Tip of the Week

Fast No-Spin Serve to the Elbow. (Having trouble learning to do this serve? If you see me at a tournament or club, I’ll demonstrate.)

Balancing the Three Big Interests in a Big Event

With the US Open coming up, once again the triangulation needed between the three big interests is important. Who are the three big interests?

1. Players. They are there to compete, as well as to spectate, visit the table tennis booths, and meet up with friends. They want as many events as possible where they are competitive (or at least can look for a “big upset”!), good playing conditions, accurate and intelligent time scheduling, nice prizes, and perhaps even special events, such as parties or panels. Of course, each of these take work to make happen, and that work is done by Operations.
2. Operations. They are there to run the event. Left to themselves, if they didn’t take the players into account, they’d just want the most efficient schedule, i.e. players in, players out, and get each event done as quickly as possible with as few conflicts as possible. But they do have to take the players into consideration, since the event is run for the players. That means finding a balance between their interests and the players’. But they also have to take into account the ones who often help finance the tournament – the Showcasers.
3. Showcasers. They are there to sell equipment and their brand. The sellers want to be out there in the playing area, where the players are. The sponsors selling their brand want their name everywhere. So where’s the balance? Sometimes the sellers’ booths are shunted off to the side, where they aren’t quite as visible as if they were right next to the playing area. Other times there’s sort of a compromise, where they are located next to the entrance to the playing hall, where players will see them while going in, but won’t be around them in the playing hall itself. Of course the sellers, given a choice, would like to be out there right next to the tables, while the sponsors want their names there as well, on the barriers and on banners, because they are catering to one specific group: the Players. So once again a balance has to be found.

So how is a balance found? Triangulation is the key, where a perfect point is found that balances the interests of all – and ideally, makes all three very happy. Think back to your last major tournament: were the interests of all three balanced out well?

History of U.S. Table Tennis, Volume 16 (1988-89)

It was an incredibly long weekend, Fri-Sun. I spent over 26 hours of it sitting next to Tim Boggan as we did the pages of Volume 16 of his History of U.S. Table Tennis, one page at a time – with some pages taking close to an hour to finish as they went through various drafts. It’s meticulous work, most of it done In Photoshop as I prepare each photo for use, and then the page layouts themselves, including photo placements and sizes, captions, fixing up text, headlines, and so on. (Mal Anderson scanned most of the photos for us, a huge time-saver, but nearly all need various fixes, and many need massive work. So far I’ve placed over 500 graphics, one by one. I’ve also scanned about 100.) Fortunately, my Friday and Saturday coaching schedule was light. (However, Sunday I coached seven hours.) We’ll continue to work on it all weekend, and expect to finish next weekend. Here’s a rundown:

• Friday: Worked ten hours, 5:15AM-Noon, 12:45PM-2:30PM, 4:00PM-5:30PM. We completed chapters 6-8, pages 97-143, 47 pages with 135 graphics.
• Saturday: Worked ten hours, 6:30AM-Noon, 12:30PM-5:00PM. We completed chapters 9-11, pages 144-184, 41 pages, 126 graphics.
• Sunday: Worked 6.25 hours, 4:45AM-10AM, 1PM-2:00PM. We completed chapter 12 and half of 13, pages 185-199, 15 pages, 83 graphics.
• TOTALS for Fri-Sun: 26.25 hours, 103 pages, 344 graphics

Here are the chapter titles:

• Chapter 6: 1988: April Tournaments. 1988: ACU-I Championships.
• Chapter 7: 1988: USTTA Program Director Bob Tretheway’s Colorado Springs Interests.
• Chapter 8: 1988: International Tournaments.
• Chapter 9: 1988: May Tournaments.  1988: Zoran Kosanovic/Julie Barton Are Canadian Champions. 1988: U.S. Wheelchair Players Prepare For Seoul Paralympics.
• Chapter10: Untitled – a series of page scans of miscellaneous topics.
• Chapter 11: 1988: June Pre-U.S. Open Tournaments.
• Chapter 12: Untitled – a series of page scans of miscellaneous topics.
• Chapter 13: 1988: U.S. Players Sweep Events at Toronto’s Annual CNE. 1988: July-August-September Tournaments. 1988: Chicago’s Maccabi Games.

Minutes of USATT Board Meeting

Here are the minutes from the March 28 USATT Board Meeting in Baltimore. I’m involved in a number of them. They are mostly self-explanatory.

New Coaching Articles from MH Table Tennis

Both link to video.

• Expand Your Attacking Range with the Pivot Forehand
• How to Make Service Practice More Engaging

Interview with Alex Polyakov: Breaking 2000

Here’s the new Podcast (27:46) from Expert Table Tennis, where they talk with Alex Polyakov, author of Breaking 2000 and The Next Step. (Here’s my review of Breaking 2000.) Some of the things covered in the podcast:

• Why Alex first started playing table tennis aged 28.
• How we came up with his Breaking 2000 challenge.
• The kind of training he did to achieve it.
• His experience at US rating tournaments.
• How he has improved since first reaching 2000 points back in 2011.
• Some of his crazy training methods.
• A little more about his two table tennis books.

Ask the Coach with Richard Prause

Part 13 (3:11) – Footwork.

Incredible Rally at the Philippines Open

Here’s the video (40 sec) between Jung Youngsik (KOR) and Tazoe Kenta (JPN).

Table Tennis is Life!

Here’s the video (4:46) from Table Tennis Daily.

Top Ten Shots from the German League Final 2015

Here’s the video (5:22).

Ma Long – An Unbelievable Championship

Here’s the video (11:36) with highlights of Ma Long winning Men’s Singles at the Worlds.

Qoros Driving with the Stars – Bernadette Szocs

Here’s the video (3:54) of the world #59 player from Romania.

Table Tennis Celebration

Here’s the video (22 sec) of the Swedish winning team and some bubbly!

Duct Tape Pong

Here’s the video (4 sec)!

More Mike Mezyan Pictures

NOTE - If you are unable to see these pictures, all you have to do is join the Table Tennis Group - it's easy! Here are all the past, present, and (soon) future pictures he's collected. (I pick out his best ones for here - he has more.)

