At the June 2014 meeting at the U.S. Open the USATT Board voted unanimously to "recommend" that the NGC place "all eligible candidates on the ballot." (The NGC didn't act on this.) At the October board meeting Mike Babuin moved that "…all qualified candidates securing the 25 requisite number of signatures shall be placed on the election ballot." However, this standard is too low, and it didn't get a second. If I'm on the board, I'll move that candidates be placed on the ballot with 150 signatures, and that the election be timed so they can do this during the Thanksgiving weekend. Also, the USATT Club Representative is currently an appointed position. I'd like to see this position get voted on by clubs. There's also been talk of having a Coach Representative - I'm all for it!
12. Change USATT's Mission Statement. Here is our current bureaucratic shopping list mission statement, followed by the mission statement of the U.S. Tennis Association. I like theirs, and would like to quote the table tennis version of it regularly at USATT board meetings. It needs to be the driving force behind everything we do.
    1. "The Mission of the USATT shall be to enable United States athletes to achieve sustained competitive excellence in Olympic/Paralympic, Pan American or Para Pan American Games, and other international competitions, and to promote and grow the sport of Table Tennis in the United States, while creating a lasting value for our members."
    2. "To Promote and Develop the Growth of Tennis."

Training for Nationals

Now that the North American Teams are over, we've made the switch from JOOLA 40+ plastic balls to the Nittaku Premium 40+ balls to be used at the Nationals in two weeks. I did a test with one of my students going to the Nationals (Daniel) where, before we started the session, I took three balls and we randomly rallied with each. The first ball we both quickly realized was the same JOOLA ball we'd been using at the Teams. The second one we both thought at first was a celluloid - but it was the Nittaku Premium plastic ball! It plays like a slightly heavy celluloid ball. As soon as we hit with the third ball - a regular Butterfly celluloid training ball - we realized that that was the celluloid, and that the previous one must have been the Nittaku plastic ball. It plays roughly in between a celluloid and the JOOLA (and Sha and Butterfly) plastic balls.

We had 23 Nittaku Premium plastic balls - we both had a dozen, but he'd left one at home. It made multiball a bit short as we're used to doing it with a gross of balls. To keep the balls separate from others who were still using celluloid we used the two tables in the back. One has the robot; when someone asked to use it near the end of our session I asked if he could come back in 15 minutes after we were done, since otherwise the celluloids in the robot would mix with our plastic ones, which would have ended life on earth as well as make us have to search through the balls separating them.

Daniel's going to be on a steady diet of looping (and game-type drills that involve looping) between now and the Nationals. He played well at the Teams, but did way too much pushing, blocking, and smashing. In practice he's a looper, and eventually he's got to get that into his tournament play!!! At the Nationals I'm going to let him smash out of rallies, but I want him to loop off backspin more. After the Nationals he'll be going more and more to looping nearly everything in a rally. He just turned ten, and is about 1600. He has a few technical issues we're working on.  

One problem he's facing is that in the Tuesday and Friday night leagues that he usually plays in the players are still mostly using celluloid. He skipped it last night but he's going to go back to playing it probably this Friday, but only with opponents who agree to use the Nittaku Premium plastic ball. I think most will be willing, but we'll see.

While I worked with Daniel, our Chinese practice partner/coaches worked with our other top juniors on other tables, also with Nittaku Premium plastic balls.

Here's something interesting I discovered last night. Celluloid balls, and most of the new plastic balls (Nittaku Sha, JOOLA, Butterfly) are hard to write on with a ballpoint pen. (Try it.) But the surface of the Nittaku Premium plastic ball is different - it's easy to write on. This'll make it a lot easier to sign autographs!

Table Tennis: It Might Be Time to Take It Up Again

Here's the article from the Washington Post, which features Navin Kumar, a student of mine at MDTTC with both Parkinson's and a partially mechanical heart. (It'll be in the print edition tomorrow.) The article features table tennis and its health benefits. (I'm quoted in it a several times.)

World Junior Championships

The action continues at the World Junior Championships! Here's the USATT page where you can follow the USA results. As noted yesterday, USA Girls made the semifinals, and so got the bronze, while USA Boys finished 13^th. As expected, China swept both team events. Three of the four USA teams advanced yesterday to the main draw (64 teams) in Mixed Doubles:

• Kanak Jha/Prachi Jha (USA) defeated Deas Markhabayev/Selena Selvakumar (KAZ), -13,3,6,8
• Kunal Chodri/Crystal Wang (USA) defeated Roger Rao/Ruofei Rao (NZL), -10,-9,8,5,8 (NICE COMEBACK!)
• Krish Avvari/Lily Zhang (USA) d. Marko Medjugorac/Alicia Cote (CAN), 10,-8,6,6
• Alexander Valuch/Maria Malanina (SVK/RUS) d. Aashay Patel/Angela Guan (USA), 6,-7,-6,4,8

Alas, all three lost in the first round in the main draw:

• Patryk Zatowka/Natalia Bajor (POL) d. Kanak Jha/Prachi Jha (USA), 3,9,9
• Kilian Ort/Nina Mittelham (GER) d. Kunal Chodri/Crystal Wang (USA), 10,6,-7,6
• Asuka Sakai/Miyu Maeda (JPN) d. Krish Avvari/Lily Zhang (USA), 6,6,4

Great Point at World Junior Championships

Here's the video (44 sec) of Carl Ahlander of Sweden (the disbelieving chopper pick-hitter) vs. Stanislav Kucera of Czech Republic.

Team Thailand Celebrates Their Upset over Romania at World Junior Championships

Here's the team picture after their win at the World Junior Championships - I think they had too much soda!

Actions of the USATT High Performance Committee

I'm glad that we're getting these regular reports (see below), and given the funding level, I'm overall happy with what they are doing. However, we've got a serious problem for next year. From the Oct/Nov report is this disappointment: "The USOC informed USATT that no funding would be provided to support our High Performance program for 2015. Although the USOC’s support in recent years has tended to be targeted for particular athletes, this was a significant financial loss to the program. The USOC explained that it is focusing on sports with more immediate potential for medals." I believe the USOC funds USATT in other ways in addition to the High Performance program, but I'm not sure of the specifics.

• August/September 2014
• October/November

Pips in a Nutshell: Understand Your Opponent's Weapon

Here's the new coaching article by Samson Dubina.

International Table Tennis Skills

Here's the coaching DVD by Samson Dubina. I just got my copy!

Ask the Coach

Episode 40 (20:32) - Shut Down a Killer Forehand

• Our Response to Yesterday's #QOTD  - 0:25: How many different serves do you use
• PingSkillers Question of the Day - 1:58: Would Waldner survive in the modern game?
• Question 1 - 2:23: In a match against Xu Xin, Samsonov seemed to put him under all sorts of pressure, almost as if he cut Xu Xin down to size by not letting him play that fast forehand. Was there something wrong with Xu Xin in that match, or was it Samsonov’s game? Shripathi
• Question 2 - 8:19: I have a problem when they do topspin stroke, I block but sometimes they heavy topspin and sometimes it has no spin, so when i block it, it sometimes goes out or net. What should I do to keep the block on the table and know how much spin it has? Long
• Question 3 - 12:06: i have a major problem witch is that i know a lot about ping pong but when i start a match i scare a lot and i lose ! plzzz help! Ramzi
• Question 4 - 14:24: If my head moves up or down because of my stance does it matter in judging a ball? Should its position remain at same height all the time? Should I constantly look at the ball during play or shifting the sight between ball and opponent? Ahsan Ali
• Question 5 - 16:38: For Backhand serve, where should I stand? Maybe more than one position? Should I have my left foot in front ( I am right handed), right foot in front, or feet even? Anthony Capasso

Dubai 2014 ITTF Star Awards Nominees

Here's the ITTF Press Release. You get to vote for the winner! The nominees are:

Male Table Tennis Star:

• Quadri ARUNA (NGR) - World number 30, highest ranked African player of the last 30 years.
• FAN Zhendong (CHN) - 2014 Youth Olympic Games winner, World number 3.
• Marcos FREITAS (POR) - 2014 European Team Table Tennis Championships winner, first Portuguese player to be ranked top 10 in the World.
• XU Xin (CHN) - 2013 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals & 2014 Asian Games winner, World number 1.
• Nomination video: http://youtu.be/_CW-Vt_eacs. 

Female Table Tennis Star:

• DING Ning (CHN) - 2014 ITTF Women's World Cup winner, World number 1.
• FENG Tianwei (SIN) - Won 3 World Tour events in 2014, World number 4.
• Kasumi ISHIKAWA (JPN) - Leader of Japanese National Team, Silver medalist at the 2014 World Team Table Tennis Championships, World number 6.
• LIU Shiwen (CHN) - 2013 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals & 2014 Asian Games winner, World number 2.
• Nomination video: http://youtu.be/edOQyE0hiwM.

