Tip of the Week
Confidence, then Consistency.

Tip of the Week
Proper Use of the Back Shoulder.

Tip of the Week
Topspin Defense.

Tip of the Week
Smashing Lobs.

Tip of the Week
Relaxing the Arm.

Tip of the Week
Don't Get Mad; Get Determined.

Tip of the Week
Strategic Tactics.

Next Blog Will Be on October 7, but Tips Will Go Up Every Monday
I'll be away until the end of September - see segment below. However, I've written a bunch of Tips of the Week in advance, and so they will continue to go up every Monday while I'm gone.

Tip of the Week
Serving Short. I've done similar articles on specific short serves, but this is a more general article.

What's Your Non-Playing Table Tennis Expertise?
If you are reading this, you are probably a table tennis player, or at least a former player. But there's more to table tennis than just playing. There are other aspects of the game you can do, either because you enjoy doing it, or to help out. So . . . what's Your Non-Playing Table Tennis Expertise? (The links below are for people in the U.S., but others can contact their country's association.)

• Coaching (Note that they are revamping this, with a new USATT Coaching Education and Certification process being created in conjunction with the USOC.)
• Officiating
• Club Director
• Tournament Director
• Tournament Promoter
• League Director
• Committee Volunteer
• Practice Partner - if you are pretty good, then you can help out by practicing with up-and-coming players.
• Helping New Players - hit with them and make them welcome!
• Writer - hey, stop trying to compete with me! (Except, of course, I've done all of the above.)

There are also some rather unique table tennis "niches." There are full-time positions, such as the USATT staff and the ITTF staff. Adam Bobrow is the Voice of the ITTF, doing commentary for their major events and creating videos. Craig Krum and others create table tennis software (like Craig's Omnipong) for running tournaments and/or leagues. Samson Dubina, besides coaching and running his TT center, invents table tennis stuff, such as TT-Flex and TT-Serve. Others run online forums, such as Alex Li and his staff at mytabletennis.net. So what are you waiting for? Help out in one of the convention ways, or maybe find your own niche!

Tactical vs. Strategic Thinking
What's the difference? Tactical thinking is what you need to do to win now. Strategic thinking is what you need to do to get better later. You need both. If you only think tactically, you might become a master tactician, but you might not develop your game properly. If you only think strategically, you might develop your game but not your tactical skills. Which are you better at? Most players seem to focus too much on one or the other. Here are two Tips I've written on this topic.

• Strategic Versus Tactical Thinking
• The Balance Between Tactical and Strategic Thinking

Mostly Non-Table Tennis - I'm Off for Europe!!!
Tonight (Monday, Aug. 12) I catch a late-night flight for Dublin, Ireland (with a stopover in Lisbon). As noted above, I will still be putting up a Tip of the Week every Monday, but I won't be blogging again until October 7. Feel free to skip ahead if you aren't interested in my Europe/Egypt trip, which only has a little table tennis!

I expect to return in late September. I'll be touring Europe and Egypt until roughly the end of September, mostly by train with a few flights mixed in. I don't have an exact itinerary, just a rough order - but I have info on local hotels and tours and will arrange much of it as it goes on. (Day one's top priority - getting a sim card on the 3 network so my smart phone will work.) I am especially interested in historical sites, such as ancient Greece and Rome, as well as a somber trip to Auschwitz.

It all starts with the World Science Fiction Convention in Dublin (~7000 attendees) . . . and then the REAL tour begins! I've been to China, Taiwan, and Japan (all as a table tennis coach or writer), and to all 50 U.S. states, but never to Europe.

I may also visit some table tennis clubs - but I do plan to visit ITTF Headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, and perhaps a Bundesliga match in Germany. I may try to work in the European Minicadet Championships in France, Aug. 23-25 - there are eight USA players and three coaches/managers. Here is a rough listing and order of my itinerary.

