Tactics Case Study

I recently had an interesting practice match with a top player. I'm not going to name the player, so I'll call him "Bob" (not his real name). Bob has a very good backhand, both looping against backspin and hitting against once in the rally. He also has a rather quick off-the-bounce forehand loop, so it can be dangerous going there. His serves are mostly short backspin or no-spin, with deep, spinny serves thrown in as a variation. When he flips short balls with his forehand, they almost always go crosscourt - a weakness I was about to ram an entire match through. He was playing well, and had just defeated two very strong players, while I was not playing very well. But tactics, not playing level, decided this match. Here's what happened.

Early on I could tell when his serve was going long, but I wasn't sure why - there was something different about the way he set up. So whenever he served long, I was ready to loop. (Near the end of the second game I realized it was because he set up for his long serve with his racket farther back and more closed. I pointed this out to him after the match.) Because I was looping his deep serves so well, he had to serve short over and over. This allowed me to drop them almost all short, often faking to the backhand and then dropping it short to his forehand. He mostly pushed these or predictably flipped them crosscourt to my forehand. In both cases, I took the attack. So throughout the match I was the aggressor on his serve.

On my serve, I gave him a steady diet of varying serves short to his forehand, occasionally to the middle. I used forehand pendulum and reverse pendulum serves from the backhand side (and occasionally, to mess him up, from the forehand side), and tomahawk serves from the middle and forehand side. This allowed me to throw both types of sidespin at him, mixed with varying backspin and topspin, as well as "heavy no-spin" serves, where I fake spin but serve a dead ball. Since his returns were either passive, or aggressive right into my forehand, I was able to attack.

When I attacked, I almost always went after his wide forehand and middle. Sometimes I'd aim at his forehand and at the last second go to his wide backhand. With his forehand he'd usually try to counterloop, but since I was getting the first attack over and over it wore him down. I could tell by the way he set up if he was ready for the longer, more aggressive loop since he'd be a step farther off the table, so when he did that I'd try to loop very short and spinny, which completely threw him off. If he stayed too close to the table, then my loops were aggressive and deep, and again his counterloop would be erratic. Any loops that landed in between he'd counter-loop away off the bounce, so depth control was key. If he did make the counterloop, he was usually vulnerable to a quick block at wide angles or to his middle. Since I knew he was going to mostly counterloop, I didn't even attempt to follow my first loop to his forehand with another; I'd set up to quick-block, which often set me up for another attack.

Another key was that when he attacked my forehand, he'd set up to counterloop my expected loop to his forehand. So often I'd get free points by looping down the line to his open backhand side.

I won the match three straight. The keys to the match? His backhand loop against backspin is very good, but he got exactly zero chances to backhand loop against backspin. Not even one. His backhand counter-hitting is very strong, and we had exactly three backhand exchanges during the match. Other than a few points on his serve where I decided to very things by chopping (yes, I do that!) he had exactly zero chances to serve and loop against a deep push. Over and over I played into that little weakness where he was unable to forehand flip down the line. I fought the temptation to vary things in a way that would allow him to get his strengths into play.

Obviously players with different styles and levels have to use tactics that are relevant to their style and level. For example I wouldn't coach a beginning-intermediate player in an important match to vary the depth of his loop - he doesn't have the depth control yet, and trying to vary the depth would just lead to his own misses. But the key is to find ways to use your strengths against the opponent's weaknesses. In the above, I focused on Bob's telegraphing of his long serve, his inability to flip down the line effectively, and his sometimes erratic forehand counterloop against varying incoming loops. I used my own strengths - ability to loop balls when I can anticipate chances to do so (against the deep serves and crosscourt flips to my forehand), varying the depth on my loop, short push control when I can anticipate a short serve (and so didn't have to guard against a deep serve), my varying short serves to his forehand, and the ability to quick-block when I know early on the opponent is going to counterloop.

ITTF Hopes Training Camp

The ITTF Hopes program is a worldwide program where the best kids age 12 and under get together to train under top coaches. This morning USA's Kanak Jha is featured on the ITTF web page. There is also a video (4:35) of a training session, featuring coach and former Swedish star Erik Lindh.

Team Tryouts for 2013 USA Maccabiah Table Tennis Team

The Tryouts will be held Aug. 26 at the Lily Yip Table Tennis Center. Here's info on the USATT web page.

Table Tennis Screensaver

Want a table tennis screensaver for your computer? Here it is!

"As One" star featured in GQ Magazine

Bae Doona, who stars as North Korea's Li Bun Hui in the new table tennis movie "As One," is featured in the June GQ Magazine. The issue isn't online yet, but here are pictures from Korean Lovers Photoblog.

Strange Looking Tables

If you are shopping for the strangest, weirdest looking tables you can find, look no further. Here are eight of the strangest, ranging from a martini table to a Spider-man table. 

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Backhand Breakthrough

Yesterday a kid I was coaching had a major breakthrough. His forehand has been coming along really well, but his backhand . . . well . . . the stroke was awkward, the contact more like a jab then a stroke, often coming out dead or even with backspin. We've spent the last few weeks focusing on this. Usually it takes him about five minutes of hitting before he can start hitting it decently at even a slow pace, quite a contrast with his nice forehand, which he impatiently steps around to smash every chance since he too was getting sick of his problematic backhand.

And then, yesterday, we hit backhand to backhand, and lo and behold, it all come together. The stroke was textbook, the contact just right. We went backhand to backhand longer than usual as I wanted to really ingrain this. He'd been thinking about backhands a lot, and the visualizing seems to have worked. Let's just way I was pleasantly surprised. So was he.

He had additional incentive. I'd promised he could start working on backhand looping only after I declared his backhand "solid," and yesterday I did just that. I cautioned him that I wanted him to still focus on ingraining the regular backhand before we spend too much time on backhand loop, but next session he's going to finally get to backhand loop against backspin (multiball).

Adventures with Print on Demand and Ebooks, and No More Volunteering

I'm now an "expert" on POD and ebooks after several hours of research. Actually, I now know pretty much what I need to create and sell them. Now I have to do the page layouts, including covers. I think I will reach my goal of having all my books on sale in both formats by the end of the year - though secretly I'm toying with getting it done by the end of August. It depends on how much energy I have at night after coaching in our MDTTC training camps, which start on Monday for eleven weeks.

One side effect is that I positively, absolutely, conclusively CANNOT TAKE ON ANY MORE VOLUNTEER PROJECTS. Right now I'm trying to be a full-time table tennis coach, a tournament director (starting this fall) and organizer; a table tennis writer and blogger; and a science fiction & fantasy writer. It seems every day I get emails asking for volunteer help on something. I just don't have time or energy for everything.