Kenta Matsudaira vs. Vladimir Samsonov

Here's the video (11:16, with time between points removed) of their very nice match at the Worlds. Sometimes it seems as if Samsonov isn't doing anything and yet he dominates most of the points.

Righty Flip, Lefty Smash

Here's the video (12 sec) as Sean O'Neill switches hands to end the point in the Under 21 Finals in Las Vegas (many years ago, circa early 1980s?) against a disbelieving Eric Boggan.

Ten Christmas Gift Ideas for a Table Tennis Player

Here's the list from Expert Table Tennis! (And don't forget to buy one of these!)

How to Be a Table Tennis Player

Here's the video (1:45) from the "Piing of Power" that explains the five steps to becoming a top table tennis player - strength, endurance, diet, practice, and service. But somehow I don't think this is from any of my coaching manuals!!!

Mad Sport

Here's the table tennis parody song (3:02) that parodies the song Mad World (3:02) by Gary Jules. Since it is produced, lyrics by, and sung by "Heavyspin," we can conclude it's by the infamous Larry Bavly!

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USATT Election

Below is Part 5 of my series of blogs about my plans if elected to the USATT Board. Here is my Election Page, and here's the USATT Election Notice. Here's my blogging schedule:

1. Monday, November 24: Create a Nationwide System of Regional Team Leagues
2. Tuesday, November 25: Create State Associations
3. Wednesday, November 26: Create a USATT Coaching Academy to Recruit and Train Professional Coaches
4. Monday, December 1: Turn U.S. Open and Nationals into Premier Events
5. Tuesday December 2: Create a Professional Players Association and Professionalize the Sport
6. Wednesday, December 3: Other Issues (Balloting opens on this day, and continues until Dec. 27.)

Create a Professional Players Association and Professionalize the Sport

=>The Goal: For top USA players to make a living playing professionally.

We need to bring in an entrepreneurial leader to create an independent USA Professional TT Players Association. He would focus on creating a professional league or circuit, and bring in local & national sponsorship money for each event to turn table tennis into a money and TV sport. (He'd be paid primarily via commissions, though USATT might need to put in seed money.) This could grow out of the current NA Tour. A possible model is tennis, where there is a partnership between USTA and the ATP (the professional group).

Right now there are essentially three "Tours" in the U.S., with the NA Tour the largest. There is also the Butterfly Tour, and North American Table Tennis runs a series of 4-star tournaments. I'd like to get them all together, perhaps as part of the NA Tour, but that could get tricky. For now I'm going to call it the USA Tour.

We need to recruit an entrepreneurial leader to be President of a USA Professional Table Tennis Players Association (hopefully with a better name), whose job it would be to go to cities in the USA Tour and bring in sponsorships for each stop (to dramatically increase prize money), to promote the events (both to bring in paying spectators and to interest sponsors, who aren't interested in an event that nobody knows about), to organize activities, to find ways to make and save money for the top players (free places to stay, etc.), and other ways of professionalizing the sport in this country. 

The President of the Players' Association would promote the events locally, both to bring in paying spectators (and therefore more prize money) and to bring in TV. With the publicity and TV there is a growing awareness of the event, and that is the bait that brings in sponsors. He'd then focus on bringing in those sponsorships. He'd do this at each event, with the goal of turning each event into a big event, with large prize money, lots of paying spectators, and TV.

Most sponsorships are local - there are only a few sporting events large enough to bring in more national sponsors than local ones - and so he needs to focus on bringing in those local sponsors. If there's a tour stop in, say, Chicago, he'd focus on local sponsors in Chicago. For example, if there's a large local car dealership, then he'd try to get that car dealership to be a sponsor.

Publicity, TV, and sponsorships go together. Publicity leads to paying spectators and TV, and both lead to sponsorships, and that's what leads to big prize money and professional table tennis.

Can we get paying spectators for table tennis? When China sent players to the U.S. Team Championships in the 1990s I ran two "USA vs. China" team matches, and got about 500 paid spectators at each. That was before we had the Internet to publicize such events - I had to rely on local newspapers and TV News to promote it. In Europe local club matches are big spectator events. It's all about marketing and promoting.

How do we pay for the President of the Players Association? Ideally, he'd be paid by commission. If he brings in lots of money, he makes lots of money. I'd like to find someone who sees this as a huge opportunity to be the next David Stern or the next Pete Rozelle, the guys who turned the NBA and NFL into huge properties. Rather than work for a set salary, he'd rather work for commission and become both rich and famous. Realistically, we might have to pay this person, at least at the start. So I will try to get USATT to spring for some of this. Knowing the USATT budget is tight, that'll be a battle!

This won't be just a USATT thing. We need to get the top USA players together to support this new organization. Their player reps (who are on the USATT Board) would be the main ones involved in the hiring of this person. We need to find someone who will make professional table tennis his top priority, and who will work with both the players, with USATT, and with the USATT CEO in achieving the goal of professional table tennis in this country. Are you (yes, you, the one reading this) that person?

There's going to be some resistance. We're essentially setting up a rival organization, i.e. a professional table tennis players association. But that's no different than how other successful sports operate. For example, USTA and the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) work closely together, and they are both highly successful. (ATP is a worldwide association, but it was once USA dominated.) USTA focuses primarily on amateur players (leagues, juniors, colleges, seniors, coaches, and the U.S. Open), while ATP focuses on the professional players (tour events, prize money, TV). USATT is always split between the interests of the average player and the pros, and so serves neither very well. By splitting the duties between two organizations both groups will be better served.

Sometimes I think we have to remind USATT people that the goal of USATT is to develop table tennis in this country, not control it. There's a distinction. 

Of course, if USATT is against such an organization, and I'm unable to convince them otherwise, the players themselves could do this. The very act of trying to get USATT to instigate this could lead to the players organizing and getting this done. I'll support them all I can.

ADDENDUM ADDED DEC. 24: At the USA Nationals I learned not of one, but of TWO different plans being created to professionalize table tennis in the U.S. for the top players. I will have to go over these other plans and see if they can be developed and would be better than what I propose above. It's either a headache or a wealth of riches.

World Junior Championships

USA Junior Girls (Lily Zhang, Prachi Jha, Crystal Wang, Angela Guan) upset South Korea (3-0!) to make it to the semifinals. Here's a video interview with them (1:23) after the win, and a team picture. (L-R: Angela Guan, Crystal Wang, Coach Lily Yip, Lily Zhang, and Prachi Jha.) Here's an ITTF article on USA making it to the quarterfinals, and another on their win over South Korea. Alas, they lost in the semis to Japan, 0-3; here's the ITTF article on that. Here's the ITTF home page for the event (results, articles, pictures, video). Here's the USATT page for the event, where you can see USA results, picture, video, and lots of great quotes from the USA juniors.

Coming up are singles and doubles. In Girls' Doubles, USA teams are Lily Zhang/Prachi Jha and Crystal Wang/Angela Guan. In Boys' Doubles it's Kanak Jha/Kunal Chodri and Krish Avvari/Aashay Patel. In Mixed Doubles it's Kanak Jha/Prachi Jha, Aashay Patel/Angela Guan, Kunal Chodri/Crystal Wang, and Krish Avvari/Lily Zhang.

Crystal's from my club - I've coached her a number of times in tournaments and worked with her some when she was younger before she got too fast for to practice with. (Her primary coach is Jack Huang). I watched her 10, -10, 7, 10 win over South Korea's Kim Jiho. (Kim had earlier upset Doo Hoi Kem of Hong Kong, ranked #1 in the world in Under 18 Girls and the top seed here.)

Ask the Coach

Episode #39 (23:06) - Spin Reversal

• Response to the #QOTD  - 0:36: Should edge balls be ruled out?
• PingSkillers #QOTD  - 2:07: How many different serves do you use?
• Question 1 - 2:23: When a topspin ball hits a bat with pimples, the rotation isn't reversed, so it comes back with backspin. In table tennis terminology this is spin reversal, while actually it is spin continuance the ball keeps spinning in the same direction right? Thomas K
• Question 2 - 5:14: When it's 10-8 for my opponent and it's my serve, what type of serve should I do if I want to do a comeback, or does it just depend of the player you're playing against. And also if I am the one leading 10-8 what serve should I use to finish the set. Luke W
• Question 3 - 8:32: Finally i was able to join in. So i only have 2-3 hours daily for working on my table tennis and i want to rework on my game from basics. So should i start with stroke mechanics and then footwork? and in which order should i learn strokes?
• Question 4 - 12:11: I've got a question. How do you determine whether a rubber has long pips or medium pips? Do you measure its length? If so, how? Thanks! Kong Wen Ge
• Question 5 - 15:51: I've noticed that most players have more than one serve. Is this a good idea? If so please could you recommend another serve or other serves that I should try to learn? I currently only use the pendulum serve. Matthew
• Question 6 - 18:48: Another question guys: Difference between european and Chinese looping style and pros and cons of both.

