Blogs

Larry Hodges' Blog and Tip of the Week will normally go up on Mondays by 2:00 PM USA Eastern time. Larry is a member of the U.S. Table Tennis Hall of Fame, a USATT Certified National Coach, a professional coach at the Maryland Table Tennis Center (USA), and author of ten books and over 2100 articles on table tennis, plus over 1900 blogs and over 600 tips. Here is his bio. (Larry was awarded the USATT Lifetime Achievement Award in July, 2018.)

Make sure to order your copy of Larry's best-selling book, Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers!
Finally, a tactics book on this most tactical of sports!!!

Also out - Table Tennis TipsMore Table Tennis Tips, Still More Table Tennis Tips, and Yet Still More Table Tennis Tips, which cover, in logical progression, his Tips of the Week from 2011-2023, with 150 Tips in each!

Or, for a combination of Tales of our sport and Technique articles, try Table Tennis Tales & Techniques. If you are in the mood for inspirational fiction, The Spirit of Pong is also out - a fantasy story about an American who goes to China to learn the secrets of table tennis, trains with the spirits of past champions, and faces betrayal and great peril as he battles for glory but faces utter defeat. Read the First Two Chapters for free!

Tip of the Week

Short Serves to the Forehand from Backhand Side.

The New Plastic Balls

Here's a review of the new ball by Alex Vanderklugt of the OOAK forum. He reviews it with visual inspection, sound, size, the bounce test, and in actual play. The results are not good.

As some of you may have heard, plastic poly balls (instead of celluloid) are coming to table tennis, replacing the usual celluloid, care of the ITTF, starting July 1, 2013. The reasons seem to be vague, but involve a supposed worldwide ban on celluloid because of their flammability. Can someone point me in the direction of a good article on the current status? I've heard they may postpone the actual switch if they are unable to come up with poly balls that are satisfactory, but can't remember where I've heard this. Anyone know anything?

USATT Coach of the Year

It's that time of year again - time to nominate coaches for the USATT Coach of the Year Awards! There are five awards - National, Developmental, Volunteer, Paralympic, and Doc Counsilman. (I was the USATT Developmental Coach of the Year in 2002, and was runner-up three times, alas.)

Men's World Cup Results and Video

Here are results, articles, and photos of the 2012 Men's World Cup, held this past weekend at Liverpool, England. Congrats to China's Ma Long, who came from behind to defeat Germany's Timo Boll in the final, -7,-8,2,7,7,10. And here's a video of the Final in just eight minutes, with time between points taken out. 

Best of the Men's World Cup

Here's a video of the best points (5:47) from the Men's World Cup held this past weekend in Liverpool, England.

Henzell's World Cup Blog

Eight-time Australian Champion William Henzell kept a blog of his trip to the Men's World Cup in Liverpool, England this past weekend. Here are the three entries.

Butterfly MDTTC September Open

The MDTTC September Open I ran last weekend was already processed on Thursday night! That's pretty fast. Here are the rating results, here are the actual results, and below is my writeup. 

 

Seventy-three players competed in eight events for $2600 in prize money plus trophies at the September Open at the spacious Maryland Table Tennis Center. The events were dominated by local junior players, with at least one junior player in seven of the eight finals. In the Open, it was chopper/looper Wang Qing Liang (17, rated 2644) over two-winged penhold looper Chen Bo Wen (15), -6,6,9,7,-9,6. In the semifinals they defeated a pair of former Maryland junior stars, Wang over Raghu Nadmichettu (6,7,9,5) and Chen over Khaleel Asgarali (10,3,8,7).

After losing to Chen Bo Wen in the Open Semifinal, Raghu came from down 0-2 to win Under 2350 over Hung Duy Vo, -9,-15,6,11,8, in the only final without a junior player.

Roy Ke, 13, had an exceptional tournament, winning Under 2200 with a string of upsets over Chen Qiming (2121), Nazruddin Asgarali (2187), and coming back to win the final over Lixin Lang (2127), -6,-5,4,8,8. His new rating is 2188.

Another junior having an exceptional tournament was Anthony (Tony) Qu, 12, who not only won Under 2050 over John Olsen, but upset Richard Doverman (2349, 11-9 in the fifth) and Derek Nie (2170, 13-11 in the fifth) to make the quarterfinals of the Open. His new rating is 2194.

Practice partners Wesley Duan (11) and Kyle Wang (12) ran amok in four events, taking four second places - Wesley in Under 1900 and Under 1650, and Kyle in Under 1400 and Under 1150. Winning these four events, respectively, were Pat Lui, Quang Lam, Ara Sahakian, and still another local junior, 12-year-old Daniel Yang.

Rating-wise the big winner was William Wung, who gained 549 points in going from 494 to 1043! Others with big gains were Wesley Duan (253, 1432 to 1685), Benjamin Kang (231, 829 to 1060), Roy Ke (186, 2002 to 2188), Tony Qu (169, 2025 to 2194), Quang Lam (154, 1348 to 1502, the only non-junior to gain more than 100 points), and Moonsoo Park (102, 598 to 700). Also welcome to six newly rated players: Tiffany Ke, Deapesh Misra, Sameer Shaikh, Sam Snitkovsky, and Jeremy & Alexi Weinberg!

Special thanks goes to Lixin Lang for helping run the tournament, and to tournament sponsors Butterfly and Llewellyn Realtor James Wu. 

