April 4, 2017

April Fools’ Blogs
I hope you enjoyed the groundbreaking exposé in my blog yesterday of the new techniques by the Swedes to beat the Chinese – edge serves, net receives, knuckle shots. Some of you may have noticed that although the blog was on April 3, it referred to events that took place on Saturday. April 1. The more attentive of you may have read the first letter of each line. If not, now’s your chance!!! And for the record, Jan-Ove Waldner does have an older brother sort of named Ake Waldner – his real name is Kjell-Åke Waldner, and he too was a top table tennis player.

Here are my past April Fools’ Day blogs, where the first letter of each line spells out this secret message.

Backspin/No-Spin Serves
On Sunday in our adult training session, for our last drill, I had the players practice their backspin/no-spin serve and attacks. I often have them do serve and attack where they serve backspin; now I had them mix up backspin and no-spin serves – or more precisely, “Heavy no-spin serves,” i.e. fake heavy backspin but serve with no-spin. When you serve heavy backspin, receivers may put the ball in the net, but more likely they will push it back heavy and low. If you fake backspin but serve no-spin, opponents will tend to pop it up and return it with less backspin (since they don’t have your backspin rebounding off their sponge). But they also are more likely to attack, if the read it properly. So when serving no-spin, players should tend to be more aggressive on the follow, while at the same time being prepared if the receiver attacks. If you serve the no-spin very low, then few players can attack this ball very aggressively, and so you still get to attack. Here’s my article on this, Those Dizzying No-Spin Serves.

The Smasher - Check out the tactics to beat this difficult opponent!
Here’s the article from Samson Dubina.

How to Serve with Corkscrew Spin
Here’s the article and podcast (6:35) from Expert Table Tennis.

Zheng Chaoying Warm Up and Stretching Techniques for a Healthy Table Tennis Player Part 2
Here’s the ITTF article and video (25:14). Here’s Part 1 (16:49), which I previously posted.

2017 Butterfly Cary Cup: Kaden Xu Dominates Competition
Here’s the final article on the Cary Cup by Barbara Wei.

College Table Tennis: Table Tennis Titans Face More Battles in Wisconsin
Here’s the article by Andy Kanengiser.

Recognised Even Before Official Date, a Special Status for World Table Tennis Day
Here’s the ITTF article, which features Kanak Jha and Tahl Leibovitz.

History of U.S. Table Tennis, Volume 19 (1991-1992)
Here's chapter two! Or order your own print copies at TimBogganTableTennis.com, as well as Volume 19!

Westchester March 2017 Open - Jishan Liang vs Kaden Xu
Here’s the video of the final (20:44).

Mini-Ice Hockey Pong
Here’s the video (21 sec)! I’m guessing the goalie has good defense.

Stephen Curry vs. Serena Williams in Table Tennis!
Here’s the video (91 sec) of the two going at it (and destroying a room) in the new Chase commercial.

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