Ping Pong for Fighters

Here's the new book, on sale at Amazon, by Tahl Leibovitz. I just ordered it. (Stellan Bengtsson wrote the foreword.) Here's the book description:

This book is called Ping Pong for Fighters, and it’s about fighting all the different elements that are attached to table tennis. The fight starts inward and eventually moves outward, from within ourselves, to the ball, to our opponents, to the environment and the external conditions. I think what’s interesting about this book is that the reader takes the journey with me. All that I learned in over 20 years of competing in table tennis, is in this book. The goal of this book is to try and get the reader to approach the game differently. The book is basically a philosophy for the thinking and feeling player. A philosophy that encourages one to stay in the present moment, have self confidence and compete to the best of their ability. This book is also very direct and very easy to understand. It is not an intellectual discourse or any kind. The book reads more like a conversation consisting of helpful direction through experience and a philosophy of table tennis that is concerned more with experiencing what it feels like to think and play table tennis like a top table tennis player.

Meanwhile, Tahl's been getting some unlikely endorsements!

• Arnold Schwarzenegger: "If you read this, you will terminate your opponents!" 
• Andre Agassi: "Tahl definitely serves up an ace!"
• George Foreman: "It's a Knock Out!"
• Albert Einstein: "Pure Energy!"
• Tom Cruise: "Note to self, 'Get Ping Pong for Fighters' for character help for next Mission Impossible sequel"
• Michelle Obama: "Tahl, your book really hits the right target for kids and adults to get up and play! Congrats and I can't wait for my copy to arrive at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave!"
• Donald Trump: "This is the most luxurious table tennis book ever written. Tahl Leibovitz is an amazing player. If you don't get this book, YOU'RE FIRED!"
• Jackie Chan: "Exactly what I was looking for!"
• Adam Sandler: "He doesn't play table tennis, he destroys it!"
• Mark Zuckerberg: "I LIKE this book!"
• Beyoncé: "All the Single Ladies, get this book!"
• Starbucks: "Starbucks - The perfect place to sit down and enjoy a little Ping Pong for Fighters!"
• Usher
• Billboards
• New York City: "If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere!"

Pong Universe

Here's Pong Universe, a relatively new table tennis site that's "Everything Table Tennis."

Using 40+ Poly Balls in Newgy Robo-Pong Table Tennis Robots

Here's the article by Larry Thoman from Newgy Industries. It has a lot of general info on the new plastic balls.

Plastic Ball Still Needs Improvements

Here's the article from Tabletennista.

Michael Maze in Recover Process

Here's the article from Tabletennista.

Pictures from the North American Teams

Here they are, care of JOOLA USA.

North American Teams - Best Team Names

Here's the listing of all 207 teams. Here's my picks, in alphabetical order, for the twelve best team names.

• Aardvark Assassins
• After School Learning Tree
• Alaskan Assassins
• Beta-lactamase Inhibitors
• Experience Over Youth
• Fire Breathing Rubber Duckies
• LYTTC - Buddy Wuddies
• LYTTC - Oompa Loompas
• LYTTC - White Water Buffalos
• Squatting Dragons
• Swedish Pong Mafia
• Wolves of Pong Street

Your Basic Forehand Underhand Pendulum Sidespin Around-the-Net Countersmash from Backhand Corner

Here's the video (12 sec) as Adam Bobrow demonstrates this fundamental shot.

Racket Edge Chop Lob Winner

Here's the video (33 sec, including slow motion replay) as we see this crazy point by Hou Yingchao in the Champions League. (I'm assuming Hou is the player who hit the crazy shot. If so, does anyone know who was the helpless player trying to return it?)
UPDATE: Dan Seemiller emailed me that the other player was Hui Xu from Team Eslov. 

Shakespeare Pong

Here's the picture!

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Tip of the Week

What's Your Game Plan?

USATT Election

Below is Part 4 of my series of blogs about my plans if elected to the USATT Board. Here is my Election Page, and here's the USATT Election Notice. Here's my blogging schedule:

1. Monday, November 24: Create a Nationwide System of Regional Team Leagues
2. Tuesday, November 25: Create State Associations
3. Wednesday, November 26: Create a USATT Coaching Academy to Recruit and Train Professional Coaches
4. Monday, December 1: Turn U.S. Open and Nationals into Premier Events
5. Tuesday December 2: Create a Professional Players Association, and Professionalize the Sport
6. Wednesday, December 3: Other Issues (Balloting opens on this day, and continues until Dec. 27.)

Turning the U.S. Open and Nationals into Premier Events

=>The Goal: Attract players, spectators, TV, and sponsors to our sport.

We need to find permanent homes for the U.S. Open and Nationals, and develop and market them into big properties, like tennis and other sports did with their major events. I'm leery of trying to do both at the same time, so for now I'm leaning toward turning the Open into our huge showcase event, just as USTA (tennis) did with theirs. But most of what I write here could also apply to the U.S. Nationals.

There are two ways of turning the Open into a "big" event. You can go for more players or you can try to turn it into a big money event with TV coverage and spectators. Currently, and for many years now, there's been little real incentive to do either of these. The paid staff is not in charge of doing it - they have their own jobs to do - and most volunteers have little incentive. No one's in charge of trying to turn the Open into a big event, where it's their top priority, and so it's little wonder it has never turned into a big event. It's not going to just happen spontaneously.

There are specific ways of getting more players in a tournament, but I'm going to focus here on what I think is needed to turn the U.S. Open into a premier money and TV event. (I directed the 1998 Eastern Open, with Richard Lee as tournament president, and we got 358 players in rated events, and 411 overall including the numerous doubles and hardbat events. This is still the record for a U.S. tournament other than the Open, Nationals, or Teams. So I know how to get players into an event, but that's not my focus here.)

The single most important thing we need to do is find a permanent home for the U.S. Open, near a large metropolitan area, where there's a local supporting group that has strong incentive to turn it into a huge event. This should be the single biggest table tennis property in the U.S., and every serious table tennis region would love to be the hosts. But which ones can really step up and make the commitment? We won't know until we put it out to bid. There are strong table tennis communities in the Bay and LA areas on the west coast, in the NY/NJ and MD areas on the east coast, and perhaps in other regions, such as Las Vegas, Florida, Atlanta, or Houston. Which of these or other regions wants to make the U.S. Open "their" permanent property?

This would be one of those landmark events, where regions are given perhaps two years to put together their bids - time for them to bring in personnel, create plans for marketing and sponsorship, and perhaps most important, to line up those sponsors, which would mostly be local ones who want to bring the U.S. Open to their region. The USATT CEO would likely be involved, working with these regions as they put together their bids. The goal is to end up with multiple great options. Where it ends up should be one of the most difficult and gut-wrenching decisions we'll ever have to do - but it should be a choice between great options.

USATT would, of course, retain ownership, with the USATT CEO in overall charge of many aspects, just as USTA does with their U.S. Open - but now they'd have a committed group working to build the event up into a major property. And that's exactly what is needed.

USTA (tennis) found a home for the U.S. Open tennis championships in New York City. They marketed it for years, found sponsors, and kept building it up until it became a premier event. It's all about the marketing and sponsors - things that don't happen by themselves. USATT has never really done this sort of thing in any serious way. By finding a permanent home with a strong local group trying to build it up, USATT doesn't need to do so - and so it can focus on what it should do well, which is oversee it to make sure it's run properly, while working with the committed people build it up.

There's one other group that can greatly help USATT with this. Once we have sponsors so we can build up prize money, the ITTF is great at promoting showcase events, and they have also told us they'll add to whatever prize money USATT can come up with. Some are unhappy with ITTF about the new plastic balls and other issues, but when it comes to running premier table tennis events, they are invaluable. We want to be a regular on the ITTF Pro Circuit, with the U.S. Open a premier event in the U.S. with the best players in the world coming here, turning the event into a major media event (with the proper marketing), which would lead to more sponsors and more prize money, turning it into an even bigger event. But it won't happen until we find the committed group that'll put in the work to make it happen. And finding that group and turning much of the control of the event over to them - which some USATT people will likely find difficult to do - is how we can make this happen. We can't do it alone, which is what we've tried to do throughout our history.

