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.
Tip of the Week
The Lead Problem.
MDTTC April Open, Weekend Coaching, Tim Boggan's History of U.S. Table Tennis, and a Serving Seminar
It's been a BUSY week, finishing with an even busier weekend. Here's a rundown.
HW Global Foundation Talent Development Program - They need your support!
Here is their GoFundMe page, where they are trying to raise $15,000. (They are currently at $9500.) I'm one of their coaches, and I hope some of you can help out! Until May 1, Hans & Wen Hsu, the HW Foundation founders, will match all donations for this Campaign, up $10,000. (All fees from the Serving Seminar I'm running - see segment above - will go to this.)
2019 USATT Hall of Fame Inductees
Here's the USATT announcement, by Sean O'Neill. Congrats to Michael, Zhenshi, Sharon, and Richard!
World Table Tennis Championships
Here's the home page for the event, April 21-28 in Budapest, Hungary. (So it starts next Sunday.) There are already a lot of news articles there.
U.S. National College Table Tennis Championships
Here's the page for the event held this past weekend in Greensboro, NC. Also see NCTTA Segment below. Here's USATT's livestreaming:
New from National Collegiate TTA
Forehand Attack Down the Line . . . A Simple Shot to Win Cheap Points
Here's the video (7:50) from Tom Lodziak.
New from EmRatThich
New from Matt Hetherington
New from Steve Hopkins
USA Hopes Week and Challenge: 15-21 April, 2019, Sacramento, CA
Here's the USATT info page. Five top kids from my club (MDTTC) are going - Stanley Hsu, Mu Du, Ryan Lee, James Zhang, and Michelle Kang.
Would You Like To See Your Balance?
Here's the article from Coach Jon. "Sometimes, just like your bank balance, your table tennis balance might not be as positive as you thought. There have been numerous articles written about this by Larry Hodges and others. In Larry’s Balance Is a Habit, he relates the epiphany he had about balance, and its importance. Eight years later, I’m having the same epiphany."
Table Tennis Fan
Here's the article by Eli Baraty.
Table Tennis Recognition: Learn about the importance and pitfalls of recognition
Here's the article by Samson Dubina.
History of USATT – Volume 22
Here is Chapter Seventeen of Tim Boggan's History of U.S. Table Tennis, subtitled "Voices wanting to be heard." Or you can buy it and previous (and future) volumes at www.timboggantabletennis.com. Volume 22 is 469 pages with 1447 graphics, and covers all the wild things that happened in 1996-97 - and I'm mentioned a lot! Why not buy a copy - or the entire set at a discount? Tim sells them directly, so when you order them, you get it autographed - order your copy now!
8 Questions with Mima Ito!
Here's the ITTF interview.
Inside My Mind | Timo Boll
Here's the ITTF video (64 sec).
Nittaku ITTF Monthly Pongcast - March 2019
Here's the video (18:30).
Table Tennis from the 1920s
Here's the video (63 sec).
Like A Boss! Ma Long x TATA Trickshot Challenge 2019
Here's the video (2:25)!
Pong-Pool Long Distance Serve
Here's the video (13 sec) of Scott Preiss!
World Table Tennis Day with Adam Bobrow
Here's the video (48 sec)!
Giant Z-Pong?
Here's the video (2 min)!
Table Tennis Arcade Game
Here's the video (27 sec)!
Table Tennis Tricks
Here's the latest video (1:28) from the Ping-Pong Kid!
***
Send us your own coaching news!
Tip of the Week
Remember Your Best Match.
Miscellaneous Topics
USATT and Houston Sports Authority Announce Bid for 2021 World Table Tennis Championships
Here's the cover letter! We have a really good chance. We'll know in about two weeks.
=>BREAKING NEWS (added Wednesday morning): Houston Makes Bid to Create History in 2021 (USATT article by Matt Hetherington)
Actions and Notices from the March 30-31 USATT Board of Directors Meeting
Here they are. Minutes will go up later, after they are approved by the board. Here is the USATT Minutes page.
ITTF-ATTU Asian Cup
Here's the ITTF page for the event to be held in Yokohama, Japan, April 5-7.
New from Eli Baraty
Brilliant Blocking Skills – with Paul Drinkhall
Here's the video (8:27) from Tom Lodziak.
New from Samson Dubina
I Am Standing Where the Ball Comes
Here's the Waldner meme. (Here's the non-Facebook version.) The point is that if you watch the opponent, you can figure out early where the ball is going, and so get there early rather than having to move at the last second.
Coaches Thinking Outside the Box
Here's the video (3 min).
Inside My Mind | Manika Batra
Here's the ITTF video (70 sec) on the world #56 (formerly 46) from India.
8 Questions with Timo Boll!
Here's the ITTF interview.
New from Steve Hopkins
New from the National Collegiate TTA
Dangerously Fast Table Tennis
Here's the article from Coach Jon.
Ma Long vs Fan Zhendong | 2019 ITTF-ATTU Asian Cup (Final)
Here's the video (16:04).
2019 XIOM Cary Cup Final - Filip Szymanski vs Jishan Liang (Highlights)
Here's the video (5:47).
World Table Tennis Day
Here's the ITTF World Table Tennis Day page, which took place Saturday.
Heading in the Right Direction, Exciting Future Ahead for USA Stars
Here's the ITTF article.
Kumar's Clean Sweep and Sung's Revenge Highlight Final Day
Here's the article by Matt Hetherington on the Youth National Ranking Tournament.
Sticking to What You Love, Even if it Means Late Nights & Long Commutes
Here's the article by Adar Alguetti.
Not Your Typical Fundraiser: Nonprofit Promotes Cheating to Raise Money
Here's the article. "Between black-tie galas and silent auctions, fundraising events in D.C. can get pretty stale. But one local nonprofit is shaking up the philanthropic scene."
History of USATT – Volume 22
Here is Chapter Sixteen of Tim Boggan's History of U.S. Table Tennis, subtitled "Liu takes Sears title." Or you can buy it and previous (and future) volumes at www.timboggantabletennis.com. Volume 22 is 469 pages with 1447 graphics, and covers all the wild things that happened in 1996-97 - and I'm mentioned a lot! Why not buy a copy - or the entire set at a discount? Tim sells them directly, so when you order them, you get it autographed - order your copy now!
The Making of the Ping-Pong Scenes in Forrest Gump
Here's the video (2:55)!
UCLA Pong Fundraiser
Here's the video (9 sec)!
A New Cat Pong
Here's the video (12 sec)!
David vs. Goliath Pong?
Here's the picture! (Here's the non-Facebook version.)
Ping Pong Stereotypes
Here's the video (2:56)!
Table Tennis on a Tight Rope
Here's the video (23 sec)!
Hot Stuff: Little Devil Pong?
Here's the comic book!
Move It Like Pauli!
Here's the video (25 sec) of this new table tennis dance!
***
Send us your own coaching news!
Tip of the Week
Positioning After Serve.
Donald Trump Visits MDTTC
We were all excited to welcome the President of the United States to our club. He played some matches, bragged about how good he was. Here's a picture of him playing.
ITTF and USATT Rule Changes and Announcements and a Board Brawl
And so this is what happens the minute I leave the USATT Board of Directors? The ITTF
proposed and approved a new rule that says that the umpire, at his discretion, after a great
rally, may award both players a point. This has got to be the single most ridiculous rule
idea ever, and yet has been approved, first by the ITTF, and now by USATT. And so,
literally right after winning an incredible point, your opponent will now also get a point!
Foolishly, when I first heard about the proposal, I assumed it would be voted down,
or perhaps laughed into oblivion, but it passed unanimously. Suppose there is no umpire,
only you and your opponent, and you win a great point - and your opponent applauds and
laughs, and says, "We each get a point!" I just hope they will rethink and revote on this
silly new rule.
Also, USATT made three other announcements. First, because rallies are getting too fast for
players to even react, we will be switching to a 40.1 mm ball. This will lower ball speed and
reduce spin. Second, former ITTF President Adham Sharara has been hired as a USATT
intern, in charge of accounting. While he is serving a four-year ITTF suspension, we are
lucky to have someone with his experience and history, who can help us tremendously.
Finally, USATT announced suspensions for the fight at the last USATT board meeting. It's
only now that some of the details of the infamous fistfight are coming out. I was in the middle
of it, arguing with the USATT Board of Directors that we needed Oxford commas in our by-
laws. I lost track of how many of them I punched, but I admit I was way, way out of line, and
so I have agreed to a serve another term on the USATT coaching committee as penance.
Cary Cup
The tournament was held this past weekend at the huge, 32-table Triangle Club in Cary, North Carolina. Here are the results! I was there to coach five Maryland junior players - James and Stephanie Zhang, Lance Wei, Todd Klinger, and (on Friday night) Nicholas Nash. I went down with Todd and his parents, Carolyn and Ron. I coached 27 matches, 18 of them on Saturday.
It was sort of a weird tournament for Stephanie, Lance, and Todd. They each played eleven matches on Saturday, with Lance also playing five on Friday night, and Todd three on Sunday (playoffs). Well over half the players they played either had long pips, short pips, or played with the Seemiller grip (with long pips or anti on one side). Lance played three Seemiller grip players, something he'd never played against before, and Todd played two. As I explained to them, the key isn't to learn how to play every single type of style - though you should know the general way to play each style. The key is being able to flexibly adjust your game for any opponent, which leads to you forcing your game on them. But it's easier said than done!
There was also a small scheduling problem on Saturday. For the "Big Round Robin," players started out in groups of five, with the top finisher to advance to Group A, the second finisher to Group B, and so on. For their first matches, it had B vs. E and C vs. D, with A getting a bye. This meant that for every C player, the first match was their most important match of the tournament. Lose it, and they'd almost for certain be down a division the rest of the tournament.
Todd, 14 and rated 1683 (but recently over 1800 until one bad tournament…), was a C player, and his first match was against the D player (1607), who had long pips. Todd lost the first, easily won the next two, was up 11-10 match point in the fourth, but ended up losing in five. And so he went down to the D's. But in this case, this actually led to a good thing! He followed up that loss by going 7-0 in the D Division, and then winning his quarterfinal and semifinal matches - nine consecutive wins against players who, while mostly rated lower, were all competitive, with some of them rated about the same or higher. Twice he was pushed to the end, only to play very well in the pressure points to win deuce in the fifth. In the final, he played a "ringer" rated 1448 but actually at least 400 points better than that. But the second-place trophy was HUGE! So was the $125 prize money check. So Todd was pretty happy. Here's a picture of the finalists, with Todd on the left. (Here's the non-Facebook version.)
