Tip of the Week

Reverse Forehand Pendulum Serve.

Congrats to the USA Olympians!

Making the Olympic Team for the U.S. were (L-R) Erica Wu, Lily Zhang, Ariel Hsing, and Timothy Wang. And here is the ITTF coverage, which has lots of article, pictures, and complete results. Special thanks to USATT as well for providing live online coverage. (Unfortunately, I was coaching nearly all day Fri-Sun, and so only saw a few minutes of one match.)  (Side note - I'm told Gao Jun dropped out because of a knee injury.)

Grassroots table tennis

There was a discussion at a USATT board meeting about eight years ago on the subject of grassroots development. While some wanted to focus almost exclusively on elite development, most were for grassroots development. And then the discussion began.

Several board members insisted that grassroots development meant developing national team members. When I pointed out that that was what elite development meant, I got some serious eye-rolling. They really and truly had the two confused. When I argued that grassroots development, to me, meant increasing USATT membership (primarily through leagues and junior development), they didn't think that was USATT's job - but thought it might be useful to bring in revenue for their own version of "elite" grassroots development.

We move forward a few years. The board is still split between elite development and grassroots development. Publicly, all are for both, but privately some are more for one than the other. But again, there's this disagreement over what it really means. The consensus now seems more toward recreational development. Technically, that is grassroots development, but it is not particularly relevant to what is needed to develop table tennis in the U.S.

After a board member explained his plan to create recreational players through leagues, and how he didn't care if they became USATT members or not, I asked him this. "If you got 1000 new players this way, would it be a success?" He said that would be a good start. Then I asked, "How about 10,000 new players?" That, he said, would be pretty successful. Then I pointed out that, according to surveys, there are already 15 million recreational players in the U.S., and if he brought in 10,000 new players that number would increase to 15.01 million. If he brought in 100,000 new players, that'd be 15.1 million. Not particularly helpful.

What USATT needs to focus on is the same thing successful table tennis countries all over the world focus on - increasing membership. And when I say membership, I mean paying membership. USATT has 8000. Germany has 700,000. England 500,000. France, Italy, Belgium, and others all have memberships in the multiple hundred thousands as well. (We won't even talk about Asia, where the numbers are even larger.) They did this through grassroots development. (Much of this is recreational development through leagues, but with a direct pipeline to membership by requiring membership to play in the leagues, and by setting up a national network of such leagues.) So did nearly every successful sport in the U.S. and around the world.

And yet several outspoken board members (with zero disagreement from others - do they agree or they just don't speak up?) have argued that the situation in the U.S. is unique, and that we cannot learn from what other countries and other sports have done successfully. It makes me sick when I hear this. While every country has a "unique" situation, people in the U.S. are not aliens, and are not so different than people in other countries. People in the U.S. pretty much respond to the same things people in other countries do. There's a lot we can learn from others, and apply to our own situation, but it seems we don't want to.

USATT will become a success when it learns these lessons. That means setting specific goals, and creating programs to reach those goals. (For example, the goal of 100 successful junior programs within five years, or a nationwide network of leagues with 100,000 players within ten years.) What it doesn't mean is creating task forces with vague goals, putting the first board member who raises his hand as the task force leader (rather than doing a serious search for the best qualified person, and then recruiting that person), and then terminating the task force two or three years later after it predictably hasn't accomplished anything, as we seem to do over and over. (See my blog entry on this from Sept. 26, 2011, exactly two years after USATT's 2009 Strategic Meeting. The Junior and "Grow Membership Through Added Value" task forces have since both been disbanded, with no programs implemented to accomplish their vague goals.)

Warren Buffett challenges Ariel Hsing to Rematch

Yes, the grudge match is on, and will take place on May 6. Ariel will also take on other challengers at the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting. Perhaps Mr. Buffett will bring his big paddle again?

MDTTC Open House

Here's Alan Lang's article on the MDTTC Grand Re-Opening & Open House. That's me on the microphone. On the table is Derek Nie (unseen on left) and Crystal Wang, with Nathan Hsu and Tong Tong Gong watching with their backs to us. The four did demonstrations as part of the Open House.

2012 Broward March Open Highlights

Here's a highlights video of Brian Pace winning the Broward March Open (5:06).

Six table tennis pictures

Here are six table tennis pictures: What society thinks you do, what my friends think you do, what Asians think you do, what Americans think you do, what you think you do, and what you really do.

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Get your feet moving by lobbing

The large majority of players rarely lob. It's not that they don't like to lob - just about everyone finds lobbing fun - but most simply do not have the mobility to effectively lob, and so they don't. (Many of these players stand like a tree when they should be moving like a squirrel.) But isn't this backwards?

If you don't have the mobility to lob, why not practice lobbing to develop that mobility? It's not a hard concept; if you practice moving, you learn to move better. And the nice thing is that if you develop mobility off the table lobbing, you will also improve your general mobility, both close to the table and away. Not only that, but if you learn to lob, you add a new tool to your table tennis toolbox. Plus lobbing is just one step away from counterlooping, a more offensive and valuable off-table weapon.

Here's an article on lobbing, an article on smashing lobs, a more general article on topspin defense, and an article on counterlooping. Study these articles; you will be tested! (If not by me, then by your opponents in matches.)

North American Olympic Trials

They start today in Cary, NC, Fri-Sun, and here's the page where you'll find Draws, Live Streaming, Participants, Prospectus & Schedule. Here's an article about it. Here are 14 pictures from Thursday's practice and meeting day.

Werner Schlager Special

Here's a 53-minute video on 2003 World Champion Werner Schlager, still a member of the Austrian National Team. Schlager is speaking German, and the commentators Japanese, but there's a lot of nice table tennis footage.

