Blogs

Larry Hodges' Blog and Tip of the Week will normally go up on Mondays by 2:00 PM 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 ten books and over 2100 articles on table tennis, plus over 1900 blogs and over 600 tips. Here is his bio. (Larry was awarded the USATT Lifetime Achievement Award in July, 2018.)

Make sure to order your copy of Larry's best-selling book, Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers!
Finally, a tactics book on this most tactical of sports!!!

Also out - Table Tennis TipsMore Table Tennis Tips, Still More Table Tennis Tips, and Yet Still More Table Tennis Tips, which cover, in logical progression, his Tips of the Week from 2011-2023, with 150 Tips in each!

Or, for a combination of Tales of our sport and Technique articles, try Table Tennis Tales & Techniques. If you are in the mood for inspirational fiction, The Spirit of Pong is also out - a fantasy story about an American who goes to China to learn the secrets of table tennis, trains with the spirits of past champions, and faces betrayal and great peril as he battles for glory but faces utter defeat. Read the First Two Chapters for free!

Team Leagues

As I've blogged before, team leagues is how European table tennis became big, with 600,000 players in Germany and a number of other countries with memberships over 100,000. (The same is true of most other sports with big memberships.) Once you play on a team you want to do it over and over – and that leads to lots of activity and large memberships. I'm planning this fall to develop a proto-type team league that can spread to other regions, using my experiences here in the Capital Area Team League (Maryland, Virginia, DC), what I've learned from successful leagues in other regions like LA and NY, and from overseas leagues. And so it was with great excitement that we started the second season of the CATL. Here's my write-up.

Capital Area Team League

The Capital Area Team League fall season got off to a great start on Saturday, Sept. 26, from 5-10PM, in the first of six monthly league nights. All twelve teams in the league competed that night at the Maryland Table Tennis Center, with players ranging from ten to seventy, and ratings from 850 to 2350. Here's the team listing and a group picture. League venues this season will alternate between MDTTC and the Washington DC Table Tennis Center.

The format is best of seven, with six singles and one doubles. Each team has three singles players, and each of them play two matches. Then any two players may play the doubles. Here are the League Rules, including info on the format. Here is the Schedule and Standings.

Top-seeded MDTTC A (Derek Nie, Klaus Wood, Raghu Nadmichettu, and Nathan Hsu, who is currently training in China) dominated Division One. They defeated Chantilly 7-0, winning six of the matches 3-0, with the doubles team of TJ Sawner/John Olsen winning a game in their doubles battle with Nie/Nadmichettu. They also defeated MDTTC Lions 6-1, with League Commissioner Stefano Ratti pulling out his match with Derek, 3-1.

Also winning both team matches was JOOLA 1, who defeated NOVATTC and WDCTT, both times 4-3. The big hero for JOOLA 1 was Richard Lee, who won all four of his singles matches and both his double matches (with Claudia Ikeizumi), all of them 3-0, so he was 18-0 in games for the night!

Because the format gives each team one point for each match won, and one point for each team match won, MDTTC A won 13 points for matches won and 2 for team matches won, for 15 total. JOOLA 1 received 8 points for matches won and 2 points for team matches won, for a total of 10. But NOVATTC, despite losing 4-3 to JOOLA 1, had a 7-0 win over Chantilly, and so received 10 points total for matches won and 1 for team matches, and so took over second place with 11 points, one point ahead of JOOLA 1. Not far behind was MDTTC Lions with 8.

Team SSTT and MDTTC Veterans dominated Division Two's first night. Team SSTT defeated both JOOLA 2 and Wiff Waff 7-0, giving them 16 points. But just behind them was MDTTC Veterans who defeated Wiff Waff 7-0 and MDTTC Crush 6-1, and so gained 15 points. In a generational clash, William Huang (12, rated 1715) upset chopper Ed Watts (67, 1985) in the seventh match for the Crush's sole win there, and putting them in third with 8 points.

A number of raffles were held that night, with various equipment and several of my books given out. Derek Nie, 14, one of the top players in the league with a 2336 rating, won one of the raffle prizes given out that night. What did he win? A copy of my book, Table Tennis Tips – with his picture on the cover! (I'd already given him a signed copy.) Meanwhile, since I put up all of the chairs for the league, I went around claiming to be the chairman.

Special thanks goes to MDTTC sponsor Butterfly and to Capital Area League Ball Sponsor Paddle Palace. Next league meetup is at WDCTT on Oct. 17. Hope to see some of you there!

Asian and European Championships

They are both going on right now:

Serving Tutorial by Marcos Freitas

Here's the video (4:01 – really starts about 40 seconds in). Two nitpicks: First, the graphic images show the spin serves hitting near the middle of the racket. But you get more spin if you contact the ball closer to the tip. Second, the forehand pendulum serve is demoed 86 seconds in, and is blatantly illegal as he's hiding the ball from the receiver. These days cheating in our sport is so rampant we even teach it in videos!

2016 Selection Procedure for USA Cadet and Junior Teams

Here's the info page.

The Swedish Greats

Here's a nice picture of Waldner and Borg, two of the greats of table tennis and tennis. Did you know that Borg got his start in tennis because of table tennis? From his Early Life entry in his Wiki page: "As a child, Borg became fascinated with a golden tennis racket that his father won at a table-tennis tournament. His father gave him the racket, beginning his tennis career."

Paul Drinkhall in Footsteps of True Legend

Here's the article.

Iranian Players clinch Five Wins in Asian Championships

Here's the article from Press TV.

Celebrity Battle: Judah Friedlander vs. Frank Caliendo

Here's the USATT article – who would win between these comic titans? (I'm not going to take sides, but I've coached Judah, who is rated 1607, and I've played doubles with Frank, who is 1665.)

Greatest "Table Tennis" Rally of All Time?

Here's the video (42 sec). These guys know how to use their heads – they've obviously read Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers.

More Mike Mezyan Pictures

NOTE - If you are unable to see these pictures, all you have to do is join the Table Tennis Group - it's easy! Here are all the past, present, and (soon) future pictures he's collected. (I pick out his best ones for here - he has more.)

Here Lies 21

Here's the cartoon lamenting the change in games from 21 to 11 points.

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Tip of the Week

Watch the Top Players Before a Tournament or Big Match.

The Spirit of Pong: First Two Chapters Online

Here are the first two chapters of my 100-page table tennis fantasy novel, which you can read for FREE. If you like them, then you can buy the whole novel at Amazon ($7 print or $6 kindle). Here's a description of the novel:

Andy "Shoes" Blue wants to be a table tennis champion, but he’s just another wannabe American. And so he goes to China to learn the secrets of table tennis. He is trained by the mysterious Coach Wang, and begins an odyssey where he learns the secrets of table tennis from the spirits of Ichiro Ogimura (who helped spawn China’s greatness), Rong Guotuan (China’s first world champion in 1959, whose tragic story Andy must relive), and others, and must face the mysterious "Dragon." Can he overcome treachery and learn the final secret of table tennis in time to defeat his ultimate nemesis?

