September 17, 2015

 

A Burned Finger, Arm Problems, a Cold, and a Deviated Septum, Oh My!

Let's take these in order. (Oh, and remember junior star Jessica Shen from the 1990s? We'll get to her.) 

On Monday, I over-microwaved spaghetti for lunch. When I took it out a gob of boiling sauce hit the back of my right index finger. The skin blistered - it was pretty bad. I ran cold water over it for a while, cleaned it, put antiseptic on it, and bandaged it. It's been hurting like crazy ever since. Worse, when I'm hitting backhands with my students the back of the index finger faces the student - and about once every 15 minutes someone smacks it with a ball. OW!!! I may have to put some padding on it for tomorrow. 

On Wednesday, while hitting some hard backhands with a student, my arm started hurting a bit. I've blogged about this a few times; I wear an arm brace that really helps. But while the brace mostly protects it, I have to be careful not to make it worse. Note to self: no more very hard backhands for a few days. 

On Tuesday (yes, I'm going out of order), I woke up with a slight cold. I was blowing my nose and could barely breathe except through my mouth. It was pretty tiring. It's only a minor cold, but it would be nice if it decides to go somewhere else. Maybe to this guy. 

However, the bigger problem is the return of the deviated septum. It's been a very gradual process, but the cold brought its effects to the forefront - and are the primary reason I can barely breathe except through the mouth, which is tiring. It also means I've been mostly tired the last few days - it's hard to be energetic when struggling to breathe. I had surgery for this in 2007, and spent a week in bed as it healed - no coaching or much of anything else. (World #1 tennis player Novak Djokovic also had this surgery.) I also learned that it's one of those things that sometimes comes back after ten years or so, and that someday I might need to do it again. Alas, someday is coming, and it's probably just a matter of time before I have to go through with it again. I may have to pick out a week later this fall for this. I've been wearing sinus cones at night, which helps, but they'd look funny if I wear them in table tennis.

Here's an interesting table tennis connection here - remember Jessica Shen, who (along with MDTTC practice partner Vivian Lee) dominated junior girls in the U.S. during much of the 1990s? She's now Dr. Jessica Shen (page down for her picture and profile), an ENT specialist (Ears, Nose, Throat - the technical term is "Otorhinolaryngology") - and her practice is about a mile from my house! I may be contacting her soon. 

Whether you are a coach, player, or anything else, you better take care of your health! (Says the person who sees a doctor about once a decade, and only under extreme duress.)

Fixing the Grip

I blogged recently about how we made a change in one of my student's grip. He'd gradually switched to an extreme backhand grip for backhands, and an extreme forehand grip for forehands, leading to all sorts of problems. Since then he's been using an extremely neutral grip. In drills it's paying off, and he's starting to feel comfortable on the forehand side. However, he's still having problems controlling the backhand. The solution? We're going to stick with the neutral grip until at least the end of the month. The way to fix a bad habit is often to exaggerate the opposite, and do some saturation training – see first two items in my Tip of the Week Changing Bad Technique. After Oct. 1, I may let him go to a slight backhand grip for backhands, like Waldner did.

How Table Tennis Turned Into an Olympic Dream

Here's the story and video (2:38) of two kids from South Bend, Indiana, coached by Dan Seemiller. "Two young boys from South Bend’s west side are teaching us how important life experiences are. Dion and Dionta Payne-Miller are living out dreams they probably never thought possible before all through the sport of table tennis."

Vladimir Samsonov vs Yuya Oshima in the Champions League 

Here's the highlights video (8:08).

Ma Long – King of Epic Shots

Here's the highlights video (5:18) of the world men's champion, set to music.

Double-Bouncing Loop

Here's the video (3 sec) – you don't see this very often! Watch closely or you'll miss that the guy on the far side's loop bounces twice.

Adam Bobrow in Taiwan

Long Distance Target Practice

Here's the video (12 sec) as Kevin Korb smacks a ball from way back.

Table Tennis Rocks!

Here's the picture. (Here's the non-Facebook version.)

Super Heroes vs. Chinese Table Tennis Players

Here's the picture! Liu Guoliang vs. Nick Fury; Zhang Jike vs. Iron Man; Ma Long vs. Captain America; Ding Ning vs. Black Widow; Fan Zhendong vs. The Hulk; Wang Hao vs. Thor; and Xu Xin vs. Hawk Eye!

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