February 27, 2015

Beginning Junior Class

I teach two beginning junior classes, one on Thursday 6-7PM, and the other on Sundays 4:30-6:00 PM. And so should your club!!! Yesterday's session had 16 players ranging in age from 7 to 12. Assisting me were the Triple J's - Coaches Jeffrey, John, and Josh. Here's the info page.

We started with ball bouncing. This is especially important for beginning juniors as it helps them develop the hand-eye coordination needed, as well as helping them get used to the proper grip. First they bounced on the forehand side (calling out every tenth in a row they make), then on the backhand, and then alternating. For the very, very brave (but mostly older ones) I challenged them to alternate between forehand and off the edge of their racket! Many can do a couple of these. While they did this, I worked with two new players who were there for the first time, showing them the proper grip and stance.

Then we did some forehand and backhand shadow practicing as a group. By this time everyone was there, so I then did a roll call.

Then we went into four groups, one with each coach. It worked out nicely, with four players with each coach. I took the two new players and two others, and used the robot area. We started with one player with me, one on the robot, and two picking up balls. The second half I worked with two at a time (one at each corner), with one on the robot and one picking up balls.

Yesterday's focus was the backhand, so we spent much time on that. However, since we had two new players and the two others in my group had had only one session, we started with the forehand. After one circuit on that, then we went to the backhand.

One hour is probably too short, and the time went by way too fast. All four players in my group were able to hit forehands and backhands, though they needed regular re-enforcement and reminders. One liked to slap her wrist into every shot; another tended to stand square to the table and just block forehands; one kept hitting everything off to the right; and one tended to just stab at the ball with a lunging motion. I worked with each to fix these problems, and they seemed to pick it up pretty well.

For the last ten minutes we played games. We broke into two groups. Six of them played "Master of the Table," where one player is the "Master," and stays there until someone scores two points in a row, thereby becoming the new "Master." (New person always serves; if he loses, next person is up; if he scores, then the "Master" serves, and if the new person scores again, he's the new "Master.") Most of us actually call this King of the Table, including the girls, but I don't want to get in trouble with the girls' parents if I use that name!

The other half did the all-time favorite of the younger kids - creating intricate pyramids with paper cups, and then knocking them down. After they create what I like to call the "Pretty Good Pyramid of Egypt" or the "Pretty Good Wall of China," they line up, I feed multiball, and they knock it down. When we're down to one cup, I put a ball under it and claim it's a nuclear bomb that'll blow up the galaxy, and they have 60 seconds to knock it down, taking turns with two shots each. Yesterday the galaxy was saved by Giovanni Ratti, who smacked the cup over just 22 seconds in.

After picking up all the cups - there are a lot - along with the balls, the session is over, though I invariably go an extra 5-10 minutes as the knock over the cups. Then it's free play for those who can stay longer, usually for another 20 minutes or so.

Crystal Wang, ESPN, and USA Today

Crystal Wang will be featured in ESPN and USA Today this next week. ESPN is interviewing her today (and may come back on Monday or Tuesday), while USA Today is coming in on Tuesday. Special thanks to USATT Media Consultant Richard Finn for helping put these together. Crystal, who turned 13 just four days ago and is already rated 2469, is the youngest member of the USA National Team in history, as well as the youngest USA Under 22 Champion - in fact, she's the two youngest, winning it at age 11 and 12!

Free Hand Rule

Yesterday, in my blog about Most Interesting Rules, I wrote about how it was required to have a free hand, saying:

Because the rules define both a playing hand and a non-playing hand, it is illegal to play with a racket in both hands, since then you wouldn't have a non-playing hand. However, taking this to its logical conclusion, doesn't this mean that if you hit the ball with a two-handed grip you lose the point, since you wouldn't have a free hand? (I've seen tennis players play this way.)

This is one of those issues that has come up periodically over the years. I know it came up as an issue at a U.S. Open or Nationals, and I think there was mention of it in USA Table Tennis Magazine. In each of these cases, it was ruled that since the rules refer to the free hand, a player must have a free hand, and so it is not legal to play with two rackets. I'm told that others interpret this differently. (I emailed a few times about this with Kagin Lee.)

For example, would it be legal to hold the racket in the mouth, thereby having two free hands, when the rules refer to the free hand in the singular, and also refer to a playing hand which you no longer would have? I've done this in exhibitions, but here's a video of Ibrahim Hamato (2:43), an armless player who plays very well with the racket in his mouth. The rules allow a player to adjust the serve due to handicap, but not in a rally - and so some could argue that Hamato's play is illegal since he doesn't have a playing hand. In fact, the rules states that "A player strikes the ball if he or she touches it in play with his or her racket, held in hand, or with his or her racket hand below the wrist." So apparently racket in mouth is not legal.

