May 12, 2016

How to Avoid Hurting the USA National Team, and Some Training Stuff
While in a session with Daniel (age 11, about 1650, but should be more like 1750), he hit a ball that broke cleanly into two hemispheres. I pointed out that somewhere out there were two poor mice, huddling in the cold, and that we should donate the two hemispheres as hats to help these two mice keep warm. But then I realized that the hats would cover their ears, and so they wouldn't hear approaching cats, and so they'd get eaten, and it would be my fault. This is when Daniel took over, pointing out that this would lead to fat cats, which would get eaten by dogs, leading to fat dogs, which would be sold in China, where (in some places) they eat dogs. This would spur the Chinese economy, thereby giving them more money to fund the Chinese National Team, making it less likely the USA National Team would beat them. So . . .  sorry mice, you'll just have to stay cold. (Now you know what really goes on in my coaching sessions.) 

Okay, we actually did lots of training in the 90-minute session - Daniel was on top of his game, and should play some tournaments soon. Our main focus right now is improving his forehand looping (which has improved dramatically), and following up his serve by looping (forehand or backhand) - he tends to play to the extremes, either too passive or too aggressive with wild swats. I'm 90% certain he's the best under 12 lobber in the country, but he's learned to hold back on that in serious matches. If he can remember to take his time when he serves (rather than grab the ball and serve like the ball's a hot potato), he'll make a jump soon. There's also one serve I want him to really work on - sorry, can't tell potential rivals about that one!

Equipment Reviews
I don't generally do equipment reviews here because I have a conflict of interest, since I'm sponsored by Butterfly. But that doesn't mean others can't – and here are five sites that do extensive equipment reviews. I link to these five sites in the Equipment Reviews section of the Coaching Articles page. 

• Table Tennis Database
• Ping Pong Ruler
• Pong Hero
• Table Tennis Judge (I just added this one)
• OOAK Forum - lots of equipment reviews, info on long pips

Improvement Keys for Attackers
Here's the article by Carl Danner.

MHTT Training Video Blog
Here's Days 5 and 6 from Matt Hetherington.

USATT Insider
Here's the current issue, which went out on Wednesday morning.

Susan Sarandon's Ping Pong Mecca, SPiN, Has Ricocheted Into Town
Here's the article about the new site in San Francisco.

11 Questions with Martin Del Vecchio
Here's the USATT interview.

Table Tennis Fulda Training with Waldner
Here's the video (4:16) from 2010.

Two Very Good Little Girls
Here's the video (49 sec). 

Bottle-Bouncing Pong
Here's the video (25 sec). I counted 67 bounces.

Pongfinity Food Trick Shots
Here's the video (2:33)! Includes "cookie pong."

Big Leg Pong
Here's the picture.

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