Examples of Saturation Coaching

My Tip of the Week on Monday was on Saturation Training, where a player focuses on developing one aspect of his game. I thought I'd give some examples of this.

Probably the most famous example was Istvan Jonyer. He made the Hungarian National Team in the early 1970s mostly by blocking. While on the team he developed his powerful forehand loop and became Hungarian National Champion. But he had a weak backhand, and couldn't really compete with the best players in the world. Then he spent six months up in a mountain training, where he did essentially nothing but backhand loop. When he finished, he had a great backhand loop - though other aspects of his game had deteriorated, and he had to practice them to get them back. About two years later he became the 1975 Men's World Champion, and was #1 in the world for two year and a dominant top ten (usually top five) player for over a decade.

Another example is Todd Sweeris, who just yesterday was selected as one of the two inductees this year into the U.S. Table Tennis Hall of Fame. (See my blog yesterday.) Todd made the 1996 and 2000 U.S. Olympic Teams - but through much of 1995 it didn't look like he had a chance. Only the top three U.S. players would make the team, and he couldn't even get games off the top three U.S. players: Jim Butler, David Zhuang, and Khoa Nguyen. He figured his best chance was against Khoa, and that the main thing he could really dominate in would be receive. (That was my suggestion!) So he spent nearly all of that year training overwhelmingly on receive, and with practice partners who copied Khoa. (Sorry Khoa!) He became one of the best serve returners in the country. The strategy worked as Todd beat Khoa 3-0 to make the team. (Fortunately Khoa would, after years of tribulations, make the Olympic team in 2004, and would be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2006.)

I've got three students right now where I'm using saturation training. Sameer, 12, has a tendency to stand up too straight when he plays, and as a result uses too much arm when he forehand loops. So we're focusing on forehand loop in all our sessions, where he has to stay lower (for all shots), and use more lower body when he loops. Another is Matt, 12, who has a strong forehand but weaker backhand, and so we're focusing on backhand right now. Another is Jim, an older player with a strong backhand but awkward forehand, so we're focusing on that, often spending 30-40 minutes of our one-hour sessions on that.

I've used saturation training myself. I've never had a strong backhand attack, but I've always been steady. In the early 1980s, Dave Sakai (now a fellow Hall of Famer) was steady but didn't have a strong forehand attack. So we often drilled and Drilled and DRILLED with him forehand looping and hitting into my steady backhand, which made my backhand so steady that I could literally rally forever with it. That, combined with my strong forehand attack and serve & receive game, became central to my game. I've used saturation training with other aspects of my game as well. I even went through a one-year period (circa 1980) where I practiced my serves 30 minutes/day, seven days/week, and really developed them that way.

Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers - Reviews

Haven't bought a copy yet? WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!!! Here's where you can buy a copy at Amazon. (You can also buy it from Paddle Palace.) Oh, you need some convincing?

Here's a really nice review of the book that just came out by Ben Larcombe of Expert Table Tennis. It's probably the most extensive review yet. He lists the seven most important key points he got from the book - a pretty nice summation - and gives a detailed explanation for each of them. He brings up such good examples of these points that I strongly recommend you read this - it's like an addendum to my book. 

There have been a number of other reviews. Here's one from Alex Polyakov (author of Breaking 2000 and The Next Step - see his webpage). There are 24 at amazon.com (twenty 5-star, four 4-star) and two more at Amazon UK (both 5-star). The reviews at amazon have headlines; here are the 23 headlines given, most recent first. (One person just put in his username, so I left that out.)

1. Bible of Table Tennis
2. My best table tennis purchase so far
3. Excellent addition to table tennis library
4. Definitely for thinkers
5. A very good book covers a broad range of table tennis tactics
6. Good book for someone transitioning from basement star to begin playing at higher levels
7. Excellent Advice Lies Herein
8. An outstanding book
9. Very useful info
10. Solid on many aspects of tactics and strategy
11. Maybe the Best Table Tennis Book Ever Written
12. A MUST for table tennis players who play club and tournaments
13. Great Book from a Great Guy
14. Playing smart
15. For all skill levels
16. Finally I can think!
17. Very good book on under-covered subject
18. Great for the developing (or established) player!
19. A tremendous amount of info!
20. Highly recommended!
21. Hard to find sources on tactics other than Mr. Hodges
22. Great Resource For Improving Your Table Tennis Results
23. It Made Me Think!