Lions Playing Table Tennis

Here's an illustration from pages 26-27 of the children's book "Big Max and the Mystery of the Missing Giraffe." I found 15 rules violations in this picture - what are they teaching our children?!!! Did I miss any? Here are the USATT Rules. (Note that since they are not playing doubles, they don't legally have to have a white line down the middle of the table.) And yes, I'm just having fun with it.

  1. The lion on the left has a green racket surface.
  2. The lion on the right has a brown racket surface.
  3.  The lion on the right has his free hand (paw?) touching the playing surface.
  4.  The ground is grass, which is not a legal flooring.
  5. The lion's chests seem to be white, which matches the color of the ball. Technically, it's the shirt that cannot match the ball's color, but this violates the spirit of the law.
  6. The table doesn't have white lines along the edges.
  7. Unless these are gigantic lions, I'm fairly certain the table is smaller than a legal 9'x5'.
  8. The drawing of the table measures about 2.83" x 1.25". This means if the table is 9 feet long, it's 3.97 feet wide, so the table is about 9'x4', rather than the legal 9'x5'.
  9. The ball is much larger than 40mm.
  10. The ball isn't spherical.
  11. The net doesn't extend six inches to the side.
  12. Neither are wearing shirts, violating the USATT dress code.
  13. Neither are wearing shorts or skirts, violating the USATT dress code.
  14. Neither are wearing shoes, violating the USATT dress code.
  15. Neither are wearing socks, violating the USATT dress code. 

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2009 Strategic Meeting

I just realized that Wednesday, Sept. 26 (two days ago) was the three-year anniversary of the 2009 USATT Strategic Meeting. I still consider that one of the greatest disappointments in USATT history. We had a new board of directors looking to really do things but not sure what, and they and table tennis people from all over the country gathered for two days to decide what to do. Unfortunately, the same old arguments that look good but lead to nothing won them over, and we ended up with lots of slogans and a series of vague priorities that predictably never led to anything. I wrote much more about this one year ago, on Sept. 26, 2011. I don't know when we'll ever have such an opportunity again to get USATT to really start developing the sport the way it's done successfully in other countries and other sports. I was going to write more about this, but you know what? It's too depressing. So instead we'll go to anagrams and smile. Yes, smile.

Table Tennis Anagrams

Don't blame me - I'm just the messenger!!! On February 22, 2012, I did anagrams of the U.S. Men's Team (Michael Landers: "Me Learn as Child," "Lame Child Nears," many more; Timothy Wang: "I Own That Gym"), and the next day, February 23, 2012, I did them on the U.S. Women's Team (Ariel Hsing: "Irish Angel," "Shinier Gal," several more). Here are others; Tim and Mike are going to kill me! (Remember, I'm just the messenger!!! If they can find "positive" ones with their name, I'll post them.)

  • USA Table Tennis: Uneatable Snits, Attain Blueness, Baseline Taunts, Nastiest Nebula, Instant Useable, A Baseline Stunt, A Subtle Inanest, A Sensible Taunt, Unsatiable Nets, Abase Silent Nut, Abates Nuts Line
  • USATT Hall of Fame: Fat Lush Meatloaf, A Shameful Fat Lot, A Flame That Fouls, Slam Fateful Oath, Hamlet Faults Oaf, Them's A Fatal Foul, Fateful Lot A Hams, Am A Slothful Feat.
  • Maryland Table Tennis Center: A Barnacle-Styled Internment, A Sternly Nerd Tent Imbalance, Rents A Cleanable Trendy Mint.
  • Dan Seemiller (USATT Hall of Famer): Learned Miles, Learned Smile, Learned Slime, Slender Email, Smellier Dean, A Smellier Den, Ills Neared Me, Erased Ill Men.
  • Tim Boggan (USATT Hall of Famer): Aging Tomb, Maggot Bin (Sorry Tim!!!)
  • Mike Cavanaugh (USATT Executive Director): Again Have Muck, I Vague Hack Man (Sorry Mike!!!)
  • Larry Hodges: Dasher Glory, Holy Regards, Shared Glory, Gory Heralds, Godly Sharer,
  • Hodges: He's God!

2012 Men's World Cup

It started today at Liverpool, England. Here's the home page, with results, articles, and photos. And here's a great lobbing point played just this morning from Adrien Mattenet of France.

Chicago International Table Tennis Festival

It's going on right now (Thur-Sat, Sept. 27-29), and here's the home page. Players include Wang Liqin, Wang Hao, Ma Lin, Chen Qi, Ding Ning, Kalinikos Kreanga, Ryu Seung Min, Biba, Jorgen Persson, Zoran Primorac, Aleksandar Karakasevic, Ilija Lupulesku, Chen Weixing, and Ariel Hsing.

Table tennis at the heart of Team USA bonding at Ryder Cup

That's the headline of this article in the Chicago Business. Unfortunately you have to register to see the rest of the article. But here's a quote - "The Ryder Cup is all about pingpong, everybody." -2012 Masters champion Bubba Watson

Table Tennis Jewelry

Here are a few places to buy it:

Baby Doing Multiball - Really!

I think I posted this once before, but it should be posted again. Yes, it's a baby doing multiball (1:35), and he's actually doing it well! (And there's no rule I know of against sitting on the table, though that wooden bat is illegal - needs a legal surface.) Here are more photos of this prodigy and his dad.

National Chinese Honor Society Speech - with Table Tennis!

Here's another hilarious video (0:55) from junior table tennis star Nathan Hsu - his 55-second pitch for the presidency of the National Chinese Honor Society, which includes table tennis.

