May 6, 2013

Tip of the Week

How to Create a Truly Heavy Backspin Serve.

Soccer Ball Table Tennis

On April 26 I blogged about ordering "sports balls," which were ping-pong balls colored to look like soccer, baseball, and basketballs. The baseball and basketball versions weren't particularly good in seeing the spin - the lines were too thin. But the soccer ball versions were great! Here are the six-packs I ordered from Amazon for $5.99 each. (I bought four packs of them, and may get more soon. I'm a bit irritated that I can't get the soccer ball ones only - I have to order a six-pack to get two of them.) I've used such balls in the past, but most of them were "toy" balls that didn't play well, and at some point in the past they all disappeared. These new ones are one-star balls, but they played very well, good enough to rally with.

They were a great hit with the kids in my beginning/intermediate junior classes, and with junior students (and adults) as well. I've had everyone I've worked with this past week try them out. Everyone found them a great aid in getting feedback on how much spin they were getting on their serves. Just as important was that players were now able to see just how much spin a top player or coach can get on the ball. Before they knew it these serves were spinny, but now they had a visual, and could compare to their own - and now they were determined to create that much spin!

It was also useful in helping them learn to read spin. Now they can see it, instead of only having feedback by how the ball jumped off their racket.

The kids also liked playing with them - a much more colorful game, and suddenly you could actually see the spin on the ball, and read serves better.

One interesting thing is that if we were to switch to such balls, reading spin off the ball, especially when returning serves, would become a new skill. Established players like myself can easily see the soccer balls spinning, but we're not used to reading and reacting to spin that way. It'd almost be a new skill.

Here's another type of colorful balls I'm toying with ordering and trying out.

Here's the question that's I keep asking myself. We always worry that spectators cannot see the tremendous spins on the ball, and so often players don't look very good as they make seemingly simple mistakes against spins the spectators cannot see. Plus rallies are weaker because of these mistakes.

Now suppose we played with one of these soccer balls, or a something similar, designed for table tennis so we wouldn't just be copying from soccer. Suddenly we'd have better rallies, spectators would see the spectacular spins - plus it'd be a much more colorful game.

On the down side . . . I don't see a down side. Do you?

So this is a serious proposal. Why doesn't someone somewhere out there break out of the box and run an experimental tournament with balls like these, and see what happens? I might do this as a practice tournament with our juniors, and see what they think. I'm guessing older players won't like it, but younger players will love it, and they'll be the next generation of older players, and by then everyone will love the new balls. We'll have better and more colorful rallies, and it'll be a lot better for spectators.

U.S. Open Volunteers

Want to volunteer at the U.S. Open?

Learning Table Tennis Skills

Here's an interesting article for players and coaches, "Secrets of the Chinese - The Fastest Way to Learn a New Table Tennis Skill." I've actually coached both ways. I think most of the really great players learned in this way at the start, focusing on learning one major skill at a time. I'm going to be thinking about this one for a while; this could be one of the most important articles for coaches to read.

Table Tennis Master

Here's an interesting coaching article from Table Tennis Master, "Developing Bench Coaching Skills."

Li Xiaoxia Serving

Donn Olsen sent me this picture from the Werner Schlager Academy in Austria, where the Chinese team and others are preparing for the upcoming World Championships. The picture is of the table where Li Xiaoxia is practicing her backspin serves. She's on the right. Notice where all the balls are? (See the Tip of the Week above on creating heavy backspin serves.)

Interview with Table Tennis Artist Mike Mezyan

Here's an interview at Table Tennis Daily with table tennis artist Mike Mezyan, which includes some of his artwork.

Kishore Kumar

Here's a picture of the great Indian singer Kishore Kumar playing table tennis with his son.

Floating Ping-Pong Ball

Here's a video (1:34) showing how to make a blowing ball tool so you can blow through a straw and make the ball float. (I can do the same thing blowing the ball with my mouth - I need to get a video!)

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