James, 12 and rated 1896, was seeded for the B division, but the 2600 A player didn't show, and was replaced by a 2039 player from a waiting list. James beat the 2039 player 3-0 to advance to the A division. He had some great matches there, and gave at least two much higher rated players a good battle. Stephanie, 15 and rated 1967, a chopper, got stuck with some rather unorthodox players, including a long pips player who rolled ball after ball. But she got better and better, and pulled off two nice wins in her last two matches. Lance, 12, and rated 1790, also got stuck with lots of unorthodox players, plus he kept losing 11-9 games - but toward the end he was playing better and better, even getting his rapidly developing backhand loop into play. On Sunday, Lance also volunteered to help at the control desk, since he was hugely experienced with Omnipong from helping at MDTTC tournaments for the past year or do, without any mistaken results - and so, with Referee Wendell Dillon's permission, got to do data entry at a 4-star tournament for a couple of hours.
My Upcoming Tours
I've got a busy upcoming schedule - both work and travel. This is sort of my sightseeing year.) I just returned from coaching at the Cary Cup in North Carolina. Next weekend I'll be at the Ravencon Science Fiction Convention in Richmond, Virginia, where I'll be a panelist, and doing both a reading and a signing session. (Here's my Ravencon bio, where I make my claims that I'm the best science fiction writer in USA Table Tennis, and the best table tennis player in Science Fiction Writers of America!) I plan to go down early on Friday and visit the Edgar Allan Poe Museum. On Sunday, almost when I return from Richmond, USATT Historian Tim Boggan moves in with me for another 10-12 days to work on his latest History of USA Table Tennis, Volume 23. We'll be interrupted in the middle as I'll be running, along with Klaus Wood (who is gradually taking over) the MDTTC April Open, April 13-14.
But this really is my year of sightseeing. I'll be coaching at the US Nationals in Las Vegas, June 30-July 5, and then plan to spend a day at the Grand Canyon. (I'm told I was there when I was one year old, but strangely don't remember this.) From July 19-27 I'll be at my annual science fiction writing workshop vacation in Manchester, NH - this will be my eleventh one. But I plan to go up a few days early to tour Boston, which is one hour away: the Freedom Trail Tour for certain, and possibly some or all of the following: John F. Kennedy Presidential Library (I'm a presidential history buff), Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of Science, New England Aquarium, USS Constitution and Bunker Hill, Franklin Park Zoo, and perhaps visit the three local full-time table tennis clubs: Boston Table Tennis Academy, Boston Table Tennis Center (in Medford), and Massachusetts Table Tennis and Badminton Club (in Waltham).
And now we get to the BIG TOUR. After the MDTTC August Open (Aug. 10-11), on August 12 I'm flying to Dublin, Ireland, for the World Science Fiction Convention, Aug. 15-19. I'm going up early both to make sure things like my cell phone works (apparently a new SIM card), and also to tour Dublin and other parts of Ireland a bit. On Aug. 20 I'm on an official tour of ancient Ireland castles. And then the real fun begins. I'm doing a roughly 4-5 week tour of Europe and Egypt. (I especially want to visit historic sites. I've been to China, Taiwan, Japan, Canada, Mexico, the Bahamas, and all 50 U.S. states, but never to Europe.) I have rather detailed plans now for travel and tours, etc., with the idea that I will not set dates in stone so I can stay in any place as long as I choose. I'll be traveling mostly by Eurail, though I will likely rent a car in some areas.
The planned itinerary includes sightseeing in and around London (lengthy itinerary there), Edinburg (Scotland), Paris (lots of things there!), Omaha Beach, ITTF headquarters and other sites in Lausanne (Switzerland), Italy (Florence, Pisa, Sienna, Rome, Pompeii), then I fly from Rome to Berlin (historical sites and perhaps a Bundesliga match), then back to trains for Warsaw, Krakow (including Auschwitz and the Oskar Schindler factory), an unknown number of Eastern European countries (still undecided on this, but possibly quick stops in Prague and/or Vienna, maybe others on the way to Athens), and then many of the ancient sites in Greece (a driving tour of Athens, Sparta, Corinth, Mycenae, Olympia, Delphi). Then I fly from Athens to Cairo on a tour of the Great Pyramid and Sphinx in Egypt and a Nile cruise. After returning to Athens, I fly home. My expectation is that it will be toward the end of September before I return.
Youth National Ranking Tournament
It was held this past weekend at the ICC club in the Bay area. Here are some links.
Qatar Open
Here's the ITTF home page for the event held this past weekend in Doha, Qatar, with results, articles, pictures, and video. Lots of great stuff to watch and read, much of it featuring the return of Ma Long, who (SPOILER ALERT!) won Men's Singles. Here's the article 2019 World Tour Qatar Open Recap by Steve Hopkins. Here's the ITTF article, All hail Ma Long, the Comeback King of Qatar!
The Life of a Full-Time Table Tennis Coach
Here's the article by Tom Lodziak. "I’ve completed my first year of being a full time table tennis coach. Whoosh! The past 12 months have flown by. But what has it been like? Am I bored of table tennis yet? Did I earn enough money to pay the bills? Has my body survived the hours and hours of coaching? And what are my plans for the future?"
New from Eli Baraty
How to Maintain Mental Toughness in Table Tennis
Here's the article.
Out of SYNC
Here's the article by Samson Dubina. "After not playing for a few weeks, you might feel a bit sluggish or out-of-sync with your game. In this article, I want to explain why and give a few helpful tips that you can use to quickly restore and build your playing-level!"
New from EmRatThich
Forcing Forehands and Believing in Backhands
Here's the article by Coach Jon.
5 Key Secrets to Improve Your Consistency
Here's the video (6:51) from Table Tennis Daily.
Inside My Mind | Hugo Calderano
Here's the ITTF video (61 sec) featuring the world #6 from Brazil.
Werner Schlager - Unconventional Playing Style
Here's the video (3:02).
Ma Long & Fan Zhendong Training | World Team Championships 2018
Here's the video (7:58).
Kanak Jha vs Alexey Liventsov | 2019 ITTF Challenge Oman Open Highlights (R32)
Here's the video (11:40).
Akron Entrepreneur Hopes Table Tennis Academy Is a Hit
Here's the article featuring the new Samson Dubina Table Tennis Academy.
USATT Announces Recipients of 2018 Pong 4 Kids Grant
Here's the USATT article.
National Collegiate Table Tennis
This Orthodox Female Teenager is a U.S. Ping Pong Champion
Here's the article featuring Estee Ackerman. "She’s 17-year-old Estee Ackerman, winner of multiple gold medals at the U.S. Table Tennis championships and ranked #22 in the country. She’s the media sensation who, at age 11, beat tennis champion Rafael Nadal in ping pong. And she’s the one profiled in a lengthy article in the New York Times for prioritizing Judaism over sports, refusing to play on Shabbat or Jewish holidays."
SoCal Schools United in Table Tennis Competition
Here's the USATT article.
8 Questions with Kasumi Ishikawa!
Here's the ITTF interview with the world #4 from Japan.
WAB Club Feature: Houston International Table Tennis Academy
Here's the article by Steve Hopkins.
TT Dream Building Fund: Successful Candidates Revealed!
Here's the ITTF article, with the National Youth Table Tennis Association in Milwaukee one of the six winners.
Denver Table Tennis Alliance’s 2nd MENSUAL Tourney of 2019… Went GREAT!
Here's the article by Angelo Gandullia.
Southern Calif. Schools Table Tennis Tournament
Here's the article.
History of USATT – Volume 22
Here is Chapter Fifteen of Tim Boggan's History of U.S. Table Tennis, subtitled "Members Speak." Or you can buy it and previous (and future) volumes at www.timboggantabletennis.com. Volume 22 is 469 pages with 1447 graphics, and covers all the wild things that happened in 1996-97 - and I'm mentioned a lot! Why not buy a copy - or the entire set at a discount? Tim sells them directly, so when you order them, you get it autographed - order your copy now!
UCD Table Tennis: Nationals Campaign 2019
Here's the video (6:15) featuring the UC Davis TTC. (They are also asking for donations to go to the Collegiate Nationals.)
Another Incredible Secretin-Purkart Exhibition from Long Ago
Here's the video (3:31)! They were the Champions of France for many years, and Secretin was top five in the world.
Upside-Down Car Pong
Here's the picture! (Here's the non-Facebook version.)
Don't Do Drugs; Do Table Tennis
Here's the "Before and After" cartoon! (Here's the non-Facebook version.)
Fireman Water Pong?
Here's the picture!
***
Send us your own coaching news!
Tip of the Week
Advanced Sponge but No-So-Fast Blades.
USATT Committee Selection Task Force
Did your eyes glaze over just reading that headline? I'm on the task force, along with Eric Wu and chair Gary Schlager. We had three teleconferences, sometimes joined by USATT board chair Anne Cribbs and USATT attorney Dennis Taylor. The purpose of the task force was to sort through the 45 people who had volunteered for 19 USATT committees and make recommendations for the USATT board on who should chair and be members of each committee. It was a herculean task, made much easier by the herculean efforts of Gary and Dennis, who kept us updated on all the needed info. This weekend the board will meet for two days in the Bay Area in California where they will, among other things, finalize and approve the committees for the next two years.
As noted before, my latest two-year term as coaching chair ended recently, and Pieke Franssen has already been approved as the new coaching chair. I have agreed to stay on the coaching committee as a member, pending the board's approval.
Cary Cup
I'll be coaching at the Cary Cup in North Carolina this next weekend, and so no, I won't be at the USATT board meeting held 3000 miles away. I'll be in coaching four kids. This will actually be my first trip to the Triangle Club there since they were super-sized into the largest club in the country.
Weekend Coaching
Well, it finally happened . . . again. On Saturday I put down on my todo list "6PM: coach at club," as I was one of the coaches in the Saturday junior league coaching session (it's half league, half coaching). At 5:10 I got a phone call from one of the coaches asking if I was coming in - it actually started at 5PM, as I should have known! So I rushed over and go there at 5:25PM. It's the first time I've been late for a session in about a decade, and only the third time since we opened in 1992. (Once I was late because of a huge traffic jam, and the other time I had my coaching schedule wrong.) So my record of timeliness has dropped to about 99.985%, about 19,997 out of 20,000 sessions.
I spent thirty minutes of the session coaching doubles. As usual, the focus was on good doubles serves, receives, and positioning. We emphasized attacking deep serves - too many of the kids were passively pushing back serves that were loopable. They are often playing to win, and figure pushing is safer than looping, but if they can't loop here, in practice, how will they learn to do it in a real match? Yeah, if you have trouble with a shot, you don't avoid it, you find every opportunity to practice and use it until you no longer have trouble with it - and then you keep doing so until you the best in the world at it!