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PongCast Episode 15 gives some overview to the World Cup. 

http://www.thepongcast.com/2012/09/pongcast-tv-episode-15-2012-world-cup.html

 

 

The US Ryder Cup players should have spent less time playing TT and more time on the golf range.

 

Last-Minute Looping: Learning to Loop

Yesterday I taught an 11-year-old girl to forehand loop. She'd attended ten junior group sessions I'd taught, and this was I think her fourth private session. Her forehand and backhand drives are getting pretty steady, and of course we'll continue to work on them to make them "perfect."  

Sometimes it's good to wait longer to really ingrain the forehand and backhand drives before starting them on looping, but I'm a believer in getting to looping (at least against backspin) as soon as possible. Otherwise, they tend to become pusher/blockers (since they can't attack backspin), their loops aren't as natural (since they ingrain drive strokes early on rather than topspin strokes), and they don't take advantage of a characteristic that gives them the advantage at that age - they are shorter, and so looping is a bit more natural since they can let the ball drop down to their level. Plus, it gives them something to get excited about when they begin doing shots that match what the best players in the club are doing, and that excitement leads to more focus and determination, which leads to faster improvement.

I started her on looping in the last ten minutes of the session, feeding backspin with multiball. At first she had difficulty. Sometimes she wouldn't bring her racket down enough, or she wouldn't sweep up enough and would instead start up, then switch to a more forward-driving stroke. The result was flat strokes with little topspin. The scary part here is that since I'm giving her the same spin over and over, it's pretty easy to drive the ball with light topspin, and to believe that it's a good shot. (And it would have - in the hardbat era.) So I have to explain how a drive against backspin without great topspin isn't that good and will rarely be as consistent or effective in a match situation as looping. She understood, and kept trying.

When the time for the session came to an end, she was so close, and had managed to make two shots that I would charitably describe as loops, but most of the others were still just topspin drives. I went to her side and said let's just shadow practice the shot for two minutes so she can get the feel for the stroke, so she could shadow practice on her own all week and be ready next time. (We'd been doing shadow stroking, but usually for 10-20 seconds at a time at most.) We did so, and her stroke looked better and better. So I asked the dad if we could stay a little late, and he said sure. I fed her more multiball - and from the first ball, after that two minutes of shadow-practice, she was looping!!! She was grazing the ball and getting good topspin. She did seven in a row, missed a few, and then made a bunch more. I wanted to ingrain the stroke, so we did it for another five minutes. We were both very excited over this.

Now I'll be working on both her drives and loops. (As much as I like to get to looping, it's equally important to get those drive shots down - the fundamentals are key.) When I feel she's ready, I'll have her try them in combination - loop a backspin and then smash a topspin. Eventually, we'll have her looping against topspin as well. And yes, the backhand loop will be coming up as well in a few weeks.

Henzel's World Cup Blog

William Henzel of Australia is keeping a blog of his trip to the Men's World Cup in Liverpool, England, where he arrived yesterday - the tournament is Fri-Sun, Sept. 28-30. Here's Day One, where he arrives and ponders the expense of hiring a coach for his matches.

Documentary on the Rise of Sweden

Here's a documentary of how Sweden rose to challenge and defeat the Chinese at the 1989 World's. They would continue to dominate the world for about six more years, and would battle with the Chinese for nearly 15 more years. The only problem is the video, about an hour long, is in Swedish, without English subtitles. I watched much of it, and though I didn't know what was being said, you could figure much of it out from the context. Plus it was nostalgic for those of us who were around back then! The video features Jan-Ove Waldner, Jorgen Persson, Mikael Appelgren, Erik Lindh, Stellan Bengsston, Kjell Johansson, and other Swedish players and coaches, as well as Chinese players such as Jiang Jialiang and Chen Longcan.

ITTF Coaching Seminar - in India

Stopping by India anytime soon? Or already live there? USATT Coaching Chair Richard McAfee will be teaching three ITTF coaching seminars in India, in Ajmer (Oct. 3-7), in Bangalore (Oct. 10-14), and in Bangalore (Oct. 17-21). Here's the ITTF announcement.

Howard Tong Video

Here's a video (2:58) featuring 12-year-old Howard Tong of the World Champions Table Tennis Club in the San Francisco Bay area.

Orioles J.J. Hardy - "No one can beat me."

Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy is the best pingpong player on the team, according to an article in ESPN on Tuesday. The article says Hardy is the best athlete on the team, and says "He also is the best pingpong player on the Orioles." It then quotes Hardy:

"The next-best is Brady [Anderson, a special instructor]," Hardy said, half joking. "I've played him 100 times. I've beaten him 100 times. He'll never beat me. No one can beat me."

Some may remember that earlier this season the Orioles contacted me about doing a table tennis special with the Orioles for their TV network (featuring Hardy, Anderson, and pitcher Jake Arrieta, another table tennis enthusiast. However, it was put off when Hardy began having wrist problems, and now they are in a pennant race. So I don't know when or if this will happen. I've been in email contact with them, and my best guess is it'll be put off until next year. We'll see.

Inmates at the Teams

That's me scratching my head as I'm literally surrounded by "inmates" playing in the 2006 North American Teams in Baltimore. Yes, that was their team uniform - and there are at least eight of them, so it might have been two teams. The ones in "uniform," L-R, are: Unknown (you can just see his hat and leg); Ray Mack; I think Fong Hsu; Unknown; Connie Sweeris (short one with back to us); Unknown; I think Jim McQueen (or was the one I thought was Fong Hsu actually McQueen? Hard to tell); and Alan Fendrick.

