Periodic Physical Checklist
Okay, here's mine! (Confession – I was up half the night on something, and woke up with a headache. This inspired me to write about health stuff. It's also why today's blog is a bit shorter than usual. Back to more serious table tennis tomorrow!) I have very tight muscles, and because of that I tend to get too many injuries, alas. Part of it is my insistence of playing a physical game rather than just be steady and block. If this is boring to you, skip to the other stuff below!

• Weight. I started dieting early in October. In about six weeks I've gone from 196 to 181, mostly by practically living on a wide variety of soups and snacking on granny smith apples and carrots. The only problem is I've been stuck at 181 for a week – I'm not sure why as I haven't changed my diet. I plan to get to 175, or maybe 170. (I'm 5'10" for perspective.)
• Back problems. I've had minor one recently. Some may remember that twice I've had to take weeks off because of these back problems. The solution turned out to be simple – the muscles on the right side of my upper back were so much stronger than the ones on the left side (due to table tennis) that they were pulling the spine out of alignment. Solution? A simple stretching exercise where I stretch those upper right back muscles.
• Arm problems. I still wear an arm brace as I can still feel soreness in my arm. I'm mostly being protective as wearing it really protects the arm problem from getting worse, and it's rather important to me since I coach professionally. I blogged about the solution to this problem on May 21 (second item) – hard to believe that six months later I'm still wearing the brace, but it does the job. I'm debating whether to wear it at the Nationals, but I probably should or I'll likely re-injure it with all the hitting I'll be doing in the hardbat and sandpaper events. (That's what I do when I'm not coaching or attending meetings! But I normally play sponge.)
• Shoulder problems. I've had periodic shoulder problems in three specific spots in my shoulder, and I can still feel soreness in the three spots. But I haven't had any shoulder problems in a while.
• Weight training. I started doing this 2-3 times a week in early October. I took last week off at the writing workshop, but am back at it again. I've lightened the routine, focusing on leg, stomach, and lower back exercises, plus chest press.
• Eyes. I had an eye checkup yesterday. It seems my right eye has gotten a bit worse for distances, but not enough yet to need new glasses. I only wear glasses for sports (including table tennis), movies, TV, and when driving. I can read pretty comfortably without glasses, but for extensive reading I use reading glasses, mostly for the right eye. If I hold a book about two feet away, I can see fine with either eye, but even there the right eye is slightly blurry. About a month ago I accidentally rolled over on my reading glasses, bending them badly, and the left lens fell out. But since my left eye is almost just right for reading, I don't need it, and so I now only have one lens in the glasses.
• Teeth. I see a dentist every six months, and after a number of problems all through the 1990s, I've been fine since.

How to Play Table Tennis
Here are two new coaching videos from the ITTF. Both feature Michael Maze.

• Service Receive (2:47)
• Backhand Topspin (2:47)

Ask the Coach Show
Episode #188 (24:50) - Koki Niwa's Service Return

USATT Insider
Here's the new one that came out yesterday.

Champions League 2015/2016 - Dimitrij Ovtcharov vs Jens Lundqvist
Here's the video (6:06, with time between points removed). German star Ovtcharov is world #4, the top non-Chinese player in the world (and one spot ahead of Zhang Jike). Swedish star Lundqvist is currently only #98, but at the Swedish Open this past weekend he upset Zhang Jike, and he was ranked as high as #19 in the world back in 2003.

Liu Shiwen, Queen of Amazing Rallies!
Here's the video (2:07).

Samsonov Playing with Sandpaper
Here's the video (1:45).

How You Transport a Ping-Pong Ball
Here's the picture – it takes hundreds of trips to bring in all the balls needed for a tournament! (I think Paul Bunyan is playing King Kong.)

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Mental Strength – with Jan-Ove Waldner's Tips for Peak Performance
Wow, what a great book! I just read Mental Strength (available from Amazon), by sports psychologist Gregor Schill, former Swedish star Malin Pettersson, and of course Jan-Ove Waldner, the legend and arguably the greatest player of all time. There are nine chapters:

1. Mental Training – in Theory
2. Attitude and Enjoyment
3. Self-Confidence
4. Stress Management
5. Winner Instinct and Goals
6. Preparations and Continuous Development
7. Focus and Concentration
8. Twelve Tips for Sports Parents
9. Mental Training – in Practice

Most chapters starts with Waldner's comments, followed by Schill's (which usually build on what Waldner said), followed by Pettersson's, followed by exercises. I marked my copy up with notes; here are some highlights. (There is great stuff by all three, but I'll focus here on some of the best stuff from Waldner, with apologies to Schill and Pettersson. Otherwise this would be one very long review! Most of the text that's not attributed directly to Waldner or Petterson is by Schill.) There are lots of charts and color pictures.

Preface by Jan-Ove Waldner. "Since I have always been very conscious of how important the mental or psychological game is within table tennis, it went without saying that I would share my thoughts on the subject when Malin and Gregor asked. Because, in truth, the question is not whether you should train the mental aspects, but rather how you should train them." This basic concept, so obvious to champions, is lost on most players.

Chapter 1: Mental Training – in Theory. It starts by going over some of the mental challenges players face. I thought about some of the junior players at my club and every one of them have had difficulty with some of these. They also gave results of a survey done at the Olympic Games, with results that were somewhat obvious to some of us, but might be surprising to many. "Out of all the survey participants, 29% used some form of Mental Training. Of those who went on to reach the finals, the number was 58%; and of the medalists, as many as 67% regularly engaged in purposeful, goal-oriented Mental Training." And from this, there were two conclusions: "1. Mental Training works, and 2. Those who really want to be the best, leave nothing to chance."

There were a number of other important sections, such as a section on Think Confidently. "Think as if you knew for sure that you could do it." You should be surprised when you miss, since otherwise you aren't very confident, and if you aren't confident, you won't play well - yet most players don't understand this.  Under the "Don't Use Don't" section it explained how the subconscious mind – the part that controls your play – doesn't understand the words "don't" and "not," and so you shouldn't use them. (Tell yourself what you want to do, not what you don't want to do. When you tell yourself not to miss, all your subconscious hears is "miss.") There's also sections on "Thoughts and Images," on "You Always Have Access to 'Your Best You,'" and on "Feelings and States of Mind."

Chapter 2: Attitude and Enjoyment. Waldner: "Your attitude and how you behave is incredibly important, both to you, your opponent and to the team, if you're on one." "I often change my behavior based on who I am up against." (He then gives examples.) You also learn about "Realistic Optimism."

Chapter 3: Self-Confidence. Waldner: "This is my strong suit." "I always turn negative thoughts and situations to my own advantage. If I don't feel 100% satisfied, I take so-so things and elevate them so that they become fantastic things instead." The chapter goes on to explain the value of self-confidence, how to tell if you have it, and how to train for it. (One item I underlined was, "Link your development to process goals, not results.") It also goes over the value of affirmations, a habit I've noticed most top players use, and gave examples.

Chapter 4: Stress Management. Waldner: "I try to keep my thoughts focused on tactics, such as what kind of serve I want to use and how to follow up. I always focus on the next ball." This is one of seemingly basic things that so many don't understand. The mind can only think about one thing at a time, and if you think about tactics, you are not worrying about losing or getting distracted. The chapter went on to give examples of training stress management.  

