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September 7, 2026

Larry Hodges — Mon, 07 Sep 2026 16:58:25 +0000

September 7, 2026

Tips of the Week
Here are all the Tips of the Week I put up during my seven weeks away. (A nine-day writing workshop, followed by my European Tour - see below.) As noted before, I’m taking a break from creating new Tips, and am going through previous ones.

07-20-26 Fifteen Important Deep Serves
07-27-26 The Short Serve & Short Receive, and Looping
08-03-26 Exaggerate the Opposite Motion on Serves.
08-10-26 A Journey of Nine Feet Begins at Contact.
08-17-26 A Levels Approach to Tactics.
08-24-26 Pushing: Five out of Six Doesn't Cut It.
08-31-26 Play Into the Weird Stuff.
09-07-26 Practice Matches

European Sightseeing
I was in Europe Aug. 6-28, sightseeing in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, and Slovakia, plus short stops in Netherlands and Poland (which I visited for several days back in 2019). I’ve now been to 37 countries, as well as all 50 US states. I could write many pages about this trip, but this is a table tennis blog, so I’ll keep it short. The main tour was a 13-day Nordic guided tour (with 38 people) of the first three above – DEN, NOR, SWE, and FIN, the Copenhagen to Helsinki tour. I did a lot of sightseeing on my own as well, and walked the streets of the major cities, including:

Netherlands: Amsterdam
Denmark: Copenhagen, Odense, Aarhus, Hirtshals
Norway: Bergen, Flam, Oslo
Sweden: Karlsta, Örebro – Stockholm
Finland: Helsinki
Poland: Warsaw
Czech Republic: Ostrava, Prague
Slovakia: Bratislava

In my ongoing search for Dr Pepper whenever I travel, I have concluded that Netherlands, Norway, Finland, Poland, Czech Republic, and Slovakia are uncivilized (no Dr Pepper). It took four days, but I found one on the last day in Denmark, so I guess they are semi-civilized. I found on the first day in Sweden, so they are civilized. :) I also collected a massive number of souvenir magnets from all the major places I visited.

I played in the Czech Classic Open in Ostrava on Aug. 23, competing in Over 40 and Over 60 Hardbat. (I think Ostrava is the center of European Classic TT - hardbat, sandpaper, wood.) I went 10-1 in matches, getting the bronze in Over 60 (don’t get me started on that SF match...), but dropped out of Over 40 in the QF when my knee started bothering me – I didn’t want to take the chance of injuring it further, especially since I was exhausted, and that’s when most injuries occur.

Here are the 37 countries I’ve been to, in order: USA, Canada, Mexico, Taiwan (let’s not bicker), Japan, China, Bahamas, Portugal, Ireland, England, France, Switzerland, Italy, Vatican City, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Greece, Egypt, Panama, Ecuador, Jordan, Austria, Dominican Republic, Scotland, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, Colombia, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, Slovakia.

Weekend Coaching
I worked with our elite junior group for two hours on Sunday. I’d say the focus for that session was balance and recovery. When players can’t get to a ball – often to the wide forehand – they almost always say they were out of position or just too slow. Actually, almost always it’s because they were off balance on the previous shot, and so recovered too slowly.

I also had two group sessions with our intermediate group, which actually includes our beginners. I spent one whole session with three kids ages 5, 6, and 8. I could have run drill after Drill after DRILL – and that’s exactly what I did. But instead of boring them to death and either turning them into zombies who don’t really want to play or driving them to another sport, after about 45 minutes I put targets on the table (mostly my water bottle), and had them do drills while aiming at them for the last 45 minutes. (“Don’t you DARE hit my rare, thousand-dollar water bottle,” I’d say – and, of course, that just motivates them to do so.) THAT’s how you get kids that age excited about playing, and THAT’s how you develop self-motivated kids who want to play and become champions.

Butterfly Review of “Ping-Pong Paddles Can’t Talk!”
Here’s the review, by Steve Hopkins. You mean you haven’t bought a copy yet??? Here’s where you can buy it from Butterfly!

Table Tennis History – September Issue
Here’s the new issue!

Three Table Tennis Coaches That Changed History
Here’s the video (1:52).

Five Things Every Beginner Should Know
Here’s the video (21 sec) from Liu Wenyu.