• Ireland (World Science Fiction Convention in Dublin, Aug. 15-19; Celts/Castle Tour, Trinity College, Dublin Castle, Grafton Street, Newgrange)
• England (Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, St. James Park, British Museum, Natural History Museum, Churchill War Rooms Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, Thames boat trip from Big Ben/Westminster to Greenwich, possibly Bletchley Park and/or Stonehenge, and London Walks tour - Guard Change Tour, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, St. James's Palace, Royal Park, the Mall, Trafalgar Square, Admiralty Arch, Birdcage Walk, Queen Anne's Gate; plus four other possible tours - Tower of London Walk, Harry Potter Walk, British Museum Tour, and Jack the Ripper Walk)
• Scotland (Edinburgh Castle, Loch Ness) - this is tentative as it's another long train ride and would take up two days
• France (Paris, Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Palace of Versailles, Omaha Beach Battle Tour), plus there's a chance I might make the European Minicadet Championships in Strasbourg, France, Aug. 23-25, which has eight USA kids and three coaches/managers
• Switzerland (Lausanne, ITTF Headquarters, Olympic Museum)
• Italy (Florence, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Rome - all the ancient sites on a tour, Pompeii tour)
• Germany (Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate, The Berlin Wall Memorial/Checkpoint Charlie, Fuhrerbunker, Holocaust Memorial, Wall Memorial at Bernauer Street, perhaps German Bundesliga, and a walking tour of Berlin Wall, stand over Hitler's Bunker, Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, Museum Island)
• Poland (Warsaw Uprising Museum, Auschwitz, Oskar Schindler Factory, possibly The Wolf's Lair)
• Possible touring of Eastern Europe in train ride from Poland to Athens? Prague, Vienna, Budapest, others?

• Greece (driving tour of all the ancient sites - Acropolis/Parthenon, Corinth, Mycenae, Sparta, Olympia, Delphi, Mediterranean Sea Beach)

• Egypt (Pyramids and Sphinx, Karnak Temple Complex, Egyptian Museum, River Nile Cruise)

Table Tennis Books
While I'm away, why not wile away the time with some table tennis books?

• Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers, by Larry Hodges
• Table Tennis Tips, by Larry Hodges
• More Table Tennis Tips, by Larry Hodges
• Table Tennis Tales and Techniques, by Larry Hodges
• Professional Table Tennis Coaches Handbook, by Larry Hodges
• The Spirit of Pong, by Larry Hodges (fantasy table tennis novel)
• Campaign 2100: Game of Scorpions, by Larry Hodges - a science fiction novel but with a lot of table tennis!
• History of U.S. Table Tennis, by Tim Boggan, Volumes 1-23. Yes, 23 volumes!!!
• Revelations of a Ping-Pong Champion, by Dan Seemiller - a great rundown of this five-time U.S. Men's Singles Champion's life.
• One Hundred Days of Table Tennis by Samson Dubina
• Ping Pong for Fighters, by Tahl Leibovitz - going from living on the streets to championship player and coach.

Pan Am Games
Here's the ITTF home page for the event held in Lima, Peru, Aug. 4-10, with results, news, pictures, and video. Here's the Wikipedia page Table Tennis at the 2019 Pan American Games, which has complete medal results for table tennis. Here is a listing of USA Medalists:

• Kanak Jha, Nikhil Kumar, and Nicholas Tio: Gold in Men's Teams
• Jennifer Wu Yue: Silver in Women's Singles
• Jennifer Wu Yue/Lily Zhang: Silver in Women's Doubles
• Kanak Jha: Bronze in Men's Singles
• Amy Wang, Jennifer Wu Yue, Lily Zhang: Bronze on Women's Teams
• Kanak Jha/Jennifer Wu Yue: Bronze in Mixed Doubles

Here are USATT articles by Matt Hetherington, in the order they were posted.

