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…”

***
Send us your own coaching news!

Tip of the Week

Become a Player of Routine.

Number of Hours and Hits in a Lifetime

Let’s do the calculation for myself.

• I’ve started playing table tennis in 1976 when I was 16. From 1976-1985, nine years, I probably averaged at least three hours/day practice. So that’s 21 hours/week for nine years, or 9828 hours. (I played some recreationally before that, but those hours are inconsequential.)
• From 1986-1989 (four years, actually starting at the end of 1985 and continuing to the end of 1989) I was a manager/director/coach for table tennis at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. I was often used as a practice partner during the three-hour sessions, plus did other sessions in camps and local clubs. I’m guessing that I averaged two hours/day, so about 14 hours/week, or 2912 hours.
• From 1990-1991 (two years) I played at local clubs while going to graduate school. I probably continued to average two hours/day, so again 14 hours/week, or 1456 hours.
• From 1992-1997 and 1999-present (23 years) I’ve mostly coached at the Maryland Table Tennis Center. During those years I’ve probably averaged at least 20 hours/week. Many of those hours are in group sessions, where my time is split between “walking around coaching” (and so not hitting) and feeding multiball (where I’m hitting more balls per minute than in regular play). I’m going to assume these two balance out to about the normal amount of hits per minute of regular play. And so I’ve got 21 years where I’m averaging 20 hours/week. Except – I’ve had periodic injuries that have taken me out of commission a few times. They probably bring the average down one hour/week, so we’ll bring that down to 19/hours week for these 21 years, or 20,748 hours.
• From 1997-98 I didn’t play a lot. During those two years I mostly worked as a computer programmer and as an editor, and probably averaged only a few hours per week – perhaps four hours/week those two years, or 416 hours.

So where does this leave me? 9828 + 2912 + 1456 + 20,748 + 416 = 35360 hours. We’ll round that off and estimate I’ve played table tennis 35,000 hours.

But now the question is how many shots per hour am I actually doing? In a typical rally I might be doing two shots per second. But most of the time is spent between points. Let’s assume (and I could be well off on this as I haven’t done any testing) that only 20% of the time is actually hitting. In a game, it’s probably less; in a drilling or coaching session, it’s probably higher. (Feel free to chime in with your own estimates.) So let’s go with 20%. At two shots per second that’s 7200/hour; 20% of that is 1440/hour. And 35,000 x 1440 = 50,400,000.

I’ve played table tennis about 35,000 hours and hit the ball about 50 million times. Wow. How about you?

Busy Monday

It’s another busy day. This morning I’m running a clinic from 10AM-1PM for disabled veterans. At 2:30 PM I have an appointment with an orthopedist sports medicine doctor to look at my arm. At 7PM there’s a USATT Board Teleconference. Somewhere in between all this I need to finish the editing on Samson Dubina’s coaching book, “100 Days of Table Tennis.” Due to the arm problems, I’ve canceled all my private coaching this week, so that frees up some time. But the sheer number of other issues that come up are endless.

North American Cup

It finished yesterday. Here’s the ITTF page with complete results and articles. Here’s the USATT site which has lots of video and links to the results. Here’s the final ITTF article on the champions. Congrats to champions Jim Butler and Zhang Mo! (They also had the North American Hopes Trials; here are the boys’ results and girl’s results.)

Ask the Coach with PingSkills

Episode #125 (32:44) – Improving Retrieving.

Ask the Coach with Richard Prause – Part 9: Short Pimples

Here’s the video (79 sec).

Motor Learning: Block vs. Random Practice

Here’s the video (15:55). “Motor learning is the study of how people acquire skill through practice. Decades of research show that there are more effective ways to design our practices...”

How to Train with a Table Tennis Robot

Here’s the new coaching article by Samson Dubina.

ICoachTableTennis.com

Here’s the relatively new coaching site, which I believe started in March.

Jan-Ove Waldner: I Hope This Was Not the End

Here’s the article.

Zhang Jike Multiball Training at Worlds

Here’s the video (3:42).

Suzhour Worlds 2015 (Men’s Singles Part 2)

Here’s the video (6 min). Here’s Part 1 (5:23), which I posted last week.

What It Means to Fight in Para Table Tennis

Here’s the video (20 sec).

Li Xiaoxia – Off the Table

Here’s the new video (5:51).

Happy Birthday Matt Hetherington

Here’s his table tennis birthday cake! (Here’s the non-Facebook version.)

Long Distance Floor Pong

Here’s the video (39 sec) as Adam Bobrow and Kanak Jha demonstrate this rapidly growing sport that’s sweeping the world of post-tournament takedowns.

2000 Weightless Ping Pong Balls with Science Bob

Here’s the video (76 sec)!

Dean-O: Trick Shots Galore!!!

Here’s the video (60 sec).

The Greatest Doubles Rally in the History of the Universe

Here's the video (29 sec)! And here’s video (41 sec) of the same group doing some “table” training!

***
Send us your own coaching news!

The Spirit of Pong

It's here!!! 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. I've kept the price low - only $6.99 for print, $5.99 for kindle. Buy now so I can afford to eat tonight!!!

I was up half the night working on the kindle version - lots of formatting.) The cover was created by Mike Mezyan, based on a previous table tennis artwork I picked out. It's a relatively short novel, 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?

There are 14 chapters, each illustrated with a picture or pictures at the start. The main characters are American wannabe Andy "Shoes" Blue (who's just lost in the quarterfinals at the Nationals for the third straight year), Coach Wang, the spirits of former greats Ichiro Ogimura and Rong Guotuan, the "Dragon" (a famous spirit whose identity I'm keeping secret - you'll just have to read the novel to learn about this huge confrontation, which most of my critiquers said was their favorite part of the novel!), with a large number of other spirits (or "spirits of what made them great" for living people) dropping in, including Deng Yaping, Jan-Ove Waldner, Marty Reisman, and Istvan Jonyer. You'll learn about the "Masters of Pong" - Ogimura, Rong Guotuan, Zhuang Zedong, Stellan Bengtsson, and others; meet the spirits of 24 former Chinese stars in a late-night training session; meet suspiciously familiar-sounding characters such as Chinese Men's Coach Kong Guoliang, U.S. Men's Coach Dan Steth, and U.S. Men's Champion Derek Klaus Hsu; relive tragedy in the Chinese Cultural Revolution; witness great treachery; plus chopstick races and "Danny Boy"! (You'll just have to read about it.)

At the end of the book is my fantasy table tennis short story "Ping-Pong Ambition." In that story, a table tennis player is imprisoned inside a ping-pong ball by a genie for 10,000 years, where he practices table tennis and studies to be a genie himself - with a huge twist at the end. (I originally sold this story to the 2007 anthology "Sporty Spec: Games of the Fantastic." Here are two reviews of the story:

• "Ping-Pong Ambition is a fun take on the genie-who-gives-three-wishes story. The tropes are familiar, but the light tone and twist ending make this an entertaining read." The Fix, Jan. 27, 2008.
• "Ping Pong Ambition by Larry Hodges was a great, quick read. The story squeezes ten thousand years into one thousand as the main character, Toby, finds himself trapped inside the tiny walls of a ping pong ball after having his wish granted by a wizard. I loved the voice of Toby and the description of the passing years. However, it amuses me most that, the sport was ping pong. You don't see that much and it makes me smile." Review from AnthologyBuilder.com.

