May 20, 2016

Serving Mania
Serving Mania has struck MDTTC! At least with my students. I blogged about this on Wednesday, about two kids who spent an entire one-hour session doing almost nothing but backspin serves (trying to make the ball come back into the net or bounce back over the net). It happened again on Thursday, where two kids (including the 7-year-old I blogged about on Wednesday) spent 40 minutes doing it again. There's getting better and better at it, and get pretty excited when they make the ball jump backwards and over the net.

We have a scoring system: one point if you get the ball to bounce back and hit the net; three points if it bounces back over the net cleanly after one bounce; two points if it bounces back over the net, but nicks the net in either direction, or takes more than once bounce on the far side to come back over the net. Here's a video (78 sec) of Ma Lin demonstrating the "ghost serve, where the backspin pulls the ball back into the net. But the ultimate backspin trick is making it bounce back over the net!

When I do the Trick Shots demo at the MDTTC Open House on May 29 I'm going to demo and teach these "Come Back" serves. It's a fun trick shot, though more advanced players see it coming and either reach forward or go to the side of the table, and smack it in. (I'll also demo and teach the 50-foot serve; blowing the ball so it balances in the air – sideways!; rallying by blowing the ball over the net; speed bouncing on the table; and playing alone with two paddles.

It's not all backspin – I also have them do sidespin serves where they curve the ball around objects to hit targets, or serve deep and hit other targets. We also regularly bring out the adjustable serving bar, so they can practice serving low to the net, under the bar. 

Because I want our kids to try advanced serves, when we play Brazilian Teams (2-5 players on a team, one player plays until he loses a point then next person on the team comes up), I have a two-miss policy – the first two times you miss your own serve, it's a takeover. So the kids are trying out these backspin and other serves in games now.

One thing I do when I teach serve is stress that it's okay to "cheat" while learning a new serve – i.e., they don't have to hold the ball in the flat palm or toss the ball up six inches. I allow them to hold it in their fingertips, even practicing the grazing motion while holding it, before serving it. But once they can do this, they have to learn to do so legally.

I've also been teaching several players to serve fast and deep serves. (Why are they called "fast and deep," when all fast serves are deep? I don't know, but that's the convention.) When learning to do a truly fast (and deep!) serve, it's best to hold the ball in your finger tips about a foot behind the end-line, low to the table and by a corner, and just smack it (with topspin) so that it hits near the end-line on your side, and goes crosscourt, crossing the net very low, and hitting deep on other side. Many are amazed at just how fast you can serve the ball when you do this properly. (However, a purely fast serve isn't that effective – too easy for the opponent to just counter or block it back, using your own speed against you. You need variations, with the three most effective ones being a fast, breaking sidespin serve into the wide backhand that breaks wide; a fast, flat one to the elbow; or a quick, down-the-line one to catch someone on the wide forehand - or crosscourt against a lefty, or a lefty vs. a righty - where you aim one way and change directions at the last second.) Here's how to do a fast, deep serve, and here are 15 fast and deep serves.)

It's not all serves. In the Thursday junior class last night we focused on forehand smashing. After a demo, Coach John Hsu and I fed multiball as the kids smashed. Then we demoed and taught how to smash lobs, and then John and I had fun as we lobbed to them for fifteen minutes, with each player staying up until they'd missed five shots. (With more advanced kids, it would be three misses.)

So . . . have you practiced your serves this week???

Upcoming Schedule
Okay, it's official. My upcoming schedule is absolutely insane. Here are upcoming activities – in addition to the usual private and group coaching, afterschool program, blogging, other writing, and numerous USATT and MDTTC duties. I'll be out of town continuously from July 3 - Aug. 3. 

Maryland State Championships
It's official! I'll be running the $5000 Maryland State Championships at MDTTC on June 25-26, sponsored by HW Global Foundation. I'll set it up on Omnipong later so you can enter online. The tournament is for Maryland residents only.

Working with Navin Kumar
Here's a short article and video (2:07) Navin put up this morning. Navin's the "Bionic Man," with an artificial heart and Parkinson's.

USATT Tournaments This Weekend
This weekend there are nine USATT sanctioned tournaments. I'll be coaching at the Potomac Open. Here's a listing:

USA Nationals Entries
Want to watch the entries for the USA Nationals as they trickle in? Here's where! As of this morning they have 87; eventually they'll likely have around 700-800. (The last Nationals had 771.) Don't forget to enter!)

Nationals Free Entry Contests
Want free entry to the USA Nationals? Here are three ways!

  • Butterfly – Subscribe to In The Loop by May 27th and become Eligible to Win Free Entry into the US Nationals!
  • JOOLA – Pong So Hard Contest
  • Paddle Palace – LIKE Us, Then JOIN THE FACEBOOK EVENT for your Chance to Win!

Improve Your Table Tennis Skills Through Training Videos
Here's the TT video page from Pro Shop World. Videos include: Forehand Drive, Backhand Drive, Forehand Topspin, Backhand Topspin, Block, Service Basics, Reverse Pendulum Backspin Serve, and Service Receive.

Xu Xin & Liu Guoliang Training Olympic Games Rio 2016
Here's the video (6:34). Here's some discussion of it at the mytabletennis.net forum.

Chinese Olympic Team
Here's the final team, men's and women's singles and doubles, plus discussion.

Table Tennis Duo Making Waves
Here's the article in the Vicksburg Post (Mississippi) featuring Bill Seabergh and Charlie Lutz.

DTTA’s 4th MENSUAL Tourney
Here's the article, results, and pictures from this Denver tournament.

The Ultimate Backhand Banana Flip
Here's the video (15 sec including slo-mo replay).

International Table Tennis
Here's my periodic note (usually every Friday) that you can great international coverage at TableTennista (which especially covers the elite players well) and at the ITTF home page (which does great regional coverage). Butterfly also has a great news page.

Campaign 2100: Game of Scorpions
As many of you know, I also write science fiction. There's a special sale on my recent novel, Campaign 2100: Game of Scorpions (which has lots of table tennis) starting today through May 27. You can buy it as an ebook from Amazon for only $1.99, and 25% off as a paperback from the publisher, World Weaver Press. (Normally $14.95, now only $11.25.) The novel covers the election for president of Earth in the year 2100, where the world has adopted the American two-party electoral system, with an alien ambassador observing. (This afternoon from 12-2PM I'm on an online science fiction chat with World Weaver Press, my publisher, where I promote the novel.)

The Forehand and Backhand of Severus Snape
Here's the repeating gif image as the wizard from Harry Potter uses Ron Weasely's head for a ping-pong ball.

High-Heeled Ping-Pong Shoes
Here the picture! (Here's the non-Facebook version.)

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