Review of The Metaphysics of Ping-Pong
The Metaphysics of Ping-Pong (2015, 226 pages, by Guido Mina di Sospiro, subititled "Table Tennis as a Journey of Self-Discovery") is a fascinating story of one man's introduction and and often chaotic journey into the world of table tennis. Though I don't believe I've ever met him, much of his table tennis journey took place in neighboring Virginia and in some Maryland clubs, along with various other places around the U.S. and the world, including Italy, China, Mexico, New York City, California, and on cruise ships.

The novel has lots of cultural, philosophical, and historical asides, with various ruminations about this man's journey into the sport of table tennis, with lots of interesting characters. His introduction to the sport included facing a player using the "mythical" Sriver inverted rubber, under the Draconian "winner stays" rules. And from there we are off to meet the various characters in this world of table tennis.

USATT Reports – Leagues, Regional Associations, State Championships

My USATT League, Regional Associations, and State Championships Report went to the board in December. (I chair the USATT League Committee and am the Regional Associations Coordinator.) Also online are the minutes of the USATT League Committee Conference Call held on Jan. 16. (You can find these and other committee reports in the USATT Committee Reports Page. Here is a listing of USATT Committees.) Below is the Board Report. If it's boring, skip ahead to the good stuff below! (The formatting below doesn't quite match up with the original - the interface here isn't great.) 

<Start USATT Board Report>

USATT Board Report
USATT League Committee, Regional Associations, State Championships
By Larry Hodges, larry@larrytt.com
USATT League Committee Chair and Regional Associations Coordinator
December, 2015

USATT League Committee
I was appointed the USATT League Chair in March, 2015. Most of the committee members were approved also in March (Adam Bobrow, Michael Levene, Bruce Liu, Han Xiao), with two others added in October (Tahl Leibovitz, Mauricio Vergara).

The USATT League Committee had two major activities this year.

Pong in the Snow
Yes, it's snowing outside again here in Maryland. It looks like we'll get 3-4 inches, but it'd more except it's been in the 40s the last few days and so the ground is above freezing, and so it didn't stick at first. But schools are open (two hours late) even though the snow continues to fall. And so in honor of our latest snowstorm, and with apologies to the Let It Snow song (and the full version sung by Dean Martin)…

PONG IN THE SNOW
Oh the weather outside is frightful, 
But ping-pong is so delightful,
To the ping-pong club we'll go,
Despite the Snow! Despite the Snow! Despite the Snow!  

It doesn't show signs of stopping,
But I've brought some balls for chopping,
At the club we'll play like a pro,
Despite the Snow! Despite the Snow! Despite the Snow!  

When we finish up pong tonight,
And leave behind our playing site,
We'll stop working on our form,
As we venture out in the storm!

The pong in us ain't dying,
But it's time for our good-bying,
But we'll always have our pong chateau,
Despite the Snow! Despite the Snow! Despite the Snow!

Ask the Coach Show
Episode #220 (27:25) - Returning Smashes.

Inside the Mind of a Coach
Here's the rather detailed graphic! (Here's the non-Facebook version.)

Tip of the Week
Looping Against Backspin Drills.

Attacking the Middle
Today's blog is really simple – I'm assigning you to watch the final of Day Three between Crystal Wang and Angela Guan. (With apologies to Angela and choppers everywhere, we're about to let a huge cat out of the bag.) Here's the complete video (2hr 23 min), with Crystal vs. Angela starting about 10:30 in, followed by the Day Three men's final between Kanak Jha and Krish Avvari. (You'll have to register to watch it, but it's a simple process. You can watch video of the men's and women's finals for all three days of the USA Olympic Trials at the USATT Olympic Trials Page.)

I wrote about how to play choppers in a Tip of the Week, appropriately titled Playing Choppers. The second paragraph begins, "A chopper is weakest in the middle, and that is where you should focus most of your attacks." And that's today's subject. Crystal, who is only 13 years old, already knows this, and as you watch the video, watch how she relentlessly attacks the middle (the opponent's crossover point, roughly the playing elbow). She did the same thing in the semifinals in upsetting the 2545-rated Lu Ying, also a chopper. Crystal does have an advantage – she grew up training at the Maryland Table Tennis Center (my club), where she regularly trained with chopper/looper Wang Qing Liang ("Leon"), a 2600 chopper during most of that time.

By attacking the middle, you accomplish five things – and these are true not only against choppers, but against nearly all players.