I'm on USATT's Coaching, Club, and Editorial Advisory Committees, and on the U.S. Nationwide Table Tennis League Advisory Board, but the key phrase here is "Advisory." When I was asked if I'd be willing to serve on these committees I made it clear that I would be willing to as long as it was advisory as I simply wouldn't have time to take initiative on these committees.

Olympic Coach Magazine

The new issue of Olympic Coach Magazine is out, and here's your link to that issue and past ones.

Table Tennis Gifs

Here are some great table tennis gifs. (Gifs are animated pictures.) Why are there so many cats?

• China's Wang Hao doing multiball
• Behind the back counterloop
• Forrest Gump
• Bruce Lee playing nunchucku table tennis
• Larry Hodges flipping a winner (hey, that's me!)
• Two geckos playing table tennis
• Two cats playing table tennis
• Two more cats playing table tennis
• Two kittens playing table tennis
• Cat at the net
• Cartoon looper
• Circling table tennis player
• Lady in bed playing table tennis with her feet
• Animated kids playing table tennis
• Animated Chinese kids playing table tennis
• Anime table tennis
• Five animated table tennis gifs
• Five more animated table tennis gifs
• Eight animated table tennis gifs
• Nine animated table tennis gifs
• Two pages of animated table tennis gifs (and some non-animated)
• 22 animated table tennis gifs (click on "next" to see first one)

$45,000 Ping-Pong Table

Here's the story! What makes it so expensive? The table is made of black rubber to make it extra bouncy. Here's a better picture of it. And here's a video advertisement for the table (1:46).

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Tip of the Week

Dealing with Cheaters and Poor Sportsmanship.

Bad coaches

Since this week's Tip of the Week is on Cheaters and Poor Sportsmanship, let's continue the trend and look at the dark side of coaching. There are lots of great coaches out there. And I've often blogged about good coaching habits. However, let's talk about the other side of the coin: bad coaches. Here is a list of seven types of bad coaches. (I'm sure I missed some.) There is a lot of overlap between these categories, and the differences between some of them are subtle. There are probably bad coaches who combine the worst of multiple categories!

1. Self-taught coaches who either don't really understand high-level table tennis that well. Often they were mid-level players who really think they know the game, but don't have the experience to realize they don't. The stereotypical example is the player who has had little or no experience in watching top players develop, but believe they know how it is done by watching the end product, i.e. top players (usually on video) after they have already become top players. Highly perceptive people can sometimes learn to be good tacticians this way, but to learn what a top coach does in the practice hall you have to be in the practice hall to learn.
2. Highly-opinionated coaches who can only teach one way, and often are mistaken in what they do teach. They usually were not top players, and teach techniques that they themselves have little experience at and which they don't really understand. These types of coaches are legendary, but players usually see through them once they start observing what top players actually do, and see that there are sometimes multiple ways of doing something, depending on the player's style and technique.
3. Those who can only coach their own playing style. Often they are former top players. I've seen coaches take well-developed and successful styles and practically destroy them by trying to make them play the way they did. A good coach understands the game in general, not just from his own game's point of view. Some top players are masters of knowledge regarding their own game and how it relates to playing other styles, but only know little beyond their own game.
4. Those who live in the past, who essentially say, "This is how I did it, this is how my coach did it, and this is how my coach's coach did it, so that's how you will do it." I call these types of coaches "Parrot Coaches." These types of coaches are unable to change with the times as new techniques are developed.
5. Those who do not personalize, and instead teach everyone the same. This comes out of pure laziness.
6. Those only out for money, and are impatient or unenthusiastic. They often teach sound fundamentals, but getting them to take the extra effort to really develop someone as a player is like pulling teeth.
7. Bad attitudes. Some of the "best" coaches are not very good coaches because of bad attitudes. One of my best students ever early in my coaching career reached #1 in both Under 14 and Under 16. He idealized a particular world-class player whose style he had copied, watching huge numbers of tapes of this player. Then, one day, lo and behold, the player came to the U.S., and was going to play in a major local tournament! Better still, he advertised that he would be coaching the night before at the tournament site, at a very high rate. My excited student signed up for a 30-minute lesson. They were speaking Chinese during the session, so I didn't know what they were saying as I watched, but gradually my student seemed more and more unhappy, and he left the session crying. According to him and to several onlookers who understood Chinese, the "coach" had spent the entire session berating him, insulting his game, and ended the session by telling the kid he had no potential as a top player. If I'd known what was going on, I'd have pulled him from the session immediately. Instead, completely disheartened at this treatment from his "hero," the kid barely tried that weekend, losing to nearly everyone as I watched helplessly from the sidelines, and never really overcame it. After years of training six days a week, he stopped trying in training sessions, stopped trying in school, and six months later, his parents pulled him from table tennis. (I later found out that this top player was notorious for this type of thing.)

Interview with Stellan Bengtsson on Sports Psychology

Table tennis sports psychologist Dora Kurimay interviews Coach Stellan Bengtsson (1971 World Men's Singles Champion) on the most important aspects of sports psychology.

Spin City Sports Table Tennis

Here's an article from the Tampa Bay Times on the Spin City Sports full-time table tennis club in Largo, Florida.

Great Point, Great Shot

Here's a video of a great 34-shot rally in the final of the Japan Open this past weekend, with Japan's Jun Mizutani (the lefty on the far side) fishing or lobbing back 13 shots in a row against Korea's Oh Sang Eun, ending with one of the best point-winning lobs you'll ever see. (Mizutani wins the final, 9,9,.-11,-4,12,5.)

Ping-Pong Death Match

Since we have an interview with Bengtsson on sports psychology, it's only appropriate that we end with a video of a Ping-Pong Death Match (5:28). Ever play ping-pong with a guy who takes the game way too seriously?

Non-Table Tennis - New SF Story Published

My science fiction story "The Oysters of Pinctada" went up today in the new issue of Flagship Magazine. My name's on the cover! Alas, you'll have to buy the issue to read the story. (Here's my Science Fiction & Fantasy page.)

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Too tight when you play?

I'm one of the roughly way-too-many-to-count players who often struggle to get loose before playing, whether in matches or practice. But I have found a solution that works most of the time, and works for many players I coach.

When you start a session (practice or matches), have fun at the start. Let yourself go. If it's practice, start out with something you do really well (preferably something physical, like looping or smashing), and have fun doing it. If it's a match, take it lightly and have fun. The goal in both cases is to relax and loosen up. Once you feel loose - and this shouldn't take too long - then take deep breath, clear your mind, and focus.

When I say focus, this doesn't mean to get super-serious. You can have a clear mind and still smile on the inside. The best players may often look impassive on the outside, but on the inside they are having the time of their life. So lighten up at the start of your sessions, loosen up, then focus, and you may surprise yourself by how well you play.