• Avalon Pong – Mike’s newest table tennis artwork
• Checkered Pong – for those with a checkered past, or perhaps face, hands, and legs?
• Office Ball Pong – having a ball at the office?
• Arcade Pong
• Weird High Heels Pong
• Hedgehog Pong
• Relaxing Beach Pong
• Shopping Center Pong
• Bill Gates Big Paddle Pong
• Makeshift Cardboard Tennis Court Pong

***
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"Ping Pong’s First Fantasy Novel a Smashing Read!"

Here’s the review from MH Table Tennis. Disclosure: It’s my novel!!! (And that’s why it goes first in my blog.) There’s also a 5-star review at Amazon:

“A fascinating story of an American wanting to be the best in the world of table tennis, going to China for some magical and intriguing training sessions, and how he eventually achieved his hard-earned success. The best part is in the journey of it - vivid, colorful descriptions of the matches, processes, psyches, and sometimes point-by-point analysis. This was a real page-turner, and was one of the best binges I've been on.”

As noted in my blog yesterday, there have also been news items at the below:

• ITTF News Item
• Butterfly News Item
• USATT Insider
• Something in Chinese. This was translated for me by someone who wished to remain anonymous:

Foreigner publishes new ping pong-themed book The Spirit of Pong, with way-cool cover.

American author Larry Hodges has written a new ping pong-themed novel, The Spirit of Pong, telling a story of an American Andy "Shoes" Blue, who dreams to be a ping pong world champion, comes to China to learn how to play ping pong, where he inadvertently finds China's "ultimate secret."

This is a rather short novel, with only 100 pages and 14 chapters. However, Larry Hodges uses his imagination to the fullest extent to include many ping pong famous such as Rong Guotuan, Deng Yaping, and Waldner. Indeed, the so-called "secret" is the spirit of pong within their heart.

Serve Practice

I’m always surprised at how uncreative most players are when they practice serves. Rather than think about why a top player serves a certain way, many just blindly copy what they see, never really understand it or know which parts are important, and end up with only a pale copy of the serves they were trying to copy. If you see a top player doing something, don’t just copy it; figure out or ask why they do each aspect of the serve. Then focus on what makes the serve effective.

For example, here’s a video (3:10) from Brett Clarke that not only shows the forehand pendulum serve, but explains why each aspect is done the way it’s done. (I linked to this yesterday.)

On a related note, recently I seem to be teaching two specific serves to a lot of players: Reverse Pendulum Serves, and fast no-spin to the middle. Why? The first is a great variation to normal forehand pendulum serves, and you can hide which way the sidespin is going until the last second – and the serve is especially effective if you can use the same motion and go either short to the forehand or long to the backhand. (Also, my arm still won’t allow me to do my forehand pendulum serves effectively, but it doesn’t seem to affect my reverse pendulum serves.)

The second is simply a great point-winner. Want a couple free points every game, and see your “level” go up 100 rating points? Develop a very fast no-spin (i.e. flat) serve that goes right to an opponent’s middle (usually the elbow). How and when to do this serve will likely be next Monday’s Tip of the Week. (I thought I’d done a Tip on this already, but just discovered that I haven’t, I’ve just written briefly about it in related tips on serving long.)

Here are three tutorials on how to do the Reverse Pendulum Serve:

• How to Serve Reverse Pendulum Zhang Jike Style (5:21)
• Aaron Black Explains Zhang Jike’s Reverse Pendulum Serve (1:21)
• Trent Carter (Australian star, good use of slow motion) (1:47)

History of U.S. Table Tennis, Volume 16 (1988-89)

Here’s a recap, which I may put up each day, so ignore this paragraph if you’ve seen this already.

USATT Historian Tim Boggan moves in with me about once a year for 10-14 days to do his next volume of his History of U.S. Table Tennis. I do the page layouts and photo work for the roughly 450 pages in each volume. We’re now working on Volume 16, which covers 1988-89. About half the photos are by USATT Hall of Famer Mal Anderson, who scans and sends them to me on a CD. We start work each morning at roughly 7AM, and except for a short lunch break, work until around 2:30 PM, when I have to leave for the MDTTC afterschool program and other coaching. I usually get back after 8PM, and then have to do all my regular work, including the next morning’s blog, which I normally do in the morning, and usually a zillion other things.

On Day Four (Thursday), we did chapter five and less than half of chapter six. We worked from about 7AM to 2:30PM, with a one-hour lunch break that I mostly spent on other work. (Primarily the report on the Disabled Veterans Camp I ran last week, and a bunch of emails.) The book will have 24 chapters. 

Chapter Five was titled “1988: March Tournaments.” It ran from page 78-96 (18 pages), with 56 graphics. I have to pull each of these graphics into Photoshop, do all sorts of fixes to these often horrible and old pictures (Tim is picky about distracting things in the background, and I’m picky about making sure they come out as well as possible), then pull them onto the document, place them, and put in the caption and attribution.

Chapter Six is titled “1988: April Tournaments. ACU-I Championships.” We only did about six pages with 20 graphics.

Because I mistakenly admitted to Tim that I’d finally caught up on most of my other “emergency” work, he talked me into starting early tomorrow. So we’ll be starting around 5AM this morning (Friday).  Since Friday is my day off, where I only have to do afterschool pickups but no actual coaching (so I can rest my arm), I’ll be leaving around 2:30 PM, and returning by 4PM – meaning we might work from 5AM to 2:30 PM, and then 4-6PM. I may not survive it.

World’s Biggest Ping Pong Pool Party at US Open

Here’s the USATT article. “USA Table Tennis (USATT), THE LINQ, Joola and Uberpong announced today that the “World’s Biggest Ping Pong Pool Party” will be coming to THE LINQ pool in Las Vegas on Friday night, July 10^th, in conjunction with the 2015 US Open. The party, which will run from 8pm to Midnight, will feature pool-side pong, a live DJ, and plenty of fun!” (NOTE –party is for ages 21 and up only. Sorry kiddos! It’s not in the article, but I believe this is because alcoholic beverages will be served.)

Ask the Coach

Episode #132 (23:25) – No Practice Partner.

Table Tennis School – Players Attack and Defense Exercises

Here’s the new video (39:50).

Inside the Life of a Chinese National Team Player: Exclusive Interview with Guo Yan

Here’s the interview from MH Table Tennis with the former world #1.

International Table Tennis

Here's my periodic note (usually every Friday) that you can great international coverage at TableTennista (which especially covers the elite players well) and at the ITTF home page (which does great regional coverage). Butterfly also has a great news page.

