No chats are scheduled at this time.
Larry Hodges' Blog and Tip of the Week will go up on Mondays by noon USA Eastern time. Larry is a member of the U.S. Table Tennis Hall of Fame, a USATT Certified National Coach, a professional coach at the Maryland Table Tennis Center (USA), and author of eight books and over 1500 articles on table tennis. Here is his bio. (Larry was awarded the USATT Lifetime Achievement Award in July, 2018.)
NOTE - Larry is on the USATT Board of Directors and chairs the USATT Coaching Committee, but the views he shares in his blog are his own, and do not necessarily represent the views of USA Table Tennis.
No Blog on Friday and Monday
On Friday and Saturday I'll be at the Baltimore Science Fiction Convention ("Balticon") where I'm a panelist and have a book signing - here's my schedule. My first panel actually isn't until 4PM but I'm going out early (it's an hour away) to spend the day at the Baltimore Aquarium. On Sunday and Monday I'm at home reading and writing, i.e. celebrating Memorial Day, though I may drive over to coach at the Washington DC May Open, if I have the energy. (But I still have to coach a junior class on Sunday from 4-5:30 PM.) See you next Tuesday!
USA Table Tennis Hall of Fame
Here's a picture of the USATT Hall of Fame at the Triangle Club in North Carolina. I think it's great that after so many years we finally got this, with the grand opening last year. It's a million times better than what we had before, which was no USATT Hall of Fame.
But you know what? I'd like to see something a lot more extensive. Maybe not as big as the ITTF Museum, but a real tourist attraction. Here's an article on the ITTF Museum in Shanghai, from the Global Times. (It was previously in Switzerland.) Here's a video tour (1:51) of their exhibits at the 2017 Worlds in Dusseldorf, Germany.
I've always had this thought that we'd find some building, perhaps in the suburbs of some large city but far enough out so the cost of renting or buying a building isn't so high, hire a full-time curator, and see if it could pay for itself, or off sponsorships. Or maybe a large house, and the curator could be live-in. Perhaps it could stay in its current location, but expanded into a real tourist site. I just think it needs to be bigger, a real tourist attraction with paying customers who'd could walk through it like any other museum, or perhaps get a guided tour.
I mean, seriously, just in the U.S. there's (and read these over carefully) a Toilet Seat Museum, a Twine Ball Museum, a National Mustard Museum, a Pharmacy Museum, a Potato Museum, a Neon Sign Museum, a Banana Museum, a Maple Tree Museum, a Museum of Bad Art, a Barbed Wire Museum, a Barbershop Museum, a Hammer Museum, a Trash Museum, a Teddy Bear Museum, a Ventriloquism Museum, a Dentistry Museum, a Moist Towelette Museum, a Popcorn Museum, a Vacuum Cleaner Museum, and a Kazoo Museum.
What's probably needed is a wealthy sponsor to get it started. If I had loads of money, it'd be the Hodges USATT Hall of Fame Museum, but I'm a little short right now. But there must be someone out there who wants to be immortalized forever in this way!
Can anyone tell me that table tennis can't compete with toilet seats, balls of twine, potatoes, bananas, mustard, moist towelettes, and barbed wire???
Tips Ahoy!
I had seven Tips of the Week outlined but had been putting off writing them. (They go up every Monday morning.) Yesterday I went to the giant eatery at Lake Forest Mall at 11AM, and armed with pepperoni pizza and Mountain Dew, wrote all seven of them - and then, after a lot of brainstorming, did four more. It took about six hours, three slices of pizza, a cucumber & tomato salad, and two large Mountain Dews. (I only drank half of the second one.) They average about 550 words each. This may have been the single greatest burst of creative inspiration since Einstein in 1905 and Newton in 1666.
Hong Kong Open
Here's the ITTF home page for the event which starts today, May 24-27, where you can find results, news, pictures, and video. Here's their preview video, Get ready for the 2018 ITTF World Tour Hong Kong Open (30 sec). (Note - Zhang Jike is making a comeback, but he just lost 3-4 in the first round (round of 32) in the Main Draw to Maharu Yoshimura of Japan, world #25, 9,-8,11,-13,-6,8,9. Zhang won both his matches in the Qualifier - yep, he had to go through that, since his recent lack of play had dropped him to #168 in the world - but both were 4-2. See video on Zhang's comeback in EmRatThich segment below.)
Final Deadline to Enter the USA Nationals - Friday, May 25
Enter now, or forever not be entered! After tomorrow (Friday), no more entries will be accepted. The Nationals are in Las Vegas, July 2-7, with 91 events. I blogged about it on April 19. You can see the current list of entries (577) by name or by event. I know USATT has a lot of entries received that haven't yet been in putted, so they are likely well over 600 entries now, and could hit 700 if there's the usual last-minute surge.
USATT Insider
Here's the issue that came out on Wednesday.
Discovering Happy Medium Pips
Here's the article by Coach Jon. "To really understand medium pips, you probably need to really understand long and short pips."
Shut-Up and Just Play...or Call an Umpire?
Here's the article by Samson Dubina. "In the US, most tournament matches are not umpired. However, you can request an umpire if there is a problem. So when should you seek help from a tournament official? You should get help when your opponent is getting an unfair advantage from something like his serve."
Parent Toolkits
Here are five free online manuals from SafeSport.
New from EmRatThich
NCTTA Coaching Certification in Northeast at Zing! Table Tennis
Here's the article. "NCTTA's Coaching Committee has been busy at work setting up yet another College Table Tennis Certification training."
Where Are They Now? Anderson College Series
Here's the article by Steve Hopkins.
Zhang Jike and Ma Long Make ESPN World Fame 100 List
Here's the ITTF article. (One little interesting note about the ESPN list - there's not a single baseball player on it.)
NBA Showdown - Warriors vs. Houston Rockets and Ping-Pong
Here's the article by Shashin Shodhan.
Handcrafted Ping Pong Paddles - Why Not?!
Here's the video (9:40).
Double Knockout on Ping Pong
Here's the video (14 sec).
Overwatch Comic Dub: Ping-Pong
Here's the video (61 sec)!
Play 50 Around the Net Shots
Here's the video (3:45) from Pongfinity.
Star Wars Pong
Here's the video (1:58)!
***
Send us your own coaching news!
