August 20, 2015

No Blog on Friday or Monday

I'm off on Friday morning to the USATT board meeting in Chicago. (See segment below.) I'll likely blog about it next week. I've also got a busy Sunday and have to coach Monday morning, so no blog Monday morning. See you on Tuesday!

Wednesday Coaching

Yesterday we did a lot of footwork drills, put-away drills, and serve practice. The new players are advancing rapidly, the intermediate players are becoming advanced, and the advanced players are trying to scare the Chinese out of their ping-pong socks.

Highlight of the day was easily the start of what was supposed to be lunch break at 1PM. But a strange thing happened - as I was picking up the last few balls and greatly looking forward to my Chicken Lo Mein, one of the kids asked if I would help him with his reverse pendulum serve. We worked on it for a few minutes, and then another joined us, and then another, and by 1:10 I was working with six kids on their serves during their break. (Average age was about nine.) We practiced serves as a group for until 1:45PM, and then we all finally went to lunch. (As well as a 7-11 run.) 

At the end of the afternoon session a bunch of the kids played the "Cup Game," where they built pyramids or forts out of paper cups, and then knocked them down as I fed multiball. The latest twist - they now have someone on permanent build mode, so while the kids take turns knocking it down, one of them furiously rebuilds the pyramids - to great hilarity when they knock it down and his hard work goes to naught. Here's a picture; moments later it was total destruction with dead and dying cups scattered everywhere.

One scary moment - an eight-year-old picked up my phone while I was coaching, and began taking pictures. Then he thought it'd be funny to text the pictures to made-up phone numbers. Then he thought it'd be hilarious to text a photo of me to 9-1-1!!! Fortunately, we received an automated text response that 9-1-1 doesn't receive text messages and to please call. But we spent about an hour nervously looking at the door, half expecting the police to come charging in, guns raised.  

After the camp ended at 6PM I did a one-hour private coaching session. I then stayed late to watch the 13-year-old student (about 1700 level, pushing 1800) play a practice match with a 1900 player. The 1900 player dominated with his serve and with his backhand receive. Learning to return those serves will take practice, but he might have handled the backhand receives better. I spoke to him after the match, and pointed out the three main ways to deal with a player like that, who seems able to attack every short serve with his backhand. First, you challenge him with extremely low and heavy backspin serves, with a few no-spin serves thrown in to mess him up. Second, you challenge him with all sorts of spin and depth variation. And third, you can serve from the middle or forehand side of the table so you have an angle into the short forehand, and then vary between serving short to the forehand and long to the backhand, using the same motion. (It's most effective if you can serve short to the forehand with a backhand sidespin type serve.) This will likely be expanded into an upcoming Tip of the Week. 

USATT Board Meeting

I'll be flying out to Chicago on Friday for a USATT Board meeting. All or most of the nine board members (including me), as well as the CEO, and various staff or volunteers, will meet on Friday night and all day Saturday.

At some point we have to consider saving money by using Skype. (We already have monthly teleconferences.) I'm going to try to figure out this weekend if meeting in person twice a year is worth the money. At first glance, it seems a waste of money, but if the meetings are more productive this way, I'd rather spend the money. I've been to over 50 USATT board meetings over the years, and many were highly unproductive, but these days USATT is a lot more progressive in developing the sport and so we're far more likely to have a highly productive meeting. 

There are an even thirty items on the agenda, some of them short items or part of larger issues, so I'm not going to go over all of them. Of particular interest to me, besides the six items I'll be proposing (see below) are the two items on the Rules Committee report (I'm not yet sure what they are about); four items about improving our major tournaments (Open, Nationals, and others); High Performance Report; and a long segment about various membership proposals. I'll likely blog about these and other issues next week.

Regarding the High Performance Report, I'd like to see something like an annual report to all USATT certified coaches where the U.S. National Team Coaches, who coach our teams overseas as well as regularly see our top players and juniors, report back on what types of things USA players generally need work on. For example, when I used to coach the USA junior team overseas I found that overseas players generally had better receive and physical fitness. (My general impression of our current top juniors is we have mostly caught up on physical training, but still tend to be weaker on receive.) Such a report would raise awareness of these weaknesses so top coaches all over the country could focus on them.

I have one motion and five bylaw proposals at this meeting. For a motion to pass, there needs to be a quorum present, i.e. a majority of the board, and then it passes with a simple majority. That means at least five present, in which case it could pass 3-2. Most likely eight of the nine board members will be present (at least one won't make the meeting), so it'll need a 5-3 majority. For a bylaw to pass, it needs two-thirds of the entire board, meaning six votes. With one board member missing the meeting, there will likely be only eight voters; if so the bylaw proposals would need to pass 6-2. If the vote is 5-3 in favor, they do not pass.

The motion will be as follows:

"Move to rename the Hardbat Advisory Committee the Classic Table Tennis Advisory Committee, which would oversee both hardbat and sandpaper table tennis in the U.S."

This is needed as there are more and more sandpaper events, and there's a huge overlap between the sandpaper and hardbat players - so it makes sense to put them together in one committee, chaired by hardbat and sandpaper promoting maestro Scott Gordon. (He was recently re-appointed to the position he previously held for years.) It puts the administration of these events in the hands of knowledgeable people and likely frees up staff time. 

Below are the five bylaw proposals, including the rationale for each. After getting these five out of the way, I likely will never make another bylaw proposal. But I believe these five are important in varying ways. Meanwhile, once we finish our camp schedule here at MDTTC at the end of August I can focus on the more progressive issues I've promised to work on regarding setting up regional associations, coaching programs and full-time training centers, regional team leagues, and state championships in every state. If reading over tedious bylaw proposals makes your eyes glaze over, skip over it to the next segment! (Or just read the motion and the rationale, and ignore the text in between.)