At the Easterns last weekend, the kid I was coaching, Derek Nie, started the tournament off very nervous, and played horribly in his first match. Afterwards I took him to a back table where we did some counterlooping for a while, joked about, and then played challenge matches where we trash talked. ("I cannot be beaten!" I'd say whenever I win a point," which of course just spurred him on.) In his matches shortly afterwards, he played the best of his life. (See next item.)

Eastern Open Recap

Here's a nice video recap of the Eastern Open last weekend at Rutgers University (2:50). Alas, they somehow missed me, but at 2:25 you can see Derek Nie, the kid I was coaching, who won Under 13, beat players rated 2258 and 2142, and was up double match point on a 2233 player. Not bad for a 60-pounder! (We already have a list of things he needs to work on before the U.S. Open in a few weeks, and he's been training much of this week on them. Sorry, can't report on them here, there are rival coaches reading! Perhaps after the Open. But last night he had a great session with Jeffrey Xeng Xun, one of our 2600-rated coaches, and he seemed to be playing like he had at the Easterns.)

Waldner-Persson Exhibition Point

Here's another nice exhibition between Sweden greats Jan-Ove Waldner and Jorgen Persson (1:53), with five-time U.S. Men's Singles Champion Dan Seemiller doing the commentary. (On Monday I'd linked to another exhibition they'd done.)

Why does Waldner come up so often when showing spectacular shots and exhibitions? Actually, today has three items pertaining to Sweden, so we'll belatedly declare today National Day of  Sweden, an national holiday in Sweden that was actual celebrated two days ago, on June 6.)

The Power of Sidespin

Here's a five-minute compilation of spectacular points that feature sidespin, mostly sidespin looping. Perhaps the best one is the one (shown in slow motion) of Sweden's Jan-Ove Waldner that starts right at the one minute mark.

Sweden #1 Denied Olympic Spot?

Matilda Ekholm of Sweden qualified for the Olympics, but the Swedish Olympic Association apparently didn't believe she was good enough or competitive to win an Olympic medal, and so denied her a spot on the Olympic team. She is ranked 51 in the world, the highest ranked Swedish woman. (The next best is Daniela Moskovits, #399 in the world.) For comparison, on the men's side, Sweden is sending, in singles, Par Gerell (world #80) and Jorgen Persson (#88, though of course World Men's Singles Champion in 1991, 21 years ago), and a men's team of Persson, Gerell, and Jens Lundqvist (#48). (Sweden didn't qualify for an Olympic Women's Team.)

There's been a huge outcry about this, culminating in these two letters yesterday to the Swedish Olympic Committee by ITTF President Adham Sharara and Vladimir Samsonov, chair of the ITTF Athlete's Commission (and former world #2 and current #14). There's a Facebook page devoted to her cause. And here's a discussion of the situation on the about.com table tennis forum.

Rapper Yelawolf Plays Table Tennis

Here's a three-minute video interview of rapper Yelawolf, which goes back and forth between him performing and the interview, which seems to take place as he's playing table tennis. You can see him actually playing at 1:09 and 2:20, but at other times he seems to be playing as he talks, though they only show his head (you can hear the ball bouncing back and forth in the background).

Fun with Robots

Here's 33 seconds of someone having fun with a robot at full speed, set to music. Reminded me of a sequence from Forrest Gump, but this wasn't computer generated.

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ITTF Coaching Seminars

Here's a note about upcoming ITTF Coaching Seminars that was sent to all USATT Certified Coaches from the USATT Coaching Committee. (I'm a member.) If you are interested, see the info page. I'm running my second one at the Maryland Table Tennis Center on Aug 11-12, 18-19 (with possible Paralympic session on Aug. 25), so I hope to see you there! Here's the flyer for the one I'm running. 

Special Notice to All USATT Members, USATT Coaches, and USATT Clubs
From: Richard McAfee, Chairman, USATT National Coaching Advisory Committee

In the upcoming summer months, USATT Coaching is offering 5 regional ITTF-PPT Level 1 Coaching Courses.  USATT Coaching would like to urge anyone who is actively involved or has thought about becoming involved in coaching table tennis to plan to attend one of these courses.

Coaches completing all the course requirements of the ITTF-PPT Level 1 Course will become ITTF Certified and listed on the ITTF Coaches Registry.  In addition, coaches becoming ITTF Level 1 who are not currently USATT Certified (or certified at a “club” level) are eligible to become USATT “State” Level Coaches.  For current USATT Coaches, your ITTF Certification will be added to your name on the USATT Coaching Data-base.

Course Content:

The ITTF-PPT Level 1 Course focuses on preparing coaches to work with children and also on developing effective group coaching skills.  Topics include: how to conduct introductory programs for children, teaching in a school setting, how to teach all basic strokes, teaching serve and serve return, physical training, psychological skills, nutrition and energy systems, tournament organization, rules, and junior development planning.  In addition, the course includes a full day of instruction on working with Para athletes which includes: understanding the classification system, special equipment of the Para athletes, Para rules, and basic knowledge of Para techniques and tactics.

More Trained Coaches Needed:

Every USATT Club needs trained and motivated coaches if we are ever going to raise the standard of both our athletes and our clubs.  I would urge every USATT Club to look to recruit one or more persons who are interested in coaching and help sponsor them to attend one of these ITTF Courses.  The benefit back to your club of having more trained coaches will show itself for years to come.  The immediate benefit is the all coaches attending the ITTF Course must complete 30 hours of coaching at their local club of which 5 hours is supervised and graded.  This often results in many new coaching programs for the local club. 

More Advanced ITTF Courses Coming Soon:

While the ITTF-PPT Level 1 Course is an introductory coaching course it still covers a great amount of material that coaches of all levels will find interesting.  More importantly for the elite level coaches, the Level 1 Course sets the stage for the ITTF Level 2, ITTF Level 3, and ITTF High Performance Courses which will be coming to the USATT in the near future.  Regional Level 2 Courses will begin in 2013 and Level 3 in 2014. 

It is important to note that the ITTF does not “grandfather” anyone and every coach must start at Level 1 and work their way up.  Currently there are no USATT Coaches higher than Level 1 so now is the time to get in on the ground floor.  All coaches must be a Level 1 Coach for 1 year before they can apply for the Level 2 Course. 

Summer ITTF-PPT Level 1 Courses:

• Fremont, CA – June 11-15, 2012
• Champaign, IL – July 17-21, 2012
• Pleasantville, NY - (8/4, 8/5, 8/11, 8/12, 8/18), 2012
• Gaithersburg, MD - (8/11-12, 8/18-19, 8/25), 2012
• Austin, TX (8/13 - 8/17, 2012)

For Complete Information, please see: http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Table-Tennis/Coaching-and-Tips/Courses.aspx

Stuff I Did at Ledo Pizza Yesterday

As I do every few weeks, I spent an afternoon at Ledo Pizza yesterday getting work done. I did both table tennis and science fiction & fantasy stuff. What did I accomplish?