Serve and Receive Tactics Seminar at MDTTC and Nationals
As mentioned in previous blogs, I'll be running two Serve and Receive Tactics Seminars. The one at the USA Nationals is now the lead story on the USATT News page! (Here's the direct link.) Here are the two, with links to the seminar flyer.
The one in Las Vegas is free - I'm running it as USATT Coaching Chair. The one at MDTTC is $15 for members, $20 for others, with 100% of the money raised going to the HW Global Junior Program at MDTTC, to pay for our coaches to go to the USA Nationals to coach the 19 MDTTC junior players who are competing. Here's their funding page - we're now at $14,175 raised of the $15,500 needed. All money raised in the seminar will go toward this - I'm not taking any of it.
Here are the main topics I'll be covering. Much of it will be a combination of demonstration and explanation as I go into the nuances of each topic. (I'm hoping to be able to cover all this in an hour, 30 minutes on serve, 30 minutes on receive, and then let players try these things out at the tables the last 30 minutes as I walk around observing and coaching. But we'll see how long it actually takes.)
SERVE TACTICS
RECEIVE TACTICS
As the flyer says - and the evil Russian player from "Balls of Fury" - "Should I serve long? Short? What spin? Where to? Gosh, I wish I'd attended that Serve & Receive Tactics Seminar at the USA Nationals!!!"
It's kind of a weird morning - my Tip of the Week: Develop Power Timing by Slapping is also the lead news item at the Butterfly News Page, I'm mentioned in the first paragraph of the Table Tennis Tidbits #29 (see below), plus I just sold a science fiction story (see last segment).
Table Tennis Tidbits #29
Here's the USATT article by Robert Ho, "2016 Women’s World Cup - When the Cats/s' Away…" Here's the first paragraph - and I'm mentioned!!! "At this tourney in Philadelphia, Pa., World Champion Ding Ning and World Tour #1 Liu Shiwen, both from China, were originally expected, but for unstated reasons were no-shows. Consequently there were surprising finalists and unexpected match outcomes in the City of Brotherly (in this case, Sisterly) Love. Sitting in the front row at courtside was U.S. coach Larry Hodges from the club in Gaithersburg, Maryland."
Changing Your Pushing Mindset
Here's the article by Tom Lodziak. "Many players I coach come to me with the same issue. They have a pushing problem. In matches they will push, push, push, push, push – waiting and hoping the other player will make a mistake. They aspire to be more attacking, but once the pushing starts in a match, they can’t seem to find a way out. If they do attack, in tends to be erratic and inconsistent, so they go back to push, push, push, push. Does this sound familiar? Is this something you also struggle with? In this blog post, I will explain how you can change your pushing mindset and become more attacking."
Table Tennis for All Shakehand Version: Forehand Slow Loop Tutorial
Here's the video (24:46) - It starts off with a rather humorous, theatrical way!
New Videos from EmRatThich
Wu Continues Excellent Home Performances onto International Stage
Here's the USATT article.
Fitness Concerns Prompt Shenzhen Withdrawal from Dimitrij Ovtcharov
Here's the ITTF article.
Zhang Jike Overcomes First Hurdle but Aspiring Colleagues Attract the Attention
Here's the ITTF article.
Roger Federer Warns Against the Perils of Pushy Parents
Here's the article from the London Telegraph. "Young sports stars do not need pushy parents 'babysitting' them through their career, the tennis champion Roger Federer has said, as he argues athletes should be given space to develop without unnecessary pressure."
Hugo Calderano Jumping Over Player
Here's the video (22 sec, including slo-mo replay) as the world #11 from Brazil leaps over one of his practice partners.
Dupamo Comic Pingpong
Here's the video (60 sec)!
Dog vs. Cat
Here's the video (8 sec)!
Non-Table Tennis - Death for the Cure: A Comedy about Cancer
Yesterday I sold a humorous fantasy story to Galaxy's Edge, one of the big "pro" magazines. It's my 91st short story sale. It's a seemingly controversial story - yes, a comedy about cancer!!! It involves Death herself getting sick of watching people die of cancer and takes matters into her own hands. She tries to raise money for the Cure, where she does things such as deliver pizzas (a seemingly perfect match since she can travel almost instantly to anywhere on the planet - but imagine Death arriving at your door with a pizza), and so on. But she finds a creative way to solve everything!
***
Send us your own coaching news!
Man in the Arena
Many years ago, when I was in one of my many battles with USA Table Tennis or with some other group of naysayers, I received a note from USATT Hall of Famer Wendell Dillon (one of the all-time great USATT officials, and still active) that I was "The Man in the Arena." To my great embarrassment, I only vaguely knew of this famous speech by Teddy Roosevelt, and had to look it up. Here it is:
THE MAN IN THE ARENA
Teddy Roosevelt Speech, April 23, 1910
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
Over the years I've had to regularly face these "critics" who continuously play out their part in the above, while I, and others "in the Arena" are trying to get things done and make things happen. When I opened the Maryland Table Tennis Center in 1992, there were no other full-time training centers in the country and I was besieged with people saying we were crazy, there weren't enough players in the U.S. for something like that to work. Now there are 92 of them. When I co-created the USATT League Rating system (with Robert Mayer) we were told that the U.S. simply wasn't league-oriented, that the winner-stay-on system almost universally used in USATT clubs would never change. Now the system is used in clubs all over the country and processes more matches than the tournament rating system. There are a dozen similar stories. I was in virtual wars with USATT in 1989-1990, from 1996-1999, and in sort of a cold war for a few years after 2007; in each case the ones causing the problems I was citing were voted out or left, and I returned to working for or with USATT.
For the last few years I've been trying to resolve the hidden serve problem. I've blogged about it many times, but the bottom line is that most top players regularly hide their serve, which is illegal, and umpires almost never call it. Why? Because it's become part of our culture not to call hidden serves, since from the umpire's perspective, it's very difficult to tell if the serve is hidden or not. This would be understandable if it were not for rule 2.6.6, which states, "It is the responsibility of the player to serve so that the umpire or the assistant umpire can be satisfied that he or she complies with the requirements of the Laws." Therefore, when an umpire says, "I can't tell if the serve was visible," what he's really saying is, "The player didn't serve so I can be satisfied that the serve was legal," and so the serve was illegal. (And so the player should get a one-time warning or a fault.)