• USA Guaranteed Medals After Day One of 2019 Pan Am Games
• Jha and Wu Highlight Day 2 of 2019 Pan Am Games with Mixed Doubles Bronze
• Silver Linings for US Pan Am Games Team on Day 3
• Diaz Prevails, Silver for USA's Wu Yue on Day 4
• Perfect Run for USA in Pan Am Games Team Group Stages
• USA Advance into Pan Am Games Team Event Medal Rounds
• USA and Brazil Exchange Upsets in Pan Am Team Semifinals
• US Men's Team Leap on Golden Opportunity to Finish Pan Ams on High

Here are Butterfly articles by Steve Hopkins, in the order they were posted.

• PAN AM GAMES – UNDERWAY IN LIMA
• PAN AM GAMES (DAY 2) – DOUBLES EVENTS PROGRESS
• PAN AM GAMES (DAY 3) – DOUBLES FINALS AND SINGLES QUARTERS
• PAN AM GAMES (DAY 4) – SINGLES FINALS
• PAN AM GAMES (DAY 5) – USA TEAMS CRUISE
• PAM AM GAMES (DAY 6) – USA TEAMS ADVANCE TO SEMIFINALS
• PAN AM UPDATE: A PUNCHER’S CHANCE – USA UPSET BRAZIL
• PAN AM GAMES: USA ARE MEN’S TEAM CHAMPIONS

Nigeria Open
Here's the ITTF home page for the event held Aug. 7-11 in Lagos, Nigeria, with results, articles, photos, and video.

Bulgaria Open
Here's the ITTF home for the event Aug. 13-18 in Panagyurishte, Bulgaria.

Chinese National Team Touch Down in Los Angeles
Here's the USATT article by Matt Hetherington. And here's the Chinese Team on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (18 sec).

MDTTC August Open
Here are the results! We always send in results on Sunday night, and USATT processed them for ratings on Monday afternoon. As noted in previous blogs, Klaus Wood now runs the MDTTC tournaments, with assistance from Greg Mascialino, Kurtus Hsu, and others.

Talent Development Program Tryouts in Maryland
The tryouts for the upcoming season of the Talent Development Program at the Maryland Table Tennis Center are Sunday, Sept. 8, at 5:30PM, and should last about an hour. This is for kids ages 7-12 and with at least one year of training. New students should bring a coach's recommendation letter. For more info, contact Coach Wang Qingliang. (Current students may not need to try out - check with Coach Wang.) Here is a recent USATT news item on the program.

New from Samson Dubina

• Devastate the Underdog
• The Mental Timeout
• Beat the Pick-Hitter!

Underestimating Underspin
Here's the article by Coach Jon.

Tomahawk Serve Tutorial
Here's the video (1:59) by Adam Bobrow.

Training Video: Coach Li of New York International Table Tennis Center
Here's the article and video (55 sec).

Pleasantville Man Plays Table Tennis for 2,500 Consecutive Days
Here's the article featuring Will Shortz, NY Times Crossword Editor and owner of Westchester TTC.

Athlete and Hollywood Actor on a Mission to Inspire Hope
Here's the article featuring Navin Kumar.

Khoa Nguyen Reflects on the Long Road to Becoming a US Olympian
​Here's the USATT article by Matt Hetherington.

A Calling From Above Helped Pull Terranova Out Of Retirement
Here's the USATT article by Richard Finn.

WAB Club Feature: North Texas TTC
Here's the article by Steve Hopkins.

Sun's Rising: Chinese Star Soaring to the Top
Here's the ITTF article featuring Sun Yingsha.

2019 ITTF World Cups: Full Cast Confirmed!
Here's the ITTF article.

ITTF World Veterans World Tour in 2039... Who will feature?!
Here's the ITTF article - with pictures of what some current stars might look like 20 years from now!

History of USATT - Volume 23 - Chapter 3
Here is Chapter 3 of Tim Boggan's History of U.S. Table Tennis, subtitled "Members' Interests." Or you can buy it and previous (and future) volumes at www.timboggantabletennis.com. Volume 23 is 491 pages with 1841 graphics, and covers all the wild things that happened in 1997-1999 - and I'm mentioned a lot! Why not buy a copy - or the entire set at a discount? Tim sells them directly, so when you order them, you get it autographed - order your copy now!

