NOTE – I’ll be away Fri-Mon at the Baltimore Science Fiction Convention, where I’m on four panels (moderating one), plus a reading and a book signing. (While table tennis coaching and writing are my primary living, I’m also a SF writer with four novels and over 80 short stories sold.) So no blog on Friday or Monday. See you next Tuesday!

USATT University
USATT University is a reality! USATT will be running eight seminars at the upcoming USA Nationals. I’ve argued for about a zillion years that we should have increased programming like this at the Nationals and Open, and some of you may remember that when I ran for the USATT Board, one of the things I wanted to do was set up a “USATT Coaching Academy.” Well, that has morphed into USATT University! Special thanks goes to USATT CEO Gordon Kaye for making it happen, and to USATT staff members Andy Horn and Jon Tayler. Thanks also goes to others who will be teaching these seminars.

I think this is a great opportunity for USA Table Tennis to educate current and prospective coaches and organizers, as well as adding more “glitz” to our major tournaments as a further draw. If you have suggestions for future such panels, let me know.

Descriptions of the eight courses or seminars are on the USATT University flyer. Here’s the short version, in chronological order.

• Mon 7-8 PM: Tournament Directors Best Practices 101 (Free, taught by a panel of experts)
• Mon 8-9 PM: Advanced Return of Serve ($20*, taught by USA Men’s Coach Stefan Feth)
• Tue 12-2 PM: USATT Umpire Clinic (Free, taught by a panel of experts)
• Tue 7-8 PM: USATT Club Best Practices 101 (Free, taught by a panel of experts)
• Tue 8-9 PM: Intermediate and Advanced Serving ($20*, taught by Larry Hodges)
• Wed 7-8 PM: How to Set Up a Successful Junior Program (Free, taught by Larry Hodges)
• Wed 8-9 PM: One-On-One with High Performance Director Jörg Bitzigeio (Free)
• Thur 7-8 PM: OmniPong 101 (tournament software, Free, with Craig Krum)
  *Free to USATT certified coaches and USA Nationals volunteers

As you can see above, I’m teaching two of the courses. As the USATT coaching chair, I invited Stefan to run the Return of Serve clinic (after running it by the USATT coaching committee), and I will be assisting him with that. I also plan to attend the ones on Tournaments, Clubs, and the One-on-One with HPD Jörg Bitzigeio. Due to scheduling conflicts, I probably won’t be able to attend the ones on umpiring (will be both playing and coaching) and OmniPong (which conflicts with the Hall of Fame Banquet). Note that I use OmniPong to run our tournaments at MDTTC, and strongly recommend it – wish I were able to make that one.

If the courses are successful, I hope we can expand them even more at the U.S. Open in December. I’m already planning a 4-6 hour USATT Coaching Certification Clinic there, as well as possible other seminars such as ones on Tactics, Looping, Sports Psychology, Hardbat/Sandpaper, and How to Become a Professional Coach. (Note – as a USATT board member and coaching chair, I’m a volunteer, and receive no payment for these seminars or related work.)

I’ve already put together outlines for both of the seminars I’ll be teaching. The one on serves will be at the playing hall, and will be a combination of lecture/demonstration, and on table practice. I could do this one in my sleep as I’ve given such lectures and demonstrations for decades, updating them to match the change in modern techniques. The one on setting up a junior program will be in a meeting room, with a projector – it’ll actually be the third time I’ve taught this seminar, so all I have to do is update the presentation.

Hope to see you there!!!

What is Third Ball Attack
Here’s the article from PingPoolShark. Includes links to multiple videos.

Physical Fitness Training for Table Tennis Players
Here’s the article from Table Tennis Earth.

Ask the Coach
Questions answered at PingSkills. The only recent one is “Blocking a smash close to the table,” but they will likely be updating it over the next few days while I’m away.

World Championships
They start on Monday: May 29 – June 5 in Düsseldorf, Germany. Here’s the home page where you can get news, draws, results, photos, and video.

Liebherr World Championships Facts and Figures
Here’s the ITTF article. Includes link to video (38 sec).

Table Tennis All Over on Different Tables
Here’s the video (1:36), which I think is promoting the upcoming Worlds. Includes video of the German National Team playing on mini-tables.

Top 10 World Champs Moments #2--> Werner Schlager becomes the last non-Chinese World Champion!
Here’s the video (57 sec).

Nobler in the Mind; That is the Question at Sport Science Workshops
Here’s the ITTF article.

Georgina Pota Ties the Knot in a Princess-like Avatar
Here’s the ITTF article. Includes link to video (49 sec) of her playing table tennis at the wedding, in her wedding gown!

Great Point – Ma Long vs. Jun Mizutani
Here’s the video (53 sec) between the world #1 and #6.

Greenhouse Sport in England
Here’s the video (2 min) of this “London based charity working with inner city young people teaching them how to use the discipline of sport across all aspects of their lives.”

Big Paddle, Many Balls
Here’s the repeating gif image (4 sec)!

Floor Pong!
Here’s the video (40 sec)!

Dupamo Comic Pingpong
Here’s the video (60 sec)! Warning - you won’t be able to get this image of your head the rest of the day!

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Table Tennis Trick Shots
On Sunday, after running a training session, I gave an impromptu clinic on trick shots, with about a dozen players joining in. Here are twelve of my favorites, with video of some of them. Why not learn a few of these and show off at your club? Let’s have a little fun today.

