May 7, 2015

Coaching Between Points

I blogged about this on Tuesday. There has been a lot of online discussion, such as at the Mytabletennis forum and the OOAK forum. The gist of most of the discussions agrees with what I wrote - this is not a good thing. I’m still in the mode of “Wow. Just wow,” and keep checking my calendar to see if it’s April 1. The rule will take effect on Oct. 1, 2016. Has the whole world gone mad? Here is the new rule, with the old wording crossed out, and the new wording in bold:

3.5.1.3 Players may receive advice only during the intervals between games or during other authorised suspension of play, and not between the end of practice and the start of a match; if any authorised person gives advice at other times the umpire shall hold up a yellow card to warn him or her that any further such offence will result in his or her dismissal from the playing area. Between rallies persons who are authorised to be at the bench / field of play have the possibility to give verbal and visual coaching instructions.

Here are some more articles on this:

At first glance, this should be a good thing for me. Tactical coaching may be my biggest strength, and the value of ringside tableside coaches is about to go up dramatically. Coaches like myself are going to become far more interactive, and maybe make a lot of money as hired guns. (Maybe I should just quit all other table tennis activities and just become a hired coach at tournaments?) This is normal in team sports, but not so normal in most individual sports, where players should learn to rely on themselves, with a coach only assisting. That’s why it’s an individual sport. (Boxing allows such coaching, but it’s a bit different as they don’t really have the equivalent of a serve to be signaled in. Plus, do we really want boxing as our role model?)

Now the coaches will be in charge, perhaps signaling in every serve. While I should be good at that, I’m not so sure I’ll be comfortable doing it, since I’ve never done this for someone else before. It’ll seem weird taking control of someone else’s match in this way. I'm definitely not thrilled at suddenly being responsible for calling out every serve, how to receive, point after point, not to mention working out complex codes and signals. Jeeeez. 

However, my lack of bilingual skills will hurt me. For example, Chinese coaches can coach in Chinese during a match, and unless the opponent is also Chinese, opponent won't understand. Big advantage to those with foreign languages. I’m good at a lot of things, but foreign language isn’t one of them. But if I yell out instructions in English, the opponent will hear. Players who speak less common languages are going to want coaches who can yell out instructions in that language. Opposing coaches will surreptitiously try to find people who understand those languages so they can figure out what the opposing coach is saying. It’ll be Spy vs. Spy.

Since I only speak English (like nearly everyone else in the table tennis world these days, at least those that I coach against), that means wasting lots of time working out signals. Pretty soon you’ll see me and other coaches yanking at our ears, sticking out our tongues, hopping about, and waving our arms. Okay, it might not be that bad, but you get the gist. Plus, like major league baseball, we’ll have to constantly be changing our signals or the opponent (or more specifically, his coach) will pick up on them. Does anyone out there doubt I won’t be watching the signals of the rival coach, and trying to decipher the code? Will puzzlemaster Will Shortz, who owns the Westchester club in New York, have an advantage over the rest of us?

Apparently the new rule was tested in Germany. Perhaps it worked there, or perhaps we don’t have the full story. Perhaps it did work, but there’s a cultural difference, where German coaches were polite and didn’t take advantage of the rule to take control of every match. I have a feeling that’s exactly what’s going to happen in many places. There are many win-obsessed parents and coaches, and when it becomes legal to coach during a game, it’s going to happen. The question is not how much, but whether there’ll be any serious limits. I really can see many top coaches signaling in every single serve. I expect I’m going to end up doing that as well, since otherwise my students will be at a disadvantage. Maybe we should forget about the students and their ratings, and just have a coaches rating system, since we’re being put in charge?

Arm Problems

There’s been a minor relapse. After resting it last Friday and Saturday, I was able to do all my coaching Sunday through Wednesday, but I had to avoid certain things. The arm begins to hurt if I do any of the following repetitively: looping (forehand or backhand), regular forehands, forehand pendulum serves (my primary serve), and feeding backspin in multiball. So I did a lot of blocking the last few days, and focused on topspin when doing multiball. I only have group sessions the next two days where I won’t have to do any of the above, so hopefully it’ll be ready for some weekend coaching.

Special Tips for Developing Backhand Drive and Loop

Here’s the coaching article by Matt Hetherington. It’s from a year ago, but I don’t think I linked to it. (If I did, it’s worth a second read.)

Ask the Coach

Episode #121 (18:30) - Becoming a Better Player.

26 Seconds of Multiball Training with Fan Zhendong

Here’s the video from the Worlds. That's Wang Hao feeding the balls. 

Bionic Man’s Heart Beats for Table Tennis

Here’s the article from the India Times about Navin Kumar, a student of mine. (I linked yesterday to pictures of the paper itself, but that was hard to read; this is the actual online text.) Here’s the video (9:22) by Peter Scudner in February that features Navin.

Interview with Soumyajit Ghosh

Here’s the interview from MH Table Tennis with the rising Indian star, world #95 after the Worlds and #2 in India after Sharath Kamal Achanta. Includes a link to a video (4:56) with highlights of his win over Aruna Quadri at the Worlds.

Attack on Chinese Ping Pong Not Cricket, Says Top Coach

Here’s the article in The Telegraph from England, with Liu Guoliang’s response to the criticism. I’ve always thought that as long as China allows their top players and coaches to go to other countries to train and coach others, which they do, I have no problem with their (current) dominance. It’s just a matter of time before some country rises to challenge them, as Germany has come close to doing, and as past countries have done at various times, such as Sweden, Hungary, Japan, and South Korea. But it won’t be easy.