Lawyers, and Coaches Seeking Clubs, and Clubs Seeking Coaches, Oh My!!!
A long time ago, before the explosion of full-time clubs in the U.S., when I was a webmaster for USA Table Tennis, I put together a page for Coaches Seeking Clubs and Clubs Seeking Coaches. At the time there were only a few full-time clubs – less than ten – and there just wasn't much demand for this in either direction. And so it wasn't very active.

But things have changed. Over and over we're finding new full-time clubs looking for full-time coaches to help their club, since most successful full-time clubs are oriented around the coaches, who are the ones who bring in new players to fill up the club. (That's the model that led to the "explosion" noted above.) Most of these coaches are from China, which has about ten zillion top players looking to become professional coaches. (Being a top player doesn't make one a top coach, but the ranks of top coaches tend to come from them. And most top players become at least decent coaches, and with experience, many become excellent coaches.)

But how do we get these coaches into the U.S. and into the clubs that need them? (Or start up new clubs centered around them, as often happens, but that's a separate issue.) There are all sorts of immigration issues. I'm only tangentially knowledgeable about these issues. At the request of lawyers, I've written a number of letters of recommendation for coaches, mostly for my club but for others as well. How these letters are used and the specifics of the immigration process, well, I think most of us know more about intelligent life in Andromeda than this process, which is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. (Sorry Winston.)

U.S. Olympic Trials
They start this morning at 9AM in Greensboro, NC, and continue through Saturday. Here's the home page, which includes the draws (see below), schedule, format, ticket information, playing listing, Live Results, and lots and lots of articles and other stuff. The matches will also be streamed live, with the women's and men's finals each night at 7 and 8PM. (Read over the format, but roughly speaking it's three consecutive days of single elimination, with the winner each day making the final USA team to the North American Trials, where they will compete with Canada for the final spots. The winner from the previous day doesn't have to play since he/she's already qualified.)

Here are the Day One Draws:

Table Tennis Variations
Getting tired of playing the same table tennis all the time, where you do the same topspin and backspin shots all night long? Here are some variations!

John Miller Match Analysis
I recently did a match analysis of John Miller, a regular in the Adult Training Sessions I run at MDTTC on Sunday nights, 6:30-8:00 PM. He has graciously agreed to let me run it in my blog. (Many of you know him as the Director of the three biggest tournaments in the country – the U.S. Open, the USA Nationals, and the North American Teams.) Here is what I wrote to him.

The match I analyzed was against Dmitriy Buluchevskiy at the Texas Wesleyan tournament, March 22, 2014, Under 1800 round robin match. (Buluchevskiy wins.) I watched it point by point, often replaying points and taking notes. Remember that such an analysis is by its nature critical – the key is to fix the problems.

The strength of your game is that when you are in position, you have very strong loops from both sides, as well as a very strong backhand smash against soft topspin returns of your serve. So setting up these shots with serve and receive is key. Just as important is not throwing away points by trying to loop too hard against serves or not being in position to take advantage of your strong shots. Below are six things that jumped out at me from the video and my notes.

Tip of the Week
Holding Back Against a Weaker Player.

Fifteen Fun Facts about Table Tennis
A few days ago I received an email from Herson Go, who said he would be doing exhibitions and clinics this week in five 45-minute classes at a middles school– about 300 students in all. He said, "I wanted to perk their interest and one of the things I was thinking of is to give them a short one-page list of 'Did you know that Table Tennis...' Any suggestions?" And so the list was born! Here's the list I came up with. Feel free to use this on your club websites or in other ways to promote the sport!

Fifteen Fun Facts about Table Tennis

Next Week is USATT Week (followed by a little "rant" on Illegal Hidden Serves)
I've been otherwise occupied on various things the last two months, but next week I'm planning to focus on USATT stuff. What does this mean? As readers of this blog know, I'm focused on three main issues right now for USATT:

• State Championships
• Regional Team Leagues
• Regional Associations

Next week I plan to contact people about these issues, both those who have shown interest (and may or may not now be working to set these up), and others who might. I'm finding the first two especially promising (state championships and team leagues), while the third, regional associations, is proving more problematic. (I wrote about this in my USATT Report, which I presented to USATT at the board meeting at the USA Nationals in December. It's supposed to go online, but hasn't yet. I'll link to it when it does.)

Are you interested any of these three – running a State Championship, setting up a Regional Team league, or creating a Regional Association? Contact me! (And note that this is all volunteer work on my part – I don't get paid a penny.)