August 16, 2016

The Ten Commandments of High Level Sport
I’ve always been slightly irritated at some of these “Commandments.” They are from page 14 of the ITTF Advanced Coaching Manual, which make them at least semi-official. The manual was originally in French and somewhat poorly translated into English, so there might be some problem there. But these are what we publish and teach, with little further explanation. Here they are, with my comments afterwards. (Tomorrow I plan to write about what’s on the next page of the Advanced Coaching Manual - The Ten “Etiquettes” for the High Level Athlete.)

The Ten Commandments of High Level Sport
(from ITTF Advanced Coaching Manual)
Silent laws and rules that everybody follows exist in every social situations High level sport is no exception; it is a special environment which has its own rules of the game. We either accept these rules or they do not accept us. These rules are not written down anywhere, but those who succeed have accepted them and work with them.

  1. Winning is not everything, it is the only thing!
  2. Sport is not war.
  3. If it is not expressly prohibited, it is allowed.
  4. The perfect match does not exist
  5. Making at least one error less than the opponent is enough.
  6. We don’t make the same mistake twice.
  7. You have to accept losing in advance: The Winner is he who knows what he would do if he lost, but doesn’t say it. The Loser is he who knows what he would do if he won and says it.
  8. Fight against a strategy, not against a person, and especially not against your imagination: imagination is stronger than will!
  9. In competition, approximately does not exist: those who succeed are the ones who do not leave anything up to chance.
  10. If you can dream it, you can do it!

Let’s look at these one by one.

  1. Winning is not everything, it is the only thing!
    Are you kidding me??? There goes sportsmanship, learning from sports, the journey, etc. So if winning is the only thing, then cheating that allows you to win is, by definition, okay. I could write an entire blog on this one, but suffice to say that this is nonsense.
  2. Sport is not war.
    Well, of course. I’m not sure why this is in here. Sport is also not a business negotiation, or a game of chance, or a color, but these aren’t mentioned. If they mean that since it is not war, that means there are limits to what you will do to win, then look back at the previous “Commandment.” If winning is the only thing, then sport is war, where winning is (almost) the only thing. (I say “almost” here because even in war there are international rules for conflict.)
  3. If it is not expressly prohibited, it is allowed.
    At first glance, this seems okay. But does this mean that since the rules do not say I cannot flash a light in my opponent’s eyes as he’s hitting the ball, it is allowed? If it’s a laser light I can probably do it without the umpire noticing, and then I quickly put it back in my pocket. Is this allowed? How about other poor sportsmanship behaviors to distract my opponent – all allowed if not expressly forbidden? Is secretly damaging my opponent’s racket okay since it’s not prohibited in the rules? (Maybe spread some grease on the surface to lower friction?) But the gist of this poorly worded statement is that you should take the rules to the limit.
  4. The perfect match does not exist.
    Agreed. But I would add that one might strive for the perfect match. On the other hand, striving for the “perfect” match might lead one to play all world-class shots when sometimes a lesser shot will do, depending on the situation and opponent. That’s in the realm of tactics – but if such a lesser shot is the better shot, then perhaps doing that shot is part of playing the “perfect” match.
  5. Making at least one error less than the opponent is enough.
    Again, the gist is correct. But this depends on the definition of “error.” When an attacker plays a steady player, the steady player will make few unforced errors, while the attacker will likely make many – and yet he might win. But since the attacker is hitting winners, does that mean the opponent is making an error each time? But I’ll go along with the gist of this one.
  6. We don’t make the same mistake twice.
    Agreed, that’s what one should strive for. Of course, it’s not an absolute rule or after missing a specific shot, one might not go for that shot again in fear of making the same mistake twice. But I agree with the gist of this.
  7. You have to accept losing in advance: The Winner is he who knows what he would do if he lost, but doesn’t say it. The Loser is he who knows what he would do if he won and says it.
    Sorry, but this makes absolutely no sense to me. Good coaches tell players not to think about winning or losing, but to focus on performance, i.e. playing well, which leads to winning. (And since the primary goal is to win, striving for it leads players to train hard for long periods of time.) Why would we want our players to think about what they’ll do if they lose? I’d rather they simply be surprised when that happens, since they weren’t expecting it. I also don’t get the part about “The Loser.” I think they are trying to say that losers talk about winning before they’ve won, but that’s irrelevant to me.
  8. Fight against a strategy, not against a person, and especially not against your imagination: imagination is stronger than will!
    I agree with this, though the part about not fighting against your imagination isn’t worded well. Players often imagine losing in advance and so are worried about this when they shouldn’t be thinking about that at all. (See #7 above.)
  9. In competition, approximately does not exist: those who succeed are the ones who do not leave anything up to chance.
    I agree with this. Players should not leave anything to chance. That means preparing physically, mentally, and equipment-wise for essentially all possibilities, just in case.
  10. If you can dream it, you can do it!
    I can quibble with this. I’m 56, and I still dream about being World Men’s Singles Champion, but can I do it? But it’s a good slogan for up-and-coming players.

Olympic Coverage

Here’s What Olympians Eat for Each Sport
Here’s the article, which includes a section on table tennis where Richard McAfee is quoted.

We Played Beer Pong with Table Tennis Olympian Timothy Wang
Here’s the video (5:08) from Daily Vice. Title is deceptive – they don’t get to beer pong until near the end; before that they talk about table tennis and interview Timothy.

Incoming UGA Freshman Represents Team USA in Table Tennis
Here’s the article featuring Yijun “Tom” Feng.

Butterfly San Francisco Open
Here’s the article and pictures of this four-star event.

Seven Seconds of Will Ferrell Playing Table Tennis
Here’s the video!

Mini-Table in Hand Pong
Here’s the repeating gif image! I have one of these – I keep it at the club for the kids to use.

Non-Table Tennis - Small Press Award for Short Fiction
Last week the Washington Science Fiction Association announced the finalists for the annual Small Press Award for Short Fiction. My story “Leashing the Muse” is one of the finalists. The award is for short stories (under 17,500 words) that were published in 2015 by a “small press,” which is defined as under 10,000 circulation. (There are perhaps 5-8 major magazines that are over 10,000, and about a hundred below that. I’ve had 13 short stories published in the major ones, 79 overall.) I wrote about this story at the end of my June 5, 2015 blog. I’ll be a guest and panelist at the annual Capclave Science Fiction Convention, Oct. 7-9, where they will announce the winner. (This coincides with the Women’s World Cup being held in Philadelphia, so I’ll have to miss that, alas.)

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