Why I Never Became a Professional Table Tennis Player
Here’s the video (32:30) from Matt Hetherington. Here’s a 36-sec excerpt.

Coaching and News from All Over
Since I’ve been away for a while, rather than linking to everything that’s happened, here are links to major table tennis sites that have new items. Have fun!

Conga Pong in Paris
Here’s the video (17 sec) from Ping Pong Pang Crew!

She Beat Me at 11. Now She's World #1 in U13, U15 and U17.
Here’s the video (14:16) from Adam Bobrow!

World’s Easiest Trickshots… But Only 1 Try
Here’s the video (14:42) from Pongfinity!

Non-Table Tennis – Science Fiction & Fantasy Sales & Publications
I’ve sold ten different stories to Black Cat Weekly – and they’ve published three this past month. Here they are! (You have to buy the issue to read it.)

The Long Adventures of Captain Quick (Aug. 2, 2026) - Captain Quick is a superhero who keeps getting killed – but if he can survive as a ghost for 70 billion years through the next Big Crunch and Big Bang and learn from his mistakes, he’ll get another chance. And another. And another. How long will it take him to defeat the Punner, the Puzzler, and the Puffin?
Comic-in-Chief (Aug. 30, 2026) - The US presidency has reached the point where it's purely entertainment, with the current president a standup comedian who does a nightly routine. When he's challenged by an even better entertainer - a literal clown - he must decide how to meet the challenge.
The Pleading Eyes of the Screaming Lettuce (Sept. 6, 2026) - With Earth about to be destroyed, an alien robot probe can only save the most worthy sapient life. How to choose? And why does food and medicine all over the planet suddenly start talking and making friends with perplexed people? The two are connected!

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Send us your own coaching news!

Larry Hodges Mon, 09/07/2026 - 17:58

August 31, 2026

Larry Hodges — Sun, 30 Aug 2026 21:23:56 +0000

August 31, 2026

Tip of the Week
Play Into the Weird Stuff.

Larry Hodges Sun, 08/30/2026 - 22:23

August 24, 2026

Larry Hodges — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 16:50:40 +0000

August 24, 2026

Tip of the Week
Pushing: Five out of Six Doesn't Cut It.

Larry Hodges Sun, 08/23/2026 - 17:50

August 17, 2026

Larry Hodges — Sun, 16 Aug 2026 16:00:31 +0000

August 17, 2026

Tip of the Week
A Levels Approach to Tactics.

Larry Hodges Sun, 08/16/2026 - 17:00

August 10, 2026

Larry Hodges — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 21:37:02 +0000

August 10, 2026

Tip of the Week
A Journey of Nine Feet Begins at Contact.

Larry Hodges Mon, 08/10/2026 - 22:37

August 3, 2026 Tip of the Week

Larry Hodges — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 15:34:11 +0000

August 3, 2026 Tip of the Week

Tip of the Week
Exaggerate the Opposite Motion on Serves.

Larry Hodges Sun, 08/02/2026 - 16:34

July 27, 2026 Tip of the Week

Larry Hodges — Mon, 27 Jul 2026 06:00:15 +0000

July 27, 2026 Tip of the Week

Tip of the Week
The Short Serve & Short Receive, and Looping.

Larry Hodges Mon, 07/27/2026 - 07:00

July 20, 2026 Tip of the Week

Larry Hodges — Sun, 19 Jul 2026 19:19:33 +0000

July 20, 2026 Tip of the Week

Tip of the Week
Fifteen Important Deep Serves.

Review: Ping-Pong Paddles Can’t Talk! – A Delightful New Children’s Book
Here's the review from Butterfly!

Larry Hodges Sun, 07/19/2026 - 20:19

July 13, 2026

Larry Hodges — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 14:34:13 +0000

July 13, 2026

Tip of the Week
The Value of Down the Line.

Last Blog Until September 7 and Upcoming Schedule
I just returned from the US Nationals, but I’ve got three more events coming up, almost back-to-back-to-back. I will still put up a Tip of the Week each Monday. Here’s my upcoming itinerary.

