August 7, 2015

Capital Area Team League and Other Team Leagues

If you live in the Maryland/Virginia/DC area, it's time to sign up for the Capital Area Team League! Deadline is Sept. 7 (though the page currently still lists it as July 31). Season One had 73 players on 13 teams; why not join us for Season Two? There's nothing better than competing on a team, with your teammates screaming for you every point!  

As I've blogged before, I now chair the USATT League Committee. (I'm too busy during the summer to do much work on this, but will be getting very busy starting in September.) I'm working setting up a prototype team league, using my experience with the Capital Area Team League and learning from other team leagues (both USA and overseas, and table tennis and other sports) to create a league that can be set up in other regions throughout the U.S. I'm also taking over as webmaster for the Capital Area Team League – I'll be working on that much of today. (I'm on the Capital Area Team League committee, along with Stefano Ratti, John Olsen, and Richard Heo.)

Team Leagues are why countries in Europe measure their memberships often in the hundreds of thousands, with huge league numbers in countries like Germany and England. USA needs to follow in their footsteps, but it's going to take time to build it up. But it won't happen until we create such a prototype league that can spread to all regions.

But there will always be the naysayers who can't get imagine anything beyond the status quo.  

  • In 1992 I co-founded the Maryland Table Tennis Center with Cheng Yinghua and Jack Huang. We were told there weren't enough players to support a full-time training center. We're now in our 24th year, with seven full-time coaches.
  • For years I advocated more full-time training clubs in the U.S., but I was told there aren't enough players in the U.S. to support more than a few. Now there are about 80 of them, with more popping up regularly. There were no more than ten just eight years ago.
  • For years I've argued that if we had more juniors training seriously, we could successfully compete internationally, but I was told there would never be enough juniors training seriously in the U.S. to compete internationally. Now we have far more juniors training seriously and our top juniors are successfully competing internationally. Our top cadets can compete with any team outside China, which would have been mind-boggling to us just a few years ago.)
  • For years I've argued that if we promoted the U.S. Open and Nationals we could break out of the "rut" of the usual 600 players each year, but I was told there weren't enough serious players in the U.S. to get more. Now we are getting 1000+ players.
  • When I was first hired as editor of USATT Magazine I was told that we'd saturated the advertising market and couldn't get more ad revenue. I tripled the ad revenue in four years. In my second tenure I was told the same, and I tripled it again in eight years. (USATT Magazine has been replaced by USATT Insider.)
  • For years I've argued we need Team Leagues all over the U.S. like they do overseas, and again I'm told there aren't enough players in the U.S. to support more than a few. Stay tuned!!! (And why not be part of the solution – contact me if you are interested in running a Team League in your area.)

Here are Team Leagues you can join – assuming you are within driving distance! Let me know if there are any I missed.

Ask the Coach

Episode #163 (24:34) – Waldner's Movement and other segments.

Forehand Pendulum Serve

Here's video (5:11) from a few years ago, but I don't think I've ever linked to it. It's a tutorial on the forehand pendulum serve, titled, "Learning Ma Lin Serves Step by Step." (Ma Lin was one of the best servers in the world before he retired a few years ago.) There doesn't seem to be sound except for music near the end, but the instructions are captioned on the screen and demonstrated.

Inside Information: Learn How to Improve Your Ball Placement

Here's the new coaching article from Samson Dubina. (I linked to his site on Wednesday, but not directly to this new article.)

Zhang Jike's Infamous Backhand Loop in Slow Motion Against Fang Bo

Here's the video (15 sec) from Matt Hetherington (currently training in China).

Sam Walker: Entering the Bundesliga

Here's the new podcast (28:18) from Expert Table Tennis.

China Open

Here's the home page where you can follow the action in Chengdu, China, Aug. 5-9. (Breaking news: Zhang Jike just lost in the round of 16 to Chuang Chih-Yuan of Taiwan!)

International Table Tennis

Here's my periodic note (usually every Friday) that you can great international coverage at TableTennista (which especially covers the elite players well) and at the ITTF home page (which does great regional coverage). Butterfly also has a great news page.

Jorgen Persson in a Reality Show

Here's the article from Tabletennista.

Playing on an LCD Table?

Here's video (8:51) of Samsonov playing Ma Long on a LCD table in the recent Asia vs. Europe Challenge. See the discussion below, and here. It must be pretty distracting playing on what's essentially a huge TV screen that constantly changes!

Great Hand-Changing Point

Here's the video (24 sec) of Cuba's Andy Pereira (world #172) switching hands and winning the point against Portugal's Marcos Freitas (world #10) in this battle of lefties.

Great Exhibition Point Between Timo Boll and Jorgen Persson

Here's the video (62 sec).

The Feel of Table Tennis vs. Reality

Here's the article and rather weird video from Table Tennis Nation.

Frank Caliendo Takes on Donald Trump

Here's the video (1:49) as USATT member Frank (USATT #85108, rating 1665, from Tempe, AZ) impersonates The Donald for ESPN. (Frank's been to my club a few times when doing stand-up locally, and I got to play doubles with him once.)

So, who would win in a table tennis match between these two, Frank or The Donald? 

"Must This Family Always Talk Sports at the Dinner Table?"

Here's the cartoon!

Non-Table Tennis - The Critique Circle, i.e. The Circle of Strife

Here's a picture of the nine members of the Short Story Group at the science fiction & fantasy writing workshop I recently attended, July 24 – Aug. 1. (Picture was taken by Jeanne Cavelos, the workshop leader, who joined in about half our meetings. Here's the non-Facebook version.) That's me in the back middle, holding a pen to my mouth. There were 23 in the workshop, but the others were in the novel groups. (I was in one of the novel groups last year.) While there were numerous group activities – see my blog on August 5 – central to such workshops are the critique sessions. We each submitted three stories in advance, and others in the group read and critiqued them. During the sessions we went around the circle, with each person giving a five-minute critique of the story. Afterwards the author discussed the work with the group for fifteen minutes. And then the written critiques were given to the author, and we went to the next story. The attendees are all graduates of the six-week Odyssey writing workshop, and so are all experienced in this type of activity, and the critiques are generally both long and in depth.

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