The reality, of course, is that no umpire wants to be the one who calls these serves when the other umpires are not, and of course players who have been serving illegally for years without getting called for it have a fit when they are called for it, and quite legitimately can say that no other umpire has called him for it. I don't blame the umpires for not calling it since in our current table tennis culture, it's taboo to call hidden serves unless the serve is so obviously hidden that the umpire has no choice. (The best example of that is Wang Chen, who gets called for this over and over because she hasn't perfected the art of the borderline hidden serve, where the ball is hidden at contact but no so obviously so that the umpire has to call it.) The overwhelming majority of top players oblige this by not making it so obvious they are hiding the ball, and so it is almost never called.
Complicating all this is that most top players do not hide the serve every time. If they did, the receiver would get used to having to read the serve from how it travels through the air and bounces on the table. But if you serve borderline over and over, allowing the receiver to see contact much of the time, the times when you do hide it are far more likely to force a mistake from the receiver. (Plus you get the umpire used to not calling your borderline serves, so when you do hide the serve it is not called.) At the world-class level, they are so used to illegal hidden serves that they return them pretty well, though not as well, as aggressive, or with as much control as they would if the serve were legally visible. Below the world-class level, hidden serves lead to constant outright misses and pop-ups.
One of the huge victims in all this are the top players and up-and-coming players. They don't want to serve illegally, but they really have no choice if they want to compete on an equal basis. There are a few who don't hide their serves, and they are at a big disadvantage. But those who do reach the top are almost all serving illegally - and so it's difficult for them to raise the issue since they are doing it themselves, so to complain would seem like hypocrisy. It's really not, if they also acknowledge they serve illegally because they have little choice if they want to compete on a level field.
I tried to get USATT to act on this several years ago, where I moved that USATT ask its referees and umpires to enforce this rule, but the counter-argument was that this would put USATT top players at a disadvantage, since they would have to face these illegal hidden serves regularly in international competition, and so we literally had to allow players in the U.S. to illegally hide their serves so our top players could get used to them. And so that motion lost 6-1-1.
As noted in my blog on Friday, I'm now trying to get the ITTF to resolve this problem. I made my own proposal, the Net Visibility Rule, which would make enforcement much easier - it's tricky trying to hide the serve from the receiver and make the umpire think it might be visible, but try making it look like you aren't hiding it from the entire net and still hide it from the receiver! That can't really be done. But of course that proposal met with its share of naysayers who hadn't really tested it out as I have, or simply thought it through. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to convince an umpire you aren't hiding the ball from the entire length of the net, while still hiding it from the receiver, who is somewhere in the middle? It can't really be done. (There are other proposals, such as making it illegal for any part of the body to be in front of contact. That would work as well, and yes, you can still do a forehand pendulum serve effectively with this rule.)
Predictably, my proposed letter to the ITTF (which would go to the ITTF Rules Committee, Umpires and Referees Committee, and Athletes Commission, which already has a working group on fixing the serve problem) has met with the usual protests. Several have already told me "It won't work!" and so they oppose sending it - it's right out of Man in the Arena. To me, this is jaw-breakingly dumb. The odds are it won't work, but that does that mean we shouldn't even try? If you were down 6-10 in the fifth, you probably won't win, but does that mean you shouldn't try?
All I want to do is try to bring attention to the problem in the hope that we can make it a higher-profile problem with ITTF. The ITTF already recognizes the problem, it just isn't a top priority with them, and so while they've had "working groups" on this for at least three years (and I think much longer), nothing has come of it. The worst that can happen is it becomes a higher-profile issue that they don't act on now, but by raising its profile, we can keep coming back to it until the ITTF finally takes action.
Or we could sit back timidly and twiddle our thumbs and hope someone else will jump into the arena and solve the problem.
So . . . should we send the letter and push ITTF to make it a top priority to fix this problem, so that we aren't the only Olympic sport that allows cheating right out in the open, where top players literally have to cheat to compete? Or should we listen to those who are acting out the part of the "cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat"?
Looping and Blocking
Here's video (22 sec) of USA's Yijun "Tom" Feng and Kanak Jha practicing at the Hong Kong Open. Want to learn how to loop and block? This is how it's done. (Tom is a penholder, but there's no real difference between penhold and shakehand looping.) These two have won Men's Singles at the last three USA Nationals, Tom in 2015, Kanak the last two years.
Training With Chen Weixin, Werner Schlager, Zoran Primorac and Kalinikos Kreanga at Legends Tour 2018
Here's the video (22:530 from Arnaud Scheen.
New from EmRatThich
Parenting and Coaching the Perfectionist Athlete
Here's the article and project.
Indore Once Again Hosts Level Three Course
Here's the ITTF article on the ITTF course held in India by USA coaches Richard McAfee and Christian Lillieroos.
Young US Para Talents Selected Among World's Top
Here's the USATT article by Matt Hetherington.
Las Vegas Table Tennis Club "The Place to Play" in Town
Here's the USATT article by Richard Finn.
NCTTA Best of the Best Announced
Here's the article. Here are the winners:
Retrospectives on Past USA Greats
Here's the page, with articles and lots of photos on the following big stars, mostly from the hard bat era: Ruth Aarons, Bernie Bukiet, Bobby Gusikoff, George Hendry, Erwin Klein, Jimmy McClure, Dick Miles, Leah Thall Neuberger, Lou Pagliaro, Sally Green Prouty, Marty Reisman, Sol Schiff, Thelma Thall "Tybie" Sommer, and Leah & Tybie Thall. There's also the Hall of Fame Profiles by Tim Boggan on the exactly 150 members of the USATT Hall of Fame.
ITTF Museum & China Table Tennis Museum
Here's the page where you can do a video tour, with links to 25 videos.
Why You Don't Sit on the Table
Here's the video (4 sec)!
***
Send us your own coaching news!
Tip of the Week
Develop Power Timing by Slapping.
Weekend Coaching
On Friday I spent 2.5 hours watching the Friday night league at MDTTC, taking notes on our junior players on their games, both for those I coach and to pass on to the other coaches. I'll be doing this more and more as the U.S. Nationals approaches for many of the 17 MDTTC juniors who are going. It was a hodgepodge (that's the third time I've used my namesake word in this blog since it started in 2011) of strengths and weaknesses.