The novel includes a bonus short story at the end that I wrote, "Ping-Pong Ambition," which was originally published in the anthology Sporty Spec: Games of the Fantastic. Here's a description, and a review from The Fix:

"A table tennis player is imprisoned inside a ping-pong ball by a genie for 10,000 years, where he practices table tennis and studies to be a genie himself - only to discover a surprising truth."

"Ping-Pong Ambition is a fun take on the genie-who-gives-three-wishes story. The tropes are familiar, but the light tone and twist ending make this an entertaining read." The Fix, Jan. 27, 2008.

There aren't that many table tennis novels. Here's the only five I know of – am I missing any?

  • The Spirit of Pong (2015) by Larry Hodges. (See description above.)
  • Doubles (2009) by Anne Borrowdale. "Tanni Lydd has given up caring that her father disappeared when she was born. That is until new boyfriend Jez Morley nags her to track him down and miraculously turns up a clue which puts her on his trail. But Jez is a professional table-tennis player who spins and deceives for a living, and soon Tanni is convinced he is playing games off the table too. As the spins and deceptions get ever closer to home, what once seemed a game threatens to turn their lives upside down. Perceptive and skillfully crafted, Anne Borrowdale's latest novel makes imaginative use of a table-tennis metaphor to explore themes of love, loss and self-delusion."
  • The Mighty Walzer (1999) by Howard Jacobson. "From the beginning Oliver Walzer is a natural--at ping-pong. Even with his improvised bat (the Collins Classic edition of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde) he can chop, flick, half-volley like a champion. At sex he is not a natural, being shy and frightened of women, but with tuition from Sheeny Waxman, fellow member of the Akiva Social Club Table Tennis team, his game improves. And while the Akiva boys teach him everything he needs to know about ping-pong, his father, Joel Walzer, teaches him everything there is to know about "swag." Unabashedly autobiographical, this is an hilarious and heartbreaking story of one man's coming of age in 1950's Manchester."
  • The Mystery of the Lost Racket (2013) by Enzo Pettinelli. Children's book. "There's the summer, the sea and wind. The winds are the good ones, the light breezes. The tale is about the parable of life: it starts when it is rising high meeting the point where it starts to go down. The charm is possible for who knows how to tell a story, and Enzo Pettinelli tells it through an extraordinary ping-pong metaphor."
  • My Secret Life as a Ping-Pong Wizard (2005) by Henry Winkler (yes, "The Fonz") and Lin Oliver. Children's book. "Hank thought that getting through summer school to get to the fifth grade would be hard enough, but little did he know that it would get worse! Everyone in the fifth grade is starting to focus on a sport—and they’re really good. Everyone, that is, except Hank. When Papa Pete suggests that Hank take up Ping-Pong, he decides to give it a try but keeps it top secret, as he thinks the other kids will tease him about it not being a "real" sport. Hank is so good that he manages to Ping-Pong his way to the championship! But when he finds out the contest is being held at "Nick the Tick" McKelty’s family bowling alley, will he risk being the laughingstock of the fifth grade?" (Here's my review. Page down a bit.)

Capital Area Team League

We had the first meeting of the fall 2015 season of the Capital Area Team League. There are 12 teams and 70 players – that's 5.8 players per team, since we listed the restriction on the number of players per team. They are divided into two divisions of six teams each. From 5-10 PM on Saturday each team played two team matches. I'll post results tomorrow. Here's a group photo!

Injured . . . Again

Yesterday in the first five seconds of my first private coaching session (with Navin Kumar), I felt agonizing pain in the muscles of my upper left chest. I have no idea how or when it was injured, but it got worse and worse. (I've never had this injury - I can add it to my collection.) We stopped 15 minutes early as I could barely play at that point. Fortunately, the rest of the day I only had three hours of group sessions where I'd at most have to feed multiball. Only – feeding multiball involves picking the balls up rapidly with my left arm and tossing them backwards, which was extremely painful. I managed to get through the day, but now I'm once again injured. For today and probably tomorrow I'm cancelling or getting substitutes. We'll see how it is tomorrow. (But I still have a 90-minute tutoring session today.) 

My best guess is I hurt it while carrying my extremely heavy playing bag around. I probably have more stuff in there than any other table tennis person. I mean, seriously, does anyone expect me to go anywhere without my brick collection? I think I'll blog about my bag's contents later this week. Prepare to be mesmerize.

Why is it that I keep getting injured while coaching Navin? I think my last three injuries have come while hitting with him. If only I could be as healthy as Navin.

Asian and European Championships

They are both going on right now:

Brief Discussion of the Four Principles of Table Tennis in Terms of the Beauty of the Sport

Here's the article by Jinxin Wang, world #77 and the 2015 US Open Men's Singles Champion.

The ABC's of the Table Tennis Block

Here's the new coaching article from Coach Jon.

Robert Gardos vs. Alexander Shibaev

Here's video at 10-9 where the two argue over whether Shibaev's serve hit his shirt. (The link should take you directly there – 132 seconds in.) Gardos of Austria is world #26; Shibaev of Russia is #58. 

What's interesting to me is that with all that argument over that, there's no mention of how illegal Shibaev's serve is. Here's an image of the serve in question – he's hiding it with his head as well as having his arm out there, both illegal, as are essentially every serve in the match. Here's the very first point of the match – see how hidden Shibaev's serve is? But Gardos isn't any better – here's his first serve shown on the far side (94 seconds in - they don't show his first two.) Umpires and referees, nothing to see here, move along, just move along. (This is the standard serve at the world class level, and it rarely gets called. See my blog from last Friday and my proposal to end this cancer on our sport.)

Great Diving Picture

Here's the picture of "Superman" - but who is it? It seems to be from the European Championships, but #137 there is Fedor Kuzmin of Russia, who has light brown hair, not the dark hair of this player. Someone thought it might be Emmanual Lebesson, and I originally thought it was Alexander Shibaev, but I'm not sure. Anyone know? Or perhaps, like Superman, we'll never know his identity? (If you know who it is, comment below. I'm leaving for the afternoon, but will check and update this tonight.) 

Beltway Plaza Table Tennis Challenge Raises $1521 for Parkinson's

Here's the info sheet, with Navin Kumar. (My math mind cannot help but notice that's 13 squared times 3 squared. Nice number.)

New Table Tennis News Page

Here's the Pong Universe news page.

Great Point: Dimitrij Ovtcharov vs. Jung Youngsik

Here's the video (38 sec, including slow motion replay) between the world #5 from Germany and world #14 from South Korea. That's Adam Bobrow doing the commentary.

Great Paralympic Point

Here's the video (43 sec, including slow motion replay).

Blade, I Am Your Father

Here's the latest table tennis artwork from Mike Mezyan. (Here's the non-Facebook version.)

Pope Pong

In honor of the Pope's US visit, here are some images I found online. You can get balls or paddles with his image, silhouette, past popes, slogans, and even commemorative ones for his visits to Washington DC, Philadelphia, and New York City.

Insult Table Tennis

Here's the cartoon!

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Net Visibility Rule

Here is the Net Visibility Rule Proposal, my proposal to solve the hidden serve problem in table tennis. I sent it to the USATT Rules Committee yesterday morning. If they approve it, then they would submit it to the ITTF by Nov. 1, for consideration at the next ITTF meeting at the World Championships in May, 2016. Here's the $100,000 question to ask yourself: Are we better off with this new rule, or with the current untenable situation? (Here's my September 18 blog on hidden serves.)