• Reviewed printouts explaining the U.S. Nationwide Table Tennis League to prepare for an online meeting, which took place last night at 8PM for about an hour;
• Edited and rewrote chapter 20 of my Table Tennis Tactics book, "Mental Tactics," based on suggestions from table tennis sports psychologist Dora Kurimay;
• Proofed several rewritten chapters of the Table Tennis Tactics book;
• Proofed two new stories, "The Nature of Swords" and "Death, the Devil, and the President's Ghost," which I submitted to markets last night;
• Proofed rewritten versions of two stories, "The Purple Rose of Retribution" and "Nanogod," and submitted both last night;
• Ate pepperoni pizza.

Update on Table Tennis Tactics: A Thinker's Guide

It's currently around 99,000 words (over twice as many words as Table Tennis: Steps to Success, my best-selling previous work, which sold over 28,000 copies), as I constantly tinker with it. However, except for some more work I plan to do today on chapter 20 (the Mental Tactics chapter), the written part is done. I've also worked out an agreement with a top table tennis photographer for use of his photos, plus I've ransacked my own photo files, so I'm well into finding the roughly 70 photos that I plan to use to represent various chapters or sections. Then I'll start creating the pages. The plan is to be able to do both POD (Print on Demand) and ebooks. The only thing I'm not sure of at this point is the cover. I have several ideas I'm playing with.

"As One" the movie

Here's a website with info on the movie (about the unified Korean Women's Team winning the 1991 World Team Championships), linked to a video preview (1:48). Later, after I see the movie, I'll blog about it. I do know they have changed history to add drama, apparently having Korea win the doubles in dramatic fashion in the final match to win the championships, when in fact the doubles was the third of five matches played, and they lost that! I'm told that in the movie, an umpire kept faulting the Koreans, but if I remember correctly, that really did happen, though it's likely the movie exaggerated this. I'll get the movie on Netflix when it's available, since it's not playing my area (Maryland).

The Shakehands Serving Grip

Here's an article, and linked video (2:55), that examines the intricacies of the shakehands grip for serving. I think one of the keys here is whether to use the middle finger on the handle to add extra snap, or hold the racket only between thumb and index finger for extra flexibility. I do it both ways, depending on the serve, but generally using the middle finger for extra spin, and taking it off for quicker motions leading to more deception.

Ariel Hsing Wins North American Cup Again

Here's the story.

Princeton Table Tennis Video

Here are video interviews (3:40) with four members of the Princeton Table Tennis Club - Amaresh Sahu, Kevin Ma, Thomas An, and Gabriel Reder. (Amaresh and Kevin are both alumni from my club, Maryland Table Tennis Center.)

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper Takes on Olympian

He's no match for Mo Zhang. Here's the article, linked to the video (1:07).

A Table Tennis Birthday Cake

Yes, you can have your table tennis cake and eat it too.

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Why coaches teach nearly everyone almost the same style

If you watch the top players, and especially up-and-coming juniors, you probably noticed something: they all seem to play pretty much the same. There are, of course, differences, often subtle, but in generally they mostly serve forehand pendulum serves (regular and reverse), they pretty much loop everything on the forehand (unless it's an easy smash, though some loop those as well), and they all loop on the backhand (though some will also hit). In generally, nearly every top player and top junior these days is a looper of some type. If you watch closely, you'll realize that many elite juniors aren't really hitting their backhand much anymore; they are looping them off the bounce. You'll even notice emerging trends, such as how they all seem to receive short balls whenever possible now with their backhands, using the newly popular "banana flip," which is basically an over-the-table backhand loop, often with sidespin. Why are they all playing so much alike?

Except at the highest levels, there are many styles that are successful. In fact, one of the strangest things about table tennis is that just about any style can succeed below the national level, say up to 2200-2400 level or so. There really aren't any disadvantages below that level for choppers, blockers, hitters, pips-out penholders, Seemiller grip players, long pips blockers, or just about any other semi-regular style. Given the chance, in fact, many players with these styles probably could nearly reach the top, even becoming, say, the best in the U.S. or top 100 in the world.

So why do so few coaches teach other styles?

Think of it from the point of view of the coach. He has a new player. Let's suppose that one style is slightly better than another at the higher levels. Why would the coach choose that particular player to develop a style he knows is slightly less successful than others?

Sure, some players may be more talented at one style than another, but these tendencies don't really show up early on. It's hard to tell if a new seven-year-old player might someday be better as a chopper than as a looper. And so he is trained early on to be a looper, the "default" style in the modern game. And when I say the default style, it's basically the style of nearly every player in the top one hundred in the world. The few exceptions I know on the men's side are chopper/loopers, who chop, but are highly aggressive loopers as well.

I don't know everyone in the top hundred, but I don't think any are pips-out penholders left, for example - a style that once dominated the sport. And yet I believe that if half of all new players were trained as pips-out penholders, probably a few would reach the top hundred.

But why would a coach put a new player at a disadvantage right from the start by developing them with a style that puts them at a disadvantage? And so, if there's a 1% advantage with one style over another, rather than have 1% more play that style, you get nearly 100% playing the 1% better style.

This is even true for serving. Players see that most world-class players use pendulum forehand serves (regular and reverse), and so they copy them. Coaches teach the most successful techniques, and so these are the serves they mostly teach. Backhand serves? Tomahawk serves? Windshield wiper serves? These serves all have potential, and many are used as "backup" serves, even by world-class players. But what coach wants to teach them as the primary serve, and later on risk have to explain to the junior why he taught them a less successful serve?

There are, of course, exceptions. Three top junior players from China recently moved to Maryland, and one of them is a 17-year-old chopper/looper with a rating now of 2567. Why did his coach choose to train him as a chopper? Perhaps I'll ask him. One of the three juniors is a 14-year-old penholder who loops from both wings, with a 2388 rating. In the U.S. and Europe, few coaches teach penhold, starting everyone off as a shakehander (there are more shakehanders at the top then penholders), but in China many players are trained as penholders - but with modern reverse penhold backhands so they can loop just like a shakehander, like Xu Xin and Wang Hao, #3 and #4 in the world. (The third junior is a 12-year-old rated 2306, a conventional two-winged looping shakehander - but he's a lefty.) 

Even among the seemingly identical loopers there are subtle differences. Some serve mostly backspin or no-spin; others serve more sidespin and topspin. Some like to mix up their serves; others keep them short and simple. Some loop nearly everything on the backhand; others both loop and hit. Some loop close to the table; others move back to loop. Some favor the forehand every chance; others are more two-winged. Some back up to counterloop, fish, or lob when the opponent attacks; others mostly stay at the table and either block or counter-loop off the bounce, though nearly all counterloop just about everything on the forehand side. Some mix in short receives against a short serve; others only push long or flip. But these are, to the average observer, subtle differences, and overbalanced by the similar serve motions and mostly all-out looping styles. 