Table Tennis Artwork

Here's Mike Mezyan's latest table tennis artwork. Of this one he wrote, "My Latest Artwork 'Prehistoric Paddle' (Paddle Sounds Like Battle) Inspired By Larry Hodges, I Read This Line in His Blog 'Our Ancestors Carried Around Ping-Pong Paddles To Fend Off Arial Attacks From Large Man-Eating Eagles' the rest was history..or was it?" (The line was from my blog on April 17, in the "Close the Racket!" segment.) If you click on the picture and subsequent ones you'll see about twenty other works of table tennis art he's done.

Funny table tennis pictures

Let's finish today with some funny table tennis pictures. Have a good weekend!

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Ruing the Rise of Redundant Rubber Releases

It has recently come to my attention that there are just too many types of table tennis rubber. At the U.S. Open or Nationals the racks of rubber reveal a ruinous range of revolutionary renown. (Okay, I've used up my quota for R's today.) What am I, a full-time professional coach of some renown, supposed to say as my eyes glaze over when someone looks at me with big brown eyes and asks, in all innocence, "Coach Larry, could you explain the differences between Sapphira, Selvid, Solcion, Speedy P.O., Spin Art, the ten types of Sriver, Stayer, Solo, the nine types of Sonex, the three types of Supersonic, Special Defence, Super 729FX, Samba and Samba N-tec, Shark, Snabb, Spring Thunder, the five types of Scramble, Spark, the four types of Spinspiel, Screw One and Screw Soft, Spiral, the three types of Specialist, Samurai, Serie 2000, the three types of Sinus, the eight types of Speedy, Standard, Storm, the two types of Super Defense, and Supra?"

And these are just the ones that start with an S. (See, I've moved on from the R's. Soon I'll make it to the T's, where we can discuss table tennis, topspin, and tomahawk serves.)

I remember the good old days, circa mid-to-late late 1970s (I started in 1976), when everyone used Sriver or Mark V, with the occasional weirdo who used some strange stuff from China or an old-fashioned sheet of D-13, or even some orthodox hard rubber. You could buy Sriver or Mark V (then the top-of-the-line stuff) for about $6/sheet. And then along came Tackiness, the first of the specialized rubbers ("super sticky!") and then long pips, and the floodgates opened. (Where do they get these names? I think they use the Fantasy Name Generator.)

Here's a listing of USATT approved equipment. Reading it either makes you laugh out loud or fall asleep. And just to make you suffer (or lol?) as I, here's the complete rubber listing, with the admonition that this blog does continue afterwards, so you have no choice but to read through it entirely so as to get to the really good stuff in the blog below. (Or you could just page down, but that wouldn't be nearly as fun.)

Butterfly - Addoy, Allround-C4-A002, Allround-C4-A003, Allround-D13, Bryce, Bryce FX, Bryce Speed, Bryce Speed-FX, Catapult, Catapult Hard, Cermet, Challenger-Attack, Challenger-Chop, D'or, Ekrips, Ekrips Soft, Feint FG, Feint-Long II, Feint-Long II-OX, Feint Long-III, Feint-Long III-OX, Feint-OX, Feint-Soft, Flarestorm, Flarestorm II, Flextra, Impartial, Large 44DX, Magnitude, Magnitude-Kawa, Morim, Orthodox, Pan Asia, Raystorm, Rein, Relop Attack, Relop Attack-OX, Resilon, Resilon-Flex, Resilon-Kawa, Roundell, Roundell Hard, Roundell Soft, Sapphira, Selvid, Solcion, Speedy P.O., Speedy P.O. Soft, Spin Art, Sriver, Sriver-EL, Sriver-FX, Sriver-G2, Sriver-G2-FX, Sriver G3, Sriver G3-FX, Sriver-Kawa, Sriver Killer, Stayer, Super Anti, Super Anti-Special, Super Sriver, Tackifire-Drive, Tackifire-Special, Tackifire-Special Soft, Tackiness-C, Tackiness Chop, Tackiness Chop II, Tackiness-C-Kawa, Tackiness-C Soft, Tackiness-D-Kawa, Tackiness-Drive, Tempest, Tenergy 05, Tenergy 05-FX, Tenergy 25, Tenergy 25-FX, Tenergy 64, Tenergy 64-FX, Wakaba, West Will

Donic - Acuda S1, Acuda S2, Acuda S3, Akkadi L2, Akkadi Taichi, Alligator Def, Alligator Soft No Sponge, Anti A40, Baracuda, Baxster D25 Short Pips, Baxter F1-A, Blues, Blues F5, Coppa, Coppa JO, Coppa JO Gold, Coppa JO Platin, Coppa JO Platin Soft, Coppa JO Silver, Coppa Speed, Coppa Tagora, Coppa Tenero, Coppa X1, Coppa X1 Gold, Coppa X1 Turbo Platin, Coppa X2, Coppa X3, Desto F1, Desto F1 HS, Desto F2, Desto F3, Desto F3 Big Slam, Gallardo Power Sound, Gallardo Sound, Gallardo Speed, J.O. Waldner, Liga, Pirania Formula Tec Slice 40, Quattro, Quattro A'Conda Medium, Quattro A'Conda Soft, Quattro Formula, Solo, Sonex 40, Sonex Formula, Sonex Formula X40, Sonex Formula XF45, Sonex Formula JP Soft, Sonex JP, Sonex JP Gold, Sonex X40, Sonex X45, Supersonic M40, Supersonic S40, Supersonic SG40, Twingo, Twister, Vario, Vario Big Slam, Vario Cooper S, Vario Cooper ST, Vario Gold, Vario Soft, Vario Soft ST, Vario ST, Zicco

Dr. Neubauer - A-B-S, Anti-Special, Boomerang Classic, Diamant, Domination, Domination Speed, Domination Tuned, Fighter, Goliath, Gorilla, Gorilla Special, Grizzly, Grizzly ABS Sponge, Inferno Classic, Leopard, New Gorilla, Pistol, Special Defence, Tornado Ultra, Pistol, Monster Classic

