April 14, 2016

MDTTC Media Coverage and the Washington Post
Since 2012 I've been keeping careful track of MDTTC media coverage, with 54 different items. (We've been open since 1992, and I have a huge folder of media coverage from before 2012, but not online.) I send out regular press releases; every club should have someone sending out periodic press releases to generate media coverage. 

Even though we're an hour away, we get pretty good coverage from the Baltimore Sun, with twelve items, including five in the past two months. But the thing that jumps out to me is that lack of coverage by the Washington Post. The Maryland Table Tennis Center is in Gaithersburg, which is part of the DC Metropolitan Area – we're about 15 miles north of DC. And yet since 2012 we've only had four items in the Post, two in 2012, one in 2014, and one in 2015. What's wrong with them??? Don't they realize table tennis is [we'll get to this part].

On Tuesday night I wrote two press releases, one about the Hope Trials in Canada (MDTTC girls Tiffany Ke and Lisa Lin finished third and fourth), and about the MDTTC Open this past weekend. As usual, the Baltimore Sun did a feature on them. But the Post? Not a word. This is especially aggravating as I've been reading the Post since I was a kid, and I still get daily delivery.

So I wrote a third item, a letter I emailed to Washington Post Sports. Here is the letter. I'll let you know if there's a response.

Dear Washington Post Sports,

I’d like to call your attention to the lack of coverage of the sport of Table Tennis in the Washington Post. I understand the bulk of your coverage will go to sports like football, basketball, and baseball, but consider this:

  • Table Tennis is an Olympic Sport.
  • Over 17 million Americans play table tennis (Sports and Fitness Industry Reports).
  • It’s the third largest participation sport in the world, with 300 million players. (Top End Sports Report.)
  • It is considered the best “brain” sport – both for kids and for the elderly. (Google “Table Tennis Brain Sport” and numerous articles and videos will appear.)
  • Maryland is a huge mecca for table tennis, with four members of the various National Junior Teams:
    • Derek Nie (USA National Cadet Boys’ Team – under 15)
    • Ryan Dabbs (USA National Mini-cadet Boys’ Team – under 13)
    • Tiffany Ke (USA National Hopes Girls’ Team – under 12)
    • Lisa Lin (USA National Hopes Girls’ Team – under 12)

All four of them train six days a week at the Maryland Table Tennis Center in Gaithersburg, MD, one of the premier centers in the United States. The full-time club has seven full-time coaches who train huge numbers of junior stars, both the four above and many more. Three of the coaches are members of the USA Table Tennis Hall of Fame. The club has won more gold medals for table tennis at the Junior Nationals and Junior Olympics than any other club in the country. The club even has a Talent Program for younger kids (mostly under age 10), which features some of the best kids in the 7-9 age group in the country.

The coaches and kids are now gearing up for upcoming competitions, including the USA Nationals (July 4-9 in Las Vegas) and the Junior Olympics (Aug. 1-3 in Houston).

Just for contrast, the Baltimore Sun has been giving regular coverage to these players, with eleven articles, including four in the past month:

Would you be interested in doing a story on these National Team Members and the MDTTC junior program?

-Coach Larry Hodges

The Impossible Dream
Yesterday someone (I think Brian Pace) posted a link to Jim Nabors on the old Gomer Pyle TV show (1964-69) singing "To Dream the Impossible Dream." Here's the link (3:52). I think this should be played at the start of all USATT board meetings, at the start of all tournaments, leagues, and practice sessions, and pretty much all the time. (Few people realized that this supposedly bumbling comic actor was actually a top singer.) For a similar "Dream the Impossible Dream" thing, see next segment on Navin Kumar.

Parkinson's Awareness Month - Navin Kumar, USATT Player w/Parkinson's & Mechanical Heart
Here's the video (3:29). (I'm in it several times - I'm his coach.)

Looping Footwork Drill
Here's the video (74 sec) – and the kids have pretty good technique!

The Moment Mima Ito Beat Ding Ning!
Here's the video (34 sec). 15-year-old Mima is world #10; Ding Ning is #2 (but was #1 for 35 months, Nov. 2011 to Aug. 2013 and Oct. 2014 to Oct. 2015

Xu Xin Fingernail trick - Table Tennis Tricks
Here's the video (59 sec). He said it was inspired by the 2012 video A Day with World no 1 Stiga Star Xu Xin (5:48) – he's referring to this trick.

Giant Dumpster Truck Pong?
Here's the video (1:03:18) – "Take a 165-ton dump truck, which is almost as big as a house, the national teams of Austria and Germany, and the world's largest fair for construction…" (It's in German, both spoken and written, but this is what Google translated it to. Players include Timo Boll and Werner Schlager.)

Pony Pong
Here's the picture! Here's a more realistic one.

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