As a coach I face these problems regularly. There are beginning junior players I'm tempted to train as, say, chopper/loopers, or to use pips on their backhand, or to be pure hitters. I've always thought that the Seemiller grip would be rather successful in the women's game, where there is more emphasis on speed and quickness (advantages of the grip) rather than backhand looping and counterlooping abilities (disadvantages with the grip), with the added advantages of the grip (great blocking, strong in middle, lots of wrist motion when looping, an alternate surface). But what junior girls should I choose to test this theory? Five years later they are going to ask me why, and I'm not sure I will have an answer. And so they are trained as loopers.

Poor Sportsmanship at the Easterns

In the interest of full disclosure, early this morning the person I wrote about in my Monday blog for his bad sportsmanship at the Easterns responded with four (4!) long, rambling, disjointed, and obnoxious comments, attacking Derek and me with numerous accusations, making excuses for his behavior and for why he lost, and basically pushing my patience to the limit. I'm not going to get into a point-by-point argument with all the things he wrote about and accusations made; suffice to say he thought people were laughing at him because he was losing to a "small boy" when of course they were laughing at him because of his on-court antics. I have a low tolerance for this type of thing, so I deleted the four notes and he is banned permanently from this site. (After nearly a year and a half, he is only the second person banned, other than advertising spammers.) I haven't named him, but I have received numerous emails and Facebook notes from people, most of whom were not at the Easterns but who recognized the behavior. So far 100% of them have correctly identified the person. My Tip of the Week this next Monday will be how to deal with poor sportsmanship and cheaters.

The Daily Visits Spin New York

"Pingpong has become the latest social sport, so The Daily's Olivia Zaleski went to Spin New York to perfect her game." Here's the video (4:18) with ping-pong host (and Spin co-owner) Frank Raharinosy.

It's Derek versus Goliath!

Here's a table tennis cartoon I liked. The caption is in Spanish, "A veces la fuerza no es la major arma," which my online translator translates as, "Sometimes the force is not a major weapon."

Top Ten Angry Moments in Table Tennis

And here they are! (4:41)

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Bad Sportsmanship and Cheaters

Yesterday I blogged about the Eastern Open, including the extremely bad sportsmanship of one player. Here are some examples of really bad sportsmanship or cheating I've experienced in the past.

• I was coaching a top 13-year-old against a much higher-rated player in a best of five to 21. The 13-year-old won the first two games. The opponent won the first point of the third game. He then walked over to the 13-year-old's side of the table, put his fist in the kid's face, and screamed very loudly, "Yeah!" He then walked back to his side of the table. The kid was stunned, and didn't want to play. I called for the referee, who actually had seen it, but all he did was give a warning and send out an umpire. The kid barely tried the rest of the way, saying before they started up again, "If he wants to win that bad, then let him."
• Back when foot stomping was illegal when serving (since players were using it to cover up the sound of contact with combination rackets), a player I was about to play convinced the umpire in advance that if a player lifts his foot during the service motion, it's an illegal foot stomp. The umpire fell for it, and since I do lift my foot up slightly on my forehand pendulum serve, he faulted me on the very first point. I called the referee, who explained to the umpire that it was a foot stomp only if, in the umpire's opinion, the stomp was loud enough to cover the sound of contact. The umpire then tried to change his call to a let, but my opponent insisted it was a judgment call, and an umpire can't change a judgment call after the fact. The referee reluctantly agreed, and the point stood. (The opponent admitted he'd planned the whole thing.) This is still the only time in 36 years and probably over 500 tournaments that I've been faulted.
• I discovered an opponent had great difficulties with my forehand tomahawk serve. When I served it to him at 19-all (games to 21), he caught the ball saying he wasn't ready. I served it again, and again he caught the ball. This happened four times in a row! I called for an umpire. Again I served the tomahawk serve, and the opponent again caught the ball saying he wasn't ready. The umpire then asked him specifically if he was ready before each of the next two points, the opponent reluctantly agreed, I gave him two tomahawk serves, and forced to actually return them, he missed both. He admitted afterwards he'd decided he was going to catch it and say he wasn't ready anytime I gave him that serve.
• Two top players were battling it out, and the score reached 17-12 in the third (best of three to 21). Both agreed on the score, but both claimed to be up 17-12. Havoc ensued. The referee finally had them replay the game from scratch.
• In the 1980s there was a player who was notorious for cheating. Opponents basically called an umpire against him nearly every match. I played him once, and he kept calling lets whenever I hit a winner even if there was no ball anywhere ("Yes there was!" he'd claim), and then he simply called the score wrong, giving himself a lead when I was winning. I had to call an umpire, and then beat him easily. (Fortunately, there were a number of spectators who were watching, who all verified to the umpire what the score was.)
• I was watching play from a balcony on a hot and humid day when Dan Seemiller called me over and pointed at a top player who was about to serve. The player was a chopper who, surprisingly, had long pips on both sides of his racket. Just before serving, over and over, he'd turn his back on his opponent, spit on the ball (!), and then serve. The opponent would put it in the net, and thought it was just the humidity.
• There have been a number of times I've watched grown men berate little kids throughout a match in an attempt to intimidate them, such as the example I blogged about yesterday at the Easterns. One time I was playing Perry Schwartzberg a match, and we kept getting interrupted by the antics of a grown man on the next table, who kept badgering the little kid he was playing. Finally Perry walked over and let the guy have it. I wish I had done it.
• Here's a controversial one. In the final of Men's Singles at the 1987 World Championships, defending champion Jiang Jialiang of China was up 2-1 in games on Jan-Ove Waldner of Sweden. Waldner led 20-16 game point, and it seemed they were about to go into the fifth and final game. Jiang won four in a row to get to 20-all. He then did his infamous walk around the table: With his fist in the air, he circled the table, walking right in front of Waldner on his side of the table. Waldner later admitted this bothered him, and Jiang won in deuce to win the championship. Here's the video of the match (17:26). At 10:07 Waldner is leading 20-16. At 11:27 they start the spectacular point where Jiang deuces it, and then you see him walk around the table. Poor sportsmanship, over-exuberance, or basic gamesmanship?

Fast Serves

How many players have confidence they can pull of a very fast serve at a key moment in a match? It's risky, since most players don't practice this serve just before a tournament to get the timing down. Key phrase: "most players don't practice this serve just before a tournament." Fast serves need more precision and timing then spin serves or they are easy to miss, and so they need more warm-up and practice before a serious match. So, how do you think you can fix this? Duh!!! (When I warm up a player I'm coaching at a tournament, I almost always finish by having them practice their serves, including the fast ones.)

Want to Find Your Record Against Anyone?

