April 11, 2018

Table Tennis Happenings

  • U.S. Nationals Entry Form. Here it is!  (I'd use the pop-out version - easier to read and print.) Hope to see you there - I'll be there.
  • USATT Board Meeting. We had a teleconference at 7PM Monday, which lasted over two hours. Main topics included approval of the minutes of the March 12 and 26 teleconference meetings (they should go online soon on the USATT Minutes and Actions page); notice and discussion of a potential new bylaws involving USADA for compliance with the Ted Stevens Act; Discussion about Para Data Protection Guidelines; Discussion about USTTA Foundation and USATT Financial Statements; and Events Update (World Veterans, 2018 U.S. Nationals, 2018 U.S. Open, and 2020 World Championships). We also had a close session that took up almost half the meeting.
  • Beginning Junior Class. We started a new ten-week beginning junior class this past Sunday at MDTTC, with 13 kids. Surprisingly, most of them were returnees from the previous session. As I always do in the first session, I gave a short demo and lecture on grip, stance, and the forehand, but since so many were returnees I went shorter than usual so I could get them out on the table sooner. I may shorten this even more next week.
  • Talent Program. We started the Sunday session with serve practice, and I was flabbergasted at one 7-year-old - in a good way. Three weeks ago he literally couldn't get backspin on his serve; now he was able to serve with enough backspin to make the ball bounce back into the net. Guess who's been practicing his serves a LOT? He was very happy that we noticed, and I made sure the other coaches also saw it. The rest of the session I fed multiball (topspin only due to my shoulder) - lots and Lots and LOTS of footwork drills.
  • Potomac Pizza on Thursday. On Thursday, April 12 (tomorrow), from 4-9PM, Potomac Pizza at the Traville Gateway Center in Rockville will donate 20% of all proceeds. Here's the promotional flyer! You may either bring this flyer with you or tell your server that you’re here to support HW GLOBAL FOUNDATION and they will add you to the totals. I teach a class from 6:30-7:30PM, and plan to drive over right afterwards, probably arriving around 8PM. Hope to see some of you there!
  • Butterfly MDTTC April Open. I'll be running the MDTTC April Open this weekend, April 14-15, in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Deadline to enter is 7PM on Friday. It includes a link that allows you to enter online through Omnipong, as well as a link to the PDF entry form you can print out. Events are Open, U2400, U2200, U2000, U1900, U1600, U1300, U1000, Over 50, Under 15, and Under 12. Don't miss the great Promotional video (2:32) put together by Mossa Barandao of Pongmobile! Also, the HW Global Foundation Talent Program Kids will hold a bake sale at the tournament - come support them!
  • Shoulder Update. I went to the club twice recently to experiment feeding multiball left-handed, since (as I blogged last week) it puts great pressure on the shoulder when I feed backspin repetitively. The first time was on Saturday, but I'd forgotten about the Capital Area League, and they were using every table. I went over early on Sunday (before my two 90-minutes classes), but the robot table (with the net I was going to practice into) was being used. Since nearly all the other tables were also being used, if I used another table I'd have been scattering balls in their courts. So I still haven't tested this. I will likely do so tomorrow - hopefully.
  • Yesterday's Critiquing. As noted in my mini-blog yesterday, I took yesterday off so I could read and critique seven science fiction & fantasy stories for upcoming workshops. (Okay, this isn't a "Table Tennis Happening," but I'm a Table Tennis Person doing it, so close enough.) I started at my desk at 8:30AM and worked until 10AM. Then I drove to Lake Forest Mall (about ten minutes away), and found a table by a window in the eatery, and worked there from 10:30AM to 6:30PM!!! (Pizza for lunch, Bourbon chicken for dinner, while sipping on a huge Dr. Pepper that lasted me all day.) Then I stopped by the club (one mile away) to pick up entry forms for the upcoming April Open and the Hopes Trials and chatted with players for a time. Then I went home and worked there from 8:30PM to 2:00AM - which is when I finished! I do rather extensive critiques. Alas, I'll have another set of stories to critique in May, and one more in June. 

Croatia Open
Here's the ITTF home page for the event, which started yesterday, which started yesterday in Zagreb, CRO, April 10-14.

Is Truls Möregårdh Sweden's Phoenix Flame?
Here's the USATT article by Ray Huang. "Just four months ago, Truls Möregårdh of Sweden burst out of the blue to take the silver medal at the 2017 ITTF World Junior Championship, defeating Chinese players Niu Guankai and Xu Haidong in the quarterfinal and semifinal stages. At only 15 years of age, he is also the youngest player to ever compete in the Champions League. Many have eagerly predicted that Truls Möregårdh can become the next Waldner. But where exactly did this youngster come from?"

Daily Aerobic Sessions Add to Halmstad Experience
Here's the ITTF article.

Mentorship Programme, Selection Announced
​Here's the ITTF article. "The Mentorship Programme matches coaches from around the world with top-level mentors; they work with their mentees through numerous skype and face-to-face sessions."

10 Interesting Facts About Ping-Pong You Don’t Know
Here's the article.

North High Hosts Annual Table Tennis Tournament
Here's the article on the tournament in Great Neck, NY. "Table Tennis stormed its way into Great Neck on Sunday, March 11, as more than 100 students representing 22 different schools participated in the Third Annual Great Neck North High School (GNNHS) Table Tennis Tournament."

NJTTC Hopes Qualification Camp and Tournament Ends with High Hopes on a Rubber Tree
Here's the USATT article by Dev Dassarma.

Table Tennis Tidbits #23
Here's the USATT article by Robert Ho, on the 2016 Pyongyang Open, "North of Korea’s Mason and Dixon Line."

USA Olympians Attempt Ping-Pong Ball Challenge
Here's the video (2:32) as they attempt to break the record for most ping-pong balls bounced into a pint glass in a minute. (These are non-table tennis Olympians.)

Ping-Pong, Anyone?
Here's the video (2:11) as Bob Mankoff from The New Yorker introduces you to his table tennis robot, then shows us five table tennis cartoons that have been published in The New Yorker.

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