November 6, 2017

Tip of the Week
Become Your Own Feedback.

Three Cities Bid for 2020 ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships - Including San Jose, USA
Here’s the ITTF article. Yes, San Jose, USA is bidding for the Worlds against Ekaterinburg (Russia), Busan (Korea Republic). USA has never run the World Championships, but from I think we have a really good chance at winning this one. (I’m refraining from making any Russia/Trump jokes, and from hinting of the dangers of running anything in the Korean peninsula at this time. Oh wait, I just did.) Here’s a quote from the article:

“The bid from San Jose means that the USA is in the running to host only the second ITTF World Championships to be held outside of Asia and Europe. The first and only time that happened was in 1939 when Cairo, Egypt were hosts.  It’s positive signs for the global rise of table tennis, especially in North America, having successfully hosted the last two editions of the ITTF Women’s World Cup.”

And note the ITTF article from last week, ITTF Eyes North American Market. So you don’t really need any inside info to see that the ITTF would like to expand more into North America – and now we’ve run the last two Women’s World Cups, showing that yes, we can run these things. (Plus the World Veterans in Las Vegas next year.) The final decision on where the 2020 Worlds will be held will be made at the ITTF meetings at the 2018 World Championships in Halmstad, SWE, Apr. 29 – May 6.

These are changing times for table tennis in the U.S., where historically we’ve always been on the outside looking in. Even during our “heyday” of the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, when our top players competed for world titles, we never ran a Worlds or anything remotely close. Here is a listing of all the major ITTF events held in North American. (Let me know if I missed any. I’m only including the Summer Olympics since table tennis made its debut in 1988.)

  • 1990 World Veterans Championships, Baltimore, USA (which turned into a scheduling disaster that set us back many years in bidding for major events)
  • 1992 World Doubles Cup, Las Vegas, USA (discontinued event)
  • 1995 World Team Cup, Atlanta, USA (discontinued event)
  • 1996 Summer Olympics, Atlanta, USA
  • 2000 World Veterans Championships, Vancouver, CAN
  • 2007 World Junior Championships, Palo Alto, USA
  • 2016 Women’s World Cup, Philadelphia, USA
  • 2017 Women’s World Cup, Markham, CAN
  • 2018 World Veterans Championships, Las Vegas, USA
  • 2028 Summer Olympics, Los Angeles, USA

It seems to me that there have been two major things that have led me to be optimistic about the future of table tennis in the United States. First, as I’ve blogged before, was the rise of the full-time training center. Other than a few short-time attempts, there weren’t any in the U.S. until the Maryland Table Tennis Center opened in 1992. As of 2007, there were only about eight. Now there are 93, with a couple more I know of opening up soon. This has led to a huge increase in level and depth of our cadet and junior players – and where before our cadets, juniors, and men and women (other than immigrants) were generally on the sidelines early in major international events, now our cadets and juniors are competitive all over the world.

The second thing? Running two successful World Women’s Cups in North American (2016 and 2017), the World Veterans in 2018, and now possibly the World Championships in 2020, mean that we are no longer on the outside looking in. We’re on the inside, and the ITTF and North American are now partnering to break into this huge market. And guess what? I live in this market. Yahoo!!!

Belgium Open
Here’s the home page for the event held this past weekend in De Haan, BEL, with complete results, articles, pictures, and video.

EmRatThich at PingSunday
Here’s been busy!!! Here are five new articles and videos.

New Coaching Videos from Samson Dubina

Loop Like Zhang Jike - EXPLOSIVE Backhand
Here’s the video (3:55).

How to Feed Multiball
Here’s the video (7:02) from PingSkills.

Tom Lodziak Newsletter
Here’s the new issue, which includes links to numerous coaching tips.

USOC Coaching Education Newsletter
Here’s the new issue.

Ping Pong Diplomacy: The Cold War of the Game
Here’s the article from the World News Network.

Fan Zhendong and Lin Gaoyuan Training 2017
Here’s the video (3:55).

Behind the Scenes at the 2017 Men's World Cup
Here’s the video (2:51).

Zen Pong
Here’s the video (1:29) as Moos Barad bounces a ball on his paddle while balanced on one foot, including slow motion. “Focus and channeling one’s center of gravity is fundamental to great mastery of Table Tennis. The grind continues…”

Matt Kuchar Plays Table Tennis
Here’s the video (1:55). “7-time PGA TOUR winner Matt Kuchar is looking to table tennis to develop his golf game.”

Morgan Freeman and Tommy Lee Jones Playing Table Tennis
Here’s the trailer (3:23) for their upcoming movie, “Just Getting Started,” which comes out Dec. 8. At 1:04 in they are playing table tennis for a couple of seconds. At the very start, and again at 1:42 and 1:49 you can see a table tennis scoreboard.

That Feeling When You Finish Work on a Friday . . . or Win a Match
Here’s the picture! (Here’s the non-Facebook version.)

Forehand Falling-Backward Inside-Out Sidespin Countersmash
Here’s the video (13 sec) as Adam Bobrow demonstrates this fundamental shot, as well as your basic chop lob.

Monster Clown Plays Table Tennis
Here’s the video (11 sec)!

This Is Your Brain on Ping Pong
Here’s the cartoon!

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