Friendship - 563, 563-1, 729 40H, 729 40S, 729 Dr. Evil, 729 Cream, 729 FX (EL), 729 Faster, 729 Faster 2, 729 Faster 3, 729 FX Lightening, 729 GeoSpin, 729 GeoSpin Tacky, 729 Higher, 729 Higher 2, 729 Higher 3, 729 SP, 729-08, 729-5, 729-AAA, 755, 755-2, 799, 802, 802-1, 802-40, 804, 837, Focus 1, Focus 2, Focus 3, RITC 2000 Tack Speed, RITC 729, RITC 729-2, RITC 729-3, RITC 729 Tackspeed, Super 729FX

Gambler - Aces, Four Kings, Outlaw Pre-Tune, Peace Keeper, Reflectoid, Shadow, Six Shooter Pre-Tune, Wraith

Hallmark - Friction Special 2, Frustration, Green Power, Half Long, Magic Pips, Mirage, Panther, Phoenix, Podium, Power Spin

JOOLA - 4 All, 4 You, Air, Amy Anti Classic Version, Amy Anti Control Version, Antitop Toni Hold, Badman Reloaded, Brave, Drum, Drum CWX, Energy, Energy X-Soft, Energy Xtra, Express One, Express Two, Express X-Soft, Mambo, Mambo C, Mambo GP, Mambo H, Octopus, Orca, Phoenix, Samba, Samba N-tec, Shark, Snabb, Spring Thunder, Tango, Tango Defensive, Tango Extrem, Tango Ultra, Topspin, Topspin C Express Ultra, X-plode, X-plode Sensitive

Juic - 889, 889 Neo, 889 Neo, 889 SV, 999 Attack, 999 Defense, 999 Elite, 999 Elite Defense, 999 Elite Hardtype, 999 Elite Nano, 999 Elite SV, 999 Elite Ultima, 999 Elite Ultima SV, 999 Hardtype, 999 Turbo, Air Condle, Air Condle Sound, Air Condle Speed, Anti Super Spin, Dany III, Dany V, Dany V Ultima, DrivaSmash, DrivaSmash Ultima, DrivaSmash Ultima SV, Hirubia, Kaiza, Leggy Defense, Masterspin 40, Montjuic Super, Montjuic Super SV, Nano Cannon, Nano Spin, Neo Anti, Offense, Offense Ultima, Patisuma, Patisuma II, Patisuma 3, PipsAce 03, Scramble, Scramble 21, Scramble 21 SV, Scramble 21 Ultima, Scramble EX Ultima, Shenron, Spark, Spin Spiel, Spinspiel Hardtype, Spinspiel SV, Spinspiel Ultima, Varites, Diva Smash SV, Couga and Masterspin Special

LKT - Black Power, Pro XP, Pro XT, Rapid Power, Rapid Soft, Rapid Sound, Rapid Speed, Recoil, Red Diamond, Torrent-Gold

Newgy - Omega

Nittaku - Best Anti, Express, Graffiti, Hammond, Hammond FA, Hammond FA Speed, Hammond Pro Alpha, Hammond Pro Beta, Hammond X, Hurricane II, Hurricane III, Magic Carbon, Magical Spin, Micro, Midship, Midship SC, Milford, Moristo, Moristo 44, Moristo 2000, Moristo 2000 NX, Moristo DF, Moristo FG, Moristo LP, Moristo LP One, Moristo RS Hard, Moristo RS Soft, Moristo SP, Narucross, Narucross Ex Hard, Narucross Ex Soft, Narucross GS Hard, Narucross GS Soft, Narucross GS Super Soft, Narucross Tension, Nodias, Pimple Mini, Pimple Mini One, Refoma, Renanos Bright Hard, Renanos Bright Soft, Renanos Hard, Renanos Hold, Renanos Soft, Screw One, Screw Soft, Spiral, Specialist One, Specialist Soft, Specialist Soft HS, Tracer

Stiga - Almana, Almana Sound, Almana Sound SynergyTech, Boost TC, Boost TP, Boost TS, Boost TX, Calibra LT, Calibra LT Sound, Carbo, Carbo MC, Carbo Sound, Cenno, China Extreme, Chop & Drive, Clippa, Cobra 2000, Destroyer, Doer, Energy Absorber, Evo, Future, Innova, Innova Premium, Innova Ultra Light, Innova Ultra Light SynergyTech, JMS EVO 1, Magic, Magna, Magna TC 2, Magna TS 2, Mendo, Mendo MP, Mendo Energy, Neos, Neos Sound, Neos Sound SynergyTech, Neos Synergy Tech, Neos Tacky, Optimum MP, Premium, Radical, Syncro 45, Royal, Stream, Taiphoon, Triumph, Tween

Tibhar - Black Techno, Cata-Inazuma-Spin, Cata-Spin, Control Spin, Dang, Defense, Ellen, Extra Long, Genius, Genius+Optimum, Genius+Optimum Sound, Genius Sound, Grass, Grass Defense, Grass D-Tec, Grass Flex, Grass Offense, Grass Spezial 2000, Grass Spezial 3000, Grass Ultra, Grip-S, Intra, Learn Cont, Learn Spin, Legend, Makss, Mythik, Nianmor, Nimbus, Nimbus Medium, Nimbus Soft, Nimbus Sound, Nimbus VIP, Norm, Primus, Rapid, Rapid D. TecS, Rapid D. TecS Soft, Rapid Soft, Red Power, Rookie D. TecS, Samurai, Serie 2000, Sinus, Sinus Alpha, Sinus Sound, Speedy S/L, Speedy Soft, Speedy Soft D. TecS, Speedy Soft D. TecS VIP, Speedy Soft Pro, Speedy Spin, Speedy Spin Premium, Spico Speedy Spin, Standard, Storm, Super Defense, Super Defense 40, Super Defense 40 Soft, Supra, Torpedo, Torpedo Soft, Vari Spin, Vari Spin D. TecS, VHP Speedy Spin, Volcano