One thing that's become obvious is the different outlook from those who actually try out the proposal, and those who don't. I've had dozens of people test it, where I'd barely hide the ball from a receiver, and then have them judge it from both sides where the umpires would sit. All said that any ball I tried to hide from a receiver was clearly hidden from at least one net post. To those who have read my blogs about this proposal and reached a conclusion, I hope you will keep an open mind and actually test it. The question to ask is this: If a server hides the ball from the receiver, is the umpire substantially more likely to call it under the current rule (where there's about a 0.7 degree difference between a hidden and non-hidden serve), or this rule (where there's a 45-90 degree difference)?

I was hesitant at first to make the proposal public since it shows so many of our top cadets serving illegally. However the videos are all public, so anyone can see them. But more importantly, showing what we're forcing our kids to do in order to compete fairly may be the only way to cause the outcry needed to get table tennis officials to take action. At the moment, I'm outraged at the lack of outrage.

I don't blame the kids who serve illegally in response to the opponent doing so and the umpire allowing it. But I do blame the one who first does so in a match (or the coach who tells him to do so), and the umpires and referees who allow this. (The most under-used rule in table tennis is Rule 2.06.06.01: "If either the umpire or the assistant umpire is not sure about the legality of a service he or she may, on the first occasion in a match, interrupt play and warn the server; but any subsequent service by that player or his or her doubles partner which is not clearly legal shall be considered incorrect." But my proposal should make such enforcement easier, as a serve hidden from a receiver would now be obviously hidden from at least one net post and so obviously illegal.)

There was a bit of email discussion last night among USATT people about the proposal. At this point I'm not optimistic that USATT will take the lead in this, but perhaps I'll be pleasantly surprised. If they don't, then we'll have to rely on the ITTF to do so, whether with my proposal or another.

USATT did propose a few years ago that the ball must be visible throughout the serve to both umpires, but that was voted down. (I'm told because it was considered too extreme). Some believe we should make the same proposal again, but there's no indication that the vote would be any different. Which is why I proposed a less extreme solution. The problem with requiring the ball be visible to both umpires is that it would dramatically change every top player's serve. My proposal wouldn't. Regardless of whether you are for that rule – and I was and still am – we have to face reality that it was voted down, and look for a different solution.

Weekend Table Tennis Action – Don't Miss It!!!

Player Archetypes: Attacking Styles

Here's the new coaching article from Han Xiao.

The Boy Who Couldn't Throw a Ball

Here's the new blog entry from Expert Table Tennis – it's chapter one from Expert in a Year: The Ultimate Table Tennis Challenge.

Chris Main: Bringing International Table Tennis to Saltcoats

Here's the new podcast (43:33) from Expert Table Tennis. "Chris Main is the head coach of North Ayrshire Table Tennis Club, a thriving club located on the West Coast of Scotland in Saltcoats. Saltcoats is a small town about 45 minutes away from Glasgow but Chris is on a mission to transform it into a hub of table tennis activity."

Butterfly Mag’s 2015 Tricks & Top Shots Award

Here are the videos – you get to vote!

Weirdest "Let" in 39 Years of Play

I was coaching someone recently when he suddenly caught the ball. I asked why. He said he thought he heard a plane in the playing area. He later tried to convince me that he was joking and not to put it in my blog, but to no avail, though I'm leaving his name out. It's not clear if it was a propeller or jet plane.

Ping Pong Diplomat and Champ Extraordinaire

Here's the article featuring USATT Hall of Famer George Brathwaite.

Chinese President Xi Jinping Tries Out Ping-Pong Diplomacy at U.S. High School

Here's the article from the Wall Street Journal.

Obit of Daniel Thompson, Inventor of Folding Ping-Pong Table and Bagel-Making Machine

Here's the obit from the Washington Post. Here's the table tennis part:

In 1950, he and his wife were visiting friends when one of them mentioned ping-pong. It was one of Mr. Thompson’s favorite games but, as he told friends, he hated assembling and breaking down the heavy table every time he played.

“He said there must be a better way,” Ada Thompson recalled last week, “so he sat down with a pad of paper and started sketching.”

Twenty minutes later, she said, he had the design for a folding ping-pong table. He patented it in 1953 and sold the rights to a major manufacturer. The proceeds from the sale became “the kick-starter, financially, for the bagel machine,” Craig Thompson said.

Indonesian Team Sweeps Four Events at Butterfly Badger Open

Here's the article by Barbara Wei.

Ma Long vs. Jan-Ove Waldner
Here's video (5:07) of the two playing at the 2009 Energis Masters. There's a lot of debate about who would win between these two, the current World Men's Champion and the player considered by many the greatest player ever. It's not quite the same as seeing the two at their peak as Waldner is 43 at the time and long retired, and of course during his peak years they played with a 38mm ball. Ma, 20 at the time, is already #3 in the world, and is less than a year away from his first world #1 ranking. Ma wins three straight, but Waldner is up game point in the third.

Umpire Hand Signals

Here's the new video (5:38) from the ITTF that shows how umpires signal various types of service faults. There doesn't seem to be sound.

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.

Inner Reflections

Here's the latest artwork by Mike Mezyan.

Table Tennis Holster

Here's the pictureDraw!!!

Space and Moon Pong

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Chess and Table Tennis - Seven Facts that "Pawn Sacrifice" Got Right

Here's the article – see #5, "Chess in the Ping Pong Room." Pawn Sacrifice goes out for wide release on Friday, with advance showings today. I'm looking forward to seeing it, about the life of chess champion Bobby Fischer (who was at least borderline insane). The movie focuses on his famous and controversial world championship match in 1972 with Boris Spassky – which I remember following very closely when I was 12 years old. I was for a time a serious chess player, but haven't played seriously since I was 20. I still remember playing Queens Gambit, French Defense, etc., even if I no longer remember the moves!

  • Here are two pictures of Bobby Fischer playing table tennis: photo1, photo2.
  • Here's a table tennis cartoon about the Fischer-Spassky match – note the "Bordtennis" sign, which is Swedish for table tennis.
  • Here's my article, Why Table Tennis Really Is Chess at Light Speed.
  • Here's a picture of USATT Hall of Famers John Tannehill and Dell Sweeris playing chess at the 1968 US Open. This picture is at the start of the introduction for my book, Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers, with the opening lines: "Table tennis has been called chess at lightning speed. There are hundreds of books on chess tactics. Why aren't there more books devoted to table tennis tactics?" (The intro also includes the first picture above of Bobby Fischer playing table tennis.)
  • Here's a picture of former USA National Cadet Team Member Tong Tong Gong playing chess at the national chess championships a few years ago. I used to coach him – at table tennis tournaments, that is!

Milestones

Recently I've reached three milestones.

