Olympic Coverage
Guess who swept the Olympics once again? But Japan did give the Chinese men a scare. Here’s what happened.

Match #1: Ma Long (CHN) d. Niwa Koki (JPN), 6,9,6. Okay, Niwa made game two interesting, but this match between the world #1 and #22 was never in doubt.

Match #2: Jun Mizutani (JPN) d. Xu Xin (CHN), 10,9,-3,-7,10. Holy moly! Jun went up 2-0. He’s world #6 to Xu’s #3, and Japan’s hopes really rest in him winning both singles matches and somehow scrounging up one other match. But Xu comes back, easily wins games three and four. What the scores don’t show here is that Xu was up 10-7 match point! It was all but over – and then Jun scored five in a row. Poor Xu is going to have lots of explainin’ to do the next time they choose their team. Hello Fan Zhendong (who’s already world #2 after Ma Long).

Match #3: Zhang Jike/Xu Xin (CHN) d. Yoshimura Maharu/Niwa Koki (JPN), -4,6,9,5. When Japan won the first 11-4, things looked REALLY interesting. Xu had just lost in singles, and now, despite being China’s lefty doubles specialist, he was losing in doubles as well, and badly. China won game #2, but game #3 could have gone either way. China pulls it out. If not, this would have forced a game five decider between Jun and Zhang Jike – and that would have been something to watch. But it was not to be because playing for China in the next match was the guy that makes Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt seem like just slightly good athletes…

Match #4: Ma Long (CHN) d. Maharu Yoshimura (JPN), 1,4,4. Do you think Phelps or Bolt can beat their competition that badly? Yoshimura, world #21, is a sacrificial lamb here. His primary purpose here was to try to win the doubles (and he gave it a good go, along with Koki), so that Japan can force that fifth match between Jun and Zhang Jike that we all would have liked to see.

The Ten “Etiquettes” for the High Level Athlete
These are from page 15 of the ITTF Advanced Coaching Manual, which make them at least semi-official. Like the “Ten Commandments” I blogged about yesterday, these have also always irritated me. Also, some of them just don’t make sense due to the poor translations. (As I wrote yesterday, the manual was originally in French and somewhat poorly translated into English.) Here they are, with my comments afterwards.

The Ten “Etiquettes” for the High Level Athlete
(From page 15 of the ITTF Advanced Coaching Manual.)
A self respecting sports teacher has the duty to transmit to the athlete that guiding principles without which the sport would not be what it is today are part of his teaching. The Champion is a sports phenomenon and must therefore set an example for ALL athletes!

1. The first step towards success: good judgment.
2. Any progress goes through trial and error.
3. Losing and Winning belong to any training.
4. Learning lessons from the past means imposing rules for yourself.
5. These rules cannot be built without a philosophical global vision.
6. Competitive sport means pushing your limits further and enjoying your conquest.
7. Nothing is for free: fatigue and efforts are the price to pay to reach that point.
8. Pleasure, self respect and personal satisfaction gained from this conquest are priceless.
9. To reach that point, some traps need to be avoided: challenging profit, uncontrolled aggressiveness, provoked opposition.
10. Sport is a real school of Life.

Let’s look at these one by one.

The Ten Commandments of High Level Sport
I’ve always been slightly irritated at some of these “Commandments.” They are from page 14 of the ITTF Advanced Coaching Manual, which make them at least semi-official. The manual was originally in French and somewhat poorly translated into English, so there might be some problem there. But these are what we publish and teach, with little further explanation. Here they are, with my comments afterwards. (Tomorrow I plan to write about what’s on the next page of the Advanced Coaching Manual - The Ten “Etiquettes” for the High Level Athlete.)

The Ten Commandments of High Level Sport
(from ITTF Advanced Coaching Manual)
Silent laws and rules that everybody follows exist in every social situations High level sport is no exception; it is a special environment which has its own rules of the game. We either accept these rules or they do not accept us. These rules are not written down anywhere, but those who succeed have accepted them and work with them.