Chapter 5: Winner Instinct and Goals. Waldner: "During practice I still keep score inside my head, even if we aren't playing a match. It's good to find little things that give you motivation." This is such a great tip I plan to bring this up with my students! (I've done this myself, long ago when I used to train, but it was so long ago that I'd forgotten about it.) The chapter goes on to give examples and training methods for this, including this (obvious?) nugget: "In order to win, you can't be afraid to lose." This is something stressed by nearly all champions – Michael Jordan, for example, always pointed this out. Many players are paralyzed by fear of losing. Hating to lose and being afraid to lose are not the same thing.

Chapter 6: Preparations and Continuous Development. Waldner: "I have always looked a great deal at other players to learn how they play and act in different situations . . . in other words, I make sure to use others in order to develop myself."

Malin had some nice tips here – here are a few excerpts:

• "I was often told 'practice a bit more than everyone else and you will become a bit better than everyone else.' Sure, that is good advice, but to always train purposefully, and know what you want to improve is even more important. Just asking your coach what you need to improve simply isn't enough. It is just as important to be curious yourself, and think about what it is that you need to get better at."
• "It is important that the coach starts by asking questions, to force the player to reflect over what he/she needs. Then the coach can input his/her opinion. But always start by making the athlete think about it first by using relevant questions, which in turn makes the athlete understand why you practice or train in a certain way."  
• "If you know that you practice a certain serve because it can help you attack faster with your forehand and win points, which in turn leads to making it through a few more rounds in each competition, then you may be more careful about following through with your serve training without anyone having to tell you to do so."

Chapter 7: Focus and Concentration. Waldner:

• "Of course I can lose my focus when the ball hits the edge of the table or if my opponent psychs me out; but if I am balanced and prepared for it, I can still keep my concentration."
• "The point is to eliminate everything else around you, and try to focus on tactics. Sometimes I fix my gaze on someone in the crowd, but what I am actually thinking about might be which serve I should try next, for example, or how my opponent usually acts in this particular situation."
• "That is why I have learned that thinking about the outcome is not something that benefits me. If you focus too much on the results, a tied score may be enough to increase your tension; and if you are afraid of losing ranking points, or not winning a certain prize, then it becomes much more difficult to go with the flow and enjoy the moment. For me, it's all about winning the next ball – that's it. I don't worry about the rest."

This was followed sections on Focus and Concentration in Theory; Focus on the Process, Not the Outcome; and Focus and Concentration in Practice. The latter goes over eight points:

1. Optimal Tension Level
2. Focused, Being in the Now
3. Plans, Routines
4. Optimal Physical Preparation
5. Clear Goals and Feedback
6. Belief in Yourself
7. A Feeling of Satisfaction
8. Balance Between Challenge and Ability

Malin has a lot to say on this, such as, "In order to really find the right focus before a match, it may help to take a few minutes by yourself and think about matches in which you played really well. Re-experiencing previous victories is one way to find that wonderful, self-confident felling you want to have when you go in to play a match." There's also a nice quote from track superstar Michael Johnson: "Physically relaxed + mentally excited = world record." The chapter finishes with a nice section on Creating Triggers – ways to get yourself into the same mode as when you are at your best.

Chapter 8: Twelve Tips for Sports Parents. This probably should be required reading for all parents of junior players. There's a list of 12 Tips here that I might blog about sometime later.

Chapter 9: Mental Training – in Practice. This was a short chapter that gave examples of practicing mental training at four times:

• Well Ahead of Performing (basic training)
• Shortly Before Performing
• While Performing
• After Performing

The book finishes with a 12-week blank diary, with sections you can fill in.

Now for the down side on this book: at $28 for book that's 95 pages (not including diary), it's expensive. (Also, it's only in print – no ebooks.) So if money is the issue, I suggest you and a few others from your club go in on it, and take turns. You'll be glad you did. When it's your turn, take notes, perhaps with a marker or colored pen (that's what I did), and make sure to jot down the important points. And if you find it something you'll want to refer to regularly, then get your own copy. (Added bonus – lots of great color pictures of Waldner!)

Ask the Coach Show
Episode #187 (5:01) – Strategy for Varying Serves (and other segments).

Ma Long Training Regime
Here's the article from Table Tennis UK. Includes link to video.

Zhang Jike – Is It Over For Him?
Here are articles with different viewpoints. I have to go with Matt on this one – Zhang Jike will likely be better than any of the non-Chinese for the next few years. But he might only be #4 in China among teammates Ma Long, Fan Zhedong, and Xu Xin. At the moment he's dropped to #5 in the world, behind #4 Dimitrij Ovtcharov, but that's what happens when you have a string of losses as Zhang has had. (How many of us would love to have such a "string of losses" and be "only" #5 in the world? That's no joke!) He'll likely be back to top four soon, though Dimitrij and perhaps a few others might have something to say about that!

• Zhang Jike Becoming a Joke? from Tabletennista.
• Zhang Jike Posted 5 Defeats In 100 Days from Tabletennista.
• Zhang Jike Will Be Back by Matt Hetherington.

The City of Brotherly Love Welcomes Third Butterfly Thanksgiving Teams Event
Here's the article by Barbara Wei.

Interview with Victor Liu
Here's the USATT interview with the cadet star by Rahul Acharya. 

2016 USA Olympic Table Tennis Trials Set to be Held in Greensboro
Here's the article and video (2:01) from Time Warner Cable News.

Elizabeta Samara: Table Tennis Is Everything To Me
Here's the article from Butterfly on the world #19 (#16 last month) from Romania. 

Swedish Open 2015 - Best Rallies
Here's the video (3:22).

Quadruple Ghost Serve
Yesterday I linked to a video of a guy serving three balls with backspin at the same time so all three came back into the net. That's been topped – here's a video (21 sec) that came out yesterday of a guy doing it with four balls! (He also does some other backspin trick shots.)

Google a Turtle
Here's some of what you get if you google "Turtle Table Tennis Pictures." (A lot of other paddle and ball pictures came up, so I only included a few of them.)

• Turtle Pong
• Turtle Table Tennis Simulation
• Pablo Cruise Turtle Pong 1 (This and the next one come from an old-style record, which I have!)
• Pablo Cruise Turtle Pong 2
• Ninja Turtles Table Tennis Game
• Running Ninja Turtle Table Tennis
• Surfing Turtle Paddle
• Swimming Turtle Paddle
• Dude Turtle Paddle
• Happy Birthday Turtle Paddle
• Turtle Ping-Pong Ball
• Christmas Turtle Ping-Pong Ball
• Cartoon Tortoise Ball
• Real Tortoise Ball

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Yesterday and Today – SF & TT
Yesterday and today are rather weird days for me. I normally would pick up two kids for our afterschool program, and after the program I have a 90-minute coaching session. Normally this means leaving my house by 2:45PM, and finishing at 7PM. (I usually leave by 2:30 PM so as to be safely on time and so I can spend some relaxing time in my car reading or doing a crossword puzzle while I wait for the school bell to ring.) But by a weird coincidence, all the players I pick up or coach yesterday and today are injured or away – one has shoulder problems, one is at a chess tournament, and two others are doing an afterschool activity. And so I had no coaching yesterday or today. (I do have an eye appointment at 12:30 PM today.) So what did I do? I devoted yesterday to science fiction & fantasy, and today to table tennis.

Today I plan to "finalize" the plans for regional associations and regional team leagues. By "finalize" I mean have them ready to go public, though they will be an ongoing thing as they are perfected and updated. (I ran the plans by the USATT League Committee, which I chair, and a few others.) If all goes well, they'll go up as USATT news items in the next few weeks. I might do them together, or perhaps one week apart. (The first part, State Championships, went up in October.)

I blogged about Regional Team Leagues on Nov. 24, 2014, and about Regional Associations on Nov. 25, 2014.