MDTTC Goes to the Birds

Earlier this month a bird visited the Maryland Table Tennis Center. No, not the Baltimore Orioles mascot or Larry Bird; an actual bird! Here's the video (3:47), starring Nathan Hsu, Derek Nie, Raghu Nadmichettu, Tong Tong Gong, and a seemingly very tame (but probably just traumatized) bird. I can't believe I missed all of this, but I wasn't there for the big event.

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Larry, did you see the low-shots-over-net-training device at 1:29 and 1:57 in Howard Tong's video?

Keep a Player's Attention and Thinking

Want to bore a six-year-old? Feed him multiball and have him hit forehands for a long time. Want to inspire a six-year-old? Put a giant frog toy on the table and tell him to hit it.

Want to bore a sixty-year-old? Have him do nonstop repetitive drills without explaining anything. Want to inspire a sixty-year-old? Have him to a range of drills that cover what he does (or hopes to do) in an actual match, from repetitive drills to perfect strokes to random drills to mimic game play, and explain the purpose of each drill and technique.

Keeping a player's interest is one of those things coaches have to learn to do. If you just spew out instructions in a bland way and just do repetitive stuff, you'll lose them. You don't treat everyone like a six-year-old or a sixty-year-old, of course - it has to be both age-appropriate and personality-appropriate. Some are more analytical than others, and some just want to hit the ball. Younger players often just want to hit the ball, while older players tend to be more analytical. Yet even younger players have their analytical side, and like to think about certain aspects of the game as long as you don't overdo it. Show them something they want to learn to do, and they'll want to know how it's done.

The more the player thinks, the more interesting it is to him as he learns. Older players often enjoy learning the thinking side as much as the actual playing side - tactics, why specific techniques are better than others, mental training, etc.

Table tennis is a game of contradictions. One of them is that you need to think a lot if you want to improve. At the same time you have to clear your mind when you are in an actual rally and let your trained reactions take over - i.e. don't think.

ITTF Level 3 Coaching Course

USATT Coaching Chair Richard McAfee is attending an eight-day ITTF Level 3 Coaching Seminar in Malaysia. Here's the ITTF article - Richard is the tallest one in the back in the second picture. Here are more pictures.

Paralympic Junior Camp

Here's info from USATT on an upcoming Paralympic Table Tennis Junior Camp, to be held Nov. 24-27, 2012, in San Diego, for Paralympic players under age 18. (I had to Google the location since it was given only as "BalboaPark Activity Center and Town & Country Convention Center.")

Allen Wang Highlights Video

Here are highlights (2:20) from Allen Wang winning the North American Cadet Championships in Cary, NC, Sept. 1-2. (Allen came down and trained with us at MDTTC for two weeks this past summer.)

Dimitrij Ovtcharov's Serve

Here's Olympic Bronze Medalist Dimitrij Ovtcharov's backhand serve. Or is that a forehand serve, since it looks like he's about to hit it with the forehand side? I don't know. I can't even spell his name without cutting and pasting it. Here's a slow motion video (3:30) showing the serve from various parts of the table - the first one is from the forehand side! - which verifies he hits it with the regular backhand side of the racket. Maybe I should teach him my own version of this.

Monks Playing Pong

Here are monks in red and pink playing table tennis. The Chinese wouldn't have a prayer against them.

Table Tennis Club Advertisement

Nathan Hsu created two hilarious video ads for the table tennis club he started at his school, both about 37 seconds long. The first version was deemed "inappropriate" for school due to the violence implied. Here's the second version that was allowed. The videos star Nathan and Andy Zheng as "the little kid." Don't get beat up by a little kid!!! (My favorite part in both videos - see the part where Nathan looks in through the door.)

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I am definitely not mainstream, and so I personally do not like the idea of teaching little children to smack a frog toy sad

How I wish it was something else, something else that is not a representation of a living being. Something else, by using which, we do not propagate the idea of "hahaha...that was fun...hahaha....lets hit that frog toy again...harder this time. If you see a real one, do the same! "

ya, I know, I don't like the video games too with unnecessary violence.

And finally, I am not sure if art imitates life or life imitates art.

Coaching Decisions

Here's a tough decision I've got to make - and it's a good decision to have to make. I have a student, a 7-year-old girl. She has one of those rare combinations of talent, physical ability, and mental focus. She's been playing about two months and already has nice strokes, can even forehand loop backspin with surprising power. (Yes, one month after starting, this 7-year-old was already looping.) Should I go the "normal" route and have her focus on hitting against topspin until she's bigger? Or should I have her loop the forehand against everything right from the start, since she seems to do this naturally? She's too small right now to really be successful trying to loop over and over - her hitting peers would hit her off the table. But imagine where she might be in two years. And since she's picking things up so fast, how soon should I have her spin the backhand as well? (It's tough spinning the backhand until you are taller.) Decisions, decisions . . . but I think she'll almost set the course. If she can loop over and over, then that's what I'll have her do. 

She was using a rather slow blade and sponge, but in our last session she tried out my blade - a fast carbon racket with hyper-tension sponge for looping - and fell in love with it. I was of course skeptical, thinking it was obviously too fast for her, but she was noticeably better with it, could rally faster and more consistently, and loop with great spin. (Yes, great spin at age 7.) After discussing it with her dad, we're likely going to get her the same or similar setup. Many coaches would be against this, and so would I normally, until I saw how well she played with my racket, and especially the way her eyes lit up while doing so.