DHS Top 10 | 2019 ITTF Korea Open
Here's the ITTF video (5:47).

Ultimate Retrieve?
Here's the video (45 sec, including slo-mo)!

The Match Begins...
Here's the video (38 sec) - Jason vs. Alex Piech!

Pongers of the Round Table (Squares on the other)
Here's the picture! (Here's the non-Facebook version.)

Caveman Pong
Here's the cartoon!

Wanna Play Table Tennis?
Here's the cartoon!

I'm Not Even Going to Try to Figure Out What This Is
Here's the picture!

Table Tennis Stereotypes

• Here's video1 (2:25) of table tennis excuses!
• Here's video2 (4 min) of table tennis excuses!

Funny Cats Doing Sports
Here's the video (5:47, but link should take you to 4:05 for 16 seconds of cat pong).

World's Thickest Table Tennis Bat
Here's the video (11:25) From Pongfinity!

Roger Federer Pong

• Would Roger Federer's Skills Translate to Ping-Pong? - From Business Insider. Here's Shashin Shodhan's commentary.
• Roger Federer Challenges NBA Star Klay Thompson to Ping-Pong Game
• Klay Thompson still looking forward to playing ping-pong with Roger Federer
• Roger Federer as a child playing table tennis (article & photo)
• Images
  • Green Shirt Federer
  • Child Federer
  • Tennis Racket Federer1
  • Tennis Racket Federer2
  • Suave Federer1
  • Suave Federer2
  • Smashing Federer
  • White Table Federer
  • Wayne Rooney (football player) vs. Federer
• Roger Federer's table tennis skills heavily praised by a competitive player (1:36) - Long-time USA player/coach/robot expert Larry Thoman is quoted. 
• Roger Federer Can't Miss in Commercial (45 sec). Here's the article that explains it.
• Roger Federer vs Bear Grylls in Ping-Pong! (3:13) They play mini-pong in the Swiss Alps, surrounded by snow. Here's a still image.
• Classy Roger Federer playing Ping Pong! (13 sec)
• Tennis Players Playing Table Tennis - Federer Djokovic Nadal (20:39)
• Tennis Players Playing Table Tennis (21:33) - Federer, Williams, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray, Kyrgios, Thiem, Wawrinka, Sock, Tiafoe, Monfils, Querrey, the Bryan brothers, and many more.
• Sunrise Freedom commercial: Roger Federer's day off - Ping Pong (25 sec)
• Roger Federer, Champion de Ping Pong! (35 sec)
• Roger Federer and Benedict Cumberbatch play Table tennis (1:25)
• Waldner and Federer (42 sec) - Waldner and Federer both making almost identical moving, no-look cross-court miracle winning shots in their respective sports.
• Roger Federer Whips Bill Gates Into Tennis-Playing Shape (1:20 - 2 sec of table tennis at 21 sec)
• Roger Federer: "Staying the same means going backwards" - There are more gems here in the 90 seconds he talks than many people learn in a lifetime. Here's a recap - 11 pointers that'll win you an 11-point game!

1. "I can't stand it watching me throw rackets and embarrassing myself so I tried to change."
2. "It's very important to move on."
3. "I think losses make you stronger. I think it's important you learn from those mistakes and then you become better."
4. "A light goes up in your head, and you go like, 'You know what? I think I now understand what I need to improve.'"
5. "I always questioned myself in the best of times."
6. "What can I improve? What do I need to change?"
7. "If you don't do anything, or if you just do the same thing over and over again, you stay the same, and staying the same means going backwards."
8. "It's important for me to actually hear criticism because I think that's what makes me a better player."
9. 'If you never set goals, you can never question yourself."
10. "When things are going great, what more can I do? How much better can I become? How much harder can I train?"
11. "All I can do is give my best and then it's going to be fine."