On Sunday, in the Beginning Junior Class, we introduced them to looping against backspin. I'm sometimes hesitant to teach that shot this early as many of these kids are 7-10 years old and have only played for two months, often just once a week during that time in our class. But it's good for them to see the more advanced shots so they both understand the game and can work toward doing these shots. After the looping session, we had a forehand-to-forehand and backhand-to-backhand contest. This not only helps develop their basic shots, but is sort of needed - after learning to loop, most of them would tend to lift many shots off the end, and so needed to get back to the basics.
In the more advanced Talent Program afterwards we also focused on fundamentals, with lots of multiball. We also did some up-town table games where players had to serve and attack to a specific spot - and one of them was where they had to serve and attack the opponent's middle, which was relatively new to the younger ones.
Qatar Open
Here's the ITTF home page for the event in Doha, Qatar, March 28-31 (with preliminaries on March 26-27).
Spanish and Oman Opens
Here are the home pages for the Spanish Open and Oman Open held this past weekend, with results, articles, pictures, and video. Here's the Oman Open Recap by Steve Hopkins.
Bruce Liu Elected to USATT Board, Savini and Hogshead Reappointed
Here's the USATT article by Matt Hetherington.
ITTF Level 1 Coaching Course - April 24-28, Flushing, NY
Here's the info page.
New from Samson Dubina
Table Tennis Short Game
Here's the article and video (7:14) by Eli Baraty.
Regional Collegiate Championships
They recently held six regional championships. They were livestreamed. Here are the results:
Four Tours, One Team: USA in Action Across the Globe
Here's the USATT article by Matt Hetherington, featuring USA players Wu Yue, Lily Zhang, Kanak Jha, Michael Tran, Amy Wang, Nick Tio, Kai & Aziz Zarehbin, Joanna & Rachel Sung,
First Appearance Of Year, United States Duo Upsets The Odds
Here's the ITTF article featuring Kai & Aziz Zarehbin.
US Para Team Lands Medal Haul in Europe
Here's the USATT article by Matt Hetherington.
Matchpoint Table Tennis Center Grand Opening a Success
Here's the article on this new full-time club in New Jersey.
Where Are They Now? Marcus "Ping Pong" Jackson
Here's the article by Steve Hopkins.
WAB Club Feature: Golden Link Sports
Here's the article by Steve Hopkins.
Two Local Juniors Battle it Out at Table Tennis Tournament
Here's the article by Andre Stoner, featuring Dion Payne-Miller and Marty Stoner.
Ryu Seungmin Anticipates Close Race in Tokyo
Here's the ITTF article on Ryu's predictions for the 2020 Olympics. (Ryu won gold in Men's Singles in 2004.)
5 Reasons Why We Can't Wait for the Liebherr 2019 World Championships!
Here's the ITTF article. "Just 30 days remain until the Hungarian capital of Budapest welcomes the world's biggest table tennis stars for the Liebherr 2019 ITTF World Table Tennis Championships from 21-28 April."
Ask a Pro Anything: Georgina Pota
Here's the video (5:21) with the world #34 (formerly #11) from Hungary, with Adam Bobrow.
ITTF Top 10 | 2019 ITTF-Europe Top 16 Cup
Here's the video (4:53).
Timo Boll vs Fang Bo | Champions League 2019
Here's the video (15:17).
"I Love This Game" - Part 2
Here's the video (5:45) with lots of great shots. Here's Part 1 (6:26) from 2016. Here are more table tennis videos from MrTheportal.
History of USATT – Volume 22
Here is Chapter Twelve ("1996 U.S Open Hall of Fame Banquet"), Chapter Thirteen ("Olympics - Part 1") and Chapter Fourteen ("Olympics - Part 2") of Tim Boggan's History of U.S. Table Tennis, subtitled "Olympics - Part 1." Or you can buy it and previous (and future) volumes at www.timboggantabletennis.com. Volume 22 is 469 pages with 1447 graphics, and covers all the wild things that happened in 1996-97 - and I'm mentioned a lot! Why not buy a copy - or the entire set at a discount? Tim sells them directly, so when you order them, you get it autographed - order your copy now!
Paddlestar Galactica Returns for a Full Month of Ping-Pong Madness for a Good Cause
Here's the article and video (2:08). "On April 7th, $200 will buy you a lot of dirty tricks for a good cause at 826DC’s Paddlestar Galactica ping-pong tournament. You could make your opponent play with their hand instead of a paddle, wear an eye patch, or be pummeled by ping-pong balls while receiving your serve. No, this is not your typical fundraiser–but 826DC is also not your typical DC nonprofit."
Xu Xin Smack and Catch
Here's the video (7 sec) - can you do this?
Crazy Trick Serve
Here's the video (20 sec, including slo-mo) - even in slow motion it's hard to pick it up!
Unbelievable Behind-the-Back Backhand
Here's the video (28 sec, with slo-mo replay).
Leon the Magician
Here's the video (1:52) as he does card tricks for the Japanese Women's Team.
Funniest Table Tennis Match Ever
Here's the video (5:25) of the exhibition between Jorgen Persson and Chen Weixing.
Paddle-Belly Pong?
Here's the video (44 sec) of the Saive brothers - Jean-Michel hitting and Philippe sort of standing there making faces.
***
Send us your own coaching news!
Tip of the Week
Challenge an Opponent's Strength.
USATT Election
As I write this, I am a member of the USATT Board of Directors. However, very likely later today I will no longer be on it as they will be counting the ballots in the current election. (I chose not to run for re-election.) The result will be announced on the USATT news page, though I don't know for sure if it will go up today. (I'll link to it directly from here when it goes up.) BREAKING NEWS - Bruce won, 260-208. Congrats to him!
The two candidates in the final runoff are Bruce Liu and Mike Babuin. While both have been sharply critical of USATT in many ways, I'm fine with either of them; I know I can talk to either of them. But that might not be the case for some of the people with USATT - there's going to be some friction involved with either of them. But maybe that's a good thing as it makes us really look at what we're doing.
When I ran for the USATT Board, I made it clear that I wanted to focus on "Progressive" issues, not "Fairness" issues. Both are equally important, but due to the nature of USATT, Fairness issues tend to dominate at the expense of Progressive ones. Here's where I blogged about this, USATT: Fairness Versus Progressive Issues. Unfortunately, during my four years on the board, Fairness issues completely dominated - every week there'd be another "emergency" issue of this nature, many of which few people even know about. Board members dealt with these time-consuming issues consciencously, but it took up much of our meetings. A huge amount of my board time (not just in meetings) was spent on issues such as SafeSport; the fairest and best way to choose National Teams (including the recent controversies over how the Olympic Team will be selected); whether USATT should get involved in trying to resolve the hidden serve problem (see below); changes in the Nationals and Open (and whether the Board should get involved, as most of these issues are currently decided at headquarters, not by the Board of Directors); dealing with disgruntled USATT members (including one member who managed to take up more board time in one year than the other 8000 combined - I spent 110 hours on his issues); numerous confidential personnel and legal issues; and many more.
In the end, I did set up a USATT League page, with a Prototype Regional Team League (and hope that eventually this will lead to something); got started on a USATT Education and Certification Program (with USATT High Performance Director Jörg Bitzigeio, who is in charge of the developing program); and a zillion other smaller things. Back in 2015 I tried to set up a Professional Players Association, but ran into so many problems (mostly involving whether non-citizens could play) that I finally dropped that one. We had a "Table Tennis Academy" at the Nationals, but with a small turnout, we didn't continue it. I'm still involved in a number of issues - I'm on the USATT Committee Selection Task Force, and have a teleconference this afternoon (Monday) at 3PM. (Addendum - and another Tuesday at 6:30PM.) I chaired the USATT coaching committee the last two years, and will likely stay on as a member.
Anyway, there are a lot of things that our sport needs, and whoever wins the election today will likely have plenty to do their first year. Good luck to both!
Pan Am Team Trials - Hidden Serves
I've blogged about this many times. Here are some of the serves in the recent final between Victor Liu and Nikhil Kumar, using the same illegal serving techniques used by most top players, including Ma Long, Fan Zhendong, and so on. (I don't like posting this since they are both juniors, but this was the Men's Final.) It's a big advantage to be able to hide the ball during the serve as it makes it much harder for the receiver to read the spin. (At the highest levels, they get used to this since it's so common, and it actually is a major weapon against up-and-coming players, who aren't as used to them yet - which is a reason most top players don't make an issue out of this.)
Before I get to the videos, let me be clear:
Some will argue that regardless of what an opponent does, one should follow the rules, even if it means losing a match. To them, I ask this question. Suppose you have trained since you were a little kid as a sprinter, and now are the fastest sprinter in the world. You go to the Olympics. As they are about to start the race, all the other sprinters take two steps forward. The officials allow it. The spectators and fans don't notice it. You have trained all your life for this, but can't win if you start two steps behind everyone else. Do you take the two steps forward? It's pretty easy to sit on the sidelines and take the high road if you aren't the one about to throw away a lifetime of training. The blame here isn't the athletes taking the two steps forward or who hide their serves; it's the officials who, worldwide, allow such travesties.
Now to the videos! And note that most of the serves are like this, with the hard part in most videos finding good camera angles. When you watch them I suggest freezing the video, then advancing it one frame at a time by hitting the period key. You can go back one from with the comma key. Notice the head dips that help hide the ball and contact.
The pertinent rules - and 2.6.6.1 is really the key one that is rarely enforced, i.e. if the umpire isn't sure about the legality of the serve, rather than fault the serve, they allow it, thereby allowing hidden serves. Yes, this means some non-hidden serves will be called, but that's the fault of the player who should be following rule 2.6.6.
Ping-Pong Restaurants
I know of four table tennis themed restaurants in the U.S. - places where you can have a regular sit-down meal and play table tennis. (So I'm not including bars that have ping-pong tables.)
Spanish Open
Here's the ITTF page for the ITTF Challenge event in Guadalajara, Spain, March 22-24 (with preliminaries March 20-21).
Oman Open
Here's the ITTF page for the ITTF Challenge Plus event in Muscat, Oman, March 22-24 (with preliminaries March 20-21).
RIP: Ulf Bengtsson
Ulf Bengtsson died yesterday at age 59. He was the 1984 European Men's Singles Champion, won bronze at the 1984 World Men's Cup, and was on the Swedish Men's Team that won Silver at the 1983 and 1985 World Championships. There will likely be an Obit on the ITTF news page sometime soon. Here's one from the English TTA. (Don't get him confused with Stellan Bengtsson, who is alive and well, and coaching in San Diego. As far as I know, they are not closely related.)
