May 10, 2017

USATT Coaching Committee and USATT Board Pages
I have a new picture of myself up at the USATT Board of Directors page and the USATT Coaching Committee page – call it “Laughing Larry.” But what do I have to laugh about? I’ll leave that to your imagination. Heh heh heh.

I blogged on March 17, 2017 on my plans as Coaching Committee chair. I’m pretty happy with our new Coaching Committee – together we will soon be orchestrating plans for world conquest. Who are they?

  • Rajul Sheth. He’s the founder and director of the highly successful ICC Table Tennis in Milpitas, CA, and a two-time USATT Developmental Coach of the Year, who you all know well from his recent election to the USATT Board.
  • Han Xiao. He is one of the USA National Team Coaches, was a long-time USA Team Member, four-time Men’s Doubles Champion, and one-time Men’s Singles Finalist, who coached for many years at MDTTC and worked extensively with their junior players before moving to Philadelphia.
  • Sydney Christophe. He is certified as a USATT National Coach, an ITTF Level 2 Coach, and is one of five USA ITTF course conductors. He’s a Lead Coach for the American Youth Table Tennis Organization in New York, and a former Caribbean Men's Singles Champion.
  • Athlete Rep Timothy Wang. Three-time U.S. Men’s Singles Champion and a full-time coach at the Houston International Table Tennis Academy.
  • Staff Liaison Jorg Bitzigeio. He was a National Coach in Germany before recently being hired by USATT as their new High Performance Director. I’ve already been emailing with him with questions on how Germany runs their coaching certification program, and we’ve been discussing how to revamp ours.

A Question of Gender
Here’s the ITTF article. “A common phrase you will hear in sport is “we have to make the women play like men”. For a lot of disciplines this old adage may be true. But take a step back and look at the progress of the men’s table tennis game over the past twenty years. Perhaps we better start saying that the men should be playing like the women.”

Al-Mohannadi Withdraws from the ITTF Presidential Race
Here’s the ITTF article. It’s down to Jean-Michel Saive vs. incumbent Thomas Weikert.

Enterprising Joint Venture, Butterfly Supports Ping Pong Power
Here’s the article. “Increasingly the health benefits of table tennis are being realized; in addition to being an excellent form of exercise, it´s acknowledged by many as an effective treatment against Alzheimer and Parkinson diseases.”

Li Hsin-Yang Set to Follow Example of Illustrious Colleague?
Here’s the ITTF article on new Taiwanese star.

What Happens When Two Long-Pips Attackers Play
Here’s the video (24:23). They both seem afraid of the other’s forehand.

Westchester Table Tennis Center April 2017 Open Singles Finals
Here’s the video (42:57), Deng Pan vs. Junhan Wu.

Switch Hand Shots in Table Tennis
Here’s the article and video (6:01, from 2013).

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett Really Know How to Let Loose
Here’s the article, pictures, and video (66 sec).

Ping-Pong Anyone?
Here’s the cartoon image.

World #7 Cheng I-Ching, Adam Bobrow, and Reptilian Friends
Here’s the picture! (Here’s the non-Facebook version.)

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