April 13, 2017
MDTTC Spring Break Camp, Day Three
Yesterday the focus was on honing the forehand and backhand strokes, and footwork. I did a lot of multi-player multiball drills, where I'd work with two or more players at a time. Here are some of the drills we did. (All of the players I worked with were righties.)
Two players: The Multi-Player Side-to-Side Drill. The A player would stand in the forehand corner, the B player in the backhand corner but a step back. The A player hit a forehand, moved to the backhand side, hit a backhand, moved back to the forehand side, hit a forehand, then step back. Then the B player would do the same, going backhand, forehand, backhand, step back. Then repeat. It's continuous, with me feeding the balls side to side. Halfway through the drill I'd have them switch sides. (If the players are complete beginners, then they just stand in separate corners and practice forehands or backhands.)
Two or more players: Circling Drill. Players lined up on the backhand side, and hit three forehands, one from the backhand side, one from the middle, one from the forehand side, and then circle back to the end of the line. Halfway through the drill they'd switch and line up on the forehand side, and hit forehands from forehand, middle, and backhand. Two other variations: Just two shots, a forehand from each corner, or a forehand and a backhand from the corner. Each drill should be done in each direction. (I did variations of these drills with five players.)
Two or more players: The 2-1 Drill. The players would line up by the backhand side. Each player would get three shots: backhand from the backhand side, forehand from the backhand side, and forehand from the forehand side, then circle around to the end of the line. Note that this drill, when done continuously, incorporates the three most common moves in table tennis – move to cover the wide forehand, move to cover the wide backhand, and step around forehand.
Seamaster 2017 ITTF-Asian Championships
Here’s the home page, with results, articles, photos, and video. They are taking place right now in Wuxi, China, April 9-16.
“The Bionic Man”
Here’s the video (1:47) from WJLA ABC News 8 last night, featuring Navin Kumar. That’s me in the video hitting with him throughout (bright blue shirt), and quoted one time. (This is Navin’s recording of the video; the online version from WJLA hasn’t gone up yet.)
Forehand Flick: Three Tips
Here’s the article and video (3:22). Note that “Flick” is the same as “Flip.”
USATT Insider
Here’s the new issue, which came out yesterday.
2017 NorCal Juniors League Mid-Season Report
Here’s the article.
Eight New Blue Badge International Umpires Announced
Here’s the ITTF press release. One of the new ones is USA’s Esther Aliotta.
The Beast is Back
A little multiball, anyone (46 sec)?
Why This Self-Made Millionaire Takes Meetings While Playing Ping Pong
Here’s the video (48 sec) from CNBC.
Somewhat Amusing Ping Pong Videos
They’ve been accumulating – time for some Spring Cleaning!
- Popeye vs. Bluto (2:29) - the table tennis is from 0:18 to 1:14, then it switches to some sort of live concert, and finishes with a non-table tennis Tom and Jerry cartoon
- Sardine Pong (7 sec) – it’s apparently ping-pong on a large sardine, though it looks more like a flattened whale.
- Ping Pong Movie Preview (1:26) – involves a somewhat hilariously poorly animated ping-pong ball as these two go at it.
- 3D Animation Robotic Table Tennis (25 sec) – two robots go at it.
- South Park Pong (1:59) – some shooting involved! No sound.
- Chipmunk Pong (52 sec) – I’m not sure if the high-pitched “chipmunk” voices of the two girls playing table tennis are from speeding up the video or helium.
***
Send us your own coaching news!