Here are a few other quotes from notable table tennis coaches:

"Larry has done an excellent job in breaking down the skills needed by all players to improve in these areas. This book should be on every table tennis player’s mandatory reading list."
-Richard McAfee, USATT National Coach, ITTF Trainer, and USATT Coaching Chair, 2009-2013 

"Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers is a must read for any player serious about winning. This tactical Bible is right on the mark, and is exactly how I was taught to put together game-winning tactics and strategies."
-Sean O'Neill, 5-time U.S. Men's Singles Champion, 2-time Olympian 

"Larry Hodges' book on table tennis tactics is the best I have ever seen on this subject. This is the first book that explains how to play against the many styles of the game."
-Dan Seemiller, 5-time U.S. Men's Singles Champion and long-time U.S. Men's Team Coach 

Actions of the USATT High Performance Committee

Here's the Report (PDF), by Chairperson Carl Danner, covering June and July.

Ping Pong While Playing Drums?

Here's the story and video (3:02) from Table Tennis Nation! A guy sets the "world record" for most consecutive table tennis hits against a wall while playing the drums.

Curvy, Mirrowy Table

Here's the picture! I think that based on the way the table is curved, balls will tend to bounce inward, and so it'll be easy to keep the ball in play - I think. Unless, of course, you are admiring your funhouse mirror image on the table.

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Todd Sweeris, Terese Terranova in Hall of Fame, Yvonne Kronlage Gets Lifetime Achievement Award

Here's the article! I'm especially happy about Todd. He came to the Resident Training Program at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs in the fall of 1986 as a 13-year-old, the youngest player there. I was the manager of the program at the time. So I got to work with him for a few years there. Then I returned to Maryland and opened the Maryland Table Tennis Center (along with Cheng Yinghua and Jack Huang), and Todd moved to Maryland to train there. On the back of my book Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers is a picture of me coaching him at the U.S. Olympic Trials in 1996. I've already gone through my files and pulled out lots of pictures of him for use at his induction at the USA Nationals in December.

I've also known Yvonne a long time - she was president of the New Carrollton TTC where I started play at age 16 in 1976. We've differed on a few things politically, but we've both been promoting TT for roughly forever - but she's been doing it for a longer forever than I have!

Terese I mostly know from coaching our players against her players at the Junior Olympics and Junior Nationals for many years, especially in the 1990s when many of the finals were between Maryland and Florida players, and I'd be coaching the Marylanders (along with coaches Cheng and Jack), and she and Marty Prager would be coaching the Floridians.

USA Nationals

Speaking of the USA Nationals, here's the home page on the USATT web page, which includes the entry form and hotel info. I'll be there, but just coaching and attending a few meetings, including the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies. (I do the HoF program booklet.)

USATT Web Page

Speaking of the USATT web page, I'm featured there twice right now. I'm pictured, along with Ernesto Ebuen and Roger Yuen, for getting certified as an ITTF Level 2 coach. I'm also pictured (coaching Seyed Hamrahian and Derek Nie in doubles at the 2012 USA Nationals) for my latest Tip of the Day, "Don't Guide Your Loop." Ironically that was half of what I told a kid I coached at the Coconut Cup this past weekend - see my write-up yesterday.

2014 Junior and Cadet National Championships

Want to host them next year, either July 31-Aug. 2 or Aug. 7-9? Here's the Bid Sheet!

However, I'm a bit peeved by this. A lot of the top juniors in the U.S. train in China during the summer, often leaving right after the U.S. Open (usually the first week in July), and returning at the end of August. They are scheduling this right in the middle of that. So many of the best juniors in the country (including several from MDTTC) will likely be in China when this takes place, meaning that if they want to play in the National Junior Championships they'll have to fly halfway around the world. (That's roughly 13-15 hours.) It will cost a fortune - I just did a quick search and the cheapest flights from my area to China round trip are about $1400. Plus they'll show up off by 12 time zones, which affects juniors even more than adults. (A 2PM match is like 2AM for them, etc.) And after flying in for a few days of jet-lagged zombie-like play (which they will then be judged on for the next year), they'll hop back on a plane for the trip back, minus about a week of training (after taking recovery time, etc. into account). What this really means is some of our top juniors won't attend the National Junior and Cadet Championships, and so won't be on the National Junior or Cadet Team because they are too focused on becoming top players by training in China. Or, if they do attend, their poor parents will be out something close to $2000, on top of all the other training expenses.

I'm hoping someone from USATT can tell me if I'm missing something here.

Waldner's Best Drop Shots

Here's a highlights video (6:39) featuring the best drop shots by the great Jan-Ove Waldner. Tired of constant serve and rip and counterlooping rallies? This is completely different!

Four on One Table Tennis

Here's the picture - I have to try this! Maybe on break in our next camp.

Sleepy Table Tennis

That's all I can call this.

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Tip of the Week

Saturation Training.

