December 29, 2014

Tip of the Week

Brick-Wall Blocking Defense.

I'm Back!

Because of the USA Nationals and Christmas, I've been mostly away since my last blog on Dec. 15. Now I'm back to blogging regularly Mon-Fri, though I'll likely take Jan. 1 off like everyone else. However, writing this morning's blog wasn't easy - I was exhausted! I had done the Tip of the Week already, but when would I find time to do the blog and still make it to the MDTTC Christmas Camp this morning? Normally I'd just do it the night before, but I'd barely gotten four hours of sleep the night before, and could barely keep my eyes open. So I did something I normally wouldn't have believed possible - I went to bed last night at 8:30 PM, and got up this morning at 5:30 AM to do the blog. (Meanwhile, my todo list is roughly from here to China and back.)

Christmas Camp

We're halfway through MDTTC's 23rd annual Christmas Camp, which we've done every year since we opened in 1992. We've got 30+ players in the camp, mostly junior players, from beginners to 2450, with coaches/practice partners myself, Cheng Yinghua, Jack Huang, Zeng Xun ("Jeffrey"), Wang Qing Liang ("Leon"), Chen Bo Wen ("Bowen"), Chen Ruichao ("Alex"), Raghu Nadmichettu, and Han Xiao. As we've done for the last three years or so I'm working with the beginners. So far we've focused on forehands, backhands, and serves. Today I introduce pushing. I'm also going to bring out the adjustable serving device so they can work on serving low. This week's group seems especially fascinated by spin serves, so we're working on that a lot. Camp started on Dec. 26 and ends at 1PM on Dec. 31 (Wednesday).

USATT Election

As most of you know, I ran for the USATT Board. The voting ended on Dec. 27, with the results to be announced on Jan. 7, nine days from now. I'll post the results here when they come out. And now, with voting closed, I can post my real plans - heh heh heh!!! (Shouldn't board members automatically be rated higher than mere USA team members, get huge salaries and bonuses, and have statues of them erected at USATT expense? C'mon, who could be against any of this?)

USA Nationals

If I'd taken notes I could probably write about the Nationals for weeks - but I was busy coaching and attending meetings most of the time, and at this point much of it is already old news. Congrats to the Men's and Women's Singles Champions Jim Butler and Lily Zhang! Here are the complete results. (Use the dropdown menu to see complete results for each event - every match!) Here's the Men's Singles Final (1:11:33) and the Women's Singles Final (35:33).

I was especially happy to see 12-year-old Crystal Wang (from my club) make history by becoming the youngest player ever to reach the final of Women's (or Men's) Singles, upsetting top-seeded Zheng Jiaqi in the semifinals (here's the video, 44:46), as well as becoming the "second youngest" player ever to win Under 22 Women's Singles. (Who was the youngest? Crystal winning it one year ago at age 11!) Han Xiao, also from my club, made the semifinals of Men's Singles. It's promising that two juniors made the final of Men's and Women's Singles (Kunal Chodri and Crystal), though it says something of the state of our top men right now that 43-year-old Butler was able to win.

I'm not going to write about the matches I was coaching; that's mostly between me and the players I coach. But there was one humorous event I can report on. I was looking for Nathan Hsu and couldn't find him at the table he was supposed to be at. So I called him on his phone. He was sitting about ten feet away, with Chen Ruichao ("Alex"), who is pretty big, sitting between us so I hadn't seen him.

In a ceremony after the Men's Semifinals, Nathan Hsu received the Wasserman Award and $1000 for winning the 18 & Under Wasserman Championships, held at the South Shore Open a couple months ago. During the presentation, Si Wasserman read a poem that he said the editor several years ago refused to run. For the record, I wasn't the editor at the time and I'd never seen the poem!!!

As usual, there were ringers galore. Two were from my club. One was 13-year-old Klaus Wood, rated 1747 from a year ago. He's been living and training in Taiwan most of the last few years, and from his results from last year really should have been rated well over 2000 even then. He won Under 1800 and Under 2000 (the only two rating events he was in), beat a bunch of 2300+ players, and came out 2370. (He started out in one of my beginning junior classes a few years ago!) Another was Daniel Sofer (just turned 10), who was listed at 1423 for the Nationals (though he'd jumped up at the North American Teams a few weeks before), and who started out slow at the Nationals but finished strong, winning all three matches in his Under 1800 round robin despite being the last seed. (I coached those nail-biting matches - deuce in the fifth, 11-9 in the fifth, and deuce in the fourth.)

