Fixing the Grip

Here's an interesting coaching story. I've been coaching one junior for about three years. Over the last year he's grown about six inches and his hands grew even more –at age 14, they're as big as mine. During his first three years his biggest technical problem was a tendency to stand up too straight, which affected his strokes. In particular, it led to a tendency to stroke too much upward. Often his strokes would start forward and then go upwards as he contacted the ball, which is the natural tendency of players who stand up too straight.

Over the past year, as he's grown, he's run into another problem - he began to forehand loop with mostly his upper body, with less and less legs and hip rotation. I kept harping on this, but he had difficulty doing so. At the same time, he seemed to overcome his problem with standing up too straight, adopting a very wide stance that kept him relatively low. So we'd sort of swapped one problem for another. 

And then, a few weeks ago, he sort of "confessed" something to me - that he'd been changing his grips much more than I'd thought. Yes, grips.  

I'd known that, like Waldner and many others, he had what I thought was a minor grip change from forehand to backhand, where he'd put pressure with the thumb on backhands, which rotated the racket slightly into the backhand position. However, over the last year - probably because his hands were getting bigger - he'd begun using more and more extreme grip changes, to the point where he was now using a relatively extreme backhand grip for backhands, and a relatively extreme forehand grip for forehands. And he was running into all sorts of problems in rallies as he tried (often unsuccessfully) to switch back and forth. The subject had actually come up about six months ago, but at that time it was only a minor forehand and minor backhand grip, and he wasn't having quite as much trouble switching yet.

And now my guilty admission - it happened so gradually that I never noticed the grip changes until he showed them to me a few weeks ago. But once I saw how much he was switching his grip, I saw that that was the root of the problem he'd had over the past year with using his legs and hip rotation on forehand loops. 

Some top players do use forehand or backhand grips, but they do so only after they've developed their strokes. You want to use a neutral grip when developing the foundation, with the racket aimed in the same direction as the natural stroke. In this case, the student's extreme grips were affecting his strokes. The extreme forehand grip, combined with wider stance, led him to a stroke where he basically rotated his upper body only, while driving his racket mostly forward and away from the body, rather than rotating more in a circle. For a long time I thought this was because of bad habits from his previously standing up too straight. 

So for the past few days (three sessions – he's recently greatly increased his weekly sessions) all we've done are basic strokes where he has to use a completely neutral grip. He's not completely comfortable with it yet, but the result in multiball drills is obvious - his shots are much more fluid and powerful, and without any of the bad habits from before. From a technical point of view, his technique is now very good. He just isn't used to it. So we're going to spend at least a month where he doesn't play any matches, not even practice ones, except for a few closely supervised ones with me. I expect that by October he'll be completely comfortable with the neutral grip and his much better technique. 

After all, a Neutral Grip will lead to such awesome play that it'll induce an Elating Purr from users. And since I expect that he's reading this, just letting him know that if he says "Elating Purr" (which, of course, is an anagram for "Neutral Grip") at the start of our session today, we'll play more practice points in today's session so he can get more used to the new grip in game situations. That'll make him very happy induce an Elating Purr!

Traveling with the North Koreans

Here's the article from Matt Hetherington.

USATT Rules Committee Minutes – July 2015

Here's the link.

Why Table Tennis is a Surprisingly Great Study Aid

Here's the article – and with the kids just going back to school, maybe now's the time they take up the sport?

Aiming for a Moving Target

Here's the video (51 sec).

USATT Hall of Fame Inductees Slide Show

Here it is – watch as the pictures at the top go through the slideshow of all the new inductees.

ITTF Present Table Tennis Fire

Here's the video (4 min).

Just a Great Rally

Here's the video (10 sec).

More Trick Shots

Here's the video (16 sec).

CJ Anderson of the Denver Broncos Plays Table Tennis

Here's the video (3:02) where he does an entire interview while rallying. He's using a hardbat with basement strokes.

Krazy Table Tennis Set from 1920s

Here's the picture – and here's where you can buy it on Ebay. (Update – it sold before I posted this – for £49.99, which is $76.74.)

Rules Changes in Table Tennis

Here's the hilarious video (9:48) – with apologies to Adham Sharara!

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Table Tennis Bucket List

A long time ago, when Pterodactyls ruled the skies, Jimmy Carter was president, and I had just graduated high school (1978), I put together a bucket list - things I wanted to someday do. Some of it was table tennis; some was writing; some was other things, like traveling to historical sites. At the time I was rated around 1800. (I didn't start until I was 16.)

Since you are a table tennis person (why else would you be reading this?), why not create your own table tennis bucket list? Here are some suggestions.

1. Achieve a certain rating.
2. Win a state or national title.
3. Play table tennis in a certain number states.
4. Play table tennis in a certain number of clubs. 
5. Play at a U.S. Open or Nationals.
6. Become proficient at multiple styles.
7. Master a certain stroke you've never been able to do well.
8. Start and/or run a club/tournament/league/training program.
9. Become a USATT or ITTF certified coach.
10. Become a USATT certified umpire.