JOOLA North American Teams

They were held this past Fri-Sun in Washington DC, at the Gaylord National Convention Center at National Harbor. Here is the home page for the event, and here are the results - for every single match! A big thank you goes to North American Table Tennis, who ran it; Tournament Director John Miller and Tournament President Richard Lee; and the many umpires and others who volunteered. And here's the winning team!

The tournament had 825 players, 207 teams, and 153 tables. How big was the venue? I always like to watch new players as they see it for the first time - there's usually this "Wow!" look as they walk in. Here's a video (30 sec) that shows you the venue.

I was there coaching, and because of that, I rarely got to see the top-seeded team play. During the Open Final I was busy coaching another final - the Division 11 finals! I coached the MDTTC Musketeers - L-R: Daniel Sofer, Daniel Gong, and Benjamin Clark, with me yelling something in the back - and they won the final 5-0!

I did get to watch new Nigerian star Quadri Aruna, who recently shot from world #73 to #30. He's an extremely fast two-winged looper (aren't they nearly all?), with two things that seemed interesting, at least in the matches I saw. First, he does a lot of backhand serves, often from the middle of the table, like Dimitrij Ovtcharov. Second, unlike many banana-flipping crazed world-class players, he did a lot of short pushing. He played on Team JOOLA along with Chen Weixing and Jorg Rosskopf, which lost in the final 1-3 to the Atlanta team. 

I spent much of the tournament coaching Daniel Sofer (from MDTTC Musketeers) and Nathan Hsu. I started calling Nathan the "1.95 man" because of his habit of losing the first and falling behind in the second, often game-point down (twice)  before coming back to win. (He did this in back-to-back matches, but came back to win the second both times from down 9-10 and 7-10.) If you want to win at any level, it's best not wait until you are down 0-1 in games and down game point in the second to start playing your level! It takes time to really get into a match as you adjust to the opponent's shots, but you really need to pretty much be there after 6-7 points.

On Saturday afternoon the MDTTC "A" Team played Spin New York. Since Nathan sat out that match, I wasn't needed as a coach, and so I volunteered to scorekeep, which I did for three matches. (I couldn't umpire - conflict of interest.) Alas, MDTTC lost all three matches where I was scorekeeper (and the team match), and so perhaps I better stop scorekeeping? Also, am I the only one who noticed that Spin New York (who made the semifinals) is Spin NY, or Spinny?

I'm tired of the plastic ball issues that I've blogged about repeatedly, and don't want to spend much time here. The JOOLA plastic balls used played okay, but did break too often. While warming up with one student in the morning we broke three balls in fifteen minutes. It wasn't normally that bad, but the balls did break perhaps every two matches, maybe a bit more.

One of our top players kept flipping balls into the net, and lost a match because of this. He'd been playing in celluloid tournaments up until about three weeks before or so, and since making the switch to plastic, hadn't really worked on his forehand flip. When one opponent started serving short there, he kept missing the flip - the ball was heavier than a celluloid, and so his normal flipping stroke didn't work, and so he was likely trying to consciously adjust, which rarely works. And so he swatted balls all over the place and lost. After the tournament ended I grabbed a bunch of balls - Nittaku Premium, which will be used at the Nationals his next tournament - and worked with him on his flip for half an hour. I think he's set now, but it's a reminder to make sure everything's ready for a tournament!

One junior I coach as an attacker didn't have confidence in his attack, and so after many months of looping practice, turned into a pusher/blocker/flat hitter in the tournament. We'll work on that - it looks like we need to play a lot of simulated games where each rally starts with him looping.

I've been going to the Teams since 1976, usually as a player, in recent years as a coach. So this was year #39 for me. I'm feeling old!

Butterfly Teams

They were held this past weekend in Hobart, Indiana. Here are a flurry of articles on them by Barbara Wei.

• Midwest Juniors Come Together to Compete at 2014 Butterfly Thanksgiving Teams Tournament
• Teams Ready to Battle for $1,500 Top Prize at 2014 Butterfly Thanksgiving Teams Tournament
• Leading Names Take Control on First Day of Play at 2014 Butterfly Thanksgiving Teams
• Great Conditions a Treat for Players at 2014 Butterfly Thanksgiving Teams
• Top Seeds Prevail to Clinch Championship Prizes at 2014 Butterfly Thanksgiving Teams
• Danny Seemiller Achieves Championship Title; Joey Cochran Repeats Success
• Tournament Director Danny Seemiller has High Hopes for Future of Butterfly Thanksgiving Teams Event

World Junior Championships

They are taking place right now, Nov. 30 - Dec. 7, in Shanghai, China. Here's the ITTF home page for the event, where you can find results, articles, pictures, and video. Here's an article that features Team USA. The USA Boys' Team is Kanak Jha, Krish Avvari, Kunal Chodri, and Aashay Patel. The USA Girls' Team is Lily Zhang, Prachi Jha, Angela Guan, and Crystal Wang. Here's an ITTF press release that features Lily Zhang. As of this writing, USA Girls are in the quarterfinals, where they will face South Korea on Tuesday. USA Boys lost to Poland 1-3, and will be playing Argentina on Tuesday in a playoff for 13^th and 14^th place.

Forehand Block

Here's the new video (4:49) from PingSkills.

Are You Too Old to Start Playing Table Tennis?

Here's the new coaching article from Expert Table Tennis. "Fan Zhendong is 17 years old and has already achieved more in table tennis than most of us can ever dream of. Does this mean we should all just give up now? Are you too old to start playing table tennis? And is it even possible to master such a complex game as an adult?"

Slow Motion Table Tennis: Aggressive Forehand Loop

Here's the video and tutorial (3:51), showing it in slow motion and with the major points explained.

Multiball with Two Tables

Here's the video (36 sec) - my students are in for now!

Ask the Coach

Episode 36 (19:40) - All-Out Attack

• PingSkillers Question of the Day - 2:40: What percentage of your serves are short as opposed to long?
• Question 1 - 3:00: I like to attack when the ball is long or high. However my footwork is not that good and topspins are not consistent. People suggest that I should not try to topspin everything. Sometimes if I play more passively I win more points. What’s better? Ilia
• Question 2 - 7:25: Have u heard of Desmond Douglas? Lloyd Taylor
• Question 3 - 10:07: I was playing in a tournament at my local club and one of my opponents was blocking the view of the contact with his free hand. He would likely have beaten me anyway, but I had no chance to return service effectively with him blocking my view. Gary McAdams
• Question 4 - 12:53: I have been playing tt for 2 years but haven't improved much because I haven’t had proper guidance. When doing forehand topspin I can't get the length right or transfer my weight. I have improved during shadow play but how to improve in practice? Raut
• Question 5 - 16:00: Can you tell me how I should practice my high toss serve. Sometimes I don't even get the bat to hit the ball while it's falling. When I practice the serve should I practice for about 45 minutes. Sachintha

Episode 37 (12:00) - Troubles with Short High Backspin Balls

• PingSkillers Question of the Day - 3:14: Could your club survive without its volunteers?
• Question 1 - 3:30: Is it OK to use ordinary varnish like plastic varnish or wood varnish and what benefits does it gives?? thank you. Jared Yulo
• Question 2 - 5:17: I often get into a position whereby my opponent has made a mistake and returned the ball back very high and short but with backspin. I feel that this ought to be an easy kill but I seem to put it in the net way way too often. Dan Shoop
• Question 3 - 7:48: Do you lose a point when the server’s racket touches the table on a serve? I believed that it's not allowed for the paddle to touch the table when serving however it's allowed other times. Please clarify. Ubayeedurrahman
• Question 4 - 9:57: I want to share you that that I am short. So can you suggest me some serves which are good for me and effective spin serves because I am not able to do good serves because of my height. Kosheen

Episode 38 (13:36) - Strategy Against a Strong Forehand

• PingSkillers #QOTD  - 2:15: Should edge balls be ruled as out?
• Question 1 - 2:48: I have a question about short pushing? Is there a different technique for this compared to long pushing? If so, how does it differ? Dima
• Question 2 - 5:13: I hold the bat like it is in the pendulum serve. When i do that i can't hit the ball backhand and if i hold the bat like normal i can't play so good at my forehand how can i change this? Oğuz Aydemir
• Question 3 - 7:28: Hey, I'm just wondering, how does a penholder play a role as a defender? Because I don't see much defending from a penholder. Thanks. Antonius Willson
• Question 4 - 9:08: I have a game coming up where my opponent has a very strong forehand loop and he even tries to pivot. His weakness is his backhand. Any tips or advise which I should I stick to while I am playing against him? Salman Razi

Dimitrij Ovtcharov Multiball

Here's a video (17 sec) of some rapid multiball by the German star.

