January 11, 2016

Tip of the Week
What Is a Good Serve? 

If I Won the Lottery
People are sometimes surprised that I occasionally buy lottery tickets. I know the odds, and they know I know the odds, and I'm a little embarrassed because they know I know they know I know the odds, and so why do I do such a silly thing?

It's all for the good of table tennis.

First, let me be up front that I don't believe in supernatural beings, so the odds of my winning the jackpot are mathematically something like a really, Really, REALLY big number to one. (To be exact, 292,201,338 to 1.) In fact, the odds are so small that I have a better chance of winning if I'm wrong, and that there are supernatural beings out there, such as some benign God who loves table tennis, and he or she decides to award me the winning lottery ticket because, well, I'll be good and use some of the $900 million ($558 million cash value, about $2.58 after taxes) to develop table tennis.

But let's be real. I don't buy lottery tickets (occasionally) because I objectively think I have a good chance of winning. I buy them for the excitement knowing there's a chance I might, and so I can dream. You know, like everyone else who buys one?

You have to remember that I'm not only a table tennis coach & writer (and 246 other table tennis things), but a science fiction & fantasy writer, which means I have a vivid imagination – which means I can imagine a LOT of things to do with that $558 million or so. Training centers!!! Professional Leagues!!! TT on TV!!! And of course, highly-paid umpires who enforce the hidden serve rule!!!

So you better believe I have it all planned out. I'm writing this on Saturday night - what else does one do on a Saturday night? – with the winning numbers to be announced in just a few minutes. I'm dreaming really hard while I can, even planning out which table tennis people I'll hire, and which ones have ever snubbed me in any way might not be right for the job. (Normally I do my blog on the morning I put it up, but with USATT Historian Tim Boggan here, we're starting at like 6AM now every morning, so I'm doing the blog early.)

And the numbers are….

Drat. There is no benign God who loves table tennis.

History of U.S. Table Tennis, Volume 17, Days 4-6
Help! If you are reading this, I am a prisoner in my own office. If I let up for a moment, slave-driver Tim Boggan has taken to boxing my ears with simultaneous lefty and right forehand smacks to the side of my head. I'm sure this is against the Geneva Convention and the International Rules of War. Meanwhile, over the weekend we did another 131 pages, and are through Chapter 14 of 27. Also, an historic event occurred on Sunday: there are no graphics on page 191. NONE!!! Just a page of text. Tim must have blinked.

Day 1: Tue, Jan. 5: Pages 1-20 (plus covers, so 22 pages total), 42 graphics
Day 2: Wed, Jan. 6: Pages 21-45, 25 pages, 131 graphics
Day 3: Pages 46-85, 40 pages, 126 graphics
Day 4: Pages 86-132, 47 pages, 138 graphics
Day 5: Pages 133-175, 43 pages, 141 graphics
Day 6: Pages 176-216, 41 pages, 149 graphics
TOTALS: 218 pages, 727 graphics, 3.33 graphics per page

Table Tennis Punch Serve - Like a Boss! 
Here's the new coaching video (2:24) by Brett Clarke.

A Little Motivation From Xavier Thérien
Here's the new article from the Canadian star.

Han Xiao Selected as Athlete Services Coordinator for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio
Here's the USATT article.

USATT News Items
There are a number of new ones – so why not browse over them?

USATT Hall of Fame Profiles
Five people were inducted into the USATT Hall of Fame in December. Three already are profiled online (by Tim Boggan) in the USATT Hall of Fame: Eric Owens, Wang Chen and Dean Johnson. Coming up soon – Tahl Leibovitz Coach and Jack Huang. Here's video (34:17) of the Eric Owens induction.

Dimitrij Ovtcharov Gets German Sportsman of the Year
Here's the article.

Club Table Tennis in Japan
Here's the new article from Coach Jon.

World Champion Richard Bergmann and Korean #1 Player Lee Dal Joon
Here's the picture and short article. D-J Lee would soon move to the U.S. and win the U.S. Open six straight times, 1968-73. Johnny Leach of England was the 1949 and 1951 World Men's Singles Champion. (Here's the non-Facebook version.)

Table Tennis School - Forehand and Backhand Topspin
Here's the video (40:09).

Ma Long vs Fan Zhendong (Chinese Trials 2016)
Here's the video (3:21).

Zhang Jike vs Xu Xin (Chinese Trials 2016)
Here's the video ().

The ITTF's Top 5 Moments of 2015
Here's the video (3:23).

Tribute to England's Paul Drinkhall
Here's the video (2:31) featuring the English #2 and world #70 (former #31).

Great Animation Gifs
Here's a thread at MyTableTennis.com with lots of nice ones.

Trump Talks Table Tennis
Here's the hilarious new video (1:47) from Larry Bavly!

Non-Table Tennis: Reading Recommendations from World Weaver Press, and the Odyssey Writing Workshop
Here's my weekly Science Fiction & Fantasy blog!

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