  • Published articles. In late August I had my 1600th published article. This does not include about 1200 blog entries, though it does include 235 Tips of the Week here at TableTennisCoaching.com. Here's a listing as of Sept. 1. As of today, I have 1604 published articles, along with nine books. The published articles include 1427 on table tennis, 71 science fiction & fantasy sales (plus 33 resales), and 56 non-TT non-SF&F articles.
  • Daily Hits. It's been a long, slow climb, but this month TableTennisCoaching.com is averaging over 1100 reads per day. To be exact (and not including yesterday's non-blog), it's averaging 1100.6 per day. The last few days have been a bit below average, with only 729 on Tuesday (but 1294 for Friday). I remember after my first year it was averaging about 300. (There are actually more than 1100 readers per day, as some people come in one time and read an entire week or two of blogs, but it only registers as one read.) Fridays up the average a bit as they get three days' worth of hits.
  • Tutoring. I've long known that as I get older I'd find coaching more and more physically demanding. And so I'd have to find more sedentary activities to pay the bills – such as writing. However, there's another activity I've always wanted to move more into – tutoring. I've done it for many years, mostly in math (where I've done everything from grade school through multivariable Calculus) and English (I regularly edit local players' papers for school). Recently I was hired on a regular basis to tutor one of our table tennis kids in his English writing skills, 5.5 hours/week. So it's become a regular part of my routine.

ITTF Spins and Skills

Here are new coaching videos from the ITTF.

Executing Table Tennis Shots

Just out: #5 in this series by Brett Clarke.

Decisions, Decisions: Learn to Slow Down Your Opponent

Here's the new coaching article by Samson Dubina.

Mental Pitfalls: Switch to Winning in Your Mind

Here's the table tennis sports psychology article.

Table Tennis and Age

Here's the new article by Coach Jon.

Stay at the Linq and Get a Free Event at the US Open!

Here's the USATT article.

International Training Center Network Directives and Operational Guidelines

Here's the ITTF Manual.

11 Questions with Jasna Rather

Here's the USATT Interview.

Interview with Tahl Leibovitz

Here's the USATT interview by Rahul Acharya.

USATT Board Member Anne Cribbs Named Olympic Torch Award Honoree

Here's the USATT article.

Is Table Tennis a Sport or a Game?

Here's the article.

Navin Kumar's 2016 Paralympic Table Tennis Journey

Here's the new funding page for the "Bionic Man." Here's the intro paragraph: "Hi there! My name is Navin Kumar (pronounced Nuh-VEEN KOO-mar) and I'm the first athlete in history to actively compete with Parkinson's Disease as I represent the USA in international table tennis competition as part of the Paralympic Program."

The Secret to Ping-Pong: Can it Cure Alzheimer's?

Here's the video (2 min). Here's another video (1:22) about the Alzheimer's Therapy Program that shows the benefits of table tennis.

Sean O'Neill Switches Hands

Here's the video (12 sec) from long ago, where he switches hands to smash a winner against Eric Boggan.

Cartoon Table Tennis Rackets

Here are 24 – take your pick! Personally, I like either the "I Love Books" Dragon Paddle, or the "Wham!" and "Ka-pow!" ones.

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Today is Yom Kippur, a major Jewish holiday. I'm not Jewish, but the local schools celebrate it and are closed today. If the kids I coach get the day off, so do I! So no blog today. But to tide you over, here's a repeating gif image of a cat at the net as two players play. Either that or this one of minions playing table tennis should be on your club's home page. 

USATT Rating Inflation

I blogged about this back on June 19, 2014. The subject came up last night during the USATT Teleconference, where we were discussing creating USATT leagues that would be processed with regular USATT ratings, rather than the separate USATT league ratings that are currently used in many leagues. The question was whether we needed to use adjustments. I explained why the rating system would actually deflate without adjustments, but that in the past we've had the adjustments too high, which led to inflation. I've experienced this in the leagues I've run or been involved with, where over and over we've seen the ratings deflate, leading to us putting in an adjustment factor. (At MDTTC, we give bonus points for winning your group.)

Until now, I've always assumed my analysis of this was my own from about 15 years or so ago, and didn't realize anyone else had studied this. (I have a bachelor's in math, and if not for table tennis might have become a math professor…) Here's how I explained it back then.

"If there were no adjustment factor, the system would be deflationary, and the average rating would be dropping. Why? Because the average player improves after his initial rating. Assuming no adjustment factor, let's say that the average first rating is 1200, and that the average player then improves to 1500. That means the player takes 300 rating points from others in the system. Result? Assuming the same number of players in the system, there are now 300 less points distributed among them, and so the average rating goes down - even though the average level of those players has stayed the same. This should be true of any rating system where there's a direct or indirect exchange of rating points."

"Let's assume that the average player instead got worse on average. Then they'd be giving the system points, and so the system would be inflationary."

But last night CEO Gordon mentioned the Elo rating system, which ours is based on. And lo and behold, it said exactly what I had figured out years ago! It includes a segment on Rating Inflation and Deflation. It includes this statement, which matches what I've argued for years, though many have been skeptical of this.

“In a pure Elo system, each game ends in an equal transaction of rating points. If the winner gains N rating points, the loser will drop by N rating points. This prevents points from entering or leaving the system when games are played and rated. However, players tend to enter the system as novices with a low rating and retire from the system as experienced players with a high rating. Therefore, in the long run a system with strictly equal transactions tends to result in rating deflation.”

Below that is a segment on Combatting Deflation, which includes this:

“Because of the significant difference in timing of when inflation and deflation occur, and in order to combat deflation, most implementations of Elo ratings have a mechanism for injecting points into the system in order to maintain relative ratings over time.”

Regarding USATT ratings, my impression is that there was inflation from the time it started in the mid-1970 through the 1990s, but it seems to have slowed in the last 15 years or so, with the upwards adjustments roughly matching the built-in deflation. I don't know if there was a change to the adjustment factor, a natural convergence to a stable norm, or what. I've seen the same deflationary problem in proposed USATT rating systems that did not have an adjustment factor.

In the Zone: Training Emotional Skill in Table Tennis, Parts 1-3

I previously linked to part 1. Here's all three.

  • Part 1: Introduction and the Nature of Emotional Skill
  • Part 2: Ten Attributes of Poised Players, What About Us?, and Diagnose
  • Part 3: Intervention and Changing Goals

Li Xiaodong on Serve and Attack

Here's the video (25:56). I linked on Sept. 8 to his earlier lecture, "Li Xiaodong on Serving" (23:28). Li Xiaodong is 22 years coach of Chinese National Team and 12 years coach of Beijing Team. He was also Head Coach of Chinese Women Team. Now he is Deputy Head of Technical Studies Committee.

Akron, Latest Home as Demand Grows for Development Courses in United States

Here's the ITTF article about the recent ITTF Coaching Course in Akron, Ohio. It was organized by Samson Dubina and run by Richard McAfee.

Liang Xu Wins 2nd Annual Knoxville Secret City gold Dollar Upset Open

Here's the article (by Jude Lam) and pictures.

Zhang Jike Tribute

Here's the new video (5:50). It's in Chinese, but you get to see a lot of footage.

Court Table Tennis?

Here's the video (1:27) with Adam Bobrow and the Singapore Team at a bus station in Czech Repubic.

Water Pong

Here's the video (13 sec)!

***
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You should read RatingCentral's method for rating. It is much more accurate and takes the time since last played into account which IMO makes it much more accurate-- especially for Jr players.