A lot of this isn't just the materials that go online; those won't be super extensive. More of it is making sure I know where we are going, and how to help the various regions that join in. Just trying to decide what regions should make up regional associations was a major headache – do you go with individual states, or larger regions, or what? (My leaning is to let the locals decide.)

We have a long, long ways to go. But to paraphrase Churchill, "This isn't the beginning. But it is, perhaps, the beginning of the beginning."

Non-Table Tennis - As to yesterday, I finalized a new story (a wild west fantasy starring a centaur running for sheriff against an evil dwarf, with elf bandits, dryads, a friendly ogre, a not-so-friendly vampire, and a crazed unicorn, with a twist ending no one will see coming), and wrote a new humorous fantasy about two penguins and their eventful journey from Antarctica to Babylonia to get to the ark before the Great Flood. (It has dinosaurs!) I write both SF and fantasy (and my upcoming novel is pure SF), but yesterday was all fantasy writing. (For you neophytes, SF is what's possible, while fantasy has magic.)

I also recently did a major update to my SF page, in preparation for the launch in January of upcoming SF novel, "Campaign 2100: Game of Scorpions." It was basically a long, HTML page before. Now it has menus and everything! The menus are Home, Bibliography, Upcoming Appearances, How To Write SF, Table Tennis, About Larry Hodges, and Contact Me. I'll likely add a tab for "Campaign 2100" once the cover comes out. In addition to my daily TT blog here I plan to start a weekly SF blog there, probably starting in January. I did my first blog entry there on Sunday. (I actually started the blog two years ago, when I did six entries, then took them down. They are back up again.)

Searching for the Right Position
Here's the new coaching article by Han Xiao. Here's a key point I'm constantly emphasizing: "The first step to improving anticipation and being able to always find the right position is constantly moving between shots. Like many other sports where “moving without the ball” is a key part to effective play, in table tennis moving when you aren’t forced to gives you a much better chance to be in position to hit a quality shot when the ball finally arrives."

Ask the Coach
Episode #186 (23:25) - Experience v Talent.

In the Zone – Part 11 (Conclusion)
Here's the USATT sports psychology article. (Links to previous ten parts are on top right.)

The Great Anti Experiment
Here's the article from Coach Jon.

Congratulations Maryland TTC and Triangle TTC –  ITTF Hot Spots!
Here's the  MDTTC article – yep, my club made it! - and the Triangle TTC article. 

Teensy Studios Releases Tiny Table Tennis for Apple Watch
Here's the article. Now we can encourage the kids to play video games during breaks! "Teensy Studios, a leading developer of wearable games, is proud to announce the release of their first Apple Watch game “Tiny Table Tennis” available worldwide on the Apple Store."

The Entertainer Par Excellence, Vincent Purkart Passes Away
Here's the ITTF obit on the former French superstar and exhibition partner with Jacques Secretin. (I wrote about Purkart yesterday, but only added the ITTF obit late in the day.)

Players Announced for the GAC Group 2015 World Tour Grand Finals
Here's the ITTF press release.

'Show Support, Not Sympathy' for Athletes with Disabilities: Para-paddler
Here's the new article with links to video from Channel News Asia.

Seahawks "Always Compete" Football Philosophy Carries Over Into Locker Room Ping-Pong Battles
Here's the new article from the Seattle Seahawks web page.

Triple Ghost Serve
Here's the video (6 sec) as Masa Coach serves three backspin balls simultaneously so that all three come back into the net. And here's some rapid fire ghost serve practice (18 sec). Pound that net!

Table Tennis - "Give it Your Best!"
Here's the highlights video (5:15).

Lindenwood Table Tennis Team Video
Here's the new video (3:49).

Fan Zhendong & Heming Hu Training at the Swedish Open
Here's the video (6:54).

Tribute to Marcos Freitas
Here's the new video (2:29) featuring the world #7 from Portugal.

Champions League 2015/2016 - Marcos Freitas vs Xu Gui
Here's the new video (6:16, with time between points removed).

Pray for Paris Paddle
Here's the picture. (Here's the non-Facebook version.)

Magic and Yoga  Table Tennis
Here's the crazy new video (9:05) as yoga and table tennis are combined into . . . something!

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Tip of the Week
Loose Grip Leads to Better Shots.

Is There a Mathematical Advantage to Serving First?
I keep reading online postings about whether a player should serve first or not. Many of them insist you have a better mathematical chance of winning by serving first. That's simply not true. Here's a simple way of looking at it.

A game to 11 is really just a best of 20, where you just happen to stop once a player clinches it by scoring 11 points. If it goes to 10-all, you alternate serves so both players serve just as often, so there's no mathematical advantage to serving first or second there. So we'll assume that the game doesn't go deuce. Is there a mathematical advantage to serving first or second? Ignoring deuce games, no matter what the final score is, one player scored 11 points in this hypothetical best of 20, and so even if both players had an even number of serves (i.e. ten each), he'd win 11-9 or better.

Some would argue that if a player gets to serve first, he'd get to serve more often, which is technically correct in many cases. But it doesn't matter since even if they played it out so both players got to serve an equal number of times (i.e. ten times each), a player who scored 11 first while serving first is still going to win 11 points, even if he allows his opponent the same number of serves. By serving first, all you can do is make it closer if you lose, or more lopsided if you win.

Let's look at specific examples. Suppose for example that you served first and won 11-8, and served ten times while the other player only served nine. It makes no difference because even if you gave that player the extra serve and he scored, you'd still win 11-9. If you won 11-7 and served ten times to the opponent's eight, again the best your opponent could have done, given the extra two serves, is win both those points, but you'd still win 11-9.

Now let's suppose you gave away the serve. If you win even though you might serve up to two less times, you win. If you lose, that means your opponent got to 11 first, and even if he got to serve two more times than you did, you are in the same situation explained above: the best you can do is make it closer, but you'd still lose because the opponent will have scored at least 11 points, so again, even if you get the two missing serves, he'll still outscore you 11-9 or better.

There are some advantages to serving first or second. In a round robin match, if there's a tie between players, it first goes to matches, then games, and then points. If it goes to points, which rarely happens, then there is a tiny advantage in serving first as that means that you may have one or two extra serves more than the opponent in the entire match, and so might on average have a slightly better scoring percentage. However, this is unlikely that it is overpowered by other considerations.

There's a simple reason I recommend players give the serve away. It is at the start of a match that players are least warmed up or adjusted to the opponent. So you are more likely to make mistakes at the very start – and these are more costly on your own serve than on the opponent's, since the server is supposed to win the majority of the points. Plus if you serve second, then you will be serving at the end of the first, third, and fifth games, and it's under pressure like that when serving is most important. More players "choke" when receiving then serving as there's more uncertainty in returning a serve (especially near the end of a close game or match when there's both pressure and your opponent now knows what serves give you trouble) than serving, where you know exactly what your first "shot" will be – your serve. Players pop up or miss serves a lot more than servers pop up or miss their own serve, plus there's more confidence in dealing with an opponent's return of your serve than dealing with the uncertainty of his serve.

Some players do play better with a lead, and for them it might be better to serve first. For example, some players like to go for winners, and have more confidence in doing so when they have a lead. Others play better when their back is to the wall, i.e. playing from behind, and for them, it's best to serve second. Either way, this is psychological reasons to serve first or second, not mathematical ones.