Here is the bucket list I made. I've managed to do 14 of the 20, but still have a few to go.  (This was not the original order, which was scrawled in somewhat random order on a lined paper in very bad handwriting.)

1. √ Break 2000. My highest rating was 2292, but with rating inflation, that's higher in modern ratings, though techniques have also improved even as the ratings inflated. I had about 50 ratings over 2250 without ever breaking 2300, alas.
2. √ Win a state or national table tennis title. I've won 26 in college teams & doubles, and in hardbat.
3. √ Coach a national table tennis champion. I've coached hundreds in junior national and junior Olympics.
4. √ Write a book on table tennis. I've written seven.
5. √ Visit all 50 U.S. states. The final one was New Hampshire in 2006.
6. √ Tour China. Took a three-day tour after the 1995 Worlds, and visited the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden Palace, and many other sites.
7. √ Write a novel. I've written three, two published.
8. √ Qualify for Science Fiction Writers of America. This requires selling either a novel or three short stories to a "professional market."
9. √ Adopt a dog from a shelter. Sheeba was four when I adopted her in 2002, and she lived to be 16. This is her trying to get bacon.
10. √ Own a house. I've owned it since 2001. I make the final payment on it in April, 2018.
11. √ Visit Disneyworld. I went there for two days back in 1987 – I want to go again!
12. √ Publish a cartoon. I had five or six published in my college newspaper – a career I wish I could have focused on. I also had this one published in USA Table Tennis Magazine. I also like to do play with pictures in Photoshop – here's probably the weirdest one I've ever created. There's also my Donald Trump table tennis one!
13. √ Get published in a math or science journal. I had a paper published in Math and Computer Science Education Magazine in 1986 for solving the "Magic Rectangles" problem posed by Mark Gardner.
14. √ Work at a zoo. I'm going to take credit for this, since I spent an entire summer working at the Insect Zoo at the National History Museum. But I'm not sure that's what I was thinking about at the time. (I took a day off last year to visit the Smithsonian National Zoo for the first time in probably 30 years.)
15. Spend a week in the middle of nowhere with just a pile of books. I've sort of done this at home, but never "in the middle of nowhere." I just don't have the time – but I'm thinking I might make time sometime this next year.
16. Tour the ancient ruins of Rome and Greece and the Great Pyramids. At least three times I've made plans, but again I've just never had the time, not to mention the cost.
17. Visit all seven continents. I've only been to North America and Asia, alas. Only countries I've been to are USA, Canada, Mexico, China, Taiwan, and Japan – all as either coach of the USA Junior Team (Canada, Mexico, Taiwan, and of course USA) or as a table tennis writer (China and Japan).
18. Spend a week at a major overseas training center. Came close to this as I was the team coach for the USA Junior Team that trained in a Taiwanese training center in 1994 for four days. But I'd like to spend time at either the Chinese National Training Center, the Werner Schlager Academy, or something like that.
19. Patent an invention. I have a whole file on ideas that are likely patentable, but I've never had time to work on this.
20. Ride in a helicopter or in a submarine with a view. Alas. 

Rhythm and Timing – Underrated Table Tennis Skills

Here's the new coaching article from Expert Table Tennis.

Backhand Sidespin Flick Tutorial – the Banana Flip

Here's the new coaching video (6:28) from William Henzell. This is one of the best tutorials on the shot I've ever seen. 

Interesting Table Tennis Training

Here's the video (2:02), which includes hitting targets and more conventional training.

Emma's First Swing Ping-Pong Lesson

Here's the video (67 sec). I wouldn't mind buying one for our club for the younger kids, but apparently it's only sold in France and Belgium.

ITTF Monthly Pongcast – August 2015

Here's the video (14:22).

Highlights from Austria Open Men's Final

Here's the video (2:02) of the best points between Jun Mizutani and Dimitrij Ovtcharov. That's Adam Bobrow doing the commentary.

Polish Video

Here's the video (32 sec) of what appears to be a preview of a tournament and then a sensational point.

Between Legs Shot at North American Championships

Here's the video (24 sec). That's Canada's Marko Medjugorac making the crazy shot as they score against USA's Timothy Wang and Kanak Jha.

Off-Table Inside-Out Around-the-Net Sidespin Backhand Counter-Smash from the Forehand Side

Here's the video of this fundamental shot that every beginner should master (21 sec, including slow motion replay).

North American Men's Team Champions on JibJab

Here's the video (66 sec). Can you name the players? (Spoiler - 60 seconds in you see all five. L-R: Jimmy Butler, Kanak Jha, Yahao Zhang, Coach Stefan Feth, Timothy Wang.)

May the Pong Be With You

Here's the picture of Darth Vader with light saber paddle from Mike Mezyan. (Here's the non-Facebook version.)

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Tip of the Week

Never Look for a Winner.

North American Championships

They were held this past weekend (Sat-Mon) in Toronto. Here's the ITTF page for the event, which has results, articles, pictures, quotes, and video. Here's the ITTF Press Release.