MOVE to append Bylaws 9.1, 9.3, and 9.16 by deleting the one instance of the word "advisory" in each, as follows. These are the only times in the Bylaws where the word "advisory" appears except when referring to the USATT Athlete Advisory Council.
Section 9.1. Designation. "The Board shall appoint such advisory task forces or committees as the Board believes appropriate, and shall define narrowly the mission and deliverables of such task forces or committees."
Section 9.3. Number. "All committees and advisory task forces shall have at least twenty (20) percent Elite athlete representation defined consistently with the USOC’s requirements and Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act."
Section 9.16.d.4 High Performance Committee: "Consult with the Coaching and Juniors Advisory Committee on shared issues;"
Rationale: By including the word "advisory" we emphasize that these task forces and committees are only there to advise, and not to implement. We can define each task force's and committee's purpose separately, and include the word "advisory" where appropriate, but by including it in the bylaws we are unable to do so.

MOVE to append Bylaw 9.1, with a one-sentence addition to the end of paragraph 1 in brackets, plus two minor grammar edits:
Section 9.1. Designation. There shall be no Executive Committee or other committee(s), entity[ies,] or individuals who have overlapping or superior authority to the Board, such as a “super-board” (commonly called a governing council or general assembly).  [However, the Board may designate committees to perform executive administrative functions.]
Rationale: This is likely the most abused bylaw we have. The Rules and Officials Committee (now the Officials Committee) and the Coaching Committee are just two committees that have long had administrative functions, such as naming officials and coaches for major events. The Board should be able to vote to designate some such administrative functions to committees, on a case by case basis. (The two minor edits are for consistency, giving all three items plurals - committee(s) to committees, entity to entities, while individuals remains unchanged.)

MOVE to append Bylaw 9.3 by the following, with the two additions in brackets:
Section 9.3. Number. "Membership on all committees and task forces, other than for the High Performance Committee, shall not [normally] exceed five (5) individuals[, and will do so only if the committee or task force chair requests more and gives specific reason(s) why extra members would be beneficial.]
Rationale: While keeping committees and task forces small makes them less cumbersome in doing their work and is recommended in most cases, a larger group may be advantageous in brainstorming ideas, and in some cases that is beneficial. Also, some committees and task forces may wish to represent more regions of the country. It is understood that regardless of the number on the committee or task force, at least 20% must be player representatives.

MOVE to append Bylaw 9.5 Term Limits by the following.
Current wording: "No committee member shall serve for more than three (3) consecutive terms."
Proposed wording, with the changes in bold: "No committee chair shall serve as chair for more than four (4) consecutive terms."
Rationale: We are losing many of our most valuable and experienced committee members at an alarming rate. For this reason I believe we need to remove term limits for committee members. The same argument can be made for removing term limits on committee chairs as well, but it might be best to keep some limit so committees don't stagnate under the same leadership. Extending a chair's term limit one more term is a good compromise here.

MOVE to change USATT's Mission Statement.
Current Wording
: "The Mission of the USATT shall be to enable United States athletes to achieve sustained competitive excellence in Olympic/Paralympic, Pan American or Para Pan American Games, and other international competitions, and to promote and grow the sport of Table Tennis in the United States, while creating a lasting value for our members."
Proposed Wording: "To Promote and Develop the Growth of Table Tennis in the U.S. at all levels."
Rationale: This roughly matches the Mission Statement of the highly successful U.S. Tennis Association, and gives us a simple statement that we can refer to when considering new issues and programs, rather than a grocery list of separate items, all of which fall under the proposed Mission Statement. (Here is USTA's Mission Statement, which is even shorter: "To Promote and Develop the Growth of Tennis.") Whether we are looking for large memberships or medals at the Olympics, they both are examples of the Promotion and Growth of Table Tennis in the U.S. at all levels.

Two Minute Warm-Up: Learn the 6 vital keys that you must do during warm-up

Here's the new coaching article by Samson Dubina. 

Ask the Coach Show

Episode #169 (31 min) – Making Kids Cry (and other segments).

New Book - Expert in a Year: The Ultimate Table Tennis Challenge

Here's the new book (in print and kindle), which covers an attempt by a player, working with a coach, to go from essentially beginner to advanced player in a year. Here's the book description:

Sam Priestley was never Mr Sporty. After failed attempts at rowing and running he had all but given up on the possibility of becoming a sportsman. That was until childhood friend, and table tennis coach, Ben Larcombe convinced him to act as the guinea pig in an experiment he had concocted - The Expert in a Year Challenge. 

Starting 1st January 2014 novice Sam was immersed in the world of competitive table tennis. He began training every day and over the course of the year notched up hundreds of hours of practice in an attempt to reach a seemingly impossible goal. There was blood, sweat, tears, injuries, frustrations and moments of elation as the pair travelled up and down the UK, and beyond, in their quest for training, mentors and competition. Sam found potential he never thought he had, got better at table tennis than most people thought possible, and discovered what it feels like when 1.5 million people watch you fail. Here is their story, including all the ridiculous training methods and unreachable goals, and the surprising lessons they learnt from playing table tennis every day for a year.

Don't Forget My Books!!!

While we're on the subject of books, don't forget to buy mine!  

Help Khaleel Asgarali Compete and Train in Germany

Here's the funding page. He's a top player and coach here in Maryland.

Dimitrij Ovtcharov vs. Ying Hang in Chinese Super League

Here's the highlights video (4:01).

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.

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.)

The Evolution of Man

Here's the cartoon! (Here's the non-Facebook version.)

"This Board Meeting Will Come to Order!"

Here's a picture of an actual USATT board meeting in action. That's me standing up.

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