Here's Jan-Ove Waldner's Facebook tribute: "A good friend, fantastic teammate and master have left us yesterday. My thoughts go to your children and your family. The memories are many but I will never forget our time in Kalmar when we took Swedish championship gold together! Obviously, the European championship gold in Moscow in 1984 was the most memorable one! An amazing achievement from a fantastic player! Rest in peace my friend you will always be missing!" Here are four photos Waldner posted:
ITTF Executive Committee Statement on Former President Mr Adham Sharara
Here's the article. "The International Table Tennis Federation [ITTF] Executive Committee today confirms the suspension of Mr Adham Sharara, former President and current Honorary President of the ITTF, from all activity within or in connection with the ITTF for four years."
Strangely, Sharara seems to have recently been elected or named president of Table Tennis Canada (the Canadian TTA) - click on "Board of Directors." (Sharara is a former member of the Canadian national team and I think president of the Canadian TTA many years ago.)
3 Easy Drills To Improve Timing in Table Tennis
Here's the video (6:30) from Table Tennis Academy Coaches Dan Ives & Tom Maynard. "One of the biggest challenges in table tennis in our opinion is not technical but timing and rhythm of the shots, so we've released this coaching tutorial which has 3 exercises to help improve your timing and demonstrates the importance of getting this area in your game right."
New From Tom Lodziak
New From Eli Baraty
One Trick to Get More Spin on Your Sidespin Serves
Here's the article by Ben Larcombe.
Learnin' Experience - Read about 4 main keys to improvement
Here's the article by Samson Dubina.
Finding Your Table Tennis Identity
Here's the article by Coach Jon.
Visual Perception Training for Table Tennis Athletes
Here's the article and video (10:50) from Richard McAfee.
Inside My Mind | Ma Long
Here's the ITTF video (61 sec).
Heming Hu Videos
Here they are! Lots of instructional ones. He is the #1 ranked player from Australia (world #126) and a 2016 Olympian.
Timo Boll's Reverse Pendulum Serve
Here's the video (52 sec).
Timo Boll | Top 10 Shots | Table Tennis Legend
Here's the video (5:21).
Timo Boll vs Patrick Franziska | 2019 German National Championships | FINAL
Here's the video (6:36, time between points removed).
Who Will Host the Future ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Finals?
Here's the ITTF article.
Players Confirmed for Liebherr 2019 ITTF World Table Tennis Championships
Here's the ITTF article.
Omar Assar and Quadri Aruna to Lead African Charge
Here's the ITTF article.
Setting the Example: Chuang Chih-Yuan
Here's the ITTF article.
ITTF March Rankings – And a Peek at April
Here's the article by Steve Hopkins.
How One Woman Brought Ping Pong — And Feminism — To Work
Here's the article and podcast (7:19).
2019 Maryland Hopes Regional Camp and Tournament
Here's the USATT news item - this was from my blog last week.
Double-Ball Gnip-Gnop Doubles
Here's the video (31 sec)! "Gnip-gnop" - yeah, ping-pong spelled backwards - is the informal name of the game where you hit the ball downward and then over the net, instead of directly over the net. Give it a try! But maybe with one ball to start.
Blondie Table Tennis
Here are four Blondie comics that feature Dagwood and table tennis. (There are a couple of others that mention table tennis, but don't feature it.)
Benny the Bull Does Multiball
Here's the video (12 sec) as Mimi Bosika "destroyed him." Benny the Bull is the mascot for the Chicago Bears basketball team.
***
Send us your own coaching news!
Tip of the Week
How to Beat a MUCH Stronger Player.
U.S. Open and Nationals
The entry form for the US Nationals recently went up at the 2019 US Nationals Home Page. It's in Las Vegas, June 30 - July 5, and I'll be there! I'll mostly be coaching, though I'm toying with entering Over 40 Hardbat Singles - I've won it five times, and from the schedule it won't conflict with my coaching. (I'd like to play Hardbat Doubles, which I've won 14 times, but it would conflict with events I'd be coaching in, alas. Note that I normally use sponge, but like hardbat on the side.)
There's been some controversy about the cut in prize money. For example, first place in Men's and Women's Singles last year was $7000 each; this year it's only $3000. Overall, prize money dropped from last year's $44,725 to this year's $27,700. However, $7050 of this year's prize money is in the form of vouchers for junior events, which can only be used for "payment towards ITTF Tournaments, USATT National Ranking Tournaments and/or TTTeam USA / USATT Training Camps. Such vouchers are non‐transferrable." If you exclude the vouchers, prize money this year is $20,650, less than half of last years. I don't think we need to get into exact numbers; roughly speaking, prize money is about half of last years. (Here is the 2018 US Nationals entry form for comparison.)
I'm a member of the USATT Board of Directors (for another week, until they finish the current election, since I chose not to run for re-election). The decision to make these cuts was made at USATT headquarters (obviously as a cost-cutting change, we do have to operate within a budget), not by the Board of Directors or the USATT Tournament Committee. There was no board discussion about this and the USATT Tournament Committee chair says they were not consulted. (I was shown some sort of internal memo that said there would be "some changes in the prize money compared to the past," but I've checked and triple checked my email, and I wasn't CCed on that memo - and it's rather vague anyway, with nothing about the drastic cuts.)
There is an internal debate going on right now on whether this was a policy decision (which would come under the jurisdiction of the USATT Board and Tournament Committee) or part of the day-to-day running of the sport (which is run by USATT headquarters). It does seem like a big policy change, but at this point, with only one week left in my four-year term, I'm going to let my successor and others on the board debate on this issue. But there really are two questions: Who should make this type of decision, and whether it was the right decision.
Below is the email I wrote to the board when we started receiving emails complaining about the cut in prize money - I since found a copy of last year's entry form. The James is James Therriault, who first emailed the board on this issue.
I confess that I proofed the Nationals entry form in advance and didn't pick up on the prize money cuts. No one said anything about this big change and I proofed mostly the wording, and so didn't catch it. (I also didn't have a copy of last year's entry form to compare it to. Does anyone have a copy, or is there one still online? The 2018 US. Nationals page doesn't seem to be online anymore.) The first I knew about it was from the letter from James. Presumably these were cost-cutting changes from headquarters, but I really don't know - it wasn't a board decision. Like James and Dan, I'm a little leery on what the effect is going to be for members when they see the cuts in championships events, and how it will affect entries.
There has been other discussion about the Nationals and Open. Here's what Carl Danner wrote about the Nationals (reprinted with his permission), and my response. (Carl chairs the USATT High Performance Committee and is president of the USATT Foundation. I did some minor formatting.)
I think it's a good time for a broader discussion about the Nationals. When I stand in the middle of the playing hall, it's hard to tell by looking around what year it is (or even decade). That seems somewhat odd.
To me, today's Nationals:
- is a service that USATT provides to its members at a typical financial loss -- because even where there is a profit on the books, that generally doesn't count all the paid time that USATT staff also puts in;
- is not growing as it has drawn about the same number of players for decades, plus or minus a hundred or two depending on particular circumstances;
- provides pretty good conditions for the advanced players (at a cost, including floor mats and many of the umpires), and mediocre ones for everyone else;
- is run well, something that's easy to overlook except for those of us who remember what a poorly-run event feels like;
- has typically offered perhaps $40,000 - $60,000 in prize money, largely provided by the participants themselves; as an example, $40,000 divided by 800 players is an added $50 per person in entry fees;
- has been consistently hampered in hotel sponsorships because many players don't use the tournament hotels and rates;
- is not spectator-friendly and makes little from paid admissions;
- does meet the needs of many regulars who want to play some matches, socialize with friends, and watch some good players also;
- has been able to draw some sponsorships (thank you, partners!), but not enough to transform any significant aspect of the event.
Now a few things have been tried in recent years, including the separate finals venues and all-court floor mats at the World Vets and the Open. But none of those have been transformative either, and the notion that we should just find someone who will rain sponsorship money on the event is a nice idea that's been tossed around forever without consistent results.
Throw into the mix what we have been hearing about Las Vegas as a venue, that it's getting more costly as a site and that our really good deals there may be gone.
What are some questions and options?
- Why is the event so costly to run? The financial losses seem real despite the high level of entry fees. Maybe it's easier to explain in light of the number of matches or some other variables, but it's probably worth understanding better.
- Would splitting off some other events make sense and permit more growth? Perhaps it's time to consider a separate junior or senior Nationals. The World Vets seemed to bring out many U.S. players who don't go to the Nationals, what was better about that?
- Should we aim to elevate the top player aspect of the event, with better presentation, prize money and a push for spectators? Or enhance the average player's experience, as they are most of the base and paying most of the freight? Or should these be two different tournaments?
- Should players continue to be able to enter the Nationals directly, or should there be regional qualifications in some way? Perhaps these could be a source of growth.
- What about small cash prizes for ratings and age events (the topic of these emails)? Are they essential, or would nicer awards and some enhanced prestige factors be an effective substitute?
- What about local organizing committees that might want to build the event over time? For example, Grand Rapids did a nice job with its Opens in local sponsorship and publicity, but some players said they didn't like going there. Are we better off in a bigger destination city, but mostly ignored?
- Do we care about growth, or is this just a good service to members in its present form (with only fine-tuning needed)?
- USATT HQ staff are pressed already with all they have to do, and the Nationals and Open activities absorb up a great deal of their time and thus limit other services they could provide. Is that ok?
And of course, there is no need to go drastically in any of these directions all at once -- but it might be helpful for us to figure out if there is a direction that we intend to move over time.
As an innovation, our current Nationals mostly dates from the 1970s. Is it time to innovate further?
Here is my response:
Very good points, Carl. An underlying problem is that we are trying to satisfy two masters - the USATT membership that wants to play in the event, and the top players and spectators that want a more professionalized event. I suggest we consider what our vision for the Nationals and the Open should be. Here's mine.
US Open: Aim to turn this into a huge annual professional event, like the U.S. Open Tennis Championships. Bid it out, look for entrepreneurs with a vision and action plan to make it so, one that would be enticing to TV and major sponsors. Hiring a CEO with the vision and ability to get this done should be key. USATT's willingness to give up some control of the event may also be needed. A one-day Giant or Tiered RR run in conjunction, perhaps at the very start or end, might be possible to draw players/spectators and raise revenue (if we can get enough tables), but otherwise only "championship" events. (This could include senior and junior events, run single elimination.) This is our "Professional" event, and hopefully a major ITTF event.