The big news is that USA swept everything over Canada, all eight events – Men's and Women's Singles and Teams, Cadet Boys' and Girls' Singles, and Junior Boys' and Girls' Teams. Historically, there have been many USA-Canada battles for many decades, and it's usually been competitive. But the strength and depth of USA Cadets is just too strong for Canada. As I've blogged a number of times, USA is stronger at the cadet level than it has ever been in history, and it's not even close. (Cadets is under 15, but due to dates used, some players are eligible after turning 15.)

But USA had to make two near miraculous comebacks to get the 8-0 sweep. In the Women's Singles Final, Lily Zhang (USA) was down 0-3 to Mo Zhang (CAN) before coming back to win 4-3. In the Men's Team Final, USA (Jim Butler, Timothy Wang, Kanak Jha) was down 0-2 before coming back to win 3-2. (Here's the match sheet.)

But USA overall dominance was rather obvious. In Women's Singles, seven of the eight quarterfinalists were USA, with Mo Zhang the only Canadian. In Men's Singles three of the four semifinalists were USA, including cadets Kanak Jha and Jack Wang. In Cadet Boys, all four semifinalists and seven of the eight quarterfinalists were USA. In Cadet Girls, all four semifinalists were USA.

The USA Cadet dominance showed even more in Junior Teams, which is for players under 18. The USA Boys' Team were all cadets, as were two of the three on the Junior Girls' Team, and both teams beat Canada 3-0.

I wasn't at the tournament but watched many of the matches online. Two things stood out: USA dominance at the cadet level, and all the illegal hidden serves – it's gotten even worse than I thought. I'll blog about that later, but the rampant cheating that is allowed in our sport is unbelievable. We've taught our kids that if you want to compete, you have to cheat. (I've blogged about this a lot, but rest assured I'm working on this – see this blog on hidden serves.)

In the Zone

Here's the new coaching article by Stephen Freedman with Clyde Young.

Ma Long Training

Here's the new video (2:01, includes slow motion).

Li Xiaodong on Serving

Here's the new video (23:28) from the Chinese coach.

Edmonton Junior Training

Here's the video (69 sec).

Multiball with Navin Kumar

Here's 95 seconds of my feeding multiball to Navin. (I've blogged numerous times about Navin, alias "The Bionic Man," who has a partially mechanical heart and Parkinson's.)

Hou Yingchao Wins Butterfly LA Open

Here's the article by Barbara Wei (with link to video), and here are the results. (Hou defeated Joo Saehyuk in the final.)

Table Tennis and Baseball

Here's the new article from Coach Jon.

With a Paddle, Tennis Stars Find They're Up the Creek

Here's the article from the New York Times.

11 Questions with Rahul Acharya

Here's the USATT Interview.

ITTF President Meets Tokyo 2020 President to Discuss Additional Gold

Here's the ITTF press release.

Kids Open in Dusseldorf

Here's the video (2:54).

Waldner, Persson, Appelgren

Here's the new video (2:32) featuring the Swedish legends.

Washington DC Council Plays Table Tennis

Here are 13 pictures, and here's an article. On the far side of the first picture is Jack Evans, DC Councilman and brother-in-law to Sheri Cioroslan (who many of you remember as former USATT President Sheri Soderberg Pittman). (I blogged about this briefly last Monday; here's the article on it.)

Andy Akiho's Ping Pong Concerto

Here's the short video (60 sec). Here's the article with link to the full version – over two hours!

El Bandito Richard McAfee

Here's the picture! (Here's the non-Facebook version.) Here's the rest of his gang.

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.)

• Super Colorful Wavy Sides Table Pong
• Super Colorful Table Legs Pong
• Puppy vs. Net Pong
• Ping-Pong Ball Dispenser (but the table's under a maroon canvas?)

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Let's Revisit the "91-Shot Lobbing Point"

I posted the video a few days ago, and it's all over the Internet. Sure, it's spectacular, the lobbing point of the century. But there's one obvious thing most are missing – why Adrien Mattenet was lobbing in the first place. The video is 2:27 long, and you can watch it over and over, but we're only going to concern ourselves with the first two seconds.

Par Gerell, the lefty on the far side, is serving. He tosses the ball up and slightly sideways and backwards. The rule is the ball must be tossed "near vertical," which isn't well defined. By tossing the ball somewhat high, Gerell can throw the ball a little sideways and backwards while keeping the serve "near vertical."

At first the ball is easily visible, and Gerell actually moves his head backwards, away from the ball. But watch how the ball moves sideways, and Gerell moves his head forward, thrusting it in front of the ball just before contact! Yep, an illegal hidden serve. And that's how Gerell got the easy ball to loop kill that forced Mattenet to lob in the first place.

Here's a five photo sequence showing this. (The white "G" logo on the floor conveniently shows the relative positions of the ball and Gerell's head throughout the serve.)

1. Photo 1: Gerell throws the ball up.
2. Photo 2: The ball moves toward Gerell even as he leans away from it.
3. Photo 3: Gerell moves his head forward as the ball moves towards him. Right about here he begins to pull his non-playing arm away, which draws the umpires' attention away from his head.
4. Photo 4: The ball starts to disappear behind his head – see arrow. 
5. Photo 5: Gerell thrusts his head forward (to our right), and the ball continues moving sideways (to our left), and so contact is hidden behind the head. Compare position of his head in this picture to where the ball was in previous picture (and still moving left) and you can see how well hidden it is!