Paralympic Table Tennis

Maybe I shouldn’t complain about my arm problems? (Here’s the non-Facebook version.)

Cats Playing Ping Pong

Here’s the video – it’s only 45 sec, but manages to pack in the best of the best of this surest of Internet lures!

Here’s a Pair of Penguin Pong Cartoons

• Penguin Igloo Basement Pong
• Penguin Big Paddle Pong

***
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The Spirit of Pong

The Spirit of Pong is getting a lot of publicity!

• ITTF News Item
• Butterfly News Item
• USATT Insider
• Something in Chinese (Google translate garbles it pretty badly. Can anyone give me a rundown?)

Meanwhile, 10-year-old Daniel Sofer, a student of mine (who I wrote about yesterday), read it cover to cover on Tuesday night . . . and found three typos. AAAAAHHHHH!!!!! (Fortunately, it’s in print on demand and kindle formats, so I can upload a new version and have it up within a day.)

What to Do When You’re Too Tired to Play

I coached a 13-year-old student yesterday who had been up late the previous few nights due to vacation and last-minute work on a school project. He was almost too tired to play and had what he described as a headache that kept coming and going. My solution? Sometimes the simplest ones are best. I sent him to the sink in the bathroom to splash his face with water. (I’ve used this coaching “technique” for many years, with great results.) It basically solved the problem, and he ended up having a great session, with the focus on basic forehand and backhand looping – and we had a nice counterlooping segment. We stayed late and worked on his serves, especially his reverse pendulum serve, which he’s now getting the knack of.

History of U.S. Table Tennis

Tim Boggan and I continue our work, but it’s slow. Yesterday we basically did chapter four, another extremely long and cumbersome one. Chapter four is titled “1988: Non-Tournament Preoccupations.” It’s 17 pages, but with 45 graphics, most of which needed tedious cleaning up and fixing in Photoshop. We worked on it from 7:30AM to 2:30 PM, with a one-hour break for lunch and so I could do other work. Hillary Clinton or perhaps Ted Cruz will be president by the time we finish if we don’t pick up the pace.

Then I left to do our afterschool program (picking up kids and then one hour of coaching), and then a 90-minute private coaching session. I then met with a few MDTTC people on various issues. Next I met Tim for dinner at a steakhouse he chose. I didn’t get home until after 9PM. So what did I do after that 14-hour binge? The MDTTC June Newsletter; worked on the Disabled Veterans Camp report for USATT; wrote an introduction to Samson Dubina’s upcoming coaching book; tried and failed to find time to work on an ongoing USATT ratings issue; spent way too much time on the phone and online trying to resolve a problem with a shipment of my books that went to France and then inadvertently was sent back; and then wrote most of this blog. I got to bed at 1:45AM, and will be back at work with Tim at about 7:00AM. Such is the life of your average table tennis coach.

Learn Table Tennis Serves – Like a Boss!

Here’s the new coaching video from Brett Clarke.

Introduction to Multiball Practice

Here’s the video (9:42) from the Werner Schlager Academy in Austria. (It’s in English.) “Maybe you know the multiball practice from your own training or you have seen players doing multiball sessions. In this video we explain what the use of multiball training is and what you need to take care of while doing multiball.”

Ask the Coach

Episode 131 (19:00) – When to Attack.

USATT Insider

Here’s the issue that came out yesterday.

USATT Ratings Algorithm Adjustment

Here’s the USATT article.

Team "NJTTC" Takes Title at 2015 America's Teams Championship in Impressive Style

Here’s the article from Barbara Wei.

Richard McAfee Coaching in Samoa

Here are pictures as he teaches at a girls’ school. Here are more.

Zhang Jike Backhand Loop

Here’s a new video (8:41) that shows his backhand over and over, including slow motion. It shows each one a number of times so you can study it.

Best of Ma Long vs. Xu Xin

Here’s the video (8:28).

More Mike Mezyan Pictures

NOTE - If you are unable to see these pictures, all you have to do is join the Table Tennis Group - it's easy! Here are all the past, present, and (soon) future pictures he's collected. (I pick out his best ones for here - he has more.)

• “Mini” Pong? – note the Big Blade!)
• Jorgen Persson – and a few Pong Friends
• Glass Table Pong – so you can see the signals of the opposing doubles team
• Foospong (I used to play this - yes, with a ping-pong ball!)
• Plane-Signaling Pong – so planes don’t crash on your table (looks like he failed here)
• Mountain Pong – doesn’t this remind you of the opening and closing scenes of “The Natural”?
• Avengers Pong – I think it’s quadruples
• Ceiling Pong – the Theory of Gravity is just a theory that’s just been disproved
• Bored Cat Pong – because you can never go wrong with Cats on the Internet

***
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Forehand and Backhand Loops Falling into Place

I had a great 90-minute session yesterday with one of our top 10-year-olds, Daniel, who’s rated 1639. (They said it was okay to blog about it.) In practice, he alternates between pretty good and then extremely awkward forehand looping, the latter because he either rushes or hangs back and plays lackadaisical. His contact point for his forehand loop, whether against backspin or topspin, is often all over the place, and so he can’t really time it, and it throws the rest of his body off as well. (His backhand loop right now is probably better than his forehand loop.)

I told him at the start of the session we were going to do a lot of shadow practice during the session, where we’d do the stroke and imagine the contact point. We’d done this once before and it worked well, but he’d fallen back into old habits. I explained the importance of stroking and contacting the ball roughly the same way each time, and we went through the stroke slowly to re-enforce the proper technique and contact point.

And guess what? Suddenly Daniel was looping over and over really well against my block, every ball with good speed and spin. We did this for a while, and then some footwork drills, but I kept each drill short as I didn’t want him to tire physically or mentally and fall back into bad habits. Then we did a bunch of multiball, and after a shaky start where I had to keep reminding him to use his legs more against backspin, he forehand looped really well. We did the same for his backhand loop, which also was strong. Then we did random backspin, where he had to loop forehands or backhands, and he did very well again. I decided to skip the shadow practice.

The key for his success yesterday, besides the emphasis at the start of the session on good technique? I think it helped that I joked with him throughout the session, keeping him loose, while constantly reminding him of one of my favorite tips – “You have more time than you think.” (I first heard this from 2001 USA Men’s Champion Eric Owens, a likely Hall of Famer this December now that he’s 40.) Between the two, he didn’t feel pressured and didn’t rush, and so made strong shots. When he has the confidence to use these shots in tournament matches the way he can in practice (sometimes), he’ll be a terror. But first he has to get that confidence, which he doesn’t yet have even in practice matches, not to mention league matches.