Dimitrij Ovtcharov Affected by the Plastic Ball

Here's the article, with links to videos.

Unbelievable Defensive Skills

Here's the video (47 sec) of Par Gerell of Sweden (world #39) as he lobs and fishes against Panagiotis Gionis of Greece (world #20).

The Path I Have Chosen - Zhang Jike

Here's the tribute video (6:43) of the World and Olympic Champion.

Junior Trick Shots

Here's a video (4:43) of 10-year-old Jimmy Goodwin knocking down targets.

Ending the Game with a Tricky Serve

Here's the video (13 sec)! It hurts my knees just watching this.

King Waldner

Here's the picture!

***

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Last Blog Until Monday

I'll be coaching at the North American Teams this weekend (Fri-Sun), and so this'll be my last blog until next Monday. If you're there, stop by and say hello!

USATT Election

Below is Part 3 of my series of blogs about my plans if elected to the USATT Board. Here is my Election Page, and here's the USATT Election Notice. Here's my blogging schedule:

1. Monday, November 24: Create a Nationwide System of Regional Team Leagues
2. Tuesday, November 25: Create State Associations
3. Wednesday, November 26: Create a USATT Coaching Academy to Recruit and Train Professional Coaches
4. Monday, December 1: Turn U.S. Open and Nationals into Premier Events
5. Tuesday December 2: Create a Professional Players Association, and Professionalize the Sport
6. Wednesday, December 3: Other Issues (Balloting opens on this day, and continues until Dec. 27.)

Create a USATT Coaching Academy to Recruit and Train Professional Coaches
=>The Goal: Large numbers of coaches, training centers, and junior & adult programs.
This leads to large numbers of juniors and adult players. The Academy would expand on the current ITTF Program. Since the coaches pay for their training (as they do in the ITTF program and in other sports), the system pays for itself.
More Training Centers => More Junior Programs => More Players and Higher Level of Play

First, a brief history. At the December, 2006 USATT Board Meeting I gave a presentation on how and why USATT should get involved in the recruiting and training of coaches and directors to set up full-time training centers and junior programs, with the goal of 100 successful ones in five years. Two board members openly argued that there weren't enough players in the U.S. to support such training centers, and the rest either nodded their heads or kept silent. They missed the obvious - that the point of such centers was to develop the interest, not rely on the current non-interest. But they didn't have the vision to see this (or at least didn't speak up), and so they checked the item off the agenda and went on to the next forgettable item. I tried again at the 2009 USATT Strategic Meeting, but again couldn't find interest from USATT leaders.

Back in 2006 there were only 8-10 such training centers in the country, and in 2009 they were just starting to pop up around the country. Now there are 78, with most of them running junior programs. Once a successful model was shown, others rushed in and copied it. And so, with little help from USATT, full-time centers have risen all over the country. (Just four years or so ago Maryland had just one full-time center - MDTTC; now there are seven within about a 30-minute drive, in Maryland, Virginia, and DC. More and more are opening in California around the Bay Area and LA, in the NY/NJ area, and other locations.)

Now 78 full-time training centers may seem like a lot, but it isn't; we've barely tapped the surface. My best guess is that we could comfortably have 500 to 1000 such full-time centers in this country. (Eight years how many believed we'd have 78 now?) Each time one opens it increases the local activity, bringing in more and more players and turning the region into a hotbed for table tennis. When one first opens, it does temporarily take some players away from other local clubs, but that's just temporary - soon they are adding players to the local table tennis community, and everyone wins.

As these centers open, guess who also wins? USATT, as it both gains members and rises in the world rankings with the elite players produced by these centers.

I was so disgusted at what happened at that 2006 board meeting that I resigned my position as USATT Editor and Program Director. (I was equally disgusted by the 2009 meeting.) However, I'm hoping that the current board is more open to such things, now that we've seen the rise of full-time training centers in the intervening years. It is time to get involved.

So what should USATT do? It should actively recruit and train coaches and directors to open such centers. Sure, we could just sit on the sidelines and let things happen on their own. Or we can get involved and spur it to the next level, as other successful sports do. USATT wouldn't be taking control of these centers; they'd be recruiting and training interested coaches and directors so they can do this themselves. USATT already has the ITTF coaching program, which I endorse, but it doesn't go far enough. It only teaches coaches how to coach. Here's what USATT needs to do:

1. Actively recruit coaches to become professional coaches. We need to show that coaches can make good money as coaches, which happens to be true. I know many coaches who make over $100,000/year. And I make good money as a coach!!!
2. Train them on the business of being a professional coach. This includes teaching them how to open a full-time center; how to recruit and retain students; creating and running programs (junior training, adult training, classes, training camps, leagues, tournaments), how to maximize profits, etc. I've already written and published the Professional Table Tennis Coaches Handbook, which covers much of this, and which I'll donate at cost to this program. (Retail cost is $5, but I can donate them at my cost, which is $2.15 plus shipping.) I'm told that someone is writing a manual on opening full-time centers, and I hope to meet with that person at the USA Nationals to discuss what needs to go into it. Right now every time someone wants to open such a training center he has to either start from scratch, or find someone else who's run one and grill them for info.

And that would be the purpose of a USATT Coaching Academy - to recruit and train coaches to be full-time professional coaches who open full-time training centers and run junior training and other programs. There is some gray area here. Should the USATT Coaching Academy be at a specific location, perhaps at one of the full-time training centers? Or should it move around, with the program taught at different centers? We can decide that later.

How do we go about creating a USATT Coaching Academy?

1. Step One: Create the curriculum. USATT already teaches ITTF Coaching Courses, but the problem with that is that it teaches how to coach, but not how to be a professionalcoach. We need a curriculum that also teaches how to find a place to coach, solicit and keep students, set up and run junior training and other programs, how to maximize income, and all the other issues faced by professional coaches. Most of this is already covered in the Professional Table Tennis Coaches Handbook, which I wrote and would make available at cost. One aspect that's not covered that much in the handbook is setting up full-time centers. A manual for that is a must, and would be part of the curriculum. Perhaps the two could be combined into one manual.
2. Step Two: Hire someone to teach the course. Ideally we'd bring in someone who is already teaching ITTF coaching courses in this country, who can simply add the additional curriculum. (Richard McAfee, are you listening?) This person would also likely be in charge of creating the curriculum for item #1, with my assistance if needed. 
3. Step Three: Find a site or sites to teach the course. They could take place at full-time clubs with successful junior programs and top coaches so the prospective coaches can see how a successful program works. Ideally we'd use various centers around the country - we have a number to choose from now!
4. Step Four: Solicit people who wish to become full-time professional coaches, as well as ones who wish to run junior programs. It's not enough to simply put out a notice and hope some people show up. We need tosellthe program, very publicly showing and advertising how coaches can make very good money - typically $40 to $50/hour, and more for group sessions, plus various commissions. We need to create a corps of professional coaches, who not only know how to coach, but are activelycoaching and running junior programs, with the emphasis on those who wish to do so full-time or who wish to run junior training programs. The coaches would pay for their training, just as they currently do for the ITTF courses (and in other sports), and this would pay for the person running course and other expenses. 
5. Step Five: Run the program, and the USATT Coaching Academy is born!!! I'll likely be there assisting at the start - as an unpaid volunteer if I'm on the USATT Board. 

It seems to me that much of what I've written is rather obvious. Back in 2006, we had at most a few dozen kids in the whole country doing serious training for table tennis, while countries all over the world had thousands. So we obviously needed more junior programs. That meant more training centers.

More training centers => more junior programs => Ariel Hsing, Lily Zhang, Crystal Wang, Amy Wang, Kanak & Prachi Jha, Jack Wang, Alguetti Brothers, Derek Nie, Victor Liu, Krish Avvari, Kunal Chodri, Felix Gao, Michael Tran, Nikhil Kumar, Erica Wu, Angela Wang, etc., etc. (with huge apologies to those not mentioned - the list is just endless). It used to be we’d have perhaps one good player in each age group, if we were lucky. Now the player that would have been good is often just a quarterfinalist. Eight years ago Derek Nie, Victor Liu, Michael Tran, or the Alguetti brothers would have dominated their age group. Now they are just in a pack of such great cadets – and not since the days of Eric Boggan have we had juniors like Ariel, Lily, Crystal, Amy, Kanak, and Jack. Players that used to make the final of age events now can't make the final 16.

And all of this remains true whether we have 8, 78, or 508 full-time training centers. So let's get involved and start recruiting and training these coaches, and watch the sport grow.