Go to the TTSPIN ratings page, search for your name (see "player search" at top, since it seems to have David Zhuang as the default), choose your opponent, and your complete record (going back to 1995) will appear! (Green means you won, red you lost.)

Final of the China Open

Here's Xu Xin defeating Ma Long 4-2 (-6, 5,10,-9,7,4) in the final of the China Open in Shanghai, May 23-27. Time between points is taken out so entire match takes just nine minutes. (Xu is the penholder.)

Easterns and Meiklejohn Results

There were two major 4-star tournaments this past weekend, the Eastern Open at Rutgers University in New Jersey, and the Meiklejohn Senior Championships in Laguna Woods, California. Here are the results:

• Eastern Open (Set dropdown menu to "Eastern Open.")
• Meiklejohn Seniors

100 ping-ping balls. 100 mousetraps

Here's the result (34 seconds).

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Tip of the Week

Serving Short with Spin.

Eastern Open

I was at the Eastern Open this past weekend, coaching 11-year-old Derek Nie. Derek made the final of 11 and Under at the last USA Nationals, and came in with a rating of 2127. (He's very small for his age, only about 60 pounds, and is almost for certain the best player in the U.S., pound for pound.) He played very well this tournament. But he also had a very bad experience with an opponent who was the ultimate in bad sportsmanship. Balancing that was a revelation Derek had about the mental game. Here's a synopsis.

On Saturday morning he started off at 9AM in Under 2500 against Wesley Fan, rated 2163. He didn't play well this match, and Wesley played much better than his rating, and won three straight easily. (Wesley would go on to win both Under 2250 and Under 2375.) Afterwards I took Derek aside and we practiced for an hour, the last half playing practice games. Since I know what "buttons" to push when I play him, I won all five games, but they were closer and closer toward the end. The first three we had a little fun, which helped him relax, then I told him to focus the last two games, and though I won, that's when he started playing well. I could see it, and couldn't wait for his next match. We finished the session with him practicing his serves for ten minutes.

In the Open Preliminary RR, starting at 10:30 AM, he started out against Scott Lurty, rated 2268. He'd played Scott in tournaments twice in the last month and lost both badly. (He hadn't had a coach in those matches.)  I knew Scott's game pretty well, and went over the important points with Derek before the match began. He started out having trouble with Scott's serves, and was down 3-9. That's when he figured them out, and Scott got a bit soft, and next thing you know Derek had come back to win the first game at deuce! Derek was really playing well - as someone watching said, "His forehand is like a machine - he never misses!" And his backhand was almost as good, both looping and smashing.) Derek won that match three straight, 10,7,11. (Scott would go on to win Under 22 and make the final of Under 2375.) Scott said afterwards that he thought he would have won if I hadn't been coaching Derek. (He and Derek are good friends, and bantered back and forth the rest of the tournament.)

In his next match Derek played Tina Lin, rated 2233, who is playing great. This may have been the match of the tournament. By now many players were gathering around to watch this tiny dynamo who was running around the court looping and smashing from both wings, and with good serves as well. The match was a doozy. Derek won the first 12-10, Tina the second 13-11 (I think Derek had a game point), Derek won the third 11-9. Derek then went up double-match point at 8-10 in the fourth, with Tina serving. He missed a backhand smash, 9-10. They then had the point of the match. Derek started the point on the attack, looping a series of forehands. Tina blocked them back, and finally smashed. Derek fell back and fished several back, then looped one back. Tina blocked, and was again on the attack, and finally smashed a winner to deuce it. She won the game in deuce. In the fifth, Derek served at 9-all, and both times he serve and looped, but missed a backhand smash and then a loop, and Tina pulled it out, -10, 11,-9,11,9. 

Derek next played Nhu Phong Pham, rated 2142. Pham had gone five with Tina (also coming back from down 0-2 to force the fifth) and gotten a game from Scott. Derek won the first two, but Pham won the next two before Derek won the fifth and the match, 8,5,-7,-10,6.

In the last match of the, Scott played Tina. If Tina wins, she advances at 3-0. If Scott wins, then he, Tina, and Derek are tied at 2-1, and Derek advances for sure (since he beat Scott 3-0 and went five with Tina). Even though he knew he couldn't advance, Scott fought hard for Derek and had Tina match point before losing at -8,10,13,-9,13! So Tina advanced by coming back from down double match point against Derek, down match point against Scott, and having to go five with Pham as well. Talk about your pressure play!

Derek then went 5-0 in winning Under 13, winning all five matches 3-0. He was quite proud of the trophy, which he said was the "tallest" he'd won. He came off the table after one match very apologetic because he'd just played a beginning kid he'd made friends with, and leading 10-0 in the third he'd tried to give away a point, but his attempted backhand smash into the net trickled over the net for a winner. "I didn't mean to win 11-0!"

Now is where things got a bit dark. In Under 2375 he faced an opponent rated about 2000 who exhibited about the worst sportsmanship imaginable - and we knew he would act like this before the match since he had a history of doing this, especially when playing junior players. I'd coached against him once before and he'd done the same thing in that match (though not as bad as this time), and other players, especially kids, said they'd had the same experience. The player had a strong backhand but weak forehand. So I had Derek go after his forehand over and over, and he won the first two games 11-3, 11-4. The opponent talked to Derek throughout, arguing about the score and other matters, but nothing major, and Derek was under orders not to talk to the opponent except when necessary, i.e. calling out the score, etc. A large crowd was beginning to gather, and they began booing this guy for his antics and cheering for Derek.

In the third, it got ridiculous. Essentially every single point the opponent come up with something new to complain about, and began to bicker constantly with Derek, over and over making things up, and slowing the match to a snail's crawl as minutes would sometimes go by between points as he complained about the score, about lets he'd call after the point, that the ball was too shiny, about Derek's serve, and whatever else popped into his mind. He seemed to revel in the crowd booing him. Derek completely fell apart, unable to believe an adult would act like this and not sure how he should react, and lost that game 11-7. Between games I managed to get his head back together, but the guy kept it up in the fourth, making up new things to complain about all through the fourth. Derek managed to focus, and goes up about 7-3. They have another big argument about the score or something, and that's when I finally called for an umpire. Derek loses the next two points, missing easy shots, but finally gets focused, and wins the match at 3,4,-7,5, to huge cheers from the crowd.

Playing mind games with a kid? How low can one go. Derek said he'd never experienced anything like that, and couldn't imagine an adult acting like this. Another lesson learned. (Addendum added later: Five people have emailed me guessing who the person was. All five guessed correctly. The person is notorious.) 

In the last match of the round robin, Derek plays Richard Williams, rated 2269, a very athletic two-winged looper. Derek's barely able to concentrate after the last match, but he still plays pretty well, just not like he had that afternoon when his forehand was like a "machine." Over and over he'd play nice points, only to miss the final winning shot, the very shot he'd made over and over earlier. Match to Richard, 9,-9,9,6, who told Derek, "This is the last time I will ever be able to beat you."