He tends to push serves back too much, even backspin serves that go long to the forehand, which is a horrible habit for an up-and-coming player. He knows this, but is often afraid to loop these serves, and he has so much ball control that he can often win this way. That’s actually the root of the problem – he knows that, right now, he wins more by pushing and blocking then he does looping. (Though every now and then he surprises us by going on the all-out attack.) But he knows this has to end, and that winning now isn’t as important as developing his game for later. We spent some time where I served long backspin serves all over the table, and he had to loop them, forehand or backhand. (For some reason, although he has a good backhand loop, he went forehand happy, and tried looping them all with his forehand, with pretty good success.)

Then we played two games where he served every point, always short backspin, and I always pushed it back deep anywhere on the table, and he had to always forehand or backhand loop and to continue to attack unless I did something to take the attack away. (If he got passive, I’d catch the ball and claim the point, which gave him incentive to play aggressive. He jokingly accused me of being an “unfair” umpire when I did this, so we agreed I was a rotten umpire but a great coach.) We’ve done this before, where I spot him six points, and I usually win, but this time he won both games with the spot. I look forward to the day when we play even, but for now the spot gives him the confidence to play aggressively. He’s going to skip tournaments for a while as he focuses on developing his looping, and equally important, the confidence to use it in a game. He’ll likely play tournaments again in the fall.

History of U.S. Table Tennis, Day Two

Here’s a recap, which I may put up each day, so ignore this paragraph if you’ve seen this already.

USATT Historian Tim Boggan moves in with me about once a year for 10-14 days to do his next volume of his History of U.S. Table Tennis. I do the page layouts and photo work for the roughly 450 pages in each volume. We’re now working on Volume 16, which covers 1988-89. About half the photos are by USATT Hall of Famer Mal Anderson, who scans and sends them to me on a CD. We start work each morning at roughly 7AM, and except for a short lunch break, work until around 2:30 PM, when I have to leave for the MDTTC afterschool program and other coaching. I usually get back after 8PM, and then have to do all my regular work, including the next morning’s blog, which I normally do in the morning, and usually a zillion other things.

Here’s where things stand. We started on Monday, either two days or two years ago, I’m not sure. We’ve done the covers, intro pages, and the first three chapters (of 24), and it’s taken us about 12 hours. Chapter two had so many photos (most needing Photoshop fixes) that it took us about five hours. (I think every active player in the U.S. and the rest of the world circa 1988 was pictured in this chapter.) After it was done, I played the first seven seconds of this, and when he said there might be one or two other chapters just as long, I played him these five seconds. (I wonder if Gerald Ford and Darth Vader have ever been reference in the same sentence together – and in two consecutive sentences here!) Hopefully it’ll go faster as we move along. Here are the chapter headings for the three chapters so far:

• Chapter One - 1988: USTTA Potpourri.
• Chapter Two - 1988: Jan-Feb. Tournaments.
• Chapter Three - 1988: International Tournaments—Europe-Asia; Leeds English Open; West German Open; European Top 12; European Championships.

Serve Return Tips

Here’s the article from Han Xiao – a MUST read.

Story Time! Learn about Fred’s weakest moment!

Here’s the new coaching article from Samson Dubina.

Ask Mark on Sports Psychology

Here’s the new playlist from Expert Table Tennis, with questions answered by Mark Simpson of Brain Spec (a Sport Performance Enhancement Consultancy) answers questions pertaining to the mental side of table tennis. There are currently two videos up, on developing habits and routines between points, and on how to stay calm when closing out a big win. Both are about 3.5 to 4 minutes long.

As the Coach

Episode #130 (27:50): Rule Change: Deciding Game to 7.

Table Tennis Coverage on the Edgeball Consulting Facebook Page

Here’s the Facebook page.

11 Questions with Homer Brown

Here’s the USATT interview with the man who’s played in 46 consecutive US Opens. (I believe this year will be my 32^nd consecutive US Open and US Nationals, so Homer’s always going to be 14 ahead of me, alas. I played my first US Open my first year, in 1976, but missed a few Opens and Nationals until 1984.)

Quadri Aruna to Play in 2015 US Open

Here’s the USATT article, with links to video.

National Collegiate Table Tennis Association

• NCTTA Leaders Return for a New Season
• 2015 NCTTA End of the Year Awards

Jun Mizutani vs. Dimitrij Ovtcharov in Russian Premier League

Here’s the new video (5:24, with time between points removed). Great points!

Top Points from the Worlds

Here’s the video (8:53) from International Table Tennis Thailand.

What is Table Tennis? What is Ping Pong?

Here’s the new video (2:06) that answers this, from the Smash club in Massachusetts.

Adam Bobrow Plays Cyber Table Tennis in China

Here’s the video (2:14). It looks pretty real!

Fox vs Chickens

Here’s the cartoon! (Here’s the non-Facebook version.) Any suggestions for a caption?

More Mike Mezyan Pictures

NOTE - If you are unable to see these pictures, all you have to do is join the Table Tennis Group - it's easy! Here are all the past, present, and (soon) future pictures he's collected. (I pick out his best ones for here - he has more.)

• Abstract Table Pong – a long-lost Picasso?
• Egg Pong – I’ll have my eggs over easy.
• Hanging Mirror Paddle Pong – when you look at your racket, you see yourself!
• Hanging Racket Surfaces Pong – you have to learn to play ALL surfaces, right?
• More Pool Pong – a study in blue.
• Pong Art - I think it’s some sort of crustacean?
• The Pong Commandments – but some of these rules came from around the time of Moses.
• Waterfall Pong – how can you rip an opponent to shreds in such a peaceful venue?
• Sketch of Pong – she’s ready to play.
• Pong on the Mind – literally.
• Colorful Room Pong – if they have this in Egypt, why not at my club???
• Pink Pong – a gift for a lady?
• Masses of Messaging Ball Pongs – the Wave Ping Pong Sculpture in Singapore.

***
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Three Items From Yesterday’s Blog You Might Have Missed

• Tip of the Week: Performance vs. Results.  
• The Spirit of Pong: Here’s the ITTF news item on my fantasy table tennis novel!
• Ice Pong: Here’s the video (1:54) as two players go at it while skating around to music!