You can see how Mattenet moves way, way over to his right, receiving the serve with his backhand from the wide forehand. Is he doing that because his backhand receive is better, or because he's trying (unsuccessfully) to see the serve? Probably both. Imagine receiving this serve in a normal receiving stance – you wouldn't come close to seeing contact. (Even a lefty wouldn't be seeing contact, not unless he stood around where the right-hand umpire sits.) End result – Mattenet pops up the illegal hidden serve, Gerell creams it, and just like that – 90 shots later – he's won the point.

From the umpires' point of view, it's difficult to see if the ball is visible, but based on that alone they should call a warning or fault, since the rules state:

"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."

However, as we know, most umpires are hesitant to call a hidden serve unless they are pretty sure it is actually hidden. So what's needed is a rule where if a player tried to hide the ball from a receiver, it would be clearly illegal. 

I've recommended changing the rule so that during the serve the ball cannot be hidden from the entire net or net post, or its upward extension. (Here's my blog on that.) Under that rule, either umpire could clearly see that the ball is hidden from the left-hand net post (the one to Gerell's right), and would likely have faulted him. If Gerell were to change his motion to make it at least possible he wasn't hiding the ball from that net post, there's no way he could still hide the ball from Mattenet.

And then we wouldn't have had the lobbing point of the century! (Oh wait, we've already had it, so now we can change to a saner rule.)

To be fair to Gerell, most top players these days are hiding the ball when serving – cheating is rampant since the rules aren't being enforced, and so they do so to compete. (Here's Mattenet on the far side serving 31 seconds into this video, where he does the same illegal hidden serve as Gerell, with contact hidden by his head. A lot of "smart" players are using their heads these days!) To me, whoever hides their serve first is the one in the wrong; after that, if the umpire doesn't enforce the rule, the other player has little choice but to do the same if he wants to compete on an equal basis. My beef is with players who hide their serves even against opponents who aren't doing it to them – as well as with umpires who don't enforce the rules and officials who don't take action to fix the problem.

Capital Area Team League

Enter now - Deadline is Monday! (This is for players in the Maryland/Virginia/Washington DC region.)

North American Championships

Here's the web page, with results, articles, and video (including live streaming. They are this weekend at the Westchester club in New York. 

Getting More Spin on Your Serves

Here's the new coaching article by Han Xiao, with links to video.

Multiball Training

Here's the video (1:58) - see if you can identify each drill- and do them yourself. Player is Philipp Floritz, 6-time member of German National Team.

Just a Typical Serving Practice Session

Here's the video (1:14). 

Interview with Kevin Korb: "I Bought a Club"

Here's the podcast (30:42) from Expert Table Tennis. Kevin's the 19-year-old who is the new owner of The TopSpin, a full-time, 16-table club in the Bay Area.

Olympic Coach Magazine

Here's the new issue, with links to past issues.

Westchester TTC to Host North American Championships This Weekend

Here's the article.

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.

Switch Hands Off-the-Bounce Counterloop

Here's the video (9 sec). 

"I Can't Play Ping-Pong by Myself"

Here's another Beetle Bailey comic strip that has table tennis, sent to me by Marv Anderson, who points out that Beetle could use a robot. I blogged about Beetle Bailey table tennis comics on May 11, 2015, where I compiled links to 13 of them, all dated. I can't find the date for this one – it's marked "2-2," but I can't make out the year. Can anyone out there figure out the date for this one?

Cat Rallying!

Here's the video (34 sec) – yes, this cat can really rally! (It's been a while since I've posted a cat rally, so this is overdue.)

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Smart Phones and Smart Coaching

Well, I've finally done it. I've bought a smart phone. I've fought the temptation and peer pressure long enough, knowing that once I got one, there'd be no going back. I'm now entering the 24-hour online world, where coaches can check email while students are chasing after balls and perhaps watch a Disney movie on their phone while feeding multiball. 

I'm used to the idea of checking email when I get home from coaching; now I'll be able to do so at any time. I'm not sure this is a good thing. But there's no going back. I've fallen to the dark side - they have cookies. 

I've used smart phones in my coaching. Just a few days ago I had one of my students use his cell phone to video his forehand loop so he could see how he wasn't rotating his hips into the shot. I'll likely be doing this more often. I plan to get a tripod to make this easier. Isn't there an app for coaches to make it easier to video students? (Who'll be the first to find me that link? Email me!) 

I was going to get a Verizon cell phone, since I've been using one of theirs for many years - yes, a flip phone, like the ones used by these two celebrities. Their service has been great, and their cell phone was highly successful in making phone calls. But I received an emergency email from John Olsen, who warned me that I'd be wasting my money. He recommended a Moto E from Republic Wireless, an inexpensive ($129) cell phone that would fulfill all my needs for only about $30/month. (I was currently paying $60/month.) I ordered it on Monday morning, and it arrived Wednesday afternoon. 