A lot of people helped with the novel. Without them, it wouldn’t have been possible. Special thanks go to:

• The Great Eight, who critiqued early versions of this story. Honfai Geoffrey Cheng, Chris Grace, Vince Green, Nathan Hsu, Navin Kumar, John Olsen, Raul Rasay, and Dennis Taylor.
• Stellan Bengtsson, who spent an hour on the phone telling me about his 3.5 months training with Ichiro Ogimura in 1969-1970.
• Tim Boggan, USATT Historian.
• Etsuko Enami, ITTF Project Manager, who personally sent me the English version of the Ogimura book, which wasn’t available in the U.S.
• Ariel Chen and Qihong Cui from Mytabletennis.net, who helped with some research.
• Mike Mezyan, who created the cover.
• Ledo’s Pizza, Hong Kong Café, and the back room of the Maryland Table Tennis Center, three places where I got a lot of work done, ate a lot of pizza and Kung Pao Chicken, and played a little ping-pong.
• And all the Champions whose spirits appear in this book!

I owe a lot of thanks to the following four books:

• Ogi: The Life of Ichiro Ogimura, by Mitsuru Jojima, translated by John Senior (2009).
• Ping-Pong Diplomacy: The Secret History Behind the Game That Changed the World, by Nicholas Griffin (2014).
• Table Tennis Legends, by Zdenko Uzorinac and ITTF (2001).
• The Ogimura Seminar of Table Tennis, by Dell Sweeris (1968).

Here's my Amazon page, where all of my books on sale are listed.

Develop a Super Heavy Backspin Serve

Here's the new coaching article from Expert Table Tennis.

Footwork Training in Thailand

Here's the video (7:54) as players train the small steps needed in table tennis. (You need both small and big steps, depending on the situation.)

Canadian Junior and Cadet Open

It ended yesterday in Markham, Canada. Here's the ITTF home page for the event, with results and lots of articles, and here's the USATT site, which includes a link to lots of video. USA dominated and won all eight non-consolation events - in fact, seven of the finals were all-USA.  

US Open Deadline Extended

Here's the USATT article. Original deadline for the US Open was this coming Monday (May 18), with a $75 late fee for the week after that, and May 25 the final, drop-dead deadline. But they've extended it all two weeks, so you have until Sunday, May 31 to enter without the $75 late fee, and until June 7 with the late fee. This is sort of a semi-annual thing (for the Open and Nationals) - I think they've extended the deadline for every one of them for the past decade or so. It's a way to get more entries, of course. Now, if I can just heal my arm problems and get 20 years younger over the next two weeks, maybe I'll enter the Open!!! (Otherwise, I'll just be coaching, selling table tennis books, attending meetings, and walking about looking important. I need to practice my strut.)

2015 World Championships Most Followed Table Tennis Event in History

Here's the ITTF press release.

Alameda, Austin, and Triangle Named USATT National Centers of Excellence

Here's the USATT article. Here's a listing of the USATT National Centers of Excellence, which includes my club, MDTTC.

Paralympic Hopeful Just Keeps Winning

Here's the article and video (2:10) on Danny Scrivano.

Pint-Sized Pong

Here's video (1:58) of some great points by little kids in a Japanese tournament. I believe it features the lefty kid in this video (1:33) that I posted Wednesday.

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. 

Air Guitar Pong

Here's the cartoon!

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.)

• More Cake Pong
• "I'll Serve" Model Pong
• Wall of Pong
• Bear Pong
• Song of Pong
• Four-Color Pong
• Arty Pong
• "It's Not the Macarena" Pong
• Invisible Pong

***
Send us your own coaching news!

Is There a Mathematical Advantage in Winning a Game If You Serve First?

No.

I guess I should explain. Some believe that serving first is a mathematical advantage in winning a game, since it means you will sometimes serve more than an opponent in a game. For example, suppose you serve first, and win 11-7. At that point you will have served ten times, your opponent eight. So you won because you served first? No!!! Even if your opponent had the two missing serves, and even if he happened to win both points (the odds are against it), you still would have won 11-9. Mathematically, serving first means you have a better chance of winning by a larger margin (or keeping it closer when you lose), but it makes zero difference mathematically in who wins.

Here's another way of looking at it. A game to 11 is really a best of 20, where we go to deuce if it reaches 10-all. In the case of deuce, you alternate serves, and both players have served ten times before that, so there's no mathematical advantage there to serving first. If it doesn't go to deuce, it means that one of the players scored 11 points within the first 20 points - it just so happens that in our scoring system, we stop the game as soon as someone reaches 11, and so don't play out the entire 20 points. If we did, to use the example above, then both players would serve ten times, and it might change the final score, but no matter how you work it, the player who scored 11 points first is going to win that game, even if the other player were given his missing serves.

In the example above, if the loser were to win both points on his missing two serves, he'd still lose 11-9. If he split the two points, he'd lose 12-8. He might even lose both of them, and lose 13-7.

So there is no mathematical advantage to serving first as far as winning a game. However, there is a rare mathematical advantage in tie-breaking. If you are in a round robin group and involved in a tie of three or more players, and if you are all tied in matches and games, it goes to points. In that rare case, there might be an advantage to serving first as it might give you a one or point advantage since you'd be serving first in three of the potentially five games.

But there are other things to take into consideration, some of them psychological, which I wrote about in my article, Should You Choose Serve, Receive, or Side at the Start of a Match? (Personally, I always give the serve away, except occasionally when playing someone who very badly wants to serve first.) 

Arm Tendonitis

The arm has taken a turn for the worse. I blogged about this briefly yesterday. Last night I had to cancel one private session, bring in Coach Raghu to hit for me in another, and in the afterschool program (where I usually mix in multiball and live play) had to use the robot only. I'm not going to be hitting any balls anytime soon. The problem in the arm, tendonitis, is an old one I had in the early 1980s, but went away mostly for thirty years. Sometime this morning I plan to make an appointment with a physical therapist, though I have a feeling they are going to test it, and say, "Yep, you've got tendonitis. You need to rest it, and then exercise it in this way." They'll then demonstrate the exact same exercises I learned 30 years ago, which I recently started up again.

I think the problem is that the arm seemed 90% healed this past week, and I was coaching almost normally. I was fine as long as I avoiding excessive forehand looping, forehand pendulum serves, and feeding backspin in multiball. Alas, right now it hurts just to pick up a racket. I've already hired Raghu and Josh Tran to feed multiball in my various group sessions, including one tonight.