Overall it was another well-run event. Special thanks goes to USATT, North American Table Tennis, and all the staff, volunteers, and officials who put it together and ran it.

USATT Board Meeting and USATT Assembly

I attended (as a guest) most of the USATT Board meeting held at the Nationals, 9AM-4PM on Tuesday, and 9AM-3PM on Wednesday. Over the years I've attended about 70 of these. The meeting was open to anyone (except for a short closed session where they presumably discussed personnel matters). It was the first board meeting for new CEO Gordon Kaye. I think he surprised many on the board by how ambitious he was on many issues, ranging from turning the Open and Nationals into premier events to various membership proposals. Board discussions ranged from budget items (there's a budget crunch, mostly due to USOC cutting funding for next year and magazine advertising shortfalls), what to do about boosting (which is similar to speed gluing but nearly undetectable), the idea of a discounted membership for non-tournament players (who could buy unlimited tournament passes), and how best to professionalize the sport for the top players. On the latter I spoke up and pointed out that there is a specific timetable. We have the strongest players in roughly the age 12-14 range in our history right now - it's not even close - and in about four years if we don't have professional table tennis we're going to lose most of them.

I think Gordon (or Gordy, as he prefers to be called) is trying to break the CEO/Board dysfunctional impasse we've had for many years. For decades the USATT CEO has been reluctant to take action to develop the sport without the Board first directing him to do so, and the Board has been reluctant to take action to develop the sport without the CEO taking the lead. Result - status quo.

Here's my overall review of the board meeting. It's the first one in decades where I wasn't depressed afterwards.

After the Board meeting, from 7-9PM on Tuesday, was the annual USATT Assembly. Attendance wasn't great - only about 35 attended. After a few reports, the meeting went into question and answer mode. There were a number of unhappy members with pointed questions and observations about the state of USATT. Gordy and USATT Board Chair Mike Babuin did a pretty good job in responding to them. The simple reality is that when it comes to developing our sport, USATT has been dysfunctional throughout its history. Let's hope that is ending now.

The two candidates for office were each given three minutes to speak to the group. Alas, Jim McQueen (my opponent in the election) didn't attend the Nationals, and so didn't give a speech. I gave an overview of the items I'm focusing on (see my Election page). I had a little fun at the start where three times I pointed out something about myself, then observed that Jim had matched or topped me there. (I've been in the sport nearly four decades - but he's been in it at least a decade longer; I'm in the Hall of Fame - but so is he; I was editor of the magazine for twelve years - but he's the current chair of the editorial board.) But most of the speech was about the issues I want to pursue.

My Seven Years at San Francisco Airport

After the Nationals I flew to Eugene, Oregon, for Christmas with my family. Or rather, I tried to. Instead I got stuck at San Francisco Airport, which will forevermore be my nemesis. Here's a rough breakdown of what happened on Dec. 22-23, 2014. (One strange thing about all my flights to the Nationals and for Christmas - for the first time in over a decade security didn't require me to remove my shoes or belt.)  

  1. Arrived San Francisco just before noon on Monday, Dec. 22.
  2. Discovered that my 1:30 PM United Flight had been cancelled. (I was told this was because of fog at other airports which had caused delays, and they had been forced to cancel a number of flights to catch up.)
  3. Went through customer service, standing in line from 12:10 PM to 2:20 PM: 2 hr 10 min.
  4. While in line spent 45 minutes on phone with United. Was put on the 8:53 PM flight. Had to stay in line however so I could get standing boarding passes for two earlier flights.
  5. 4:00 PM flight delayed 45 min, couldn't get on by standby.
  6. 5:37 PM flight delayed 80 min, couldn't get on by standby.
  7. My 8:53 PM flight cancelled around 5 PM.
  8. Spent another 45 min on phone with United agent arranging a flight to Seattle and then Eugene, only to be cut off while on hold. She never called back.
  9. Spent still another 45 min on phone with another United agent, who said the flight to Seattle was now full, and the earliest I could catch a flight to Eugene would be about 9PM the following night.
  10. Second time through customer service: 1 hr 45 min standing in line. My legs still haven't recovered from these two long waits in line.
  11. Tried to buy a ticket by phone for an Amtrak train at 9:39PM, three hours to Portland, where I could then rent a car and drive to Eugene. But Amtrak was sold out. (Amtrak station is about 30 min from airport.)
  12. While at customer service the second time a spot opened up on flight to Portland at 10:40 PM. I booked the flight, and another flight to Eugene the following day at 12:30 PM (nothing earlier), arriving in Eugene a little after 1:00 PM. However, I managed to catch an 8:53PM flight to Portland on standby - first class window seat.
  13. The 8:53 flight to Portland had a problem and they couldn't use the plane. However, they got another in its place and it was only delayed 20 min or so.
  14. Got to Portland just after 11PM, caught a shuttle, and made it to the Radisson Hotel around 11:30 PM.
  15. Was shocked to discover United wasn't paying for the hotel. (I'll be contacting them about this and other compensation soon.) My bags presumably went to Eugene. All I have is my laptop computer and a few reading items. My cell phone and computer are running low on power.
  16. I considered renting a car and driving to Eugene (two hours), but decided against it.
  17. Flight was scheduled the following morning at 12:30PM out of Gate A7. Gate was jammed, no place to sit, so I sat at Gate A5. I got there 90 minutes early.
  18. Flight was changed to Gate 5, which was where I was sitting.
  19. Flight was changed back to Gate 7. After finding it still hammed, I returned to Gate 5.
  20. Plane was pulled due to mechanical problems. New plane was arranged to come in. Flight delayed to 1:10PM, at Gate 2. It was jammed, so I ended up sitting against the wall the last 30 minutes.
  21. Caught flight to Eugene, 40 minutes late.
  22. Made weird discovery. My cell phone had been almost out of power, down to a single bar out of four, with my recharging cord packed with my luggage. Somehow it was now back to three bars! Sort of reminded me of the story of the Hanukkah Menorah!

