April 7, 2015

Tip of the Week

Tiger Woods Distraction Drill.

Regional Associations Coordinator and Election Petition Bylaw

Here's the USATT News Item on these two items, "USATT Appoints Hodges Regional Associations Coordinator." This is an unpaid volunteer position. It will put me in a position to work on several things I promised to do when I ran for the board - create state and regional associations; promote coaching programs and training centers; and set up a nationwide network of team leagues. They all go together.

Or to quote me from the article:

"I have long believed that a strong system of regional and state associations are necessary for the growth and development of the sport in the United States. With the sheer geographical size and diversity of our country, regional and state associations allow us to develop programming at a more local level. Central to this will be creating state championships, coaching programs and training centers, and regional team leagues."

Right now I'm in the learning and planning phrase. Also, we're in the middle of the MDTTC Spring Break Camp, and so I'm pretty busy coaching there, though I might get one of the other coaches to sub for me so I can work on these issues. But I've already done a lot of planning and will be going public with some of this later. (Much of the implementation will start in the fall and in 2016.) One difficulty is that I will be coaching long hours during the summer due to our training camps, and so won't be as active during that time. On the other hand, it is a volunteer position! (Maybe if they double my salary, I'd do more? Oh wait…)

One of the first steps is finding out just what state and regional associations are out there. Where there already exists one, I hope to work with them to expand to the next level, with state championships, coaching programs and training centers, and team leagues. If you already have lots of these, then great! But lets continue to grow.

If you are involved with, or know of any state or regional table tennis associations in the U.S., please email me. Don't be shy; we really don't have much into on this. I know about ones in Florida, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area, and the beginnings of ones in the Washington DC and New York areas with their team leagues. Sometime soon I plan to do a systematic Google search where I put in all fifty states, one by one, in front of the words "Table Tennis Association" and "Table Tennis Federation."

As I promised when I ran for the board, at the recent USATT Board Meeting I made the motion to allow candidates to get on the ballot with 150 signatures. To do this required giving the board 30-days' notice, and then it would require 2/3 of the entire board to pass, i.e. six votes. USATT legal counsel Dennis Taylor helped with the final language. Then I gave a presentation to the board on why this was important, and gave three arguments for the bylaws. I blogged about this on Monday, March 30.

I'd once again like to thank the board for approving this by a 7-1 vote, including USATT Board Chair Peter Scudner, who supported the proposal. To quote him:

"The Board believes this is an important change to our election procedures that will open access to the election process for all members. USATT is a membership based organization, and our members now have a more direct opportunity to be a part of the election process."

However, note that there are only two At-Large members, each elected to a four-year term, and term-limited to a maximum of two terms. My initial term ends at the end of 2018. The other is Mike Babuin, whose second term ends at the end of 2016. Since he's term-limited (we'll miss him!), that'll be an open spot. You can start collecting signatures to run on Jan. 1, 2016! (If you are interested in seeing the new election bylaws, here are the USATT Bylaws, already updated. See 7.6.b.3, which is on page 19, and see the third paragraph, which is the new one.)

I do thank the USATT Board and CEO Gordon Kaye for helping and supporting both of these issues. Meanwhile, I have four other bylaw proposals that I haven't sent to the USATT Board yet. I don't want to overwhelm anyone, so we'll keep that a secret between us for now, okay? Shhh.

Junior Star Allen Wang is Starting a School Club

He needs help with funding - so here's how you can donate!

French Translation of Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers

Here it is, on sale at amazon.fr, the French Amazon. Or you can get the English one! Do it for the good of table tennis - the more copies that sell, the less I need to coach, and the more time I can spend developing the sport in the U.S.! (On my increasingly longer todo list: creating the French Kindle version, which will take a couple of hours.) Great thanks to David Salomez for doing the translation.

I'm now looking for someone to do a Chinese translation. Any takers? We can negotiate payment! If you are interested or know anyone who might be, email me.  

The Spirit of Pong

I finalized the draft of this fantasy novella (25,000 words) over the weekend, and sent it to eight pre-readers, who will critique it and get back to me. I already have the cover graphics ready, care of the Mezyan Table Tennis Imaginarium. (Aren't you dying to see it? Patience!) I blogged about this novella on March 16. I hope to have it ready by the end of the month. Then you'll get to read about American Andy Blue and how he learns the secrets of table tennis in China from the spirits of past champions.

I'm working on the back cover text. How's this? Suggestions are welcome.

"Andy "Shoes" Blue wants to be a table tennis champion, but he's just another mid-level American. And so he goes to China to learn the secrets of table tennis. He is trained by the mysterious Coach Wang, and begins an odyssey where he learns the secrets of table tennis from the spirits of past champions such as Ichiro Ogimura (who spawned China's greatness), Rong Guotuan (China's first world champion in 1959, whose tragic story Andy must relive), the Dragon, and many more. Can he overcome treachery and learn the final secret of table tennis in time to defeat his ultimate nemesis?"

The Wake-Up Call - Would you like an early-morning alarm?

Here's the new coaching article by Samson Dubina

Ask the Coach

Episode #109 (15:39) - World Table Tennis Day (and other segments).

U.S. Open Events

Here's the listing from USATT. Entry form should be out soon.

ITTF Coaching Courses in the U.S.

There are four scheduled. They are:

Ask a Pro Anything: Aruna Quadri

Here's the video interview (6:37) by Adam Bobrow. Special bonus - hear Aruna sing!

Table Reviews by Ping Pong Ruler

Here's the new page.

Great Attack vs. Chop Point

Here's the video (5:41), but it's the first point (between Feng Tianwei and Seo Hyowon) that's incredible! But note how many times the attack goes after the chopper's middle? That's how you play choppers.

30 Years Ago Today That We Won the World Doubles Title

Here's the video (13 sec) from Mikael Appelgren to Ulf Carlsson. Yes, once upon a time, China didn't sweep everything - nope, not a fairy tale!!!

Zhang Jike

Here's the picture - yep, that's him, playing table tennis at around age four or five!

GeekWire Bash

Here's the USATT story, pictures, and video!

Game of Chairs

Here's a video (5:47) from Sesame Street that satires Game of Thrones. Except they have three thrones, a wiffleball chair, a golf chair - and a ping-pong chair that's made up of dozens of copper-colored paddles and balls! They show up at 1:13. Here's a picture of the three chairs. I want the ping-pong chair!

Macho Easter Bunny Pong

Here's Macho Easter Bunny Pong! (Yesterday I linked to two Easter Bunny Pong pictures, Smacking a shot and Dancing with paddle. Wimps.)

Ping-Pong Go Round

Here's the picture of this circular table tennis! (I linked to a version of this before. For those wondering, a segment lifts up to allow access to the inner part.)

Crazy No-look Backhand by Koki Niwa

Here's the video (27 sec, including slow motion replay)!

Ice Skating Pong

Here's the picture!

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