Canadian Junior and Cadet Open

It ends today in Markham, Canada, May 11-14. Here's the ITTF home page for the event (lots of articles and results), and here's the USATT site, which includes a link to livestreaming. It was all-USA finals in all four team events - junior boys and girls, cadet boys and girls.

Learn from the Best: MH Table Tennis' Pro Tip Blog

Here's the new page. "A couple of years ago I trialed an idea of introducing small tips from professional players linked to small articles which included my own ideas also. I began the Pro Tip Blog. Unfortunately I never followed through with it...until now!"

Failure: Why It's Actually Good for Your Young Athlete

Here's the article from Sporting Kid Live.

Stay at Caesars Palace or The LINQ and Get a Free Event

Here's the USATT article about the upcoming U.S. Open in Las Vegas, July 6-11.

Reduce Recently Imposed Table Tennis Fees

Here's the petition started by USATT Hall of Famer George Brathwaite. He needs only 100 signatures! The Roosevelt Operating Corporation has begun charging non-residents a fee for playing at the Sports Park facility, and he's out to stop it.

Support Navin Kumar in His Mission to Win Gold

Here's the article. He's a student of mine - but with my arm injuries, I haven't been able to work with him that much recently.

Table Tennis Wants Olympic Mixed Doubles or Mixed Team Event

Here's the article from Fox Sports.

Ping Pong Therapy and the Alzheimer’s and Dementia Fight

Here's the article with links from Table Tennis Nation.

The Best Shot in Table Tennis

Here's the new highlights music video (4:34).

Table Tennis Doubles Best

Here's the new highlights music video (3:43) that features doubles.

40 Seconds of Ma Long and Xu Xin Goofing Off

Here's the video. (Ma Long in Yellow.)

Amazing 41-shot Rally Between Segun Toriola and Gao Ning

Here's the video (68 sec).

Nice Picture of Noki Niwa Stretching for Ball

Here's the picture from the ITTF - click on the picture to see a whole series of interesting ones.

Child Knee Pong

Here's the video (41 sec) - pretty impressive!

"I Don't Like the Looks of This"

Here's the Frank and Ernest table tennis cartoon.

***
Send us your own coaching news!

Miscellaneous Stuff

• Arm Problems. I aggravated the arm again during the afterschool program. Normally I just feed multiball for this, but two players were sick today and another kid kept wandering off, so I was left with just one kid in my group. So I hit with him one-on-one. He was sort of an advanced beginner, spraying shots all over the table, forcing me to reach for them. Normally this would have been fine, but while reaching for some of his mishits at some point the arm began to hurt again. After the session I had a 90-minute private coaching session, but halfway through I had to stop and bring in Coach Raghu to do my hitting for me. I've already warned my students for today that I can only block in today's sessions, so we'll see how that goes. I might have to take another one-two weeks off. (It mostly hurts when I do any forehand shots, forehand pendulum serves, or feeding backspin in multiball. Once it begins to hurt, just holding the weight of the racket hurts it.)
• Reverse Pendulum Serve. Recently I've been teaching this serve to many of my students, or focusing more on perfecting it with the more advanced ones. The key for most is to learn to contact more under the ball, rather than just behind (which is where you contact the ball when serving it long). Ideally, players should learn to use the same motion but be able to serve it both short to the forehand and long to the backhand. They should also learn the serve so that until the last second they can do either regular or reverse pendulum serves, i.e. sidespin either way.
• Canadian Junior and Cadet Open. It's going on right now in Markham, Canada, May 11-14. Here's the ITTF home page for the event (lots of articles and results), and here's the USATT site, which includes a link to livestreaming. They just finished the team events, and it was all-USA finals in all four events - junior boys and girls, cadet boys and girls. Jeez, why aren't I there coaching???
• US Open. This year's US Open, July 6-11, is looking to be a milestone for me - but a bad one. My first US Open was in 1976 when I was 16, and I've been to every one since at least 1984. However, I think it's been 24 years since I last attended an Open or National where I paid my own way. During those years I always had students who paid my way in return for my coaching them at the tournament. However, during many of those years we only had three full-time coaches at MDTTC - Cheng Yinghua, Jack Huang, and myself - plus my level of play was high enough that I could train one-on-one with our top juniors.

  Now we have eight full-time coaches/practice partners at MDTTC, and my playing level has gone down at age 55. All of our top junior players who are going to the Open train one-on-one with these coaches/practice partners, and they are coaching them at the Open. So it looks like I'll be paying my own way this year, and perhaps be a volunteer roving coach for some MDTTC players. (Most years I play in hardbat events on the side, even though I'm normally a sponge player, but due to injuries and lowered level of play, I'm retired from that as well.) Alas, perhaps it's the end of an era. I'm sure there are some out there who might want to hire me at the Open, but for now I'd rather stick to only coaching MDTTC players at tournaments.

  They are holding U.S. junior and cadet team trials at the Open for boys and girls (that's four tryouts), and I likely won't be coaching in any of them for the first time in many years. I miss the old days - it was just a few years ago, for example, when I coached Tong Tong Gong, and he came out of almost nowhere (seeded outside the top eight) to make the US Team two years in a row (top four) by pulling off nine different upsets while beating everyone below him. For that and all previous Trials I'd spend huge amounts of time studying video of opponents and taking notes, which gave our players an advantage, and it paid off, year after year. But at least I'll have a more relaxing time this year, since it'll be the first time in (decades?) that I won't spend all those feverish hours in advance studying videos.