Memorial Day Table Tennis

• General Patton and Table Tennis
• Soldiers Playing Table Tennis
• Penhold soldier
• Soldiers in Iraq Play Table Tennis
• Played in the USA Ornament

Tim Boggan’s History of US Table Tennis, Vol. 16 . . . and Some Coaching

We started work on it yesterday morning. (Here’s info on the series.) I had an afternoon coaching session that cost us a few hours, but we managed to do the front and back cover, all the intro pages (title page, author’s page, acknowledgements), and a lengthy chapter one (21 pages). So far I’ve fixed up and placed 41 photos. There are 24 chapters; we expect to finish by Friday, June 5. Part of the difficulty is I have to fit in time to do this blog, plus I have to leave Mon-Fri at 2:30 PM for our afterschool program and other coaching (private and group), plus I’m away nearly all of Sunday coaching. (Strangely, I may be mostly free this Saturday.)

Much of what chapter one covers is politics – a USTTA board meeting and the 1988 USTTA election. (It didn’t become USATT until the early 1990s. How many of you remember it as the U.S. Table Tennis Association, as I did my first 17 years or so. Though I just realized I’ve known it as USATT for 22 years now! Yes, I’ve played 39 years.)

Meanwhile, I did 1.5 hours of coaching on Memorial Day. I was supposed to do three, but a student cancelled. Due to the arm problems I’m playing pretty soft in open play, but can block and counter pretty much normal. I can’t do my forehand pendulum serve very well right now, but I discovered I can do the reverse pendulum serve without putting much strain on the arm. Alas, I can’t serve fast and deep either.

Despite my problems with serving, we spent a good portion of the session on serve practice. We also did a lot of multiball and the 2-1 drill (live). At the end we played games, where I played super soft but steady – and exposed a major weakness in the student, who had great difficulty timing these softer shots. For one thing, if I take two steps back to return a shot, it changes the trajectory so the ball bounces out more. My opponent needs to take perhaps a half step back to attack this ball or he’ll be jammed – which is exactly what happened over and over.

Balticon Science Fiction Convention and Table Tennis

I spent much of the weekend at Balticon, a regional science fiction & fantasy convention. There was actually quite a bit of table tennis involved.  

First, I did a one-hour signing, where people lined up to buy autographed copies of my books. (Is one person in line at a time a “line”?) Here’s a picture. I had three of my nine books on sale, all three of which have table tennis content:

• The Spirit of Pong, my fantasy table tennis novel about an American who goes to China to learn the secrets of table tennis, and trains with the spirits of past stars.
• Sorcerers in Space, which stars a teenaged sorcerer’s apprentice who has to give up his table tennis dreams to save the world (and himself).
• Pings and Pongs, which is an anthology of the 30 best science fiction & fantasy stories I’ve sold, including “Ping-Pong Ambition,” a fantasy table tennis short story. (I included that story as a bonus at the end of “The Spirit of Pong.”)

Second, during one panel I was on several kids approached with questions. One asked me what “The Spirit of Pong” was about (it was on display). After explaining, I nonchalantly pulled out a handy ping-pong ball, rubbed it a few times like a wizard holding a crystal ball, and then did my blowing ball trick where I blow the ball up and sideways. (I don’t have a picture, but the key is to blow the top of the ball, creating spin which holds it up.)

On a related note, the editor of the InterGalactic Medicine Show (yep, that’s its name!), one of the major science fiction, is Edmund Schubert. At another SF convention in Maryland a few years ago he told me how he used to be a serious player. When we had a break, we drove over to the Maryland Table Tennis Center and played for an hour. He’s about 1400. (He’s a great guy. I have less kind things to say about the magazine’s owner, Orson Scott Card, but I won’t get into that.)

Why Do I Always Lose When I’m Winning?

Here’s the new coaching article from Matt Hetherington.

Ask the Coach

Episode #129 (31:30) – Fan Zhendong’s Reverse Serve.

We Are USA Table Tennis

Here’s the new highlights video (1:43), created by Jimmy Butler.

America’s Team Championships

The event was held this past weekend in Rockford, IL. Here’s the home page with results.

Kanak Jha in the A League in China

Here’s a short article and picture.

Werner Schlager Academy Review

Want to train overseas? Here’s a review of the famed Austrian training center.

How Technology Has Transformed Table Tennis

Here’s the article from Sport Technie.

Ping Pong Goes From Basement to Big Business with Hipster Help

Here’s the article from Bloomberg.com. “Ping pong is going upscale. Long a mainstay of garages, basements and dives, the game is springing up at high-end bars, restaurants and hotels around the world.”

Timo Boll Backhand Training

Here’s the video (30 sec). It’s short, but much of it is in slow motion where you can clearly see the essentially perfect technique of this former world #1.

Kenta Matsudaira’s Awesome Backhand

Here’s the video (26 sec) of the world #27 (formerly #15) from Japan.

Unbelievable Drop Shot by Mima Ito!

Here’s the video (18 sec) of the world #11 from Japan.

USA Table Tennis Watchface Generator

Here it is! Apparently you can use it to create your own USATT watch face.

Playing a Big Guy

Here’s the cartoon! (Here’s the non-Facebook version.) Any suggestions for a caption?

Plastic Pong

Here’s the picture – now the whole table and the players are plastic! (Here’s the non-Facebook version.) Is this a Lego thing?

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No Blog Today – Memorial Day

While you get the day off, I’m hard at work with Tim Boggan putting together Vol. 16 of his History of U.S. Table Tennis. (Plus three hours of private coaching.) We hope to finish by Friday, June 5. I do the page layouts and lots of photo work. Meanwhile, here are a few things to tide you over until tomorrow.

Tip of the Week

Performance vs. Results.

The Spirit of Pong

Here’s the ITTF news item on my new fantasy table tennis novel! Why oh why haven’t you bought one yet??? (Print and Kindle versions.)

Ice Pong

Here’s the video (1:54) as two players genuinely go at it while skating around to music!!!

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Top Ten Reasons to Attend the 2015 US Open

If you aren’t one of the 471 players entered so far in the US Open (Las Vegas, July 6-11), or a parent or coach attending, then consider this a warning. If you don’t go to this years’ US Open, you are going to miss it!!! Just what are you going to miss? (Deadline is Sunday, May 31, with entries accepted until Sunday, June 7, with a $75 late fee.)  So here are the Top Ten Reasons to Enter the US Open.