Overall, I was very happy with how they played, though of course they must all strive for constant improvement or I won't be happy! On the weakness side, way too many of them attacked the corners over and over instead of tactically attacking the middle (elbow). One still tends to lean instead of stepping to the ball - I'm recommending he do a lot of shadow practice, jump rope, and Stutter Stepping. (Another was so light on his feet that he stepped even to net balls, handling them with relative ease.) Some were too passive in attacking, which meant they are not getting the attacking practice they need to develop. (One player has really taken this to heart, and is losing games he'd normally win, but he's rapidly developing his attacking game to go along with his already proficient blocking game.) Several tended to go into backhand stances and push too much. A couple had trouble with fishers and lobbers. One doesn't really snap the arm when smashing, just holds it out straight, losing a lot of power and quickness. And so on.
On Saturday we had the Junior League, which is really a combination of playing and coaching. Once again they played doubles, and then singles, both up-down tables. In singles, most of the games were "improvised," such as starting each game with the server always down 8-10, or the rule that the server had to serve and attack in some way unless receiver did something to stop it.
Glenn & Jess O'Dea from the Melton Table Tennis Association in Australia were in town and watched the Saturday session. They took a number of pictures and notes, and plan to write about it in their newsletter. They also gave me a Melton TTA shirt with my name on it - here's the picture with Glenn!
On Sunday in the Beginning Class, after 15 minutes of serve practice, we spent half an hour with a forehand-to-forehand contest. Players rotated about, with each getting several sessions with a coach, where they tried to hit as many forehands in a row as they could. I told them at the start that there's a saying in table tennis that you don't have a forehand or backhand until you've hit 100 in a row with a live partner - and two of them did it!!! Next week we'll do the same thing for the backhand.
In the more advanced Talent Program, we started with serve practice. Next came multiball practice, where each coach was a "station," doing a specific drill with two players, with the players rotating from station to station. One player did the drill, the other stood behind, shadow practicing in unison with the player. (Parents picked up balls.) My drill was to feed short backspin, player forehand flipped, followed by four random topspin balls, then repeat.
Next came up-down-tables with a twist - they players did various stroking and footwork drills, where whoever missed or hit to the wrong spot lost the point. We finished with some physical training and then Brazilian Teams.
Thailand Open
Here's the home page for the event, which took place this past weekend in Bangkok, THA, May 16-20, with results, lots of articles, photos, and video. Men's Singles was won by Xu Ruifeng, who had no world ranking - so it looks like China is only getting stronger! Women's Singles was won by Liu Shiwen, who in the not-always-accurate new ITTF system is world #10, but was #1 or #2 for most of the two years before that system came into place, and probably should still be in the top two. Here are articles on these two winning, from the tournament news page.
New from Samson Dubina
Videos from 3T Table Tennis Training
Here they are, from Werner Sigmund.
New Videos from EmRatThich
Table Tennis Serving Rules
Here's the article from EmRatThich, with lots of pictures and video.
Roy M. SeGuine: October 31, 1956 - May 10, 2018
Here's the obituary. Roy and I were USATT co-webmasters from 1999-2005, and I believe he continued as one of USATT's webmasters for a few years after that. He was a 2000 level player from Virginia. (I mentioned this in my blog last week, but obit just went up.)
Can Table Tennis Be a Popular Sport?
Here's the article from Eli Baraty.
Table Tennis Legends Tour
Here's the Facebook gallery - Saive won!!! Here's the Table Tennis Legends home page. But I can't find the actual results anywhere - anyone know where they are?
National Collegiate Table Tennis May Newsletter
Here it is.
Highlights Reel
Here's the video (10:15) of lots of great rallies.
Prince Harry Playing Table Tennis
Alto Pong?
Here's the picture! (Here's the non-Facebook version.)
***
Send us your own coaching news!
The Ongoing Hidden Serve Saga
Here is a draft of the letter I plan to send to the ITTF at some point. I will likely ask the USATT Board of Directors to get behind this so the letter (or a version of it) can come from USATT. (NOTE - on Monday afternoon I updated the letter to a newer draft.)
Dear ITTF Rules Committee, Umpires and Referees Committee, and Athletes Commission:
The illegal hiding of serves is a major problem in our sport. Video and still pictures show that most world-class players regularly hide the ball when they serve, thereby gaining a huge advantage over those who serve legally. (Examples are given in the Net Visibility Rule proposal, one of a number of proposals to solve this problem - this is not an endorsement of any specific one of them.) Cadet and junior players see that most world-class players regularly hide their serve illegally and almost always get away with it, and so they are forced to either do so themselves, or be at a huge disadvantage. Coaches have to explain to these cadets and juniors, and their parents, that if they want to compete on an equal basis and reach a high level, they too have to serve illegally - basically, coaches are forced to tell players that they must cheat to compete. We are likely the only Olympic sport that allows such open flaunting of the rules. We believe this is a very bad situation.
We respectfully request that ITTF make it a Top Priority to resolve this problem, by requiring worldwide enforcement of the rules as they are written, including Rule 2.6.6, "It is the responsibility of the player to serve so that the umpire or the assistant umpire can be satisfied that he or she complies with the requirements of the Laws." They should also strongly consider changing the serving rule to make this task easier to accomplish. Umpires are requested to enforce the rules at the start of every major tournament, but in the case of hidden serves, it simply isn't being enforced. Few umpires want to be the one who starts calling them when other umpires are not, and some umpires believe the current rules are difficult to enforce. From the umpire's point of view, it is difficult to tell if a borderline serve is hidden or not, though of course that falls under Rule 2.6.6.
One possibility would be for ITTF to set a date whereby all referees and umpires worldwide would be required to strictly enforce the service rule, in particular Rule 2.6.6 in regard to hidden serves, with players notified well in advance. There could also be a six-month period where umpires are allowed to give two warnings in a match before faulting. We are aware that ITTF is working on this, but this has been the case for several years, and resolving this must become a priority.
A Shameless Reminder to Support a Poor Table Tennis Writer and Coach and Buy His Books
Yep, it's time to buy some of my table tennis books. C'mon, you know you want to!!! Here's my Amazon page. Here's the book listing here at TableTennisCoaching.com, which might be more convenient with all the descriptions and links on one page. Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers is by far the biggest seller, but the two Tips books also do pretty well.