• Possible Booth at US Open. I'm toying with joining with a few others and renting a booth at the U.S. Open, where I'd sell my table tennis books. It's expensive, about $1500 plus shipping costs. If I did this, I'd be sharing the booth with others selling table tennis books, videos, and artwork. I'm sure I'd end up losing money on this, but it'd give me a place to sit back and relax for six days.
• Samson Dubina Coaching Book. He hired me to edit it, and I've been working on it starting on Monday. "100 Days of Table Tennis Success" is looking to be an excellent book that I'll strongly recommend for table tennis players. I hope to finish my work on it by Friday, but we'll see. It's a big job, 181 pages.
• "The Spirit of Pong." According to the online tracker, the proofs for my new fantasy table tennis novel will be delivered by 8PM today. Then I get to go over them and see if there are any needed changes. If all goes well, I'll have final copies in a week, and then it'll go on sale at Amazon in print and kindle formats. It's the story of an American who goes to China to learn the secrets of table tennis - and he ends up training with the spirits of past stars. More on this when it goes on sale. It's a short novel (technically a novella), exactly 100 pages long.
• Non-Table Tennis - Story and Ad in Space and Time Magazine. My fantasy story "Leashing the Muse" is in the new issue, which I just received in the mail. It's my third short story sale to them, and 71^st overall. My name is on the cover of the magazine. Alas, Space and Time is one of the few science fiction and fantasy magazines that has stayed with print-only, so there's no online link to the story - you'll just have to buy the magazine to read it! Besides the story, I advertised my humorous fantasy novel Sorcerers in Space on the back cover - here's the ad. Still more alas - with my increased table tennis duties due to USATT work, most (though not all) of my science fiction & fantasy writing has to go on hold for the next few years. Here's a description of the story:
  • "An English professor is disgusted with the poor work of his students. And then, due to global warming, Polyhymnia, the muse of sacred song, oratory, lyric, singing, and rhetoric, and the daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyn, is released from where she had been imprisoned in arctic ice for thousands of years by Zeus for criticizing his poetry. She decides her mission is to turn all written work into masterpieces, whether it be Milton, newspaper articles, or a how-to manuals. When any three-year-old with a crayon can write masterpieces, nothing stands out anymore, and so there are no more masterpieces. It's up to our English professor to capture the muse and convince her to stop, with the help of a super-powerful computer."
• Upcoming Schedule
  • Samson Dubina Coaching Book - I hope to finish this by Friday.
  • Potomac Open - I'll probably coaching at the Potomac Open this weekend, Sat & Sun. (If there's time, I may also stop by and visit the Gaithersburg Book Festival on Saturday.)
  • Disabled Veterans - I'm running a camp for them next week, Mon-Thur, May 18-21.
  • USATT Teleconference - we have a teleconference on Monday night at 7PM.
  • Balticon - I'll be attending Balticon, a regional science fiction & fantasy convention, as a panelist, May 22-24. (It's sort of like a 4-star tournament.)
  • Tim Boggan - he moves in with me on May 25 for 10-14 days so I can do the page layouts and photo work on his Volume 16 of History of U.S. Table Tennis.
  • Summer Camps - they begin at MDTTC on June 16 and continue all summer, Mon-Fri, 10AM-6PM, for 11 straight weeks, ending on Aug. 21.
  • US Open - I'll be at the US Open, July 6-11.
  • TNEO - The Never-Ending Odyssey is my annual science fiction & fantasy writing workshop vacation, July 24 - Aug. 1, in Manchester, NH.
  • Plus all the usual group and private coaching! 
• USATT Stuff - I've got lots and lots of stuff I'm working on here, but much of it will now have to wait until the fall. Most of my USATT volunteer work has to go on hold during the summer when I'm busy at our summer camps and private coaching - it's our busiest time, with kids out of school. (I'm on the USATT Board, chair the USATT League Committee, and am the USATT Regional Associations Coordinator.)

Ask the Coach

Episode #124 (31:50) - There are no limits, only Plateaus. 

Nathan Hsu: "I'm back in Tongxiang - China 2015 (Episode 1)

Here's the video (6:44). "Well, I'm back in China, and I'm going to try to vlog and stuff. The days are pretty repetitive, though, so I'll try my best to make the videos interesting. I don't really know what else to type... eh, whatever. This is fine." Learn what it's really like to train in China, or just wait for my upcoming fantasy novel "The Spirit of Pong"! (USATT yesterday featured my latest Tip of the Week on their news page, and ran it with a picture of me coaching Nathan at a tournament.)

11 Questions with Frank Caliendo

Here's the USATT Interview.

Not Just for Hipsters: Ping Pong Bounces Back

Here's the article from the London Telegraph from a few days ago.

ITTF and IOC Presidents Meet to Discuss Additional Table Tennis Gold

Here's the ITTF press release. "Prior to the Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships, ITTF's President Mr. Thomas WEIKERT met the International Olympic Committee's President Dr. Thomas BACH in Lausanne, Switzerland." "The two Presidents also discussed the possibility of table tennis having mixed doubles or mixed teams as its fifth gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, in addition to the current lineup of men's & women's singles and men's & women's teams events."

Best of the 2015 Worlds

Here's the new highlights video (8:04).

New Japanese Junior Star

Here's video (1:33) of this incredible 7-year-old.

Death Pong

Here's the picture!

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.)

• Fighting Pong
• Tattoo Pong
• Periodical Pong
• Beatles Pong (I've run this before, but it's probably new to a lot of people)
• Outdoor Deserted Pong
• Awesome Wall of Pong
• More Cake Pong
• Skate Pong
• Loop-enardo Di Chop-rio Pong

***
Send us your own coaching news!

Dying Arts in Table Tennis

The game has really changed quite a bit in the 39 years since I started in 1976. Some of it has been for the better, but some has been for the worse. From a technique point of view, the biggest loss is the dying of so many techniques and styles that were so common in the past. The game is simply more interesting when there are more styles - modern players often have no clue that the game wasn't nearly always a match-up of looper vs. looper, that there used to be huge battles between styles. Here's a short listing of ten dying styles or techniques.

1. Pips-out penholders. I have several students pushing the 1800 level who have NEVER played a pips-out penholder in their life. (Recently I called them over to watch Heather Wang, a 2200 pips-out penholder at our club, just so they could see how the style played.) If anyone had predicted 25-30 years ago that the pips-out penhold style would die out at the world-class level while choppers (or at least chopper/loopers) would continue to thrive, they'd have been labeled a lunatic. Few remember that throughout the 1960s, '70s, and '80s, much of the game at the elite level was basically a battle between Chinese pips-out penholders and European inverted shakehanders.
2. Short pips. There used to be lots of players with short pips-out, either pips-out penholders or shakehanders with pips on the backhand. But the hitting game is pretty much dead, and except for choppers and a few blockers with long pips, pretty much everyone has inverted on both sides.
3. Conventional penhold backhand. It's almost time to retire the "conventional" part of this, since conventional penhold backhands are so unconventional, unless you are an aging player from the past or Ryu Seung Min - an aging player from the past whose last world ranking was in February, 2014.
4. Forehand flat hitters. These days when one of our juniors plays a flat hitter, half the time he doesn't know what to do since there are so few of them. At the higher levels, just about all anyone does is loop. You have to practically lob to get a player to flat smash, and even then many world-class players continue to loop. First it died out among shakehanders, with Teng Yi and Johnny Huang perhaps the last of the "great" shakehand hitters, and then the pips-out penhold hitting style died out. I miss the days where you'd have that constant battle between loopers and hitter/blockers.
5. Backhand flat hitting. I'm constantly amazed at how our up-and-coming players are so unprepared tactically when faced with the flat backhand hitting of Jim Butler - they just aren't experienced against it. Often their coaches are their practice partners, who might be 2600 players in their 20s, and they too aren't really familiar with this type of play and don't coach against it very well.
6. All-out forehand loopers. Unlike conventional penhold backhands, where the only ones left are aging players from the past, there are nearly none left because aging players don't have the speed to be all-out forehand loopers. Remember the days of Guo Yuehua, Kim Taek Soo, Yoo Nam Kyu, Dragutin Surbek, Shigeo Itoh, Jean-Michel Saive, Jean-Philippe Gatien, and others who relentlessly ran around looping forehands? Once again we're mostly left with the aging Ryu Seung Min. Most modern players still strongly favor the forehand, but it's not like it used to be for some styles, where the whole goal was pretty much to play ALL forehand. There was even an old table tennis saying: "One gun is as good as two."
7. Forehand flips from backhand corner. This used to be one of the most common receives, done especially by all-out forehand attackers, who'd step around their backhand corner to forehand flip against most short serves. Jean-Michel Saive was a master of it. Some top players still do this as a variation, but it's pretty rare these days as everyone tries to backhand banana flip any serve that goes short. There's a good reason for this - it used to be if you forehand flipped from the backhand corner to the opponent's backhand, he'd block, and you'd get to forehand loop again. These days he's more likely to backhand loop. 
8. Seemiller grip and antispin. Remember when four of the five members of the USA Team (circa mid-1980s) played with the Seemiller grip, and with antispin on one side? Two reached roughly top 20 in the world (Eric Boggan and Dan Seemiller). Another won the gold medal at the Pan Ams (Brian Masters). Two reached the quarterfinals of Men's Doubles at the Worlds (Dan & Rick Seemiller). These days the grip has gone the way of the dinosaur, and yet it was a pretty effective grip, and below top 20 in the world, still would be. (I suspect it would be an excellent grip in the women's game even at the highest levels, where there's less power than in the men's game.) Antispin is also pretty much gone, though there is a recent minor resurgence due to "frictionless" antispin for blocking. (One of the funniest things is listening to many modern players and coaches trying to coach against the Seemiller grip - they only vaguely understand the style, and almost always coach as if it were some variation of a shakehands grip, and their coaching almost always hurts more than it helps.)
9. "Pure" choppers. There used to be a lot of pure choppers out there, who chopped and pushed everything unless you kept pushing, in which case they'd eventually pick hit if you gave them a weak push. But they'd win matches where they might attack once per game, relying on pure defense and opponents' impatience. Another style that's mostly gone - most choppers these days are also all-out forehand attackers.
10. Chop and sidespin blocking. There are a few that still do this, including Ma Long, but not many. It used to be a more common way to throw an opponent's timing off. Part of it might be the livelier sponges of today make it trickier to do. Waldner and nearly every pips-out penholders were the masters at this.