On Sunday morning, Derek was in Under 22. He's seeded fourth in a group of five, but the top seed and fifth seed don't show. He lost the first game against Geoffrey Xiao (who seems way under-rated at 1923), but wins the next three and the match, -9,5,9,5. Geoffrey also won the first against Connor Bockoven, rated 2206, but Connor won the next three. Against Connor, Derek has great difficulty with his serves, and can't seem to control his own serves (his short serves keep going long), and the one serve that Connor has difficulty with - sorry, can't mention it here! - Derek is unable to do effectively. With Connor controlling points with his serve and receive, Derek not only spotted lots of points (mostly care of missing against Connor's serves), but was uncomfortable in the rallies. So Connor wins easily at 5,4,5. It was the only match Derek played where he lost the serve and receive battle. He now has "homework" so he'll be ready for the type of long, spin serves Connor kept throwing at him, as well as working on his own serves.

Derek had a revelation this tournament. He told me, "You can't improve your skills at a tournament. So at tournaments, the game is all mental." He is a wise fifth grader.

Derek couldn't play other Sunday events as his dad had to catch a flight that night to France for a business trip, and so we left around noon. 

Two other interesting notes. Normally the Easterns is held on Memorial Day Weekend, which was the week before. I asked why they had moved it, and was told they wanted to have Memorial Day Weekend off themselves. That's a good reason, but that meant the tournament took place right as high school students (at least in Maryland) were getting ready for finals exams, and they lost at least ten players from my club alone. I'm guessing they lost over 50 players by postponing the tournament one week. They ended up with 164 entries, compared with 227 (plus players who entered in doubles only or who paid and didn't play) last year.

Also, I saw a player wearing a CCCP shirt with hammer and sickle. CCCP is Russian for the old Soviet Union, with the hammer and sickle their official emblem. I had to check my calendar to make sure this wasn't 1991, the year the USSR collapsed!

Sports Psychology Night at MDTTC

On Friday, June 22, Table Tennis Sports Psychologist Dora Kurimay will run a 40-minute sports psychology workshop at the Maryland Table Tennis Center. She runs the table tennis sports psychology page dorakurimay.com, and is the co-author of the book "Get Your Game Face On!" (Here's my review of the book on the USATT website.) The schedule for the night will be: 6:30-7:00PM - book signing; 7:00-7:40PM: Sports Psychology Seminar ($20, which includes a free copy of the book); after 7:40PM: Personalized Sport Psychology Consultation. Here is the flyer for the event. Come join us!

USATT Coaching Newsletters

There have been five USATT Coaching Newsletters since Nov. 2009. Here's where you can read all five!

New Coaching Video from PingSkills

Positioning to Return a Smash (2:53)

Waldner-Persson Exhibition

Here are some nice exhibition points (4:10) between Swedish greats Jan-Ove Waldner and Jorgen Persson. (For some reason they also have a few exhibition points stuck in between Waldner and I think Chen Xinhua of China, a chopper.)

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Easterns

I'm off for the Eastern Open this afternoon, where I'll primarily be coaching Derek Nie, one of the top 11 and under players in the U.S. with a rating of 2136. If you are there, stop by and say hello! 

Adventures of the Ping-Pong Diplomats by Fred Danner

Review by Larry Hodges

If you're a history buff, and enjoy reading the behind-the-scenes happenings in Ping-Pong Diplomacy; war (Chinese Civil War, Korean War, Vietnam War); China, the Soviet Union, and the U.S.; table tennis in the U.S., and even the aerospace industry during the Apollo era, then you'll find this book fascinating. The book is really four short books in one.

Chapters 1-3 (pages 1-86) covers the history that led up to, and the actual events of, the 1971 Ping-Pong Diplomacy trip to China. The three chapters are titled "Setting the Stage for Ping-Pong Diplomacy," "The 1971 World Team's China Trip," and "Who Won the Nobel Peace Prize for Ping-Pong Diplomacy?" These chapters include fascinating background on the Chinese Civil War, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, and all the political infighting taking place in these countries, the Soviet Union, and the U.S.  The three wars were related in numerous ways, and all led to the eventual Ping-Pong Diplomacy of 1971-72. We also learn how it could have happened in 1961, but the U.S. blew it. The answer to the question posed in the last chapter is nobody won the Novel Peace Prize for any of this, but it goes over the possible recipients and explains why nobody ever did win for it. And here's a hilarious quote from Chairman Mao: "Regard a ping-pong ball as the head of your capitalist enemy. Hit it with your socialist bat, and you have won the point for the fatherland."

Chapters 4 and 6 (pages 89-125 and 162-170, "The Growth of Long Island Table Tennis" and "Table Tennis Becomes a Family Affair") cover the growth of Long Island Table Tennis, as well as how it became a family affair for the Danners. Slowly but inexorably Fred found himself running more and bigger events in Long Island (clubs, leagues, and tournaments) and for USTTA (now USATT), until it led to the U.S. Open (he was Operations Director) and the Long Island stop for Ping-Pong Diplomacy in 1972. He also begins to travel to tournaments with his son Carl, now a prominent player and coach in the bay area in California. Did you know that the 1972 U.S. Open in Long Island, forty years ago, had 725 entries? (A few years later these numbers would break a thousand in Houston and Oklahoma City.) For perspective, last year's U.S. Open in Milwaukee had 607. Fred also shows how the world has changed since those days, explaining how USTTA kept records in those non-computer days: "Each membership application required writing or typing the player's name and address nine times."

Chapter 5 (pages 126-161, "Life in the Long Island Aerospace Industry") is about life in the Long Island Aerospace Industry in the '60s, where Fred worked during the many years he was also working with Long Island Table Tennis. In some ways this seemed a bit off-topic, but it was related in various ways to Fred's continuing table tennis endeavors, in particular since all the corporate infighting both interfered with and somewhat mirrored what was going on in the world of table tennis, both in Long Island and the political intrigues in the background of Ping-Pong Diplomacy in the various wars and countries involved. Much of the chapter was about infighting and politics at Grumman Aviation, including their fights with GE and other companies as they bid for various aspects of the Apollo 11 trip to the moon. We also learn about the theft of atom bomb designs by the Soviets, how we could have avoided the Korean War, and how we outwitted the Soviets by helping to bring table tennis and China into the Olympics.

Chapter 7 (pages 171-204, "LITTA's Big Year: The U.S.-China Matches") is about the Chinese National Team's U.S. trip, covering primarily their stop in Long Island, and how that came to be, rather than it being in the New York City's Madison Square Garden, as New York City Mayor John Lindsey wanted. (He doesn't come off very well in the book.)