In reply to by despreston

Does it have rating adjustments to avoid deflation? (I was familiar with the system many years ago, but it's been a while, plus there might have been changes.) There were pluses and minuses to that system. If I start getting into that, there'll like be a huge debate. We've been through that many times, and I don't have time or interest in going through that again. 

In reply to by Larry Hodges

There is no need for adjustments. There is a second value assigned to the player that tracks how long it has been since they played. The higher this value, the less certain we are of the accuracy of the rating assigned to that player. The second value is what helps determine how many points you win/lose from a match.

In reply to by despreston

The number you refer to has nothing to do with rating deflation or inflation. Having a number that tells you how accurate the rating is relative to others in the system is not the same thing. 

In reply to by Larry Hodges

Sure it does. It allows us to go about rating players without having to rely on pumping points into the system. The reason (at least from what I see) for adjustments is because players are so underrated that it would be unfair to other players to NOT adjust their rating. Reasons players appear in tournaments highly unrated: kids that learn quickly; coaches that hold players out of tournaments until they are significantly underrated; players that go a long time without playing a US tournament (busy training in China, etc). Most of this is based on the time between recorded tournaments. Its the standard deviation that helps determine how many points you should lose and how many points should be given. There are further solutions that could be taken with this system as well-- giving juniors a higher standard deviation is one of them.

In reply to by despreston

Adjustments are done specifically for the reasons given in my blog and the linked article - to stop rating deflation. They tend to go to under-rated players, but that's actually arbitrary to what's needed to stop deflation, which is to pump points into the system to keep it stable. If you could calculate how much a system deflates in a year, you could get the same result by simply adding that many points to everyone's rating each year. (My guess is it's never been more than 5 points a year, and it's less if anything now, but that adds up over time. See the link to my earlier blog on this above.) 

Keeping track of the time between tournaments only gives an indication that the rating may be less accurate, and so the SD goes up. While this could affect the rate of deflation, it works both ways. You assume players who don't play for a time are under-rated, when it's probably just as likely that players stop playing for a time, and when they come back, might be out of practice. But either way, at most it would change the rate of deflation. (Coaches holding players out of tournaments so they can be under-rated is generally rare, though I've heard of the accusations against a specific club in California. Any good coach knows you need regular tournaments to maximize improvement. It's an isolated case out of a large country.) 

The system can stay internally accurate while deflating as a whole. Players will still tend to improve, and so be under-rated. They'll then, on average, beat players and get a more accurate rating, while other players he play will go down more than they should, due to his being under-rated. This leads inevitably to deflation, unless there is a mechanism to stop this. I'm tempted to cite data and findings from long ago, but just don't have time and interest to get involved in another long ratings debate - too many other priorities. 

By adjustments, do you mean the points that are injected into the system when a player stands to gain more than 50 rating points in a tournament? It would seem hard to analyze the overall effect of this because players who gradually improve would not inject points, whereas sudden improvements would add points.

Or are there some other kinds of adjustments?

In reply to by dhill

correct, the rating adjustments in the USATT rating system are for players who gain more than 50 points. It does make analysis tricky. 

I second the Ratings Central system, it appears to be much more accurate than USATT ratings from what we see in the leagues out here in Portland, OR.

It is not a zero-sum system like elo, so it is not 'naturally' deflationary in the same way that that system is.  

The benefits of it are that:

Players who have not played in a while have high deviations and therefore don't affect the ratings of players with lower deviations as much if there is an upset in either direction.

Ratings += are not fixed values, they move based on relative ratings and deviations of both players.

The ratings get more accurate the more that a person plays (if they play a variety of other players).

The downside is that if players have not played in a while, their ratings will vary wildly for a few matches, and if only take wins or losses over those few matches, their rating can move by hundreds of points.  

Here is their page on how the system works:

http://www.ratingscentral.com/HowItWorks.php

 

I highly recommend that you try it out for your Capital Area League.  We input the data for our matches in leagues and tournaments out here every week and it makes it super fun.  Players get emails when the events are posted, and those ratings are used for placement in the weekly tournaments and leagues that we have.  I've never heard anyone complain about the accuracy of the system in the many years it's been used.

 

 

Tip of the Week

Recover from the Previous Shot.

MDTTC and USATT Activities

Lots of stuff going on right now. Here's a quick rundown.

We've finalized the teams and schedule for the new season of the Capital Area Team League. I'm on the organizing committee as webmaster, along with Commissioner Stafano Ratti, Treasurer John Olsen, and Publicist Richard Heo. Play begins this Saturday.

On Thursday and Sunday I ran the first meetings of the Fall junior programs I run at MDTTC. We have twelve new juniors, ranging in age from 5 to 13. We focused on grip, stance, ball-bouncing, and the forehand. Next up: the backhand and serving. On Sunday we also had a staff meeting to discuss upcoming plans for the programs.

On Sunday we had the first meeting of the new "Talent Development Program" at MDTTC, where ten of our best kids in the 7-9 age group met and trained, with five coaches – yes, a 2-1 ratio. We may have more depth in that age group than ever before. I don't think of this group has played tournaments – but that'll be happening soon. The program is sponsored by HW Global Foundation. Watch out China!

Also on Sunday was the weekly meeting of the MDTTC Adult Training Group. I also have two regular students on Sundays, but coincidentally both were away or unable to attend, so I had most of the morning and early afternoon off for a change.

I'm buried in USATT work. (I'm not alone on this – I'm working with other USATT people on many of these. CEO Gordon is helpfully involved in most issues.) A short rundown:

  • USATT Teleconference. We have one tonight at 7PM. The agenda includes various membership items, updates and discussion of the upcoming USA Nationals, a legal update on confidential issues, and plans for upcoming board meetings. (I have a 90-minute private coaching session on Mondays ending at 7PM, but I have to cut that short tonight. Student was understanding.)
  • Editing. Recently I've done a lot of detailed editing of various USATT things, from the USA Nationals entry form to various proposals. It's right up my alley – I'm pretty good at catching mistakes. I'm the type of reader who on page 246 will cry out, "That contradicts what you wrote on page 57!"
  • Net Visibility Rule – a proposal to fix the problem of players hiding their serve. I blogged about this a number of times, including July 17 and Sept. 18. I'll submit this soon.
  • Racket Testing Rule – a proposal to fix the problem with boosting. I blogged about it on Aug. 18. I'll submit this after the Net Visibility Rule proposal is dealt with – one at a time.
  • Regional Associations. I've created proto-type bylaws, and will be going public at some point this fall with plans to regionalize the country with regional associations. They'd be primarily responsible for table tennis in their region, including the next three bulleted items. (Many but not all of them would be state associations.)
  • State Championships. Here's is the list I've put together of current State Championships. (If you know of one not on this list, or would like to run one, email me.) The goal is for a state championship in all 50 states in 2016. I blogged about this on April 17. The goal is to turn these into regional news events that promote the sport. I also would like to initiate a "Parade of Champions" perhaps at the 2016 USA Nationals, where all the state champions are paraded out and recognized, perhaps just before the men's and women's finals.
  • Leagues – as chair of the USATT League Committee I'm taking a two-pronged approach – Team Leagues and USATT Rated Leagues. For the first, I'll be putting together a prototype of a regional team league, based on my experiences with the Capital Area Team League and others, such as the one in LA. For the latter, the plan is to allow clubs the option to run a USATT Rated Singles League, where it would be processed for rating, just like a USATT tournament. The earliest these might be ready are late fall or early 2016. (They require software development.)
  • Coaching Programs and Training Centers. I have plans here, and hope to work with the USATT Coaching Committee on this, though I might put this off until 2016. I'd like to see us start to recruit and train coaches who wish to become professional coaches – and teach them both the technical part (as done in the ITTF coaching program we've adopted) and the professional side (how to make a living as a coach, recruit students, set up and run training centers and coaching programs, etc.)
  • Professional Leagues. There are plans afoot on this, but another item for 2016.