2013 National Team Trials Host City Bid

Want your club or city to host the 2013 USA National Team Trials, to be held Feb. 7-10? Here's the bidding info! Good luck to you.

Want to Be the Voice of Table Tennis?

The ITTF is running a contest to select a table tennis commentator for the 2013 World Table Tennis Championships in Paris. You can be the winner - if you enter! As the ITTF page asks:

  • Do you love Table Tennis?
  • Have you always wanted to be a commentator? 
  • Have you got the knowledge and insight to engage our viewers? 
  • Does travelling to the biggest events all over the world sound brilliant? 
  • If the answer is a resounding YES, then we want to hear from you

The Anti-Plastic Ball Petition

Here's an article against the upcoming introduction of plastic balls in place of celluloid balls, by former about.com table tennis moderator and Australian player Greg Letts. It includes a link to a petition. (I've been trying to get hold of one of the new plastic balls to try out, but haven't been successful.)

Photos from the 2012 World Women's Cup

Here are 21 photos from the Women's World Cup. The first one is of the very nice outside decorations, including two giant paddles. USA's Ariel Hsing is photo #16. (Is that a black power salute in photo 13?)

Paralympic Graphic

Here's a nice photo collage for the 2012 Table Tennis Paralympics.

Oakland Raiders Game Ball

Here's a picture of the game ball the Oakland Raiders gave to the 2012 London Olympians (or at least to ones in attendance at the Sept. 23 game, where they beat the Steelers), including USA Table Tennis Olympian Lily Zhang.

Ping London 2012 Promotional Video

This is a very nice table tennis promotional video (2:04). It's a bit different than the usual ones. And now that whistling tune is going to be in my head all day.

Non-Table Tennis - Specter Spectacular: 13 Ghostly Tales

The horror anthology Specter Spectacular was released today, with 13 ghost stories. I said horror anthology, right? Actually, 12 are presumably horror, while one is a humorous ghost story - my story, "The Haunts of Albert Einstein"! "Poor Albert Einstein is destined to haunt his old offices in Princeton for eternity, surrounded by the ghosts of bickering physicists who simply will not shut up, and the relentless paparazzi. What can he do to save himself from this fate?"

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They are supposed to replace celluloid in 2014. However, I've heard that they would postpone this if the balls are not of good enough quality.

Tip of the Week

Care of Equipment.

Disservice to Juniors Everywhere

I'm going to do a disservice to junior players everywhere and point out something I noticed at the MDTTC tournament this past weekend, though it's something I've mentioned before. When playing these fast and furious juniors (i.e. players that can rally faster than you can), your best option is use serve and receive to get the first attack in, usually with a loop. However, over and over I saw players losing to juniors because they kept opening with crosscourt loops, which the juniors would pounce on. These juniors do a lot of crosscourt hitting, and I think if you even snap your fingers they'll reflexively cover the crosscourt angle. The players that gave them trouble were the experienced ones who would attack down the line with their first shot, and then move to cover the wide crosscourt angle if it came back. Usually they did not.

Butterfly MDTTC September Open

Here are the main results for the MDTTC tournament I ran this weekend. Juniors dominated, with at least one in every final except Under 2350. Here's a rundown, with main results below.

  • The Open was won by 17-year-old Wang Qing Liang over 15-year-old Chen Bo Wen, both player-coaches at MDTTC. In the semifinals they defeated two former Maryland junior stars, Khaleel Asgarali and Raghu Nadmichettu (who would win Under 2350 from down 0-2 in the final to Hung Duy Vo).
  • Roy Ke, 13, won Under 2200 from down 0-2 in the final to Lixin Lang.
  • Anthony (Tony) Qu, 12, won Under 2050 and made the quarterfinals of the Open with a huge upset over fourth-seeded Richard Doverman (2349, 11-9 in the fifth) and Derek Nie (2170, 13-11 in the fifth).
  • Wesley Duan, 12, made the final of both Under 1900 and Under 1650.
  • Kyle Wang, 13, made the final of both Under 1400 and Under 1150.
  • Daniel Yang, 12, won Under 1150.

Butterfly MDTTC September Open
Gaithersburg, MD, Sept. 22-23, 2012
Open - Final: Wang Qing Liang d. Chen Bo Wen, -6,6,9,7,-9,6; SF: Wang d. Khaleel Asgarali, 10,3,8,7; Chen d. Raghu Nadmichettu, 6,7,9,5; QF: Wang d. Nazruddin Asgarali, 8,5,6; K. Asgarali d. Anthony Qu, 4,6,5; Nadmichettu d. Larry Abass, 9,5,12; Chen d. Sutanit Tangyingyong, 4,5,9.
Under 2350 - Final: Raghu Nadmichettu d. Hung Duy Vo, -9,-15,6,11,8; SF: Nadmichettu Lixin Lang, 2,-9,3,7; Vo d. Sutanit Tangyingyong, 5,11,8.
Under 2200 - Final: Roy Ke d. Lixin Lang, -6,-5,4,8,8; SF: Ke d. Nazruddin Asgarali, 6,9,7; Lang d. Sutanit Tangyingyong, 10,-13,5,9.
Under 2050 - Final: Anthony Qu d. John Olsen, 8,4,4; SF: Qu d. Austin Stouffer, 9,5,-9,6; Olsen d. Josiah Chow, 8,-11,12,-4,10.
Under 1900 - Final: Pat Lui d. Wesley Duan, 9,-10,7,4; SF: Lui d. Gahraman Mustafayev, 3,5,3; Duan d. Mohamed Kamara, -4,8,6,-3,7.
Under 1650 - Final: Quang Lam d. Wesley Duan, 8,6,8; SF: Lam d. Tang Yanghang, 16,-7,8,-6,14; Duan d. David Goldstein, -3,9,8,9.
Under 1400 - Final: Ara Sahakian d. Kyle Wang, 9,8,7; SF: Sahakian d. Quang Lam, 10,8,8; Wang d. William Wung, 5,9,7.
Under 1150 - Final: Daniel Yang d. Kyle Wang, 7,8,8; SF: Yang d. Allen Eng, 7,11,12; Wang d. Benjamin Kang, 8,7,7.

