March 5, 2015
How I Hurt My Back and How Not to Do Multiball
I think I hurt my back shoveling snow on Sunday or Monday. Because of snow and icy roads, I didn't do any serious coaching from Sunday to Tuesday, other than a one-hour multiball session on Tuesday, where I probably aggravated it. On Wednesday, when woke up, my back was in agony. I did a one-hour multiball session, but had to cancel a one-hour private session. Today I had 3.5 hours of coaching scheduled, but due to the snow (5-8 inches expected, it's coming down pretty hard) they are all cancelled. If not for the snow I'd have had to cancel them anyway.
I think my new mattress is also a culprit - it's not firm enough. Rather than buy a new mattress (again), I just ordered an extra firm mattress topper. Hopefully it'll be firm enough.
I'm probably going to cancel all my coaching on Friday as well. I'm not yet sure about Saturday - I have two hours of private coaching and a two-hour multiball session scheduled. I'm almost for certain going to cancel the private coaching for that day. We'll see about Sunday. Most likely I'll cancel all private coaching that day (four hours), but teach the two 90-minutes classes I have scheduled.
When I feed regular multiball, it doesn't affect my back too much. The problem is feeding backspin. When I do this I tend to drop my right shoulder and rotate my back into it - ouch!!! Right now I can't feed backspin without aggravating the back. I had to stop feeding backspin in the session yesterday.
When I explained this to Coach Cheng yesterday, he smiled, and said it's because I use my upper body to feed multiball instead of my legs. Normally this wouldn't make a difference, but in my current condition, it does. He showed me how he does it, using just his legs. I tried copying it, but it didn't feel natural. Ironically, Sean O'Neill had commented about this many years ago as well.
Back in 1992, when we opened MDTTC, I was already experienced in feeding multiball, but after watching coaches Cheng and Jack feed multiball, I realized I needed to practice. So I spent about a week where I literally practiced feeding multiball, feeding the ball into a robot net. Now I may have to do that again, and relearn how I feed backspin. Cheng also showed me how he shovels snow using only his legs, and mocked others who complain about it, saying it's all in the technique!
For now, I'm going to spend the day resting as the snow outside comes down. I've found that sitting at my desk aggravates the back, which is a problem since I was hoping to get some writing done. And then, at 8PM (dang, right when Big Bang Theory comes on TV - see segment below!), we have a USATT teleconference where we'll be appointing committee chairs.
ITTF Legends Tour
Jean-Michel Saive defeated Jorgen Persson in the final yesterday. In the semifinals, Saive defeated Waldner while Persson defeated Gatien. In the two quarterfinals, Waldner defeated Jiang Jialiang (rematch from 1987 Worlds!) while Persson defeated Rosskopf. Here's the article from Tabletennista, including results and lots of video. Here are some photos of the event - click on them to see each one. The third one has Saive standing on the table! Here are more photos. Also, here's a nice trailer (78 sec) they put together for the event.
Ma Long #1 Again
In the new world rankings, he's back to #1 in men's rankings, with Xu Xin dropping to #2 after twelve months at #1 (plus four months back in 2013). Ma's been #1 in the world 29 different months - all twelve months in 2010, three months in 2011, five months in 2012, six months in 2013, and two months in 2014. Fan Zhendong is #3 for the fifth consecutive month - he's been top three for 13 consecutive months, including two months at #2 in 2014 (Sept and Oct). Zhang Jike, who has won men's singles at the last two Worlds, the last World Cup, and the last Olympics, continues at #4 for the seventh consecutive month; he hasn't been ranked #1 since 2012. (He only does well in the "big" tournaments!)
On the women's side, Ding Ning is #1 for the sixth consecutive month. Li Xiaoxia moves up to #2 after 19 consecutive months at #3. (She was #1 for eight months in 2011 and for one month back in 2008.) Liu Shiwen moves down to #3 after five consecutive months at #2. (She was #1 for thirteen consecutive months before that, as well as nine months in 2010.)
All the players listed above are from China, which continues to have the top four men and top three women.
Sports Illustrated
I'm told that the new March 9 issue of Sports Illustrated has a feature on page 60 on New York Times puzzle editor and table tennis player/owner Will Shortz - his game and his Westchester club. Go get your copy!
Ask the Coach
- Episode #88 (19:00) - Table Tennis Terminology (and other segments)
- Episode #89 (21:50) - Waldner Back in Action (and other segments)
Learn to Play the Backhand Counterdrive
Here's the coaching video (2:39) from Brian Pace of Dynamic Table Tennis.
Marcos Freitas - The New European Hero
Here's the video (5:21) of the world #9 player, from Portugal.
Ding Ning - Off the Table
Here's the video (6:30).
Great Rally
Here's the video (27 sec) with both great and fluky shots.
Junior Diving Forehand Defense
Here's the video (19 sec, including slow motion replay).
Celebrity Table Tennis
Here are some celebrities playing table tennis pictures. (Click on the first - is that Jay Leno? - and you'll see more.) Of course, the mother lode of these pictures is the Celebrities Playing Table Tennis page, which I used to maintain but stopped a few years ago - just too busy.
Big Bang Theory Pong!
Here's video (15 sec) of the Big Bang Theory stars playing table tennis. That's Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting ("Penny") on the left smacking in forehands (she's pretty good!) against Kunal Nayyar ("Raj") on the right, with Mayim Bialik ("Amy") watching, and Simon Helberg ("Howard") walking by near the end.
Non-Table Tennis - Top Twelve Spring Training Problems for the 2015 Orioles
Here's the article, featured at Orioles Hangout!
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