Yasaka - A-1.2, Anti Power, Cobalt, Do Up, Fusion, Mark V, Mark V30, Mark V GPS, Mark V HPS, Mark V HPS Soft, Mark V M2, Mark V XS, New Era, Original, Original Extra High Grade, Original T-Version, Orthodox, PB-1, Phantoom 0011, Phantoom 0012, Phantoom 007, Phantoom 008, Phantom 009, Pryde, Pryde 30, Pryde 40, Rally, V-Stage, Xtend, Xtend HS, Xtend SG

The Michael Landers Kellogg's Video

Here's a video from Kellogg's (3:47) on Michael Landers. Best quote: "The secret sauce is a lot of hard work, some luck, determination, and of course a great breakfast." (Hey, it's for Kellogg's!) As noted here on Monday, he's going to be on the Wheaties box.

101-year-old Dorothy Delow

"Scientists are mapping the genomes of centenarians to help unlock the secrets of longevity and a 101-year old Australian table tennis player is helping." ABC did a story on Dorothy Delow, the world's oldest active table tennis player at 101.  Here's the article and video (6:07).

London Mayor Boris Johnson's ping-pong speech

Here's a video of his hilarious 59-second speech given after he took possession of the Olympic flag in Beijing. Here are two quotes from the video:

• "I say this respectfully to our Chinese hosts who have excelled so magnificently at ping-pong. Ping-pong was invented on the dining tables of England."
• "The French looked to the dining table and saw an opportunity to have dinner. We looked to the dining table and saw an opportunity to play Wiff Waff. And that is why London is the sporting capital of the world."

And here are eight photos of Mayor Johnson playing table tennis, from the Celebrities Playing Table Tennis page: photo1 photo2 photo3 photo4 photo5 photo6 photo7 (only the back of his head; author Howard Jacobson on far side) photo8 (on left, Sebastian Coe on right)

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Cancellations and a needed rest

Yesterday I was scheduled to coach from 5-7 and 8-9 PM. Late in the afternoon the 5-7 sessions were cancelled - it was a family of three, a father and two sons, and one of the sons was sick and they couldn't leave him at home alone. Then the 8 PM cancelled for unknown reasons. Suddenly I had the day off, my first in a while. Let's just say I needed it - my back and forearm were starting to go, and every muscle in my body was beginning to feel like five-year-old sponge that had blocked a few too many power loops. So I got to stay home and watch NCIS and the Orioles defeat the White Sox 3-2.

Today I'm tutoring Calculus from 10AM to noon for one of the local table tennis stars, who is taking the AP exam in late May. I do this every Wednesday, and with the exam coming up soon we may be doing it twice a week. I've got a 5-7PM session tonight. Rather than come home between noon and 5PM I'm going to head out to MDTTC and spend the afternoon there working on the rewrite of Table Tennis Tactics: A Thinker's Guide. We've got wireless now so I'll be connected - but not sure if that's a good thing while working on a project. (I'm also editing a short SF story written by another local junior, who emailed it to me. It's not for school, he just likes to write.)

I was going to write something about chop blocks this morning, but it seemed more of a Tip of the Week. So I'll keep it to this for now - do you ever chop block? If you are playing someone who beats you in topspin rallies (either blocking, counter-hitting, or looping), perhaps this would be a way to change things up? It's an especially good changeup on the backhand, and can be done with sidespin as well.

Erica Wu, Ariel Hsing, and Lily Zhang battling for Olympic Spots

Here's the ESPN story. Also note that USA Table Tennis tweeted that top seeded Gao Jun has withdrawn (no reason given), and her spot in the North American Olympic Trials (this weekend) has been taken by Judy Hugh. (What player took Gao's spot? Hugh. Who? That is correct. Who took Gao's spot?!!! Yes. And so on, with apologies to Abbott and Costello.) 

Timo Boll Video

Here's a tribute video to German star Timo Boll (7:37).

Detroit Red Wings vs. Nashville Predators battle over ping-pong

The Predators hockey team just wanted to play, but the Todd Bertuzzi of the Red Wings said no, get your own table. Here's the story. 

Online table tennis jigsaw puzzles

I've always liked doing jigsaw puzzles (I collect ones with dragons and wizards), and last night I had a brainstorm - why not find a table tennis themed jigsaw puzzle and bring it to the club? Alas, I was unable to find one - but I found two online ones! Here's the Jigzone Table Tennis Puzzle, and here's the Free Online Games Virtual Ping Pong Puzzle (the latter starts with a 15-second commercial, alas). I solved the latter; the first one looks tougher.

Non-Table Tennis: Top Twelve Reasons the Orioles are the Best Hitters in Baseball

My Top Twelve list was published on Orioles Hangout. See the listing there, or go directly to it. I'm actually somewhat notorious there for my semi-regular "Top Ten" lists, which I post on their forum every now and then under the pseudonym larrytt. This time one of the editors/owners/managers really liked it and so published it as a Hangout article. (In the past I'd have asked you to pity me for being an Orioles fan, but we're in first place in the AL East at 7-4, and lead or are near the lead in most hitting and pitching categories.)

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"Close the racket!!!"