Women's World Cup

Here is the home page for the Women's World Cup, which was played this past weekend in Huangshi, China. It includes results, articles, and photos. Congrats to champion Liu Shiwen of China (world #3), who defeated surprise finalist Elizabeta Samara of Romania (world #38) in the final.

Ariel Hsing is a Focused Student

Here's the article from Table Tennista.

Dimitrij Ovtcharov in Training

Here's a short video (0:23) of the German Olympic Bronze Medalist doing a multiball drill. It'll tire you out watching.

Table Tennis Fitness Training

Here is a short video (0:29) of some serious physical training for table tennis. I believe this is in Taiwan.

You Can Play Table Tennis Anywhere

Scenes from Sri Lanka.

Ma Lin versus Roger Federer

Sort of!

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Table Tennis Tactics

This past week I've been jumping back and forth from working on the page layouts of "Table Tennis Tactics: A Thinker's Guide" and 246 other things. Here's an excerpt from the book:

Table tennis is a game of utter complexity and utter simplicity. If you get too caught up in the myriad of complex strategies available, you'll be lost in a sea of uncertainty. Think KISS—"Keep It Simple, Stupid." On the other hand, if your thinking is too simple, you aren't maximizing your play.

There's no conflict here. Much of tactics involves simplifying things so the game becomes simple and easy. If you use tactics that force your opponent into predictable returns that feed into your strengths, you've won the tactical battle and made the game simple and easy. In this book we'll cover the tactical and strategic ways of doing this, as well as the tactical frame of mind that makes tactical play come naturally.

Most matches are tactically won on at most two or three tactical things, not the zillions that are possible. It's finding those two or three out of the zillions that's key. (Hey, I may add this to the book! Addendum - just did.) And if you can't think of zillions of tactical things to do, you need to start thinking tactically! To further quote the book:

Tactical thinking is a habit. I know some brilliant people who do not think at the table, and some not-so-brilliant ones who know exactly what they are doing out there. Which do you choose to be? It’s a choice.

Help is on the way! The book should be out by December in time for the USA Nationals, and perhaps sooner. (If I get going on it, it might be ready by November.)

One Day Till the MDTTC September Open!

Have you entered yet? Deadline is past, but for only $5 late fee you can still enter until 7PM tonight, and avoid others talking and making cracks about you behind your back. This weekend could be the beginning of your professional career, the big breakthrough where, out of nowhere, you suddenly are looping and smashing like a pro, and nobody can stop you, allowing you to drop out of the drudgery of work and join the elite athletes who spend their days sipping tea by poolside (after training eight hours/day) while you are slaving away at a desk.

USA's Ariel Hsing wins Intercontinental Title at World Cup!

Here's the ITTF Story. This puts her in the Final Sixteen. 

Drill Your Skills with the Chinese National Team

Here are three coaching videos. I may have posted the first two in my blog sometime in the past, but the third one (Forehand Receive) is definitely new. (It has four parts - Pushing Short, Pushing Long, Looping, and Flipping.) They are in Chinese with English subtitles.

  1. Forehand Serve (7:42)
  2. Backhand Serve (6:36)
  3. Forehand Receive (7:47)

Journal of My Paralympic Journey

Tara Profitt's journal about her time at the Paralympics and the table tennis competition.

Table Tennis on a Gigantic Rock Slab

This is great (4:16) - but it's practically tennis! Now we know how to handle short balls - don't step in like coaches teach you, just crawl on the table! Can anyone recognize the language they are speaking?

White Ping-Pong Table

We have a White House, white chocolate, and Gandalf the White (yeah, he didn't stay grey long). Now we have a white ping-pong table - and it looks snazzy! White balls, anyone?

Batman!

Yes, that's Batman with a ping-pong paddle, in an illustration used at the Buenos Aires Grand Prix by the Argentina Table Tennis Federation.

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Preparing for Tournament This Weekend

When I say this, I mean both for my students and for myself.

Students: Yesterday I had one-hour coaching sessions with two junior players who are about to play in their first USATT tournament. (I had a third session with another who might play in our October tournament.) How does one prepare someone for their first tournament? First off, I direct them to this article I wrote a while back, "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Your First Table Tennis Tournament … But Didn’t Know Where to Ask!"

But you are probably more interested in how to prepare a player to play well? Here's my article "Ten-Point Plan to Tournament Success." In the case of these two students, we did about 30 minutes of regular drills (footwork, steady stroking drills, multiball), and then went to game-type situations. For example, I'd rally steady into the student's backhand, and he'd pick a shot to either step around and smash, or hit his backhand down the line. As soon as he did one of these it was free play. Then we got to even more game-type drills, such as straight serve and attack (he serves backspin, I push it back, he loops, then free play). We did a lot of pushing and loop against push drills. I also had them do a lot of serve practice, always the most under-practiced aspect of a game, especially just before a tournament.