Tip of the Week
How to Deal with Nervousness and Play Your Best: Magic, Best Match, Tactics.

Dan Seemiller vs. Larry Hodges
As I’ve mentioned previously, I’m hard at work editing Dan Seemiller’s autobiography. It’s got some great stuff! It’ll be out by early September, and you have to buy this. You’ll get to live out the great moments in his career as he won five USA Men’s Singles titles, as well as Men’s Doubles 12 times, plus lots of international play at the Worlds and elsewhere. Plus lots on his playing rivalries with players like Eric Boggan, Sean O’Neill, and others!

But this is my blog, and guess what? As I read about Dan’s playing Career (capitalized) I can’t help but compare it to my own playing career (no caps).

Dan played in the Second Division at the Worlds in 1975, 1977, and 1981, going a combined 66-1, including 26-0 and 22-0 the last two years. I played with a weaker team at the U.S. Open Team Championships in Detroit in 1996 and 1997 (average rating in our division those two years was about 2000), and I went a combined 52-0. That’s always been one of my proudest achievements – Dan himself couldn’t have done better in that division!

My Thoughts on the Men's Gold and Bronze Medal Matches
Last night Ma Long went from being the best in the world to being an all-time great. He now does just about everything a little better than Zhang Jike. Zhang might have a slight edge on the backhand, but it's close. Ma Long has more power and consistency, and is able to rip forehands at will. Every decade or two a player comes along that simply raises the bar higher than anyone before - such as Wang Liqin and Jan-Ove Waldner. Ma Long might be doing that now. He completely dominated the gold medal match.

On the other hand, Zhang Jike simply didn't look as good as he used to be. Are his days near the top of the Chinese team over? He even struggled with Samsonov in the semifinals. I think that Zhang Jike at his best would have played Ma Long somewhat closely, though I do think Ma Long has passed him by and would have been favored, even if Zhang were at his best. I'm betting Fan Zhendong might be slowly moving into the #2 spot on the Chinese team, with Zhang and Xu Xin battling for #3. (And, of course, Fan is already #2 in the world, Xu #3, and Zhang #4 - but much of the time Zhang was winning the biggest titles he wasn't ranked #1 in the world either; he wasn't as good outside the big ones.) 

Did anyone notice how much the players used short receive? Players have so overused backhand banana flipping that servers are just too used to it, and can hang back and attack it. The best players are very good now at mixing in flips and short receives, as well as occasional long pushes. Samsonov sometimes likes to push serves out to the forehand so he can block into the server's backhand. The receive in these matches was almost a throwback to times past when short pushing was king. 

Back to Coaching, Office Coaching, ITTF Classes, and Dan's Autobiography
After my five weeks wandering the country, I'm back to regular coaching. I was coaching during most of my travels – but much of that was coaching matches at the USA Nationals and Junior Olympics. I did a lot of "regular" coaching at the USATT Supercamp, but since I didn't apply to be one of the National Team Coaches (which I was for about ten years back in the 1990s/early 2000s), I was more of an assistant there – sometimes a "walk around" coach, other times working one-on-one as a practice partner/coach. (But my primary duties there was a manager and writer.) It was great fun working with many of the top U.S. junior players from all over the country, but now it's back to coaching just locals.

But with the Nationals and Junior Olympics over, for many players now's the time to start reworking parts of their game, thinking long-term. One of my players currently dominates with his serve and his backhand, but is having forehand problems - attacking, rallying, and blocking – and so we're really working on this, with some major technical changes. It's tiring for me since to work on his forehand block, someone has to loop – and that would be me! I had two hours of coaching last night – not too much – but it'll get busier in the coming weeks. Fortunately, I wasn't needed at this week's MDTTC camp so I'm able to catch up on things. I might be needed in the next two camps coming up, however. (They are all Mon-Fri.)