1. 50-foot Serve, where you stand about 50 feet to the side of a table, and do an overhead tomahawk serve with backspin and sidespin so it hits both sides of the table. My record is 14 times in a row. Here’s video of me doing this in an exhibition. Usually I do this directly from the side of the table, adjacent to the net, but the pole was blocking my shot so I did it from the left.
2. Comeback Serve, where you serve with enough backspin and a bit high so the ball comes back over the net to your side on one bounce. My record here is also 14 times in a row. Here’s video of me doing this in a demo, where I’ve taught my opponent how to smash it! (Here’s earlier video of one that bounces back over.)
3. Blowing Ball in Air, where you balance the ball in the air by blowing on it, and do so sideways by spinning the ball with your breath. Here’s an example – but I can do it much longer than this!
4. Rallying by Blowing, where your partner returns the ball with high pop-ups, and you blow them back, and the rally continues. My record is 33 “blown” returns in a row. Here’s video of me doing five in a row in an exhibition – and winning the point! I probably do this at least once in every coaching session. 
5. Playing Table Tennis Alone, where you rally at the side of the table with a paddle in each hand. Here’s video of me doing this at an exhibition.
6. Lobbing while Sitting on the Floor. Here’s video of me doing this at an exhibition.
7. Under Both Legs Serve, where you toss the ball up under your right leg, then serve under the left. Here’s video of me doing this in an exhibition.
8. Speed Bouncing, where you bounce the ball on a table with the racket at high speeds. Recently I’ve been practicing this one a lot between sessions, and I can bounce it really fast now.
9. Blowing the Serve, where you serve high, but then run over to the net and, as the ball crosses it, blow it sideways across the other side of the table, or even backwards into the net.
10. Smacking Ball in Air, where you toss one ball up and smack it with another you hit with your paddle.
11. Rapid Fire Smacking of a Bottle, where you put a bottle in the middle forehand side of the far side of the table, line up on the other side with a box of balls, and rapid fire smack it over and over.
12. Juggling Ping-Pong Balls, either three with two hands or two with one hand.

USATT University Courses and Curriculum
Here’s the USATT info page, about the eight courses/panels to be held at the upcoming USA Nationals. (Deadline to enter the Nationals is May 31.) I’ll blog more about this tomorrow.

Should I Copy Pro's Playing Style?
Here’s the video (4:10).

First for Siliguri, End of Travels for Richard McAfee
Here’s the ITTF article on Richard’s coaching in India.

New from Samson Dubina

• 2028 Olympic Team in Training (teaching his two daughters, ages 4 and 6, to play doubles against a robot)
• Table Tennis Facts, with ten facts on a chart. The one about balls being hit up to 100 mph is likely a myth, however. Here’s video (67 sec – actual shot is 40 sec in) of the Guinness World Records - Fastest table tennis ball hit in competition, with the record at 116 km/hour, which is about 72 mph. Also, ITTF now has 226 member associations and territories, apparently every country or territory on Earth!

USA Masters Games Heads to San Diego
Here’s the info page for this event, for players age 21 and over. “After the inaugural event last year in Greensboro, NC, the USA Masters Games take up residence this year in sunny San Diego, CA. The Games, consisting of 24 sports ranging from Archery to Weightlifting, are considered to be The National Sports Festival for Adult Athletes. … The 2017 USA Masters Games Table Tennis Competition will be held at the After School Learning Tree facility on Saturday and Sunday, July 15 and 16, 2017. The Table Tennis event will consist of pool play followed by elimination rounds in age group competition for Men's Singles and Doubles Teams, as well as for Women's Singles and Doubles. There will also be ratings competition in Men's Singles in Under 1500, Under 2000, and Open categories.”

History of U.S. Table Tennis, Volume 19 (1991-1992)
Here's chapter nine! Or order your own print copies at TimBogganTableTennis.com, as well as Volume 19!

Major Contender: Jun Mizutani set for mighty title effort in Düsseldorf
Here’s the ITTF article.

Hong Kong focused on 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo
Here’s the article. “Hong Kong will send their youngest-ever squad to the table tennis world championships later this month as they prepare for the Tokyo Olympic Games in three years.”

Xu Xin "The Terminator"
Here’s the video (4:51).

Fan Zhendong Practice with Ren Hao 2017
Here’s the video (2:23).

Head Ping Pong with Ma Long and Lin Gaoyuan
Here’s the video (73 sec)! They are ranked #1 and #40 in the world – in table tennis that is. (Lin is probably a lot better than #40 – but we’ll see.)

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Backhand Flipping
There was a time when I was at the forefront of backhand receive technique. One of my strengths during my peak years was my ability to consistently backhand flip any short serve, regardless of how low it was or what type of spin, including heavy backspin. It drove many opponents crazy, since they often wanted a push return to attack. It allowed me to force neutral backhand exchanges on my opponent’s serve, while I’d dominate with my attack when I served. Gosh darn it, come to think of it, on paper I must have been the best player in the world!!!

Many-time U.S. team member (and 3-time Men’s Doubles Champion and Men’s Singles Finalist) Han Xiao developed at my club, and we spent probably a thousand hours hitting together. He once said he learned from my backhand receive that you could attack any ball, even a short, low, heavy backspin serve – but he took it to the next level. While my backhand flips had topspin, it was only light topspin, just enough to control the receive. At the higher levels, players could attack them. (Oh, that’s right, that’s why I wasn’t the best player in the world….)

Worldwide there was a technical revolution going on where players were learning the new “backhand banana flip,” which is basically an over-the-table backhand loop against a short serve. The extra topspin makes the shot even more effective – the topspin allows a more consistent aggressive shot, and makes it harder to counter-attack against. Here’s my article on the Backhand Banana Flip, which links to this video of Ma Long (3:25) demonstrating it.

As a coach, I learned the banana flip so I could teach it. While I can do it pretty well in a demo, I’m not that comfortable doing it in a match since I haven’t had decades of experience doing it, as I did with my more normal backhand flip. It’s one of the things I might work on if I were to get back into serious tournament play. But these days my priority is coaching these things, not doing them.

I’ve got a session tonight with one of our top rising juniors (age 11) where he asked if I could teach him the banana flip. He’s already been experimenting with it, so I’m going to make sure he gets it right. Part of this is preparation. I could easily just show up and teach it, but instead, as soon as I finish this blog, I’m going to review the Ma Long video linked above, and make sure to show it to him as a visual aid.

There’s more to the banana flip than meets the eye. As noted in my article above, the type of incoming spin makes a big difference in how you do it. There are subtle differences when you do it against straight backspin, or against backspin combined with left or right sidespin. Against one type of sidespin, it’s like looping against backspin, while against the other type, it’s like looping against topspin.