Executing Table Tennis Shots

#4 in this new series by Brett Clarke just came out.

More Zhang Jike Multiball Training

Here's the video (1:55).

Topspin with a Bottle

Here's the video (2:03) that shows how to teach someone to topspin by spinning a ball off the top of a bottle.

Butterfly Badger Open

Argentina Open

Here's the home page for the event held this past weekend in Mendoza, ARG, with results, articles, pictures, and video.

Table Tennis is the Most Complete Sport for Kids

Here's the article. (Here's the non-Facebook version.)

New York Table Tennis League

Here's their September Newsletter.

Autographs of 60+ Table Tennis Greats – Barna, Bergmann, Vana, Leach

Here's the Ebay auction – it'll only cost you £12,000! (That's $18,637.02. Pocket change.) Alas, the auction just ended.

Net-Net Post-Net

Here's the video (11 sec) of this most basic shot.

Some Lobbing, a Backhand Countersmash, and a Little Celebration

Here's the video (40 sec).

Two-Ball, Bottle-Net, Blue Picnic Pong

Here's the video (35 sec) of how the game should be played.

What is the Optimal Number of Ping Paddles?

Einstein has your answer. Equipment junkies, go to it! (I created this one.) 

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Texas State Closed.  November 14th at Texas Wesleyan.  Not sure if it will become an annual event.

Mark

If You Want to Compete, You Have to Cheat

This headline isn't technically accurate - there are a few top players who serve legally, and are still able to compete. Vladimir Samsonov is perhaps the best example. But the gist of the statement is correct - at the higher levels, since players are allowed to illegally hide their serves, players who do not cheat are at a substantial disadvantage. (The other major cheating problem in table tennis is boosting, which I discuss and give my solution to in this blog, which I will submit later as a rules proposal.)

I've been torn about whether to post pictures of all the USA cadets hiding their serves to show the extent of the problem. They're only kids. But the videos are public, and so anyone who isn't blind can see them. And I don't really blame the cadets who hide their serve in response to an opponent who does so and gets away with it - they are doing what they need to do to compete, and what they are coached to do, because the rules aren't being enforced or fixed. (I often look to see who does it first in a match– that's the one I do blame. You definitely shouldn't be hiding your serve unless the opponent does so far and gets away with it.)

How bad is the problem? At the 2014 U.S. Open there was only one top cadet regularly hiding his serve. He made it to the final of Under 14 Boys, where he met up with a strict umpire. After getting warned on the second serve of the match (and I think faulted later on), he served legally and lost. 

But since that time, in tournament after tournament, umpires did not enforce the rule, despite regular complaints from opponents. The result? It became obvious that illegal hidden serves were allowed, and that those who used them had a large advantage. And so, one by one, the other top cadets began to illegally hide their serves. 

And the result? At the 2015 North American Championships (Sept. 5-7), there are online videos of seven of the eight quarterfinalists in Cadet Boys' Singles, and all eight Men's Singles quarterfinalists. Every single one of them illegally hid their serves. Not one of them was faulted for this. (Very rarely, one would be faulted for something else, such as hand over the table or throwing the ball back too much.) Here's the North American Video Page. (If you spend time watching the serves, make sure to freeze during the serve as the ball goes behind the head. The best way to do this is to freeze the screen just before the ball reaches the head, and then use the space bar to rapidly start/stop the video.)

We've taught our top cadets that if you want to compete, you have to cheat.

I'm all about finding solutions. It's become obvious that few umpires will enforce the serving rule as it is written, in particular the part that says that if an umpire isn't satisfied a serve is legal, he must either warn (the first time) or fault. The problem is that players are able to serve so umpires aren't sure if the serve is hidden or not, and so they let it go. And so the cheaters are honored and we cheat the honorable ones. 

I blogged about how to solve this a number of time, such as here. I have a proposal that addresses this, with the rule change explained in that blog. The actual rule change, which I call the "Net Visibility Rule," would be as follows:

Current Rule:
02.06.04: From the start of service until it is struck, the ball shall be above the level of the playing surface and behind the server's end line, and it shall not be hidden from the receiver by the server or his or her doubles partner or by anything they wear or carry.  

Proposed Rule (additions bracketed in bold):
02.06.04: From the start of service until it is struck, the ball shall be above the level of the playing surface and behind the server's end line, and it shall not be hidden from the receiver[, or any part of the net assembly and its upward extension,] by the server or his or her doubles partner or by anything they wear or carry. 

Here's a good example of the serve that nearly everyone is now using and getting away with. As you can see, the ball is clearly hidden from the receiver, as will the contact a split second later. From the umpires' perspective from the side, they're not sure if it's hidden from the receiver or not, and so they do not call it. (They should, of course, since if the umpire isn't sure about the legality of a service he is supposed to warn or fault.) However, even from the umpires' perspective, it's obvious the ball is hidden from the right-hand net post, and so he'd likely call it. (In the proposal, I have pictures from the umpire's perspective that show this, from both sides.)

The proposal is eight pages long, with a number of photos showing how players hide their serve, and how and why they would be called illegal under the proposal. It includes pictures of both USA players and international ones hiding their serve, including Men's World Champion Ma Long. The pictures are from both the receiver's and umpire's point of view.

There's also a seven-page addendum which is a gallery showing all of the players hiding their serves at the North American Championships – all eight Men's Singles quarterfinalists and seven of the eight Cadet Boys' Singles quarterfinalists (one of them wasn't videoed).

There isn't any perfect way to fix the serving rule, but I believe this comes pretty close. Here's what I wrote in the proposal near the end:

There is often no perfect rule, and it's quite possible that in some cases, umpires would fail to call a hidden serve under the proposal. But that's also true of other rules, such as the six-inch toss rule, as mentioned earlier. But let's emphasize this: while an umpire might not always call a five-inch toss serve, he would almost always call a serve where the ball is thrown out of the hand, as that would obviously not be a six-inch toss. Similarly, under this proposal, while an umpire might not always call a serve that's hidden from part of the net or net posts, he would almost always call ones that are hidden from the receiver, as they would obviously be hidden from the net posts. And even if umpires don't call all of them, servers aren't going to hide their serve if they are frequently getting faulted.  

I'll submit the proposal soon. I'll also likely put it online at some point – but I'm still hesitant about the reaction of posting all those photos of our top cadets hiding their serves, i.e. cheating. Since half the Men's Singles Quarterfinalists were cadets (!), posting those has the same problem. (I also don't want to post it until after it's been finalized and submitted.)

