March 6, 2015
Playing Fair and a Rules Proposal
I read the following recently on a table tennis forum: "It's the coach's job to teach a player how to win. It's the parent's job to teach ethics to their kids. If a player resorts to cheating to win, then the parents have failed."
I was tempted to jump in and respond - harshly - but thought better of it. This is probably a somewhat common attitude, though I don't think most agree with it. The simple reality is that much of what is considered "good sportsmanship" comes from the coach. I'm pretty sure I can convince most parents that their kid should always play fair, including serving legally. I'm also pretty sure I can convince most parents that their kid should learn to serve illegally, since so many of his opponents will be doing so, and so he needs to do so to compete. These are contradictory positions. While parents can put their foot down, they are rarely as experienced in these matters as a coach, and so they rely on the coach for guidance in such matters.
I could teach the up-and-coming juniors at my club how to illegally hide their serves, as some coaches do. More specifically, I'd teach them how to serve borderline, where most serves are visible, but it's so close that an umpire, sitting off to the side, can't quite tell. The umpire should, by the rules, rule these serves illegal since it's the player's responsibility to serve so the umpire is "satisfied" that the serves are legal, and they are supposed to call any serve that they aren't sure about, but most umpires do not enforce these rules, and so players get away with this. (I've posted the pertinent rules below.) And once a player establishes that he can get away with these "borderline" serves that should be faulted, it's easy for them to go over the line and actually hide contact at key points in a match, and win easy points. (If you hide the serve every time, there is so much complaining that the umpires are more likely to call it. So most players who are willing to cheat by hiding their serve do so only a few key times per game - which effectively raises their level about 100 rating points.)
But I won't do this. I'm not going to "teach a player to win" by cheating. Alas, not all coaches are this way. There are coaches who teach their players that cheating is okay if the umpire doesn't call it. And this attitude works because so many umpires and referees allow it. And so we regularly see the various styles of hidden serves - the last-second outward thrust of the shoulder (with the arm pulled back suddenly to draw the umpire's attention away from it); the ball thrown backward in a high-toss serve with the head thrust forward, thereby hiding contact with the head; or the more blatant hiding with the arm, which is supposed to be removed from the space between the ball and net as soon as the ball has been projected.
Even at my club I've seen top juniors practice hidden serves because they want to be ready to use them if their opponent does so, and the umpires doesn't call it. And I'm forced to agree that, in that circumstance, it's only fair that my players also hide their serve, since otherwise it's not a fair playing field. They also need practice partners - often other top junior players - who hide their serves so they can practice against them. But I hate this, and I hate the situation that allows and even forces this.
Probably the best of a bad situation is to allow, or even teach, these hidden serves, but make it clear they are NOT to be used except when the opponent is doing so, and the umpire doesn't call it. But it's sickening to me to know that some players will wait until a key moment in a match, and then they'll throw in a hidden serve, and my player will hit the ball way off the end or straight down into the net, and there's nothing we can do about it, because the umpire allowed the borderline serves that led up to this, and so can't tell the difference between those borderline serves (where the ball was barely visible but the umpire couldn't tell for sure) and the ones where the contact was hidden. Both are illegal, including the borderline one that was technically (but barely) visible. See 2.06.06 and 2.06.06.01 below.
I've posted this a number of times, but below is a quick review of the pertinent rules. (If there is no umpire, then the players act as umpires. Much of what I've written above refers to top juniors competing for national titles, where most of the matches are umpired, and many titles are decided by whether the umpire enforces the service rules.)
- 2.06.04: From the start of service until it is struck, the ball … shall not be hidden from the receiver by the server or his or her doubles partner or by anything they wear or carry.
- 2.06.06: It is the responsibility of the player to serve so that the umpire or the assistant umpire can be satisfied that he or she complies with the requirements of the Laws, and either may decide that a service is incorrect.
- 2.06.06.01: If either the umpire or the assistant umpire is not sure about the legality of a service he or she may, on the first occasion in a match, interrupt play and warn the server; but any subsequent service by that player or his or her doubles partner which is not clearly legal shall be considered incorrect.
As regular readers of this blog might know, I'd like to solve the problem by changing the rules so that the rule says something like this: "Throughout the serve, the ball must be visible to the opponent, and to both umpires, or where the umpires would sit." The wording might need some playing with. For example, perhaps it needs to be specified where the umpires would sit - perhaps ten feet to the side?
