Tip of the Week
Straighten the Belt, and the Rest Falls into Place.

Weekend Coaching
In the Thursday Beginning Junior Class, we introduced the players to fast, deep serves, using the same method I'd used previously: I put a water bottle on all four corners of each table, and a piece of string across the table about ten inches from the end-line. The players then tried to serve and hit the bottles where the first bounce was past the string. We also did a recap on forehands and backhands. We then finished with the usual games - up-down tables for the older ones, build and then knock down pyramids of cups for the younger players.

In the Sunday Beginning Junior Class, we focused on footwork, and demoed most of the main types. Near the end of the training segment we had a forehand-to-forehand contest, where they tried to see how many they could get in a row. (I think the high-score was 82.) We finished with the same games as the Thursday class.

In the Talent Development Program on Sunday (advanced juniors), we did lots of multiball training,...

Tip of the Week
The Grinding Mentality - How to Play It and Against It.

Sunday Coaching
I ran two group sessions on Sunday. The first was Week #2 of this season's Beginning Junior Class. (Lidney Castro and Aron Zhang are assistant coaches, with Todd Klinger a practice partner.) We did forehand review for 20 minutes, and then the focus was on the backhand. As usual, we finished with games, with half the class playing "King of the Table" (no girls there so we can use the "King" title), and the other half (the younger kids) building the usual pyramids and walls out of paper cups on the table and then knocking them down as I fed multiball.

The advanced junior program at MDTTC is the Talent Development Program, which is run by the HW Global Foundation, using mostly MDTTC coaches. Normally John Hsu runs groups 3-4, but he was out of town this weekend so I ran them. It was mostly a multiball session, where we went through a series of nine different drills. Most of the groups were of three, where one player did the drill while the...

Tip of the Week
Top Ten Things to Remember in Doubles.

2020 USA Olympic Selection Procedures
The 2020 Olympic Games Athlete Selection Procedures went live a month ago on the USATT Selection Procedures page. Although I'm on the board of directors for USATT, that was the first time I saw them. They were created by the USATT High Performance Committee (HPC) and the USATT High Performance Director (HPD). 

They are our designated experts on these topics, and so in most cases, even though I would probably be considered an "expert" on these topics as well, I normally defer to them on these matters. However, in the case of the procedures planned for choosing USA table tennis players for the 2020...

Next Blog on Monday, December 31
I'll be away the next couple of weeks for the U.S. Open and Christmas, so will skip the next two weeks. See you on Monday, Dec. 31!

Tip of the Week
Punish Passivity.

U.S. Open
The U.S. Open will take place in Orlando, Florida, Dec. 16-22. I'll be there to coach and attend meetings. I fly out this Friday, Dec. 14, and will likely attend the "Pong on the Plaza" event that night, 5-7PM (see link below). Then I will attend the USATT Board meeting, held all day long on Sat & Sun, Dec. 15-16. On Sunday there's also a "Rating Classification" event, and if I'm out of the meetings in time, I'll go over to coach our players in that. Then I'll be coaching MDTTC juniors throughout the tournament. I'll also be at the USATT Assembly at 7PM on Tuesday (see link below). Finally, on Sun and Mon after the tournament, Dec. 23-24, I'll be handing around,...