June 6, 2016

Tip of the Week
What to Focus on to Improve.

Things Are About to Get Busy
Life is about to get really, really hectic for the next two months. Yikes! (But don't worry, I plan to continue blogging through most of it.)

Starting this morning I'm running a three-day camp, Mon-Wed, at MDTTC for disabled veterans. This is the third year in a row I've run this. This'll also be the third year in a row that Steve Hochman comes in to help out! (We only have one person signed up for days two and three, so unless get some last-minute signups, we may cancel those days. Meaning I'll only have about three hours of coaching those days.) I'll likely blog about the camp tomorrow.

On Thursday morning USATT Historian Tim Boggan moves in with me so we can do Volume 18 of his History of U.S. Table Tennis. As usual, it'll likely be around 500 pages and 1000 graphics - and I have to lay out all those pages and fix up all the photos. Yikes! (Mal Anderson helps tremendously by scanning all the photos in advance.) We'll be on this for about two weeks, normally starting about 7AM (yikes!) with the slave labor continuing until about 2:30PM, when I leave to do afterschool pickups each day (followed by group and private coaching). 

Right in the middle of this I'll be running the MDTTC June Open on June 11 - yes, this Saturday. (You can enter online!) That's followed by my running the Maryland State Championships on June 25-26. Yikes! What complicates this further is that I'll be coaching at MDTTC camps starting Monday, June 20 - and will likely be coaching at them all summer long, Mon-Fri, when I'm in town. (If all goes well, I'll finish with Tim's book before the Maryland State Championships, but we'll see.) 

And then begins the real Odyssey - I'll be out of town pretty much continuously July 3 to August 3. (Yikes!) Here's my schedule:

  • July 3-10: Coaching and playing at USA Nationals
  • July 11-22: Coaching and managing at the USATT Supercamp in New Jersey. (I'll blog daily about the camp while I'm there.)
  • July 22-30: Attending "The Never-Ending Odyssey" writing workshop in Manchester, NH. Complicating factor - I have to read and write up critiques of about 25 stories by other students in advance. The good news - I've already done all but three of them. (Normal people vacation at the beach, Disneyworld, camping, etc. Me? I go to writing workshops...) 
  • July 30-Aug. 3: Coaching at the Southern Teams and Junior Olympics in Houston.
  • Aug. 4: Jump into bed.
  • Aug. 5: Back to work!

After I return from this month-long absence I'll be coaching at MDTTC camps most of the rest of August, along with other regular coaching. However, I will have one more excursion, Aug. 17-21 in Kansas City for the World Science Fiction Convention, where I'll have a reading and other activities to promote my SF novels.

One thing I'm not looking forward to is the driving. After the Nationals I'll be flying home, arriving at 7AM on Sunday, July 11. I'll be home for perhaps a few hours, then I drive up to NJ for the Supercamp, about four hours away. At the end of that I'll be driving up to Manchester, NH, another five hours. After that I'll be driving the 500 miles back home to Maryland. I do not like long distance driving, alas.

Oh, and if you have a request of me between now and mid-August, ask yourself this: "Will the planet blow up if I don’t do it? If yes, by all means ask. If not, then don't ask!!!

How to Play Great Forehand Attacks from the Backhand Corner
Here's the coaching article from Tom Lodziak.

Multiball Champions
Here's the article (with links to video) from Samson Dubina.

Improving Balance
Here's the article by Aiman Fazeer Yap.

7 Reasons Why Table Tennis is Good for The Body and Mind!
Here's the article from MH Table Tennis.

USATT Insider
Here's the issue that came out last week. 

USA Nationals
Here's the online listing of entries for the USA Nationals - you can see them alphabetically, by rating, state, club, or by event. As of this morning, there are 578 entries, but the number keeps ticking up every few minutes. There are few more delights in life than refreshing every few minutes and watching the entries come in! Final deadline to enter is next Sunday. I'm guessing we're going to have a lot more than the usual 750 this year. (Number of entries, 2009-2015, in order: 651, 743, 553, 781, 716, 762, and 771 last year.)

Meiklejohn National Senior Championships
Here are the results. Jimmy Butler had defeated Khoa Nguyen in the Over 40 Final four years in a row, but this year it was Khoa's turn, winning in seven games.

Virginia State Championships
Here are the results (care of Omnipong) - they were held this weekend. Interesting note - in Men's Singles (won by Allen Lin over Vivek Kandasamy), in the 30 round robin matches, the higher-rated player won every match. In the single elimination stage, there were two in the five matches, with a 2150 beating a 2216, and an 1872 player over an 1878 one. There were also zero upsets in Over 60, won by John Olsen (barely!), 11-9 in the fifth over Mike Inger. Mike Levene swept Over 40 and Over 50, made the final of Open Doubles (losing in the final to John Olsen/William Waltrip), made the semis of Men's Singles, and ran the tournament as well. Sunila Dutt won Women's Singles over Ayshwarya Saktheeswaran. Louis Leven won Under 18 over Tyler Hess. 

Trainerbot: Smart Ping Pong Robot
Here's their Kickstarter – "Anytime, anywhere table tennis partner."

Table Tennis Camp for Veterans with Disabilities and Members of the Armed Forces with Disabilities in the Bronx, NY
Here's the USATT info page for the June 15 camp.

History of U.S. Table Tennis, Volume 17 (1989-1990)
Here's chapter 12! Or order your own print copies at TimBogganTableTennis.com.

Olympic Legends to Play Brazil Stars in Rio Exhibition Match
Here's the ITTF press release. The match, to take place July 10 in Rei de Janeiro, will feature "Legends" Wang Liqin, Jean-Michel Saive, and Jorgen Persson vs. Hugo Calderano (current Pan Am Men's Singles Gold Medalist), Gustavo Tsuboi, and Cazuo Matsumoto.

Funny Color Art of Kids Bouncing Balls on Rackets
Here's the picture. (Here's the non-Facebook version.)

Blazing Paddles: A Pong Place
Here's the picture of the Boston restaurant, with Adam Bobrow. (Here's the non-Facebook version, but without Adam's explanation.)

Tray Table Tennis
Here's the picture (click on it for three more). Here's the non-Facebook version of the first picture.

Big Kid, Little Kid (on table) Multiball Doubles?
Here's the video (42 sec)!

Guy Plays Table Tennis On 3 Tables Like A Boss!
Here's the video (30 sec).

Funny Dinner Table Tennis (and a little Car Pong too!)
Here's the video (2:46).

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