September 22, 2016

No Blog on Friday
See “Non-Table Tennis” item at end on the Baltimore Book Festival.

New ITTF Coaching Rule
On Wednesday I blogged about this, and about the USATT Board – which I’m on – will vote on this issue this Saturday morning. If you have any comments or thoughts on this, this is your last chance – I DON’T want to hear from you after the fact if you haven’t commented before. There’s a discussion at Mytabletennis.net which I’m following and participating in, so you can post there, and I’ll see it. (Alas, I will hear from people after the fact because not everyone keeps track of the major happenings in our sport until they are directly affected, and they show up at a tournament and play a match against some kid whose coach is coaching every point.)

Here are my blogs on the topic, on August 19 (on why it’s a bad rule, with 14 reasons) and August 26 (on whether USATT should adopt it, despite it being a bad rule). Two things I plan to make sure of: 1) no matter what we do, tournament directors can opt in or out of the rule (by stating this on the entry form); and 2) we re-evaluated in December. The latter means we may adopt it, and then reconsider in December, or it could mean we postpone adopting, and reconsider in December.

This is not an easy decision. There are a few who think it’s a slam-dunk one way or the other, and when I read that, I honestly lose interest in their opinions, though I’ll listen to their arguments and make the counter-arguments myself. I prefer listening to people who can look at the arguments for both sides, and argue for why one side’s arguments are stronger than the other, and address the counter-arguments. Alas, many simply argue “their side,” ignoring counter-arguments either because they don’t know them or don’t understand them, or perhaps just hoping nobody notices. This may work for many people, but I prefer a somewhat more intellectual approach.

Here is the actual rule, with English spelling and one silly typo I pointed out previously but no one seems to be able to fix ("and and"):

3.5.1.3: Players may receive advice at any time except during rallies and and between the end of practice and the start of a match; if any authorised person gives advice illegally the umpire shall hold up a yellow card to warn him or her that any further such offence will result in his or her dismissal from the playing area (in effect as of 1st October 2016). 

Tentatively, I plan on making one of the following two motions: 

"I move that USATT temporarily adopt the new ITTF Coaching Rule, and re-evaluate and vote on it again in December, but tournaments may opt out of this rule if they state so on the entry form."

Or

"I move that USATT not adopt the new ITTF Coaching Rule at this time, and re-evaluate and vote on it again in December, but tournaments may opt to follow this rule if they state so on the entry form."

Things I Said While Coaching This Week

  • “Even Zhang Jike could make that shot.”
  •  “Life isn’t worth living if I can’t make that flip!”
  • “That was the greatest shot ever not attempted.”
  • “I’m too good to miss that shot!”
  • “If you keep practicing bad technique you’re going to perfect it.”
  • “If you stayed a little closer to the table I might be able to see your technique. Come visit sometime, okay?”
  • “Hello, 9-1-1? I’d like to report a Danielization.” (After student Daniel got still another net ball. Hey, we report things that are vandalized, why not Danielized?)
  • “If you get one more net or edge ball, I’m going to rename you Xi Enting.” (After the 1973 World Men’s Singles Champion who famously got a net and an edge to win at 19-18 in the fifth over Kjell Johansson, when games were to 21.)
  • “If you keep hitting backhands from the forehand side, you’ll have to learn to cover the other side of the table with your forehand.”
  • “Your parents called and asked me to let you know that they no longer love you and are abandoning you, and that you’ll be living full-time here at the table tennis club. You’ll sleep under a table, drop out of school, and train ten hours a day.” (Kid was very happy, though he wanted to negotiate the ten hours of training.)
  • “I can do that.” (After watching Nathan Hsu absolutely rip a backhand loop.) And I can do that – once. There’d be a very loud ripping sound as every muscle and tendon in my arm and shoulder rips and I’d spend the rest of my life in rehab.

Revelations of a Table Tennis Champion, autobiography of Danny Seemiller now available
Here’s the ITTF News Release on Dan Seemiller’s autobiography.

Most Expensive Coach in the World Revisited
In my blog yesterday, I joked about being the most expensive coach, with a student paying $266 for a 90-minute lesson, or $177/hour. (Arguably more, because that doesn’t include transportation from NY to MD, and hotel – but he was down for a business trip, so we didn’t include that.) But Len Winkler, a professional coach from Hawaii (that’s not fair!) wrote me the following:

Aloha Larry,
I beat you in cost of coaching. Although I only charge a mere $30.00 per hour, I had a guy fly here on Saturday mornings every other week from Honolulu. He flew Hawaiian Airlines ($150.00 round trip), rented a car ($38.00), drove the 70 minutes in each direction (gas, $30.00), took his lessons, took me to lunch ($30.00), drove back to airport and home ($15.00 Honolulu parking). He did this for about 6 months. Then his wife had a baby and sadly hasn’t played since. LOLOLOL
Len Winkler

Len later emailed me that this was for a four-hour lesson, so that's $120 in coaching fees. All told, it comes to $353. But $353/4 = "only" $88.25/hour. So I'm still the most expensive coach in the world!

How to Return Spin Serves in Table Tennis
Here’s the new coaching article from Expert Table Tennis.

Why the Right Shoes Are Important When Playing Table Tennis
Here’s the article from Table Tennis Spot.

Women’s World Cup
Interested in attending this international event, which takes place in Philadelphia, Oct. 7-9? MDTTC has a special group rate discount. Here’s info! The best women in the world will be there, including the top two women in the world, Liu Shiwen and Ding Ning of China, and USA’s own Lily Zhang. (I’m reposting this item from Wednesday for those who missed it. I’ll be there on Sunday – hope to see you there!)

Zhang Jike Declines 2016 Chinese Super League
Here’s the article.

Best of Timo Boll - Zhang Jike
Here’s the video (8:55).

Ping Pong Brain Boost
Here’s the newest video (34 sec) on how table tennis is being used to treat Alzheimer’s.

Frogs Playing Table Tennis
Here they are!

Boater vs. Surfer Table Tennis
Here’s the video (10 sec) as they really do this!

Non-Table Tennis - Baltimore Book Festival
Tomorrow I’ll be at the Baltimore Book Festival all day, leaving early in the morning, so no blog tomorrow. I’m on two science fiction writing panels, a book signing (at 4PM for Campaign 2100: Game of Scorpions), plus a few other activities. Here’s their bio of me. My two panels (at 2PM and 3PM) are “How to Come Across as a Professional Writer When You're Just Starting Out” and “The Future of Science Fiction & Fantasy.” During my signing for Campaign 2100, I’ll also have on hand for sale my other novels, including the fantasy table tennis novel “The Spirit of Pong.” What, you, a table tennis player, hasn’t read that yet? What’s wrong with you?!!!

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I'm kind of with you on the coaching rule: I think it's bad for the game, in that it will slow it down and make it even less spectator-friendly than it already is, but if we (the USA) don't adopt it, we'll be put at a disadvantage.

Is there any way to lobby to have the international rule changed?