Canadian Junior and Cadet Open

It's going on right now in Markham, Canada. Here's the ITTF home page for the event, and here's the USATT site. The ITTF site has several feature articles on it, including one that features Crystal Wang from my club: Hosts Provide Severe Test for Second Seeds, Crystal Wang Steers United States Home.

Ma Long Videos

Here's a series of videos featuring the new World Men's Singles Champion, posted by Liliek Eko Suprabowo.

• The Amazing Ma Long Serve (5:45)
• Ma Long Multiball (1:41)
• Ma Long the Superman Tribute (9:17)
• Ma Long the Dragon (6:31)
• Ma Long Training (7:24)
• Ma Long's Technique (5:00)

Ask the Coach

Episode #123 (18:35) - Changing Technique.

Table Tennis Physical Training in China

Here's the video (31 sec).

Pro Tip Blog: Bilenko on Modern Defense

Here's the new coaching article from MH Table Tennis.

Does Blade Weight Impact Performance?

Here's the new article from Table Tennis 11. There are a lot of past coaching related articles there as well.

China Faces a Heavy Trouble After Suzhou

Here's the article from Table Tennista.

Uberpong Play Anywhere Survey

Here's the survey. "What would you change about the world of ping pong? By answering a few questions, you could help us improve your ping pong experience forever."

Xu Xin Rocks!

Here's the highlights music video (61 sec) featuring the Chinese superstar.

Robin Hood Pong?

Here's the picture. (Here's the non-Facebook version.)

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.)

• Pizza Paddle Pong
• Yo Momma Pong
• Color Table Pong
• Luxury Living Room Pong
• Proper Grip Pong
• Storefront Pong
• Godzilla Pong (I've posted this, but it's worth a second look. It's taken from this 46-sec Snickers ad from 2014, where 11 seconds in Godzilla plays table tennis for five seconds.)

***
Send us your own coaching news!

Tip of the Week

Covering the Wide Backhand.

Beetle Baily Cartoons

Beetle Bailey ran a table tennis cartoon yesterday (Sunday). Cartoonist Mort Walker has long had a partnership with table tennis, regularly running cartoons, often featuring epic matches between Beetle and Sarge. In the early years, apparently Sarge would win, but in recent years it's been all Beetle. Below are all the times they've featured table tennis that I can find. Considering the cartoon has been running continuously since 1950, I'm pretty sure there are plenty more, but they didn't start putting them online at beattlebailey.com until 1996. I'm determined to find them all!!! I found mention of a cartoon from Aug. 25, 1975 that is titled, "Blast it! I lost to Sarge in Ping-Pong Again!", and described as "The Chaplain counsels Beetle on his anger...and his ping-pong game," but I can't find it online. So I just ordered the 1975 Beetle Bailey collection (only cost about $7, including shipping), and will scan and put that online when it arrives. (NOTE added later - I received the comic book in the mail, but it was the wrong one, so I still haven't found this one.) (Yeah, today's blog is a bit short - very busy on various USATT and MDTTC issues, and editing the new coaching book by Samson Dubina. But I think there's enough here to keep you occupied.) (NOTE - I'll likely update this periodically with newer ones.) 

• May 15, 2016 - Run For Your Life
• May 10, 2015 - Sore Loser
• April 25, 2014 - Beetle Serves Backspin
• May 17, 2012 - Poor Loser and the Cliff
• July 15, 2010 - Philosophical Pong with Plato
• March 21, 2010 - Sit Down Pong and an Acrobatic Sarge
• July 10, 2009 - The Threat!
• June 7, 2009 - How to Do Table Tennis Publicity
• October 11, 2007 - Contact Pong (and Sarge demonstrates forehand technique)
• June 3, 2007 - Sore Winner and Loser
• December 8, 2005 - Sarge Putaway - Now THAT'S a Forehand
• July 28, 2005 - Picnic Meatball Pong
• April 3, 2002 - Injured Winner
• October 1976 (Sarge Snorkel Comic Book Cover) - Big Paddle
• Feb. 2 (can't read year) - I Can't Play Ping-Pong By Myself
• May 29 (can't read year) - Sarge Feels Better Already

Here are other Classic Comics featuring table tennis.

Happy Mother's Day!

It's a day late, since I don't blog on Sundays, but better late than never!

• From the ITTF. (Here's the non-Facebook version.)
• From Michael Mezyan. (Here's the non-Facebook version.)
• From Zazzle (all sorts of Mother's Day paddles and balls)

North American Cadet Trials

Here are the results - Sharon Alguetti won Cadet Boys, Crystal Wang Cadet Girls. Here's the ITTF page, which has three articles at this writing.

Blocking

Here's the new coaching article from Han Xiao.

The Expert Table Tennis Playbook

Here's the newly updated TT Playbook from Expert Table Tennis, 33 pages. Here's what he wrote about it: "I created The Table Tennis Playbook, my FREE eBook, a couple of years ago now and it has been downloaded thousands of times by table tennis players the world over. However, it was clear to me that it needed a serious face lift and a bit of updating. It's now received that and looks 10x better than before."

Ask the Coach

Episode #122 (21:25) - What Strokes to Learn First.