I've been too busy on other things to play around with it yet, and haven't yet transferred my phone number to it (my number won't change), but will likely do so this weekend. (However, Coach Cheng Yinghua and one of my students, 14-year-old Matt, have already explored it, and between them and John, I'll get expert advice when needed.) And then, like all reputable coaches, my students will just have to wait on me during their paid lessons while I take regular breaks to check email, surf the web, watch videos, take a selfie, and maybe play a game. Right?

With practice, I will defeat Wally Green and Matt Hetherington and become the World Smart Phone Table Tennis Champion. I can't be beat, I won't be beat!

80 MPH forehand: Learn to put yourself in a difficult situation

Here's the new coaching article from Samson Dubina.

Could Ma Long Be the Favorite in Rio?

Here's the article (with link to video) by Matt Hetherington. 

Heartrate-Based Table Tennis

Here's the new video (5:39) from Brian Pace. Note the pulse rate indicator on the right. "Have you ever wondered how high intensity table tennis training affects the heartrate? Watch this video that displays Heartrate in real-time during multi-ball training with Coach Nelson Navarro."

The Story of Jimmy Butler

Here's the USATT video (3:57). 

Ding Ning Tribute

Here's the new video (3:04) on the reigning and two-time World Women's Singles Champion.

Ma Long Tribute

Here's the new video (7:38) on the reigning World Men's Singles Champion.

Happy 27^th Birthday Dimitrij Ovtcharov

Here's his birthday picture, with birthday hat, presents, and cake.

Super Serious Pong

Here's the picture of kids on a makeshift table – let's join them!

"Tiger" Cartoon

Here's the table tennis cartoon from April 16, 1995.

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Are We Done Yet?/Can We Practice More?

It's always interesting to see the different attitudes. Recently I had a session with two younger kids, who took turns, one doing multiball, the other ball pickup. One didn't try very hard except in spurts, kept asking what time it was, kept close track of how much longer he had to practice, and tried to bargain to leave early. The other was silent throughout all this, practicing pretty hard. But when the session ended and the first kid raced away happily, the second one asked, "Can we practice more?" Since I didn't have another session for 30 minutes, we did an extra 20 minutes (no charge). He got some good stroking and smashing practice. (We did it live, not multiball.)

You can always tell which ones will get good. Sure, there's talent (let's not start that argument for now!), but the ones who are determined to get good have this disturbing tendency to get good, while those who want to get out of practice or don't try have this weird tendency to not get good. I don't understand it!!!

On a related topic, long-time and older players often find themselves hitting the wall in their attempts to improve, even when they try hard. Often they start to give up, as even though they practice more (like the second kid above), they don't improve as much as they'd like. For those, I suggest taking a look at what they are practicing. I've seen players lose match after match because they couldn't block, and afterwards spent all their time practicing their attack. Or players who lose over and over because they couldn't return serves, and afterwards spent all their time practicing their attack. Or players who lose over and over because their serves are weak, and afterwards they spent all their time practicing their attack. (See a pattern?)

Of course, there are other types, who practice very hard on something they need in their game, but once a game starts goes back to their old habits and so never incorporate their new talents. When you incorporate a new talent, you will usually lose at first. Accept that as the short-term cost for long-term improvement.

The quickest way to improve, and the quickest way for a coach to see if a player is really serious? See how much time they spend practicing their serves on their own. (Or receive.) But don't just practice simple serves – aim high and develop advanced serves. See a coach or top player for help, or study videos of top players serving. And then work on these advanced serves. This article might help: Practicing Serves the Productive Way. (I've met at least two players who were no more than 1000 level other than serves, but their serves were at least 2000 level. Both studied videos of top players serving, and then guess what they were practicing in their basements all the time?)

Help Khaleel Asgarali Compete and Train in Germany

Here's the funding page. He's a top player and coach here in Maryland. Here's how his bio starts – to read the rest, go to the funding page! "My name is Khaleel Asgarali and I have dedicated my life to the sport of table tennis. I was born in Trinidad and Tobago but migrated with my family to Maryland in 1992. My father was a top table tennis player in our homeland so I naturally was trained at an early age to follow in his footsteps."

Risk Taking Out on the Table

Here's the new coaching article from Matt Hetherington.

Never Turn Down the Chance to Try New Table Tennis Equipment

Here's the article from Table Tennis 11.

11 Questions with Adam Bobrow

Here's the USATT interview with the Professional Table Tennis Commentator, Actor, Voice Actor, MC, Comedian & Ping Pong Pro at SPiN Standard.

Ma Long – Topspin Near the Table

Here's the new video (3:14) of the men's world champion. [NOTE - the comment below points out this is just an "bad copy" of an excerpt from this video (55:29) from 2013. The copies part starts at 31:08.]

100 Days to the ITTF World Tour Grand Finals

Here's the new promotional video (46 sec).

Czech Open Women's Final

Here is the highlights video (4:09) of the final between Ai Fukuhara and Jeon Jihee.

Ping-Pong Around the State of Maine

Here's the video (2:38).

Playing Ping-Pong in Shorts, Just Like a Red

Here's the article in the Washington Post – lots of fun language, with the ping-pong mention in the last paragraph.

"I don't always play ping pong. But when I do…"

Here's the meme!

