June 18, 2015

MDTTC Camp

Yesterday was another long day at camp, including an extra hour of private coaching. Strangely, most of the kids seem more energetic than ever. (But not all!) We spent a lot of time working on serves, as well as a lot of fundamentals.

A lot of other interesting stuff probably happened, but perhaps I don’t remember it. I was feeding multiball to a righty ten-year-old, and I gave him a pop-up to his wide forehand. He smacked it down the line at a zillion mph, smack into the middle of my forehead. I think I saw stars for a few seconds, and I had a slight headache for the next couple of hours. (It’s times like this I’m glad I wear glasses when I play table tennis – I wouldn’t want a ball like that in the eye.)

Backspin Return Over Net Serve

Here’s a video (30 sec) of a Japanese player doing this serve. It’s actually not that difficult a serve for an advanced player, though it takes practice to do it consistently. I did 14 in a row last week in a demonstration for a class, which tied my previous best. (Missed #15 both times. All 14 were “clean,” bouncing back over the net on one bounce and not touching the net in either direction.) I did this serve once in a tournament at something like 20-12 match point against U.S. Under 10 Champion Sunny Li (who I trained with regularly) back when he was about 1900 but too short to reach it, but that’s the only time I’ve done it in a serious competition.

However, it’s low percentage to do this against most good players. If he’s tall, he’ll have no trouble reaching for it, and likely smash it. If he’s quick, he’ll go around the side of the table and smash it. The problem is that for a split second the ball is high over the net, and easy smash. I did see it used effectively once, by a 1900 player who used the serve to upset Derek Nie (rated about 1950 at the time at age nine or so), and almost did it again later on when Derek was about 2100. Both times there was a rather large crowd booing the player for taking advantage of Derek’s size and age in this way – but it’s legal. (The only time it’s not legal when playing against a wheelchair player.)

A game we sometimes do at camps goes like this. Both players get ten serves, five at a time. If you make the ball bounce back over the net on one bounce without touching the net in either direction, you get three points. If you get it to come back over the net but it takes more than one bounce or touches the net in either direction, you get two points. If you get it to bounce back so it at least touches the net or net posts, you get one point. Twice I’ve done ten in a row for a perfect score of 30, but I’ve been doing this since the late 1970s.

If you want to learn to do this, simply serve very high backspin, essentially scooping the ball up (as shown in the video), and aim to land the ball as close to the net as possible on your side. It’s basically just a matter of creating heavy backspin and being able to serve it high, no more than a few inches short of the net. The spin will do the rest.

Thumb Positioning

Here’s the new coaching video (52 sec) from Samson Dubina.

Interview with Sampson Dubina

Here’s the interview with the Ohio star player, coach, and writer.

All About Tenergy

Here’s the article. (Disclosure: I’m sponsored by Butterfly, and both I and most of my intermediate and advanced students use Tenergy. I use Tenergy 05 black 2.1 on forehand, Tenergy25 red 2.1 on backhand.)

NCTTA Newsletter

Here’s the June 2015 issue of the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association.

Jean-Michel Saive Breaks Barriers

Here’s the video (48 sec) as he breaks the side barriers while lobbing against Sweden’s Kristian Karlsson at the European Games. (Not an exhibition.)

Super Sidespin Counterloop by Chopper

Here’s the video (12 sec).

Highlights of Samsonov vs. Boll at the Energis Masters

Here’s the video (3:28).

Josep Antón Velázquez on CBBC's Kick About +

Here’s the video (4:15). He and football (soccer) freestyler John Farnworth combine for soccer-table tennis freestyle play. The table tennis starts about one minute in, and features Velázquez, the ITTF trickshot champion.

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.)

***
Send us your own coaching news!