Mr. Nice Guy: Three Reasons to Improve Your Club Reputation

Here's the article from Samson Dubina.

How to Glue Table Tennis Rubber on Your Racket

Here's the video (3:23) from Samson Dubina.

Chinese Training - Fan Zhendong

Here's the Facebook video (2:27).

Interviews with Liam Pitchford and Tetyana Bilenko

Here are two new interviews from MH Table Tennis.

• Liam Pitchford, #1 man from England, #49 in the world
• Tetyana Bilenko, #1 woman from Ukraine, #45 in the world

Zhang Jike: Bedridden after the Worlds

Here's the article from Tabletennista.

Back in the Game - Pam Fontaine

Here's the article on the star wheelchair player.

Pope John Paul Receives Table Tennis Paddle in 1979

Here's the picture.

Suzhou Worlds 2015 (Part 1 - Men's Singles)

Here's the video (5:23).

How Oregon's 15-year-old table-tennis star Judy Bochenski thawed the Cold War in 1971

Here's the article and pictures from Oregon Live. Judy's a USATT Hall of Famer and owner at Paddle Palace.

How to Float a Ping Pong Ball on Air - the Coandă

Here's the video (87 sec) - I do this all the time just blowing the ball in the air with my mouth.

ITTF Commentator Adam Bobrow vs. Jiaqi Zheng

Here's the video (73 sec) of his great point - with a little dancing mixed in!

Ping Pong Dash - Japanese Table Tennis Cartoon

Here's the page that shows all 15 covers from 2006-2010.

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.)

• Red Alien Soldiers Explosion Pong
• Blue Darklight Pong
• Garden Pong
• Marilyn Monroe Pong
• Athena the Goddess Pong
• Paddle Hanging Pong
• Pocketless Pong
• Outdoor Netless Pong
• Outdoor Water Pong

***
Send us your own coaching news!

Current Activities and USATT Work

My todo list currently runs approximately the length of three football fields, and that’s in 6-point font. I won’t bore you with the small stuff.

This past week, and hopefully finishing today, has been “The Spirit of Pong” Week. I had eight people read and critique the fantasy table tennis novel, which I blogged about on March 16 and a few times since. It’s now complete, except for the page layouts, which I hope to finish today. Since I wrote it for the table tennis market, I’m self-publishing it. (If I were aiming for the general fantasy-reading public, I’d have to go through a publisher.) If all goes well, it should go on sale in a week.

Next week (probably starting tomorrow) is Samson Dubina Week. He’s written a new coaching book, and I’ve agreed to edit it. I really need to finish it within a week because the following week things get even busier. I’ll probably have some long afternoons at Ledo’s Pizza. (I get a lot done there, sometimes going there at 11AM and staying until 2:30 PM, when I leave to do pickups for the afterschool program.)

The following week (May 18-21) is Disabled Veterans Coaching Week. Here’s the flyer about the camp I’m running at MDTTC. At the end of the week I’ll also be attending Balticon, an annual science fiction convention. I’m a panelist, and will be promoting my fantasy novel Sorcerers in Space.

The following two weeks (starting May 25) are Tim Boggan Weeks. As he’s done annually for the last 15 years or so he’ll be moving in with me for 10-14 days so I can do the page layouts and photo work for the next volume of his History of U.S. Table Tennis. This will be Volume 16, covering 1988-89.

The following week I catch my breath. (Actually, I’ll likely spend it on USATT work - see below.)

The following week, starting June 15, we begin eleven consecutive weeks of camps at MDTTC, Mon-Fri every week, 10AM-6PM. (I’ll miss at least two of the camps, July 6-10 for the U.S. Open, and July 27-31 for my annual nine-day science fiction writing workshop vacation at The Never-Ending Odyssey in Manchester, NH, which I’ll be attending for the seventh time.

In addition to all the above, I’m also trying to do my daily blog and weekly tips, coach full-time, promote MDTTC, and do a bunch of volunteer USATT work.

I have three volunteer (unpaid) positions with USATT: I’m on the Board of Directors (since January), I chair the USATT League Committee, and I’m the Regional Associations Coordinator. (The latter two are recent appointments.) The board activities are ongoing, with monthly meetings (mostly teleconferences), and various issues that come up day to day. I’ve got a series of bylaw proposals coming up, but we’ll probably wait for an in-person meeting for that, I think in September. I’ll blog about them later.

For the League Committee and Regional Associations Coordinator, I’m currently in “Learning and Gathering Info” mode. As I told the board when I took these two positions, most of my work on these would mostly start in the Fall, after our summer camps end. I’ll write more about this later. I’ve written an article for USATT Insider on upcoming plans (and plan to do an accompanying podcast), but may hold back on that until later, when I have more time. The basic plan is to create regional associations, with a three-pronged purpose: State Championships, Regional Team Leagues, and Training Centers and Junior Programs. I’m putting together proto-types for each (including regional association bylaws), and then we’ll begin the process of promoting and developing them, state by state and region by region. And then USATT membership explodes, our top players dominate, and USA Table Tennis becomes the center of table tennis on this planet.

Miscellaneous Coaching Happenings

• Feet and Grip. With several new players joining us recently, once again an old maxim of mine keeps working out - if you get the feet and grip right, everything in between tends to fall into place. Here’s my Tip of the Week on that, Grip and Stance.
• Ball Stomping. Yesterday a new 6-year-old joined the afterschool program. In the first five minutes he intentionally stepped on and broke 12 balls before we realized what was going on. This was a repeat of what another 6-year-old had done previously.
• Big Bug, Big Bird, and Ants. The priorities of a little kid are a bit different than others. The highlight of yesterday’s sessions was the appearance of a big beetle that the kids thought was a cockroach but was actually I think a patent leather beetle. The highlight of the session the day before was when Big Bird flew into the club (actually probably just a sparrow). We turned all the lights out with the doors open to get it to fly out. Meanwhile, on break yesterday a bunch of the kids took empty plastic bottles outside and collected ants.
• Arm Problems. I’m still having arm problems, especially if I do repetitive forehands (hitting or looping), forehand pendulum serves, or feeding backspin in multiball.
• Tardiness. Is there a reason that in a one-hour junior session, over half the kids consistently show up at least five minutes late, and some come in fifteen minutes late?

Ask the Coach with Richard Prause

Episode #7 (1:51) - How to begin a match and what to do if you realize that a tactic does not work.

Upcoming ITTF Coaching Courses in the U.S.

Here’s the schedule. Here’s the current listing:

• Morrisville, NC - ITTF Level 1 Course - June 7-11, 2015
• Austin, TX – ITTF Level 2 Course – June 21-26, 2015
• Akron, OH – ITTF Level 2 Course – September 14-19, 2015

ITTF Development and Education 2014 Review, 2015 Preview

Here’s the video (7:22) that outlines

Fang Bo Fifth Person on Chinese Core Team

Here’s the article from Tabletennista. He joins the “Big Four” - Ma Long, Zhang Jike, Xu Xin, and Fan Zhendong.