You do have one other option at the start of the match – which side to start on. There is some advantages to using this. For example, I find I have trouble getting into a match if the background is poor, and in matches like that I take the side with the better background at the start. By the time I'm into the second game with the worse background I'm into the match and so it's not as important. (If you are in a large arena and on a side table where you are looking into the open expanse, it's harder to pick up the ball then if you are looking into a wall. Of course, if the wall is similar in color to the ball, that changes things.) I often try to choose which side I want to start on by simply going to that side in the warm-up, knowing that few opponents take advantage of choosing a side. And since most players like to serve first, I usually get the best of both worlds – I get to receive first and start on the side I want to start on!

There's another advantage to choosing a side. If the match is close, you might be playing more points on the side you don't start on. On average you'll play the same number of points on both sides in the first four (or six) games, but in the final game two things come into consideration. First, you change sides when a player reaches five. Let's suppose you change sides at 5-4. At ten-all, you would have played eleven of the twenty points on the "good" side – and then you'll play all of them on the good side in deuce. (If it's more lopsided at the start, then you'll potentially play even more points on the good side.) In the proverbial best of 20 explained above, in the final game you'll almost always get to play more points on the good side by starting on the bad side, both before and at deuce. So there's an advantage to choosing to start on the "bad" side!

In the end, who serves first or which side you start on are rather small variables in who wins the match – there's a lot of things that are more important. But why not take whatever advantage you can?

The Writing Retreat
This is a table tennis blog, so I won't spend too much time on this. As noted in my blog last Monday, I spent the week at a writing retreat at The Writer's Center in Bethesda, MD. My new SF novel, "Campaign 2100: Game of Scorpions," comes out in late January, and so I started the sequel, "Campaign 2110: Scorpions in Space." Both novels feature table tennis as one of the four main characters is a championship table tennis player, and I keep working that into the plot.

The first one was 123,000 words, a little longer than I'd planned. I'll try to keep the sequel to 90,000-100,000 words. I did a little over 17,000 words during the five days, as well as plan out a lot of it. (I'd originally hoped to get more done, but it's a complicated work requiring a lot of planning and research.) I'll continue to plug away at it, and hopefully finish it next year. ("Finish" doesn't just mean finish writing the draft; all first drafts requiring a lot of rewriting.)

I'm having a lot of fun with one new alien character, Thirteen, a spaced-out, haughty, philosophical economist from Grodan (which orbits Tau Ceti) who develops her economic and political theories while humming and staring into the many mirrors in her home, while occasionally calling out nonsensical words of wisdom. She has 60,000 volunteers working in her basement.

Call for Coach of the Year Nominations
Here's the info article.

Help Wanted: Coach for Alameda Table Tennis Center
Here's the info.

The Serving Test
Here's the test of your short spin serves.

Ask the Coach Show

• Episode #183 (24:23) – Getting a Grip (and other topics)
• Episode #184 (15:10) - Friday Funnies or Black Friday? (and other topics)
• Episode #185 (25:05) – Aggressive Mindset (and other topics)

Podcast with Daniel Reed
Here's the new podcast (52:53) from Expert Table Tennis with Reed, who is currently ranked #5 in England and #217 in the world. Here are a few of the questions Daniel answered during the interview:

• How Danny first started table tennis at Ormesby TTC in Middlesbrough.
• Why his coach Carole Moore was so influential in his rapid development.
• How much training Danny was doing as an 11-12 year old.
• All about his drive and determination to succeed even as a young boy.
• Why he decided to study for a degree alongside his table tennis.
• What he is currently working on (physically, technically, tactically and mentally).
• How tough it is to make a living playing professional table tennis.
• Danny’s plans for the next few years.
• Why Danny believes players must put themselves under pressure in practice (Top Tip).
• How to get in contact with Danny.

Swedish Open
The event was held Nov. 11-15 in Stockholm. Here's the ITTF page for the event where you can get results, articles, pictures, and video.

• Men's Final: XU Xin vs FAN Zhendong (13:10, time between points removed)
• Men's Semifinals: XU Xin vs KARLSSON Kristian (4:03)
• Men's Semifinals: LIANG Jingkun vs FAN Zhendong (6:03)
• Men's 8ths – the big upset: ZHANG Jike vs LUNDQVIST Jens (5:05)
• The Moment Lundqvist Upsets Zhang Jike in front of home crowd (29 sec)
• Women's Singles Final: MU Zi vs ZHU Yuling (6:23, time between points removed)
• Women's Singles Semifinals: MU Zi CHN vs ISHIKAWA Kasumi (5:59)
• Women's Singles Semifinals: Zhu Yuling vs Liu Shiwen (no video available)
• Men's Doubles Final: FAN Zhendong/ZHANG Jike vs FANG Bo/XU Xin (4:18)
• Women's Doubles Final: LIN Ye/ZHOU Yihan vs CHEN Meng/MU Zi (3:01)
• Xu Xin Training at the Swedish Open (2:27)
• The Practice Hall (16 sec) – intense training.
• ITTF Article on USA's Lily Zhang (world #93) upset of Japan's Hina Hayata (world #59)

Early Success Brings Continued Growth for Americas First Full Time Training Center
Here's the article about my club, Maryland Table Tennis Center, by Barbara Wei. One small thing – technically the club at least broke even the first five years, excluding start-up costs, other than a serious financial situation it ran into I think in the second year, when a record snowfall basically closed us down for weeks. But the only reason the club did okay financially in its early years is that I didn't take a penny for all my work there – nothing, not for coaching, running tournaments, or running the place, as I did much of the first ten years.

Capital Area League
The Capital Area League had another meet on Saturday, Nov. 7, from 5-10PM, with all twelve teams (with 73 players on their rosters) playing at least two team matches. (There were a few additional make-up matches.) Here are the results. Here are detailed results for Division 1 and Division 2. (These and previous results are linked from the results page.) I'm the webmaster and a member of the organizing committee for the Capital Area League.

RIP Vincent Purkart
He was a great French player (two-time French National Men's Singles Champion and five-times runner-up, mostly to Secretin), but was best known as part of the greatest exhibition team ever, the Secretin-Purkart show. From my April 28, 2015 blog:

Here's the full video (93 min) of the greatest exhibition team of all time. Warning - once you start watching, it's addictive! But it's great stuff, with the great Jacques Secretin (17-time French National Men's Singles Champion, 1977 World Mixed Doubles Champion, and former world #4) against the clownish Vincent Purkart (two-time French National Men's Singles Champion and five-times runner-up, mostly to Secretin). They spent many years touring the world doing their famous comedy exhibition. Sean O'Neill messaged me that the umpire who they constantly fight with is Claude Bergeret, 1977 World Mixed Doubles Champion with Secretin. (I'd been told it was Purkart's wife, but that might have been incorrect.) Here's a recent picture of Secretin and Purkart - they're still at it!!!

Addendum: Here's the ITTF obit on Purkart, which I'll also link to tomorrow. 

USATT Rules Update
Here's the update.

Nominees for 2015 Male & Female Table Stars Announced
Here's the ITTF article.

11 Questions with Kevin Korb
Here's the USATT interview with the 19-year-old owner of The Topspin Club. (He was interviewed in a podcast in September at Expert Table Tennis.)

Two Generations Meet
Here's the picture of Japan's 12-year-old whiz kid Tomokazu Harimoto (already ranked #262 in the world, higher than the #1 U.S. man) and Swedish legend (generally considered the GOAT) Jan-Ove Waldner at the Swedish Open. (Here's the non-Facebook version.)

Pingpong Club Appeals to a Diverse Crowd
Here's the article from the New Orleans Advocate.

Andrey Borovik's Para Story
Here's the article.