July 17-25 - The Never-Ending Odyssey Science Fiction Writing Workshop. This is normally in Manchester, NH, but they’ve decided to alternate each year between Manchester and online. This year it’s online. It’s an all-day thing for nine days, with morning, afternoon, and night events. I’ve been going to this annually for many years.
Aug. 2-28 – Sightseeing in Europe (Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, Slovakia), including competing in the Czech Classic Open in Ostrava, Aug. 22-23 (hardbat, sandpaper, wood). I toured much of Europe and Egypt back in 2019, but didn’t get to the above countries.
Aug. 29-30 – World Science Fiction Convention in Anaheim, CA. Literally hours after returning from Europe I fly out for two days!
While I’m away, don’t forget to buy some of my books!!!

Short Blog Today
During the recent US Nationals I hurt my neck. It didn’t really affect my play at the time – but it got worse and worse afterwards. The last two mornings I struggled just to get out of bed without injuring it further. I can barely hold my head up straight and I’m feasting on Ibuprofen. I will likely see a doctor this afternoon, alas. But I can’t spend too much time at my computer like this, so this blog will be shorter than usual.

US Nationals . . . and Age is Not Just a Number
Apparently, age is not just a number. After spending much of the last two years battling injuries, and going into the Nationals with knee and shoulder issues, it all finally caught up to me. I normally play with sponge (since that’s what I coach!), but at the Nationals I was mostly in hardbat events. I was also in Over 65 Men’s Singles (with sponge, seeded #7), but dropped out of it due to the knee and shoulder issues. (Looping with sponge puts more pressure on the shoulder.) While I did some coaching at this Nationals, I was mostly a player this time.

In hardbat singles my playing style is basically all-out forehand attack. But I was simply unable to move well enough to do this. It was a combination of the knee problem and age. Normally I’m very aggressive with following up my serve with a forehand attack whenever possible, and I also return most serves with my forehand when possible. But this time? I simply couldn’t move effectively. If I crowded my backhand corner as I usually do, I couldn’t get to balls to my wide forehand. If I were more centered so I could cover those, I couldn’t step around my backhand to play forehands as I like to do. Rather than attack, I’d often serve and immediately go on defense against returns to my backhand, and similarly with serves to my backhand. I also struggled just trying to reach serves that were short to my forehand – flipping them used to be a big strength. And so, rather than playing my “A” game, I spent most of my matches on the defensive, mostly backhand chopping/blocking/chop-blocking with my fast racket, which is not designed for defense. Normally, in hardbat, I play over 70% of my shots with my forehand. Here, it was literally the exact opposite.

The result? I struggled in match after match. I won at least four matches where I basically just persevered, and could have easily lost all four. I did make the final of Over 40 Hardbat (which I’ve won ten times before at the US Nationals and US Open), but in the final there (where, if healthy, I would still have been the underdog but would have had a chance), and in the semifinals of Over 60 Hardbat (where I was top seed and three-time defending champion), I just couldn’t play my normal game nor could I persevere. So, I got a silver and a bronze.

I’ve concluded that at age 66, I can no longer compete successfully in hardbat with the style I’ve played all these years. And so I plan to go to a slower blade. This will weaken my forehand somewhat, but will make my backhand stronger, both in regular backhands, as well as chopping, blocking, and chop-blocking (which is my favored defense on the backhand). We’ll see how it works. As to sponge play, I both hit and loop on the forehand, and if the shoulder is okay, I can play okay. The key is that with sponge, my backhand blocking is far more effective than I am on the backhand with hardbat. (During my peak years with sponge, on my serve and often on receive, I was also an all-out forehand player.)

Here are complete results of the US Nationals.

Minions Playing Table Tennis

Minions playing table tennis in one of their movies (link should take you to it, about two seconds long)
Minions playing table tennis with lots of volleying (15 sec).
Video of Minions playing table tennis (10 sec).
Repeating Gif Image of Minions playing table tennis.
Here's a picture from the Minions movie, where they are playing two-on-one table tennis. (Here's the non-Facebook version.)

Adam vs. World's BEST 11-year-old
Here’s the video (20 min) with Adam Bobrow!

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Send us your own coaching news!

Larry Hodges Mon, 07/13/2026 - 15:34

July 6, 2026 Tip of the Week

Larry Hodges — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 16:36:20 +0000

July 6, 2026 Tip of the Week

Tip of the Week: What is the Goal of the Receiver?

Larry Hodges Mon, 07/06/2026 - 17:36