Ma Long and Coach Liu Guoliang Impromptu Exhibition

Here’s the video (21 sec).

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.

Statue Pong

Here's a very serious Julius Caesar following through on a big forehand.

Hard-working Umpire Has a Great Fall

Here’s the video (58 sec, including slo-mo replay).

“The hard-working umpire sat on a wall,
 The hard-working umpire had a great fall,
 All the spectators and the two playing men,
 Helped put the umpire back on the wall again.”

***
Send us your own coaching news!

Coaching Between Points

I blogged about this on Tuesday. There has been a lot of online discussion, such as at the Mytabletennis forum and the OOAK forum. The gist of most of the discussions agrees with what I wrote - this is not a good thing. I’m still in the mode of “Wow. Just wow,” and keep checking my calendar to see if it’s April 1. The rule will take effect on Oct. 1, 2016. Has the whole world gone mad? Here is the new rule, with the old wording crossed out, and the new wording in bold:

3.5.1.3 Players may receive advice only during the intervals between games or during other authorised suspension of play, and not between the end of practice and the start of a match; if any authorised person gives advice at other times the umpire shall hold up a yellow card to warn him or her that any further such offence will result in his or her dismissal from the playing area. Between rallies persons who are authorised to be at the bench / field of play have the possibility to give verbal and visual coaching instructions.

Here are some more articles on this:

• Coaching Between Points Will Be Allowed in 2016 (Tabletennista)
• Short mention in ITTF press release
• Tischtennis article (with Google translation from German)

At first glance, this should be a good thing for me. Tactical coaching may be my biggest strength, and the value of ringside tableside coaches is about to go up dramatically. Coaches like myself are going to become far more interactive, and maybe make a lot of money as hired guns. (Maybe I should just quit all other table tennis activities and just become a hired coach at tournaments?) This is normal in team sports, but not so normal in most individual sports, where players should learn to rely on themselves, with a coach only assisting. That’s why it’s an individual sport. (Boxing allows such coaching, but it’s a bit different as they don’t really have the equivalent of a serve to be signaled in. Plus, do we really want boxing as our role model?)

Now the coaches will be in charge, perhaps signaling in every serve. While I should be good at that, I’m not so sure I’ll be comfortable doing it, since I’ve never done this for someone else before. It’ll seem weird taking control of someone else’s match in this way. I'm definitely not thrilled at suddenly being responsible for calling out every serve, how to receive, point after point, not to mention working out complex codes and signals. Jeeeez. 

However, my lack of bilingual skills will hurt me. For example, Chinese coaches can coach in Chinese during a match, and unless the opponent is also Chinese, opponent won't understand. Big advantage to those with foreign languages. I’m good at a lot of things, but foreign language isn’t one of them. But if I yell out instructions in English, the opponent will hear. Players who speak less common languages are going to want coaches who can yell out instructions in that language. Opposing coaches will surreptitiously try to find people who understand those languages so they can figure out what the opposing coach is saying. It’ll be Spy vs. Spy.

Since I only speak English (like nearly everyone else in the table tennis world these days, at least those that I coach against), that means wasting lots of time working out signals. Pretty soon you’ll see me and other coaches yanking at our ears, sticking out our tongues, hopping about, and waving our arms. Okay, it might not be that bad, but you get the gist. Plus, like major league baseball, we’ll have to constantly be changing our signals or the opponent (or more specifically, his coach) will pick up on them. Does anyone out there doubt I won’t be watching the signals of the rival coach, and trying to decipher the code? Will puzzlemaster Will Shortz, who owns the Westchester club in New York, have an advantage over the rest of us?

Apparently the new rule was tested in Germany. Perhaps it worked there, or perhaps we don’t have the full story. Perhaps it did work, but there’s a cultural difference, where German coaches were polite and didn’t take advantage of the rule to take control of every match. I have a feeling that’s exactly what’s going to happen in many places. There are many win-obsessed parents and coaches, and when it becomes legal to coach during a game, it’s going to happen. The question is not how much, but whether there’ll be any serious limits. I really can see many top coaches signaling in every single serve. I expect I’m going to end up doing that as well, since otherwise my students will be at a disadvantage. Maybe we should forget about the students and their ratings, and just have a coaches rating system, since we’re being put in charge?

Arm Problems

There’s been a minor relapse. After resting it last Friday and Saturday, I was able to do all my coaching Sunday through Wednesday, but I had to avoid certain things. The arm begins to hurt if I do any of the following repetitively: looping (forehand or backhand), regular forehands, forehand pendulum serves (my primary serve), and feeding backspin in multiball. So I did a lot of blocking the last few days, and focused on topspin when doing multiball. I only have group sessions the next two days where I won’t have to do any of the above, so hopefully it’ll be ready for some weekend coaching.

Special Tips for Developing Backhand Drive and Loop

Here’s the coaching article by Matt Hetherington. It’s from a year ago, but I don’t think I linked to it. (If I did, it’s worth a second read.)

Ask the Coach

Episode #121 (18:30) - Becoming a Better Player.

26 Seconds of Multiball Training with Fan Zhendong

Here’s the video from the Worlds. That's Wang Hao feeding the balls. 

Bionic Man’s Heart Beats for Table Tennis

Here’s the article from the India Times about Navin Kumar, a student of mine. (I linked yesterday to pictures of the paper itself, but that was hard to read; this is the actual online text.) Here’s the video (9:22) by Peter Scudner in February that features Navin.

Interview with Soumyajit Ghosh

Here’s the interview from MH Table Tennis with the rising Indian star, world #95 after the Worlds and #2 in India after Sharath Kamal Achanta. Includes a link to a video (4:56) with highlights of his win over Aruna Quadri at the Worlds.

Attack on Chinese Ping Pong Not Cricket, Says Top Coach

Here’s the article in The Telegraph from England, with Liu Guoliang’s response to the criticism. I’ve always thought that as long as China allows their top players and coaches to go to other countries to train and coach others, which they do, I have no problem with their (current) dominance. It’s just a matter of time before some country rises to challenge them, as Germany has come close to doing, and as past countries have done at various times, such as Sweden, Hungary, Japan, and South Korea. But it won’t be easy.

Zhang Jike’s Back Injury

Here’s the article from Table Tennista.

Fun Facts about Men’s Singles at the Worlds

Here’s the article.

Table Tennis Comes Together to Support Nepal

Here’s the ITTF press release.

It’s All About the Passion!

Here’s the Facebook picture of Aruna Quadri. Click on the picture to see similar pictures of world singles champions Ding Ning and Ma Long, and other interesting pictures.

Which Splurge Foods Could Make These 27 Team USA Athletes Break Their Diets?

Here’s the article. Note the 11^th item. (I have my own splurge foods: Kung Pao Chicken, and Rocky Road or Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream.)