1. Compete in some of the 94 events, which are all listed on the US Open page, as well as on the domestic entry form (for US players) and the international entry form. (Here’s an event listing that shows who is entered in each event.) They include:
   

   1. Rating Events!!! 19 of them, from Under 800 to Under 2600, and that’s just singles.
   2. Under 2000 Tiered Super Round Robin! Here’s info.
   3. Over Age 18 Rating Events!!! Tired of losing to 10-year-olds who are 500 points under-rated? Then enter the Over 18 Rating Events – Under 1850, Under 1600, Under 1400, and Under 1250.
   4. Rating Doubles!!! Under 4200, Under 3700, Under 3200, Under 2700.
   5. Senior Events, 29 of them, from Over 30 to Over 80, both singles and doubles.
   6. Junior Events, 20 of them, from 9 & Under to Under 21.
   7. Handicap Singles – nope, not a Paralympic event, this is an event where you play one game to 41, and spot points based on the difference in rating. Here’s info.
   8. Hardbat (10) and Sandpaper (4) events!
   9. Paralympic Events (11)! (Mostly Wheelchair and Standing Disabled).
   10. Oh, and there’s also Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Mixed Doubles (for the truly elite).

2. Spectate as the best players in the country and many from around the world congregate and battle for the top prizes.
3. Shop at the many equipment booths. If you are an equipment junkie, this is heaven. If you are just looking for good equipment, this is heaven. If you just like to shop or like table tennis, this is heaven. Rackets and Sponges and Table Tennis Clothing, Oh My! (And you can buy signed copies of my books!!!)
4. Meet up with friends – over 800 players are expected.
5. Top Players and Coaches will be all over the place, and you’ll get to meet and talk to them. (I’ll be there – stop by and say hi.)
6. Vacation – we’re talking Las Vegas!!!
7. Tournament T-Shirts – FREE with entry!
8. Pool Parties – More on that later!
9. Caesars Palace and the LINQ. The hotels alone are a reason to go. You also get free entry to one event if you stay at one of them – here’s info.
10. USATT Leaders will be there – here’s your chance to meet and yell at them politely discuss the issues!

Samson’s Book, Tim’s Book, My Books, Balticon Books

It’s a bookish time. Let’s see:

1. Samson’s Book. Yesterday I finished editing Samson Dubina’s new coaching book, tentative titled “100 Days of Table Tennis Success.” It’s a hugely informative book, with exactly 100 chapters/subchapters! Final version will likely be around 190 pages. I’ll blog about it here when it’s out.
2. Tim’s Book. On Monday Tim Boggan moves in with me for 10-14 days so I can do the page layouts and photo work on Volume 16 of his History of U.S. Table Tennis. This one covers 1988-89.
3. My Books. They keep multiplying, and are now up to nine. Here’s my Amazon page, with my table tennis fantasy “The Spirit of Pong” the latest entry. (They are also listed, with short descriptions, at here at TableTennisCoaching.com.) The best-selling one right now is “Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers,” which if you have not yet bought you will suffer a 50-point loss in your next tournament.
4. Balticon Books. I’ll spend much of this weekend as a panelist at Balticon, the regional science fiction convention. Here’s my bio at their site. I’ve got a reading and a book signing, where I’ll be selling three of my books, all up on my Amazon page: “Sorcerers in Space,” “The Spirit of Pong,” and “Pings and Pongs.” On Saturday night I’m moderating a panel on “What’s so Great about the Undead?” Besides being a fan of “The Walking Dead,” I’ve sold several stories about the undead/zombies, including “Running with the Dead” (sort of an equal rights for the dead story that features a dead high school kid who wants to be a miler on his high school track team but faces the Mile Mafia) and “The Devil’s Backbone” in the anthology “After Death,” about a colony of Undead living in (you guessed it) the Devil’s backbone. (He’s two miles tall.)

Improve Your Looping: Learn what skills you need at what levels

Here’s the new coaching article by Samson Dubina.

Ma Long Reverse Serve Training

Here’s the video (68 sec).

Ask the Coach with PingSkills

Episode #128 (19:20) – Men vs. Women.

Ask the Coach with Richard Prause

Part 11 (4:26) - How to Beat the Chinese. 

Incredible Returns, Spin Smash, and the Point Isn’t Over Till It’s Over

Here’s the video (41 sec).

Crazy Net Pop-up Edge Point

Here’s the video (6:32, but the link should take you directly to the point in question at 5:49), between Jens Lundqvist (near side) and Niagol Stoyanov. It’s a great rally even before the flukiness begins!

International Table Tennis

Here's my periodic note (usually every Friday) that you can great international coverage at TableTennista (which especially covers the elite players well) and at the ITTF home page (which does great regional coverage). Butterfly also has a great news page.

Balloon Pong

Here’s the picture! I’m told that the paddle is actually a pen, making the balloon holding it a shakehands penholder!

Popeye vs. Bluto

Here’s the picture! Backhand stances and hammer grips? My coaching services are in grave demand!

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5:17AM

That’s what time it is as I write this. (I posted it at 5:22AM; it normally goes up between 9AM and 10AM.) No, I didn’t get up early; I’ve been up all night working on various projects. I’m going to go ahead and post this shortly before going to bed. So what have I been working on tonight?

• Samson Dubina’s new coaching book. Get ready to mark your calendars: it’s coming soon!
• This blog, a little shorter than usual as I’m a bit too tired to have deep thoughts right now.
• Regional Table Tennis Association Sample Bylaws. But I won’t be going public with much of my work on regional associations and related issues until this fall. (I’ll be pretty busy all summer due to our summer camps, which start in a few weeks.)
• US Open plans. Are you going? C’mon, you have to!!!
• Top secret discussions regarding the serving rule, which could lead to a better service rule where players don’t hide their serves, leading to peace on earth, the destruction of ISIS, and banana splits for all. I’d explain more but it’s TOP SECRET!!! Shhh.

Arm Problems Non-Problems

Yesterday I did my first private coaching in ten days, due to the arm problems. I blogged yesterday about the new arm brace; it's working great. I was able to do an entire hour without any serious problems. I still can't smash lobs at full power or backhand smash, and I have to go a bit easy on my loops and serves, but overall, it's a miracle. The arm is still injured, and yet I can coach with the arm brace protecting it from further injury. I wonder how many others are out there with arm problems that would be basically fixed by these braces?

