April 12, 2016

Energized vs. Non-Energized, Back Problems, and Todo List
There are really two types of energy in table tennis – physical and mental. The mental often overpowers the physical. I sometimes think I'm tired (physically) roughly 90% of the time, but you simply have to overcome that mentally. But a lot of it depends on who you are coaching or hitting with, or what you are working on.

When coaching or playing an energized player who is trying hard, you get energized. When paired with an uninterested player, you lose energy. When working with a kid who has no interest and is constantly asking "How much longer?", or who simply goofs off constantly, you have absolutely no energy, and feel like a black hole of lethargy. (All coaches have faced that.)

When working on something that I'm really interested in – in particular coaching or writing projects – I tend to be more energized. When working on projects like setting up the Maryland State Championships – well, it's exciting to have one, but the actual work in setting it up is a bit non-energizing. Sometimes when I find myself working on something that's "important," but will take up a lot of hours that few if anyone will ever know happened, it's a bit non-energizing. (That describes most USATT work!) Maybe that's why I sometimes put my todo list in my blog (see below)? There's also the problem of helping out thankless people, where you spend a lot of time helping someone out, and they just take it for granted. (I could go into a rant on that, but won't.)

Because of my recent back problems – the first time I think in a year and a half – coaching has been especially hard this past week, as was running the MDTTC tournament this past Saturday. It's hard to be energized when you feel like there's a knife in your back, slowly jiggling about. Sometimes the back problems fade away into the background as I'm absorbed with some coaching aspect or getting a draw done. Other times it sort of knocks on the door continuously, saying, "I'm still here!" But it's about 80% better now. Yesterday and today I'm feeling a bit more energized – and so I'm getting a lot done! (I saw a therapist about this several years ago. My back problems are of a different type than most, and come about because my right side is so much stronger than my left side, from 40 years of table tennis, and so my spine is literally pulled sideways by the stronger muscles on the right. The cure is regular stretching of a specific muscle in the back, which I'm doing regularly now after neglecting it in recent times.)

Assuming I can keep the energy up, here is my current todo list – with about 15 other items checked off yesterday.

  • USATT Teleconference tonight at 7PM;
  • Two upcoming exhibitions/demonstrations;
  • Helping a top U.S. superstar player and coach with his upcoming book (both coaching and autobiographical) – sorry, can't say who yet!
  • Write and send out press releases on Tiffany Ke and Lisa Lin getting bronze and fourth at the North American Hopes Trials;
  • Plan and organize Maryland Closed;
  • Arrange a new ITTF coaching course at MDTTC that I'll likely be teaching this fall;
  • Finding a way to have copies of Insider printed and mailed to elderly members of USATT Hall of Fame (and possibly others) – difficulty is we currently do not have a Senior Committee;
  • Continue USATT work on getting more state championships and leagues;
  • Work out afterschool program finances;
  • Blogging and Tips of the Week;
  • Coach 15-20 hours/week (private and group sessions);
  • Plan, practice, and produce a trick shot video for the next ITTF trick shot contest - I have some interesting ideas for this;
  • Some quiet, behind-the-scenes work and discussions on fixing up the problem with hidden serves – things are getting worse as players have discovered they can pretty much get away with anything, even hiding the ball blatantly with their free arm – more on that later this week, along with video and still images of these illegal serves that decide most major events, including the Olympic Team;
  • Go back to work on the long postponed book, "Parents Guide to Table Tennis"?
  • Non-table tennis - Read and critique 18 short stories for my annual summer "vacation" at a writing workshop in Manchester, NH (where we critique each other's work and run seminars), plus finalize one more story of my own – about a microscopic and egotistical nanobot that travels the galaxy in a huge ship, conquering and enslaving civilizations and forcing them to worship and build monuments to him – and his adventures when he invades earth. Sorry, no table tennis! (But when I Google "Nanobots table tennis pictures," I get this animated gif of two nanobots playing!)

State Championships This Weekend
There are three big state championships this weekend - if you are a resident of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, or Wisconsin, sign up below! (Or perhaps show up and spectate!)

How to Become a More Powerful Table Tennis Player
Here's the new coaching article from MH Table Tennis.

Ask the Coach Show
Episode #253 (23 min) - North American Olympic Qualification (and other segments).

11 Questions with Zhou Xin
Here's the USATT interview with the ICC coach and 2722 rated player.

Interview with Neha Aggarwal
Here's the USATT interview by Rahul Acharya. "Born and raised in New Delhi, India, 26 year old Neha Aggarwal has lived the life that most athletes can only dream of - to represent their country at the Olympics. Even though she is now retired as a professional player, table tennis remains very close to Neha's heart, and she hopes to increase its popularity worldwide. Neha's career not only took her all over India, but also to more than 40 countries. She hopes to use these experiences to make a splash in the sports business industry. To fully equip herself with the needed skills, Neha moved to the U.S. last fall to pursue a Master's degree in Sports Management at Columbia University."

Butterfly Presents: Getting To Know Jack Wang
Here's the video (3:12).

History of U.S. Table Tennis, Vol. 17, Chapter 4
Here it is! You can buy this or other volumes at TimBogganTableTennis.com.

The Chicago Table Tennis League Has Come Down to its Final Matches
Here's the article.

2016 World Table Tennis Day for All
Here's the article by Angela Guan (member of USA National Junior Girls' Team).

Amazing backhand around the net in the Russian League
Here's the video (46 sec, including slo-mo replay) of what was a great point even before this shot takes place!

Iron Pony Table Tennis Video Game
Here it is! Why do anything else when you can play Pony Pong?

Cactus Pong
Here's the picture!

Non-Table Tennis: Interview: Feodora Zubkov from Campaign 2100: Game of Scorpions by Larry Hodges
Here's the "interview" at Literary Escapism with one of the characters from my novel! "Feodora, the diminutive general who led Russian troops to an upset victory over Japanese invaders in 2091, was recruited to run for vice president of Earth in the election of 2100, as chronicled in the historical novel Campaign 2100: Game of Scorpions." Here's how the interview begins:

INTERVIEWER: General, why do you want to be vice president of Earth?

FEODORA: This small general not interested in vice president, I just along for ride, maybe live in vice president palace—has nice hot tub. But start wars, party with pirates, these I do to help Toby be president. He’s dahling.

INTERVIEWER: You party with pirates? And you’d start a war just to win the election?

FEODORA: Politics is war. But it’s good war for good cause, and I start it secretly, nobody knows—except you. So now small general must have you eliminated.

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