How to Rip a Forehand
Here's video (34 sec, including slow motion replay) as Anton Kallberg (SWE) shows us the basic forehand put-away against Liam Pitchford (ENG).

Ask a Pro Anything: Kasumi Ishikawa
Here's the video (5:52) with Ishikawa and Adam Bobrow. And here's the hilarious movie trailer video (61 sec) of the two!

ITTF Pongcast – October
Here's the video (12:40).

Xavier University Confucius Institute Cup Finals Video
Here's the video (6:17) between Jimmy Butler and Peter Nguyen, along with another video showing one of the best and craziest points you'll ever see.

Soccer Star Dave Beckham Playing Soccer and Table Tennis with Kids in Nepal
Here's the video (48 sec) – wait'll you see the table they play on!

Ping Pong Player Eats His Paddle
Here's the article! Ironically, in the science fiction novel I'm currently writing one of the characters said to a candidate running for office, "If you win, I'll eat my ping-pong paddle." (Spoiler Alert: He will. But the election in question wasn't the main election in the novel, so it's not really a spoiler.)

Top 10 Annoying Situations Every Table Tennis Player Has Encountered!
Here's the article with lots of pictures and video.

The Most Painful Game This Decade
Here's the video (26 sec) of what is titled, "Officially the most painful game of table tennis that will take place this decade."

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Tip of the Week
Sidespin Serves that Break Away Tend to Be More Effective.

Writer's Retreat This Week and Table Tennis
No blog this week after today – I'll be back next Monday, Nov. 16. I'll be away all this week at a writer's retreat at the Writer's Center in Bethesda, MD, which they call a Writing Staycation. It's a day thing, where I drive over early in the morning, and return that night. So little table tennis for me this week – I've got others subbing for me in most of my sessions until next Saturday.

As I blogged about on October 16, I recently sold a science fiction novel to a publisher, "Campaign 2100: Game of Scorpions." (As noted in the blog, it has lots of table tennis.) So this week I'm starting the sequel, "Campaign 2110: Scorpions in Space." The first one was 123,000 words (that's 622 pages in double spaced Courier New). This one will likely be a touch shorter – I'm aiming for 100,000 words. I hope to get 30,000 done during the retreat. I promise to keep table tennis in the novel!

What's the difference between a writer's retreat and a writer's workshop? At a retreat, the focus is on writing new stuff. At a workshop the focus is on critiquing each other's work – in advance you read and analyze the submitted work of other participants, and at the workshop you give both a verbal and written critique to the writer. (And they do the same for you.) It's usually done in sort of a circle, where you go around the circle, with everyone giving their comments in turn, and everyone turning in the written version at the end. I've been to many of these, including an annual "The Never-Ending Odyssey" that I go to for nine days each summer in Manchester, NH.

I've been to two past writing retreats at the Writer's Center. At the first is where I started work on Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers; at the second I started Sorcerers in Space. The Writer's Center mentioned me in their November 4 blog!

I'm bringing my weighted paddle to shadow stroke during breaks. Yep!

On Saturday, after I finished coaching at 3:30 PM (and after finalizing that morning the USATT Hall of Fame Program for the Nationals Banquet, and a HoF ad for the Nationals Program booklet), I took my laptop and notes to the back room at MDTTC and worked continuously (with a few walk around breaks) until 10PM, while the Capital Area League was playing out from 5-10PM. I didn't do any writing – just researched and outlined. Sunday morning I spent finalizing my notes and printing them out. (Then I coached from 1:30-8:00PM, then rushed home to watch "The Walking Dead.") I'm ready to start writing this morning!

Strategic Risk Taking
Here's the new coaching article by Han Xiao.

Pingcoach.com
Here's a coaching site I hadn't seen before, run by Ben Larcombe, the same guy who runs Experttabletennis.com.

Ask the Coach Show
Episode #182 (25 min) – Serving Styles (and other segments)

How Do We Create a New Generation Waldner?
Here's the new article from Matt Hetherington.

SAEF Table Tennis Therapy Program for Alzheimer's
Here's the article and video. "SAEF Table Tennis Therapy Program is an innovative tool designed to benefit early stage Alzheimer's individuals through carefully supervised instructions in "table tennis therapy."

Table Tennis Illusions
Here's the new article from Coach Jon.

11 Questions with Dean Johnson
Here's the new USATT interview.

History of U.S. Table Tennis, Volume 16
Chapter 16 is now up! (This is from 1988.) "A New Era Begins for Table Tennis." "Will we see a dramatic upsurge in membership/players? Will the U.S. public overall now see table tennis as a sport and not as a game?" Here's where you can buy copies of the books by Tim Boggan for yourself.

This Ping Pong Trick Shot Compilation is Incredible
Here's the article from USA Today, which links to the trick shot video (2:21 – I linked to this last Wednesday) from Kevin Korb.

International Table Tennis
Here's my periodic note (usually every Friday) that you can great international coverage at TableTennista (which especially covers the elite players well) and at the ITTF home page (which does great regional coverage). Butterfly also has a great news page.

Here's a Great Rally
Here's the video (52 sec, including replay), Simon Gauzy (FRA, near side) versus Panagiotis Gionis (GRE).

Here's a Tricky Serve!
Here's the video (16 sec) as Bernadette Szocs of Romania does an apparent regular backhand serve, but contacts the ball going the other way.

Jumping Backhand?
Here's the picture of Luisa Saeger of Germany.

The Leader of the Free World is Losing to Kim Jong-un!
Only you can help him.

Fitbit.com Sports Commercial
Here's the video (30 sec), with about two seconds of "Ping Fit" table tennis starting seven seconds in.

Fall Pong
Here's the picture. (Here's the non-Facebook version.)

Thirty Excuses for Losing a Ping-Pong Match
Here's the listing, care of the Newport TTC!

Titan Open
Here's the out-of-this world picture as Schlager takes on Xu Xin! (Here's the non-Facebook version.)

Epic Ping Pong with Roger Federer
Here's the video (45 sec)! It's some sort of commercial where Federer is smashing ping-pong balls over and over, but is supposed to miss – but can't!

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Serve and Forehand Attack, and Serve and Two-Winged Attack
Ilia asked the following on the TableTennisCoaching forum:

In your amazing book "Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers" [Larry's note: I'm blushing – but I also added the link] I read that it is beneficial to be able to have different tactics for games, i.e. Plan A, Plan B, Plan C. I can loop both with backhand and forehand, but my backhand open-up against backspin is weaker. So my Plan A is to use forehand loop whenever possible, and use backhand loop for receive and when caught off-guard. The Plan B is to play forehand from the forehand side, and backhand from the backhand side. I have two questions:

1) What is the best recovery position after the serve for Plan A and for Plan B? Should they be the same?
2) How to practice these two plans with the best efficiency? Should I spend, say, a few weeks strengthening the Plan A, and then a few weeks on Plan B? Or it is better to interleave the practice? I play 4-5 times per week for 2-2.5 hours for each session.

It was such a great question that I decided to use it in my blog this morning.

First, remember that favoring your forehand is probably the right thing for you to do tactically, based on what you wrote. Strategically, even if you always favor your forehand, you should make sure to strengthen that backhand! (Tactical thinking is what works now; Strategic thinking is thinking long term. You need both.) But now let's look at the two questions.

>1) What is the best recovery position after the serve for Plan A and for Plan B? Should they be the same?

For Plan A, where you are looking to play a forehand from the backhand corner if the ball goes there, you should be a bit to your left (assuming you're a righty), in a slight forehand stance. There's a simple way of judging how far over you can stand. Imagine your opponent returns your serve somewhat aggressively down the line to your forehand. Stand as far to your backhand side as you can where you can still get to that ball effectively. (If he's able to consistently attack your serve down the line very aggressively, then you both need adjust for that, as well as work on your serves.) 

