November 15, 2012

Incentive Table Tennis

Yesterday I made use of the infamous snickers bar incentive to help kids achieve specific goals. (Fun-size only.) 

The first was a 7-year-old girl, Linda. She's hit hundreds of forehands and backhands in a row, and can loop from both sides, but yesterday I challenged her to do something seemingly simple: hit 50 forehands in a row while moving side to side, covering about half the table. (That's a lot of table when you're seven.) She's done this before with multiball, but now we were going to do it live, where the ball doesn't come out exactly the same every time, and at a pretty good pace.

She struggled at first, kept missing in the 20s. (She does like to go fast!) Seeing her frustration, I told her I had a snickers bar in my playing bag that was hers if she could get 50. (I also made it clear it was a one-time offer.) Her eyes lit up, and she went at it again. Unfortunately, twice she made it to the 40s - once to 48 - and missed! Now she was too frustrated to concentrate. So I went to my bag and brought out the snickers bar, and put it on the table by the net. Her eyes went wide as she stared at the prize.

I said, "At the end of this session, one of us is going to eat that snickers bar right in front of the other. Which one of us is going to do that?" Having the candy bar right in front of her had a way of focusing her attention. She got 54 on her very next try. (Would have gotten more but the instant she reached 50 she was too excited to keep going much longer.)

Immediately following that session I had another with an 11-year-old boy, Thomas. He'd been picking up balls and cheering for her, and now it was his turn. (She was now picking up balls and cheering for him. They're not related, but they are both in a junior class I teach on weekends.) However, being older, I challenged him to do 100 forehands, moving side to side. He tried and tried, and kept getting into the 40s without getting to 50 (including 49 once). He wanted to know if he could have a snickers bar if he got to 50. I made a judgment call; I was certain he could do more than 50. So I stuck by the challenge to get to 100. He broke 40 several more times, but something always went wrong. I believe he did 40 to 49 at least eight times without breaking 50, so hadn't even made it halfway to 100. I finally said, "Two more tries, and then we'll have to give up on it for now." Then, just as before, I went to my bag and brought out the candy bar and put it on the table by the net. Once again, this really helped focus the attention - and on the very next try he did 124 in a row!

A key for both of them was I kept reminding them not to guide the shot, not to aim or think about it. The key was to blank the mind out, watch the ball, and just let the shots happen.

Pongcast TV Episode 20

Here's the latest Pongcast Episode (14:42). "In this episode: A Jan-Ove Waldner TV commercial, more TT robots, ping-pong for a good cause, and the German team goes GQ. Highlights and results from the 2012 Polish Open, including a screaming match. Has the ITTF been watching? Is there a new fan favorite to watch?"

Aerobic Table Tennis

Here's the Facebook Page for Aerobic Table Tennis. They are about "Aerobic Table Tennis. A new workout experience. Burn calories. Have fun keeping fit." Their mission? "To help women keep fit, and take up the game of table tennis. There is a shortage of women playing table tennis. The sessions will be fun, include aerobic exercises, and will help you burn those calories. No table tennis experience is required. Why not have fun, burn calories, and learn the game of table tennis?"

Here's a video (4:48) of an actual aerobic table tennis class taught at a school (St. Joseph Sliema), with 100 girls. It's sort of a mixture of table tennis, dancing, regular aerobics, and singing, all done to music. (If you look at the links listed to the right in youtube, there are a number of other examples of aerobic table tennis in schools.)

Stina Kallberg of Sweden

Here's video footage (6:09) of the latest junior phenom, 10-year-old Stina Kallberg from Sweden. (What, you thought all junior phenoms came from China?) What really jumps out is how well she moves about the court as she loops nearly everything. Far too many kids at that age just stand at the table, moving only side to side and hitting.

Table Tennis Wine Bottle

Here's a picture of a table tennis wine bottle that was presented to the Chinese National team.

Celebrities Playing Table Tennis

I did a recent update of the Celebrities Playing Table Tennis Page, which now has 1440 photos of 870 different celebrities. This month's update includes 51 new pictures of 33 new celebrities. New ones are:

Actors & Directors 
Oliver Stone, movie director
Wallace Ford, actor
Terrence Howard, actor
Trevor Jackson, actor
Richard Narita, actor
Actresses
Kim Kardashian, actress 
Khloe Kardashian, actress (6 pictures)
Jessica Alban, actress (new picture)
Susan Sarandon, actress (new picture)
Kate Upton, actress & model (4 pictures)
Lynn Bari, actress
Shay Mitchell, actress
Shirley Temple, actress & UN Ambassador (new picture)
Singers
Justin Bieber, singer (new picture)
Lady Gaga, singer
Michael Jackson, singer/dancer (new picture)
Nick Jonas, singer (3 pictures)
Booboo Stewart, singer, dancer & actor
Dinah Shore, singer & actress
Adam Yauch, Singer for the Band "Beastie Boys"
Yelawolf, rapper
Athletes
Roger Federer, tennis star (new picture)
Rory McIlroy, golfer
Manny Pacquiao, boxer
Ramil Akhadov, boxer
Ken Norton, boxer
Jesse Owens, Olympic sprinter & long jumper
Ronald Belisario, baseball player (2 pictures)
Justin Sellers, baseball player (2 pictures)
Wayne Rooney, English soccer star (3 new pictures)
Rio Ferdinand, English soccer star
Theo Walcott, English soccer star
Joe Hart, English soccer star
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, English soccer star
John Heitinga, Dutch soccer star (2 pictures)
Nani, Portuguese soccer star
Miguel Veloso, Portuguese soccer star
Zoran Tošić, Serbian soccer star
Gojko Kačar, Serbian soccer star
Miscellaneous
Kate Middleton, wife of Prince William of England (3 pictures)
Ellen DeGeneres, talk show host (new picture)
Snoopy, cartoon dog (new picture)

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