Now who is Fred Danner? He's not only one of the 134 members of the U.S. Table Tennis Hall of Fame (inducted as a contributor in 1993), but he's also one of the 14 recipients of the Mark Matthews Lifetime Achievement Award (2010). Fred has a long career promoting table tennis both in Long Island and with USATT. He was instrumental in getting table tennis in the Olympics. He was president of the Long Island Table Tennis Association, founded the National Junior Table Tennis Foundation, wrote the National School Table Tennis Guide, and was at various times USTTA's Junior Development Chair, Membership Chair, Treasurer, Corresponding Secretary, and Vice President. He also got USTTA its tax exempt status.

You'll note this is Volume 1. Volume 2 will cover what Fred calls "$7,000,000 worth of favorable publicity" as a result of Ping-Pong Diplomacy, and the various contrasting ideas on how USTTA should proceed, and the resulting successes and failures. (A third volume is also planned.)

The book has a catchy cover, with USA's D-J Lee (6-time U.S. Men's Champion) serving to a Chinese opponent against a background made up of the U.S. and Chinese flags and the earth as seen from space. It is available at amazon.com for $29.59 (hardcover), $13.22 (soft cover), and $3.99 (ebook). 

This is the third book I know of in English that covers Ping-Pong Diplomacy, at least from the table tennis angle. The other two are "History of U.S. Table Tennis, Volume 5," by Tim Boggan, $40, which covers the Ping-Pong Diplomacy Years, 1971-72, available at timboggantabletennis.com (along with his other eleven books on U.S. Table Tennis History); and "The Origin of Ping-Pong Diplomacy: The Forgotten Architect of Sino-U.S. Rapprochement" by Shigeo Itoh (1969 World Men's Champion from Japan), available at amazon.com for $90 or $65 used.

Backhand Loop

Here's a new video from Coach Brian Pace from Dynamic Table Tennis on Setting up the Backhand Loop in Competition (8:38).

New Coaching Video from PingSkills

Returning a Drop Shot (1:41)

Celebrating 40 Years of U.S.-China Exchanges

Here's a video that highlights 40 years of "Ping-Pong Diplomacy" (2:36).

Erica Wu in LA Times

Here's an article in yesterday's LA Times on U.S. Table Tennis Olympian Erica Wu.

Spelling Bee Ping-Pong Champion

Table Tennis Nation explains why Nicholas Rushlow, ping-pong player, will win the National Spelling Bee. (He didn't.)

Non-Table Tennis - How to Kill a Dragon

My fantasy story "In the Belly of the Beast" (6600 words) went up on Electric Spec yesterday. A sorcerer with a unique method for slaying dragons is swallowed by his dragon prey. While in the dragon's stomach, he uses a force field to protect himself, his daughter, and others, all of whom have also been swallowed. He abandoned his daughter when she was a child to go to sorcery school, and she doesn't recognize him. To her, there is the inept sorcerer in the dragon's stomach; the father who abandoned her; and the famous dragonslayer on the way to rescue them. She doesn't know that all three are the same. Most of the story takes place in the stomach of the dragon, which features the only battle between a wizard and a warrior in the belly of a dragon in history.

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Forehand Looping from Backhand Corner

There's a discussion at the about.com forum about a point showing Larry Bavly (Heavyspin) winning a point with a "relatively low speed block to show that all points do not have to be won by hitting the ball hard." He does this against an opponent who had forehand looped from the wide backhand corner. There was some debate as to how this happened. The basic problem was that the woman looping against Bavly was rushed, and so was left off balance at the end of the stroke, and unable to recover back into position for the next shot. Here's the video. (This will download the video as a wmv file, which you should be able to play.) See how she is off-balanced at the end of the stroke, leaning to her left (our right)?

Now watch this example (in the point starting at 2:41) on youtube of a player doing the same shot and having no trouble covering the wide forehand for the next shot. This is a match between Wang Liqin (near side, in yellow shirt) versus Ma Long (far side, purple shirt). Wang is serving. Ma pushes the serve back, blocks the next ball, then steps way around his backhand to forehand loop. Wang blocks the ball to Ma's wide forehand, and Ma has no trouble covering it. Throughout the match watch how both players take turns ripping forehand loops, and see how fast they recover - because they are balanced throughout the shot, and so are able to recover almost instantly for the next shot. (Watch the slow motion replay.) There's another example of Ma doing this at 4:35, though this time he barely is able to cover the wide forehand  Note how the players sometimes even use their momentum from the previous shot to get back into position.

A similar point happens in the second point shown, starting 22 seconds in. This time it's Wang Liqin who steps around to forehand loop, and is ready to cover the wide forehand. Ma actually blocks more to the middle of the table, but you can see Wang was ready to cover the wide forehand - and since the ball wasn't so wide, he is able to take this ball right off the bounce. (Watch the slow motion replay of this point.) There's another point like this starting at 2:24, where Wang again steps around to forehand loop, and is immediately able to cover the wide forehand - but this time, while he's there, he misses. There's another one at 3:43 where Wang against steps around, and this time Ma has an extremely wide angle to block to. Watch how easily Wang recovers and moves to cover the wide forehand, though Ma misses the block.

Regardless of where you are looping from, or even what stroke you are doing, balance throughout the stroke and rally is one of the key differences between elite and non-elite players. Players who can do repeated attacks in the same rally can do so because they are balanced and in control of their positioning and momentum; players who can only do one or at most two good shots in a row are usually off-balanced and not really in control. This doesn't mean you should always be perfectly centered between your feet, but that your weight should almost always be centered somewhere between your feet, with you in control of your body positioning, regardless of the momentum from the previous shot.

We won't talk about the rather awkward (but effective this time) "Seemiller" style block Bavly uses this point. Some things better remain unspoken.

Serving Short and Low

Are you playing in the Easterns this weekend, or any other upcoming tournaments? Have you been practicing your spinny serves so you can keep them short and low? No? Good. Then if you play anyone I'm coaching (and I'm coaching at the Easterns), we're going to loop or flip your serve in, and like the piggy with no roast beef, you'll cry all the way home. Oh, you've changed your mind, and decided to practice your serves? (Monday's Tip of the Week will be on how to do this. And no, you don't have to serve short all the time, just most of the time, or at least when facing an opponent who can effectively loop your serve.)

New Coaching Video from PingSkills

Overcoming Fear of Defending (1:32)

Joint Table Tennis and Golf Scholarship

Austin Preiss is going to Lindenwood College on a joint table tennis and golf scholarship, which must be a first. Here's the article. Some of you may know Austin both as a top junior player the last few years and for doing exhibitions around the country with his father Scott.

Stop-Motion Video Ping-Pong

This was a school project by someone, but it's hilarious, and gets better and better as it goes on (2:26).

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