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Backhand Serves From the Middle and Forehand Side

Over the last few days I've watched several players practice backhand serves. They worked really hard at it, and yet they were missing something. All four players only did the serve from the backhand corner. (They were all righties.) That's okay, but it's lacking. Germany's Dimitrij Ovtcharov might have the most effective backhand serve among top players, and he usually serves it from the middle and even the forehand side. Here's a video of him doing the serve, in slow motion. (The video is 3:12 long and shows all his serves, but the link should take you to his backhand serves, which start at 1:22 and go to the end.)

By serving from the middle or forehand side of the table (and we're again assuming righties – lefties adjust), you get the following:

1. An angle into the receiver's forehand, especially short forehand, forcing the player to step in over the table and make what for many is a somewhat awkward forehand receive. (Most players favor backhand against short serves.)
2. If you put backhand serve sidespin on the ball, the ball jumps even further into the forehand angle, making the receiver even more uncomfortable. This is why most players who serve short to the forehand from the middle use backhand, tomahawk, or reverse pendulum serves, since those sidespin will jump left (for a righty).
3. By forcing the receiver to cover the short forehand, he tends to leave the wide backhand open. If you can use the same motion and serve short to the forehand or long to the backhand, you can cause havoc.
4. Players are so used to serves from the backhand side that when someone does the same serves from the middle or forehand side, the serves become unfamiliar and they become uncomfortable.

The downside, of course, is that serving from the middle or forehand side leaves you out of position, especially if you want to play a forehand follow-up. But you have more time than you think! Watch how Ovtcharov finishes the serve by moving back into position. It's part of the serve.

Because so many players serve from the backhand side, I tend to do that with my students. But they all know that, at key times if it gets close, I'll step over to the my forehand side and win free points by throwing serves at them that are no different than my normal ones, but coming from a different angle they are completely different. It's all a part of Do Something Different!

Health Benefits of Table Tennis Chart

Here's the chart.

Alzheimer's Table Tennis Therapy Program

Here's the video (1:22).

U.S. Olympic Trials Host Venue Request for Proposals

Here's the USATT article – want to host them in your area?

Support from Olympic Solidarity and Xiom Enables Samoa to Turn Up the Heat

Here's the ITTF article, which features Richard McAfee, who recently ran camps for players, teachers, and coaches in Samoa during two visits.

World’s Best Defensive Players Joo Sae-Hyuk and Hou Ying Chao Compete at 2015 Butterfly Los Angeles Open

Here's the story by Barbara Wei.

Ask a Pro Anything: Hugo Calderano

Here's the interview video (3:48) by Adam Bobrow, where the Brazilian Pro answers questions. Find out why they are turtle surfing and watch Hugo solve a Rubik's Cube in 11 sec!

Rafael Nadal Plays Swedish Table Tennis Champion Malin Pettersson

Here's the article and video (2:01) from yesterday's Wall Street Journal.  

Meet the Teen who Beat Rafael Nadal (at ping-pong)

Here's the video (1:33) from Fox5 News, featuring Estee Ackerman. Yep, that's two Nadal table tennis stories today!

History of U.S. Table Tennis, Volume 6

It's now online, covering tournaments from April, 1988. (Want to buy a copy? Here's Tim Boggan's page! Disclaimer: I do the page layouts and photo work.)

Lots of pictures from 1988 – including ones of (in order - and I placed all these pictures on the page, with Tim looking over my shoulder and giving the orders!): Gary Hranek, Jim Goodwin, Sally Dahlin, Rutledge Barry, Ricky Seemiller, Attila Malek, Khoa Nguyen, Wei Wang, Lan Vuong, Jack "Buddy" Melamed, Sam Houston statue, Gary Fagan, Cliff Metzger, Terri Weaver, Christian Lillieroos, Kelton Jago, Derek May, W.C. Cleveland, Brian Pace, Pete May, Rocky Wang, Dave Sakai, Danny Seemiller, Pat Cox, Mitch Rothfleisch, Joe Ng, Eric Boggan, Sean O'Neill, Cheng Yinghua, Mariann Domonkos, Insook Bhushan, Julie Barton, Carolyn Sylvestre, Tomiko Ly, Jane Chui, Dave Strang, Gene Lonnon, Ardith Lonnon, Larry Rose, a cartoon, Julian Millan, Christian Lillieroos, Rong Lillieroos, Ardith Lonnon, Lisa Gee, Rong Li, Marta Zurowski, Scott Butler, Khoa Nguyen, John Allen, Christian Lillieroos, and Khoa Nguyen.

Maryland Table Tennis Center September Newsletter

Here it is – I'm the editor. This is our 40^th monthly issue since I started it up.

Tri-State and DC Championships

Here's the article and results for the tournament, which was for players from Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington DC.

Czech Open Video Montage

Here's the video (3:26). It was held this past weekend; here's the ITTF page for it.

Just Some Junior Training

Here's the video (2:35).

Asian Table Tennis Movie?

Here's the movie poster.

The Hindu Goddess Durga Playing Table Tennis?

Here's the video (9 sec).

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.)