USATT Coach of the Year

Here's the USATT notice about nominations, which are due Jan. 5.

How to Develop the Habit of Winning

Here's the article from Expert Table Tennis.

Slow-Motion Serve Demonstration

Here's the video (1:14) by Samson Dubina.

Serving Secrets Introduction

Here's the new video (2:31) from PingSkills.

Athletes are Born and Champions are Made

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

ITTF Development and Education Programs Continue to Innovate and Expand

Here's the ITTF article.

USA Pan Am and National Team Trials

Here's the info page for the Trials, to be held March 6-8 in Forth Worth, Texas.

Top Ten Craziest Table Tennis Shots of 2014

Here's the video (3:39).

The Tao of Ping Pong

Here's the video trailer (1:14) for the upcoming movie. Looks pretty interesting! "Fei Mo is an ambitious Chinese Ping Pong genius. In the midst of the U.S. Open Tournament, he unintentionally meets the superhuman American Ping Pong player Ethan White. When their contrasting personalities collide on and off the court, what appears to be only a game becomes a matter of life and death..."

Interview with Frank Caliendo

Here's the video interview of the table tennis playing comedian by Brian Pace, Part 1 (10:07) and Part 2 (10:14). Frank's been taking lessons, and is up to about 1800 level. (I played doubles with him a few months ago when he stopped by my club.)

The Comeback Story of American Table Tennis Champion Jimmy Butler

Here's the video (9:05).

Jan-Ove Waldner vs. Jim Butler

Here's video (9:11) of the two playing a game back in 1996, when both were at their peak. Butler actually once defeated Waldner in a match in the Swedish league, where I'm told Waldner took Butler on backhand-to-backhand - a tactical no-no but apparently something of a challenge for the Swede.

Table Tennis Grand Slam Champions Unite

Here's the article from Tabletennista, featuring the four members of "The Club," the four players who have won Men's Singles at the World Championships, Olympics, and World Cup - Jan-Ove Waldner, Liu Guoliang, Kong Linghui, and Zhang Jike.

Waldner is Sweden's Third Greatest Athlete of All Time

Here's the article from Tabletennista. Persson was 19, Bengtsson 61, and Appelgren 85.

Zhang Jike Salutes Wang Hao

Here's the article from Tabletennista. (Wang Hao just retired from the Chinese team.)

Quadri Aruna's Shoe Comes Off

Here's the video (9 sec) as the Nigerian (world #31) continues the point without his shoe.

Fantasy Pong

Here's the new artwork from Mike Mezyan. This sort of reminds me of the theme music to the 1989 World Championships, "Magic Ball" (3:09).

Lots of Rackets on the Grassy Knoll

Here's the picture!

Waldner Video

Here's the video (30 sec) of Waldner making a crazy shot and juggling balls, set to music.

Adam Bobrow Directing Aircraft

Here's the picture! Good thing he had a second racket.

Non-Table Tennis - Redcoats

Here's my humorous science fiction Christmas short story "Redcoats," set in post-Revolutionary America as we battle a new sort of Redcoats, published by Abyss & Apex on Christmas. (I got paid $60 for it!)

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