Five Videos to Study from EmRatThich

• Wang Hao Slow Motion Footwork (3:20)
• Miu Hirano "Hook Serve" Analysis (2:30)
• High Toss Serve Table Tennis of Ma Long (4:25)
• Table Tennis Serve: Ma Long & Waldner & Kenta Matsudaira & Wang Hao (10:37)
• Penhold Backhand Topspin Techniques (3:31)

Online Administration Course Released
Here’s the ITTF article. “The International Table Tennis Federation is pleased to announce the launch of the ITTF Administration Course. Targeted at administrators within all table tennis associations, the course will help provide the skills and knowledge needed to promote improved administration.”

All 226 Earth Members!
Here’s the new ITTF graphic – what’s next? Martians? (Here’s the non-Facebook version.) “Table Tennis the No 1 most widely played sport in the World. All 226 Countries/Territories in the World are members of International TT Federation. Volleyball No 2 with 221.” (Here’s the ITTF article on this from May 11 which I’d previously linked to.)

Major Contenders

• Back in form, Dimitrij Ovtcharov hungry to create history
• Miu Hirano ready to roar, China beware

Mizutani Jun practice with Samsonov Vladimir
Here’s the video (11:24).

New Penholder to Replace Xu Xin for China?
Here’s the video (3:27).

Reactions of a Cat?
Here’s the video (20 sec).

Ma Long vs Ding Ning Funny Show 2017
Here’s the video (4:01) as the world’s top man and woman do a humorous exhibition.

Craziest Ping Pong Player I've Seen
Here’s the video (49 sec) – so, do you think she’s really rallying with her head, as it appears? Frankly, I have no idea what’s going on here.

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Tip of the Week
Looping to the Forehand, Backhand, and Middle.

Another Brutal Weekend
Sixteen hours of coaching on a weekend is brutal. I can personally attest to this – and as usual, I’m feeling the aftermath on Monday. Okay, it’s brutal for me, but just another couple days at the office for many of my workaholic fellow coaches, who do this six days a week and have this much energy.

What made things worse was a silly sort of mishap on Saturday. After doing five hours of private coaching, we had the Saturday night junior league, 6:30-8:30PM. It’s really sort of a misnomer as it’s a combination of league and coaching. For me, it was a nice break – after standing up for five hours, I got to sit down for most of the first hour, watching and taking notes of our players for future use. But here’s where the silly mishap happened – I stood up. Yes, I was sitting in a chair, and I stood up, and pulled something in my left leg. Really.

So I hobbled about for a while, and then we finished the session with doubles. Surprise – to even things out, they put me down for doubles with one of the players! I had neglected to mention to them that I’d hurt my leg. I decided I could do it, so went out and played – and of course aggravated it a bit. (Add the fact that I had no warm up, and let’s just say it took me a game or two to get going, and then it was hobble and loop.)

So on Sunday, where I had even longer hours, I found myself favoring the leg – which led to me straining my back. Yes, that’s how it starts – one injury leads to another. I went through most of the day okay, but toward the end I almost brought in another coach to substitute. However, I made it to the end, which fortunately ended with 4.5 hours of group sessions (so I could hobble about without having to run down balls).

Fortunately, I only have two hours of coaching on Mondays. Still more fortunately, one of them is going out of town for ten days. So I cancelled the other, with Navin, who was understanding, and so I will spend most of today resting.

We had an interesting time in the beginning junior class on Sunday. It’s a small group, just eight kids – but when it started at 4PM, only two had shown up. At 4:20, it was still only two. But we learned there’d been a terrible accident on Highway 270, and all traffic was completely blocked for a time. After 4;20 they started trickling in, but I had to postpone my main topic and demo for the day, which was attacking backspin. Instead, we did a lot of stroking drills. With junior star Ryan Dabbs helping out, plus the robot, myself, and Coach John Hsu, we rotated the players around so they got lots of hitting.

Other than that, it was a normal weekend. I spent half of a one-hour session with one player working on nothing but staying at the table – he likes to back up. Another is hard at work developing a backhand banana flip. Another younger kid has finally learned how to smash lobs, and so we spent some time on that – I was already hobbling about on my bad leg at this point, but managed to run them down. Two others have basically made the transition from hitting to mostly looping on the forehand side. One seven-year-old was practically glowing at his new-found ability to flip in short balls, both backhand and forehand – and with surprising topspin! (He’d been told by a coach recently that he was “too young” to need to flip, which he took as a personal challenge.) Another player was struggling with quick blocks to the forehand, so we spent a lot of time on that – it’s all about recovery on the previous shot, ready position, first step, and balance.

New from Samson Dubina
Here’s been busy this weekend! Regarding the first item, about guessing, I’ve been doing this for so many decades I sometimes think I can read an opponent’s serve before he even has the ball. Yes, most players are that predictable from various mannerisms. But these mannerisms are so varied and unique to each player that writing an article outlining them would be very difficult. For one thing I’m often not even always consciously aware of which mannerisms give away what as you really pick these things up on the subconscious level, from years of experience.

• The Cute Little Guessing Game - Should you be playing this game?
• Maximizing Your Game Under Poor Circumstances - Learn 10 Ways to Immediately Boost Your Table Tennis Game!
• Cleveland 19 News - Check out both videos! Cleveland 19 News – Sports Extra (3:07) and Pizza Paddle vs. Mini Bat (2:21)
• Interviews - Watch the Interviews with Coaches and Pros

Ping Sunday
Here’s a great coaching site – “Free table tennis coaching videos every Sunday.”

Ask the Coach
Questions answered at PingSkills.

Table Tennis Strategy to Win
Here’s the video (11:48) from EmRatThich

Zhang Jike Training Backhand Flick and Attack
Here’s the video (10:27).

How the Russians Stole My Rating Points
Here’s the article from Coach Jon.

China Dominates Table Tennis Like No Country in Any Other Olympic Sport
Here’s the article.

Major Contenders
Here are two new ITTF articles – a new series?

