September 8, 2025

Tip of the Week
Focus on Controlled Receives at Start of Match.

Weekend Coaching
I coached in four junior group sessions this weekend. While I did a lot of multiball (as always), I also got to work with several kids on serves. One of them is really picking up some tricky deep serves. I explained to him the importance of developing short serves for serve & attack, with the tricky deep breaking sidespin serves as a variation for occasional free points and to keep opponent watching for them so they are slower to react to shorter serves. If you overuse deep serves, they lose their effectiveness, and they generally don’t work as well at higher levels except as surprise serves.

I also did a lot of work with transitioning from looping against a backspin to looping against a block or topspin. In multiball, that means feeding a backspin ball, player loops, then I give a quick topspin, and they loop again. The key is the back shoulder – it drops some against backspin, but if you drop it against a topspin ball, you’ll likely go off the end.

I also was harping on players who kept pushing and Pushing and PUSHING!!! One player, rated about 1000, said, “It’s my playing style!” I hit a few balls with him and showed him what higher-rated players do if you push too much. He’s still a big skeptical, but mostly because his pushing works against his current peers. Hopefully, he’ll get more aggressive later. We did a drill that helps combat this pushing problem – we played up-down tables, games to 11, where the server had to serve short, the receiver had to push long, and the server had to attack or lose the point.

China and Brazil Visas and a Rather Funny, Eary Story
I’ll be playing on a US Over 60 Team at the Amity Cup in Nanjing, China, Nov. 14-15. (I’ll be there Nov. 11-19, also sightseeing in Shanghai.) I was in China for the 2005 Worlds, and coached the US Junior Team to a bronze medal at the 1994 World Youth Cup Championships in Taiwan. To go to China, of course, I had to get a Chinese visa. So, I filled out all the paperwork online and paid $140. It took three days, and two visits to the Chinese Visa Office in Washington DC. Then I ran into a snag when I went to pick it up on the second visit. They had given me a receipt that apparently had other info on it that was needed. But I couldn’t find it. So, I had to go through a line and other complications to get it. We finally found it – when they gave it to me, I had tucked it inside my passport, and they had held on to the passport for the three days they needed for processing. After I got the visa and they returned the passport – that’s when I found it.

I’m also competing in the Classic Table Tennis World Cup in Três Coroas, Brazil in January. (I’ll be sightseeing afterwards in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Lima, Peru; Machu Picchu, Peru; and Bogotá, Columbia. (I wrote about some of this in my blog last week.)

But getting the Brazil visa was both easier and much more – shall we say ear-raisingly exasperating and downright funny? I did it all online, no visit to the Brazil visa office was needed. But the problem was they required me to take a passport photo of myself. Their software would then evaluate the picture. Over and over it rejected the picture, with the automated software telling me over and over that the ears needed to show and that I needed to brush my hair back to allow them to show. But my hair wasn’t long – apparently my ears are just flatter than normal people’s, and from the front only partly show. The ears actually did show, but apparently not enough for the software, which might have a small software problem. After over a dozen rejections, I finally solved the problem – I literally jammed Kleenex paper behind each ear so they’d stick out - and then my picture was accepted!!!

I’m also competing in the Huntsman Senior World Championships in St. George, UT in October and the US Open in Las Vegas in December - so I’ve got a busy schedule! (Soon I’ll be making plans for the World Masters in Gangneung, South Korea in June next year.)

I Have Four Upcoming Books Coming Out
When it rains, it pours. When I write, the books just pop out! The weird timing thing is that all four books will be coming out between January and April of next year. (Here are links to all my current books – and note that Christmas is coming up!) The four are:

  • Even Yet Sill More Table Tennis Tips (April, 2026), the fifth the Tips series.
  • Amazingly Even Yet Still More Pings and Pongs (January, 2026). It’s the sixth in my “Pings and Pongs” short story collections. Outside table tennis, I write science fiction and fantasy, with four novels and 242 short story sales. (187 of them are original stories, the other 55 are resales.) When I’ve sold enough of them, I put them together in a collection, which sells on Amazon and at science fiction conventions.
  • Cats and Bats (January, 2026). In the world of science fiction and fantasy, I’ve sold five stories that feature cats, and five that feature baseball. And so, they are coming together in “Cats and Bats”! I already have a professional artist doing a nice color cover of a cat playing baseball.
  • Ping-Pong Paddles Can’t Talk! (April, 2026.) I’ve written about this several times – it’s my children’s picture book, for ages roughly 6-10, which introduces table tennis to kids, coming in April, 2026. Next week I’ll likely share the finalized pictures of the characters in the book – Kevin and Li, the main stars, plus Kevin’s parents, the Tournament Director, and the Tournament Referee, and, of course, the main co-star, Paddle, who may or may not talk. (A frog may also make an appearance.)

BIG NEWS - Major League Table Tennis Launches Table Tennis TV
Huge news – here’s the news item! Other MLTT links:

Butterfly Training Tips

Fethomania
With Stefan Feth and Larry Thoman

How to Loop Half Long Balls
Here’s the video (3:50) from PongSpace with Cheyanne Chen.

3 Hidden Backhand Banana Details That Change Everything
Here’s the video (5:48) from Andreas Levenko.

New from PingSkills
Ask the Coach

The Entire History of the Table Tennis Ball
Here’s the video (3:40) from Table Tennis Central.

Underspin Slices Deep and Is a Win!
Here’s the NCTTA review by Michael Reff of the upcoming table tennis novel, Underspin, by E.Y. Zhao. (I was sent an advanced copy and have already read it and written a review. Since the novel comes out on Sept. 23, I plan to post my review here in my blog on Monday, Sept. 22.)

The Star Who Vanished: What Happened to Fang Bo?
Here’s the video (3:27) from Beyond the Podium.

New from Steve Hopkins/Butterfly

New from USATT

New from ITTF

The Hardest Sport in the World According to NASA
Here’s the video (48 sec). “Research even links table tennis to improved cognitive flexibility and protection against neurodegenerative diseases. It’s literally one of the most comprehensive workouts for both body and brain that humans experience.”

Ranking Funniest Truls Moregard Moments - World #5 from Sweden!
Here’s the video (60 sec)! Watch just for the rally in the second example. (Side or edge?)

Crazy Lin Shidong Serve – the World #1 from China!
Here’s the video (11 sec)!

Living Room Pong?
Two videos from Ping Pong Maestros!

***
Send us your own coaching news!