I'd really like to write a sequel to The Spirit of Pong, but there just haven't been enough sales to justify it. Apparently not enough TT players read SF! C'mon, why not pick up a copy, it's only $5.99 for 100 pages of great table tennis! It's actually a fantasy novel about an American who goes to China to learn the secrets of table tennis and ends up training with the spirits of past champions, facing betrayal as he seeks the Body of Pong, the Mind of Pong, and the Paddle of Pong. Many of the greats of the past make appearances, from Hiroji Satoh (first sponge champion in 1952) to Waldner, and the section with Ogimura as he seeks the Body of Pong is like the training sequences from Rocky. There's also a bonus humorous 4-page table tennis story at the end about a guy who is determined to be the greatest table tennis player in the world, and while training on a robot, he hits the ball so hard it cracks, and out comes a genie, who grants him one wish. You can guess what the wish is, but you'll never guess how the genie grants it, nor the identity of the genie!
Here's the official description from Amazon:
Andy "Shoes" Blue wants to be a table tennis champion, but he’s just another wannabe American. And so he goes to China to learn the secrets of table tennis. He is trained by the mysterious Coach Wang, and begins an odyssey where he learns the secrets of table tennis from the spirits of Ichiro Ogimura (who helped spawn China’s greatness), Rong Guotuan (China’s first world champion in 1959, whose tragic story Andy must relive), and others, and must face the mysterious "Dragon." Can he overcome treachery and learn the final secret of table tennis in time to defeat his ultimate nemesis?
Here are the two Amazon reviews:
Review #1:
A fascinating story of an American wanting to be the best in the world of table tennis, going to China for some magical and intriguing training sessions, and how he eventually achieved his hard-earned success. The best part is in the journey of it - vivid, colorful descriptions of the matches, processes, psyches, and sometimes point-by-point analysis. This was a real page-turner, and was one of the best binges I've been on.
Review #2:
If you're a ponger, you know that an American doing well in the World Championships is about as rare a Loch Ness monster sighting. But hey, if you thought the U.S. hockey team could win the gold medal in 1980, if you thought Argentina could beat the U.S. in basketball in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, and if you cried during the ending scene of "Rudy", then this book is for you.
You really do have to keep your fantasy hat on while reading the book. Set aside that Chinese National Team fanboi-ism for a little bit and you'll be guaranteed a nice literary experience. The story is basically what it says in the back cover, an American who goes to China to learn the Chinese secrets of table tennis.
Pros: I really liked the chapter with Ogimura. The physical preparation for table tennis really pumped me up to go out and do a few sprints and some push-ups. It was like a motivation CD that you listen to in your car before hitting the gym. Once you arrive, you're ready to get down to business. I also enjoyed reading the chapter with "The Dragon". It was really very funny for me. Again, keep your fantasy hat on. There was also a good bit of history in the book. I knew a little bit being a ponger but there were a few things that I had to search online for verification. The World Championship match was complete insanity. The development of the characters of Andy and Coach Wang were excellent in that a reader can identify with both of their motivations.
Cons: The chapter with Rong Guotuan was a bit dark. I was not put off by it as I enjoy those kinds things in other books also. I just did not think it fit in well with the overall feel of the book. I suppose it would be like putting bacon in an ice cream cone. Some might like it and some might not.
Overall, Larry did a great job mixing TT history, fantasy, and fiction in a 100-page package.
Thailand Open
Here's the home page for the event, which takes place in Bangkok, THA, May 16-20.
How to Destroy Opponents With Long Serves
Here's the article by Tom Lodziak. "If you play table tennis at an amateur level, especially at lower levels, you can dominate your opponents with long serves. These are serves which land very deep on your opponent’s side of the table, ideally with a lot of speed and spin. In this blog post, I explain why long serves are effective (especially at lower amateur levels) and how to do devilish long serves which can give your opponents nightmares."
Free Live Stream Coaching Session - Tonight!
Here's something new. Coach Samson Dubina will be answering questions live tonight at 9PM eastern time at his Facebook page. "We have had hundreds to questions submitted to the Samson Dubina Table Tennis Academy. Tonight, I'll be answering some of those questions on Facebook Live Streaming at 9pm Eastern Time. We are offering this as a FREE service to the table tennis community! Join us tonight and ask your own questions! Here is a short list of questions that I'll be answering..."
Full-Time or Part-Time Coach Needed in Northern California
Fremont Table Tennis Academy (FTTA), situated in the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California, is looking for a full-time or part-time coach to join its coaching team. FTTA is one of the top performing clubs in the nation and has a large junior program. A potential coach can start this summer or in the fall. If interested, please contact FTTA Owner Shashin Shodhan at shashin@fremonttabletennis.com.
Worlds Recap: A China Sweep, Sweden and England Headline for the Men and Two Koreas Show the Power of Sports
Here's the article by Steve Hopkins.
New to International Scene, Chinese Trio Upset Seeding
Here's the ITTF article.
Denver Table Tennis Alliance’s 4th Mensual Tourney
Here's the article.
Top 4 Women Table Tennis Team 2018
Here's the video (9:23) from the Worlds from EmRatThich.
Zoran Primorac and Chen Weixin Ready For The LEGENDS TOUR Tonight!
Here's the video (1:44).
1961 Beijing and 1963 Prague World Championships Featuring Zhuang Zedong
Here's the video (7:48). It's fascinating to watch how they played in the days before looping. A surprising amount of lobbing. Zhuang, and I believe most of his opponent, are using short pips.
Stock Table Tennis Images
Here's the page from 123rf.com. I like the green paddles dressed up in various outfits and activities.
Stupid Ping Pong
Here's the video (2:55) - basically two kids (amateurs) doing lots of silly stuff while they play1
Rio Animal Olympics Table Tennis
Here's the video (65 sec, but link goes to 33 sec in where the table tennis begins). I bet you've never seen an Olympic table tennis final between a plush killer whale and a teddy bear!
***
Send us your own coaching news!
Table Tennis vs. Science Fiction Writing
Outside table tennis I also write science fiction - see larryhodges.com and my bibliography. (Short version - 90 short stories sold, 4 novels, and 2 short story collections. I have a story coming out in the next issue of Analog.) However, table tennis is still the main priority and it pays the most of the bills, both coaching and writing (eight books).