US Nationals: Keep this as the classic historical event we've had for many years, with the goal of a thousand or more USATT members getting together each year in lots of events, with progressively more prize money in the major events as the numbers and sponsors go up. By having only one such event each year, instead of running both the Nationals and Open this way, means we'd get more players at the Nationals as "The Event" the members all go to each year. With a thousand players, we not only get much more in entry fees, but we can also charge sponsors more for booths and for sponsoring tables, balls, and clothing, as there would be more players. With all this extra revenue, we can afford very good prize money in major events while giving USATT members a great annual event that everyone will want to attend. We should also consider bringing back some historical things we stopped doing, such as the huge players party, as well as clinics, "Meet the Pros," and other features that would turn it into a "must attend" event for members. This is our "USATT members" event.
2019 Maryland Hopes Regional Camp and Tournament
Here is my write-up of the Hopes Camp and Tournament we just held at MDTTC - I was one of the coaches and ran the tournament. (There are a LOT of links afterwards, so don't miss those!)
2019 Maryland Hopes Regional Camp and Tournament
March 8-10, 2019 at Maryland Table Tennis Center
By Larry HodgesForty-two kids, the large majority ages 9-11, congregated at the Maryland Table Tennis Center for two days of training on Friday and Saturday, and (for those born after Jan. 1, 2007, i.e. 12 and under) the regional Hopes tournament on Sunday. Here's a group picture. Here is a photo gallery by Jay Chelur.
Running the camp was USATT National Team Coach and Alameda TTC Coach Pieke Franssen, who flew in from California - taking an all-nighter to Charlotte, NC, and then to Dulles Airport in Virginia around noon, where I picked him up. Wang Qingliang was the main assistant coach - he's on the USATT National Coach Development Team. Others assisting were myself, Lidney Castro, Jeffrey Zheng, and two new Vietnamese Regional Team Members who just moved to Maryland, the brothers Khai and Khoi Dinh. (Khoi Dinh was #2 player on the Vietnamese Junior National Team this year before their family immigrated to the U.S. three weeks ago.) Also hosting were organizer Wen Hsu, and Carolyn Klinger, who took charge of meals at the club. (Here's her non-Facebook picture.) The camp had four sessions, Friday 4:30-6:30PM and 7:30-9:30PM, and Saturday 12:00-2:30PM and 5:30-7:30PM. (Players in the Hopes Tournament were required to come to the camp.)
Each session started with jogging, followed by agility exercises. This usually took up to 30 minutes. Pieke had a range of different ones, all involving various side-stepping. Then we got the tables. The level of play was very high, with two rated over 2140, eight over 1890, and nineteen over 1700. Here are pictures and video (from Facebook). (The kid running side to side in one video is U.S. Open and Nationals 10 and Under Champion Stanley Hsu, who is demonstrating the drill for others. They then broke into six groups and everyone did this and other speed drills.)
How do you run a camp with 42 players on 17 tables? Pieke and Wang organized it so that for the first three sessions, about one-third of the players would do multiball. We had four multiball tables, with Lidney, Jeffrey, Khai, and Khoi feeding as I called the drills. We generally had 14-16 players, so each table had 3-4 players. For many drills, we'd do two players at a time (the others doing ball pickup), with the players doing a footwork/stroking sequence and the rotating out so the player did the drill. Other times one player would do the drill while one or two others stood behind them, shadow-stroking the drill. We also did some interactive drills, where 2-3 players would sometimes get involved. We finished each multiball session with the "box" challenge, where we'd put a box (actually a spaghetti colander) one racket length from the far end of the table, and the players on each table would do drills where they took turns, 2-4 shots each, trying to knock it off the end. It took a number of hard shots, but when they did it, the winning team each got a "trillion dollar bill" (I had a collection of them), or, later in the camp, their choice of that or a Jolly Rancher candy.
The rest of the tables were one-on-one practice, with Pieke and Wang calling the drills and coaching. Alas, I rarely got to see that since I was back in the multiball area. However, I had a copy of the practice schedule, with lots and lots of drills that were mostly centered around serve, receive, and footwork. The players worked hard! (We didn't really give them a choice, did we?)
On Sunday we had the Hopes Tournament, with 20 boys and 7 girls. The girls played a complete round robin while the boys played five groups of four, with two advancing from each group to single elimination. Congrats to the Champions and Final Four! Here are the main results:
- BOYS: 1st: Patryk Zyworonek; 2nd Mu Du; 3rd Andrew Cao; 4th James Zhang
- Here's a group picture of the Boys - L-R the players are Andrew Cao (3rd), Patryk Zyworonek (1st), Mu Du (2nd), and James Zhang (4th). Coaches are Jack Huang, Wang Qingliang, Larry Hodges, Pieke Franssen.
- GIRLS: 1st: Michelle Kang; 2nd Rachel Wang; 3rd: Rachel Ku; 4th: Alyssa Kang
- Here's a group picture of the Girls - L-R the players are Rachel Ku (3rd), Michelle Kang (1st), and Rachel Wang (2nd) (Alyssa Kang missing). Coaches are Wang Qingliang, Pieke Franssen, and Jack Huang.
After the Hopes events, we had three rating events - Under 2300, 1900, and 1400. Here are complete results (including Hopes), care of Omnipong. And here are the ratings, processed by USATT on Monday. Below are the main results, linked to pictures:
- Under 2300: 1st Jackson Beaver; 2nd Danny Wan; 3rd Feng Xue; 4th Todd Klinger
- Under 1900: 1st Kurtus Hsu; 2nd Feng Xue
- Under 1400: 1st Rachel Ku; 2nd Ryan Lin
A big thanks goes to all those who helped with the camp, to the superlative job of fellow coaches Pieke, Wang, Lidney, Jeffrey, Khai, and Khoi, and to Referee Paul Kovac and Umpire Stephen Yeh, to Jackson Beaver (and half the local junior program!) for helping at the control desk, and to sponsors USATT, MDTTC, JOOLA, and HW Global Foundation.
Little Rock Hopes
Here's the article by Michael Lauro about the Regional Hopes camp and tourament in Arkansas, with pictures and video.
USATT At-Large Board Director Election - Round 1 Results
Here's the USATT article. If you think about it from a purely political point of view, Lily might have been handicapped. Why? Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that East Coast voters tend to vote for East Coast candidates (Mike and Lily), while West Coast voters tend to vote for West Coast candidates (Bruce). Let's also assume that Chinese voters tend to vote for Chinese candidates (Bruce and Lily), while non-Chinese voters tend to vote for non-Chinese candidates. (Remember, we're talking tendencies in a political framework.) Giving these assumptions, Bruce gets most of the west coast vote and splits the Chinese vote; Mike gets most of the non-Chinese vote and splits the east coast vote; while Lily only gets to split both the east coast and the Chinese vote. Now if someone wants to look deeper into this, they could investigate if there are tendencies, as I hypothesize here, or other ones, and also the number of voters in each of these demographics - but I'll leave that to someone else.
Here are the first-round results, with a second round this Wed-Sun (March 13-17) to decide who takes my current position on the Board. (When I blog next week they will likely be counting the votes, and hopefully they'll know the winner by the end of the day.)
HW Global Foundation Talent Development Program - They need your support!
I'm one of their coaches on Saturdays and Sundays, and I hope some of you can help out! Here is their GoFundMe page, where they are trying to raise $15,000. Until April 1, Hans & Wen Hsu, the HW Foundation founders, will match all donations for this Campaign, up $10,000.
USATT Nominates Players for the 2019 World Table Tennis Championships in Budapest, Hungary
Here's the USATT article.
How to Do a Forehand Flick – with Paul Drinkhall
Here's the article and video (5:43) from Tom Lodziak. (A flick is another term for a flip, i.e. an attack against a short ball.)
More Spin
Here's the article by Samson Dubina.
New from EmRatThich
ITTF Level 3 Coaching Course - September 4-11, 2019 - Akron, Ohio
Here's the USATT info page. From the USATT Coaches Courses Page, there are three upcoming courses:
Lauro's Passion Rewarded with National Volunteer Coach of the Year Award
Here's the USATT article by Richard Finn.
Why is Boll Strong? #6
Here's the article and video (4:08).
Is There a Table Tennis Offseason? Should There Be?
Here's the article by Coach Jon.
Table Tennis Atmosphere
Here's the article by Eli Baraty.
Big Matches Upcoming for US Players in Europe
Here's the USATT article by Matt Hetherington, featuring Lily Zhang, Kanak Jha, Michael Tran, Victor Liu, and Rachel & Joanna Sung.
Canadian Championships Underway
Here's an info page.
Hugo Calderano: The Brazilian Looking to Take Budapest by Storm
Here's the ITTF article.
Pitchford Aims to Open Dialogue Around Depression and the Pressures and Expectations of Succeeding in Sport
Here's the article from MH Table Tennis. English #1 Liam Pitchford is world #17.
Díaz Sisters on Female Idols and Celebrating International Women's Day
Here's the ITTF article featuring Puerto Rican stars Adriana and Melanie Diaz.
China’s 2019 Championships Team: Not Marvellous?
Here's the article by Steve Hopkins.
Germany Still Chasing First Singles Gold, Will 2019 Be the Year That Changes?
Here's the ITTF article.
Olympian & Paralympian Business Development Program
Here's the info page.
Nittaku ITTF Monthly Pongcast | February 2019
Here's the ITTF video (16;24).
WAB Club Feature: California Table Tennis
Here's the article by Steve Hopkins.
JOOLA Sponsors ICC
Here's the article. They recently sponsored my club, MDTTC. They also just signed Triangle TTC.
Navin Kumar's Movie Character Publicity Poster
He recently had his first film role in the upcoming movie, "Attack of the Unknown," as Atul, the SWAT Team Driver. Here's the publicity poster. (Here is the non-Facebook version.) Navin is "The Bionic Man" from table tennis. (He's actually be in a number of news videos.)
Scoop Off Floor, Backspin Comeback Return
Here's the video (19 sec)!
We Don't Have Exhibitions Like This Anymore
Here's the video (1:53) of the famed French players Jacques Secrétin and Vincent Purkart.
Jason and Alex Piech at the 2019 Arnold Sports Festival
Here's the video (3:09)! Here are some of their past videos.
Ping-Pong Trickshots
Here's the video (3:35)! These are some incredible and crazy trick shots. (I think I can do any individual trick shown, but doing them all together, in sequence . . . how many attempts would it take?)
Advice, Skill, or New Rubber?
Take your choice! (Here's the non-Facebook version.)
***
Send us your own coaching news!
Tip of the Week
Be an Olympian - In Your Mind.