These three words are the most common ones spoken to kids when they first learn to play. I've come to understand the millions of years ago our ancestors carried around ping-pong paddles to fend off arial attacks from large man-eating eagles. And so it is in our genes to aim the paddle upward to defend against avian attacks. Adults can overcome this ingrained instinct, but kids, being smaller, apparently are more afraid of eagles. No matter how many times I lead them through the proper stroke and have them shadow-practice the shot, as soon as I feed them a ball multiball style most invariably flip their wrist back and aim the paddle up, and hit the ball high into the air, apparently in an attempt to shoot down those ferocious eagles. (Okay, it's usually not that bad, but most kids start with this tendency, and some have great difficulty breaking it. I have one 5-year-old girl who after two lessons still can't stop herself from launching eagle-bound ping-pong balls toward the ceiling.)

Exhibition at MDTTC Open House

Here's a video (8:44) of the exhibition I did with Derek Nie at the MDTTC Open House on April 7. (Derek, 11, is rated 2090 and was a finalist in 10 and under at the 2011 USA Nationals. That's Crystal Wang umpiring and standing up to me no matter how much I harass and bribe her.) I do humorous exhibitions with lots of trick shots and props. This one went decently, but I missed too many times with the clipboard and big paddle. Also, the video cuts off before the game is over. (We played one game to 15, since one 11-point game is too short to get all the tricks in.) In the unseen video afterwards I blew one ball back, aced Derek with a backspin come-back-over-the-net serve, led the crowd in the world's first table tennis wave (I've done that about 200 times), and did a bunch of lobbing while lying on the floor as I "almost" come back. (Derek knew in advance that he gets to win.)  Later on we had another "straight" exhibition between Han Xiao and Jeffrey Zeng Xun. (Here are pictures from another exhibition I did at nearby Lake Forrest Mall.)

French Hardbat

Here's a poster that appears to promote a French Hardbat tournament. (I don't read French, sorry.)

Joo Se Hyuk's sidespin chop

Here's an interesting video from PingSkills that teaches world #8 (and the #1 chopper) Joo Se Hyuk's curving sidespin chop against a smash (1:53).

Lobbing video

Here's a video (7:53) that showcases great lobbing points by many of the best players in the world, both in real matches and exhibitions.

Cat playing table tennis

Here's a new video of a cat playing table tennis (1:49). He doesn't just hit forepaws, he has four paws. And things get really interesting when the net goes down.

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Tip of the Week

Where to Place Your Spin Serves.

Modern juniors

I blogged on last Wednesday (April 11) about how modern sponges make looping so much easier. Even younger kids in the U.S. are playing looping games that would have been almost unimaginable 5-10 years ago. While the sponge makes much of this possible, much of this is because there are far more full-time training centers now than before, and so far more full-time junior programs, and so far more juniors training regularly at a high level. The level and depth of cadets and junior players is now stronger than ever in our history. (I blogged about this on Jan. 4, 2012).

The down side is that, at any given level, while the looping is spectacular, the table game is probably a bit weaker, especially return of serve. For example, I think previous generations of juniors were more sophisticated in their receive, since they couldn't rely on all-out attack and counterlooping as much, plus their sponge wasn't as bouncy, so they had more touch. This is especially true on short serves to the forehand, where many modern junior players in the U.S. seem weak. I think previous generations could push short better, while the modern generation can attack short serves better.

I'm tempted to say blocking is not as good among modern juniors, but that's not quite true - there's so much looping going on that this generation of juniors is probably as good blocking as previous ones, at least on the backhand. However, on the forehand, where everyone's mostly counterlooping, the somewhat infrequent blocks aren't as good.

College Championships results

The National Collegiate Championships were held this past weekend - and here are the results!

Michael Landers Wheaties box

Following the footsteps of George Hendry (who appeared on the back of a Wheaties box in 1936 at age 15, before they started putting athletes on the cover), 17-year-old Michael Landers will be on the cover of an upcoming Wheaties box - and here's the picture!

Ma Long Multiball

Here's a video (1:08) of China's world #1 Ma Long doing backhand loop multiball with China's men's head coach Liu Guoliang. Look at the power of those shots!

Primorac vs. Maze

Here's a TV news report (1:06) from 2008 of a great point played at match point between Zoran Primorac of Croatia and Michael Maze of Denmark.

AAAA

At our recent Spring Break Camp, we had three inseparable girls, all about age 9, and all named Emily. (I blogged about this.) Now I'm teaching a small group of four beginners, and their names are Ava, Anton, Ambo, Anmo. Forget Triple A; we've got Quadruple A!

Top Ten Signs Your Table Tennis Club is Too Big

The following was inspired by watching a bunch of kids actually playing hide and seek at the newly expanded Maryland Table Tennis Center. The place is huge, and full of prime hiding spots.

1. The kids play hide and seek on break. The hiders usually win.
2. Opponents can't hear you call the score because of the echo.
3. If they raise the Titanic, they plan to store it at your club.
4. Lewis and Clark are exploring the club.
5. The club has its own zip code, its own area code, its own flag, and in the morning kids at school put their hands over their hearts and say the Pledge of Allegiance to the Club.
6. From the front you can't see the tables in the back because of the Earth's curvature.
7. Lobbers James Therriault and Nison Aronov have enough room to play.
8. White balls aren't allowed because when you play a lobber you can't see them against the cumulus clouds in the rafters.
9. There's a football stadium in the lobby.
10.  You can fit about 90 million ping-pong balls in the club, according to Kepler's Conjecture. (Assuming 10,000 square feet, 15' ceiling, 74% packing efficiency, and the volume of a ball at 2.14 square inches.)

Ultrabook Table Tennis Tournament

Here's a hilarious video (4:59) of the Toshiba Intel Ultrabook Challenge - a tournament where players used these super-thin laptop computers are rackets!

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Planning Day - new programs

Today I'm planning out new programs for MDTTC. It used to be complicated doing this, with limited table space, but with the MDTTC expansion (10,000 square feet, 18 tables, more if we squeeze) we can run multiple programs at the same time. New programs include:

• An expansion of our beginning junior program to all juniors of all levels, so that they train at the same time, though players are paired with players of roughly equal level. I may invite some advanced players to the program for free, provided they agree to practice 30 of the 90 minutes with beginning or intermediate players. 
• A new ten-week adult beginning class.
• An intermediate-advanced training program.
• A serving seminar (three 30-minute sessions) followed by ongoing serving practice sessions (30 min per week).