We also talked a bit about tactics, stressing keep it simple - use serve and receive to get their strengths into play and avoid the opponent's strengths while going after their weaknesses. You'll note I didn't emphasize guarding their own weaknesses. That's something more experienced players should do, but at this stage I don't want to enforce in their minds that they have weaknesses they should be guarding since we want those weaknesses to become strengths. The other three aspects are enough for now, and if you get your strengths into play, then you are not using your weaknesses so much.

Me: I'm getting ready to run the tournament with a new software, Omnipong. So far I've set up the tournament (setting all the events, how they should be run, etc.), inputted entries received (47 so far, expecting a bunch more today), and got the new printer to work with it (don't ask, but thanks to John Olsen who figured out that I was trying to print using a printer driver for a 32-bit computer but I had a 64-bit computer . . . or something like that). Today I'm going to test other aspects of the software, such as setting up draws, printing them out, and printing match slips. I've already done some of this, but want to make sure everything's set.

Two Days Till the MDTTC September Open!

Have you entered yet? Or are you part of the 47% who are dependent on USATT to protect their ratings, who believe that they would be victims if they entered the tournament, who believe that they are entitled to their high rating without defending it . . . people who do not compete? (Now if I could only charge all of you $50,000 each for reading this.)

Note that official deadline is 5PM today. But I'll take entries until I do the draws sometime on Friday. Send your entry in NOW!!!

Zhuang Zedong Battling Cancer

Here's an article about Zhuang Zedong (often called Chuang Tsetung, the three-time World Men's Singles Champion from 1961-65, often called the greatest player ever, who initiated the events that led to Ping-Pong Diplomacy) and his battle with cancer and his other passion, calligraphy.

Ping-Pong Balls in Space!

Here's the article. That's one small roll for a ball, one giant spin for ballkind.

Now That's a Forehand!!!

Like father, like son - here's little Nick Schlager showing incredible form as dad Werner (2003 World Men's Singles Champion) looks on in amazement. And the form looks strikingly like Daddy's.

My Big Forehand

I have a big forehand too, just like little Nick above. Really, it's true. Here's the picture to prove it.

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Serve Practice - It Pays Off!

Last week I played a practice match with a local top player. He had trouble with my side-top forehand pendulum and reverse pendulum serves to his forehand, which kept going slightly long, but he kept looping them off. Near the end he finally adjusted and started looping them in. I had to mostly switch to other serves to win - barely.

So this weekend I practiced serves for 15 minutes. The main adjustment for both versions (pendulum and reverse pendulum) was to focus on contacting the ball a bit more to the side, and making sure contact was very low to the table. Then I played the top player again, and this time I was able to keep them short when I wanted. I varied short and slightly long (i.e. "half-long" or "tweeny" serves where second bounce would be barely off the end), and he never adjusted, and I won again, using these serves right to the end. (I also threw in no-spin and backspin serves, but the side-top serves were the mainstay here.)

Willy Mays and Other Table Tennis Dreams

This was a strange one. I dreamed I was an elderly Willy Mays at the plate in a baseball game. (Not sure why it was Willy Mays - I'm an Orioles fan! See segment at end.) They walked me on four pitches, including a brush-back pitch that I had to dive to avoid. So next time up I brought a ping-pong paddle, and began spraying topspin shots over the infielder's heads for hits! (The ball seemed to be a baseball-sized ping-pong ball.) No idea why they kept pitching to me and why I didn't run to first base; I was having a blast smacking shots just over the infielder's reach, and letting the topspin pull the ball down before outfielders could get to it!

Then I suddenly dropped one short - a bunt! I took off for first. The throw was wild, and I ran for second. Right about here is when I noticed that all the infielders were waving ping-pong paddles at me. I continued around the bases, rounding second, third, and slid into home as the catcher slapped a ping-pong paddle down on my foot - but he didn't have the ball, so I was safe. I threw the paddle up in the air, and a bird flew by and grabbed it, and flew off with my paddle in its beak. I yelled at it, and that's when I woke up.

Here are four other blogs where I've described weird table tennis dreams:

  • U.S. Open Table Tennis Dream - involving Tong Tong Gong, Arnold Schwarzenegger, murderous black-clad men with black umbrellas, and playing with an illegal book as a racket.
  • U.S. Olympic Trials Dream - where I'm coaching both sides in a Dan Seemiller-Han Xiao match, involving Citizens United, Diana Gee McGonnell, Randy Seemiller, and lots of people demanding I coach them.
  • Table Tennis Foot Dream - where I'm playing table tennis on a street in the middle of a battle, with bullets and explosions all around, and my foot gets shot off, and I keep trying to jam it back on while still playing.
  • Dan Seemiller Ping-Pong Waiter Dream - where I'm trying to convince our local juniors of the riches they can make at table tennis, then Dan Seemiller shows up as the waiter, and I argue how much money he makes as a waiter because of his table tennis skills. 

Three Days Till the MDTTC September Open!

Have you entered yet? Admit it; don't you dream about how you one day show up at a tournament and beat the best players and win the Open? Well, this could be the one! But if you don't compete, by default you get beat! (Does that make sense? How about, "If you don't show, you can't beat a foe"? Or "If you don't compete, it won't be sweet"?)

Erica Wu and Other White House photos

The link to the Erica Wu picture yesterday with President Obama was inadvertently linked to the picture of Lily Zhang with Obama. Here is the correct picture! And here's a picture of the USA Olympic Table Tennis Team with Malia Obama, and here's Women's Coach Doru Gheorghe with Michelle Obama. (The pictures were taken at the Olympic reception held at the White House on Sept. 14.)

