December 11, 2015

Last Blog Until Dec. 29
Tomorrow morning I'm off to Las Vegas for USATT board meetings (and other meetings), the USA Nationals (Dec. 14-19), the USA Team Trials (Dec. 20-21), and then off to Eugene, Oregon for Christmas with family (Dec. 21-26). I return on Dec. 27, just in time for the MDTTC Christmas Camp, Dec. 26-31, missing the first day. (I blogged about all this on Wednesday.) So this will be my last blog until I return – see you then! (I originally said I'd be blogging again on Monday, Dec. 28, but I needed an extra day to catch up on things.) 

Meanwhile, the holidays are a time to think about giving, so why not consider giving to the sport? Not money – why not run a State Championship? A Regional Team League? Set up a Regional Association?

Tip of the Week
Fast, Quick Motions Disguise a No-Spin Serve. (These tips normally go up on Mondays, but I'm putting this one up early since I'm going out of town tomorrow for two weeks.)

USA Nationals
My pickup to the airport for the USA Nationals is at 5:10 AM Saturday. As usual, I'll likely just stay up all night on something, and sleep on the flight. I arrive in Las Vegas at about 10:30AM (helped by the three-hour time difference – it'll be 1:30PM here in Maryland). There are 774 players entered, and probably an equal number of family, coaches, and staff, so there'll probably be 1500 people there.

Here's the USA Nationals home page. It has an event listing, links to news articles, and other links. But probably the most important one is the link to the Online Event Info. From there you can see the Entries by Name, Entries by Event, and Results. The latter (which is not yet active – it currently asks for a password, but I believe that will change) will soon will have the draws themselves, and then the results of every round of every event.

So what does one do at the USA Nationals in Las Vegas? Let's see…

  1. Play. There are 94 events. (List as on the USA Nationals home page.)
  2. Spectate. Nearly every top USA player in the country will be there.
  3. Shop. There'll be lots and lots of equipment booths.
  4. Special events. Such as:
  •   USATT Board Meeting (Sunday & Monday). They will be meeting most of Sunday and Monday morning. (I'll be there.) I believe the meeting room is at the playing hall, and except for a few rare "executive sessions," is open for USATT members to attend. Perhaps stop by to see an agenda and come back when they are discussing something of interest to you.
  • USA World Ping Pong Qualifier (sandpaper trials - Monday 8AM. I'm in this, but might have to drop out since it'll conflict with the USATT Board Meeting.) Here's info.
  • USATT Assembly (Tuesday 7PM. Refreshments, and you get to meet and ask questions of USATT leaders. I'll be there.)
  • USATT Hall of Fame Banquet (Thursday 7PM. Here's info. Here's the USATT Hall of Fame page.)
  • World Team Trials (Sunday & Monday, Dec. 20-21)  
  1. Say hi to friends.
  2. Eat. They have some nice buffets.
  3. There are rumors of other entertainment available in Las Vegas, but in the nearly 40 years I've been going there for the Nationals I wouldn't know as all I ever see are the hotel and playing hall. Does Las Vegas even exist???

I'll be pretty busy at the Nationals: attending meetings, coaching Maryland players, and playing in five events. I'm normally a sponge player – and that's what I use when I coach – but I'm retired from tournament sponge play, and so at the Nationals and Open, when I'm not coaching, I play in hardbat (and now sandpaper) events. I'm in Hardbat Singles (2-time national champion), Over 40 Hardbat (4-time champion), Hardbat Doubles with Ty Hoff (13-time champion, 9 times with Ty), Sandpaper Singles, and the World Ping-Pong Trials (sandpaper).

My table tennis books will be on sale at the Butterfly booth, and they are scheduling an autograph session, so stop by. If you buy a book and I'm not there, have Butterfly call me – they should have my number – and if I'm free I'll come over to sign it. Books of mine that will be on sale there will be Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers; Table Tennis Tips; Table Tennis Tales & Techniques; Professional Table Tennis Coaches Handbook; and The Spirit of Pong.

Why is Grip Pressure So Important?
Here's the new coaching article by Max Costantini.

Ask the Coach Show
Episode #204 (26:11) - 2015 ITTF Star Awards (and other segments). Also, here's their new promotional video (67 sec).

ITTF World Tour Grand Finals
Here's the ITTF home page for the event, running Dec. 10-13 in Lisbon, Portugal. You can watch the matches live.

2014 Decider Kicks off 2015 World Tour Grand Finals
Here's the ITTF press release.

Podcast with Billy Shilton: Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Dreams
Here's the new podcast (49:43) from Expert Table Tennis. In this episode you’ll learn:

  • How Billy got started playing table tennis just four years ago.
  • About Billy’s disability and how it impacts his table tennis.
  • Tips for improving your dynamic balance.
  • What a typical day is like for Billy at the national training centre.
  • How he manages to juggle both table tennis and college work.
  • The effect that a confidence boost has had on Billy’s performances.
  • Why Billy is now a class 8 athlete (he was in class 7 until a couple of months ago).
  • What Billy learnt from his time in China.
  • TOP TIP: Why quality is so important in your training.
  • About Billy’s younger brother Stan who is crushing it in the England U13s.
  • What’s next for Billy Shilton.

USA Table Tennis Christmas Shopping
Why not visit the USATT online store and buy some USATT merchandize?

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.

Some Great Counterlooping
Here's the video (21 sec) of the point between Kalinikos Kreanga (GRE, far side) and Grigory Vlasov (RUS).

Incredible Point between Ovtcharov and Mizutani
Here's the video (66 sec, including replay from different angles).

Double Falling Down Doubles Pong
Here's the video (41 sec, including slo-mo replay).

Jean-Michel Saive on Some Sort of Game Show?
Here's the video (56 sec) – they seem to be having a good time!

2014 Tai Ben Invitational CHUANG Chih Yuan vs Jean-Michel Saive
Here's some exhibition play (81 sec) from these two. I once did something similar while playing a match with David Zhuang, and the umpire went crazy, yellow-carding us both.

Scrambled Egg Pong? Seriously?
Here's the picture! They're making a complete yoke of our sport! But I think drop shots might be a good tactic.

Santa Claus Plays Table Tennis
These come up when you Google "Santa Claus table tennis pictures." Make sure to hum, "Santa Pong is coming to town!" as you look at these.

Non-Table Tennis: Political Campaign SF – a New Sub-Genre?
Here's my new science fiction blog entry. But as I've blogged before, the novel actually has a lot of table tennis!

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