• Cheng I-Ching set to fight for glory on big stage
• Zhang Jike ready to prove doubters wrong

World Champions Ma Long & Ding Ning Head Seeding for World Championships
Here’s the article.

Li Jiawei Wants to Groom the Next Table Tennis Star
Here’s the article.

Today, May 22, is Final Registration Date for America’s Team Championship
Here’s entry info.

Lily Zhang – Back in Training
Here’s the video (38 sec) – “My first week training full time after the busy school year! Still super out of shape and slow, but it feels amazing to be back! World Championships in 10 days!”

Crazy Rally at the SPiN SF Opening Party
Here’s the video (58 sec) – “Winner was Lily Zhang, the youngest table tennis player at the 2012 Olympics, playing against Jiaqi Zheng. This was match point!”

Pong Universe Point of the Week
Here’s the video (13 sec). “Having good footwork is one of the most important elements in being a good player. Check out Portugal's Marcos Freitas vs. Nigeria's Quadri Aruna as they square off in the French Pro League.”

The Table Tennis Roommate Who Ruins Your Date
Here’s the video (2:04)! Yes, it’s about a table tennis roommate with a certain unique skill.

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ITTF Election - Saive and Sharara vs. Weikert?
Here’s the article. Now it can be told!!! Until now, nearly everyone assumed that former ITTF President and current ITTF Chairman Adham Sharara was supporting his previous protégé and handpicked successor, current ITTF President Thomas Weikert. However, I’d learned a while back they’d had a falling out. In the upcoming ITTF election, Sharara is backing Jean-Michel Saive against Weikert.

This sort of throws a lot of cold ping-pong balls on many voters’ plans. Some want to get away from the Sharara years, and so opposed Weikert, thinking he was a continuation of that – and that a vote for Saive was a vote against both Sharara and Weikert. And if you like what’s happened during these years, which way do you vote to continue it?

In fairness to Saive, we have no idea how close he is to Sharara, and he might not have any control over who is supporting him. If elected, hopefully he'll be a fresh face who will take table tennis to the next level. Or perhaps Weikert will do so. 

The election will take place at the Worlds at the end of May. All ITTF member nations will vote anonymously, including USA. Note that the USATT CEO will make the final decision on who USATT votes for – I blogged about this on April 20 (see second segment). I'm told the election is looking to be very close. 

Both candidates have new election pages: incumbent Thomas Weikert, with a manifesto centered on seven points, and challenger Jean-Michel Saive and his 11-point program. (Does this mean Saive wins 11-7?)  Here are their original election announcements: Weikert and Saive. Note that there’s a single comment after both of their announcements, from me a month ago. Neither has responded. 

Table Tennis Books
What, you still haven’t bought a copy of Dan Seemiller’s Revelations of a Ping-Pong Player??? Or Samson Dubina’s 100 Days of Table Tennis??? Or Tahl Leibovitz’s Ping-Pong for Fighters??? Or any of Tim Boggan’s History of USA Table Tennis??? Or my books??? Then listen carefully to this carefully crafted message (6 sec).  

Maryland State Championships
The Maryland State Championships are June 10-11, 2017. Note that rating events are open to all – you have to be a Maryland resident only for Men’s and Women’s Singles, Open Doubles, and the many age events. Enter now!!! And note that you can enter online. (I’m the tournament director.)

USATT Insider
Here’s the issue that came out Wednesday.

Liu Shiwen Multiball Training WTTC 2017
Here’s the video (24 sec).

Ask the Coach
Questions answered at PingSkills.

EmRatThich Videos
Here’s a page with lots and lots of videos to browse over, many coaching related. I’ve been linking to many of them as they go up.

Jun Mizutani - Japanese Superstar and World #6
Here’s the highlights video (4:20).

Ladies’ Home Journal, 1902
Here’s the picture. (Here’s the non-Facebook version.)

AFL Footy Show
Here’s the video (2:28). “Jack Watts rates himself as a table-tennis star, so, we put his skills to the ultimate test!”

Xu Xin vs TableTennisDaily's Dan on Stiga's Mini Table
Here’s the video (4:18)!

How to Win a Point Immediately
Here’s the video (1:14) from 2010.

Baby Table Pong!
Here’s the video (43 sec) – they say start early, but how early???

Silicon Valley Pong
Here’s the cartoon.

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82 Forehands
Yesterday I was coaching an 8-year-old girl who’s a relative beginner. In our last session we had set a goal of hitting 50 forehands in a row (live, not multiball), but despite spending 20 minutes on the quest, she wasn’t able to do it, though she got 43 one time. We tried again yesterday, and made it past 20 a few times, but couldn’t break 30. (She did manage to get 54 backhands in a row.)

The problem was obvious – she’d get nervous and try to consciously guide her stroke rather than let her subconscious – i.e. muscle memory – guide the shot. So I made it my goal to fix that. As is well known at the club, I keep a bag of candy in my bag (Jolly Ranchers) which I give out as rewards. So while hitting with her I asked her about her favorite flavor. The discussion continued, branching off into gummy worms and chocolate, and various foods she liked. Meanwhile, she completely forgot about the forehands, which she continued to do mindlessly (i.e. subconsciously) as we chatted. When she finally missed one, I asked her how many she thought she’d hit in a row. She guessed 15! Actually, she did 82 in a row. And was quite excited!!!

Next week we’ll go for 100. We’ll probably set aside about 20 minutes of the 60-min sessions for this, if necessary, and perhaps we’ll discuss her other interests – soccer, basketball, and dancing. She’s working hard as she wants to get into the Talent Development Program at MDTTC, with tryouts in August. Besides working on forehand and backhand, we do pushing, serves, and footwork. Her backhand push is coming around – yesterday she pushed one that bounced backward on my table! – and yesterday I introduced her to the forehand push. I think next week I might introduce her to blocking, and see if she can block my (as I’ll explain it) unbelievably powerful forehand loop.