Zhang Jike: Wealthy Bachelor

And here's the article about it!

No-Armed Man Plays Table Tennis

This 24-second video is unbelievable - he holds the paddle in his mouth, and serves by tossing the ball up with his bare foot!

Traffic Light Pong in Germany!

Here's the video (1:22) - yes, you can now play Pong with strangers while waiting for the light to turn green!

Exhibition Trick Serves

Here's a short video from PingSkills (1:19) demonstrating exhibition trick serves. I do these same trick serves when I do exhibitions - they are great fun.

Behind the Back Table Tennis

Try rallying like this - and you have to wear all red!

Non-Table Tennis - Orioles Baseball

I'm an Orioles fan, the only sports team I follow. This year they are in a pennant race, with an 84-64 record and tied for first in the American League East with the Yankees, with 14 games left to play. They also hold a three-game lead over the Los Angeles Angels in the Wild Card Race, so they have two ways to make the playoffs. (They just won an incredible 18-inning game last night - down 0-2 in the ninth, they scored two, and finally scored two more in the 18th inning to win! It's their near-record 14th consecutive extra-inning win this season - after losing the first two times, they are now 14-2 in extra innings.)

I'm sort of infamous as Larrytt on the Orioles Hangout forum for my Top Ten Lists (and other humorous listings or stories). When I do one they really like, the Orioles Hangout staff publish it as a feature on their front page. This morning they published my latest, "Top Twelve Things Happening the Last Time the Orioles Had a Winning Season." (The Orioles just had 14 straight losing seasons.) Here are the seven they have published. Note that some might not make sense if you aren't familiar with Orioles baseball. (My personal favorite is the story "The Wonderful World of Os," though many will miss the inside jokes.)

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Stop eating whatever you ate before going to bed and having that dream. 

It can not be good for you if it messes with your mind that much.  Then again, considering the descriptions you have shared of your various fictional stories, maybe you should eat more of it and get some new ideas.

Mark

Learn From Others

Something that's always bothered me as weird is that often I'll play someone who absolutely cannot return my serves. If the player is a beginner, they'll often ask how I do the serve and how to return it. But starting at the intermediate and advanced levels, almost nobody asks, even if they struggle with my serve, even if it's someone I coach. This is especially bothersome with up-and-coming juniors, who presumably are striving for a high level. Don't they want to learn?

The same is true of other aspects of the game, but a player can better see what's happening with most other techniques. If they struggle with my short receive, they can see I'm just dropping the ball short. If they can't see the direction of my forehand, they can see that I'm changing directions at the last second by turning my shoulders. But they usually cannot see how, for example, I'm serving topspin when I'm stroking downward with an open racket, hitting the bottom of the ball, and continuing downward. (Short answer - the racket is rotating about an axis centered over the hitting surface, and so the near side of the blade is actually rotating upward at contact, though only for a split second if done properly.) They can't see how it's done, and can't figure out how to read it (since they don't know where the topspin is coming from), and yet they never ask! (Well, rarely.)

Next time you're playing me or someone else and struggling to react to spins that don't look like they should be there, ask how it's done. I'll show you, as will most top players, most of whom you'll find love to talk about their craft. There are multiple ways to create these deceptions (serving is the "trick" part of table tennis), and are much easier to show in person than in an article, even with a photo sequence. Tricky serves are subtle, and subtlety doesn't show up well in photo sequences. 

I mentioned above that intermediate and advanced players rarely ask how these serves are done. Yes, while advanced players are experts at the specific techniques they use, many have large holes in their knowledge and skills.

Professional Table Tennis Coaches Handbook and the Most Interesting Criticism I Received This Week

A few years ago I wrote the Professional Table Tennis Coaches Handbook. The purpose was to show table tennis coaches the professional side of coaching - how to attract and keep students, run programs, maximize profits so they could make a good living, etc. A few days ago I was criticized for not including yoga in the Handbook - really!!!

I've been toying for a while with starting up a Coaches Academy, where I'd recruit and train players and coaches to be professional table tennis coaches, where they'd make a living as a coach while running large junior programs. I've argued for years that USA Table Tennis should be doing this (as is done in many other sports organizations, such as the U.S. Tennis Association), but to no avail. If I ever do this, the PTTCH would be the Handbook. (If only table tennis were played on slabs of ice instead of a table, then we'd call it ice tennis, and the Handbook would be the Professional Ice Tennis Coaches Handbook, or PITCH, and then I could pitch PITCH to everyone!)

Four Days Till the MDTTC September Open!

Have you entered yet? There will be a surprise guest appearance by everyone's favorite table tennis player - YOU!!! Unless, of course, you disappoint all your fans and don't show. That would be despicable. (Deadline to enter is 5PM Thursday.)

Liu Guoliang on Zhang Jike Missing World Cup

Here's an article where Chinese Men's Coach Liu Guoliang discusses why Zhang Jike will miss the World Cup.

Erica Wu and Barack Obama

Here's a picture of Olympian Erica Wu with President Obama outside the White House. (Yesterday we had Lily Zhang with Obama. I haven't found any with Ariel Hsing or Timothy Wang with Obama.)

Strange Table Tennis Pictures

Here's a page full of strange and weird table tennis pictures.

Transcending Table Tennis

Here's the Transcending Table Tennis page, with seven table tennis videos.

Interspecies Table Tennis

I believe we have humans, cats, and mice playing in this cartoon. Yes, the cat is playing with its food.

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