I started a new science fiction novel last week, but every time I tried working on it, some table tennis issue came up and I'd put it aside. There was the Hall of Fame program; researching some history and photos for one of this year's Hall of Fame inductees; a USATT Board of Directors teleconference; proofing some USATT documents; an ongoing confidential issue I've hinted about and spent nearly 100 hours on and can't wait to blog about hopefully this summer; some Coaching Chair issues; planning out junior training group sessions; preparing Tim Boggan's History of U.S. Table Tennis, Vol. 21, for online publication; finalizing the flyers for the upcoming Serve and Receive Tactics seminars I'm running at MDTTC and at the Nationals in Las Vegas; writing up player evaluations on local juniors; prep work for the upcoming Maryland State Championships I'm running; a new proposal regarding hidden serves; lots of TT email correspondence; and of course the usual blogging and Tips of the Week. And all this was just since Monday!
I came to a decision yesterday to put aside the novel (for now) and focus more on table tennis and short stories. Writing a novel takes a lot of immersion, where you focus on it for 3-6 months to get the first draft done, and then spend up to a year rewriting and editing it. Short stories are easier to get into, and it's far easier to jump back and forth between them and TT.
So I'll be able to focus more on table tennis again. Soon I'll read and update my notes for "Parent's Guide to Table Tennis," and then work on it during my one-week writing/reading "vacation" in Las Vegas between the World Veterans and the Nationals. I'll be writing up a storm at the World Veterans, with multiple stories every day, some on event coverage, others features on players and other issues.
Eventually I will also get around to doing the photos needed for Table Tennis Fundamentals. I'd like to get them done later this year, and hopefully write it next year. It would be a greatly expanded version of my previous Table Tennis: Steps to Success.
On a related note, we have 16-20 juniors from MDTTC flying 3000 miles to the USA Nationals this year, including the #1, #3, and #4 players in Under 10 Boys. So I'll be spending a bunch of time over the next month watching them in matches to prepare for coaching them at the Nationals. Tomorrow night I'll be at the Friday night league to watch and take notes. (But tonight, right after I coach the Thursday night junior class, it's Deadpool time!)
Thailand Open
Here's the home page for the event, which takes place in Bangkok, THA, May 16-20. Here are highlights from the first day: Kang Eunji vs He Zebao (Qual) (2:36).
Footwork Patterns Part 4
Here's the article, with links to video, by EmRatThich. "Footwork is very important in table tennis. It’s one of the fundamental techniques in table tennis that every player should learn first. Today, we learn the 4 main footwork patterns in table tennis."
Epic Block Technique
Here's the video (1:44). It's in Chinese, but is still good viewing.
The Realities of Table Tennis Addiction
Here's the article by Coach Jon.
WAB Club Feature: Bridgeport Sports Club
Here's the article featuring this club in Richmond, just South of Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada, by Steve Hopkins.
Li Jiao Leaves Coaching Post to Return to China
Here's the ITTF article. "Crowned European champion on two occasions and the winner of the Women’s Singles gold medal at the 2015 European Games, Li Jiao led the Netherlands to great success in her playing days. Fast-forward to May 2018 - Li Jiao has now announced her departure from her role as head coach of the Dutch women's team."
Focus on Fundamentals, Kuala Lumpur Responds
Here's the ITTF article. "Staged at the Expert Swing Table Tennis Center; Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia was the recent home for an ITTF/PTT Level One Coaches Course."
ITTF Opens Bidding for 2019 Challenge Series
Here's the ITTF article.
Young Timo Boll - Damien Delobbe 1998 YOUTH TOP 12
Here's the video (4:46) from Arnaud Scheen.
Ping-Pong in Virtual Reality (Fail)
Here's the video (35 sec)!
Can You Play Ping-Pong with KITCHEN ITEMS?
Here's the video (4 min)!
***
Send us your own coaching news!
How the Game Has Changed! A Look Back to 1994
I was doing some research on something recently and came across an article I wrote in the Sept/Oct 1994 issue of USA Table Tennis Magazine. The article was my diary as the USA head coach at the King Car International Youth City Championships in Taipei, Taiwan, Aug. 22-30, 1994. We had two boys' teams and two girls' teams, with 14 players. Many of the best junior teams from all over the world attended, including teams from all over Europe, Asia, and a few from South America and Africa. The notable missing team was China, since we were in Taiwan.
Before the tournament we had a five-day joint training camp with the Taiwan and South Korean Teams. I noticed that their players had incredible footwork and forehand loops, but their backhand loops were rather weak. So I called our team together and told them our focus during the tournament was simple - get your backhand loops into play as they weren't used to facing them. The strategy worked - USA #1 (Dave Fernandez, Barney J. Reed, Richard Lee) came out of nowhere to get third place in Boys' Teams, beating some of the best teams from Taiwan, South Korea, and Sweden - with each match played in front of 20,000 screaming fans!!!
What jumped out from reading the article was how the game is changed. Here are three excerpts.
"A new style is developing in the Far East. We met up with a number of junior players who played penhold, but used both sides of their rackets on the backhand. At least one player had such a good backhand loop with the back (inverted) side of his racket that you couldn't push or serve long to him at all. Liu Guoliang of China made the finals of the 1994 U.S. Open playing this way, but he didn't use the technique nearly as often as some of the top junior players we saw here." [NOTE - Liu Guoliang was a rising start but still a relative unknown at the time. He'd become famous the following year when he made the final of Men's Singles at the 1995 Worlds, and then win gold in Men's Singles at the 1996 Olympics, and then win Men's Singles at the 1999 Worlds.)
"There were few shakehand players with inverted on both sides. There were many penholders, both pips in and inverted, and many shakehand players with combination rackets. Nearly all the top shakehanders, however, seemed to be either long-pipped choppers, or have pips-out on one side. Interestingly, more players had pips on their forehands than on the backhand."
"Our backhand techniques, especially as used by Dave Fernandez, Barney J. Reed, and Shashin Shodhan, seemed superior to most of the Asia players, and in meetings afterwards, coach after coach complimented us on it. They were especially impressed by Dave's quick, over-the-table topspinning backhand (basically, an off-the-bounce backhand loop). All of our opponents had great difficulty against these quick topspins." [NOTE - what was a novelty back then, these off-the-bounce backhand loops, is now the norm.]
Other highlights from the article:
Training Videos From Samson Dubina
Here are the videos (1:19 and 3:11) featuring Samson and Kenzie.
Table Tennis Tidbits #28
Here's the USATT article featuring a retrospective analysis of the 2016 Men's World Cup by Robert Ho.
New From EmRatThich
Here are new videos, both from the 2018 Final Champions League.
Roy Seguine RIP
Former long-time USATT webmaster and long-time player from the Virginia Roy Seguine has died. Here is the Tribute Wall. I'll post when an obit goes up.
