June 15, 2015

Tip of the Week

Good Receive is What Works.

Equipment Edventures
(Did I just coin a new word, or simply force a word to start with “E”?)

Three of my students had equipment adventures this weekend, all involving Tenergy, which they all use on both sides. All are in the 1550-1700 range.

Sameer, 13, has been having trouble against slightly high balls, especially when I go back and fish. Over and over in practice games or drills if I step off the table and just get the ball back, he’d start missing. Part of this is the trajectory as when a player backs up to return with topspin, the ball will bounce out more, and so the attacker also has to take perhaps a half step back or he’ll get jammed. But Sameer was complaining that his sponge was old and that was the problem. He was right that the Tenergy was old as he hadn’t switched in a long time. So he finally bought new Tenergy this weekend. We had a session on Saturday before the change, and he was still struggling against my fishing. After changing, we had a session on Sunday and suddenly he was ripping them. So yes, Virginia, there is such thing as sponge that’s too old.

Daniel, 10, also was having trouble as he too hadn’t changed sponge in way too long. I’d told him he needed new sponge, but he put it off until Friday – with a tournament at MDTTC on Saturday. (See link to results below.) After months of using old sponge, the switch to new sponge cost him control, and he wasn’t able to make the adjustment immediately – and so had a bad loss in his first match at the tournament. But then he adjusted, had a pair of nice wins, and made it to the semifinals of Under 1700. (Much of adjusting to newer sponge is mental, as you not only have to adjust to the sponge, but you have to have confidence you have adjusted or you’ll miss your shots.)

Matt, who just turned 14, also had aging Tenergy. I’d told him he needed to change it, but he decided to wait until after the tournament, since he was so used to the older sponge. And it worked – he won Under 1700. It was his only event, and he went undefeated without even a close match. With the tournament over, and him playing so well with the older sponge, it might be best to just stick with it a little longer until he has another tournament coming up – but make sure to switch well in advance of that.

Tenergy and other “tensored” sponges are pretty much the norm now, not just at higher levels, but pretty much for anyone past the beginning stage. The paradigm has changed. It used to be players were encouraged to use slower, less bouncy and grippy sponges their first few years, and that was probably right for when the game had more balance between hitting, blocking, and looping. But now that it’s mostly looping or fast topspin exchanges, it’s become obvious that players who switch to high-end sponges earlier tend to develop higher-level shots, and become better both in the short- and long-term. See the video below from Richard Prause, where he discusses beginner’s equipment and says similar things.

Winning Without Speed and Power

Here’s the new coaching article from Han Xiao.

Ask the Coach with PingSkills

Episode #142 (27:39) – Waldner’s Sidespin Block (and other topics).

Ask the Coach with Richard Prause

Episode #17 (1:31) – Beginner’s Equipment.

Improving the Brain’s Visual Skills

Here’s the ITTF article. Includes a link to the “Redesign My Brain – Table Tennis” video (5:12).

Red or Black Rubber Worth a Second Shot

Here’s the article by Arthur Liu.

Chinese National Team Practice Hall

Here’s the video (6:49), where they take you on a tour of where the Chinese National Team trains. I wish I’d had this when I wrote the training scenes at the (imaginary) Chinese national training center in my novel “The Spirit of Pong”!

MDTTC Open Results

Here they are – the tournament was held at MDTTC in Maryland this past Saturday. In the final, Bowen Chen defeated Sampson Dubina.

“The Silence is the Problem”

Here’s the article where Timo Boll talks about how to make table tennis more spectacular.

BBC Celebrates Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri

Here’s the article.

Articles on Ma Long and Zhang Jike

2019 World Table Tennis Championships Bidding Opens

Here’s the article from Philsports. (Here’s the ITTF article – I linked to this last Wednesday.)

Highlights from the 2015 Meiklejohn Championships

Here’s video highlights (1:31) of the senior final between Jimmy Butler and Khoa Nguyen, set to music.

ITTF Monthly Podcast – May 2015

Here’s the video (16:05).

Scary Good Japanese Kid

Here’s the video (1:33) – maybe we should surrender now?

Fan Zhendong Training for China Super League 2015

Here’s the video (90 sec).

Mima Ito and the Power of Serve, First Attack, and Something Else

Here’s the video (94 sec). Mima of Japan, 14, is now ranked #9 in the world.

Driving with the Stars – Ai Fukuhara

Here’s the video (2:37).

22 Fantastic Ping-Pong GIF Images

Here’s the page – alas, some of the links are bad, but most work.

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