But there's a reason I'm featuring pictures of so many of our top cadets hiding their serves in the proposal – it gives quite an impact when we show what our lack of enforcing or fixing the serving rule has led to – teaching our kids that if they want to compete, they have to cheat!

Busy Friday

Meanwhile, when I wasn't collaborating with several people on the Net Visibility Rule Proposal (above), I was:

  • One hour teaching the first session of a new junior class (six new kids), and saying 30 minutes late hitting with some of them. Crisis of the day – the robot broke down halfway through the class, causing problems since it was one of the three stations in the class rotation. Normally I'd resolve this by turning it into a serving station, but one problem – it was day one for these kids, and they didn't yet know how to serve. So I changed the class plans and taught them serves so they could practice them.
  • One hour private coaching (slow day).
  • Editing/proofing the draft of the USA Nationals entry form.
  • Going over outlines for several upcoming USATT ventures, mostly involving regional leagues and associations.
  • Tutoring one of our kids for 90 minutes on writing. He's eight, so we're working on punctuation, grammar, and above all, handwriting. It's my third session with him. I also have him spend 30 minutes of each session writing a new story, where we work on these things. Most of his stories involve me getting hit by meteors or exploding stars, or being forced to eat variations of fish ice cream.
  • Dealing with (and finally resolving) various problems with my new smart phone.
  • Answering 463,246 emails. I conscientiously spent at least five minutes on each. You do the math.

Beltway Plaza Table Tennis Challenge

Here's the article on the exhibition and competition to be held tomorrow (Saturday, Sept. 19), from 1-4PM, at Beltway Plaza in Maryland with Navin Kumar. Navin is one of my students, but alas, I have to miss it due to coaching commitments.

Executing Table Tennis Shots

#3 in this new series by Brett Clarke just came out.

Practicing the Short Push

Here's the video (26 sec), which makes use of a mini-hula hoop.

The Aces in Table Tennis

Here's a video (2:09) that shows players serving down-the-line aces. It's in French, but you can learn by watching, plus it's fun to see! Here's my Tip of the Week from 2011, "How to Ace an Opponent." If I were to grade and rank every single technique I did during my playing prime, my down-the-line ace serve was likely the single best thing I did. It's rusty these days, but I can usually bring it back after ten minutes practice.

Dimitrij Ovtcharov Multiball

Here's 17 seconds of intense multiball training with the German star.

Looking for Some Good Table Tennis Videos?

Here's the ITTF Channel, with lots of links to big matches from the recent Austrian and Belgium Opens. (Am I the only one to notice from the ITTF schedule that they have, consecutively, from Aug. 5 to Sept. 27, the China, Bulgarian, Czech, Austrian, Belgium, Argentina, and Chile Opens? They certainly are sticking to their ABCs!

USATT Insider

Here's the new issue, which came out Wednesday. You can have this emailed to you every Wednesday morning by going here.  Or you can wait for the online version, which I generally link to every Friday.

Hard Work Pays Off

Here's the podcast (27:34) with Adam Gittings, from Expert Table Tennis. "Adam Gittings is 18 years old, lives in Doncaster, and has Asperger syndrome, dyspraxia, and type 1 diabetes. Three years ago he was invited to a South Yorkshire disabled sports trial day at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield, where he was given to opportunity to try out a load of different sports and see if he had the potential to join any of the regional squads. Little did he know at the time, but that day would change his life forever."

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.

More Mike Mezyan Pictures

NOTE - If you are unable to see these pictures, all you have to do is join the Table Tennis Group - it's easy! Here are all the past, present, and (soon) future pictures he's collected. (I pick out his best ones for here - he has more.)

Table Tennis Fight Club

There really is a Table Tennis Fight Club in London – and when you go there, it automatically plays the Table Tennis Fight Club video (28 sec)! (Here's the youtube version.) Make sure to check out their Rules section! There's also the Table Tennis Fight Club Open Arena (also in London), which automatically plays another great video when you go there. (It's scenes from the movie "Balls of Fury.")

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regarding cheating:  it's not whether the rules are accurate or not - it's whether they are easily enforceable or not.  Umpires are bored to death, and aren't compensated for much, so they just want the match to be over with asap really.  No incentive for them to enforce the rules if the opponent isn't complaining.  And even if complaints are there, there's no easy way to enforce anyway.  So umpires are afraid they are holding up a beautiful match so they just let it go.

As i mentioned before, the only way to enforce rules are by machines.  No arguments.  We got replays too.  No arguments.

God help us if that day ever comes.   Tennis already uses computer to resolve arguments.  

 

A Burned Finger, Arm Problems, a Cold, and a Deviated Septum, Oh My!

Let's take these in order. (Oh, and remember junior star Jessica Shen from the 1990s? We'll get to her.) 

On Monday, I over-microwaved spaghetti for lunch. When I took it out a gob of boiling sauce hit the back of my right index finger. The skin blistered - it was pretty bad. I ran cold water over it for a while, cleaned it, put antiseptic on it, and bandaged it. It's been hurting like crazy ever since. Worse, when I'm hitting backhands with my students the back of the index finger faces the student - and about once every 15 minutes someone smacks it with a ball. OW!!! I may have to put some padding on it for tomorrow. 

On Wednesday, while hitting some hard backhands with a student, my arm started hurting a bit. I've blogged about this a few times; I wear an arm brace that really helps. But while the brace mostly protects it, I have to be careful not to make it worse. Note to self: no more very hard backhands for a few days. 

On Tuesday (yes, I'm going out of order), I woke up with a slight cold. I was blowing my nose and could barely breathe except through my mouth. It was pretty tiring. It's only a minor cold, but it would be nice if it decides to go somewhere else. Maybe to this guy

However, the bigger problem is the return of the deviated septum. It's been a very gradual process, but the cold brought its effects to the forefront - and are the primary reason I can barely breathe except through the mouth, which is tiring. It also means I've been mostly tired the last few days - it's hard to be energetic when struggling to breathe. I had surgery for this in 2007, and spent a week in bed as it healed - no coaching or much of anything else. (World #1 tennis player Novak Djokovic also had this surgery.) I also learned that it's one of those things that sometimes comes back after ten years or so, and that someday I might need to do it again. Alas, someday is coming, and it's probably just a matter of time before I have to go through with it again. I may have to pick out a week later this fall for this. I've been wearing sinus cones at night, which helps, but they'd look funny if I wear them in table tennis.

Here's an interesting table tennis connection here - remember Jessica Shen, who (along with MDTTC practice partner Vivian Lee) dominated junior girls in the U.S. during much of the 1990s? She's now Dr. Jessica Shen (page down for her picture and profile), an ENT specialist (Ears, Nose, Throat - the technical term is "Otorhinolaryngology") - and her practice is about a mile from my house! I may be contacting her soon. 

Whether you are a coach, player, or anything else, you better take care of your health! (Says the person who sees a doctor about once a decade, and only under extreme duress.)