USATT Election, Coaching Committee, and the USATT Committee Selection Task Force
Show Biz Pong!
Back in 2013 I had a wild day as a table tennis consultant on the set of the TV show Veep. Here's my blog about it. At their request, I also brought in three other local players, Khaleel Asgarali, Toby Kutler, and Qiming Chen. We all got paid, and I know at least Toby appeared in the episode - but none of us got any official credit, and so didn't get our own IMDB pages. Dang!!! (IMDB = Internet Movie DataBase, which also includes TV shows.)
Recently a student of mine, Navin Kumar, had his first acting and producing job, as "Atul," a "SWAT driver" in the movie Attack of the Unknown. I started wondering how many other USA players have IMDB pages.
I knew of some of the more obvious ones, and others who had bit roles in table tennis movies. But how many were there? So I asked on Facebook - and found there were a lot more than I expected! The reality is that, based on how many I got just from my Facebook friends, there are a LOT more that I don't have here. So if you have an IMDB page and have ever had a USATT rating (my minimum standard), feel free to comment below, including the web address of your IMDB page. Here are the ones I know of.
HW Global Foundation Talent Development Program - They need your support!
I'm one of their coaches on Saturdays and Sundays, and I hope some of you can help out! Here is their GoFundMe page, where they are trying to raise $15,000. Until April 1, Hans & Wen Hsu, the HW Foundation founders, will match all donations for this Campaign, up $10,000. Here's the first paragraph from their page:
"Continuing last year's fundraising success, which brought our coaches to the U.S. Nationals in Las Vegas, this year we are establishing the HW Global Foundation Annual Campaign. Our annual campaign will partially fund the participation of our talented, young athletes in training camps and tournaments all year long. To stand out among other rising stars, our kids work hard all year to qualify for these special events, and we do not want their families' inability to pay for these events to hinder their progress. It is important to note that our annual campaign will not cover any operational costs HW Global Foundation may have; 100% will go to our young athletes to allow them to train and compete at a high level at national training camps and tournaments. We will have a process for families to request funds to help their worthy kids attend special training and competition events. We will summarize these events on our website."
Weekend Coaching
Or should I say - non-weekend coaching? I did coach the Thursday Beginning Junior Class, where we introduced pushing. The Saturday Junior League (which is half league, half coaching) was on hiatus as there was this big Chinese Alumni Tournament at MDTTC all day and night. Meanwhile, we were watching the weather forecasts, which predicted snow all day on Sunday, starting around noon and going past midnight, with up to six inches. By Sunday morning the forecasts had changed, with mostly rain, and then snow starting around 3PM. But that was still a problem, with a Beginning Junior Class at 4PM and the advanced Talent Development Program at 5:30PM. So we ended cancelling both around 11AM on Sunday. But it turned out we were right on the edge of the storm, and after we cancelled, it took a slight turn - and almost completely missed us! There was light snow, but not enough to stick on the roads.
Table Tennis Books by Larry Hodges
Yep, this is one of those periodic postings where I ask you to support a poor (relative to Jeff Bezos), starving (I had a small breakfast and it's almost lunchtime) table tennis (and science fiction) writer by buying my books! Here are my table tennis books that are currently sold on Amazon:
Or you can try out Tim Boggan's History of U.S. Table Tennis series; Dan Seemiller's Revelations of a Ping-Pong Champion; or Samson Dubina's 100 Days of Table Tennis.
2019 USA Nationals in July
The USATT page and entry form are now up! The Nationals will be in Las Vegas, June 30- July 5. (The first day, Sunday, June 30, is only for Junior and Mini-Cadet Teams.)
2019 Pan American Games Trial and First Adult National Ranking Event Tournament Homepage
Here's the USATT page with complete results, video, and photos. Here's an article on it, Pan Am Games Team Trial Review, by Steve Hopkins.
ITTF Coaching Courses in the U.S.
There is a Level 1 and a Level 2 course coming up in Tigard, Oregon - see below. (Here's a USATT news item on the Level 2 course.) There is also a Level 3 course scheduled September 4-11 at the Samson Table Tennis Academy in Ohio, but info on that is not out yet.
Simple Foundations of Balance and Movement in Table Tennis
Here's the article by Matt Hetherington.
Backhand to Forehand Grip Change and Footwork
Here's the video (5:32) from Eli Baraty.
New from EmRatThich
New from Tom Lodziak
Friction Videos
Here are the two video (3:31 and 3:04) from Samson Dubina.
'Inside My Mind': Bernadette Szocs
Here's the ITTF article and video (1:12). She's the world #21 (previously #12) from Romania.
Timo Boll Signs Off in Style on Dramatic Weekend of National Championships Action
Here's the ITTF article on Timo Boll winning Men's Singles at the German Nationals for the 13th time.
Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng Book Budapest Places
Here's the ITTF article on the two winning the Trials to represent China at the Worlds. Includes results at the end. Here's a related article, Ding Ning responds, Fan Zhendong stands alone. Here is another, Marvellous Twelve Review, by Steve Hopkins.
The Academy Awards of Table Tennis
Here's the article by Coach Jon.
History of USATT – Volume 22
Here is Chapter Eleven of Tim Boggan's History of U.S. Table Tennis, subtitled "1996 U.S. Open." Or you can buy it and previous (and future) volumes at www.timboggantabletennis.com. Volume 22 is 469 pages with 1447 graphics, and covers all the wild things that happened in 1996-97 - and I'm mentioned a lot! Why not buy a copy - or the entire set at a discount? Tim sells them directly, so when you order them, you get it autographed - order your copy now!
Unbelievable - Table Tennis
Here's the video (3:14) from GT Table Tennis.
The Incredible Boy Harimoto
Here's the video (6:02). Tomokazu Harimoto (JPN) is #4 in the world (and #1 outside China) at age 15. (He'll turn 16 on June 27.)
John Travolta vs. John Travolta Pong
Here's the video (24 sec)! It's really about a 2-sec video repeated over and over, but it's kind of mesmerizing.
Happy Table Tennis Birthday
Here's the video (1:23)! Make sure to send it to table tennis friends and family on their next birthday. (Now I can't get that irritating tune out of my head…)
Goping Pong
Here's the video (30 sec) of this huge lawyer vs. insurance adjuster battle!
Around-the-World Against Lob
Here's the video (35 sec) with Adam Bobrow doing the nonchalant lobs.
Super Trick Shot
Here's the video (16 sec) of one of the more elaborate and impressive trick shots I've seen. I especially like the rebound shot off the block!
Non-Table Tennis - "Plop Plop"
My humorous science fiction story "Plop Plop" is now up at Galaxy's Edge! What happens when you are trying to murder your skydiving father and uncle, but they must hit the ground in the right order ("Plop Plop") to get your inheritance . . . and unexpected visitors from the future keep dropping by?
***
Send us your own coaching news!
Tip of the Week
Top Ten Ways to Turn a Match Around.
Weekend Coaching
This past week in my two Beginning Junior Classes (Thursday and Sunday nights) the focus was on smashing. We started the sessions (which are two different groups of players) with about 30 minutes of basic stroking and footwork drills. Then came the demo and lecture on smashing. Then the players went into their groups, and either smashes against multiball, or against coaches who fished. (My assistants on Thursday are Lidney Castro and Aron Zhang; on Sundays Lidney and John Hsu.)
At the Saturday Junior League (which is half league, half coaching), we did the usual doubles and singles matches, often with improvised rules to force players to work on specific aspects of their games. For example, one segment, for the lower-ranked players, had them serving backspin to the backhand, the receiver pushed down the line to the forehand, the serve forehand looped, and they played out the point. For the advanced players, they had similar drills, such as serve and backhand loop, or serve and loop against a deep push anywhere.
At the Sunday Talent Program (more advanced juniors), as usual I did lots and Lots and LOTS of multiball in my station. (We often break them into rotating groups.) We also had them play up-down tables, except (like the Saturday league), the server served backspin, receiver pushed to forehand, and server forehand looped. Then came physical training and then Brazilians. And then I raced home to watch the Academy Awards! (I've seen every movie nominated for Best Picture and nearly every other movie nominated for anything.)
USATT Committees
Here's the USATT news item. Here's my January 28 blog on this. Alas, just when I thought I was almost done with my USATT work as a board member, I was pulled back in! I was asked to be on the USATT Committee Selection Task Force, along with Gary Schlager and Erica Wu. I now have 35 resumes and/or letters of intent to go through from an even 30 people who have applied to be chair or a member of one or more of 19 committees.
How did I get pulled into this? Oh yeah, I said yes….
I also have an excel spreadsheet with the 30 names along the left, and the 19 committees across the top, with a "c" for those interested in chairing a committee, or an "m" if interested in being a member. There are a total of 51 committee requests. Guess what I'll be doing this afternoon?
USATT Election
(I told all three candidates that I'd run links to all of their campaign items, and will run this election segment every week until the election on March 3.)
A USA Table Tennis election is taking place. I just received the USATT election email, and presumably so did all adult USATT members. If you did not, contact USATT. If USATT doesn't have your email address or your DOB, you wouldn't have received the email, so contact them and give them this info.
There are three candidates running for my current position - Mike Babuin, Bruce Liu, and Lily Yip. (As I've blogged about, I chose not to run for re-election. It's someone else's turn! I expect to stay neutral in the election.) My term was supposed to end Dec. 31, but for various reasons it was postponed, and the bylaws say I stay on the board until they finish the election. That should happen either in about a week (if one of the three gets over 50%), or about three weeks or so (if they have to do a runoff between the top two finishers).
Here is the USATT Election News Item. Here is the pertinent info from it:
Here is election info from each. They are alphabetized, but please see info on all three.
=>MIKE BABUIN
=>BRUCE LIU
=>LILY YIP
2019 ITTF Junior Circuit, Swedish Junior & Cadet Open
Here's the home page for the event held this past weekend in Orebro, Sweden. (I think it was held in conjunction with the Safir International junior event.) Team USA won one gold and five bronze:
2019 ITTF Swedish Youth Open
2019 Safir International
2019 Pan American Games Trial and First Adult National Ranking Event Tournament Homepage
Here's the USATT news item.
Capital Area League
The Capital Area League is for players in the Maryland/DC/Northern Virginia area. Here's the note just sent out: "Today, February 25th is the last day for the $50 Early-Bird savings. Don't miss out! If you were thinking of forming a team, take advantage of the savings and register by 11:59 pm today. You have until March 5th to finalize your player roster. If you have already submitted a team and paid your fee, thank you. Need a team? We may be able to help. Send us a note. Register now." (Final deadline is March 5.)