Two-time table tennis Olympian Jimmy Butler: “My favorite splurge is corn chips with sour cream and hot salsa dip. I can eat the whole sour cream container in one sitting! My favorite sweet splurge is oatmeal cookies. I’ll eat the whole box at once. Good thing I’m 6-4, since this would not go well on a smaller stomach.”

Beer Pong Tables

Here’s an incredible selection from Amazon, including ones featuring the Sistine Chapel, flags, electricity, and all sorts of other items. I’m in the wrong brand of table tennis.

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.)

• Red Pong
• Unfinished Balloon Table Pong
• Wavy Table Pong
• Pro with People Pong
• Play Pong
• Round Pong
• Indoor Skateboard Pong
• Chandelier Pong
• Space Invaders Pong
• Cardboard Carton Pong
• Triangular Octopod Leg Pong
• Cheerleader Pong

***
Send us your own coaching news!

USA Wins Bid for 2018 World Veterans

Here’s the USATT article, here’s the ITTF article, and here’s the newly created home page. This is one of the single largest table tennis tournaments in the world, if not the largest, with up to 5000 participants expected. It'll take place in Las Vegas, June 18-24, 2018.

A special thanks needs to go to the USA Organizing Committee, which has worked tirelessly on this - Dan Seemiller, Dave Sakai, Stellan Bengtsson, Mike Babuin, and Dean Johnson. USATT CEO Gordon Kaye did the final presentation at the ITTF meeting at the Worlds, and I'm told did an excellent job. USA beat out bids from table tennis powers France, Japan, and South Korea. I've seen the PDF version of the USA bid, and it's excellent - it practically screams competence and excitement. (I hope they'll put it online - I’ve already spoken to them about this, and will link to it when/if it does.) Here's the USATT notice from April 14 of our being one of the four finalists.

For perspective, here's the home page for the 2014 World Veterans in Auckland, New Zealand. Here's the results, which show the 31 events held. If you can't wait until 2018, here's the 2016 World Veterans, held May 23-29 in Costa Blanca, Spain.

One note of interest - USA’s Cheng Yinghua will be turning 60 in November of 2018, but ages are as of Dec. 31, so he will be eligible for 60-64 singles. He'll be a strong contender for that title. Dan Seemiller will also likely be a contender in that age group - and imagine those two in doubles!!! (Lefty Dan is good at singles, but he's actually a lot better at doubles. He and brother Ricky once made the quarterfinals at the Worlds.) Heck, maybe we can get USA coaches Stellan Bengtsson, Li Zhenshi, and Zhang Li back in training! (I’ve already heard rumors that Stellan might start training again.) USA actually has some of the best senior players in the world; there’s something about the culture here where players continue to play for a lifetime, while overseas players seem to quit more often once their primary playing careers are over.

Some of us are already thinking beyond 2018. If we show the ITTF we can do a great job with this, why not the unthinkable? The World Championships has never been run in the U.S. - let's bring it here. But in both cases, the World Veterans and/or World Championships, my primary interest is looking to see how we can use these events to develop and promote table tennis in the U.S., i.e. will it make us better, or will the tournament come and go, and we’re no better off than before? Let’s make sure it has a lasting impact.

Now I have to figure out what my role at the tournament will be. Player? Coach? Organizer? Writer? Ballboy? We'll see.

Moving Forward and Backward and Cross-Step Training

Here’s Moving Forward and Backward part 1 (1:19) and part 2 (1:40), and here’s Cross-Step Training part 1 (1:36) and part 2 (1:34).

Ask the Coach

• Episode #119 (22:50) - Timo Boll’s Early Ball
• Episode #120 (24:04) - Ma Long vs. Waldner. From 1:10 to 2:00 they discuss the new ITTF rule (starting Oct. 1, 2016) where coaches can coach between points. “Not a fan at all” and “I’d rather just see a contest between players” are two comments.

World Rankings

Here are the new ITTF world rankings after the Worlds, and here’s an article on them from Table Tennista. The main change is that Fang Bo jumped from #14 to #8. The shocker to me is Mu Zi of China, who was unranked last ranked #73 in June of 2014 [thanks for correction from Steve Grant]. She beat Feng Tianwei (world #4) and Kasumi Ishikaws (world #5), and a number of others before losing 4-3 in the semifinals of women’s singles to eventual winner Ding Ning. Her initial world ranking? #37!!! She should easily be somewhere in the top ten.

11 Questions with Sean O’Neill

Here’s the USATT interview.

Interview with Patrick Franziska

Here’s the article from MH Table Tennis with the German who “…reached new heights at the 2015 World Table Tennis Championships in Suzhou, China by reaching the last 8 players in the draw.”

Judah Friedlander World Champion Smashes All Comers at Moontower Ping Pong

Here’s the article.

Bionic Man’s Heart Beats for Table Tennis

Here’s the front page story in the Times of India about Navin Kumar, a student of mine. Here’s the entire front page, and here’s page 2. (I’m mentioned on page 2!)

Christian Suss Retires

Here’s the article on the German star, who reached #17 in the world in 2010.

India’s Sharath Kamal Achanta on the Operating Table

Here’s the article. The world #32 will be out 3-4 months.

2014 USATT COY Yang Yu Publishes Research Looks to Advance US Table Tennis

Here’s the article.

2015 US Open 41 Point Handicap Chart

Here’s the article about the system to be used for Handicap Singles at the upcoming U.S. Open. Why not run a handicap tournament at your tournament or club? However, this brings back bad memories for me! At some major 4-star tournament many years ago I made the semifinals against some player rated under 1000. In a single game to 51 points I had to spot him 47 points! I tied it at 48-all - then lost on three nets and edges!

2015 Jack Kelly Fair Play Award

Here’s the USOC article. “The Jack Kelly Fair Play Award was established by the United States Olympic Committee in 1985 to honor the late USOC President Jack Kelly Jr. The award is presented to an athlete, team, coach or official in recognition of an outstanding act of fair play and sportsmanship displayed during the past year.”

Continuous Play and Time Wasting

Here are two articles on the topic, from Table Tennis 365 and from All About Table Tennis.

Uberpong Startup

Uberpong needs 250 votes to be considered for a $100,000 grant. Here’s where you can vote! They make custom paddles, such as these Mayweather vs. Pacquiao ones. (Here’s the non-Facebook version.)

More Pictures of Ariel Hsing with Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Her Parents

Here are the pictures from Facebook. Click to see more. (Here’s the article and video I linked to on Monday.)

Watch Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois school Cesar Azpilicueta at table tennis

Here’s the article with a link to the 33-sec video of what I suspect is the best rally they’ve ever played.

Table Drawings

Here’s the sea lion on one side, and the arrow man on the other side. (Non-Facebook versions: sea lion and arrow man.)

Out-of-this-World Pong

• Stormtrooper Pong. (Here’s the non-Facebook version.)
• Moon Pong (Here’s the non-Facebook version.)

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.)

• One Ball to Rule Them All
• Mosaic Pong
• You’re the Ping to My Pong
• Beach Pong (with a very slow table)
• Flower Pong
• NASA Tin Foil Pong

***
Send us your own coaching news!