The trick I used above doesn’t mean you should normally be chatting about things as you hit, but it’s one way to learn to get the conscious mind out of the way so the subconscious can do its job, just as it does when you are absentmindedly walking or driving, or tying your shoelaces. And the nice thing is that while the subconscious does the work, you get the credit!

Tournament Tough in 20 Steps - Learn how to train your mind and body!
Here’s the article from Samson Dubina.

Footwork Technique: How to Improve Footwork for Beginners
Here’s the article (with links to video) from PingPoolShark.

Ma Long - Service Training
Here’s the video (4:16 sec – starts with an ad, so skip to 12 sec in). You wouldn’t hurt yourself to study this. Watch his contact closely, and then see which way the ball curves – often it looks like one type of sidespin when it’s the reverse.

China Men's Team Training WTTC 2017
Here’s the video (4:41), which starts with them standing for the national anthem, then some lecture, warm-up, and finally table training.

Victor Barna vs. R.D. Jones (1933)
Here’s the video (2:28). Five-time World Men's Singles Champion Victor Barna is introduced as “The greatest table tennis player the world has ever known.” (He would win his fourth title the year of the video.) Jump to 52 sec in to see them play. That’s a pretty nice first rally!

Spinning Forehand Counter-Smash
Here’s the video (32 sec, with slo-mo replay).

Goofy Swallows the Ball!
Here’s the cartoon.

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One Off Day and Everything Happens!
I take one day off (Tuesday), and everything happens in table tennis!!! But first, how did I spend my “rest” day? Well, I did get some rest, but not before spending the morning going over the USATT coaching certification process one more time. Soon I’ll be making recommendations for changes/updates to the USATT Coaching Committee, which I chair. I also made some more arrangements for the upcoming coaching seminars at the USA Nationals. I’m thinking now of doing three clinics – one on serves that I will likely run, one on either receive or looping (with a top guest coach, I’d assist), and on “How to Set Up and Run a Junior Program.”

And then my “vacation” started as I spent most of the day in my lounge chair, trying to ignore various table tennis emails. (I'd get to them all eventually.) I did the Washington Post crossword puzzle (which is actually the LA Times crossword puzzle – wish they’d print the NY Times ones from Will Shortz), then read in one looooong sitting the entire “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” (308 pages) – and yes, I’ve read the entire Harry Potter series. (Did you know the cast played ping-pong during breaks? Rupert “Ron Weasley” Grint introduced them to it, and they became pong-crazy – and Emma “Hermione Granger” Watson became the star.) I watched all the breaking Trump news on TV for a while, flipping channels and trying hard not to laugh hysterically at the contrast between how the regular media and Fox News cover it. (You don’t know how hard it is for me not to blog about that – but this is a table tennis blog. I have a master’s degree in journalism, so I know a bit about this topic.) I also watched the Orioles beat the Tigers in 13 roller-coaster innings while editing some science fiction stuff I wrote during the slow periods and between innings.

So what were all these happenings in table tennis? I had a hard time deciding the order to place them below. I wanted to blog more about the ITTF Strategic Agreement with North America, but I’m not sure how much of it is confidential at this point. As noted below, I know what’s planned and how much money is involved, and hope to be part of some of it. Some of it will likely help us on some of the issues I promised to focus on when I was elected to the USATT Board.

Then there’s the Hall of Fame Inductions – three new honorees (see below) and the Lifetime Achievement Award to Dell Sweeris - I know him!!! He’s a hugely deserving candidate. I played on his team three times at the U.S. Open Team Championships, spending Thanksgiving at his house each time! (They are now in the North American Teams.) Actually, I know, or knew, all of the honorees. It’s been a long time since we had an inductee I didn’t know well. I’ve done exhibitions with Scott Preiss, practiced five times/week with Bowie Martin Sr. for most of 1979 (when I was 19 and training at the Butterfly Club in Wilson, NC) and currently sponsored by Butterfly North America (which he co-founded and owned), and coached players in tournaments against Marcy Monasterial. The Hall of Fame Banquet will take place on Thursday night at the USA Nationals, July 6 – I’ll be there.

There’s also the Pong4Kids Grants, with one of the three going to HW Global Foundation, which runs the Talent Development Program at MDTTC, where I’m one of the coaches. There are two great coaching articles/videos by Brian Pace and PingSkills, a video on how table tennis balls are made, an ITTF article on coaching clinics in India by Richard McAfee and Christian Lillieroos, another chapter from Tim Boggan’s History of U.S. Table Tennis, Volume 19 (and he tells me he’s already halfway through Volume 20, which I think covers 1993-94), and then . . . five different “shot-making” videos! You decide which of these is best – Adam Bobrow’s backhand around-the-net rip receive, the “ricochet” shot, the two shot-making videos, or the incredible Rubik’s cube one1

ITTF Signs Strategic Commercial Agreement with ITTF-North America
Here’s the ITTF article. This is HUGE for USA and Canada. I’ve seen the contract, and while the article doesn’t divulge the numbers (and so I won’t), they are rather large. The article also doesn’t go over how the money will be used, which is surprising as there are a number of programs that are already planned from this. I’ll write more on this later on.

USATT Hall of Fame Board of Directors Announces 2017 Inductees and Mark Matthews Lifetime Achievement Award Winner
Here’s the USATT article. This year’s Hall of Fame Inductees are Marcy Monasterial, Bowie Martin Sr., and Scott Preiss, with Dell Sweeris the Lifetime Achievement Award Winner. Congrats to all!

USATT and SuperMicro Announce First Pong4Kids Grant Recipients
Here’s the USATT announcement and video (3:01). “American Youth Table Tennis Organization (New York), HW Global Foundation (Maryland), and Westmont High School Table Tennis (California), will each receive equipment grants and other direct support from the Pong4Kids program.” I’m one of the coaches for the HW Global Foundation, whose program is described as, “Through table tennis training and competition, these children learn to master their table tennis skills, focusing on problem solving, perseverance, hard work, and sportsmanship. The program emphasizes the importance of the process; positive performances follow.”

The Art of Serving Deep
Here’s the article (with links to ten videos) by Brian Pace.

