April 9, 2015

How the Orioles Help Me Get Work Done

Other than table tennis, I don't really follow too many sports. Locals at MDTTC took great glee recently in quizzing me about the college basketball finals, or whatever that thing that went on recently, and laughing at my utter ignorance of who the "Final Four" were, or that it was even going on. I claim similar ignorance of NBA, NFL, NHL, and most other sports. (When quizzed, I was only able to name three current NBA players, though with time I guarantee you I could have come up with two or three more . . . at most.) I do follow tennis a bit. (I'm a former member of the U.S. Tennis Association, and went to group training sessions twice a week for years as my "side" sport.) But I do have one sport I follow, and that's Baltimore Orioles baseball. I've been a fan since I was a kid.

As readers might know, I've coached three of them at MDTTC - Darren O'Day, JJ Hardy, and Brady Anderson - and visited their clubhouse in 2013 with our top juniors to take on their players for three hours. (Here's my blog about it, and here's a group picture. It was surreal discussing topics like talent and training with Chris Davis and others, hitting with many of the players, and meeting them all.) I also write humorous articles about the Orioles, with 27 articles published in Orioles Hangout.

Normally I do my blog in the morning, but I run into problems doing that during our training camps, which take place all summer as well as in our spring break camp (going on right now). I'd have to get up extremely early to get the blog done before leaving to coach at these camps. So what's my solution?

I watch pretty much every Orioles game on TV (when I'm not coaching), but do the blog (and other writing and work) as I watch. It's a great compromise, and I get a lot done this way. Besides the blog, I often plan out in advance what I'll be working on during the next game. During the games I relax in my lounge chair with my laptop computer.

I learned something from coaching the Orioles and from hitting with many of them at their clubhouse: professional athletes are not like normal people. They have an almost surreal focus on learning techniques, and a perfectionist attitude that leads to high levels of performance. Attitude during training is one of the best indicators of future success; while most players focus on who has the most talent, most coaches focus on who has the best attitude. It takes both, but in the long run the one with the better attitude toward training almost always comes out ahead of the more talented one whose training attitude isn't so good. When you have both, you have a gold mine.

Serve and Return Footwork

Here's the new coaching article by Han Xiao, with links to videos of Ma Long vs. Zhang Jike, and Koki Niwa vs. Chuang Chih Yuan.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: How do you react to a loss?

Here's the new coaching article by Samson Dubina.

Forehand Flip Practicing Alone

Here's the video (66 sec) as a player finds a way to work on this by himself. (He calls it a "flick," which is what it's commonly called in Europe, but it's the same thing.) I remember doing a little of this myself when I was developing, circa late 1970s. From a technical point of view, he lifts his racket up too high during his backswing, a bit of wasted motion. But he steps in correctly, uses his free hand properly for balance, and has good contact. Here's a video of Zhang Jike (40 sec) and a video of Brian Pace (23 sec) demonstrating their forehand flips, where they move their racket almost directly to behind the ball. On the other hand, here's a video from PingSkills (4:55) that demonstrates and teaches the shot, where the racket does go up some during the backswing, but not as much as in the solo video above.

Basic Serve Accuracy

Here's video (16 sec) of Japan's Ryusuke Sakamoto showing his serve accuracy as he knocks three balls off the table. The thing many won't realize is that this is the norm for top players who practice their serves regularly, not something they have to do over and over to get it right. When you practice your serves regularly, they go where you aim them. (Yes, I could do this, though it would take me a bunch of tries since I don't practice my serves regularly anymore. I used to do this all the time, and my hitting percentage was at least 50%. So I guess my chances of getting all three in a row back then would have been about one in eight.)

Footwork Left and Right

Here's a video (14:41) showing juniors doing side-to-side footwork drills.

USATT Insider

Here's the new issue. (It includes the article on my being named "USATT Regional Associations Coordinator," and on the motion I made that passed to allow people to get on the ballot with 150 signatures.)

Nittaku ITTF Monthly Pongcast - March 2015

Here's the video (13:38).

Great Point

Here's video (29 sec) of a nice point between Sabine Winter and Britt Erland in a league match a few days ago on Bavarian TV.

Under-the-Leg Around-the-Net with a Big Celebration

Here's the video (16 sec, including slo-mo replay).

13 Lines Indian Table Tennis Players Are Used to Hearing

Here's the article and pictures!

Trick Shots Across the Globe

Here's the new video (3:05). Some great stuff, including playing with an oversized racket while on a moving tractor and playing on ice on ice skates.

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