• Crabby Table and the Great Net of China Pong?
• Cat Pong (What's on your mind?)
• Sign Pong ("I've got 99 problems, but ping-pong ain't one.")
• Pong Art (blobs play pong?)
• Baseball Pong? (Huh?)
• Lunch Pong (now I'm hungry)
• More Cake Pong (now I'm really hungry)

Country Ping-Pong

Here's the picture!

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Tip of the Week

How to Serve to the Backhand Attacking Receiver.

School is Back

And with that, the eleven weeks of summer training camps at MDTTC are over. It means that, once I catch up the zillion items on my short-term todo list, I'll have more time during the day to do all the USATT stuff I promised to do when I ran for the Board of Directors, as well as recent appointments as chair of the USATT League Committee and as Regional Associations Coordinator. (These are all unpaid, volunteer positions. What is wrong with me???) I'll be blogging about those activities now and then. Since I generally finish the blog Mon-Fri around 9:30 or 10AM, that means I have to do most of that work either between that time and 2:30PM, or at night after coaching. (I sometimes have free mornings on weekends, but not always.)

But it also means we start up our Afterschool Program again, and begin coaching kids after school, both as part of that program and in private lessons. I'll be leaving to pick up kids at 2:30 this afternoon. It's actually a slow day; I'll be done coaching today at 5PM.

That pesky short-term todo list is a bit irritating, as every time I cross something off, it seems like there are two more items on it. Today I've got a number "easy" things to take care of – after finishing the Tip of the Week and blog this morning, I'm off to run errands: bank, post office, haircut, and (I dread this) I'm thinking of finally stopping off at the Verizon Store and getting a smart phone. ("Come to the Dark Side! We have cookies and you're constantly online checking email, forums, web pages…") I probably should research Verizon smart phones first.

There's also a lot of table tennis items on the todo list. I have some proposals on hidden serves and boosting I've blogged about I plan to formalize and send to the USATT Rules Committee. I have a number of local juniors to contact about our upcoming junior programs at MDTTC. There are a few press releases I need to create and send out about various items. There's the usual "class accounting" I do each week, where I update the rosters, schedules, and finances for the classes I teach. And 17 other items I won't bore you with.

I miss the good old days, when all I worried about was developing my own game!!!

91-Shot Lobbing Point!

Here's the unbelievable rally (2:27) between Par Gerell (SWE, world #49) and the lobbing Adrien Mattenet (FRA, world #51) this past weekend in the round of 16 at the Czech Open – at 10-all in the seventh! (Par would go on to win – brace yourself – 17-15! Alas, he'd lose to Japan's Yoshimura Maharu next round in the quarters.) When I saw the length of the video I assumed it included slow motion replay – nope, it's almost all rally, and not a single push! I've pondered this question before, and I'll ponder it again: Why do so many of the greatest points take place at deuce?

Help Wanted – Full-Time College Table Tennis Coach

Here's the help wanted posting by the Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta.

Using the Reverse Pendulum Serve

Here's the new coaching article by Han Xiao.

McAfee's Mechanics: Preparing for Competition with Tactical Training Sessions

Here's the new coaching article from Richard McAfee.

The Quickest Way to Improve Your Win Percentage

Here's the new coaching article by British coach Tom Lodziak.

North American Girls Meet at Lily Yip Table Tennis Center

Here's the ITTF Article.

Washington DC Council Will Face Off on Ping Pong Tables

Here's the article about the upcoming DC Council Table Tennis Tournament, this Friday at Farragut Park. Alas, no time is given, and I couldn't find the time via Google. (Interesting tidbit: One of the members participating, Jack Evans, is brother-in-law to Sheri Cioroslan, who many of you remember as former USATT President Sheri Soderberg Pittman.)

Table Tennis Got Talent

Here's the new highlights video (6:48).

Training a Two-Year-Old?

Here's the video (49 sec)!

Serena Williams vs. Stan Wawrinka

Here's video (1:32) as the two tennis stars ping it out.

Dog and Ping-Pong Ball

Here's the cartoon!

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MDTTC Camps – Eleven Weeks Comes to an End Today

Today our eleven weeks of camps come to an end. We're finishing with a good-sized group, with about 40 players in all. Here's a camp photo from the Wednesday morning session, which is missing a few players who join us in the afternoon.

40+ Butterflies and JOOLAs and Nittakus and Double Fish and Xu Shaofao, Oh My!!!

We're still in the ongoing "Silly Season" (going on 1.5 years now), where training centers and clubs have deal with players training with multiple of the new plastic 40+ balls, which all play differently, and keep them all separate. Last night at MDTTC was illustrative. 

We're sponsored by Butterfly, and we're supposed to get plastic training balls in a month or so. Until then, we're still stuck using celluloid balls for much of our training. But as tournaments come up, things get complicated. We use Butterfly 40+ balls for our local tournaments, and since we had a tournament last weekend, guess what participants were training with the week before? But when the Teams in DC come up in November players will have to adjust to the JOOLA 40+ ball, and they play differently. And when the Open and Nationals come up, players will train with Nittaku Premium 40+ balls, which also play differently. 

