April 27, 2015
Tip of the Week
Your Ready Position - Think Basketball.
Adult Beginning/Intermediate Class
With Raghu Nadmichettu and Josh Tran out of town at the Westchester Open, Coach Jeffrey Zeng Xun assisted this time. We focused on three things this session, which ran 6:30-8:00PM on Sunday.
First up was the forehand loop against block. We demonstrated and I explained, and then they went out to the tables to try it. I had them do it for 7.5 minutes each, twice each. The hardest parts for most adults learning to loop is to use the whole body rather than mostly arm. There's also a tendency to try to stroke it too quickly instead of a smooth, accelerating swing.
Next we did serve and attack. But before we got to that I knew the players would need to get their regular shots back. After all that looping - the first time ever against block for many of them - they'd likely lift their regular forehands and go off the end. So I had them do two minutes of forehand to forehand, as well as two minutes of backhand to backhand and backhand to backhand pushing. Then we began the drill. The server served backspin, the receiver pushed to a pre-arranged spot, the server looped to the receiver's backhand, and then they played out the point.
Finally, for the last 20 minutes, I brought out a bunch of different rackets for "show and tell," and went over the various characteristics. I had two different types of hardbat rackets, a sandpaper racket, longs pips with sponge and without sponge, pips out on a shakehands and penhold blade, antispin, plus tensored inverted.
Other Miscellaneous Stuff
- Capital Area Super League. The league committee met Friday night at Smash TT from 9PM to Midnight. (That's Michael Levene, Stefano Ratti, John Olsen, and me.) Topics included budget, changing name (taking the "Super" off, since it makes it look like the league is only for elite players), less travel and more "home" matches, plans for the big Finals, and plans for next season. It took me 55 minutes to get there, but because of road construction, almost 2.5 hours to get home - I got back around 2:30 AM. (Had one funny exchange. I mentioned the "The point of the league" in reference to this shot by Derek Nie, an around-the-net backhand loop receive. But John thought I was talking about the point of the league as in why we did it, and for a few seconds we had a rather confusing discussion.)
- Arm. It's a lot better now. Tonight I'll be doing my first private coaching in two weeks. I tested it out yesterday, especially while demonstrating the forehand loop in the class to Jeffrey's never-missing block. However, it's not completely healed - it's still sore, so I have to go easy on attacking too much. I'm doing exercises with it each day to build it up.
- Washington Post. They came in on Friday to do a story on Crystal Wang and Derek Nie. It should come out on May 19. I'll post a link here.
Ask the Coach
- Episode #113 (14:39) - How the Aussies can beat China
- Episode #114 (22:59) - Off Season Training
World Championships
They started yesterday (Sunday), with opening ceremonies on Saturday, and are from April 26 - May 3 in Suzhou, China. Here are some links.
- ITTF World Championships Page
- ITTF press release on the draws
- Day One press release
- ITTF Feature on USA junior stars Kanak Jha and Amy Wang
- ITTF Feature on USA junior stars Angela Guan and Amy Wang
- WTTC Highlights - Qualification Groups: Angela Guan (USA) vs. Catia Martins (POR) (4:35, time between points removed)
- Xinhua news item that focuses on China's pairing in doubles with non-Chinese players, and Zhang Jike hoping to repeat in men's singles
- Opening and Draw Ceremony (2:38)
- Opening Ceremony (1hr 46 min)
- Men's Bios (click on picture to see all four pages)
- Women's Bios (click on picture to see all four pages)
- Day One Shot of the Day (1:09)
- Zhang Jike doing multiball at the Worlds (2:54)
- ITTF's Condolences to Nepal press release
- Tabletennista also has lots of Worlds coverage
U.S. Open
Here's the new FAQ page. And here's the U.S. Open page itself. It takes place July 6-11 in Las Vegas. Enter now!!!
Jan-Ove Waldner Interview - He Does Not Like the Plastic Ball
Here's the interview (5:08, in English). Some quotes: "Too many changes, not good for the sport," and "Plastic ball not good." He also thinks Ma Long might win the Worlds. (Side note - there's been a debate for years on whether Waldner is the greatest player of all time. It's mostly between him and a few Chinese players. But I think we have one consensus - Pretty much everyone agrees that either Waldner is the greatest of all time, or is arguably the greatest of all time.)
Butterfly Science: All about Tenergy
Here's the new video (10:11) that explains the science behind the sponge. (Disclaimer: I'm sponsored by Butterfly.)
The Journey through Chinese Table Tennis
Ma Long and Zhang Jike Serve
Here's the video (10:11). It's in Chinese, but you can learn by watching. They both serve and play out the points, with a Chinese coach apparently giving commentary.
26 Seconds of Extremely Fast Multiball by Li Xiaoxia
37 Seconds of Incredibly Fast Table Tennis
Ma Long vs. Xu Xin
Here's the video (3:57) - lots of great points, and a little Jaws music as well!
Incredible Around-the-Net Backhand
Here's the video (29 sec, including slo-mo replay).
NCTTC Bracket Challenge
Here's the article - and congrats to the winners!
Liu Guoliang vs. Bill Gates
Here's the video (64 sec) as the Chinese Men's Coach and former superstar player takes on the world's richest man!
Operator Please - Just a Song about Ping Pong
Here's the video (2:18).
Roller Pong
More Mike Mezyan Pictures
NOTE - If you are unable to see these pictures, all you have to do is join the Table Tennis Group - it's easy! Here are all the past, present, and (soon) future pictures he's collected. (I pick out his best ones for here - he has more.)
- Piles and Piles of Balls - So many, so many….
- Ping Pong Black Belt - Nobody bothers me!
- Gazebo Pong - Everyone should have one.
- Pong Eyes - See the world through our eyes!
- Pong Fence Art - Or is this abacus pong?
- "P" Pong? But what does the "P" stand for?!!!
- Table Tennis Til Die - This trophy awarded posthumously.
- Handicap Slippery Floor Pong? What would we do without this warning?
- Crooked Net and Table with Funny Drawings and Balls on Wall Pong - Just another table tennis outing.
- Castaway Pong - That is a ping-pong ball, right? Here's the original Wilson from movie Castaway!
- Lighted Ping Pong Cake - For a 12-year-old?
- I Love You Ping Pong - This is how ping-pong players date, right?
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