For Plan B, where you are looking to play forehand or backhand, depending on where the return is, go to a neutral position and stance. Clear your mind and just use whichever side the ball goes to. One thing that many do effectively is to look to follow the serve with the backhand loop, and so stand in the middle of the table, looking for that shot - basically saying, "Go ahead, I'm planning to backhand loop, but if you go to my forehand, I'm ready and waiting." If they do go to your forehand, you don't have much table to cover, so you just rotate that way and loop the forehand. The only tricky part here is if they go after your middle, where you have to choose. 

>2) How to practice these two plans with the best efficiency? Should I spend, say, a few weeks strengthening the Plan A, and then a few weeks on Plan B? Or it is better to interleave the practice? I play 4-5 times per week for 2-2.5 hours for each session.

First, focus on developing your backhand so it is at least consistent. It doesn't need to be as powerful as the forehand, but it needs to be dependable. Once you have that, you can wear an opponent down with it. Putting that aside, practice serve and attack using both Plan A and Plan B. Many focus on practicing their Plan A, and wonder why their Plan B doesn't improve. There's usually more room for improvement there. So develop both roughly equally. If you are really having trouble with Plan B, focus on that for a while, then go back to 50-50. You want to both get rid of weaknesses and develop overwhelming strengths. 

Podcast with Dora Kurimay
Here's the new podcast (54:05) from Expert Table Tennis with the championship player, sports psychologist, and author. Here are a few of the questions Dora answered during the interview:

1. How to deal with nerves and conquer fear.
2. How to clear your mind in between points.
3. How to focus and stay in the moment.
4. How to play as well in matches as you do in practice.
5. How to use “deep breathing” to improve your performance.

ITTF Spins and Skills
Here are new coaching videos from the ITTF. I ran this before, but I don't think all at once.

• Backhand Drive (2:55)
• Forehand Topspin (3:28)
• Service Basics (3:35)
• Reverse Pendulum Backspin Serve (3:01)

MDTTC November Newsletter
Here it is. (I'm the editor.)

International Table Tennis
Here's my periodic note (usually every Friday) that you can great international coverage at TableTennista (which especially covers the elite players well) and at the ITTF home page (which does great regional coverage). Butterfly also has a great news page.

Marcos Freitas Looping and Moving
Here's the video (24 sec) of the world #7 from Portugal. (See hos "007" picture below!)

A Little Counterlooping?
Here's the video (1:43) as Samson Dubina and Liang Jishan have a counterlooping practice session. Notice the simplicity in their strokes?

Werner Schlager's Backhand Loop
Here's the video (42 sec, including replay) as Schlager unleashes a series of power backhand loops against chopper Joo Saehyuk.

Table Tennis Coffee Mug
Here's the picture – "I might look like I'm listening to you, but in my head I'm playing table tennis." (Here's the non-Facebook version.)

Curving, Colorful Giant Pong
Here's the picture! (Here's the non-Facebook version.)

Freitas. Marcos Freitas. 007
Here's the picture! (Here's the non-Facebook version.)

Timo Boll and KUKA Have Fun with Fans in China
Here's the video (3:01).

Ping Pong Matrix BLAXX BLACKLIGHT SHOW
Here's the video (3:39) of a version that I've never seen. Here are five other versions, including the classic original, and four takeoffs.

• Masa Tenisi Ninja Takımı – the classic original version (1:43)
• Hilarious parody of Matrix Ping-Pong! From Superclub's Day at University of Hawaii at Manoa (4:43)
• Matrix Ping-Pong Reloaded - another Matrix Ping-Pong parody! From NCSU Asia Nite 2005. (1:57)
• Another hilarious parody of Matrix Ping-Pong! From a high school skit. (3:58)
• And still another parody of Matrix Ping-Pong! By Big Brother 9 Sara and Mohamed. (2:25)

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What to Do with Defaulters
Recently there's been discussion about what to do with players who default matches to protect their rating. (Here's a discussion on this at Mytabletennis.net – it starts with the third posting on page 3 of the thread.) It's a problem, though overall it's often overblown. But there are a few players out there who do this regularly, i.e. "strategic" defaults to protect their rating. They'll enter a rating event, play the players ahead of them, but default to those below them. This means the players below them paid for an event and expected to play matches, but instead got defaults for their money – and unlike the player who defaulted to them, didn't get the chance to play the players above them.

There are also more "legitimate" defaults, where a player defaults a match in one event because he's tired, and perhaps wants to save himself for another event. But that's part of the game – if you are so out of shape you can't play the match, then perhaps you should be penalized for it, or at least have incentive so as to think twice about it.

There is no simple solution. I could go through all the possible solutions and point out the problems, but that would be time consuming and pointless. It's one of those problems where you have to choose the least bad solution. So finding flaws with a possible solution does not disqualify that solution, it simply gives us something to compare to the flaws of other solutions.

So here's my take. (And I'm not yet pushing for this, only offering it as a possible solution.) Why not set a rule that once a player enters an event, if he defaults, he loses eight rating points? The only exceptions might be if he gives a good enough reason so that the tournament director withdraws him from the event. (Guidelines would have to be set for this. This would only happen if the player is truly injured, for example, and does not play again that day.) The opponent would not gain points they haven't earned. The purpose is simply to penalize players who default so they have incentive to play. And to those who are protecting their rating, those eight points loom large!

Some would argue (with some merit) that it's not fair to penalize players who default because of injury. But staying healthy in sports is part of the game. Others would say this would help sandbaggers, who intentionally lose matches to keep their rating down so they can play and win lower events. But eight points (or even 24 – see below) isn't enough to really sandbag – most sandbaggers keep their rating down by losing 50 points at a time, often "losing" that match in the same tournament that they win a rating event with a cutoff far ahead of the player they "lost" to.

I'd set a maximum number of points a player can lose per tournament – 24 seems about right. Three strikes, and you're (24 points) out!!!

Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers
The book is now being translated into Korean. (It's already in French.) I'm starting to look around for a Chinese translator. Of course, every human on Earth who can read English (or French!) has already bought a copy, right? What, you haven't??? (Here are the reviews.)

Five Bronze Medals for Team North America at the 2015 World Cadet Challenge
Here's the USATT article, with pictures. The five were:

• Boys Team Bronze Medalists: Jack Wang, Victor Liu, Jason Liu, Jeremy Hazin
• Girls Team Bronze Medalists: Grace Yang, Crystal Wang, Laura Lai, Ivy Liao
• Boys Double Bronze Medalists: Jack Wang, Victor Liu
• Girls Double Bronze Medalists: Grace Yang, Crystal Wang
• Mixed Double Bronze Medalists: Crystal Wang, Koyo Kanamitsu (Japan)

Stefan Fegerl Recognized By Liu Guoliang
Here's the article and videos. It has been a long time since a new European showed up who could challenge the top Chinese – for the last ten years or so it's been only Boll, Ovtcharov, and Samsonov.

What to Look for When Buying a New Table Tennis Table
Here's the new article from Matt Hetherington. Oh, and he just made the New Zealand National Team! (He's been mostly living in the U.S. in recent years, playing at the Lily Yip Club in New Jersey.)

Interview with Mishel Levinski
Here's the new USATT interview about the former Israel star now going to Baruch College in New York.

World Table Tennis Day Nominated for Peace and Sport Award
Here's the ITTF article, which came out yesterday – the same day I blogged about USATT needing one!