Fixing the Grip

I blogged recently about how we made a change in one of my student's grip. He'd gradually switched to an extreme backhand grip for backhands, and an extreme forehand grip for forehands, leading to all sorts of problems. Since then he's been using an extremely neutral grip. In drills it's paying off, and he's starting to feel comfortable on the forehand side. However, he's still having problems controlling the backhand. The solution? We're going to stick with the neutral grip until at least the end of the month. The way to fix a bad habit is often to exaggerate the opposite, and do some saturation training – see first two items in my Tip of the Week Changing Bad Technique. After Oct. 1, I may let him go to a slight backhand grip for backhands, like Waldner did.

How Table Tennis Turned Into an Olympic Dream

Here's the story and video (2:38) of two kids from South Bend, Indiana, coached by Dan Seemiller. "Two young boys from South Bend’s west side are teaching us how important life experiences are. Dion and Dionta Payne-Miller are living out dreams they probably never thought possible before all through the sport of table tennis."

Vladimir Samsonov vs Yuya Oshima in the Champions League 

Here's the highlights video (8:08).

Ma Long – King of Epic Shots

Here's the highlights video (5:18) of the world men's champion, set to music.

Double-Bouncing Loop

Here's the video (3 sec) – you don't see this very often! Watch closely or you'll miss that the guy on the far side's loop bounces twice.

Adam Bobrow in Taiwan

Long Distance Target Practice

Here's the video (12 sec) as Kevin Korb smacks a ball from way back.

Table Tennis Rocks!

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

Super Heroes vs. Chinese Table Tennis Players

Here's the picture! Liu Guoliang vs. Nick Fury; Zhang Jike vs. Iron Man; Ma Long vs. Captain America; Ding Ning vs. Black Widow; Fan Zhendong vs. The Hulk; Wang Hao vs. Thor; and Xu Xin vs. Hawk Eye!

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Type of Table Tennis Forum Members

Here's a hilarious new video (12:27) that talks about the various types of people you find on a table tennis forum. It's spookily accurate!!!

I used to be very active in online forums, but in recent years not so much. Why? It was a combination of dealing with what the video calls "1500 Experts" and trolls. Often someone would post a coaching question, and I'd answer it, only to be contradicted and even scorned by these "Experts." Let's just say that there are some very opinionated people out there who haven't actually done anything in table tennis, and frankly speaking, don't know what they are talking about. This doesn't mean there aren't lower-rated players who are knowledgeable about table tennis, but they are outnumbered and often outposted by those who are not but believe otherwise.

One that comes to mind was a guy who argued strenuously with me about forehand looping technique. He'd argue to the ends of the earth that you only use your arm for the shot, no legs or hip rotation, and talked about his revolutionary methods that gave him a more powerful loop than those taught by the clueless people who taught table tennis. He admitted he'd never been to a table tennis club or tournament, nor had he played any top players, but he knew. He KNEW.

I've also had to deal with way too many trolls. I made the mistake (please slap me) of trying to have reasonable discussions with a few of them, and let's just say that never worked. I learned.

Easily the most infamous troll out there is known by many from online forums. I'm not going to name him, but many in online community know who I'm talking about. He's been trolling newsgroups and forums since the 1990s, and (as mentioned in the video above) likes to call others "Robo-Nazis." He regularly gets banned, but then comes back under another name – but using the very same language as before, making him instantly identifiable.

He likes to make up stuff about me. For example, he constantly refers to the "Hodges-Scholer Aspect Ratio Rule of 1998," and then goes on diatribes about it and me. This was a rule or regulation whereby the ratio of the height of a pips-out rubber to its width could not exceed a certain amount, which restricted long pips. I not only had nothing to do with this rule, I didn't even know about it until this troll started blaming me for it! It so happens that 1998 was the year I mostly took off from table tennis, and it was when I came back in 1999 I found out about it. And yet there are literally hundreds of postings about this with my name on it. I'm sure there are hundreds of people who think I was involved. I don't even have an opinion on the rule, despite his many postings to the contrary. (The only rule affecting long pips players that I was involved in was the two-color rule – that I was for, and was one of the people arguing for it when it finally became a rule way back in 1983. I don't even have an opinion on frictionless pips other than that if it's a rule or regulation, it should be enforced; if it can't be enforced, it shouldn't be a rule or regulation.)

There are different types of trolls. One troll who isn't so active anymore would go on and on about how great he was, and lecture everyone on every aspect of table tennis. He had incredibly strong opinions on everything, and an extremely inflated view of his own playing level, even challenging me to a $1000 match. And so, when the USA Team Trials happened to be in his city, I showed up at his club, accepting his challenge. He refused to play for money, but we did play two matches. I still have the scores – I won at 5,3,3,0 (yes, 11-0) and 3,6,4,1. He was about 1500.

Another troll I argued with a few times (no longer active) insisted there is only one type of equipment everyone should use, and one way to do every stroke, etc. He was an outspoken hardliner on all of this, and really dismissive of opposing views. I also met him at a club one time and played him – he was about 1900.

There's another troll out there who doesn't infect forums much anymore – he did so on one for a time but was banned, and never came back. However, his mode of operations now is to send out mass emails. When I ran for the Board last December he would send out dozens of mass emails on a daily basis. However, you only had to read one or two sentences before you realized the guy was crazy or a troll. He claims I wrote a feature article attacking him in a major newspaper, that I get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by the "sponge conglomerates" (I wish!!!) to keep hardbat and sandpaper down (!), and other stuff.

I also tired a bit of all the infatuation with equipment, i.e. equipment junkies. Getting good equipment is important, but it's a distant back seat to good technique. And yet I've been in at least a couple discussions with players who argue the reverse, that equipment is more important than technique, or at least on a par.

Event Listing for the 2015 USA Nationals

Here it is – over 90 events! They will be held Dec. 14-19 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The final event listing, with dates and times, will be released Sept. 23.

Beat the Lobber!

Here's the new article by Samson Dubina.

Stop Pushing!

Here's the coaching article from Ben Larcombe.

Ping-Pong Will Help Your Brain

Here's the article.

Top Talent to Compete at 2015 Butterfly Badger Open

Here's the article by Barbara Wei on the tournament to be held in Franklin, Wisconsin (15 miles from Milwaukee), on Sept. 18-20.

Street Pong the Next Big Thing?

Here's the article with pictures.

Steel Beams Salvaged from 110-Year-Old Railroad Transformed into Sturdy Ping Pong Table

Here's the article with pictures.

UTM Receives a Smash Hit for Ping Pong

Here's the article on table tennis at the University of Toronto.

Colorado Team League Started September 14

Here's the article about the team competition, organized by the Denver Table Tennis Alliance.

Once Again Chinese Community Center of Flushing Proves Popular Home

Here's the ITTF article on an ITTF Coaching Course held in the U.S., run by Sidney Christophe.

Interview with Hou Yingchao at the 2015 LA Open

Here's the video interview (2:36) by Barbara Wei with #2 seed, who would go on to win Open Singles over Joo Se Hyuk.

Great Champions of Table Tennis

Here's the music video (4:08).

Trick Shots with Kevin Korb

Here's the new video (15 sec).

The Spectacled Avenger?

Here's the picture – it looks like some sort of Super Woman playing table tennis1

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