The Ping-Pong Apartments

Here's a perfect encapsulation of why I'm running for the USATT Board - "The Ping-Pong Apartments." I'm running to fix the Ping-Pong Apartments. And I plan to continue to be a Man in the Arena. I hope others will join me!

Why I Can Work with the USATT Board of Directors

Here's what someone wrote on the Mytabletennis forum:

"I have seen Larry running kids camps with as many as ten to twenty 6-12 year olds.  The camps run a lot smoother than you would expect.  If he can keep those kids on task, working with the USATT Board of Directors should be a piece of cake." -Aman1234

Health Benefits of Table Tennis

After my interview on Sunday with a reporter from the Washington Post I sent him links to articles on table tennis and health. Here's what I sent him - feel free to use these to promote table tennis!

1. MDTTC's Health Benefits of Table Tennis
2. This Is Your Brain on Table Tennis
   "Table Tennis is the No. 1 Brain Sport, Scientists Say"
3. The Secret of Ping-Pong
   "Dr. Oz reveals the secret behind ping-pong: it can actually help prevent Alzheimer’s disease. The game requires hand-eye coordination, quick decision-making and the rapid eye movement of the game requires the brain to do intensely fast analysis. Predicting where the ball will fall demands mental power and constant recalculation."
4. Sport and Art Education Foundation Table Tennis Therapy Program
   "SAEF Table Tennis Therapy Program is an innovative tool designed to benefit early stage Alzheimer's individuals through carefully supervised instructions in 'table tennis therapy.'"
5. Analysis and research on the benefits of table tennis activities in improving the fitness of teenagers
6. The Health Benefits of Table Tennis
7. Ping-Pong: Never Too Old for Gold
8. What Are the Benefits of Playing Table Tennis to Lose Weight?
9. Why Ping Pong Just Might Be the Elixir of Youth
10. U.S. Aerobic Ping Pong

New USATT Magazine

Here's the new Holiday Issue - it just went online! I haven't had a chance to look over the issue yet. I have two articles in it:

• How to Execute a Fast Serve (page 23)
• Review of "Fact or Fiction: The Life & Times of a Ping Pong Hustler" (page 66)

North American Teams

As noted above, I'll be coaching at the North American Teams this weekend (Fri-Sun). As of this writing there are 815 players on 207 teams registered - here's the listing. I went through the entries, and I believe these are all the teams, in order, where the average rating of the top three are over 2500. (I've put the team average at the start.)

1. 2772: Atlanta Inter TT Academy 1 - Zhang Chao (2876), Lin Chen (2800), Xu Ruifeng (2640), Shi Diwei (2627), and Xia Chu (2600)
2. 2734: Team JOOLA - Chen Weixing (2776), Quadri Aruna (2750), Joerg Rosskopf (2677)
3. 2700: China Shan-Dong Provincial Table Tennis - Cao Jin Ze (2700), Zhang Jie Te (2700), Zhang Shang (2700), and Li Bochao (2652)
4. 2688: Westchester Elites - Feng Zhe (2766), Zhang Kai (2664), Liang Jishan (2633), Feng Yijun (2577)
5. 2627: Spin New York - Michel Martinez (2685), Damien Provost (2681), Jon Ebuen (2516)
6. 2610: Tianjin University - Zhao Yang (2663), Guo Kai (2600), Xu Ran (2567), Li HaoSong (2300), Yu DeXin (2200)
7. 2596: Stars of the Future - Zhao ZiRui (2710), Zhao GaoXing (2600), Jack Wang (2478)
8. 2588: LYTTC Professionals - Adam Hugh (2619), Yoo Chang Jae (2604), Grant Li (2540), Cory Eider (2533)
9. 2576: Maryland TTC A - Chen Ruichao (2601), Jeffrey Xun Zeng (2585), Wang Qing Liang (2541), Nathan Hsu (2440)
10. 2576: Maryland TTC B - Lu Ying (2606), Wu Tong Yu (2600), Han Xiao (2521), Chen Bo Wen (2520), Harold Baring (2492)
11. 2511: Girls Power - Zheng, Jiaqi (2565), Ooka, Hiroka (2512), Wu, Yue (2456), Tong, Fei-Ming (2431)
12. 2505: Robo-Pong One - Samson Dubina (2514), Zhang Yahao (2511), Xavier Therien (2491), Sameh Awadallah (2454)

Samson Dubina Coaching Articles & Videos

Here are some new coaching articles from the Ohio coach and top player.

• Backhand Loop Video (2:02)
• Match Point! Game-Winning Strategies
• The Surprise
• The Heavyweight Champion

Ask the Coach

Episode #35 (17:05) - Which Serve is Best?

• Discussion - 0:19: The ITTF World Tour Grand Finals
• PingSkillers Question of the Day - 4:06: Have you ever seen yourself play on video and did you find it useful?
• Question 1 - 5:25: Should players allow their opponent to examine each others rackets before a match? - Shezie
• Question 2 - 6:34: Is it better to serve short topspin serve or would it be better to serve short side spin serve. Or a short side topspin serve? Luke
• Question 3 - 8:48: Should I first explain grip, let them play with proper grip. Then stance, footwork, ball mechanics, full strokes etc? Or should I explain a full stroke including all those aspects and then correct all aspects together while observing? Dieter
• Question 4 - 11:37: When i go to tournaments, i see some players playing a long stroke and some playing short stroke. Which will suit me best? and what factors does it count for the type of stroke i play? Which is the more advisable stroke, short or long? Earl
• Question 5 - 14:38: How does Kenta do his tomahawk serve both reverse and normal one, it is quite difficult to return that serve. Could you give me some clue to make that serve even better. Long

International Table Tennis

Here's my periodic note that you can great international coverage at TableTennista (which especially covers the elite players well) and at the ITTF home page (which does great regional coverage). TableTennista has a nice article "Quadri Aruna Receives Recognition" - he'll be at the North American Teams on Team JOOLA.

Incredible Rally, Incredible Shot!

Here's the video (23 sec).

Kitty-Kat Pong

I think it's a cat!

Easter Island Table Tennis Federation

Here's the cartoon!

Shaun the Sheep - Table Tennis Championships

Here's a new video (62 seconds) where Shaun the Sheep demonstrates the best lobbing skills you'll find around the world - and when I say "around the world," I mean that!

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Send us your own coaching news!

USATT Election

Below is Part 2 of my series of blogs about my plans if elected to the USATT Board. Here is my Election Page, and here's the USATT Election Notice. Here's my blogging schedule:

1. Monday, November 24: Create a Nationwide System of Regional Team Leagues
2. Tuesday, November 25: Create State Associations
3. Wednesday, November 26: Create a USATT Coaching Academy to Recruit and Train Professional Coaches
4. Monday, December 1: Turn U.S. Open and Nationals into Premier Events
5. Tuesday December 2: Create a Professional Players Association, and Professionalize the Sport
6. Wednesday, December 3: Other Issues (Balloting opens on this day, and continues until Dec. 27.)

Create State Associations
=>The Goal: Dramatically increase membership by organizing on the local level.
The country is too big to have everything run by one centralized group. We should model this on tennis or the regional table tennis associations all over Europe.

Some states already have state associations, and if so, that's great - we don't have to do anything other than offer support. (Some very large states may have two or more associations, such as California.) But most don't, and most current ones aren't very active - we need to work with those ones to organize at a higher level. We need truly active state associations that can truly run table tennis in their state or region. I was involved in tennis leagues and saw how effectively a volunteer-run state association can operate. (This doesn't mean it's all volunteer - there are also full-timers involved. We need to find the right mix.)

So how do we go about doing this? We start by recruiting USA state directors all over the U.S. to set up state associations. At the start they would be appointed, but once an association is successful and can run on its own, there can be elections. Each association would need Coaching, League, Tournament, and Club Directors. (In smaller states, they might be combined, at least at first.) USATT would supply the basic prototype bylaws for these state associations, which they could then modify where needed. (I already wrote these prototype bylaws during a previous aborted attempt by USATT to establish regional associations - they are sitting on my computer. I'd like to run them by others at some point before finalizing them.)

Who would organize this? I'm quite willing to let the USATT staff do this, but if they are too busy, and nobody truly qualified wants to do it, I'm quite willing to take it on. Some will accuse me of trying to be in charge of too much, but someone has to do this, and I've got the energy and the vision to do this. But I'm quite willing to let someone else take charge if we can find the right person. I want to make this happen, and so someone has to make it happen.