But with a rule like this, borderline serves - where the ball might barely be hidden from one of the umpires - are no longer a problem because if you try hiding the ball from the opponent, then it's blatantly obvious it's hidden from at least one of the umpires or where they would sit, unless the umpire has x-ray vision. A borderline serve where it's not clear that it's visible to both umpires or where they sit would obviously be visible to the opponent, which is the goal of the rule. (It's like the six-inch rule, where the goal wasn't to force everyone to toss the ball up six inches; the goal was to stop players from serving out of their hand. If someone only tosses the ball up five inches, he may or may not get called on it, but he's not serving out of his hand.)
I'm actually starting to think that a better rule might be as follows, with my addition in brackets:
2.06.04: "From the start of service until it is struck, the ball … shall not be hidden from the receiver [, or the net or the area above the net,] by the server or his or her doubles partner or by anything they wear or carry."
This would also make it impossible to hide the serve from the opponent without it becoming blatantly obvious, and without referring to non-existent umpires in varied sitting positions. It's also not as extreme, since the sides of the net aren't as far off to the side as the umpires would be. I'll be discussing this with the USATT Rules committee at some point this year, and hoping we can convince the ITTF to adopt something like this. (It's already been tried without success, but many rule changes were turned down initially before passing.)
USATT Teleconference
The USATT Board of Directors (which includes me) had a teleconference last night. The focus was on appointing committee chairs for the next two years. We ended up re-appointing seven committee chairs, appointing five new ones, and tabling three appointments for now. My informal policy on this is that I'll wait for USATT to post the appointments that were voted on before I go public. This allows our CEO time to contact the new and re-appointed chairs to inform them of their status, plus I don't think it's fair that I use my status on the board to be the first to publish such info. I'm told that it'll most likely get posted in the USATT Minutes page on Monday, after which I'll blog more about this. One thing I can announce - I now chair the USATT League Committee. More on that later.
USA National and Pan Am Team Trials, and the Arnold Challenge
Here's the home page, which includes links to live streaming, which begins at 10AM Eastern Time today (Friday). I really wish I were there coaching as I have so often in the past. But we have so many 2600-level Chinese practice partner/coaches at our club that it's more economical to send them with our players as coaches/practice partners, since at 55 (as of last Friday) I can only do the coaching part at this level these days. But I'll be watching, and probably screaming at the screen, "Serve it there! No, wrong serve! Play the middle!", and so on.
I also considered going to the Arnold Table Tennis Challenge in Columbus, Ohio this weekend to coach several of the Maryland players there, but the problem is we wouldn't be back until late Sunday night, and I have two classes I teach Sunday nights which have been cancelled two weeks in a row due to snow. I can't cancel a third straight week. We have a contingent driving up there right now, which must be fun since we had about eight inches of snow yesterday. (Schools were closed both yesterday and today.)
USATT Insider
The new issue came out yesterday. It includes the "11 Questions with Larry Hodges" interview I linked to yesterday.
Drill Your Skills with China National Team - Part 10: Push and Attack
Here's the new coaching video (9:47). Here are links to Parts 1-9.
Ask the Coach
Episode #90 (24:15) - Best Penholder Ever (and other segments).
Nittaku ITTF Monthly Pongcast - February 2015
Here's the video (12:03).
Diversity in Leading Players at the 2015 Butterfly Arnold Table Tennis Challenge
Here's the article by Barbara Wei.
Timo Boll Off World Ranking List
Here's the article. He's a "victim" of the four-month rule - if a player doesn't compete in an ITTF tournament for four consecutive months, he's dropped from the list. Timo says, "No problem. In the next month, when I compete at the 2015 German Open, I will be back in the top-10!"
World Table Tennis Day - April 6
Table Tennis South Australia
Here's the new issue - includes articles on Club Code of Conduct, Plastic Balls, and a Table Tennis Quiz.
Legends Tour 2015 Highlights: Saive vs. Persson (Final)
Here are highlights (3:44). I blogged about the event yesterday.
Top Ten Shots
Here's a new highlights video (7:26).
Highlights: 2015 Edition
Here's another highlights video (8:56).
Amazing Table Tennis Tricks
Here's the video (3:15) - some really great stuff here!
Stationary Bike Pong
Here's the video (46 sec) - double your exercise!
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