June 16, 2016

Why Timmy Wore a Dunce Cap and Other Fascinating Stuff
As readers here know, I'm working with Tim Boggan on Volume 18 of History of U.S. Table Tennis. Tim had some old Executive Committee reports that he wanted in – but he'd unthinkingly underlined a number of passages that he wanted to focus on, forgetting that when I scanned them, the underlines would show. He asked if I could remove them in Photoshop, and I said yes, though it'd take about ten minutes. (I'd have to zoom in, and use the eraser tool at a very small size and go through it meticulously to avoid deleting any text.) I agreed to do it, on one condition. I rolled up a sheet of paper into a dunce cap and made him wear it until I was done with the corrections. He took it well. I think.

We've now done the covers, the four intro pages, and 13 chapters, totaling exactly 200 pages with 637 graphics. There will be 26 chapters, so 13 more to go. Figuring that the covers and intro pages are about as much work as a chapter, we're 14/27 of the way through. There's a lot of articles in this volume written by me, especially coaching articles and player profiles.

Here's the content, in order, of the last chapter we did, Chapter 13, pages 190-200:  

  • What's IN/OUT for 1991, by Larry Hodges
  • Ulpiano Santo – Over 80 U.S. Star, by Tim Boggan
  • In Memoriam: Joyce Anderson
  • Snow Camp at the Eastern Training Center by Richard McAfee
  • Club Catalyst and Creation Program by Larry Hodges
  • A Good Training Method for Learning How to Play Against a Chopper, by Man Chai
  • Reflex Strengthening, by Sean O'Neill
  • A Day in the Life of the RTP Kids, by Kathy Reed
  • Khoa Nguyen Racks up #2 in World Corporate Games, by Dan Goodman
  • Picture of Bill and Hillary Clinton playing table tennis
  • Thinking of the Ball in the Sense of a Clock, by Matthew Winkler
  • Advances in Technique by the Swedes, by Richard McAfee
  • Jim Butler, No. 1 Rated, by Roger Gottfridsson
  • The Showdown: Sean O'Neill vs. Jim Butler, by Larry Hodges
  • Letter from Terry Timmins to USTTA President Dan Seemiller on Running USA Nationals
  • USA Nationals Staff Listing

And since you all want to know what was IN/OUT for 1991, here it is!

  • IN: Quality tournaments for both players and spectators
    OUT: Overly constricted, poorly-staged events
  • IN: Open Executive Committee meetings
    OUT: Secret Executive Committee meetings
  • IN: Real membership increases
    OUT: Questionable/Imaginary increases
  • IN: Topics with content ("Tastes great") [Note – USATT Magazine back then was called Table Tennis Topics.]
    OUT: Topics that looks good ("Less filling")
  • IN: New tournament directors
    OUT: Better possibilities for hosting World events
  • IN: Senior Champ Dave Sakai and wife Donna
    OUT: Ten-time Champ George Brathwaite – wait'll next year
  • IN: Junior Champs Todd Sweeris and Chi-Sun Chui
    OUT: Former Junior Champ Dhiren Narotam – into Men's division
  • IN: Junior Girls Champions Tomiko Ly and Sylvia Lee – they showed up to play
    OUT: Former Champions Li Ai and Jane Chui – where were they?
  • IN: Jan-Ove Waldner, shakehand loopers, Sweden
    OUT: Jiang Jialiang, pips-out penholders, China
  • IN: Potomac TTC juniors – 37 at Junior Olympics
    OUT: Boys Club juniors – only two at Junior Olympics
  • IN: Relaxed eligibility rules
    OUT: Too strict eligibility rules
  • IN: Anderson College – lots of top Nigerians
    OUT: Augusta College – Scott Butler and Derek May momentarily overseas
  • IN: Greater New York Table Tennis League, Butterfly Volunteer Cup League
    OUT: Iraqi Table Tennis Team
  • IN: Money from Brother International
    OUT: Money spent on Tournament of Champions
  • IN: Yellow and orange balls
    OUT: White balls
  • IN: Griping about spin
    OUT: Griping about illegal serves
  • IN: ESPN table tennis commercials, Chi-Sun Chui Nerf Ping-Pong commercials
    OUT: Gary Shandling's sometimes table tennis show

MDTTC June Open Ratings
I ran the MDTTC June Open on Saturday, and sent all the results in electronically that night. And here it is Tuesday, and they are processed! I remember when it took many hours to get all the paperwork done to send in tournament results, and then you'd have to wait several weeks for them to get processed. Using Omnipong, there was no paperwork – even memberships were done electronically, with the software pulling the needed info typed into the database when the player entered. (Most of them entered online, so I didn't even have to do that.) And I get to do it all over again June 25-26 for the Maryland State Championships.

The Best Table Tennis Shoes
Here's the article from Expert Table Tennis.

USATT Insider
Here's the new issue that came out Wednesday.

USA Olympic Team in Training
Here's the video (27:34) as they train at the Lily Yip TTC in New Jersey. Want to learn something from this? Early on you'll see Kanak Jha (near side) backhand blocking. Watch how he flexes and bounces his legs between each shot. This gives you the fine movement needed to make great blocks without reaching.

Yue Wu Trains with Massimo
Here's the video (18 sec) of Coach Massimo drilling 3 point forehand with Yue Wu as part of the Olympic Training event at LYTTC.

Live from Waimea... Will Shortz & Robert Roberts…Day 1351
Here's the video (3:38).

Newly Qualified Olympic Players Head to Laox Japan Open
Here's the ITTF Press Release.

Sushi Ping-Pong Cats
Here's the picture, and here's the article that explains it!

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