The 7 Building Blocks of Table Tennis
Here’s the video (21:36) from PingSkills.

Ask the Coach
More questions answered at PingSkills.

How Table Tennis Balls are Made
Here’s the video (8:24) from Pingsider.

Tag Team, Christian Lillieroos Hands Over Duties to Richard McAfee
Here’s the ITTF article.

History of U.S. Table Tennis, Volume 19 (1991-1992)
Here's chapter eight! Or order your own print copies at TimBogganTableTennis.com, as well as Volume 19!

Table Tennis Gains Popularity in Iowa City Through Multiple Clubs
Here’s the article from The Daily Iowan.

Top 10 World Champs Moments #3
Here’s the video (38 sec) - North Korea become mixed doubles champions for the very first time!

Backhand Rip Receive Around Net
Here’s the video (11 sec) of Adam Bobrow.

Pongfinity – Master Shot-Making
Here’s the video (1:48).

Hype Video | KeatBruceGoat
Here’s the video (22 sec) of their crazy shot-making. Here’s their previous longer one (1:49).

Ricochet Racquetball Pong?
Here’s the video (14 sec)!

Rubik Pong?
Here’s the video (26 sec) – yes, he solves it while rallying with it, and finishes with a smash!

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NOTE - As mentioned in the last paragraph below, I'm taking a "LORD" on Tuesday - "Larry's Occasional Rest Day." Here's your chance to explore the 102 Best Table Tennis Animated Images or the original "Matrix Ping-Pong" video (1:43)!

Tip of the Week
Towel for Fast Serve Practice.

Fast Serves and Ready Position and Looping, Oh My!
Another super-busy weekend – and I’d like to think I’ve improved the worldwide level of table tennis perhaps a little bit. I coached nine players in private sessions, and another 16 in group sessions, so that’s 25 players. Let’s suppose, on average, they are all ten rating points better – that’s 250 points in level we just added to the world! So yes, the world is not better at ping-pong – by an average of 0.00000003 ratings points per person. I made a difference!!!

Normally I run two group sessions on weekends and assist with another, but one was cancelled in advance and the others had small turnouts due to Mother’s Day and the Capital Area League, which met on Sunday at the Washington DC TTC.

I worked with Serguei on his fast serves, bringing out a towel to help him get the first bounce near his end-line, which inspired the Tip above. (I’ve done this many times before.) As noted in the “Fast Serve” articles linked at the end of the Tip, it’s not really just about the speed of the serve; you have to do something else with it, either making it very flat, giving it a big sidespin break, or pulling off a quick one down the line to catch an opponent off guard (which is where straight topspin can be most effective).

I worked with Todd (age 12) on returning to ready position. He can sometimes pull off nice shots, but finishes in some of the most awkward positions! He also tends to stand in a backhand position, so it’s no wonder he can be awkward on some forehand shots, often forehand blocking back balls that should be smashed. (Maybe he can be a member of the Forehand Blocking Initiative mentioned below?) His two-winged attacking is starting to get better, but a lot of it will come down to his ready position.

I had two great sessions with Jackson (age 11, recently rated over 1750), on Saturday and Sunday. I say great because he did something we’ve been working toward for a while – his forehand loop suddenly came alive! It was as if a light bulb had gone off over his head. He could already loop pretty well, but it was never very clean, and he’d often back up too much, stand up too straight, and stroke mostly with his upper body. Trying to fix these problems is difficult because if you change one, it affects the rest, so you really have to address them all at the same time. On Saturday I had him loop down the line to my backhand while staying close to the table. This can force a player to loop more efficiently – and it worked!!! I even called over another coach at one point to see. So we’re excited for him now. Of course, doing it in practice is not quite the same as doing it in a match, so that’ll be the next step.

And now it’s Monday, where I always wake up stiff and tired after a long weekend of coaching. But guess what? Due to a series of (fortunate?) events, two of my three students tomorrow are away, and the third agreed to move to Wednesday this one week. So I’ll have a rest day on Tuesday. I’m probably going to take the day off from blogging as well – we’ll call it Larry’s Occasional Rest Day (LORD - never forget that Hodges is just an anagram of “He’s God”!) I’ll put up a note if I do. Normally my only off day is Friday, but at age 57 trying to coach six days a week catches up to me - around this time each week I feel like I’ve run a marathon, and now have to run it again.

The Common Theme - Learn to Maximize Your Tournament Performance!
Here’s the article by Samson Dubina

Top 5 Tips to Improve Fast in Table Tennis
Here’s the video (13:05) from EmRatThich.  The five are:

1. Focus on Feeling
2. Hit by the Legs
3. Fix the *Hitting Position
4. Relax, Explode and Relax
5. Learn the Tactics

Ask the Coach
New questions answered at PingSkills.

Xu Xin's Left-Handed Lessons
Here’s the ITTF article. “Have problems playing left-handed opponents? Don't feel too bad, Xu Xin is struggling too.”

Table Tennis Serve and First Attack - Yan An Teach
Here’s the video (16:53), in Chinese with English sub-titles.

Table Tennis Earth
Here’s a table tennis blog I hadn’t seen before. The entries aren’t dated so I don’t know how recent they are or how often they go up.

Ma Long Practice with Ren Hao 2017
Here’s the video (5:32).

Looping Board Invention
Here’s the video (39 sec) of this new invention to help players learn to loop.

These Adorable Mother’s Day Posts Will Melt Your Heart
Here’s the ITTF article. It turns out even top table tennis players have moms!

Cities Announced for 2018 ITTF World Tour
Here’s the ITTF article.

Behind the Neck Serve
Here’s the video (29 sec, including slo-mo). I believe Simon Shtofmakher use to do this serve in tournaments. As done in the video it’s illegal because the ball is hidden (nobody does that!), but you could make this legal with a higher toss. Contact is almost visible – move it back a couple inches, toss the ball higher so it’s not hidden by the head, and presto! A legal serve. But of course half the fun of the serve is doing it behind the head, right?

Phenomenal Rally
Here’s the video (23 sec)!