Hofstra Gets a New Coach-an NCTTA Alum
Here's the new USATT article about the new Hofstra coach, Michael Reff.

Singapore's Men's Coach Sacked, Women's Coach Stepping Down
Here's the article.

You Won't See a Better Table Tennis Rally All Day!
Here's video (54 sec) of Jorgen Persson (near side) playing a great exhibition point against Jun Mizutani. (I wasn't sure initially - video isn't clear - but comment below says it's Mizutani, and after watching it again, it's sort of obvious.)

Twirl and Backhand Rip
Here's the video (13 sec). "Swedish STIGA player Hampus Nordberg uses influences from ballet to secure the win."

Barack Obama vs. Kim Jong Un: Who Would Win?
Here's the new USATT poll, including a link to a video of Obama playing. (The picture of Kim cuts off part of the ping-pong table he's leaning over. Here's the complete picture. Caption anyone? How about, "We will invade America and capture their celluloid balls. Down with plastic!" "Now guys, the rules clearly say that the ball cannot be hidden from the server, so enforce that rule or you will be shot.")

Goofy Ricochet Shot Against Mickey Mouse
Here's the cartoon!

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National Table Tennis Day
Let's establish a National Table Tennis Day. In the weeks and months before that day we'd flood the media all over the country with press releases, and recruit clubs to take part. We'd also do a web page and a promotional video. Then, on the day itself, we'd get clubs all over the country to open their doors and welcome new players. Some ideas for that would include a short beginners' clinic, an exhibition, and a recreational round robin event, singles or doubles. Snacks and drinks a must!

I suggest the date be Sept. 23, commemorating the anniversary of table tennis's Olympic debut in 1988, allowing us to tie it into the Olympics. Once the date is established, we do a nationwide campaign to get clubs to join in every Sept. 23, with lots of local promotion. Having the date this far in the future would give us time to promote it properly. Perhaps have a countdown thing on the web page counting down the days until Table Tennis Day. Additional benefit of Sept. 23: The initial day would be Sept. 23, 2016, a Friday, when many clubs are open and when people are free (not a work night). England already has a National Table Tennis Day – July 16. We could match them, but I like the Sept. 23 connection better. Either is fine with me.

ADDENDUM: As GMan pointed out below, the ITTF is scheduling a World Table Tennis Day on April 6, 2016. Let's join them!

"Scholer-Hodges Aspect Ratio Rule"
This is sort of crazy, but a certain person who I will not name (but he's infamously known as the Internet table tennis troll "sjan," plaguing online forums for something like two decades now, and now often going by the name "tthanahan") has been sending out mass emails and creating web pages that attribute things to me that I had nothing to do with. At the top of his list is the "Scholer-Hodges Aspect Ratio Rule," which was passed in 1998, and limits the ratio of width to height in long pips, which this person hates. The irony is that 1998 was the year I mostly took off from table tennis, working as a computer programmer. When I first saw my name connected by him to this rule I had to look it up because I didn't even know what the rule was at the time.

I've pointed out the falsity of his claim, but he doesn't care. Why does he do this? Because he can. There are crazy and dishonest people out there (this guy isn't the only one), and I unfortunately often make the mistake of trying to reason with them (silly me!), which only puts me on their radar. He also makes a lot of other claims about my beliefs, few of which are true, and attributes all sorts of quotes to me that I've never said. I've heard that Eberhard Schöler, the 1969 World Men's Singles Finalist whose name he also connects to this rule, was involved in creating the rule, which limits how soft and flexible long pips can be. Why this person connects me with this is bizarre. (He also refers to me over and over as "Rev. Hodges"!) 

New World Rankings
Notes on the Men's side:

• Ma Long remains #1.
• Fan Zhendong moves to #2, with Xu Xin dropping to #3. Fan was also #2 last year in September and October.
• Dimitrij Ovtcharov (GER) moves to #4, ahead of Zhang Jike, breaking China's stranglehold on the top four spots since Ovtcharov was also #4 from April to August of 2014. The other top Chinese player is Fang Bo, #8.
• Marcos Freitas (POR) moves to #7, with Timo Boll (GER) dropping to #8. Except for March, 2014, when Boll dropped out of the rankings for one month because of injury, Germany had had the top two European spots since November, 2011 when Samsonov was #8 and Ovtcharov #12, with Boll at #4. (I had to go through every monthly ranking, one by one, to get all this.)
• Wong Chun Ting (HKG) jumped from #16 to #11.

Notes on the Women's Side:

• Women's World Cup Champion Liu Shiwen recovers the #1 spot, which she also held from Jan. 2010 to Sept. 2010, and from Sept. 2013 to Sept. 2014. She's been top three since Feb. 2012.
• Previous #1 Ding Ning drops to #3 and Zhu Yuling moves to #2. Ding had been #1 since Oct. 2014, and previously from Nov. 2011 to Aug. 2013. This is Zhu's highest ranking.
• Li Xiaoxia returns to the ranking list at #6 after dropping off last month. She was #1 for eight months in 2011.
• China has had the top three spots, and usually the top four, for a LONG time – I'm not going to go through all the records and try to find out the last time a non-Chinese player was in the top three. Suffice to say that none of the non-Chinese players in the top 20 have ever been in the top three.
• Petrissa Solja (GER) jumped from #26 to #14.

2016 US Olympic Trials Tickets
Here's info. They will be held in Greensboro, NC, Feb. 4-6.

Invitation to the New York League Finals
Here's info – "The NYTTL finals 2015 are Sunday November 8th at the NYISC, New York Indoor Sports Club. NYISC is located at 1535 126th Street in College Point, NY.  Competition begins at 1:00pm, Semi-Final 1 is Spin New York vs NYISC A and Semi-Final 2 is Atlanta TTA vs NYISC B."

World Cup Always a Good Experience
Here's the article from Canadian Champion Mo Zhang.

Great Point between Stefan Fegerl and Kalinikos Kreanga
Here's the video (22 sec) from the Champions League.

Adam Bobrow Goes Court Side with Petrissa Solja at the 2015 Women's World Cup
Here's the video (57 sec) as he talks to the bronze medal winner. (Here's video – 91 sec – of Adam giving an exhibition I think in the U.S. with Coach Erick.)

Teqball – a Table for Soccer Table Tennis
Here's the picture!

Quintuples?
Here's the video (4:30)!

Hit and Blow Balance
Here's the video (3 sec) – nice trick. I do the blowing ball trick all the time, and am thinking about coming up with a routine for the next trick shot competition.

Trick Shots
Here's the new video (2:21) from Kevin Korb – "Table tennis trick shots like you've never seen before!

Why Looping in Table Tennis is Bad
Here's the video (38 sec) by Nathan Hsu and Chris Zhang. A good looper can do it over and over until the point is over – and apparently well after!

***
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Tip of the Week
Distance from Table When Looping a Push.

My Weekend
This was one of the busiest four days I've ever gone through, Fri-Mon. Here's a rundown.

• The usual private and group coaching – but a little less than usual as one student was away at a tournament, another was sick, and another had to cut a lesson short because of shoulder problems, so only about seven hours total.

  One interesting note – it seems a number of players I'm coaching are working on backhand serves, so I'm coaching that a lot. My backhand serve was my #1 serve for a short time in the late 1970s, but I had some arm problems that made that difficult and pretty much stopped using it. Now I'm using it a lot – in demonstrations! In fact, I've been coaching it so much that on Sunday I spent ten minutes practicing the serve to get it back to where it was way back when. The big breakthrough was I finally can do a backspin serve that comes back into the net – more of an exhibition trick serve than a player should use in a match (where it's better to drive the serve out so the second bounce is at or near the end-line), but it's good practice, and shows students just how much backspin one can put on the ball. (I can do this easily with my forehand serve.)