Late-Night Ping Pong and Drinks Head to Downtown Austin
Here's the article. "Ping pong club and restaurant Spin is finally opening its sprawling downtown Austin location this week on Friday, May 18 at 9 p.m."
Table Tennis Enthusiasts Showcase Their Sport in 'Butterfly' Tourney
Here's the article on the event at the Broward County TTC in Florida, by Gary Curreri.
USATT and EastPoint Sports Enter into Licensing Agreement
Here's the USATT article.
Disappearing Table Tennis Table
Here's the video (1:50) by Leon the Magician. So . . . how do you think he did it?
Immigration Pong
Here's the cartoon!
***
Send us your own coaching news!
USATT Teleconference and the USATT Hall of Fame Banquet
We had one last night, a rather short one, only about 70 minutes, starting at 7PM. All nine USATT board members (including me) attended, as did the USATT CEO, COO, HPD, LC, and the chair of the HPC. (Awe, c'mon, do I have to spell these out for you? Think of it as a brain teaser.)
The meeting really had two parts, the "Open" session and the "Closed" session. During the open session we primarily discussed:
Then we went into closed session to discuss legal matters. I wish I could discuss these matters, but I cannot. I'm hoping the saga of the biggest issue discussed will come to an end sometime this summer so I can write about it. I've hinted about it a few times, but suffice to say it's mind-boggling how one person can waste so much of everyone's time. I've now spent nearly 100 hours on this one issue that only about 20 people in USATT know about.
Meanwhile, I finished the USATT Hall of Fame Banquet program book last night (6 pages), other than getting the finalized list of the 2018 Hall of Fame Boosters and final proofing. If you'd like to donate and join the USATT Hall of Fame Boosters Club, here's the Donate Page. Here's the 2017 Hall of Fame Boosters Club.
I've been doing their program books since 2009, and this is the ninth one I've done. But there's something surreal about doing this one, since I'm getting their Lifetime Achievement Award. The five inductees are Li Ai, Dhiren Narotam, Norman Bass, Henan Li Ai, and Doru Gheorghe. The induction ceremony will take place during the USA Nationals, on Thursday, July 5, with the following schedule: 6:30 - Social; 7:00PM - Dinner; 8:00 - Awards. Here's a listing of the annual inductions with links to each program. (Page down below the pictures from last year's induction.)
Group Shadow Practice
Here's the video (33 sec) - this should be a part of any training program.
Zhang Jike at Full Speed
Here's the video (15 sec) as he does speed multiball. Can you do this?
The High-Toss Backhand Serve
Here's the video (43 sec) - why haven't you developed this?
New From EmRatThich
Here are three new videos.
Looking for an Over 50 Doubles Partner for the World Veterans?
Mike Levene is looking for a partner. He's a lefty looper, rated 2110, previously as high as 2229. He and I made the final of Over 40 Doubles at the 2010 U.S. Open, losing the final to Dan Seemiller/Mark Nordby. He runs the Smash TTC in Virginia. Contact him directly at 678-682-1907 or email him.
Exciting Young Names Present But One of Experience Overshadows All Other
Here's the ITTF article that features Liu Shiwen. In the new ITTF rankings (that give more weight to participation) she's only #10 in the world, but she's obviously better than that. She was #1 for 11 months, 2015-2016, and spent six months of 2017 as #2. When ITTF came out with their new rankings, in one shot she dropped from #4 to #24.
The Evolution of the Table Tennis Racket
Here's the article. "From 50 cm Long Handles to Boosters (and Everything in Between)."
Ruth Aarons in Action
Here's the video (59 sec) of USA's 1937 and 1938 World Women's Singles Champion doing an exhibition with Sandor Glancz.
The 2018 Russian Slapping Championships
Here's the video (4:18) - not for the squeamish! But seriously - wouldn't any table tennis player with a good forehand be great at this?
Vigiland - Pong Dance
Here's the video (2:51)!
***
Send us your own coaching news!
Tip of the Week
Tactical Thinking Between Points.
Doubles Foibles
I did a lot of doubles coaching on Saturday during the Junior League Training. This is a joint junior league and training session (mostly ages 8-13), where we do both singles and doubles, often using improvised games so the players get specialized type training. For example, we play games where the server loses the point if he doesn't serve and attack, or gets two points if he serve and attacks and eventually wins the point, or where the server starts out behind 7-9 or 8-10. And so on.
During the doubles segment on Saturday the one thing that stood out was that . . . no one thing stood out. Every team had different strengths and weaknesses. But there was one pattern and that was in most teams (not all), both players had the same doubles weaknesses, as if they copied from their partner. Here's a rundown. (Note that I'm picking on the problems I found, but they also did a lot of things well.)
Table Tennis Training Methods in China and Five New Videos
Here's the article, with links to video, from EmRatThich. "How do Chinese table tennis players practice? What is the training method in China? Why don’t Chinese players miss the easy ball? And why they are so good compared to other countries? Today, let’s talk about the training method in China and the main difference between the training drills in China and in the Western countries."
Here are five videos EmRatThich put up this weekend:
Home School: Improve Swing with Ping Pong Paddles
Here's the video (1:18) from the Golf Channel! "Go steel some ping-pong paddles from the kids" - apparently he hasn't seen Olympic table tennis!
Training with Patrick Franziska and Lubomir Jancarik at Dusseldorf TTC
Here's the video (16:14). Franziska of Germany is world #27; Jancarik of Czech Republic is world #111.
Maryland State Championships
I'll be running them at MDTTC, June 2-3. You have to be a Maryland resident to play in championship events (Men's and Women's Singles, Open Doubles, age events), but the rating events are open to all.
May 2018 World Ranking: Impact of 2018 World Team Championships
Here's the ITTF article.
India Can Be Among World's Top Five Teams in a Few Years
Here's the article from ESPN.
26th Butterfly Cape Fear Open
Here's the article on the tournament held in Fayetteville, NC.
Wild Table Tennis Art
Here it is - I have no idea what it is, but it looks pretty wild!
Challenge Pongfinity - Episode 14
Here's the video (4:01)! Wait till you see the guy rallying on two tables, and using an air dryer as a "racket"!
***
Send us your own coaching news!
Upcoming Tournament, Coaching, and Writing Plans
WORLD VETERANS AND USA NATIONALS.