No Look Shot and Pirouette Spin By Steve Bovenisty
Here’s the video (47 sec, with slo-mo replay).

The Rally Ain’t Over Until It’s Over
Here’s the video (16 sec).

This Morning’s Note
On Mondays the blog generally goes up later than usual, due to extra stuff to write about (three days instead of one), the Tip of the Week, and staying up late on Sunday night, my one major “TV night” each week. When it’s going to be late I generally put up a note around 10AM about it. Here was this morning’s note:

As usual, the Monday blog goes up later than others. It’ll be up by noon or I will become the new FBI Director. As the director of this new Forehand Block Initiative I will revolutionize the sport by training players to block with their forehand instead of counterlooping everything. Oh, and I’ll look into that Russian thing – I heard they putin a lot of time developing new forehand blocking techniques that could trump our current methods, perhaps helping players like Lily Zhang to spicer game up in her training sessions. But we shouldn’t russian to these things.

Hippo Penholder Pong
Bet you didn’t know they were penholders! Don’t believe me? Here’s video (30 sec) of another penhold hippo, playing a dog!!! (I linked to the video before.)

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Recent Doings
Has only 24 hours gone by since yesterday’s blog? I think time must have stopped; it seems like I’ve put in about 80 hours since then, mostly in one long binge since last night. I did a lot of arrangements for upcoming events, took care of a backload of emails, and can now sit back and relax on Friday (my “off” day) until something comes up. (3-2-1 – “Larry, can you do something for me?”…) Here’s a quick rundown.

• Thursday Junior Class and Footwork. As I told them at the start of the class, “Today’s focus is getting from Point A to Point B, otherwise known as what?” It took two seconds for one of the kids to cry out, “We’re doing footwork today!” And that’s what we did, lots and lots of it. (Of course we do footwork every session, but more in some sessions than others.) Then we went to games – King of the Hill for the older kids, building pyramids on the table out of paper cups and knocking them down as I fed multiball for the younger ones.
• Coaching at the Nationals. Working out my coaching plans for the Nationals turned out to be much harder than developing a comprehensive health care plan for America. Who knew it could be this hard??? But I think I have things worked out.
• Coaching Seminars and Meetings at the Nationals. Pending confirmation from a few others, I plan on running or arranging two seminars at the Nationals – tentatively, one on advanced serves, and one on setting up and running a junior program. They will likely be held on Monday and Wednesday nights. More info on these as they come up. I’ll also attend the Thursday night Hall of Fame Banquet, and several other planned USATT seminars.
• Private Coaching Schedule. Arranging it each week is like trying to rally with a smoke ring on a windy day. I had several changes this week, so I’ve had to redo the schedule for some days. It’s really like doing a jigsaw puzzle as I try to keep the sessions back-to-back so I’m not stuck at the club between sessions.
• Emails. They have a way of accumulating. I went through them last night like a ping-pong paddle cutting through soft margarine. (What, you’ve never cut margarine with a paddle??? It’s a blade, right?) But my inbox is now empty, no more unread ones. Let’s keep it that way for a few minutes, okay? (I think I spent two or three hours just responding to emails.)  
• Sat & Sun – 16.5 hours of Coaching, Oh My! Or as some of our Chinese coaches would say, just another weekend. You’d think I’d be exhausted at the end, but the truth is that it’s hardest getting started. Once I’m into it it’s easier. It’s a lot easier if my first session is with a relative beginner so I don’t have to go full speed right from the start. It’s also exhausting afterwards – on Sat & Sun nights I might as well schedule muscle cramps. (Recently I’ve had a series of really bad toe cramps!!!)
• Non-Table Tennis - Writing Workshop in July, New Short Stories, and Balticon. Yep, that’s my idea of a vacation and “fun.” I finalized plans last night for my trip to Manchester, NH, July 21-29 for my annual science fiction writing workshop vacation. I’ve already finalized three stories that will be critiqued there, and am already critiquing stories by others who will be there. Stories are due way in advance! I’ll be at the Balticon SF convention May 27-28 as a panelist, plus doing a reading and book autograph session.
• Non-Table Tennis - King Arthur and Disappointment – 23% on Rotten Tomatoes??? But I’m seeing it tonight anyway. I recently wrote a SF version of King Arthur, where the sword was actually the petrified remains of an alien creature (who is actually still conscious, but paralyzed), and the stone the petrified egg of a terrible invader that the alien had pinned down to save humanity – and when Merlin sprinkles acid on the sword so that young Arthur is able to pull it out, the egg awakens, hatches, and things get really, really bad! It’s making the rounds of the major SF magazines, and will hopefully sell soon. (The story actually starts in ancient China, 2200 years ago, during the reign of Emperor Qin, who is a character at the start when the egg is “laid” on Earth, and the alien goes to battle with it. It’s one nasty egg, shooting out nasty pink rays!!!)
• Two Days of Distractions and an All-Nighter. I mentioned in my blog yesterday how I pretty much wasted all of Wednesday due to an online “discussion” (via Facebook and Facebook Messenger) about various USATT matters pertaining to the national team coaches. I was drawn into it again Thursday morning and into the afternoon, not by “trolls,” but by people I’ve worked with for years who have firm opinions on the horrors of certain USATT people, and let’s just say don’t trust what I say about it or agree with my logic. I was so aggravated by some of this that I didn’t get any work done during the day on Wed or Thur – and instead I caught up on everything by pulling an all-nighter on Thursday night. As I type this it’s 8:45AM, and I’ve been working at my desk since “Big Bang Theory” ended at 8:30 PM last night. (I count five 7.5 oz cans of Mountain Dew in the trash. I try to restrict myself to one per day…) The only question is whether, after I post this, I’ll go to bed or just stay up around the clock. I used to do that sometimes when I was younger, but it’s not so easy anymore.

1001 Table Tennis Tips
Here’s the article – technically, there are only 27 short tips, but there are some really good ones. Make sure to check out #21! “Practice what you do in a match” by Larry Hodges (Professional USA Coach and Hall of Famer): “Practice what you need to do in a match (strokes, footwork, serve, and receive). If you work hard at each of these in practice, you’ll become proficient at them, and then it’s just a matter of time before you are equally proficient with them in a match.”