Non-Table Tennis - SciFi is About the Idea, with Author Larry Hodges
Here's the podcast (10:49, but I recommend skipping ahead to 4:45, where it really beings). This is the first of four parts, with the next parts going up the next three Mondays.

***
Send us your own coaching news!

Tip of the Week
Serving Long. I've done similar articles on specific long serves, but this is a more general article. Next week: Serving Short.

Solution to the Mexican Wall Problem
Let's have a little table tennis fun this morning. The U.S.-Mexico border is 1954 miles long. That's 10,317,120 feet. A table tennis net is six feet long, so it would take 1,719,520 nets to cover it. I did some online checking and the absolute cheapest net I could find was $7.46. But that's retail; we could probably buy them directly from China for $2/net. (That's $1.60 plus a 25% tariff.) So it would cost $3,439,040, or about $3.5 million, to put up a U.S.-Mexico ping-pong net.

We'll make China pay for it. If they don't, we'll threaten to boycott any tournament with a Chinese player. That'll show 'em; they'll back down and pay the $3.5 million.

We'd get umpires and referees to put them up. They are volunteers, right? So we don't have to pay them. Isn't table tennis great?

In my 43 years in table tennis I've never seen a player climb or jump over a ping-pong net. (Well, there is this guy. But this is what usually happens.) Only in tennis, i.e. court table tennis, do people jump over nets, another example of the superiority of our sport. So these 1954 miles of ping-pong nets should make our border 100% secure.

To further secure the border, our security forces will need to be armed. A sufficient quantity of ping-pong paddles and balls to smack those roving mobs of illegal aliens (They serve illegally! They use frictionless long pips! They use speed glue!) will be needed. China's already paying for the net, so with a little racketeering, we'll make Mexico pay for the rackets.

We'll let kids play table tennis across this net, like they play seesaw. But they must keep score in English! No speaking in them thar foreigner languages like Mexican or Indian or Islam. 

Now a ping-pong net isn't a wall, but our president promised a wall. So we'll compromise and call it a nall. And it will be a great and wonderful nall! It'll be far greater than the Great Chinese Nall that China made to keep Mexicans out - and after 2700 years, no Mexicans have made it over that wall, other than a few tourists. Oh, and Mexico paid for it too.

1900 Sold or Published Articles
I just sold a story to Galaxy's Edge, a major science fiction & fantasy magazine. It was my 1900th article I've sold or published! (This does NOT include 1800+ blog entries. I also have 13 books, with two more coming out in 2020.) I've been in 164 different publications, including such ones as Sports Illustrated and Washington Post. Here's a breakdown:

• Table Tennis: 1675
• Science Fiction or Fantasy Stories: 162 (includes 38 resales and 15 "twitter" stories)
• Baltimore Orioles: 33
• Science: 9
• On Writing: 6
• Others: 15

Pan American Games
Here's the ITTF home page for the event that began yesterday in Lima, Peru, Aug. 4-10, with results, news, pictures, and video. Below are two articles. (Check the USATT News page and Butterfly News Page for further articles this week.) USA Men's Team is Kanak Jha, Nikhil Kumar, and Nicholas Tio. USA Women's Team is Lily Zhang, Wu Yue, and Amy Wang.

• USA Guaranteed Medals After Day One of 2019 Pan Am Games by Matt Hetherington
• Pan Am Games – Underway in Lima by Steve Hopkins

USATT Tournament Guides
Here are two! The first is everything you need to know about running them; the second is on promoting them.

• USATT Tournament Guide, edited by Wendell Dillon
• USATT Tournament Promotion Guide, by Matt Hetherington

MDTTC Open
It's this weekend, at the Maryland Table Tennis Center in Gaithersburg, MD. Though I'm still listed there as co-director, Klaus Wood is really in charge now - I'm retired from running tournaments!

New from Samson Dubina

• The Mental Timeout
• 9 Serving Tips

What To Do In Between Points - How to Erase Stress and Tension
Here's the article from Table Tennis Spot.