So I'm beginning to think that there really is no specific rule that outlaws having two rackets, one in each hand. Are there any eagle-eyed rules buffs who can cite one, saving me the trouble of going through them again? The ITTF rules do refer to the racket in the singular multiple times, if that counts. Think of the possibilities - you don't even have to be ambidextrous. If you can have two rackets, you can also switch them back and forth!!! Perhaps have inverted on both sides on your "normal" racket, but sometimes switch hands and use the other, which might have long pips!

USATT Committee Chairs

USATT is now getting into the nitty-gritty of appointing USATT Committee Chairs, and soon after we'll be appointing committee members. Here's the USATT Announcement on this. While the deadline has already passed, anyone can still be considered. Since I'm on the board, I've gotten all the applications and will be going over them soon. Next week we have a teleconference to go over all this and make appointments.

Don't Skip the Warm Up (Unless You're Trying to Lose)

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

Ask the Coach Show #85 - How to Run a Successful Club

Here's the video (29:11). While the title refers to one of their segments, they actually cover a number of topics in each video.

Chinese Team Finalized for World Championships

Here's the article, which lists the players, whose playing doubles together, and lots of video links.

Want to Buy or Sell Used Equipment?

Here's the new Used Table Tennis Equipment - Buy & Sell Facebook page.

Ping Pong Map App

Here's the Uberpong Map App. Want to find the closest place to play? Here's how to do it!

Kanak Jha Preparing for the Pan Am and US Team Trials

Here's the video (1:27). He'll have some tough competition.

2015 Kuwait Open Final: Xu Xin vs. Ma Long

Here's the highlights video (2:28).

GoPro in Action - Table Tennis Practice

Here's the video (1:14) showing what it's like if you practice with a video camera around your neck.

USA Today Features Behind-the-Back Countersmash

Here's the feature, where they consider whether he's a Jedi.

What Happens When Your YouTube Video Goes Viral?

Here's the article by the guy from the Expert in a Year Challenge, whose video Guy Plays Table Tennis Every Day for a Year (5 min) is now up to 1,294,191 hits. Table tennis videos don't often go viral, but we've suddenly had two of them, with the recent Greatest Table Tennis Shot video (54 sec, the one with the behind-the-back countersmash by Kit Jeerapaet, see USA Today segment above) now up to 1,812,186 hits.

Malta's Mario Genovese Sets Record with Most National Titles

Here's the article, where he's pictured with a certificate from the Guinness Book of World Records. He's won Men's Singles 21 times and Men's Doubles 16 times, a total of 37 titles, topping the 36 won by England's Desmond Douglas, as well as the 32 by Jean-Michel Saive of Belgium.

Airball - Table Tennis Revolution?

Here's the video (22 sec) showing these new squeezable 3D ping-pong balls in action. Alas, when I went to the website listed I couldn't find them there. (I emailed asking about them.)

I Love My Robot

Here's the funny table tennis ad (1:19) for a Newgy Robo Pong.

Mostly Non-Table Tennis - FREE Copy of Sorcerers in Space!

My table tennis books sell pretty well, but my humorous fantasy novel, Sorcerers in Space . . . not so well. Very few people even know about the book. It hasn't even been reviewed on Amazon. (Contrast that with Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers, with 35 reviews.) So let's change that.

I will send a FREE copy of the novel to the first five people who ask for it, who promise to write a review on Amazon. It only has to be a paragraph, though you can write longer. If interested, email me and I'll send you the book. If you want the print version (326 pages), I'll need your address. If you want the Kindle version, all I need is your email address, and I can have it sent to your Kindle. (I'll put a note up here as soon as I get five takers.) I'm not going to ask for positive reviews, but if you don't like humorous fantasy that satirizes the 1960s U.S.-Soviet space race with sorcerers instead of astronauts, then you probably don't want the novel!

Table tennis is not central to the story, but the main character is a 13-year-old sorcerer's apprentice who has to give up his ping-pong dreams to save the world. (And yes, in my alternate universe, Kennedy is still president in 1969 - he survived the 1963 assassination attempt and won an illegal third term in 1968. Lee Harvey Oswald is now his faithful servant, or so it seems.) Here's the book's description:

It is 1969, at the height of tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Neil, 13, badly wants to be someone. Instead he's stuck as a sorcerer's apprentice for Gus, the "meanest sorcerer in the world." Gus creates a magical talisman to spy on the Soviets, but instead it spies on them and sends text into space. A Giant Face in the Sky shows up, reading the text. 

Since whoever gets to the Face first can lob down spells and have the world at their mercy, the Race to the Face begins. The Soviets invade the U.S. in their attempts to kill Neil, who is prophesied to defeat them. A floating, talking meteor assassin named Buzz becomes Neil's companion--but in one week, Buzz must kill Neil. 

President Kennedy puts together a motley crew that includes Neil, Gus, Buzz, a dragon, the god Apollo, a 2-D sorcerer, and the sorceress Jackie Kennedy. Can they make it to the Face before the Soviets? And before Buzz kills Neil?

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