October 21, 2015

Leagues, Leagues, Leagues!

If I hear or read that word one more time I believe I will hurl myself off a ping-pong table. Okay, the 2.5-foot fall probably won't hurt me and I'll just brush myself and go back to work, but it seems leagues (ugh!) is all I see or do that last few days – except when I'm coaching or blogging. (And here I'm blogging about it!!!) (Oh, and there's that pesky time I'm spending working with my new publisher on my upcoming SF novel – which has a lot of table tennis – and I'm writing a new SF short story, but I won't talk about that on this table tennis blog . . . much. Today is also Back to the Future Day, but believe it or not, my intensive online search found exactly zero table tennis pictures involving that movie or actors Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd.)

I took yesterday morning off from blogging so I could work on the prototype USATT Regional Team League (that word again!). The goal is to create something that can spread to other regions, as I blogged about here. I kept running into roadblocks as the leagues (ugh!) in LA, NY, and the Capital Area are run a bit differently. I ended up deleting most of what I did. I got so tired of working on it that I finally called an early halt to it and worked on something else, and then went off to coach.

And then, last night, while mulling over it at about midnight after going to bed I had a spurt of inspiration and energy. I leaped out of bed, ran to my computer, and worked until 3AM – and it's (mostly) DONE! Well, except for the roughly dozen more bullet point items that need to be incorporated that I thought of afterwards.

However, I still might not be able to go public as there are still some major questions coming up. One big question is whether we'll need software or not. If we go with that, then that has to be developed. Looking into that is high on the league (there's that word again!) todo list. Software would be used for everything from registering teams, scheduling, and ratings. It's also the primary thing USATT can offer such leagues (aah!).

As noted below, we had the second meeting of the Capital Area Team League (ugh!) on Saturday from 5-10PM. After League (ugh!) Commissioner Stefano Ratti compiled and sent the results to me, I updated the online results, put them in a better format, and updated the standings. Due to some complications, things got complicated.

Meanwhile, there's been much discussion on the National League (aah!) Finals that are normally held every year at the Nationals. I can't go into details, but we need to more formalize the process to turn it into something more than "a bunch of top players show up and play and nobody knows about it." I'll likely have more on that later – I'm working with CEO Gordon Kaye and NY League (aah!) Director Mauricio Vergara on this.

I'll be at the club this afternoon and tonight. If anyone says the "L" word to me, I will smite them with a ping-pong ball. (Now I'll find out how many people from my club read my blog!)

Tutoring

I can't blog without writing about some funny stuff at the club. I'm tutoring one eight-year-old kid on his writing (I also coach him), and we run into some interesting situations. Yesterday:

  • In a war between Minions and the Penguins of Madagascar over control of Mount Rocky Road (ice cream), the penguins win.
  • Most of his stories involve my quest for rocky road ice cream, and most end with a fish sticking out of my mouth. (My aversion to sea food is well known.)
  • For one story, we calculated that we could fit roughly 691,200,000 worms inside MDTTC, assuming worms are 6"x1/4" – big, fat ones – and the club is 10,000 square feet with 15" ceilings. To simplify things, we assumed the worms are rectangular, so each has a volume of 6"x.25"x.25" = .375 cubic inches. Club has a volume of 10,000' x 15' = 150,000 cubic feet, or 259,200,000 cubic inches. Then we divide 259,200,000/.375 = 691,200,000 worms. Have your eyes glazed over yet?

USATT Hall of Fame Dinner Highlight 2015 National Championships Week

Here's the USATT article. (I'm especially pleased that Coach Jack Huang - from my club - is being inducted!) "The highlight of the evening’s events, which are hosted by USATT Hall of Famer Tim Boggan, will honor the 2015 inductees, including Dean Johnson (contributor), Jack Huang (contributor), Eric Owens (player), Wang Chen (player), and Tahl Leibovitz (player). The Hall of Fame Committee will also award the Mark Matthews Lifetime Achievement Award to Si Wasserman."

Plugged In: Gordon Kaye, USA Table Tennis

Here's the article on the USATT CEO from Sports Business Daily. He covers topics including professionalizing the sport, calling it "pingpong," the lack of USA Olympic meals, pitching to sponsors, and getting on TV.

How to Grow Recreational Table Tennis in the U.S.

Here's the article from the USA Hobby Table Tennis Coalition

What is the Number One Weakness in Your Game Right Now?

Here's the new coaching article from Expert Table Tennis. You can discuss your own #1 weakness in the comment section below the article. My main weaknesses are my too-soft backhand and being an aging (i.e. slower feet) one-winged attacker. How about you?

New Coaching Video and Article from Samson Dubina

Ask the Coach Show

  • Episode #175 (21:18) – Ding Ning's Reverse Tomahawk Serve (and other segments)
  • Episode #176 (25:24) – Ma Long's Fast Straight Serve (and other segments)

In the Zone: Training Emotional Skill in Table Tennis

Part 7 is new. I previously linked to 1-6.

  • Part 1: Introduction and the Nature of Emotional Skill
  • Part 2: Ten Attributes of Poised Players, What About Us?, and Diagnose
  • Part 3: Intervention and Changing Goals
  • Part 4: The Components
  • Part 5: The Skills
  • Part 6: Training Emotional Skill
  • Part 7: Effective Focus is Agile, Relaxed Approach, Play Like You Train, Appropriate Arousal Level

Capital Area Team League Results

The fall season of the Capital Area Team League had its second meeting this past Saturday night at the Washington DC Club, for players in the Maryland, Virginia, and DC area. Here are the Standings and Results. (MDTTC A and JOOLA 1 have a makeup match to play, so they are currently down in the standings until they play.)

11 Questions with Jimmy Butler

Here's the USATT interview. "If I had to face Ma Long, I would ask him to come to the U.S., play him on slippery concrete with no barriers and no scorekeeper, and swing away.  ;)"

Table Tennis Champ Offers Free Lessons for Anyone

Here's the article on George Taplin of Abilene.

'Table Tennis Touch' Version 2.0 Update Adds Local and Online Multiplayer and Much More

Here's the article on this table tennis simulator. (It only costs 99 cents!)

TODAY Anchors Buzz About Caffeinated Peanut Butter Table Tennis Tech

Here's the video (2:45). The table tennis part starts at 1:40, where they go to a table and play, using a "vibration activated scoring system."

Incredible Backhand

Here's the video (36 sec including slow motion replay) by Ioannis Sgouropoulos (GRE) against Damien Llorca (FRA).

Great Point at the Philippines Open

Here's the video (40 sec) of this point between Jung Youngsik (KOR) (on the near side) and Kenta Tazoe (JPN).

The Legend of Bruce Lee . . . Ping-Pong Player!

Here's the picture! (Here's the non-Facebook version.) And for the one or two people on this planet who haven't already seen it, here's video (2:37) of "Bruce Lee playing table tennis with nunchucks," where he easily beats the best players. (It's actually a Bruce Lee look-alike in Nokia cell phone ad, but try convincing his fans of that!)

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