Once the programs are set, I'll put together an MDTTC Newsletter to send to all those on our email list, as well as sending releases to local newspapers. (While we hope they'll do coverage, the primary purpose of sending to newspapers is to get in their calendar sections.)

One idea I'm considering is to invite parents of beginning younger kids to come in for a session where we teach them to feed multiball to their kids. They can't really rally with their kids both because the kids are unable to really rally very well yet, and the parents mostly aren't players. But it doesn't take long for even a non-player to learn to feed simple multiball fairly accurately, and then they can do this with their kids.

Or maybe I shouldn't be planning programs on Friday the 13th?

Celebrities Playing Table Tennis

Yesterday I updated the Celebrities Playing Table Tennis page, with 54 new pictures and 21 new celebrities. There are now 1388 pictures of 810 celebrities. (You may notice a bunch of pictures of baseball star Nick Swisher of the Yankees against comedian and Youtube celebrity KevJumba. Here's the hilarious 4:43 video of their challenge match!) New this month:

Politicians/Leaders

• Hu Jintao, president of China (new photo)
• Henry Kissinger, former U.S. Secretary of State (new picture)
• Dave Cameron, British Prime Minister (new photo)
• Boris Johnson, mayor of London (2 new pictures)
• Winston Lord, former U.S. Ambassador to China and Assistant Secretary of State
• Ingo Wolf, former minister of the interior of North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany) (2 pictures)
• Kevin Greene, Australian minister for Sport and Recreation, and Minister for Major Events

Actors

• Zac Efron, actor
• Susan Sarandon, actress (new picture)
• KevJumba, comedian and Youtube star (9 photos)
• David Niven, actor (new picture)
• Andy Lau, Hong Kong actor, singer, and film producer (new picture)
• Thomas Gottschalk, German talk show host
• Otto Waalkes, German comedian and actor

Singers

• Justin Bieber, singer (new picture)
• Cody Simpson, singer
• Kwon Yuri, singer
• Chris Martin, singer

Athletes

• Tim Tebow, football player (5 new pictures)
• Martina Navratilova, tennis player
• Anna Kournikova, tennis player (2 new pictures)
• Nick Swisher, baseball player (9 photos)
• Evan Longoria, baseball player
• Blake Griffin, basketball player (new picture)
• Martin St. Louis, hockey player
• Duncan Keith, hockey player
• Xabi Alonso, Spanish soccer player
• Cristiano Ronaldo, Portuguese soccer player
• Wladimir Klitschko, Ukrainian boxer (new picture)
• Sebastian Coe, former British middle distance Olympic Gold Medalist and member of parliament (new picture)

Cartoon Characters

• The Flintstones, cartoon characters (7 pictures of Fred Flintstone, Barney Rubble, and Arnold the paperboy)
• Pink Panther, cartoon character

Wang Liqin to leave Chinese National Team?

Here's an article about it.

Best points from the 2012 World Team Championships

Here's another highlights video of the best points from the 2012 World Team Championships (4:42).

MDTTC Open House

Here's an article by local junior Alan Lang on the recent MDTTC Open House.

On April 7, 2012, the Maryland Table Tennis Center (mdttc.com) hosted an Open house to commemorate its recent renovation and expansion. Over two hundred players and table tennis enthusiasts attended. They were given free merchandise, along with more valuable prizes that were raffled off. They were also given free entry into a three-point tournament (single elimination, all games to three points). Table tennis demonstrations featured several top players, including nationally decorated player Han Xiao (men's singles finalist and men's doubles champion at the 2011 Nationals), MDTTC Coach Jeffrey Zeng Xun (last year's Eastern Open and Cary Cup Open champion), and USATT certified national coach and Hall of Famer Larry Hodges. The demos also included the club’s rising juniors, including Derek Nie, already participating at an international level at age 11 (and a finalist at the USA Nationals last year in 10 and under); U.S. Junior Olympic Under 16 Boys' Champion Nathan Hsu; USA Cadet (under 15) National Team Member Tong Tong Gong; and Crystal Wang, who last year achieved the highest rating of any under 10 player in U.S. history, boys or girls. Larry also gave a 30-minute seminar on serving with spin and deception, and he and John Hsu ran a 90-minute junior program for beginning juniors.

The Open House took place in the newly refurbished complex, which boasts several notable improvements. Most visibly, the club’s size has doubled to accommodate its rising activity. This has allowed for more and larger playing courts and larger spectator areas. Despite these augmentations, occupancy still seems be a problem due to the center’s rising popularity. “Even though we expanded, it’s still crowded,” notes long-time member George Nie, who won the three-point tournament. Other improvements include the relocation and expansion of the club store, higher quality restrooms and shower facilities, and the implementation of Wi-Fi Internet. Furthermore, a special red flooring, the “red carpet,” which offers improved traction and cushioning for players, has been expanded to cover the entire playing area.

With these enhancements, co-proprietor and USATT certified national coach Jack Huang hopes to create an environment that is both welcoming and conducive to serious play, intended especially for the club’s burgeoning junior population. As evidenced by those present at the festivities, the club still caters to a diverse population, including members from a wide array of ethnicities, age groups, and skill levels. Player Mohamed Youns describes this diversity as contributing to a “very enjoyable environment,” citing the pleasure that can be derived from competing against a variety of other players in a low stress setting. All said, the renovations come as a welcome rejuvenation of a table tennis center that furnishes precocious children and world-class table tennis players alike.