The Spirit of Pong

Have you bought a copy yet of The Spirit of Pong, my new table tennis fantasy novel? Yes, you, the one reading this! Well, if you haven’t – and I can see that you haven’t – then march on down to Amazon and buy one!!!

This is my fantasy table tennis novel about an American who goes to China to learn the secrets of table tennis, and ends up training with and learning from the spirits of past greats. It's in two formats, Print and Kindle, both on sale from Amazon. (Here’s my Amazon Page where you can see and buy all of my books.) I've kept the price low - only $6.99 for print, $5.99 for kindle. It’s relatively short, exactly 100 pages. Here's the description from the back cover:

Andy “Shoes” Blue wants to be a table tennis champion, but he’s just another wannabe American. And so he goes to China to learn the secrets of table tennis. He is trained by the mysterious Coach Wang, and begins an odyssey where he learns the secrets of table tennis from the spirits of Ichiro Ogimura (who helped spawn China’s greatness) and Rong Guotuan (China’s first world champion in 1959, whose tragic story Andy must relive), and must face the mysterious “Dragon.” Can he overcome treachery and learn the final secret of table tennis in time to defeat his ultimate nemesis?

Senior Moment

Last night I had my first "senior" moment, at age 55. I used to drink too much Mountain Dew. I finally set a rule that I could only drink one 6.5 oz can per day, other than at movies or when traveling. After coaching yesterday I decided to have my daily Mountain Dew while watching the news. I grabbed one from my pantry to replace the cold one I'd get from the refrigerator. After getting the cold one, I looked around, but couldn't find the one from the pantry. I checked around the refrigerator, the pantry, and everywhere in between. Then I went back to the refrigerator and tried to figure out where it was. That's when I noticed I'd been carrying it in my left hand the entire time. (In my defense, even as I was looking for the missing can my mind was on about twenty other things, mostly involving USATT and MDTTC, with a touch of SFWA.)

Serving Tips

Here’s the new coaching article by Han Xiao.

USATT Insider

Here’s the new issue of USATT Insider, which comes out every Wednesday morning.

Amazing Rally

Here’s the video (46 sec).

Potomac Open

Here are results, photos, and video from the Potomac Open, held this past weekend here in Maryland.

Boston Sports Stars Team Up for Ninko’s Ping Pong Challenge

Here’s the article.

“That Cat is Spooky!”

Here’s the ghostly cartoon.

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Disabled Veterans Camp

We had nine players in the camp yesterday from 10AM-1PM. A big thank you goes to assistants Steve Hochman and Josh Friedlander, who volunteered to help out as coaches/practice partners. It was another great and highly enthusiastic group. We covered all the basics - grip and stance, forehand and backhand, pushing, and serving. We finished with the ten-cup challenge, where everyone had two chances to see how many cups they could knock over with Steve and I feeding multiball. 

The camp was made possible by a grant to USATT from the USOC. Not only is the entire camp paid for - the players don't pay a cent - but they sent a box of goodies for the players. Each of the players received a nice Stiga racket with sponge. It was an honor working with these servicemen. I'd like to thank them for all the hard work they put in, both in uniform and at the camp! I'd also like to thank those who made it possible - the USOC and USATT, the Department of Veteran Affairs, MDTTC officer Wen Hsu, and especially Jasna Reed, USATT's Director of Para Programs. 

Arm Problems Non-Problems

It's a miracle!!! Yesterday for the first time I tried out the new Bandit Therapeutic Forearm Band that I blogged about yesterday. (Paul Choudhury emailed me a month ago recommending this – I should have listened! But I did receive a LOT of recommendations.) I'd thought it would at most be a small help - after all, how much can something wrapped around the outside of the arm help an injury on the inside? Boy, did I get that wrong!

The arm band somehow holds the injured part together almost perfectly. When I'm hitting, I can still feel the injury, but it's like it's on the other arm or somewhere else since hitting doesn't seem to affect the injury much at all, even though I'm using all the muscles around the injury. At the start of the Disabled Veterans Camp yesterday, where I wore the arm band for the first time, I was very protective of the arm. As we went through various demos it dawned on me how well it was working. By the end of the camp I was smacking balls all over the place without any pain. I tested out forehand looping against Steve Hochman's blocking, and as long as I go somewhat easy I think I'm okay. I was worried that I’d feel the effects today, but this morning the arm seems fine, i.e. still injured, but no worse than before.

I'm still going to be taking an inflammatory cream twice a day, and should start ultrasound treatment later this week. But I can get back to regular coaching now, starting tonight. (Of course, I might be posting tomorrow how I jumped the gun and that I was rushed to the hospital during a coaching session for an emergency arm transplant.) 

The Aging Ageless Jim Butler

Here's the REAL picture of Jimmy Butler after winning the North American Cup . . . right? I linked to this yesterday, and Jimmy thought it was pretty funny and posted it on Facebook and responded to me on the USATT News Page. Unfortunately, he also wrote, "I'll get you back!" Uh oh. (I originally added an AARP membership card with Jimmy's name on it, tucked under one of his wrist bands, but it didn't really add to the picture and you couldn't really read his name anyway.)

Crystal Wang and Derek Nie in Washington Post

Here’s the print version from yesterday’s paper. I blogged about this yesterday; here’s the regular online version.

McAfee’s Mechanics: Correcting Movement Problems

Here’s the new coaching article by Richard McAfee.

Ask the Coach with PingSkills

Episode 127 (20:16) – Mental Muddle.

Ask the Coach with Richard Prause

Part 10 (1:36) – Plastic Balls.

Ryu Seung Min Training Backhand Fishing and Counterloop

Here’s the video (1:23). He’s sort of the last of the great conventional backhand penholders, but the techniques for this type of thing are about the same for all grips.

US Open Tiered Super Round Robin Event

Here’s the USATT article on this new event.

11 Questions with Tahl Leibovitz

Here’s the USATT interview.

Nittaku ITTF Monthly Pongcast – April 2015

Here’s the video (12:12).

North American Cup Men’s Final

Here’s the highlights video (11:25) of Jimmy Butler vs. Timothy Wang. Here’s a video (1:16 sec, including slo-mo replay) of Timothy Wang as he reacts to an edge ball at 5-4 in the third game.