Pongmobile Cup
Here's the video (5:35) of the tournament highlights of the Pongmobile Cup held this past weekend in Washington DC. Here is the recorded livestream (9 hours 46 min - but you can jump around), and here are the results! Here's the Butterfly news item.
Ten Things That Require Zero Talent
Here's the picture. (Here's the non-Facebook version.)
Reverse BACKHAND Pendulum Serve
Here's the article by Samson Dubina.
Table Tennis Rules
Here's the article by Eli Baraty. (And someone spent some Photoshop time getting Arnold from "Commando" into a table tennis picture!)
A Tale of Three Tournaments
Here's the article by Coach Jon. Article and video features 1949 English Open (Reisman vs. Barna), 1997 Worlds (Waldner vs. Samsonov), and 2017 Worlds (Ma Long vs. Fan Zhendong).
Talented Left Handers, Major Challengers
Here's the ITTF article that features USA cadet start Nikhil Kumar.
Table Tennis Tidbits #44
Here's the article and video (40min) from Robert Ho. "Not Losing vs Winning: At the 2018 China Championships, Wu Yang, currently the top woman chopper in the world played teammate Ding Ning, twice Women’s World Champion, and an Olympic champion. Although they have had numerous close matches, I’m not aware that Wu has ever beaten Ding."
WAB Featured Club: NYITTC
Here's the article by Steve Hopkins.
Backhand Serve Against a Left-Handed Player
Here's the video (2:05) from Viktor Tolkachev. The same serves work for a lefty against a righty.
The Deadly Strawberry Flip
Here's the video (3:41). (From last year, but I don't think I ever linked to it.)
Inside My Mind | Quadri Aruna
Here's the ITTF video (64 sec).
Daniel Habesohn | Behind-the-Back Master
Here's the video (60 sec). He's world #37 from Austria.
Liebherr 2019 ITTF World Table Tennis Championships
Here's the ITTF promo video (31 sec) for the event coming up April 21-28 in Budapest, Hungary.
World Rankings Video
Here's the video (59 sec) featuring the world top ten from 2016 to present.
Is China's Dominance in Table Tennis Real? Ranking History of Table Tennis (2001-2019)
Here's the video (5:37).
Nittaku ITTF Monthly Pongcast - January 2019
Here's the video (12:55).
Birmingham Man Holds World Record in Table Tennis
Here's the video (2:20) featuring Homer Brown.
Philip and Parkinson's
Here's the video (2:23). "I made a film about my friend Philip, his battle against Parkinson's disease and how table tennis helps him through it. Not an easy watch but I hope you take a look."
Ma Long Withdraws from Marvelous 12
Here's the ITTF article.
Chinese Table Tennis Chief Will Give Up Pay for 'Poor" Games Preparation
Here's the article featuring Liu Guoliang.
Africa Signs Memorandum of Understanding
Here's the ITTF article. "Earlier in February the European Table Tennis Union signed a Continental Development Memorandum of Understanding; now Africa has followed suit."
History of USATT – Volume 22
Here is Chapter Ten of Tim Boggan's History of U.S. Table Tennis, subtitled "May-July 1996 Tournaments." Or you can buy it and previous (and future) volumes at www.timboggantabletennis.com. Volume 22 is 469 pages with 1447 graphics, and covers all the wild things that happened in 1996-97 - and I'm mentioned a lot! Why not buy a copy - or the entire set at a discount? Tim sells them directly, so when you order them, you get it autographed - order your copy now!
A Little Side-to-Side Footwork . . . with Paddle in Mouth?
Here's the video (1:30)! That's Egyptian Paralympic star Ibrahim Hamadtou.
Ping Pong: The Animation Opening
Here's the video (1:29).
Mirrored Pong Maneuvers
Here's the video (29 sec)!
Table Tennis Whacks Climate Change Deniers
Here's the cartoon!
How the Sport Was Named - and the Third Choice
Here's the cartoon!
***
Send us your own coaching news!
Tip of the Week
Judging the Depth of a Serve.
Offensive Clothing
At some point I'm guessing we are going to be faced with the following situation. Someone shows up at a tournament wearing something that, to some, is offensive, while to others, it is not. Before I get into this, here's the pertinent rule:
3.2.2.6, Clothing shall not carry designs or lettering which might cause offence or bring the game into disrepute.
The tournament referee has to judge this, and they will have varying judgments. So where do we draw the line? I'm fairly certain every referee will rule Nazi symbols are offensive, and not allow it. But how about someone wearing a Confederate flag? Would it make a difference if they do this in, say, South Carolina as opposed to New York? Some might find Islamic or Christian symbols offensive, so how does the referee judge this? Would he allow someone wearing a shirt with a picture depicting Allah? (It is offensive in the Islamic faith to show pictures of Allah. People, especially cartoonists, have been murdered for doing so.)
Remember the Charlottesville matches, where one group on video was chanting, over and over, "Jews will not replace us." What if someone shows up at a tournament with that slogan on his shirt? I don't think the referee would allow this. He also probably wouldn't allow, say, profanity. I once saw a player wearing a profanity-laced shirt at a one-star tournament, and the referee allowed it, saying it was free speech. But I don't think most referees would agree. I once saw a player who had the "F" word written on the front of his left shoe, and "You" on the right. Nobody complained and I don't think the referee even knew about it. If I were coaching a junior against this player, should I complain to the referee? Probably not, but only because the distraction of bringing in the referee would probably distract my player more than the opponent. But I might mention something to the player or the referee after the match.
One thing that I'm sure will happen, if it hasn't happened already - someone will show up at a tournament wearing a MAGA hat - yes, a Trump "Make America Great Again" hat. (No, I'm not going to get into the politics here, but remember that it's not the words that many find offensive, but that it's a symbol for something they find offensive.) However, this isn't really a problem as hats normally aren't allowed in tournaments, due to this rule:
3.2.2.1 Playing clothing shall consist of a short-sleeved or sleeveless shirt and shorts or skirt or one-part sports outfits, socks and playing shoes; other garments, such as part or all of a tracksuit, shall not be worn during play except with the permission of the referee
Note that hats are not part of the playing clothing listed, and it says "other garments" shall not be work except with the permission of the referee. Most referees do not allow hats, so it's likely the referee simply won't allow hats, MAGA or otherwise. Of course, someone will then wear a MAGA shirt, and someone's going to get offended. If I were the referee, I'd allow the MAGA shirt, but not the MAGA hat - but then I'd have to be evenhanded about it, and normally not allow others to wear hats either.
But what happens when, say, a bald player insists on wearing a hat? Or many-time U.S. Champion Patty Martinez, who wears a visor when she plays because the light from the ceiling bothers her eyes? Or a Jewish player who wants to wear a yarmulke, or an Islamic women who has to cover her head? Things get complicated. I know in the case of Martinez that she's normally allowed to wear the visor, but at least one referee at the Open or Nationals a few years ago wouldn't allow it. Islamic women are normally allowed to wear headgear in tournaments.
Of course, if a MAGA hat or shirt is offensive to some, what if someone shows up wearing pro- or anti- Republican or Democratic clothing? God, I hope we never get USA politics mixed into USATT politics. It could get rather heated. (I've already had my share of such heated arguments. Frankly, I'm tired of them since there is roughly a zero chance that arguing is going to change anyone's political opinion.)
I have a "Make American Smart Again" hat. If I wore that at a tournament, perhaps on the sidelines, would that offend anyone, since it's somewhat of a sarcastic response to a MAGA hat?
How about a shirt that says, "Death to America"? Or the more mild "Down with America"? Or one that shows the American flag in a disrespectful way? At one U.S. Open or Nationals many years ago, Pete May wore USA flag clothing, I think shirt and shorts, that were I think the same ones used by members of the USA Track and Field Team at the time. The referee wouldn't allow it. Others would. It's the referee's judgment. Would these shorts be allowed? Here's the US Flag Code - it specifically says:
"No part of the flag should ever be used as a costume or athletic uniform. However, a flag patch may be affixed to the uniform of military personnel, firemen, policemen, and members of patriotic organizations."
And yet the online gift shop for the U.S. Olympic Committee sells flag shirts. How about this jacket, which I have in my closet, which I bought at the gift shop at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs? How about Rocky flag shorts? Or how about this picture of the 2018 Olympics USA Flag Bearer, and this one of a 2014 USA Olympic Team Opening Ceremonies Outfit? The code says, "No part of the flag shall be used as a costume or athletic uniform" - and those aren't just flag patches!
Weekend Coaching
I've managed to keep our Thursday and Sunday Beginning Junior Classes in synch. In both classes this past week we introduced them to spin, and in particular spin serves. I always start the class by having them volunteer to try to return the serves, so they have a good idea of what's going on before I start the lecture and demo. Then, as I always do, I break out the JOOLA spinballs, which are half white, half orange, and allow beginners to see spin. This way I can demonstrate the various spins and they can see how they react on the table. For them, it's like a magician show as I do backspin serves that come back into the net, sidespin serves that curve about and hit targets, and topspin serves that jump.
Then I distribute the spin balls, one per player, and have them practice spinning the ball - spin and catch; spin and catch; spin and catch. The younger kids usually can't do this, and for them, I let them just bounce the ball up and down. After a few minutes of this, I collect the balls, demo some of the specific types of serves (forehand pendulum, forehand tomahawk, and backhand serves), and then do a recap of fast & deep serves (which we covered two weeks ago), and then give them the choice of working on spin serves or fast serves.
I told the class that there's no chance any of them would be able to serve with enough backspin to make the ball come back into the net. As always, someone proved me wrong - in this case, two kids were able to do it. One even managed a serve that bounced back over net to his side! (I was a witness, and he was only eight years old.)
On Saturday night in the Junior League (which is half league, half coaching) I worked with a number of players on doubles. In singles, a number of players were having trouble backhand looping so we did a number of league matches where players had to serve backspin, receiver pushes to backhand, and server had to backhand loop.
One kid stayed later to practice serves on Saturday night (yes, Saturday night!!!), and I worked with him for a time. He's a lefty and was working on breaking his serves wide to a righty's forehand. I pointed out that there are three versions of this he should learn - ones that double bounce short to the forehand, ones that bounce short but go off the side of the table very wide (so table is in the way if receiver tries to loop it), and ones that go very long, with a big break into the forehand. Different players have trouble with different ones, or have trouble if you vary these three.
In the advanced Talent Development Program, as usual I did lots of multiball. Then I got to work with a number of the kids on serves - that's always my favorite topic, along with tactics. One kid is developing a really good backhand serve, but was hesitant to use it as someone had told him he wasn't tall enough to do the serve. Paddlesticks!!! But there is some truth to the idea that some kids have trouble doing forehand pendulum serves until they are older - for them, it's better to start out with a forehand tomahawk serve. One kid was developing that serve so I worked with him on that for five minutes.