Ask the Coach
Here are new questions answered at PingSkills.

• Questions after playing first tournament
• Hiding the ball illegal
• Rubber change on Donic carbotec
• Playing at a different hall
• Should I get a new paddle
• Switch to a custom-made bat
• Forehand is not as comfortable as backhand
• European or Chinese rubber for training
• Dealing with slow balls
• Right hand flinching
• Mentality when facing different opponents
• Ball Toss When Serving
• Table Tennis Bats
• Pingskills Vault

Footwork with Dmitrij Ovtcharov
Here’s the video (31 sec) as he does short-to-forehand/long-to-backhand multiball.

Footwork with Xu Xin
Here’s the video (33 sec) as he does 3-spot footwork – at lightning speed!

Footwork with Stevie Sloth
Here’s the video (79 sec) as he demonstrates moving to the wide forehand with a technique similar to Xu’s above.

Table Tennis Spinning Wheel
Here’s the video (58 sec) – I really have to get one of these things.

New Jersey State Championships
They are this weekend!

Form Maintained, No Stopping Japanese Teenagers
Here’s the ITTF article.

Dr. Miriam Stoppard: Why playing ping pong is great for the brain and could help prevent dementia
Here’s the article.

Table Tennis Pins
Here’s the page. “Dear friends, My name is Tonino Solazzi and being a big fan of table tennis, I had set to myself the task to make a catalog of badges/PINS of TABLE TENNIS (WTTC, ETTC, FEDERATION , TEAM, ...) The purpose of this site is to help to table tennis badges collectors to organize they collections. I had the problem of lack of badge's / PINS images for many tournament ... federation .... I've about in my collection 4000 different pins of TT (List collection downloadable)”

Some Doubles Action!
Here’s the video (28 sec) of this great point from Men’s Doubles Final at the Qatar Open in February. That’s Adam Bobrow doing the commentary.

Moose Pong?
Here’s the picture – help choose the name of the mascot for the 2018 World Championships in Sweden! (Here’s the non-Facebook version – but you can’t vote with that.) Here’s the home page for the 2018 World Championships – this year it’s the Team event. (They alternate each year between Singles and Doubles, and the Team events.)

Ping Pong is a Metaphor for Life
Here’s the hilarious video (3 min)!

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Table Tennis Stuff I’ve Learned in the Last Few Days

1. When faced with a teenager suffering sleep deprivation, a counterlooping duel is the best way to wake him up. Splashing water on the face also helps.
2. If you encourage a kid to hit a certain number of shots in a row, she’ll probably do it. If you mock her and say she can’t do it, she will do it.
3. There are few things more fascinating to a kid than hitting with that one orange ball mixed in with a box of white ones. (“Never miss with the orange ball!”)
4. When a student can’t concentrate, have him stare at a ping-pong ball for five seconds. Works wonders.
5. Older players can move their feet just as much as younger ones. They just aren’t in the habit of doing so, and don’t do it as fast. (Okay, I already knew this, but just wanted to emphasize it since it came up several times this week.)
6. Rescheduling a coaching schedule to make up for the varied needs of students is like doing a jigsaw puzzle while trying to bounce a ball up and down on your paddle while on roller skates.
7. Trying to arrange a trip to the Nationals where you’ll be playing, coaching matches, running seminars, and attending meetings makes a Will Shortz New York Sunday Times crossword puzzle seem like first grade arithmetic.
8. I can still loop 100 forehands in a row. Did it with a student who was working on his block.
9. My students still struggle with my fast no-spin serve to their elbow. I have failed as a coach but my playing prospects are promising. (Was that a Chinese scout on the sidelines using a radar gun on my fast serves?)
10. An average man’s step is about 30 inches, according to my online research. I’m a step slower than I was ten years ago. Assuming the trend continues, I’ve lost about 1/17” to my step this past week. So every 17 weeks I lose an inch. Eventually when I move to my right to cover the wide forehand I’ll be moving to my left.
11. If I really put my mind to it, prioritize it, and put in the necessary practice time, I can and will learn to pronounce and spell our new High Performance Director’s name, Jörg Bitzigeio.
12. I’m selling just over four table tennis books per day. (Here’s my Amazon listing.)
13. There is only one cure for exhaustion, and its name is Mountain Dew.
14. When you have six consecutive hours of coaching, a Snickers bar halfway through is the single greatest thing in the universe.
15. If you spend one minute responding to an online posting with false info regarding USATT, you will end up spending an entire day on it. (I almost devoted this morning’s blog to my experiences with this yesterday. . . .)

How to Block Heavy Topspin
Here’s the article and video (5:05) from Tom Lodziak.

Table Tennis the Mind Game
Here’s the article. (The article doesn’t actually have a title, so I gave it one.)

Nittaku ITTF Monthly Pongcast - April 2017
Here’s the video (15:25).

How to Make a Homemade Ping Pong Paddle
Here’s the article and video (3:10) from PingPoolShark.

USATT Insider
Here’s the new issue that came out yesterday.

India Ready for the $450,000 Ultimate Ping Pong Championship This July
Here’s the ITTF article. “Ultimate Ping Pong Championships, an inaugural table tennis league, offering a total prize money of $450,000 (INR 3 Crores) is all set to be played in India from Thursday 13th to Sunday 30th July 2017.”

Mission Accomplished Guinea Bissau Completes Full House
Here’s the ITTF article. “Situated in West Africa, on Saturday 6th May, the Guinea Bissau Table Tennis Federation was founded; a significant date for the small developing country, a significant date for the African Table Tennis Federation but moreover a significant date for the International Table Tennis Federation.”

USA League … Proposal?
Here’s the … info. (I debated whether to link to this, since as written … it’s almost unreadable to … me. You’ll see why.)

Champions League Final – Top Hits
Here’s the video (28 sec).

Brain Pong
Here’s the picture!

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