What should a State Association be responsible for? They would:

• Generally oversee table tennis activities in their state or region
• Oversee the regional team league among clubs in their state or region (see yesterday's blog)
• Arrange tournaments (open and closed)
• Help to bring in coaches for their clubs
• Help to organize junior training programs
• Organize training centers in their state. Every state should have these. (I'll blog about this tomorrow.)
• Find people to open clubs in the cities in their state that don't have clubs, starting with the more populated ones

I envision a time where, like many countries in Europe, players would join state associations rather than the national governing body (USATT) - but in joining that state association would automatically become a USATT member. USATT would get a percentage of the membership dues (as they do overseas), and in return would offer the league, league ratings, tournament ratings, and numerous other types of support (such as manuals and expertise in running various programs). Not all of these state associations will be successful, at least at the start. But if a few are, then that's a state that can take off and lead the country.

Washington Post Interview and Other Work

On Sunday I was interviewed at my club (MDTTC) by the Washington Post for an upcoming feature on Table Tennis and Health. Also interviewed was Navin Kumar, a student of mine who has both Parkinson's and a mechanical heart. We discussed the various health benefits of table tennis, and the sport in general.

It's been a busy few days. I'm actively campaigning in the USATT election, as well as doing my usual coaching and promotional work. Yesterday I finalized the USATT Hall of Fame Program booklet for the Hall of Fame Banquet at this year's Nationals. (This is the sixth year in a row I've done that.) I finalized the Amazon version of Tim Boggan's History of U.S. Table Tennis, Vol. 15. (There were some technical issues that had to be worked out.) I began work on the MDTTC December Newsletter. I spent a bunch of time discussing (in person and via email) with Michael and Stefano a planned "Capital Area Table Tennis LEague" ("CATTLE"!). I also spent time studying the LA Table Tennis League Rules (and their How to Participate and other pages), which could be a model both for "CATTLE" and perhaps for the regional team leagues I proposed in yesterday's blog. We may already have our prototype in place! We just need to turn it into something that can be packaged for other states and regions.

5-Star North American Tour Finals

Here's the USATT article. "The Grand Final will take place Feb. 7-8, 2015, at the Westchester Table Tennis Center, in Pleasantville, NY. It will feature the top 16 finishers from the 2014 Tour."

Actions of the USATT High Performance Committee

Below are their meeting minutes, by Chair Carl Danner. I've had some disagreements with them, but overall I'm quite pleased with this committee's recent work, and look forward to working with them if I'm on the board.

• April/May
• June/July

USATT Criteria and Procedures for Entering US Athletes in International Competitions

Here's the USATT article. I'm pleased they have taken action on this as there was a problem with this earlier this year. I like it when I see people actually taking action to solve problems rather than just letting it go.

Footwork for Defenders

Here's the video (4:12) from PingSkills.

Practicing the Banana Flip Alone

Here's the video (2:39).

Ask the Coach

Episode 34 (12:46) - Pure Backspin

• PingSkillers Question of the Day - 0:19: Who is the best player in the World at the moment? Men's and Women's.
• Question 1 - 1:51: How could I achieve pure heavy back spin serve with Pendulum motion and no side spin on it? So as soon as the opponent touches the ball it goes straight into net. Salman
• Question 2 - 5:26: I've just bought a new rubber and realised that i have glue but out of sponge to apply it to my rubber. I thought that regular sponge can be used as an alternative but it will just soak the glue. Is there any other method to apply the glue. Utkarsh
• Question 3 - 7:00: Can you please tell what and how should a defender practice? Rutvik Thakkar
• Question 4 - 9:56: I'm a pretty advanced player but I'm looking to maximise spin when I chop but it usually either goes well up into the air or lands in the net. Any advice for this? Joshua Griffiths

Devices for Remote Meetings - for League Directors?

Here's a possible device for remote meetings. (Note that when he refers to "Larry's Nov. 24th Project," He's talking about my blog on November 24 - yesterday - where I wrote about creating a nationwide system of regional team leagues.)

As a fervent reader and supporter of Larry’s BLOG, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Jules Apatini, the creator of www.aerobicpingpong.com located here in the US. 

I am originally from Hungary, and as such - have been lifelong and serious Ping Pong/Table Tennis player, supporter, and enthusiast since childhood. In Larry’s Nov. 24th Project, I couldn’t help but see an incredible opportunity to give this Olympic Sport a huge boost in this country (the US Ping Pong Table Tennis World).

I have had a long time dream to jumpstart and promote the awareness of the benefits of Ping Pong and Table Tennis in this country, but this requires a leadership team of passionate visionaries, in order to be successful. In Hungary, and in fact all other countries outside the US, this is how Ping Pong and Table Tennis has evolved to how it is as popular as it is today. There is a need to get the right people organized and involved here in the US. I AM one of those who would and is dedicated to this success.

For all of you who are” in it to win it”, I have information on a groundbreaking and leading-edge,  new smart media video device which can be jointly purchased and used to hold online/remote meetings with those of you who will be involved with LARRY’s Project. The information for this device may be accessed through one of my sites, http://www.smartvideodevices.com, and may also be purchased through my official Amazon affiliate link provided to me by Amazon. There will be more to come in the near future about www.aerobicpingpong.com. Thank you for reading and possibly becoming a more active member of Larry’s wonderful project who may just be able to use this new technology for a variety of purposes and personal benefit.

Best Regards,

Jules Apatini

New Paddles for You!

Seriously - anyone know where I can buy these?

• Sandwich Paddle
• Pistol Paddle

Ping Pong Balls are Incredibly Flammable!

Here's the video (2:09) of a mass of celluloids burning. (I linked to video comparisons of celluloid vs. polyball yesterday, but this was too spectacular not to show.)

NBA Legend John Salley and Table Tennis Legend Kim Gilbert

Here's the picture! "NBA Legend John Salley stopped by to tell me he just bought a ping pong table for his daughter, she wants to become a champion! Game on!!"

The Table Tennis Board and Dining Room Table

Here's the picture!

Liberace Table Tennis Shirt

Here it is!

That's Why We Don't Jump the Net in Table Tennis

Here's the cartoon!

Epic London Underground Ping Pong Battle

Here's the hilarious video (62 sec)!

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Send us your own coaching news!

Tip of the Week

Pre-Serve Routine - a 1-2-3 Approach.

USATT Election

Below is Part 1 of my series of blogs about my plans if elected to the USATT Board. Here is my Election Page, and here's the USATT Election Notice. Here's my blogging schedule:

1. Monday, November 24: Create a Nationwide System of Regional Team Leagues
2. Tuesday, November 25: Create State Associations
3. Wednesday, November 26: Create a USATT Coaching Academy to Recruit and Train Professional Coaches
4. Monday, December 1: Turn U.S. Open and Nationals into Premier Events
5. Tuesday December 2: Create a Professional Players Association, and Professionalize the Sport
6. Wednesday, December 3: Other Issues (Balloting opens on this day, and continues until Dec. 27.)

Create a Nationwide System of Regional Team Leagues

=>The Goal: Dramatically increase USATT membership.

We need to create a prototype regional team league that can spread nationwide. Right now anyone wanting to create such a league has to start from scratch. We need to study how the German leagues (600,000 members, overwhelmingly league members), and others were created and grew, and how other USA sports developed in this way, such as tennis (700,000 members, overwhelmingly league members) and bowling (over two million, overwhelmingly league members). Then design and create a USA league system for table tennis. (When I say "overwhelmingly," I mean 95-99%.) Countries all over Europe have league memberships that dwarf USATT membership, and Asian countries have even more. Their situation is often different than here in the U.S., which is why we study what they and other sports do successfully, and then design a system for USA Table Tennis.  

One thing that's almost foreign to U.S. players is the idea of a team league. Most U.S. leagues are singles. That's fine for a club league, but if you want it to spread and get huge numbers, you need team leagues, where players represent their club in various divisions, based on level. This is how it's done not only in successful table tennis countries, but nearly all other successful sports, as noted above. I've even played in tennis leagues - I was part of a six-man team - and it was all run by volunteers. And that's how they got 700,000 members. (A key is to have regional team leagues where everyone in the league is in easy driving distance. In general leagues should cover an area no more than perhaps an hour drive across, preferably less.) A typical league would have multiple divisions, from beginning to elite.

Keep in mind that tennis having more members than table tennis, as it does in the U.S., is not the norm - we have to get away from that type of thinking, which has been indoctrinated into us along with an inferiority complex to tennis and other sports. All over Europe table tennis memberships are higher than tennis - though both table tennis and tennis memberships there dwarf USA Table Tennis membership. Table Tennis is often called the #2 participation sport in the world, and some surveys show this, but whether we're actually #2 or merely #3, we're near the top of the list, along with soccer, basketball, and volleyball. (Here's a typical listing, which has us at #3.) The Sporting Good Manufacturing Association polls show there are about 19.5 million recreational players in the U.S. - players who aren't interested in competing in tournaments, but might be interested in a recreational league where they get to play on a team with their friends and other players their level. For them, it's not an out-for-blood competitive thing, but a social gathering with their peers, where their friends root for them when they play.