Five Weeks Wandering - MD, NV, NJ, NH, TX
I've been all over the place these past five weeks. (I've spent the last five days catching up on piles of work…) Here's a recap – in reverse order.

One More Day…
I really planned on an extensive blog this morning – my first in a while – but I need one more day to catch up on work missed during my five-week absence. I promise to start blogging regularly again tomorrow. Meanwhile, below are some segments I put together previously for the blog, including the Tip of the Week. Alas, I have a number of other links that I'll compile in tomorrow's blog.

Tip of the Week
Three Weapons: The Triple B's.

Olympic Coverage
Here's the ITTF International Coverage, and here are USATT's News Segments.

7 Best Table Tennis Blogs from Around the World
Here's the article from Table Tennis 11 - guess which one was listed first?

7 Step Plan to Improve Your Forehand Topspin
Here's the article from Tom Lodziak.

Starting Out In Table Tennis #269
Here's the new video (50 min) from PingSkills.

Footwork Exercise Tip to Improve the Forehand and Backhand Strokes
Here's the video (1:32) from Eli Baraty

The Real Rallies of Table Tennis
Here's the article from Coach Jon.

Next Blog - Tuesday, Aug. 9
It’s been a great eleven days here at the USATT Supercamp, but now I’m off for my annual “vacation.” Normal people vacation at the beach, camping, Disneyworld, or some other sane thing. Me, I go to an annual science fiction writing workshop, July 22-30. So Friday morning, after taking Matt Hetherington to the airport at 7:15AM (see below), I’ll be driving up to Manchester, NH (four hours), for my “vacation.” I drive back to Maryland on Saturday afternoon, July 30 (I’m dreading the eight-hour drive), and flying out to Houston early the following morning to coach at the Junior Olympics, returning on Aug. 4. After that I'll need a few days to catch up on work, plus I'll be back to coaching at our summer camps. I’ll be back on my regular blogging schedule, Mon-Fri, starting Tuesday, Aug. 9, with the usual blog and other segments.

USATT Supercamp - Day Eleven
By Larry Hodges

This is my last day here; I’m leaving tomorrow morning for my annual vacation. But it was a really full day! We started with physical training - and today’s was short and simple. After jogging half a lap and walking the rest to loosen up, and some stretching, we did a timed mile. Below are the times. Nope, they aren’t good enough; we need more in the 5:30 range. We’ve been on the players about this, and expect to see improvement over time.

USATT Supercamp - Day Ten
By Larry Hodges

[Here's the USATT Day Ten page, with video and photos by Matt Hetherington, and this article.]

Sometimes cold print like this doesn’t really do justice to all that’s happening. With luminaries like Dan Seemiller, Sean O’Neill, Lily Yip, Richard McAfee, Samson Dubina, Han Xiao, Wang Qing Liang, and Cory Eider, and with so many of the top juniors in the country, there are so many interactions going on that there’s no real way of reporting on them. For example, Lisa Lin has a really nice backhand serve, her best serve. I told her how Dan probably had the best backhand serve in U.S. history - incredibly spinny and deceptive, plus he knew how to follow it up - and suggested she talk to him about it. Five minutes later I find them in deep discussion as Dan’s demonstrating and explaining it for her. This is how knowledge is passed from one generation to the next.

The kids got to sleep late today - no physical training. (But we have evil plans for tomorrow - another timed mile run.) After a morning of video games on various devices (and a room inspection, followed by forced clean-ups as I stood guard, arms folded), we went over to the club at 11:30AM for a birthday party for Michael Tran (who turned 14 today) and his brother Daniel (who recently turned nine). We had lots of chocolate and vanilla cake.

Sean O’Neill had to leave for the day, driving back to Virginia for a funeral. He’ll be back tomorrow. Lily Yip ran the 12-2PM session for the lower group, with my assistance, while Dan and Cory were with the upper group. (Note that “upper group” refers to overall level; the kids in the “lower group” may be lower rated, but they are also mostly younger.)