For more info on MDTTC (which opened in 1992), see their web page at www.mdttc.com, email them at marylandttc@gmail.com, or give them a call at 301-519-8580.

The Flintstones!

No collection of table tennis pictures is complete without The Flintstones. (This just went up in the Celebrities Playing Table Tennis page - see segment above.) You probably recognize Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble playing (with Dino and Bamm-Bamm watching), but who is the other kid? That's Arnold the paperboy, the one who always outwits Fred. The pictures are from the episode Gloom Groom in season 4 in 1963. Here's the IMDB description: "Fred spends a fine afternoon in the backyard with little Pebbles. Arrive Arnold the News Boy who challenges Fred for a ping-ping game. Afterwards, Arnold offers to take care of Pebbles while Fred takes a nap on his hammock. He dreams that future years won't be good for old Fred, especially when an older Arnold begins to take his place in everything. And to make matters worse, Arnold gets engaged with Pebbles!"

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A Day in the Life of a Commuting Table Tennis Coach

Normally I do nearly all my coaching at the Maryland Table Tennis Center, about fifteen miles north of Washington D.C.  However, there's an afterschool program in (somewhat) nearby McLean, Virginia, at Spring Hill Elementary. I was asked I could take over the program and coach there twice a week, Wed and Fri from 3:30-4:30. It sounded like a great idea. I'd even coached the son of the person in charge of the program. So I agreed to come in yesterday to help out, with the possibility of taking over starting Friday. (They currently had three people running the program, but none were serious players or coaches.)

The problem was traffic. To get there I'd have to drive down 270 and then on 495 (the Beltway) . . . during RUSH HOUR! The Washington DC metropolitan area is one of the most congested traffic areas in the country, which is why I bought a house eight minutes from MDTTC. (Most rankings put us #2 behind Chicago, but we hope to overtake them someday . . . I think.)

According to Google maps, the driving time would be 33 minutes. But that assumed steady driving, not bumper-to-bumper traffic. I left my house at 2:25 PM - and while 270 was fine going down, I quickly hit that infamous bumper-to-bumper traffic on 495, despite being a bit early for rush hour. It took 58 minutes to get there, arriving at 3:23 PM.

The session went fine. And then it was off to face the real brunt of rush hour. I left at 4:35 PM, knowing I had 85 minutes to make the "33 minute trip" or else I'd be late for my 6PM coaching session.

At 6PM, still mired in traffic on 495, and still a distance from even reaching 270, and knowing that even without traffic I was still 20 minutes away, I called the club and talked to the father of my 6PM student. We agreed we had to cancel the lesson.

This was the first time in the 20 years since we'd opened the club that I'd ever been late for a session, a record I'd been proud of - I always like to arrive at least 15 minutes early. (Once I had times mixed up on a session, and so missed that one, but that's different. I think.)

I finally arrived at the club at 6:40 PM, 2 hours and 5 minutes after leaving the school. (I made my 7PM session.) But I don't think I'm going to be able to do the McLean afterschool program. I will instead likely train their current coaches on the basics, as well as introduce them to Instructor's Guide to Table Tennis.

Ma Lin not on China's Olympic Team

China will have Ma Long, Zhang Jike, and Wang Hao as their representatives to the Olympics in London, the world's top three ranked players. They also have #4 Xu Xing and #5 Ma Lin, but since they are limited to three players, these latter two will not be on the team. Here's an article about Ma Lin not being on the team.

JJ Hardy, Jake Arrieta, and table tennis

There's a lot of table tennis going on at the Baltimore Orioles clubhouse, with these two (along with former centerfielder and now trainer Brady Anderson) are among the best. As noted in previous blogs, I've been contacted about coming in to coach them, with MASN (the Orioles network) doing coverage. The times are not yet set, but I'll post when I know. In the last email I received from the Orioles, they wrote, "J.J. and Brady are going to get together in the next week and try to figure out a couple of dates that might work and we will be in touch. They are pretty excited about this!"

Here's an article from Table Tennis Nation on Jake Arrieta's table tennis. Here's a picture of Hardy playing table tennis, with Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Corey Hart on right. And here are articles on JJ Hardy's table tennis (there are more!):

• Camden Chat
• Washington Times
• Baltimore Sports Report
• Eyewitness News 12

Table tennis videos

Table Tennis Video Central is like, well, a table tennis video central. Lots and lots of table tennis videos for your viewing pleasure. Between this and Youtube, you can pretty much see any table tennis video ever made.

Table tennis going to the Birds

In honor of the Baltimore Orioles playing table tennis, here are other birds playing table tennis.

• Parrots as ballboys
• Mean rooster about to serve
• Woodstock (with Snoopy)
• Woody Woodpecker
• Donald Duck, Huey, Dewey, and Louie
• One
• Two
• Three
• Four
• Five
• Six
• Seven
• Tyrannosaurus Rex (aren't they just the descendents of birds?)

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Modern sponges make looping easy

Some of the paradigms about teaching the loop are crashing down, with the advent of the modern "super looping sponge." There are modern sponges that make looping so easy that little kids can now topspin the ball in ways that little kids (and most adults) of yesteryear could only dream. Speed glues (now illegal) made looping both easier and more powerful (both speed and spin), but these modern sponges are a level better. (I shutter to think what would happen if you speed glued one of these super sponges - I think the universe would spin out of orbit as it zipped past some cosmic player.)

I asked Coach Cheng Yinghua what would have happened if he had these sponges back in his peak playing days (on Chinese National Team, 1977-1987), and he had a gleam in his eye as he said he'd have beaten everyone.