I'll be at both, June 18-24 and July 2-7 in Las Vegas. For the Veterans (4046 entries!), I'll be doing daily online coverage for USATT. We also have a USATT board meeting during the Veterans that I'll attend. At the Nationals I'll be coaching, attending meetings, and of course going to the Hall of Fame Banquet where I get the Lifetime Achievement Award!!! (Hope to see some of you there.) Between the two, June 25-July 1, I'm taking a Las Vegas writing/reading "vacation," where I plan on getting a lot of writing done in my hotel room - see my writing plans below. I'm also helping with a pre-Nationals clinic for some of our junior players, plus I'll be running a 90-minute coaching seminar, tentatively on July 1, on Serve and Receive Tactics - you are invited to that! (I may move that to Tue or Wed night.)
TABLE TENNIS COACHING PLANS.
My shoulder is rapidly improving, and I actually think I probably could do private coaching now. I can tough my back with my right arm again (yay!), and no longer have to hold it with my left when I comb my hair. (Seriously, how funny does it look combing your hair while using your other arm to hold the combing arm?) But here's the problem - if I did so and re-injured it, I'd be right back where I was before. So I'm planning to wait until at least late summer or even September before I start up private coaching again. When I do so, I plan on greatly limiting my hours, probably doing private coaching only two times a week. This is both to minimize the chance of re-injuring the shoulder and other injuries, plus it opens up more writing time. For now, I'll continue just running group sessions.
WRITING PLANS.
I have both my table tennis and science fiction writing careers. After much reflection, I've decided these are my next books, in this order.
More and more these days I'm doing my writing at the huge eatery at Lake Forest Mall. Often I go there shortly after I finish my blog. Today I have a bunch of things to take care of (working on the Hall of Fame Program book for one, which I prefer to do on my desktop at home), but I expect to go there by early afternoon and have a late lunch and later on dinner there, while getting lots of writing done. If you are ever there, check the tables by the windows and I might be there! (Stop by and say hi, but please, for the love of Table Tennis, don't join me for lunch or dinner - seriously, I'm there to write!)
There's been a big change in my life recently as I find I get more writing done with Dr. Pepper than Mountain Dew. What a life-changer that is!!! :) (Pizza + soft drink = productivity.) These days I only drink soft drinks when I'm writing or at movies, so don't worry, I'm not overdoing it. After hitting 200 pounds in December, current weight is 179, and I'll be under 175 soon.
And while on the topic of writing, don't forget to support us poor, starving writers and injured coaches by buying some of my books. I may start a union, Union of Shoulder Addled Table Tennisers (USATT). (If you can come up with a better acronym, comment below.)
Thursday Beginning Junior Class
I taught the class last night, with John Hsu assisting. We started with 15 minutes of multiball footwork. Then we moved to the day's focus - pushing. We gave the usual demo (with a multi-color ball so they can see the backspin) and a short lecture, and then had them practice. All were able to create a decent backspin, even the youngest in the class, about age 7. Then we went to games, including the popular "worm juice" game for the younger kids, who are all getting too good at smacking the Gatorade bottle (as I feed multiball), forcing me to drink the dreaded "worm juice."!
Maryland State Championships
I'll be running them at MDTTC, June 2-3. You have to be a Maryland resident to play in championship events (Men's and Women's Singles, Open Doubles, age events), but the rating events are open to all.
Early Bird Deadline at the USA Nationals
The early "Early Bird" deadline is TODAY, May 11, so don't forget to enter TODAY!!! Tomorrow the cost for adults goes from $250 to $325, for juniors from $225 to $300. Here's the USA Nationals page, July 2-7 in Las Vegas.
Training Drills
Here are two new training videos from 3T Table Tennis Training.
Investigating, Implementing, Performing: Developing a Tournament Goal
Here's the article by Samson Dubina. "One year at the US National Team Trials, I was leading 3-2 against Mark Hazinski and leading 9-3 in the 6th game. After a series of aggressive mistakes by me, he closed the gap 9-8. I simply pushed and blocked the next 2 points to win the match 11-8 in the 6th. Walking off the court, my coach said, 'I would rather have you lose the match than to win it like that.' I replied, 'The goal was to win.'"
China's Table Tennis Continues to Dominate
Here's the article by Eli Baraty. "Knowing the outcome is a big problem for our sport or any sport for that matter! For example, if I took a Ferrari and a Ford Focus on a track and announced to all my family and friends come and watch these two cars race, I’m pretty sure no one would be interested."
Ma Long Multi Ball Training at World Team Championships 2018
Here's the video (3:41).
Xu Xin "Golden Hand"
Here's the video (8:13) from EmRatThich. "Xu Xin is not only the Show man. He also has the "Golden Hand" in table tennis. This is the best rallies of Xu Xin in the WTTTC 2018 World Team table tennis Championship in Halmstad."
Tomokazu Harimoto
Here are two recent matches of the 14-year-old Japanese whiz kid, now ranked #10 in the world.
Kozul Drops Racket
Here's the video (50 sec, including slo-mo replay). Denis Kozul (world #109 from Slovenia) is serving from down match point to Jon Persson (world #68 from Sweden), but drops his racket on the table right after the serve. Persson puts the ball in the net, so it's seemingly Kozul's point, right? But the umpire awards the point, and the match, to Persson. The reason is not given in the video. However, I suspect it's because Kozul apparently touched the table with his free hand while picking up his racket. But then, at the end of the video, the umpire seems to change his mind, and calls the score 7-10, now awarding the point to Persson, and the score boards now reflect that. So I'm not sure what happened here. An umpire can't change a judgement call, and if he judged Kozul touched the table, or did something else to lose the point, I'm not sure how he can legally change it from declaring Persson the 11-6 winner to 10-7.
Sports Science Conference Proves Resounding Success
Here's the ITTF article.
Music to the Ears of Nenad Bach, Bat on Ball
Here's the ITTF article. "Enthralled by the stars of the sport but there was another reason why the man, who enjoyed number one hits in Europe in the 1980s, was present in the Swedish west coast resort." "…he presented the Ping Pong Parkinson project, an initiative of which he is the founder having recently organised a tournament at the Westchester Club in New York for those who suffer from the illness."
Golden Paddle Trophies
Here's the picture. (Here's the non-Facebook version.) Now that's a nice looking trophy!
Ping-Pong Knockout Forehand
Here's the video (10 sec)!
***
Send us your own coaching news!