• Spent 3.25 hours Friday night studying videos of one of our top players (and some of his opponents), and wrote a long analysis, along with a shorter version with recommendations. I kept track of unforced errors for the player and his opponent to show how he was losing on that (trying to force shots and losing focus), pointed out how he had several streaks where he lost a bunch of points in a row without taking a break or timeout (while his opponent had zero such streaks), as well as showing that he dominated when his first attack was to the middle (winning 78% of those points), while he roughly broke even when his initial attack was to the corners. I think this last stat caught him off guard as he seemed to prefer attacking the corners first.
• Had a short coaching conference with a player at a tournament via phone, where I gave tips on playing a specific player. (Attack the middle! Move the serve around, including short to the forehand!)
• Wrote the Tip of the Week and gathered links for this morning's blog.
• Spoke on phone with USATT CEO for an hour, primarily on league plans and regional associations, and then finalized the prototype for a USATT Regional League. I sent it to the USATT League Committee for comment. (I chair the committee, alas.) I expect to go public with this before the Nationals in December, perhaps even in November.
• Lots of email discussions with various people on: League plans; Regional Associations; What to do if two groups from same state want to run a State Championships (gist of it is the local clubs get to decide); and on the League Finals at the U.S. Nationals.
• Worked out plans for a Korean translation of Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers. Now if I can only get it into Chinese!
• Did the accounting for the past week's classes.
• Did updates on the numerous web pages I maintain, both TT and SF.
• 1.5 hours of private tutoring in English.
• Wrote two new science fiction stories (one rather long, one rather short), finalized two stories I'd been working on before, read and critiqued two stories by others (in return for their critiquing mine), submitted eleven stories to new markets, and started outlining a new novel, "Campaign 2110: Scorpions in Space" (the sequel to Campaign 2100: Game of Scorpions) – lots of table tennis action in these SF novels! (When people ask me for help on things, I've run out of ways of explaining that I'm trying to run two or three careers – table tennis coaching and table tennis writing [is that one or two careers?], and SF writing, plus an exorbitant amount of volunteer time for USATT as well as MDTTC and others. I'm pretty much doing 12-16 hour days every day now. Thank God I don't sleep much…)
• Went to the bank and post office, got a haircut, went grocery shopping, and still found time to see the movie "Our Brand is Crisis" on Saturday, watch The Walking Dead on Sunday night, read a few chapters of a novel, and do the entire Friday and Saturday Washington Post Crossword Puzzles!

World Women's Cup
It finished this past Sunday, in Sendai, Japan, with China's Liu Shiwen defeating Japan's Kasumi Ishikawa in the final. Here are some links.​

• Home Page, where you can get results, articles, quotes, pictures, and video.
• Final: Liu Shiwen vs. Kasumi Ishikawa (6:33 - highlights, Adam Bobrow commentating)
• Final: Liu Shiwen vs. Kasumi Ishikawa (8:11 - entire match with time between points removed, Chinese commentating)
• ITTF Press Release, Day 1
• ITTF Press Release, Day 2
• ITTF Press Release, Day 3
• ITTF Press Release, Liu Shiwen Wins
• Best Point of the Final (37 sec)

ITTF World Cadet Challenge
It finished on Saturday, in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

• USATT page for the event
• ITTF page with complete results, articles, pictures, and video. 
• Jack Wang ripping a forehand. (Someone should add a thought bubble and turn this into an Internet Meme! If no one else does, I might.)
• Shot of the Tournament, by Adriana Diaz of Puerto Rico – it's a great rally, then watch her next-to-last shot – what the heck was that??? (And then the final backhand kill.)

Here are USA's main results.

• Boys' Singles: Jack Wang finished 8^th, Victor Liu 10^th.
• Cadet Boys' Doubles: Jack Wang/Victor Liu made semifinals.
• Boys' Teams: North America finished 3^rd.
• Girls' Singles: Crystal Wang finished 9^th, and Grace Yang 15^th.
• Cadet Girls' Doubles: Crystal Wang/Grace Yang made semifinals.
• Girls' Teams: North America finished 4^th.

Transitioning More Quickly
Here's the new coaching article by Han Xiao.

Footwork Tips
Here's the new coaching video (91 sec) from Samson Dubina.

In the Zone – Part 9
Here's the new coaching article on the mental side of table tennis. I linked to Parts 1-7 on Oct. 21, and Part 8 on Oct. 27.

Table Tennis Newsletter from Tom Lodziak
Here's the newsletter, from the English coach & player, with links to articles on:

• Coping with Defeats in Table Tennis
• How to Play Table Tennis Like the Chinese
• The Dreaded First League Season
• What Are the Best Attacking Table Tennis Rubbers?
• Expert Table Tennis Podcast (he was interviewed last week)
• Table Tennis Gift Ideas

Table Tennis Tips for Competition Play
Here's the coaching article(s) from Pongworld.

Will Shortz and Kai Zhang in The New Yorker
Here's the article – a must read!

Return Kim Gilbert's Serves for Charity
Here's info on the charity for brain tumors to be held this Sunday at Dockweiler State Beach in Playa del Rey. (Here's the non-Facebook version.) It's held in conjunction with a 5K/10K Fun Run for Kids and an Expo. Here's more info. 

World Championships of Ping-Pong
Here's the entry form for the USA Trials in Las Vegas, to be held on Monday morning, Dec. 14. (This is sandpaper table tennis.) Here's the USATT news item about it from last week. I plan on entering, but I may run into a problem – USATT has a board meeting scheduled all day on Sunday, Dec. 13, and for Monday morning. I'll have to wait and see what's scheduled on Monday morning.

11 Questions with Scott Gordon
Here's the USATT interview with the Classic Table Tennis Committee Chair and Hardbat Champion.

History of U.S. Table Tennis, Volume 16
Chapter 15 is now up! "1988: October Tournaments. 1988: Hall of Fame Open/1989 U.S. World Team Decided." Here's where you can buy copies of the books by Tim Boggan for yourself.

2015 South Shore Sports Butterfly Table Tennis Championships
Here are the results – click on links to see complete draw sheet.

Best Table Tennis
Here's the new highlights video (4:59), "…dedicated to all those who MAYBE not become world champions but for a moment have felt thus!"

Halloween Table Tennis

• Happy Halloween (1:24) from the USA Pan Am and National Women's Team! Here's a still image taken 35 seconds in of all five, including the coach. Can you name all five?
• Happy Halloween from Pong Universe
• Trick or Treat – Happy Table Tennis Halloween! (Here's the non-Facebook version.)
• Ghosts playing table tennis (repeating gif image I've posted before)
• Costumed woman (cavewoman?) on robot (7:14) with racket in both hands

"Lubo" and the Most Dangerous Backhand on Earth
Here's the video (44 sec) as the coach wears a helmet for protection!

Toddler Pong
Here's the video (10 sec) – that kid's gonna be a champion!

French Table Tennis Commercial
Here's the crazy video – I think it's for a smart phone.

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Local schools are closed today for a "professional day" for teachers. As is my standard practice, when the kids are out of school, I'm off too! So no blog today, and the Tip of the Week will go up tomorrow. (I'll get a lot of work done.) But I'll leave you with this short, six-second repeating gif image of a player catching the ball on his racket, carrying it over, and smashing it. Legal??? Time to go practice this new shot!!!

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