May 23, 2016

Tip of the Week
Contact Point on the Forehand. (I actually did an entire Tip for this morning, only to discover I'd already done How to Serve to the Backhand Attacking Receiver. After over 270 Tips of the Week, that's the first time I've ever done that.)

Why My Forehand Push Is Much Better Down the Line
Here's something I hadn't really noticed before - my forehand push down the line is pretty good, but crosscourt not so good. Unless I'm chopping, I only forehand push against short balls, mostly when someone serves short to my forehand or drops my serve short there, and I decide not to flip. Off this ball I have a big angle into a righty's forehand - but the very threat of this means opponents automatically cover it. And so what do I almost always do? Fake it crosscourt, and then, at the last second, taking it right off the bounce, I push it down the line into their backhand. And that's what I became used to doing, and so have great control over it. But when I do go crosscourt, as I often do in drills with students, I don't have nearly the same control because I so rarely did it that direction. 

You'd think I would have developed the crosscourt forehand push for playing lefties - but there's a different reason why I didn't. Against lefties who serve short to my forehand I almost always fake a down-the-line flip, and then, at the last second, flip it crosscourt into their backhand - which almost always sets up my forehand against their backhand return. (I was a strong forehand player.) For variation, I drop it short to the lefty's forehand. And so again, I rarely pushed crosscourt. 

This doesn't mean I never forehand pushed crosscourt, or that I can't do it. But it shows that one becomes good at what you do, and because I almost always pushed one way, I became proficient in that direction, not so good the other way. 

I have another shot where I'm only comfortable going to certain places. In my beginning years, when I stepped around to forehand loop from the backhand side, I'd always go either very wide crosscourt or down the line. Result? Even when I know I should attack the opponent's elbow, I'm erratic when I do so, since I didn't do that shot my first few years. And so I almost always go at wide angles. (I get away with it because I disguise my direction very well, but it's a weakness that I don't attack an opponent's middle with my forehand from the backhand side.) On the other hand, in rallies, I've always attacked opponent's elbow with my backhand, and so I'm quite comfortable doing that.

Now examine your game. Do you have similar shots where you are only good doing it to one part of the table, not another, simply because that's the way you usually do it?

2016 World Veterans Championships
Here's the home page. They started this morning in Alicante/Elche, Spain, May 23-29.

Table Tennis Receiver's Edge Series Part 1
Here's the new coaching video (5:21) from Brett Clarke at Table Tennis Edge.

How to Do the Jab Serve
Here's the video (1:55) with the serve demonstrated by Eli Baraty.

Integral Training for High Performance Athletes
Here's the article by Francisco Mendez.

Dimitrij Ovtcharov 3 Point Forehand Topspin Training 2016
Here's the video (2:44).

Chinese Stars in Training
Here are some new videos.

Rio Set to Stage a True Clash of Titans: Ma Long vs. Zhang Jike
Here's the article from Matt Hetherington.

No Singles in Rio for World #1 Liu Shiwen
Here's the article.

First Ever Syrian Qualifies for Olympics Table Tennis Event
Here's the ITTF press release.

Our World: A Winning Team
Here's the article from the Naple News (Florida) featuring Marvin and Caron Leff.

Amazing Armless Table-Tennis Player
Here's another video (38 sec) of the amazing Ibrahim Hamato.

SPiN SF Opening Party - Match Point!
Here's the video (58 sec) of the point between Lily Zhang and Jiaqi Zheng.

One of the Craziest Points You'll Ever See
Here's the video (15 sec).

Eight Players, Four Balls, One Table
Here's the video (51 sec).

Epic Shot by 12 Year Old
Here's the video (12 sec) – that's so unfair!

Baby Pong
Here's the video (42 sec) – I counted 34 forehands in a row by this two-year-old on the table!

Real-Life Forrest Gump
Here's the video (9 sec) – three balls on the playback table! Here's the real Forrest Gump playing (1:31). And here's the Making of Forrest Gump Ping Pong (2:55).

RIP Alan Young
He died on Thursday. He was the actor who played opposite a talking horse in the TV show Mister Ed (1958-1966). What does this have to do with table tennis? In one episode, they had Mr. Ed briefly play table tennis – here's the picture. There's no digital manipulation; they apparently got the horse to hold the paddle and probably filmed a lot to get what they needed. I remember seeing the footage, but alas, I can't find it on youtube. And I'll leave you with this:

A horse is a horse, of course, of course, and nobody plays pong with a horse, that is, of course, unless, of course, the horse is the famous Mr. Ed! (Sung to the tune of the Mister Ed opening theme, 0:42, with some minor horsing around with the lyrics.)

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