Yesterday I was coaching a man in his mid-60s, rated about 1500. A decade ago I wouldn't have dreamed of him seriously counterlooping. Instead, the guy came at me like a 2200 player might have in the past, effortlessly counterlooping most of my best loops back. (This was not a former top player - he was at his peak now after several years of practice.) Sure, it was just a drill, and I doubt if he could do this consistently in a match, but if I'd given him a typical sponge from ten years ago, you could glue it all you want and he wouldn't have been able to do this. And it's like this at all ages and levels. Kids aged 10-12 are looping at levels that would be unheard of before.

With these sponges all you have to do is sort of wave at the ball and it goes back with back-breaking topspin that twist Newton and Einstein physics into a quivering mass of torqued rotation. The game has changed. 

Even the basic forehand and backhand have become mini-loops for many. When you warm up with someone forehand to forehand or backhand to backhand, you expect basic drives with light topspin, but now many players don't even have that shot - their basic drives have become topspinny. Even fishing and lobbing are easier and more effective as the sponges just shoot the ball back with topspin.

Of course the downside is that opponents can also loop more easily, and many of your loops will be looped right back, as will even your strongest blocks. There are now counterlooping rallies at the 1800 level that were pretty rare in the past. Even during the gluing age few intermediate players bothered to go through the hassle of gluing. Now it's built into the sponge, making looping that much easier for the masses. 

For me, while I don't cover as much ground as I used to or react to fast incoming balls as quickly, I find that nearly anything I can react to and touch with my forehand I can loop back.

What does this mean for coaches and players?

• You teach the loop much sooner to beginning kids, and counterlooping not long after.
• You teach the loop against a block even to older players, who in the past might have just looped against backspin and hit against blocks or topspin. Now they can loop over and over with far less effort than was needed in the past.
• Aging loopers can continue to loop effectively well into their golden years.
• More players can develop games where they simply loop everything that comes long to their forehand.
• Looping off the bounce is easier, especially on the backhand, and many players now essentially loop nearly everything off the bounce, even on the backhand.
• Fast blocks and even smashes are easier to loop back.
• Forehand blocking becomes almost obsolete for many athletic players from the intermediate level on. If you can see it, you can loop it. (Forehand blocking is still important, but more as a reflex return against powerful shots when you don't have time to swing.)

Forehand Flip

Here's a video from Table Tennis University on the forehand flip (4:23).

Plastic balls
The ITTF had planned to switch from celluloid to plastic balls after the 2012 Olympics. According to this notice, "For production reasons, the plastic ball will be introduced not before July 2014."

Highlights from the 2012 World Team Championships Highlights

Here's a highlights video from the 2012 World Team Championships, set to music (9:49).

"I Love Table Tennis"

Here's a video promoting college table tennis (1:05) that features players saying, "I love table tennis." (One of the players saying this is Mark Hazinski.) The ones I like are the guy saying, "I love table tennis and math" (my bachelor's is in math), the little girl saying, "I sort of like it," and Adam Bobrow interjecting, "He loves table tennis." And if you go to the NCTTA home page you'll see that the College Nationals are this weekend, April 13-15, in Plano, TX. (A bunch of players from my club, MDTTC, are going, representing University of Maryland.)

Rally for Kids with Cancer

There will be a SMASH Celebrity Ping-Pong Tournament for Kids with Cancer Foundation on June 23, 2012 in LA. Includes a 30-second video from actor Terrence Howard.

Keith Pech on TV

Here's a video of Keith in a TV feature (1:50) yesterday from Channel 19 Action News on his going to the College Nationals.

Table tennis hoax

Here's a story about a hoax pulled off about a University of Akron Table Tennis Team in 1974. The team had a great winning record and received lots of press coverage - but there was no team! It was all made up.

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Too far from the table on your forehand loop?

A lot of players lose power when forehand looping against backspin because they are too far from the table, taking the ball too much in front of them instead of rotating their body and taking it from the side. This forces them to reach forward for the ball, and to compensate and keep their balance, their left side (for righties) falls back as they hit the shot. It also means they cannot get much body rotation into the shot. They may get decent spin with this shot, but little forward speed. Instead, stand closer to the table, and rotate the body back sideways, and then rotate the entire body into the shot. The contact point is actually in the same spot relative to the table, but now you are in a position to really put power on the ball. Watch the top players and see how close they stand to the table when looping against backspin.

Here's a video (1:42) by USA Men's Coach and former German star Stefan Feth showing and explaining the forehand loop against backspin. Note how he stays relatively close to the table as he rotates into each shot with great power.

Maryland Table Tennis Center Tuesday Night League

Starts tonight! So be there. (Alas, I'll be coaching from 5-9, and the league starts at 7:30. But I'll be watching some between coaching points!)

Four recent table tennis books

I may write more about these books later. So far I've only browsed them, except for "Breaking 2000." (Here's a complete listing of the 206 books I have on table tennis.)

• Ping Pong Fever by Steve Grant (about the table tennis craze that swept America in 1902)
• Boys Look at the Stars by Enzo Pettinelli (History of the sport's great stars)
• Get Your Game Face On by Dora Kurimay (sports psychology for table tennis)
• Breaking 2000 by Alex Polyakov (I reviewed this book on Feb. 3, 2012)

Werner Schlager Academy photos

Here are 14 pictures recently taken by Coach Donn Olsen at the Werner Schlager Academy in Austria. Can you identify the players?

Table Tennis the Serious Sport

Here's an article in the Anniston Star featuring table tennis player, promoter, and umpire/referee Mike Wetzel and his "love affair with table tennis."

Bubba Watson and Ping-Pong

It turns out Masters Champion Bubba Watson also plays table tennis, as shown by Table Tennis Nation.

The House of Rackets

Here's a 36-second preview of a new TV show, "The House of Rackets," which features tennis, badminton, squash, and yes, table tennis. "SMASH is Asia's first ever all-inclusive racquet sports magazine show featuring the best weekly coverage from the worlds of badminton, table tennis, squash and tennis. SMASH will air every Wednesday at 10:30 pm on STAR Sports."

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