August Break
Here's the article by Tom Lodziak, with a number of links to articles and videos.

Visualizing a Better Ball
Here's the article by Coach Jon.

New USATT Articles by Matt Hetherington - he's writing up a storm!

• Honorable Effort for USA at 2019 World Hopes Challenge
• Estee Ackerman Shares Table Tennis Passion at Poway Chabad Day Camp
• Great USATT Supporter Hopes For Popularity Growth of Table Tennis, featuring Sam Zhu
• Inaugural Parkinson's World Championships on Horizon for Westchester Table Tennis Center
• Kumar Thrilled and Motivated by First ITTF Parkinson's World Table Tennis Championships. Until I retired from private coaching last year (just group sessions now), Navin was my student! I still coach him sometimes in tournaments. Here's his IMDB page - note the table tennis video at the top. (I'm in it!)

New from Steve Hopkins

• WAB Club Feature: New York Table Tennis Inc.
• August Rankings: Xu Keeps Top Spot

First Female Champion at the Westchester Open!
Here's the article by Will Shortz.

Hou Yingchao the History-maker!
Here's the ITTF article on 39-year-old chopper Hou winning the Chinese Nationals. It's impressive, but for whatever reasons the top Chinese players (Ma Long, Fan Zhendong, Xu Xin) did not play. Hou did defeat world #6 and top seeded Liang Jingkun. Here is video.

100 Days Since World Table Tennis Championships: What have we learnt?
Here's the ITTF article.

Lin Yun-Ju | Best Moments of 2019!
Here's the ITTF video (3:19).

History of USATT - Volume 23 - Chapter 2
Here is Chapter 2 of Tim Boggan's History of U.S. Table Tennis, subtitled "1997 U.S. Open - Part 2 (Senior Events)." Or you can buy it and previous (and future) volumes at www.timboggantabletennis.com. Volume 23 is 491 pages with 1841 graphics, and covers all the wild things that happened in 1997-1999 - and I'm mentioned a lot! Why not buy a copy - or the entire set at a discount? Tim sells them directly, so when you order them, you get it autographed - order your copy now!

Sky High Table Tennis Club on Aurora TV
Here's the video (3:31). Richard McAfee and Timothy Wang are featured.

Kid Timo Boll to Professional Player
Here's the video (6:31).

Ben Askren Tells a Table Tennis Story During Wrestling Seminar
Here's the video (5:46) from 2012. He's an Olympian and was a welterweight champion.

One Minute, One Sport Table Tennis
Here's the video (77 sec)! It's actually an ad for table tennis in the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics in Japan.

Ninja Pong
Here's where you can buy all your Ninja table tennis products!

Teqball
Here's the video (36 sec)!

Tsingtao Beer Dragon Ping Pong
Here's the video (2:45) - it's a table tennis beer commercial!

"Ping-Pong Was Invented on the Dining Tables of England"
Here's the video of England Prime Minister Boris Johnson (table tennis segment lasts around 45 sec). He's basically correct.

Table Tennis = Precision+Power!
Here's the video (11 sec)!

Dog Pong
Here's the cartoon!

Airline Pong
Here's the cartoon!

Giant Net Ping-Pong
Here's the video (4:41) from Pongfinity!

***
Send us your own coaching news!

Tip of the Week
Do You Want to Know an Opponent's Rating Before a Match?

The Subconscious Rules
At the U.S. Open a few weeks ago a strange thing happened. I was mostly there to coach, but entered one event - Over 40 Hardbat. (I've now won the event six times at the Open or Nationals.) I normally play and coach with sponge, but hardbat's been a sideline of mine for decades. (I've won Hardbat Singles at both the Open and Nationals, and have won Hardbat Doubles 14 times.) I'm 59, so I'm competing against these younger players (!), and I'm both out of practice and out of shape. In the preliminary RR, I played okay, but nothing special.