The Silicon Valley Table Tennis Band

Here’s the video (3:53) – “What the coaches at SVTTC do after full day of coaching.” (Note the “dancing” coach in the background picking up balls!)

Table Tennis Fall

Here’s the video (27 sec) – yep, table tennis is a dangerous sport!

“Astig” vs. “Stiga”

Here’s a “cool” Filipino comparison from Adam Bobrow.

More Mike Mezyan Pictures

NOTE - If you are unable to see these pictures, all you have to do is join the Table Tennis Group - it's easy! Here are all the past, present, and (soon) future pictures he's collected. (I pick out his best ones for here - he has more.)

• Massive Necklace Pong
• Nature Pong
• Domino Pong
• Dance Pong
• Balance Pong
• Toilet Trophy Pong
• Table Trophy Pong

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Another Eventful Day

Here’s a rundown of yesterday’s events.

• Disabled Veterans Camp. From 10AM-1PM I ran the first day of a two-day clinic for disabled veterans. (I did this last August as well, so perhaps it’ll be an annual thing.) It was supposed to be four days, but we didn’t get anyone signed up for Wed and Thur. We only had three signed up for the first day, but have about ten coming today.

  I went over the basics – grip, forehand, backhand, pushing, serve, receive, and looping. We used the robot a lot. There was a wheelchair player, so I spent some time with him going over the differences there. I also explained various organizations – USATT and Paralympics, MDTTC, and local leagues. The players were surprisingly good – probably close to 1000 level with a little practice.

  There was an interesting juxtaposition at the start – on three nearly adjacent tables we had two disabled military veterans (one in a wheelchair), two Buddhist monks in full robes who had come in for lessons, and two 2550 players (Wang Qing Liang and Han Xiao).

• Orthopedist. I arrived at 2:20 PM for my 2:30 PM appointment for my arm problems, but they were overbooked, and I didn’t see the doctor until 3:25 PM. After a rather painful examination where he basically pushed at the injury in every possible way and I found all sorts of creative ways of yelling “Ow!”, he concluded what I sort of already knew, that it was tendonitis. He gave me a brace to wear when I play, a type of inflammatory cream, and in a few days I start ultrasound treatment. The brace, a Bandit Therapeutic Forearm Band, does seem to relieve some of the pressure. It fits on the arm like this. We’ll see how it goes – this morning I’ll try the brace in action.

  Meanwhile, I’ll likely have to cancel all my private coaching this week, as I did last week, and as I did a couple of other weeks when the arm first started hurting. However, let’s see how the arm is today, my first day with the arm brace.

• USATT Teleconference. The USATT Board had a teleconference last night from 7PM to about 8:30 PM. Here’s a brief rundown.

1. Roll Call and Conflict of Interest (no conflicts)
2. Approval of Minutes from March 28 board meeting in Baltimore. The minutes were only distributed about an hour before the meeting, so not everyone got a chance to read them, and so it was tabled. We’ll vote on it next meeting.
3. 2015 World Championships Report. Much of this was from CEO Gordon Kaye, and included info on the U.S. getting the World Veterans Championships for 2018. There was some discussion of some issues, such as the new rule (starting Oct. 2016) where coaches can coach between points; a lowering of the time limits required before juniors who switch countries can represent their new country; and of a new task force to look into fixing the problem with hidden serves. (I may get involved in that.)
4. Financial Review. CEO Gordon reported on this. All is well for now.
5. Review of 2015 Strategic Initiatives. Gordon reported on a few of these doings, including sponsorships, marketing, fundraising, RailStation and ratings, and committees. I’ll comment more on these perhaps when the minutes come out.
6. Discussion about next in person board meeting. It’ll likely be in late August. (We have a teleconference scheduled June 15.)
7.  Legal Update and Executive Session. Alas, I can’t talk about what happens in Executive Sessions. But Wow!!! Golly!!! Jesus!!! (I guess you just had to be there.)
8. Adjourn.

• A little Photoshopping. Didn’t feel like going to bed, so had some fun with Photoshop – see Jimmy Butler segment below. (Sorry Jimmy!)

The Spirit of Pong

Have you bought a copy yet of The Spirit of Pong, my new table tennis fantasy novel? Well, for gosh sakes why not?!!! (Here’s my blog about it.) C’mon, it’s only 100 pages, even you can get through it!

Crystal Wang and Derek Nie Featured in Washington Post

Here’s the article and pictures in this morning’s paper, where they are featured in “Kids Post.” (They are both from my club. I’m quoted in the article.) Here’s what the paper version looks like. (I’m not sure, but you may need a Washington Post account to see this – but if so, it’s free.) I have my own copy since I get the Washington Post every morning in my never-ending quest to destroy the Amazon forests and convert them into table tennis books to sell on Amazon.com.

Jimmy Butler Makes Breakthrough at North America Cup

Here’s the article and a supposedly 44-year-old Jimmy Butler winning the North American Cup, with an obviously doctored photo to try to hide his true age. Now, in a TableTennisCoaching.com exclusive, the truth comes out - I give you the Actual Picture of Jimmy Butler as he wins!

Seeing Your Opponent: Knowing Where to Hit

Here’s the new coaching article by Samson Dubina.

Ask the Coach

Episode #126 (33:55) –Topspin Variations.

Dan O’Connell: Full-Time Table Tennis in Germany

Here’s the podcast (25:53) from Expert Table Tennis. O’Connell is the #1 player from Wales.

Zhang Jike Training

Here’s the new video (7:33).

Tahl Leibovitz Gets a Master’s

Here’s his robed graduation picture. He’s the author of Ping Pong for Fighters and a Paralympics Gold Medalist. (Here’s his bio.)

Butterfly Party at the Worlds

Here’s video (1:26) of the party they held at the Worlds – see how many big names you recognize!

Portable Net

Here it is! It folds small, and attaches to just about any table. I have one, which I often take on trips. You never know when you’re going to want to string up a net and play somewhere.

Prince Harry Plays Table Tennis

Here’s the article and pictures from Table Tennis Nation.

Opus, Bloom County, and Berk Breathed Makes Fun of Table Tennis

Here’s the cartoon. “Welcome to POTV…the 24-hour Cable ping-pong network…all day…all night…exciting ping-pong! Ping-pong news…ping-pong personalities…lots and lots of ping-pong…”

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