But it gets worse. This Sunday there's a tournament as SmashTT in Virginia, where they'll be using Xu Shaofao seamless 40+ balls. Since my student Sameer is playing there, we had to buy 24 to use to train just for that tournament. But while we were using those last night, and others were using celluloid, Derek, who's playing in the North American Championships in a week, is training with the single Double Fish 40+ ball he has. So we're spending much of our time trying to keep the various balls separate, despite playing on adjacent tables (barriered off, but balls regularly go over the barriers). 

Training with one ball may seem "normal" for many, but not at a training center. Using one ball may be old school, but it means you spend most of your time chasing after and picking up the ball; you get probably three times as much practice time per session when you have a box of balls. 

The Hidden Serve Solution for Table Tennis

Here's the article by Coach Jon. He makes his own proposal, but also refers to my proposal, where you cannot hide the ball from the opponent or any part of the net assembly and its upward extension (not just the net posts, as he wrote). I of course agree with him about my proposal, that "it would be a great change and would be much easier to enforce" (compared to the current rule). 

However, I disagree on the point about whether it could be enforced without an umpire. It's no different than the six-inch toss rule, which parallels my proposal very closely, and is generally enforced without an umpire. Many forget that the reason for the six-inch toss rule was because players were serving out of their hands – it was becoming a big problem. (Back then the rule was the ball must be contacted on the drop, but it was hard to tell if that happened when players used a 0.0000001" toss.) Originally it was going to be a 3" inch toss, but the problem there was that players might then get away with a lower toss, making it hard for the receiver to pick up. So they went with six inches.

Result? Few players these days serve out of their hand. Some might get away with 5" tosses, and if opponents put up with it, some might still be serving out of their hands in practice matches or even tournaments. (If it happens in a tournament, you call for an umpire.) But the widespread serving out of the hand ended. That's similar to the purpose of my proposal – not to make it illegal to hide the ball from the net, but to stop the widespread hiding of serves. If a player gets away with tossing the ball 5" or hiding it from one net post, he may or may not be called, but the rules will have worked – he won't be serving out of his hand or hiding contact from the receiver.

His proposal was that players would basically need to face the table in a backhand stance: "An enforceable rule could be that players must have their bodies facing the table at any angle that does not involve either leg crossing in front of the other." (There have been periodic proposals in the past to require backhand serves only, but none had any chance of ever passing.) I see three problems:

1. It needs to be worded more specifically. When a player illegally hides his serve with a forehand serve, his legs normally are not crossing in front of each other. I'm not sure I'm understanding what he's requiring here.
2. I can face the table in a backhand stance, with legs parallel to the table (and so not crossing, as he requires), and still rotate sideways from the waist enough to easily hide the serve with my head or shoulder.  
3. It'll mean taking away essentially every forehand serve, by far the most popular serves, unless players simply rotate sideways from the waist, as described in #2 above – which would defeat the purpose of the proposal. Putting that aside and assuming it did make forehand serves illegal, it would be a very drastic change, probably more drastic than any rule change we've ever had. From a simple reality standpoint, no rule change will pass the ITTF without the approval of the players, and it'll never pass. I believe my proposal has a far better chance of passing as it doesn't take away forehand serves, only the illegal ones – and the players I've spoken to are fine with that, as long as opponents also can't hide their serves.

"Sick" Yesterday?

When I got up yesterday morning I planned on doing a blog. But I also woke up with a stomachache. At first I thought it was nothing, but I was so tired and had so much work to do I decided I'd have to skip the blog. As the morning went on it got worse, and started getting chills. (I think that means I had at least a slight fever.) I have no idea what it was – some sort of minor food poisoning? - but I ended up spending much of the day in bed. And here I was planning on getting a lot done. Hopefully today will be better. 

Brain Games: How Ping Pong Can Make You Smarter

Here's the video (2:08) on Neuroplasticity.

USATT Insider

Here's the new issue, which came out Wednesday morning.

Interview with Samson Dubina

Here's the podcast (42:57) from Expert Table Tennis, where he discusses a horde of stuff – see bulleted list.

Table Tennis – Our Story

Here's the new motivational video (5:12).

Pink Pong for Cancer

Here's the new video (4:15).

Timo Boll vs. Fan Zhendong in the Chinese Super League

Here's the highlights video (5:55).

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.

Roller Skate Pong

Here's the video (1:43) of Jim Butler and others playing on roller skates – it's hilarious as starting about 10 seconds in Jim lobs, does footwork drills, and spins and strokes! (Correction: As Doug Harley emailed, those are hovertrax they are using, not roller skates.) 

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Day Off to Work

Alas, I need a day off to catch up on the 314,159 things on my todo list – I'll have pi all over my face if I don't get them done soon. So no blog today – I'll be back tomorrow. Meanwhile, here are a few items! 

2015 USATT Hall of Fame Inductees and Lifetime Achievement Award

Here they are – and they include Coach Jack Huang from my club! (I may write more about this later. It's a big group this year – usually only 2-3 are inducted.)

Insane Rally

Here's the video (29 sec).

I Have No Idea What This Is

But here's the table tennis cartoon! Any suggestions for a caption?

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