Tip of the Week

Care of Equipment.

Disservice to Juniors Everywhere

I'm going to do a disservice to junior players everywhere and point out something I noticed at the MDTTC tournament this past weekend, though it's something I've mentioned before. When playing these fast and furious juniors (i.e. players that can rally faster than you can), your best option is use serve and receive to get the first attack in, usually with a loop. However, over and over I saw players losing to juniors because they kept opening with crosscourt loops, which the juniors would pounce on. These juniors do a lot of crosscourt hitting, and I think if you even snap your fingers they'll reflexively cover the crosscourt angle. The players that gave them trouble were the experienced ones who would attack down the line with their first shot, and then move to cover the wide crosscourt angle if it came back. Usually they did not.

Butterfly MDTTC September Open

Here are the main results for the MDTTC tournament I ran this weekend. Juniors dominated, with at least one in every final except Under 2350. Here's a rundown, with main results below.

• The Open was won by 17-year-old Wang Qing Liang over 15-year-old Chen Bo Wen, both player-coaches at MDTTC. In the semifinals they defeated two former Maryland junior stars, Khaleel Asgarali and Raghu Nadmichettu (who would win Under 2350 from down 0-2 in the final to Hung Duy Vo).
• Roy Ke, 13, won Under 2200 from down 0-2 in the final to Lixin Lang.
• Anthony (Tony) Qu, 12, won Under 2050 and made the quarterfinals of the Open with a huge upset over fourth-seeded Richard Doverman (2349, 11-9 in the fifth) and Derek Nie (2170, 13-11 in the fifth).
• Wesley Duan, 12, made the final of both Under 1900 and Under 1650.
• Kyle Wang, 13, made the final of both Under 1400 and Under 1150.
• Daniel Yang, 12, won Under 1150.

Butterfly MDTTC September Open
Gaithersburg, MD, Sept. 22-23, 2012
Open - Final: Wang Qing Liang d. Chen Bo Wen, -6,6,9,7,-9,6; SF: Wang d. Khaleel Asgarali, 10,3,8,7; Chen d. Raghu Nadmichettu, 6,7,9,5; QF: Wang d. Nazruddin Asgarali, 8,5,6; K. Asgarali d. Anthony Qu, 4,6,5; Nadmichettu d. Larry Abass, 9,5,12; Chen d. Sutanit Tangyingyong, 4,5,9.
Under 2350 - Final: Raghu Nadmichettu d. Hung Duy Vo, -9,-15,6,11,8; SF: Nadmichettu Lixin Lang, 2,-9,3,7; Vo d. Sutanit Tangyingyong, 5,11,8.
Under 2200 - Final: Roy Ke d. Lixin Lang, -6,-5,4,8,8; SF: Ke d. Nazruddin Asgarali, 6,9,7; Lang d. Sutanit Tangyingyong, 10,-13,5,9.
Under 2050 - Final: Anthony Qu d. John Olsen, 8,4,4; SF: Qu d. Austin Stouffer, 9,5,-9,6; Olsen d. Josiah Chow, 8,-11,12,-4,10.
Under 1900 - Final: Pat Lui d. Wesley Duan, 9,-10,7,4; SF: Lui d. Gahraman Mustafayev, 3,5,3; Duan d. Mohamed Kamara, -4,8,6,-3,7.
Under 1650 - Final: Quang Lam d. Wesley Duan, 8,6,8; SF: Lam d. Tang Yanghang, 16,-7,8,-6,14; Duan d. David Goldstein, -3,9,8,9.
Under 1400 - Final: Ara Sahakian d. Kyle Wang, 9,8,7; SF: Sahakian d. Quang Lam, 10,8,8; Wang d. William Wung, 5,9,7.
Under 1150 - Final: Daniel Yang d. Kyle Wang, 7,8,8; SF: Yang d. Allen Eng, 7,11,12; Wang d. Benjamin Kang, 8,7,7.

Women's World Cup

Here is the home page for the Women's World Cup, which was played this past weekend in Huangshi, China. It includes results, articles, and photos. Congrats to champion Liu Shiwen of China (world #3), who defeated surprise finalist Elizabeta Samara of Romania (world #38) in the final.

Ariel Hsing is a Focused Student

Here's the article from Table Tennista.

Dimitrij Ovtcharov in Training

Here's a short video (0:23) of the German Olympic Bronze Medalist doing a multiball drill. It'll tire you out watching.

Table Tennis Fitness Training

Here is a short video (0:29) of some serious physical training for table tennis. I believe this is in Taiwan.

