June 2, 2016
How Table Tennis Has Changed Since I Started
I started playing 40 years ago in 1976 – and wow has the game changed in the U.S. since then! Here are 21 major changes (actually more, since I've grouped some together).
- THEN: Games to 21, serve five times each, 38mm celluloid balls, green tables, white balls
NOW: Games to 11, serve two times each, 40mm plastic balls, blue or green tables, white or orange balls (but now we're back to only white with the plastic balls). - THEN: We were the United States Table Tennis Association, USTTA.
NOW: We are USA Table Tennis, USATT. (The change came in the early 1990s, and has led to massive growth, professional leagues, and the huge popularity of the sport.) - THEN: No training centers and perhaps 2-3 full-time coaches in the country. A few tried setting up training centers, but they inevitably failed.
NOW: 85 full-time training centers and hundreds of full-time coaches, with nearly all of this growth in the last ten years. - THEN: Nearly all clubs used the "winner stay on" method.
NOW: With the advent of the USATT league rating system, most clubs now have singles leagues. - THEN: The best sponges on the market, Sriver and Mark V, cost $5/sheet
NOW: The best sponges on the market cost up to $75/sheet, and few of the top-line ones are less than $60. According to the inflation calculator, $5 then should be $21.02 now. - THEN: Dan Seemiller is the best in the country.
NOW: Dan Seemiller is the best in the country in Over 60. - THEN: Tim Boggan is editor of the USTTA magazine, Table Tennis Topics, and soon would begin his second tenure as USTTA president.
NOW: Tim Boggan is into Volume 18 of History of U.S. Table Tennis. - THEN: USTTA membership was around 5000.
NOW: USATT membership is around 10,000. Since 1976 the U.S. population has gone from 218 to 319 million, a 146% increase. Based on that, USATT membership should now be 1.46 x 5000 = 7300. So we're getting better! (Alas, a 10,000 membership is what I call a "round-off error." Let's see where we are a few years from now…) - THEN: First place at the 1976 U.S. Open in Men's Singles was $200. (There were massive protests at the time about this.)
NOW: First place at the 2015 U.S. Open in Men's and Women's Singles were both $7000 , while at the 2015 Nationals it was $3800 for both Men's and Women's Singles. - THEN: There were very few top Chinese players in the U.S.
NOW: The floodgates opened, and now former Chinese players dominate in the U.S. - THEN: Convention penhold backhands and lots of forehand flipping.
NOW: Reverse penhold backhands and backhand banana flipping. - THEN: Huge variety of styles – conventional penholders, pips-out penholders, pips-out backhand shakehanders, defensive choppers, Seemiller grip, hitters, etc.
NOW: Everyone's a two-winged looper unless you're old and reminiscing about 1976. - THEN: Short pips used by many.
NOW: What are short pips? - THEN: Table tennis was an unknown sport.
NOW: Table tennis is an Olympic Sport. (For humor purposes, I was tempted to say, "Unknown Olympic Sport," but we're actually pretty well known now.) - THEN: When I won the University of Maryland Doubles Championship (circa early 1980s), I found out my partner was going around telling people the medal he'd won was for wrestling.
NOW: We're an OLYMPIC SPORT!!! - THEN: Ping-Pong Diplomacy of 1971-1972 was a fading memory.
NOW: We have the 2018 World Veterans in the U.S.!!! (If that runs well, then we'll be bidding for something bigger . . . like the Worlds!) - THEN: Sandpaper's a joke.
NOW: $100,000 Sandpaper Championships?!!! - THEN: The age of speed glue was approaching.
NOW: The age of speed glue came and went, but now we have the same effect – perhaps better – with tensored sponges without the hassle of daily gluing and toxic vapors. - THEN: Celluloid balls were erratic, and you had to spin them to find a good one. And training balls were a joke.
NOW: Celluloid balls are uniform, almost all good, and even training balls are great. But most of the new plastic balls…. - THEN: Rackets were made of wood.
NOW: The more advanced rackets are made of wood and various space-age materials. - THEN: Gerald Ford was President. No presidential table tennis.
NOW: Obama is president. Presidential Table Tennis!
Amazing Table Tennis Shot
Here's the video (9 sec).
Chinese Olympic Team
Here's the video (45 sec).
Incredible Point From 2015 French National Championships
Here's the video (42 sec) of the point between Adrien Mattenet and Antoine Hachard.
Jun Mizutani and Maharu Yoshimura Exhibition Point
Here's the video (37 sec) as the Japanese stars (world #6 and #19) put on an exhibition for the last point of their match.
Table Tennis "I Love This Game!"
Here's the new highlights video (6:26) set to music.
"How the Masters Play the Game"
Here's the video (15 sec) of vintage table tennis (1950s?), "despite the smoke from nearly 10,000 cigars and cigarettes," and showing "how they make the ball twist and spin and swerve in the air."
Smacking Your Own Backspin Serve
Here's the video (3 sec, repeating) where the player serves backspin, ball bounces backwards, and the player then smacks his own serve with another ball.
Spin Around Cups Serve
Here's the video (15 sec).
USA Junior Star Jack Wang and Hillary Clinton
Here's the picture! (Here's the non-Facebook version.) Where's the Secret Service – don't they know this guy kills a thousand times a day? And just for the record, Hillary does play table tennis – in this picture she demonstrates proper technique in stepping in for a short ball to the forehand, while husband Bill stands ready to unleash his backhand.
Beach Pong?
Here's the picture!
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