There already are some rather successful leagues in the U.S., such as the LA League (a possible prototype), with hundreds of players playing in different divisions, based on level. However, we need to take them to the next level, so that we measure membership in the thousands, tens of thousands, and (nationally) in the hundreds of thousands. We need to find what's needed to turn them into regional leagues that can be copied in other regions and spread all over the country. (Right now if someone wants to do such a league, there is no model - he has to invent it from scratch.) We might start in one region, and test out a proto-type league. Once we find the right proto-type, we publicize it and work to make it spread. A big part of this might come through organizing State Associations - which I'll blog about tomorrow. In other regions, a group might organize strictly around the league. (For example, there could be a "Capital Area Table Tennis League" in my region.) While initial organizing and promoting will have to come from the top, the rest is done regionally, mostly by volunteers.

Leagues would likely be rated. However, I don't think they should use the USATT tournament ratings - too many players are protective of these ratings, and might not want to put them on the line week after week. Instead, they would likely use the USATT League Ratings, which currently process about 6700 league matches every month in leagues around the country, and have to date processed 486,946 matches in 416 leagues. (Disclosure: I co-founded the USATT League Rating System in 2003 with Robert Mayer.) 

Here is a rough step-by-step procedure for developing this proto-type league. (Note - I made a few adjustments after my initial posting.) 

1. Step One is to put together a task force to study how successful table tennis leagues began overseas, other successful sports leagues in the U.S., and successful USA table tennis leagues.
2. Step Two is to get the task force and successful USA league directors in a room together, lock the door, and don't let them out until they have designed a prototype USA regional league system, a model that can be used by anyone interested in setting up a league, flexible enough to adjust to different situations, that can spread all over the country, region by region. 
3. Step Three is to test the proto-type in a regional league. Once we find one that works, we write down the procedures, rules, guidelines, etc., so others can copy them. 
4. Step Four (though this should start earlier) is to convince USATT leaders that league memberships need to be a core issue for them, as it is for successful table tennis associations overseas, leading to membership in the hundreds of thousands in countries all over Europe. There's no reason why the U.S. can't match or top them. Then we use the resources of USATT to promote and develop these regional team leagues. As league memberships grow, revenue grows, and the bulk of that money needs to go back into developing and promoting the league.

Creating such leagues is an obvious thing to do, but it won't be easy. But if wanted to do easy stuff, we'd be playing Parcheesi. Eventually we'll look back and wonder what we were thinking, putting off creating such leagues for so long when they are the well-beaten path to huge memberships, as shown by table tennis overseas and other USA sports. It might take years, but it'll happen if we make it happen, just as it did for so many others. Table tennis membership all over Europe are counted in the hundreds of thousands - so should we.

Some people I have in mind to help with this - and I haven't actually told them yet, so when they read this they may be caught off guard! - include Bruce Liu, Adam Bobrow, Will Shortz, Mauricio Vergara, Mike Levene, and Stefano Ratti - with apologies to others. If you are involved or have experience in team leagues - especially the large ones overseas - and would like to help out, contact me.

Coaching News

Yesterday was a banner day for me and one of my students, 7-year-old Adrian. After months of practice, everything clicked yesterday, and suddenly he's racing around looping everything - and he's pretty consistent! In live drills, he's able to loop over and over to my block, usually getting ten in a row at a time, with good power. He's also spinning his backhands off the bounce. Besides live drills we did a lot of the 2-1 drill (backhand from backhand side, forehand from backhand side, forehand from forehand side, repeat), looping everything from both sides, and he can do it nearly flawlessly now. And while adults struggle to keep up a fast pace, he keeps yelling, "Faster! Faster!" I kept speeding it up, and he kept up the pace - but it was funny how he'd go from all-out Tanzanian Devil speed to completely tuckered out in seconds when he reached his limit. Then I'd pick up the balls while he drank water and caught his breath. (In drills where I don't exhaust like this he helps with ball pickup.)

There are three reasons for his "sudden" success. I put "sudden" in quotes because it's the culmination of many months of training - sudden improvement doesn't really come suddenly, though the result might happen suddenly.

First, I shortened his swing. He has a tendency to take too long a backswing, which costs him control. Shortening it also made it easier for him to use his whole body - he wasn't always using his left side. A lot of shadow practice helped with this.

Second, I had him stay close to the table to loop the first ball (my topspin serve), and then take a half step back for the rest of the rally. Often he'd get jammed on the second ball. Other times, because he was getting jammed, he'd go back way too far and loop from off the floor. Now he's found the right balance.

Third, and here's the "controversial" one - some won't like this - but he's now using Butterfly Tenergy on both sides of his racket (05 on forehand, 25 on backhand, like I have), on a Timo Boll ALC racket (also what I use). A seven-year-old using superfast sponge and rackets? Sponge that costs about $70/sheet (the most expensive type) and a $136 racket? As I've blogged before, the paradigm on this has changed. If a kid is training regularly with a coach and has the fundamentals down, then using cheaper sponge can only hold him back. Adrian wouldn't be running around looping like Zhang Jike if he were using cheaper equipment, and so he's learning to play like Zhang Jike well before he would otherwise.

Pendulum Serve - Like a Boss!

Here's the video (2:50) from Brett Clarke, who teaches it in his usual entertaining way. As noted in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Towels, "A towel is the most important item a hitchhiker can carry."

Backhand Block

Here's the new coaching video (5:06) from PingSkills.

Ask the Coach

Episode 33 (13:46) - Blocking Sidespin Topspins

• PingSkillers Question of the Day - 0:27: Jun Mizutani heads the standings for the World Tour Grand Finals and won the title in 2010. But can he win the title again?
• Question 1 - 2:14: I can't return hook and fade sidespin topspins effectively. Please tell me an effective way to return them. Kaustubh
• Question 2 - 5:45: Hello. What is the difference between forehand loop and forehand drive? When is the appropriate time to use each one? What is the hand movement like? Karan Sagar
• Question 3 - 9:28: I am wondering what main differences are with the backspin reverse pendulum serve and a standard backspin pendulum serve. Which is easier for almost everyone to do? Stanley Wong
• Question 4 - 11:56: Is it right that different types of top sheets tacky & non-tacky, have a different type of protection? Can you give some explanations? Ernest Wahyu

Table Tennis Ball Flammability

Here's a video (9:09) from Jay Turberville that shows the relative flammability of four table tennis balls: a standard celluloid, and three of the new plastic balls - the Nittaku Sha, the Ipong seamless polyball (presumably from XuShaoFu), and a Nittaku Premium. One thing I'd like to see is a celluloid and one of the new poly balls lit on fire side by side. Whoever does that first, I'll post it.

First Battle of the Paddles a Big Success

Here's the USATT article on this fund-raiser for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Stanislaus County (of Central Valley, California).

Fox News Picks Up Violent Table Tennis Kid Video

I reported on this on Friday. Here's the video from Fox News (1:21). As I noted on Friday, sometimes it seems the only way table tennis gets attention is when someone acts up, such as this or when Zhang Jike destroyed the barriers after winning the World Cup.

Table Tennis and the 2024 Olympics in Washington DC

Here's an article in yesterday's Washington Post (Metro Section, page 1) about the local strategy for bringing the 2024 Olympics to Washington DC. Here's the third sentence: "Badminton and table tennis players battling it out in convention space at National Harbor in Prince Georges County." (Yes, an incomplete sentence, but it's in sort of a list of where various sports would play.)

Four-Year-Old Coaching Two-Year-Old

Here's the video (55 sec), care of father Samson Dubina. And here's video (5:40) of Samson coaching the four-year-old as she sits on the table.

Dining Room Pong

Here's the video (64 sec) of this improvised game.

John McEnroe Plays Table Tennis

Here's the video (15 sec), where he plays and throws his paddle.  

Imaginary Commentating

Here's video (56 sec) of Adam Bobrow doing some imaginary (lip reading?) commentary for a table tennis match. As he explains, "Before I was commentating for ITTF... this happened... and the video recently popped up. I was having some fun at the NCTTA nationals. I could never get away with this now!... or could I?"

Forrest Gump iPhone Pong

Here's the repeating gif image of he and his opponent on facing iPhones!

Ping Pong Polly

Here's a vintage table tennis cartoon circa 1940s/1950s. And the original is on sale for $24.99!

Astronaut Pong

Here's the picture! So what would it be like playing table tennis on the moon, other planets, or in outer space? See my blog from Oct. 24, 2012! And, as I showed once before, they already played table tennis on the moon.

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