Zhang Jike’s Back Injury

Here’s the article from Table Tennista.

Fun Facts about Men’s Singles at the Worlds

Here’s the article.

Table Tennis Comes Together to Support Nepal

Here’s the ITTF press release.

It’s All About the Passion!

Here’s the Facebook picture of Aruna Quadri. Click on the picture to see similar pictures of world singles champions Ding Ning and Ma Long, and other interesting pictures.

Which Splurge Foods Could Make These 27 Team USA Athletes Break Their Diets?

Here’s the article. Note the 11th item. (I have my own splurge foods: Kung Pao Chicken, and Rocky Road or Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream.)

Two-time table tennis Olympian Jimmy Butler: “My favorite splurge is corn chips with sour cream and hot salsa dip. I can eat the whole sour cream container in one sitting! My favorite sweet splurge is oatmeal cookies. I’ll eat the whole box at once. Good thing I’m 6-4, since this would not go well on a smaller stomach.”

Beer Pong Tables

Here’s an incredible selection from Amazon, including ones featuring the Sistine Chapel, flags, electricity, and all sorts of other items. I’m in the wrong brand of table tennis.

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.)

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SchemeSC Thu, 05/07/2015 - 18:18

Larry,

I personally have no problem with a coach giving hand signals to to his players, even if he calls every single serve. To me, it is no different than when a pitching coach (or the catcher) calls every single pitch that a pitcher throws in a Major League Baseball game.  Although I understand that baseball is a team sport, the showdown that occurs between a batter and a pitcher is primarily a 1-on-1 matchup, similar to the showdown between two players in table tennis.

That being said, I've enjoyed reading your thoughts on this and understand that I'm in the minority supporting this decision.

 

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Larry Hodges Thu, 05/07/2015 - 18:47

In baseball, overwhelmingly it is the catcher who calls the pitches, with the pitcher sometimes shaking him off. They work with the coaches before the game in developing plans, but almost always it is the players who call the individual pitches. The batter is also mostly on his own, with the manager only signaling tactical things such as whether to bunt, hit & run, or take on a 3-0 pitch. Once the batter goes to the plate, no one warns him to be ready for a specific pitch - he's on his own. Bottom line is this will likely dramatically change the game.

I don't want to be signaling in all the serves, and inevitably that's going to happen in many matches. Just imagine the match where one guy is on his own, and the other is looking over every point for the signal on what to serve, as well as what types of receives to do, reminders of where to place the ball, etc. We'd be ganging up on the poor opponent, and it wouldn't be fair.

There is minimal coaching going on during a game right now, so we're basically fixing a problem that isn't much of a problem by turning it into a problem. 

SchemeSC Thu, 05/07/2015 - 19:46

"In baseball, overwhelmingly it is the catcher who calls the pitches, with the pitcher sometimes shaking him off. They work with the coaches before the game in developing plans, but almost always it is the players who call the individual pitches. The batter is also mostly on his own, with the manager only signaling tactical things such as whether to bunt, hit & run, or take on a 3-0 pitch."

 

First off, let me just start off by saying that it was me that specifically mentioned Major League Baseball...

But while I agree that in Major League Baseball it is overwhelmingly the catcher who calls the pitches, this is not the case in all levels below the professional level. However, even if the catcher does call all of the pitches, the fact of the matter is that he doesn't legally have to do so. Theoretically, a baseball pitcher could receive every pitch call from his pitching coach and not have to make a single decision the entire game. He only has to go out there and mindlessly execute his pitches. What is important is not what "typically" happens at the MLB level but what is established by rule.

"Once the batter goes to the plate, no one warns him to be ready for a specific pitch - he's on his own. "

Again, you are referring to what typically happens at the Major League level, but not what is established by rule. It would be perfectly legal for the third base coach to yell out, "Watch out for that slow curve low and outside, Johnny!!" at all levels of play.

"There is minimal coaching going on during a game right now, so we're basically fixing a problem that isn't much of a problem by turning it into a problem. "

 

For me, the issue is not HOW MUCH coaching is going on during the game, but rather that it's nearly impossible for an umpire to properly distinguish between what constitutes as "encouragement" and what constitutes as "coaching". If I'm not mistaken, I believe you blogged one time about how you were once wrongly given a yellow card for signaling to your player, even though you weren't. You've also stated that you could easily get around the current rules if you truly wanted to, for example by having a cough represent a sidespin serve, a "nice forehand, Bobby" to mean a topspin serve, etc. If a rule is that easy to circumvent and that unenforceable for umpires, then I don't think it's that unreasonable to suggest that something needs to be changed. I've also seen plenty of arguments between native English speakers and native Chinese speakers, with the English speaker being paranoid about whether or not Chinese parents are giving advice to their kids in a language they can't understand.

I would like to see us either :

1. Eliminate coaching completely during matches OR 2. Let the coaches do their coaching whenever and however they want, as long as they not drastically slowing down the pace of the game or screaming during the middle of the point. Either go in one direction or the other.

As always, I enjoy reading the blog and thanks for your time!

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Larry Hodges Fri, 05/08/2015 - 01:57

Those are valid points, but it is a team sport, where the coach is basically part of the team. I did comment on the baseball issue, but the key difference is that table tennis is an individual sport, and now we're going to have coaches signaling in all the serves and a steady stream of coaching. Many matches will either become a essentially a battle between coaches, or where one player is at a huge disadvantage because he has no coach while the opponent does. (We had a lot of discussion of this at MDTTC tonight. We pretty much all think this was a dumb thing - but already we're thinking about MDTTC signals, and going paranoid over whether someone will sell our signals for a price.)