September 27, 2016

The Debate
I watched the Trump-Clinton Debate (please click on link!) last night. I think it was fairly obvious which of the two prepared, and which one just showed up. (When you go to tournaments, which are you?) I was tempted to comment on the debate, but decided not to, since this is a table tennis blog. But this is a good time to repost my 2016 Presidential Election Table Tennis Cartoon!

Sunday Coaching
Sunday is my busiest coaching day, where I normally have eight hours of almost non-stop coaching. As usual, a lot of crazy coaching stuff happened. Here’s a rundown.

  • One student seemed to be struggling with the transition from backhand to forehand in side-to-side drills. Then I had a brainstorm, and had him just loop forehands down the line – and he continued to struggle. The problem wasn’t the transition, it was his positioning for attacking down the line. With a little work there, he was fine, and we went back to side-to-side drills, which no doubt made him happy.
  • I have a new student, age 11, who’s been going to my junior classes but just started out with private coaching. He has this nasty habit of standing too close to the table, with his stomach practically touching the end-line. As a result, he’s often rushed, and covers shots to his middle in various contorted ways. Also because he’s rushed, he tends to reach for balls rather than step. I had him stand aside while I did some easy drives to his forehand so he could see that the top of the bounce was actually well behind the table, and spent half the session reminding him to stand about arm’s length from the table. We’ll keep working on this – things like this you want to fix early on. We also worked on spin serves, and he was able to make his first backspin serve that came back into the net. (This is an exercise so players can learn to put spin on the ball.)
  • In the second week of this Fall’s Sunday Beginning Junior Class, we did forehand review, and then focused on the backhand. John and Wen Hsu assist in this class. I also introduced simple serves. Next week – spin serves.
  • In the Adult Training Class, we did the usual drills, then I finished by calling them together to demonstrate the various ways you can serve with the same motion and go either short to the forehand or long to the backhand. Examples included forehand pendulum serve; forehand pendulum serve deep to backhand/reverse pendulum serve short to forehand; backhand serve (often from middle of table); tomahawk serve (often from middle or forehand side); and forehand tomahawk short to forehand/reverse tomahawk deep to backhand. Then they drilled where the server used one of these variations, trying to hide if they were going short to forehand or long to backhand, and they’d play out the point. It’s a great way to twist an opponent into a knot!

Stroke Development Tips for Table Tennis Players – by Werner Schlager
Here’s the article from Expert Table Tennis. It’s Day Two of their Werner Schlager Week. Yesterday they had Serve & Return Tips.

Revelations of a Table Tennis Champion and History of U.S. Table Tennis
Both are USATT news items this morning. I did the page layouts and photo work on both (I also do their web pages), so I’m glad to see it! USATT always posts the chapters of Tim Boggan’s History of U.S. Table Tennis volumes, and this morning they started on Volume XVIII.

Dan’s had three reviews so far at Amazon, all five-star. Here they are!

5.0 out of 5 starsGreat Book Full of Entertaining Stories
By J.L. on September 17, 2016
This was an enjoyable read, finished the book in a day. It is an intriguing glimpse into the life of a pro athlete in a little known sport. Danny Seemiller should truly be nominated as the "Most Interesting Man in the World"

5.0 out of 5 starsPast and Present, Seemiller Still Reigns
By Tom Wintrich on September 25, 2016
Danny Seemiller is America's most important table tennis player. His time as an elite competitor totals 45 years and counting. His years coaching is nearly the same, where he's helped beginner to expert individually, or as a team, whether it be local, national, World or Olympic. Directing tournaments and promoting the sport is another ongoing passion, mostly on the local and regional level but he's jumping to the international stage in 2018 after he and friend Dave Sakai spearheaded the bid to secure the World Veterans Championship for the USA. And for good measure, Seemiller led the USA Table Tennis Association as president from 1990 to 1995. That statement is the only one that requires the past tense.

Now Seemiller has written a book that fulfills his title's promise of revelations. Even with 40 years in the game, there was plenty of new information to glean. He begins with his humble start in the South Hills of Pittsburgh and takes the reader on a national and international odyssey of modern table tennis from his perspective. His style is simple, direct and personal, switching between the third person reporter and first person narrator. He also mixes in published accounts and articles about himself, other players or the sport in general. And he gets in a few deserved digs against some of the bonehead decisions made by Association officials that directly affected his career. There's even a jab or two against opponents and he lands a nice one on a Hollywood celebrity. There are ample photographs to highlight the narrative. A number of them picture the Seemiller family.

Table tennis is a small game literally and figuratively and that aspect of the sport affords its participants a wonderful benefit: we are all on tour together, there is no separate circuit for the elite. From champions like Seemiller all the way down to the unrated, we play the game in the same venue and we share the competitive memories. If you think this is a friend promoting a friend's book, you would be wrong. This is a player just like you, who has been an eye witness to many of the author's accomplishments and many of the events he describes. While his story may transcend ours, it also contains it and that makes it all the more rewarding to read.

5.0 out of 5 starsBy Mark H on September 19, 2016
Incredible stories of an incredible athlete and coach! A must read for any and all table tennis enthusiasts

Jean-Michel Saive Intends to Run for ITTF President
Here’s his Facebook posting, where the former world #1 says:

“I am very proud and honoured that my federation today officially supported my INTENTION to run for the position of ITTF president. I am very encouraged by this decision and even more motivated to serve my sport in a new capacity. I will make my final decision in the near future after checking the level of support I could get.”

Yijun Feng Set to Make Men’s World Cup Debut
Here’s the article. Most of us better know him as Tom Feng, the 2015 Men’s Singles Champion and 2016 Finalist, and the 2016 North American Cup Champion (which qualified him for the World Cup).

Samson’s Student of the Month
Here’s the article and video (45 sec) – and Sarah Jalli wins because of hustle, as explained in the article.

Knowledge the Foundation for Growth, Thailand Increases Educational Opportunities
Here’s the ITTF article on USA’s Richard McAfee’s ITTF coaching courses in Thailand.

Le Tour De France Ping-Pong
Here’s the video (2:49). Lots of great blue mini-table play, set to music!

Stop War. Play More Table Tennis
Here’s the picture! (Here’s the non-Facebook version.)

Drabble Table Tennis Cartoons
Marv Anderson alerted me to recent Drabble cartoons on table tennis. Here they are! The ones from Sept. 12-16 go together, while the April 7 (which I previously linked to) and Sept. 24 ones are stand alone.

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