In the final I'm up against Mark Conti, a full-time hardbat player with a 2113 hardbat rating. (I'm 2198.) He's a steady blocker. I continue to play well as I win the first, 21-15. (It's best of three to 21.) In the second, he gets more and more consistent and is getting better and better at blocking balls at wide angles, making things tricky for me - I'm basically an all-out forehand attacker. Against this consistency and movement, I begin to falter, and he wins, 21-14. I know I'll have to play much better in the third if I want to win. I also realize that if consciously try to play better, I'll probably just fall apart. The conscious mind is great for thinking about tactics or what serve to use next, but in skill sports, you train your subconscious, and it takes over once you start to play. The conscious mind just gets in the way.

So I started this "mantra" between each point where I kept saying, "Push yourself!" (I've used this my entire career.) This not only helped me physically as I tried to cover as much table with my forehand as I could, but it kept my conscious mind focused on that, while the subconscious took over. Result? I played one of the best games I've ever played, winning the third, 21-13. Mark played well that game, but I was basically forehand hitting and smashing every ball I could get to, and even my backhand came alive. The Magic was Back!

What do I mean by "The Magic"? It's my way of referring to being "In the Zone." (See the article on this below by Eli Baraty.) Everyone has different ways of getting In the Zone. It often comes down to a simple routine that cues the subconscious that it's time to do its stuff, i.e. mental rehearsal. For me, this means the following:

• Just before I start a match I take off my watch and put it around my water bottle.
• Before every serve I bounce the ball several times on the table, and then drop my arm down and bring it back and then forward, like a pendulum.
• Before my first receive in a match, I step back from the table and do a very fast series of shuffle steps.
• In my early years I even had this thing about shirt colors. If I had a match where I knew I was going to be hitting a lot, I'd wear a green shirt. If I was going to be looping a lot, I'd wear a blue shirt. If I had to play all-around, I'd wear a red shirt. I'd sometimes change for specific matches! (I only did this in my first few years.)

Training your subconscious and then letting it take over is the key to doing well in any skill sport. An easy example of this is when I smack targets on a table as a demo. I can put a water bottle on the far side, and then drop a ball and smack it pretty consistently with my forehand. But this only works if I don't think about it and don't even consciously aim - if I do, I get erratic. If I just look at what I want to hit and then let the shot go, I get a bullseye nearly every time - and when I don't, it's almost always because I let the conscious mind get in the way.

This type of thing applies to other things as well. I just got back from my annual nine-day writing science fiction writing workshop in Manchester, NH. The topic of the subconscious came up there, and writers also get "In the Zone" where they are almost mindlessly writing. One of the writers was a musician and pointed out that it's the same thing in music - a concert pianist doesn't consciously play complex pieces; they train at it until it comes subconsciously. For me, I've developed the nasty habit that either a Mountain Dew or Dr. Pepper gets me in science fiction writing mode, and so I drink too many soft drinks. (Mr. Pibb and Mello Yellow are also good!)

I also have this long-term thinking "crutch" - anyone who's been around me a lot may have noticed that when I have to think about something very hard, I always pick up a pen. It's just a habit I picked up way back in college, and it cues the subconscious brain to go into high gear. In fact, when I'm brainstorming for ideas in both my table tennis and science fiction writing, I often pace back and forth in my office, pen in hand - and it invariably works!

So how does any of this apply to you? Develop your own habits that "cue" the subconscious, both for table tennis and other activities. It's called mental rehearsal. If you do it regularly, you'll train your subconscious to react from these cues. (Here are links to articles and books on Sports Psychology.)

How I Spent My Vacation
I had a great two weeks vacation! Here's a rundown:

• Attended the Readercon Science Fiction Convention in Boston.
• Did sightseeing in Boston for four days. Did the Freedom Trail, and visited the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, Museum of Science, Museum of Fine Arts, USS Constitution and Bunker Hill, Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum, Bunker Hill Monument, Boston Commons, Franklin Park Zoo, New England Aquarium, and Revere Beach (but the water was too cold, even in summer, so I just walked the beach). 
• Spent nine days at "The Never-Ending Odyssey," my annual science fiction writing workshop vacation. Three of my stories were critiqued, we attended classes every afternoon, did readings, and of course wrote! 