Portugal Open
Here's the ITTF home page for the event that took place this past weekend in Lisboa, Portugal, with results, articles, pictures, and video. Here's the article, Major Upsets at the 2019 Seamaster ITTF Portugal Open.
USATT Sad to Announce the Passing of Former National Coach Zhang Li
Here's the USATT news item. Here's the Butterfly news item. This is very sad news. I knew her pretty well from coaching camps and major tournaments. A lot of players never realized we had a coach and former player of such high level - and a great person as well. Here's a picture of her as the USA Women's Coach at the 1993 Worlds - she's front middle. (Husband and Men's Coach Li Zhenshi is back row, second from right.) Here's the non-Facebook version.
USATT Announcement Regarding Committee Invitation
Here's the USATT news item. Here's my January 28 blog on this.
USATT CEO Position Information and Job Description
Here's the USATT news item. Want to be the next USATT CEO? Here's your chance!!!
USATT Election
(I told all three candidates that I'd run links to all of their campaign items, and will run this election segment every week until the election on March 3.)
A USA Table Tennis election is taking place, with three candidate running for my current position - Mike Babuin, Bruce Liu, and Lily Yip. (As I've blogged about, I chose not to run for re-election. It's someone else's turn! I expect to stay neutral in the election.) Here is the USATT Election News Item. Here is the pertinent info from it:
Here is election info from each.
=>MIKE BABUIN
=>BRUCE LIU
=>LILY YIP
2020 USA Table Tennis Olympic Selections
USA Olympian Wang Chen created a "We the People" White House petition about the 2020 Olympic Games Athlete Selection Procedures. As I blogged on January 7, I don't agree with them either. All three of the candidates running for my position on the board are also against them. It's unlikely they'll get the 100,000 needed, but who knows. (NOTE - I put this up a few hours after the blog went up, so initial readers might not see this.)
New from Matt Hetherington
New from Samson Dubina
New from Tom Lodziak
Develop Your Table Tennis Belief
Here's the article by Eli Baraty.
Times Change But Some Things Never Change
Here's the ITTF article on Vladimir Samsonov - still competing near the top at age 42!
Success Cannot Be Achieved Without Failure – Lily Zhang’s Pan American Cup Reflections
Here's the article by Lily Zhang.
Banana and Strawberry Flips
Here's the video (54 sec). The ones that go to our left are the more conventional "banana" flips, while the ones that go to our right are rarer, somewhat unconventional "strawberry" flips, so-named and popularized by Stefan Feth. (A banana flip stroke goes through the shape of a banana; for a strawberry flip, Stefan just needed another type of fruit for the name!)
Table Tennis for All
Here's the new video (38:15) from PingSkills, #272.
Paddle Du Jour
Here's the article by Coach Jon.
New from Steve Hopkins
Final Call for Sports Science Congress Abstracts
Here's the ITTF article. "Staged immediately prior to the Liebherr 2019 World Championships, organized in conjunction with the University of Pecs and the Hungarian Table Tennis Association, the 16th ITTF Sports Science Congress will be held on Friday 19th and Saturday 20th April. The final submission of abstracts has been extended; the deadline date is Friday 8th March."
National Collegiate Table Tennis February Newsletter
Here's the new issue.
LI Table Tennis Phenom Estee Ackerman, 17, Eyeing 2020 Olympics
Here's the article from the NY Newsday.
Elite Table Tennis Athletes – How Do They Do It?
Here's the article from Table Tennis Spot - with a great, colorful action drawing!
History of USATT – Volume 22
Here is Chapter Nine of Tim Boggan's History of U.S. Table Tennis, subtitled "International News." Or you can buy it and previous (and future) volumes at www.timboggantabletennis.com. Volume 22 is 469 pages with 1447 graphics, and covers all the wild things that happened in 1996-97 - and I'm mentioned a lot! Why not buy a copy - or the entire set at a discount? Tim sells them directly, so when you order them, you get it autographed - order your copy now!
Behind-the-Back Chop-Lob That Comes Back!
Here's the video (58 sec) from Arnaud Scheen!
My Dream [Table Tennis] House
Here's the picture! (Here's the non-Facebook version.)
This Ping Pong Kid Has Incredible Moves!
Here's the new video (3 min).
Three-Sided Ping-Pong
Here's the video (26 sec).
Pyramid Mini-Pong
Here's the picture! (Here's the non-Facebook version.)
Tennis Pong
Here's the video (23 sec)!
Zhang Jike's Insane Birthday Celebrations
Here's the video (25 sec)!
***
Send us your own coaching news!
Tip of the Week
Wanting to Win Versus Hating to Lose.
Pink Eye
As noted the last couple of days, I've been sick in bed with Conjunctivitis, i.e. "Pink Eye." I'm 80% over that, and no longer look like Frankenstein's monster. There's still a lot of puffiness, I'm still going through Kleenex faster than a coach can feed multiball, and I have the energy of a smooshed ping-pong ball, but I'm back in action. Alas, my stomach seems perpetuall queezy right now.
USATT Election
A USATT election is taking place, with three candidate running for my current position - Mike Babuin, Bruce Liu, and Lily Yip. (As I've blogged about, I chose not to run for re-election. It's someone else's turn! I expect to stay neutral in the election.) Here is the USATT Election News Item. Here is the pertinent info from it:
Here is election info from each.
=>MIKE BABUIN
Mike has produced eleven videos where he covers various USATT issues. (He told me he's recorded about 30 so far, and the rest will go up regularly over the next couple of weeks.)
=>BRUCE LIU
=>LILY YIP
USATT Teleconference
USATT had a teleconference on Monday night (Feb. 11, 7PM to about 9:30PM), which will likely be my last USATT meeting. Up until a couple hours before it began I wasn't sure if would be able to attend, or at least speak in the meeting due to my voice being a croak due to "pink eye" (see above and previous blogs). But my voice miraculously cleared up late that afternoon, probably due to the antibiotics I'd started taking the day before. Here's a rough synopsis. (I think all nine board members attended, plus a number of staff and committee chairs.)
2020 USA Table Tennis Olympic Selections
USA Olympian Wang Chen created a "We the People" White House petition about the 2020 Olympic Games Athlete Selection Procedures. As I blogged on January 7, I don't agree with them either. All three of the candidates running for my position on the board are also against them. It's unlikely they'll get the 100,000 needed, but who knows. (NOTE - I put this up a few hours after the blog went up, so initial readers might not see this.)
Portugal Open
Here's the ITTF home page for the event taking place now through this weekend in Lisboa, Portugal.
USATT and ITTF News Items
Rather than redundantly link to every one of their main news items, here are their news pages. I've linked directly in segments below to many of the most interesting ones.
New from Samson Dubina
New from Tom Lodziak
New from Eli Baraty
New from EmRatThich
Creativity in Table Tennis
Here's the article by Coach Jon.
Backspin Back Through the Duct Tape
Here's the video (18 sec, with slo-mo replay) of Matt Hetherington. I tried this once and hit the tape a zillion times on the way back before I was able to get it through one time. But seriously, this type of practice is great for developing spin and serve control. Put various targets on the table and spin your serves so the ball hits them on the way back or swerves around them. (Here's a good place to link to Matt's Coaching Blog index.)
Loop, Loop, Smash Combo
Here's the video (5 sec) - a loop against backspin, a loop against block, and then a smash.
The First Episode of ITTF's Inside My Mind, Featuring Ding Ning
Here's the video (68 sec).
Timo Boll | Training 2019 Table Tennis
Here's the video (7:12).
Training with Adrien Rassenfosse
Here's the video (13:57) of the Belgium player, from Arnaud Scheen.
DHS ITTF Top 10 - 2019 Hungarian Open
Here's the video (6 min).
Half a Century of Playing the US Open Started in a Red Mustang and a Road Trip
Here's the USATT article featuring Homer Brown, by Richard Finn. In December Homer competed in his 50th consecutive U.S. Open. (I'm chasing him - I've been to every Open and Nationals since 1984 - 35 in row for both - and every North American Teams (previously called the U.S. Open Teams) since 1976 - 43 in a row.
Royals Induct Former Broadcasters Into Wall of Honor
Here's the article on USATT Chief Operating Officer Mark Thompson as he is inducted into the Reading Royals (hockey team) Wall of Honor.
WAB Featured Club: Han-In Table Tennis Club
Here's the article on this New Jersey club, by Steve Hopkins.
Boston Bruins’ Pucks & Paddles Raises $119,000
Here's the article by Steve Hopkins.
History of USATT – Volume 22
Here is Chapter Eight of Tim Boggan's History of U.S. Table Tennis, subtitled "Reader's Views." Or you can buy it and previous (and future) volumes at www.timboggantabletennis.com. Volume 22 is 469 pages with 1447 graphics, and covers all the wild things that happened in 1996-97 - and I'm mentioned a lot! Why not buy a copy - or the entire set at a discount? Tim sells them directly, so when you order them, you get it autographed - order your copy now!
Let's Get More Females Playing Table Tennis!
Here's the USATT video (2:15), featuring Lily Zhang and Wu Yue.
Table Tennis, Best Of
Here's the video (7:33).
Table Tennis - "Never Give Up!"
Here's the video (5:41).
2018 Table Tennis Year Review
Here's the video (5:12) from Pong Universe.
Enter the Snake: Twist of Fury
Here's the video (2:45) featuring Adam Bobrow. It's pretty hilarious - why don't more players use this shot? My guess is it'd be pretty effective up to perhaps the 2000 level, and sometimes beyond that! You should be able to read the bounce of the ball by the way it's spinning in the air toward you, but since you are not used to seeing this shot, few players can react correctly. Strong players who are nimble on their feet and don't react prematurely can adjust at the last second after seeing the bounce - but it's tricky!
Table Tennis Challenge w/ Timo Boll | Müller vs. Hummels
Here's the video (14 min) - I'm not sure what's going on as it's in German, but it has Timo Boll, and involves "around the table" play and some sort of challenge match. Presumably Müller and Hummels are some sort of celebrities? Comment below if you have any idea of what's going on.
Sunny Bunnies Table Tennis
Here's the cartoon video (31:52, with the first 3.5 minutes featuring table tennis)!
Space and Table Tennis
Here's the cartoon!
Crazy Funny Table Tennis Ping Pong
Here's the video (2:19)!
The Funniest Moments of Table Tennis 2018
Here's the video (23:59)!
***
Send us your own coaching news!
