November 19, 2018

Tip of the Week
Forehand Stroke Efficiency. (Note - on Monday night I added a last line that links to Ma Long's forehand loop, as an example.) 

Weekend Coaching

  • Friday: I watched and took notes on our junior players for 2.5 hours during the Friday night league at MDTTC, getting ready to coach them at the North American Teams this coming weekend. Lots of little stuff, some big stuff. The hard part at this point is deciding on what things each player should focus on. For example, there are two players who still tend to serve and go into a backhand position, and so often aren't ready for easy forehands. Do we spend the week trying to fix this, or wait until after the Teams? (I've been on them for this for months.) In general, most are pretty much ready. I told them that for this last week, play lots of practice matches and practice their serves.
  • Saturday: I coached in the Saturday night junior league training, which is half league, half training. We had them play team matches, using the same teams that will play in the Teams next weekend. (We have a LOT of teams - at least ten junior teams, and about ten others.) We ran into the same type of things I wrote about above.
  • Sunday: The focus in the Beginning Junior Class was backhand attack against backspin, and then a forehand-to-forehand and backhand-to-backhand consistency competition. After an hour of training, they played games.

USATT Team Training
They are training at the Maryland Table Tennis Center, Nov. 18-22 (Sun-Thur). They had the first session last night, with 28 players. I'm not coaching at this one, but I did watch for an hour last night. (Coaches are head coach Pieke Franssen, Wang Qingliang, Qi Wei, and Ying Peng. They have one session on Sunday, three on Monday and Tuesday, two on Wednesday, and one on Thursday morning - yeah, Thanksgiving. Plus running in the morning.) I did somehow get volunteered into doing airport pickups, and picked up Amanda Malek at Dulles Airport yesterday morning at 6:16AM (you read that right, 45 minutes away). On Thursday I'll be transporting players from MDTTC to the hotel for the Teams, an hour away. On Friday morning I get to take a player to the BWI Airport (50 minutes away) for a 6AM flight. Then I race over to the Teams playing hall to coach for three days! (Play begins 9AM Friday.)

Non-Table Tennis - House and Car Repairs
I own a townhouse and live on the third floor, and rent out the first two floors. The place opened up, and so I'm about to rent it out again. Alas, I had to do a LOT of fixups first. I also had some car problems - ignition system broke. The costs? (Not including $100 to see four movies to drown my financial sorrows in. On the other hand, in my other career, science fiction writing, I sold three short stories this week, about $600. Also sold 37 books this past week, mostly table tennis, about $260 profit. Why don't you buy a few???)

  • Painting: $1175 (They are actually painting the first two floors on Tue and Wed, starting tomorrow)
  • Handyman: $835 (hordes of big and small fixes)
  • Maids: $451 (includes carpet cleaning)
  • Car: $578 (ignition system - "starter assay," plus new air filters, wiper blades, oil change, "complete PMA," general checkup)

Belarus Open
Here's the info page for the event held in Minsk, Belarus, Nov. 13-18.

New from EmRatThich

Timo Boll - What Makes Him Strong?
Here are six "What Makes Boll Strong" videos highlighting aspects of the German star's game. (I've linked to the first four previously.) Butterfly also did an article on the first five, with links after the video. (I'm guessing article #6 will show up soon.)

New from Samson Dubina

Responding Positively to Mistakes
Here's the article by Tom Lodziak.

Tomokazu Harimoto Training
Here's the video (42 sec). World #6 at age 15.

How to Attack Half Long TT Shots
Here's the video (7:07) from Eli Baraty.

National Collegiate Table Tennis Newsletter
Here's the November issue.

Table Tennis - People's Voice
Here's the article by Eli Baraty.

Trends in Table Tennis
Here's the article by Coach Jon. "I've been attempting to sell table tennis for over a decade. Whether it was trying to start a club, coach, or simply find somebody to play, I’ve noticed a few definite trends."

Quadri Aruna Once Again Sportsman of the Year
Here's the ITTF article on the Nigerian star.

WAB Featured Club: NYITTC
Here's the article by Steve Hopkins.

USA Table Tennis and the Happy Paradise Foundation Partner in Pong4Kids Grant Program
Here's the info page.

Nandan Naresh and Former NFL Star Charles Tillman
Here are the five great pictures! They were taken at an exhibition at the Jackson Chance Foundation. Nandan, 12, is on the USA National Mini-Cadet Team. Charles Tillman played in the NFL for 13 years, and just this year became an FBI agent! (Before I get hounded by those not on Facebook who can't see them, here are the non-Facebook versions: photo1, photo2, photo3, photo4, photo5.) Want more of Nandan? Here's 56 seconds of him playing under-the-leg table tennis with his dad! (Also before I get hounded for more info, Nandan is rated 2193, and had a recent rating of 2308. Dad Arcot is 1997, has been as high as 2075. Older brother/practice partner Sid, 14, is rated 2439.)

Pingsider | The Romanian Secret
Here's the ITTF video (12:31).

Table Tennis: A Sign of China-PNG Friendship
Here's the video (4:44). "Table tennis athletes and fans in Papua New Guinea's capital Port Moresby were thrilled when they were coached by Zhang Yining, China's former world table tennis champion. The spinning table tennis ball is writing the new chapter of friendship between China and Papua New Guinea."

DHS ITTF Top 10 - 2018 Men's World Cup
Here's the ITTF video (5:01).

Olympian Helps NYU Clinch the National Title
Here's the video (2:57) featuring Yijun Feng.

Paralympic Athlete Pursues Dream Shared With His Lost Twin Brother
Here's the ITTF video (6:02).

Fortune Cookie that Knows Table Tennis
"It's not the will to win, but the will to prepare to win that makes a difference."-Fortune cookie

History of USATT – Volume 21 – Chapters 25 and 26
Here's chapter 25 and chapter 26 of Tim Boggan's latest volume, which covers 1994-1995. Or you can buy it and previous (and future) volumes at www.timboggantabletennis.com. This chapters cover "August 1995 Tournaments" and "1995 September-October Tournaments." Volume 21 is 438 pages with 1667 graphics, and covers all the wild things that happened in 1994-95 - and I'm mentioned a lot! Why not buy a copy - or the entire set at a discount? Tim sells them directly, so when you order them, you get it autographed - order your copy now!

TTHistory | Legend Series | Ep.01| Jan Ove Waldner
Here's the video (8:37). This is episode 1 of what looks like a new series. Who will be episode #2?

Jan-Ove Waldner Complained About the New Ball
Here's the video (2:18) where he actually talks about a number of things, including increasing the ball size from 38 to 40mm.

Waldner-Appelgren Exhibition
Here's the video (30 sec)!

Robotic Racket Production
Here's the video (1:46) showing the final stages.

Improvised Beach Pong
Here's the video (9 sec) - and some nice shot-making!

Winged Mushroom Birthday Card Pong
Here's the picture. (Here's the non-Facebook version.)

I'm Not Sure What This Is Playing
Here's the video (5:56) and taking on challenges (and winning), but it looks to me like a toilet bowl brush and holder! (According to the comments, the player is Aiden Noren.)

Jenga Battles w/ Ping Pong Shots
Here's the latest video (5:16) from Pongfinity!

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Re: "It's not the will to win, but the will to prepare to win that makes a difference."

Something like the above was attributed to marathon runner Juma Ikangaa, IIRC in the 1980s: "The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare."

Five-time Tour De France winner Eddy Merckx had a shorter version for cyclists who want to win: "Ride lots."

In reply to by hangdog

The Rocky movies are a great example of this - while they feature Rocky's will to win when fighting, they equally feature his will to train and prepare.