You Can Play Table Tennis Anywhere

Scenes from Sri Lanka.

Ma Lin versus Roger Federer

Sort of!

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Down the line

Players do not practice down the line nearly enough. (Yes, I've blogged about this before, but it needs emphasis.) This means:

1. They are inconsistent going that way since they aren't used to doing so;
2. They are hesitant to go that way when it is the right tactical shot;
3. Opponents only have to cover mostly crosscourt shots;
4. Since they are drilling mostly crosscourt, so is their practice partner, and so they aren't used to down-the-line shots, and so are vulnerable to them in matches;
5. They are losing the training benefits of hitting down the line.

What are the training benefits of hitting down the line (#5 above)? First, if you can control your shots down the line, then going crosscourt is easy. (It's 9 feet down the line, 10.3 feet crosscourt, which is 10 feet 3.5 inches, or about 15.5 inches more table, meaning nearly 8 more inches on the far side, your target.) Second, hitting down the line with the forehand from the forehand side forces you to turn your shoulders (if done properly), which is a good habit to develop.

At the cadet trials at the USA Nationals in December, a player I coached went up against a higher-ranked player. I'd watched the player on video in advance, and realized he was a vintage crosscourt player. The primary rallying strategy was to go down the line every chance. The opponent struggled with this, which help lead to an upset.

Lagging rackets

An intermediate player I coached yesterday for the first time had difficulty hitting balls crosscourt, both forehand or backhand. His shots tended to stray in to the middle. The problem? "Lagging racket syndrome"! On both forehands and backhands his racket tip lagged behind when it should drive through the ball. (This also leads to a lack of power.) The cure is to really focus on the racket tip leading the stroke. It took him only minutes to fix this problem, at least in drills. I think this is a relatively easy fix, and he should be able to do this in matches quickly.

USA Table Tennis minutes

The minutes of the USATT Board meeting at the USA Nationals, Dec. 15-16, 2011, are now online.

Help Wanted - Paralympic Program Manager

USA Table Tennis has posted a help wanted news item, for Paralympic Program Manager. Position pays $1600/month.

Train your brain with pong

Here's a video from "Fitness on the Run" (1:56) that emphasizes the benefits of table tennis for the brain. Some quotes:

• "If you want to be your best, you need to train your brain."
• "Ping Pong is actually the number one thing you can do for your brain. The constant calculations your brain needs to make in order to identify different spins, angles, attacks and defense are just like doing a math equation with the added benefit of the blood flow from all the agility and movement."

Table tennis 2012

Here's a highlights reel (3:45) that features "players who are likely to dominate table tennis in the coming season."

Serena Williams versus Matthew Syed

Here's a video (1:31) of tennis star Serena Williams introducing you to her table tennis game as she takes on English star Matthew Syed.

Non-Table Tennis: My movie rankings

I saw exactly 52 movies in theaters in 2011. Below is my ranking of how I liked them. Let me emphasize - this is not a critical listing, but a listing of my personal preferences. One listing might need explaining - I put "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" dead last. Why? I'm guessing that I was daydreaming a bit at the start, and missed important dialogue, but halfway through I realized I had no idea what was going on, and almost walked out. I stayed, but even now I'm completely lost. Others say it's a great movie. (NOTE - I'm told that the numbering below isn't working for Explorer 9, alas. I don't know why. It works for Chrome, Firefox, and Explorer 8.)

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
2. Rango
3. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
4. Hugo
5. Moneyball
6. War Horse
7. X-Men: First Class
8. Puss in Boots
9. The Adventures of Tintin
10. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
11. Captain America: The First Avenger
12. Paul
13. Arthur Christmas
14. Super 8
15. The Thing
16. Thor
17. The King's Speech
18. Cowboys & Aliens
19. Water for Elephants
20. Kung Fu Panda 2
21. Real Steel
22. The Three Musketeers
23. Source Code
24. Contagion
25. The Ides of March
26. Hanna
27. We Bought a Zoo
28. Horrible Bosses
29. Green Hornet
30. Mr. Popper's Penguins
31. Conan the Barbarian
32. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
33. Warrior
34. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
35. Drive
36. Tower Heist
37. 50/50
38. Battle: Los Angeles
39. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
40. Cars2
41. Apollo 18
42. The Muppets
43. 30 Minutes or Less
44. Limitless
45. The Debt
46. Green Lantern
47. J. Edgar
48. Unknown
49. Arthur
50. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
51. Your Highness
52. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

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