USATT and ITTF News
I've been away for three weeks, so rather than link repetitively to every news item I find of interest, why not browse over these?

• USATT News
• ITTF News
• Butterfly News

7 Benefits of Table Tennis
Here's the chart. (Here's the non-Facebook version.) Perhaps put it up at your club's website?

New from Tom Lodziak

• Service combinations to confuse your opponents (with Craig Bryant) (6:25)
• Does being a table tennis coach help you become a better player?
• How much should you block during matches?
• How to return serves with a touch shot – with Paul Drinkhall (6:06)

New from Eli Baraty

• Table Tennis Mistakes
• Fear Pre-Table Tennis Match
• Table Tennis Flow (How to Enter Into a Zone State)

New from Samson Dubina

• Mental Game
• Serve Return Disasters
• Mental Toughness
• Serve Return Simplified

New from Coach Jon

• Time for Tactics - this one links to my interview on tactics (55:09) with Expert Table Tennis.
• Prioritizing Your Table Tennis Time
• Little Details – Big Results

Ultimate Table Tennis League
Here's the article by EmRatThich.

History of USATT - Volume 23 - Chapter 1
Here is Chapter 1 of Tim Boggan's History of U.S. Table Tennis, subtitled "1997 U.S. Open - Part 1." Or you can buy it and previous (and future) volumes at www.timboggantabletennis.com. Volume 23 is 491 pages with 1841 graphics, and covers all the wild things that happened in 1997-1999 - and I'm mentioned a lot! Why not buy a copy - or the entire set at a discount? Tim sells them directly, so when you order them, you get it autographed - order your copy now!

The Un-Returnable Serve by Patrick Franziska!
Here's the video (10 sec). Could this revolutionize the sport or force rule changes? I can do "come-back" serves somewhat consistently, and occasionally have done one like the one in the video, where it barely crosses the net before bouncing back. But I wonder if anyone could learn to do it this short with any consistency. (I know some players have tried - including me!)

Milpitas Table Tennis Star Gears Up for Tokyo Olympics
Here's the article and video (2:11) featuring Kanak Jha.

Sharon Alguetti Multiball Training in China 2019
Here's the video (5:23).

A Little Multiball
Here's the video (16 sec) - at that age moving like that is fun!

She’s 14, Disabled From a Bomb Blast and One of Iraq’s Top Table Tennis Players
Here's the article from the New York Times.

I Am Michiel
Here's the video (8:18), "a film about a boy who wants to become a professional table tennis player."

Golden Tate Attempts Table Tennis Against an Olympian
Here's the video (11:18) from Yahoo. He gets schooled by Wei Wang. (He's a wide receiver for the New York Giants football team.)

Corey Coleman takes on the B/R Ping Pong Challenge
Here's the video (34:17) "Watch as host Adam Lefkoe takes on Cleveland Browns rookie WR Corey Coleman in a whacky ping pong challenge." Various rules/rackets that come up include "One-Eyed Pirate," "Incredible Hulk Hands," Thor's Hammer," and "Giant Badminton Racquet."

Whaaaaat - Table Tennis in a Tree!
Here's the video (1:52). "Tree TT is very dangerous and should only be played by true TT stunt professionals who know what they are doing!!!"

Z Pong
Here's the video (2 min)!

Twenty-Foot Paddle Toss Serve
Here's the video (16 sec)!

Funny Fake Hole Ping-Pong Paddle
Here's where you can buy one from Zazzle!

Area 51 Two-handed Alien Pong
Here's the picture! (Here's the non-Facebook version.)  

New from Pongfinity

• Ping Pong Battles Against Strangers 4 (13:09)
• Triangular Table Tennis (14 sec)

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