April 13, 2016

USATT Teleconference
Last night we had a USATT board teleconference from 7-9PM. Here's a very rough synopsis of what we went over. Other than approval of minutes of past meetings (items #3 and 4), no votes were taken.

  1. Roll Call. Attendees: Board members Peter Scudner (chair), Mike Babuin, Anne Cribbs, Larry Hodges, Kagin Lee, Han Xiao; USATT Foundation Rep John McFadden (subbing for Carl Danner); Dennis Taylor, Legal Counsel and Secretary; Lee Kondo, Assistant Secretary; and CEO Gordon Kaye.
  2. Conflict of Interest Statements. There were none. (Other than the meeting conflicting with a coaching session - I got someone to sub.)
  3. Approval of the Minutes from December 14, 2015 Board Meeting. They were unanimously approved and will go online soon.
  4. Approval of the Minutes from January 4, 2016 Board Teleconference. They were unanimously approved and will go online soon.
  5. US National Championships Update. Nothing major here, entry form will be out soon.
  6. Financial Update.
  7. Membership Update. With the change in our membership system last year, a lot of people who might have joined or rejoined this year instead did so in December, and so on paper, we have a drop in new members joining/rejoining for the first quarter of 2016 – but it's probably just a timing issue. We'll have a better idea of this at the end of the year.
  8. Fundraising and Sponsorship Update.
  9. High Performance/Olympics and Paralympics Update. Lots of stuff here. I'm involved in the High Performance aspect, primarily with the upcoming USATT two-week training camp coming up after the Nationals in July. I'm looking forward to it!
  10. USOC Update.
  11. World Veterans Championship Update.
  12. Ping Pong Diplomacy Update. Here's some info on that. I didn't take notes on this, but I think they are doing events at Westchester, Lily Yip's club, and I think others.
  13. Legal Update. Confidential stuff, can't talk about this! (I can't believe Trump is suing us…is today April 1?)
  14. Next In-Person Board Meeting – June 18, 2016 (New Jersey). Looks like I'm going to miss another day of coaching! This board member thing is expensive.
  15. Old Business.
  16. New Business.
  17. Adjourn.

Butterfly MDTTC April Open
April 9, 2016 • Gaithersburg, MD
Complete Results • Rating Results
Wow! I sent the results to USATT electronically at 9PM on Monday, and the ratings were processed by 11AM on Tuesday – a turnaround of 14 hours. Since 11AM is 9AM Colorado Springs time (where USATT headquarters is located), and assuming USATT staff starts work at 8AM, then that's a one-hour turnover. Maybe I'll test this next time by sending them in at 10AM my time. (I'm told that the 4-star Cary Open was also processed in one day.) Remember when it used to take weeks? Here are the main results from the tournament, and links to photos. The tournament was held on ten tables, with 82 players and a total of 259 matches played. And this is the tournament director (me), looking far more energized than he really was.

Open Singles – Final: Chen Bowen d. Wang Qing Liang, 10,10,-6,9,-4,8; SF: Chen d. Stefano Ratti, -12,2,7,-9,10,3; Wang d. Derek Nie, 8,6,4,-8,11; QF: Chen d. Bojun Zhangliang, 4,3,6; Ratti d. Raghu Nadmichettu, 12,8,13; Nie d. Lixin Lang, 8,9,8; Wang d. Klaus Wood, 9,6,8.
Under 2350 – Final: Stefano Ratti d. Frederick Nicolas, 2,10,6; SF: Ratti d. Darwin Ma, 6,4,7; Nicolas d. Vikash Sahu, 11,9,-11,-4,7.
Under 2000 – Final: George Nie d. William Waltrip, -2,8,-8,7,11; SF: Nie d. Spencer Ip, 9,-8,5,-4,10; Waltrip d. Mohamed Kamara, 6,9,8.
Under 1700 – Final: Vincent Adebavo d. Walid Alkadi, 9,9,9; SF: Adebavo d. Darryl Boyer, 9,-8,5,8; Alkadi d. Alvin Whitney, -8,7,7,-10,8.
Under 1350 – Final: Ranian Bhambroo d. Stanley Hsu, 9,5,9; SF: Bhambroo d. Adrian Yang, -11,12,9,-14,7; Hsu d. Wessam Alkadi, 9,-5,5,8.
Over 50 – Final RR: 1st Lixin Lang, 3-0; 2nd Frederick Nicolas, 2-1; 3rd Chris Buckley, 1-2; 4th James Wilson, 0-3.
Under 15 – Final: George Li d. Jessica Lin, 11,-5,2,6; SF: Li d. Walid Alkadi, 8,-10,11,8; Lin d. Abbas Paryavi, 6,9,9; QF: Li d. Hassam Alkadi, 8,6,8; W. Alkadi d. Ali Paryavi, 6,-11,4,7; Abbas Paryavi d. Sameer Shaikh, 5,7,-7,-9,6; Lin d. Adrian Yang, 9,12,5.

Tiffany Ke of Gaithersburg Wins Bronze at North American Table Tennis Hopes Trials
Here's the article in this morning's Baltimore Sun, which features Hopes Trials Bronze medalist Tiffany Ke, fourth-place finisher Lisa Lin, as well as results from the MDTTC Open held this past weekend, featuring the Open, Over 50, and Under 15 events. (Here are complete results.)

Luck or Skill?
Here's the new coaching article from Samson Dubina, where he relates how he panicked and lost a match, and gives three tips on how to avoid this.

Pro Tips: Serving Direction
Here's the new coaching article from Carl Danner.

Ask the Coach Show
Episode #254 (24:04) - Improving Your Serve (and other segments).

National Collegiate Table Tennis Association "Best of the Best"
Here's the article.

Club Truly an International Organization
Here's the article on the Columbus Table Tennis Club in Ohio.

Interview with Jeremy Hazin, Butterfly Cary Cup Championship Quarterfinalist
Here's the video (2:05) where the Canadian junior star is interviewed by Barbara Wei.

Table Tennis in Slow Motion 2015
Here's the video (11:55).

DHS Top 10 Shots at the 2016 Qatar Open
Here's the video (5:20). (This is a different one than the one posted two weeks ago.)

2016 ITTF-Asia Olympic Qualification Tournament - Day 1 Evening
Here's the video (live right now!).

Minnesota Open
Here's the highlights video (3:17).

Red Dwarf Table Tennis
Here's the description of the character Denton in the British comedy/science fiction series Red Dwarf: "Whilst playing ping-pong with a fellow crewmember in the Games Room, Denton was frozen in time, along with most of the rest of the crew on the ship, by Kryten using the Time Wand. Lister and Rimmer, broken free from The Hole by Bob the Skutter, passed the ping-pong playing duo and took their ball, to mess with them when they unfroze." It includes a picture of "Denton (holding the bat) frozen in time whilst playing table tennis."

Ping the Table Tennis Robot
Here's the picture!

***
Send us your own coaching news!