ITTF Level 2 Coaching Certification

Yesterday I completed all requirements for ITTF Level 2 Coaching Certification. I'd taken the six-day, 36-hour course at the Lily Yip TTC two weeks ago, but was also required to do 50 hours of coaching afterwards. I finished that yesterday. I sent the paperwork in last night, and shortly afterwards received notification that it had been approved. So I'm the 11th U.S. coach to achieve this, joining Roger Yuen (who took the Level 2 course with me) and Duane Gall, Mike Mui, Chong Ng, Juan Ly, Federico Bassetti, Iuliana Radu, Ray Pestridge, Jef Savage, Joel Mitchell, and Roger Dickson. Interestingly, I'm the first USATT certified National Coach (the highest U.S. level) to achieve this. There are no Level 3's in the U.S. yet; they haven't taught the course for it here yet, though I hear they are tentatively planning one next year.

Junior Class

We started a new season of our beginning junior class on Saturday morning (10:30AM-Noon) and Sunday afternoon (4:30-6:00PM). One new thing is that we now require all players to register in advance so we know (at least roughly) how many kids will show up, so we know how many coaches to have on hand. For the Sunday class, we only had six pre-registered, a disappointing number. So I arranged for one other coach (John Hsu) to assist. However, since people don't seem to listen (AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!), 16 showed up.

I quickly recruited Raghu Nadmichettu to help out. You need a higher coach to player ratio when working with beginners, especially beginning kids, since they don't yet have the racket skills to practice among themselves - and if they try to, they aren't going to have very good form so they'll be practicing bad habits. So I put them 16 in four groups, four each with me, John, and Raghu, and four on the robot, and did lots of multiball. I rotated the groups every 20 minutes or so. (Three of the four starting on the robot had had some coaching, but one was a complete beginner, so I spent some time jumping back and forth between my players and the robot table.) At the end of session I broke them up into three groups - those who wanted more practice with John (1 player), those who were more advanced and wanted to play "King of the Table" (6 players) and those who wanted to stack pyramids of paper cups and knock them down as I fed multiball (9 players).

Coconut Cup

On Saturday MDTTC had the Coconut Cup Under 1800 Tournament, which I believe they do twice a year. (Next Saturday is the Over 1800 Tournament.) It's a three-person team, non-USATT sanctioned event (no ratings), with all profits going for Chinese books for Chinese schools. I spent most of the day on a back table coaching. When I was done I watched some of the matches. The team that won included John Olsen, who's both a coach and a student of mine. (He's rated 1999, but the "Under 1800" is a team average, and John was the team's "ace.") If you are interested in playing the Over 1800 Coconut Cup next Saturday, email the organizer.  

I was watching one of our junior players in the fifth and final match of a team match. He won the first two games, but then lost the next two. He completely fell apart emotionally, and could barely play. One of his teammates asked me to coach him. So I called a timeout in the fifth game when he was down 2-6. He was breathing rapidly and could barely think straight at this point. I told him to just clear his mind, and think of it as just another match at the club. Don't even try to play; just be a spectator and watch as your subconscious takes over. It couldn't have been easy for him as once a player gets emotional they often lose the deep-down desire to win, or at least the ability to do what's necessary to do so. But he managed to take some deep breaths and cleared his mind. I told him not to play a single point until his mind was clear, which he would do. I did give him two tactical items, very generic ones as the key was mental focus, not tactics - I told him to serve long backspin and loop (opponent was pushing them all back), and to just control the serve back, don't try to attack it since the opponent was steady but passive. As he went back to the table I told him to ball up any nervousness inside him and spit it out, and leave it on the sideline. Anyway, except for an edge ball, he won the next eight points in a row and won the game 11-8. Many people don't understand that coaching between games is at least 50% sports psychology.

The Next Step

Alex Polyakov, author of "Breaking 2000," has come out with another book on table tennis, "The Next Step." Right now there's only a Kindle version, but Alex told me there's a paperback version coming in a month or so. Here's the book's description: "This book provides detailed insights on four essential parts of the game - technique, strategy, tactics, and the mental game. The aim of this book is to create a different type of an artifact and go beyond common basics. This book's goal is to describe numerous principles of table tennis and to show how to apply vast amount of table tennis knowledge to construct player’s most effective game using the skills that the player has already mastered as well as to describe many other skills that the player may choose to develop to take the next step onto higher levels."

More Tips of the Day

Here's a link to the numerous Tips of the Day of mine that USATT is putting up daily. These were all written from 1999-2004 for USATT under the pseudonym "Dr. Ping Pong." I'm a bit leery of this since I haven't seen some of these tips in over a decade, but so far my decade-old self hasn't embarrassed me. The last three tips: "Reading Spin," "Use Ball Placement and Variation Against Short Serves," and "Attack Deep Serves." The picture of me they use for the Tips is me coaching Seyed Hesam Hamrahian (2126, has been over 2250) and Derek Nie (2297 despite his size and age!) in doubles at the 2012 USA Nationals. (I coach Derek regularly at tournaments, but Seyed is normally a student of Samson Dubina.)

Two Table Tennis Obsessives Go Back and Forth

Here's an article in the NY Times where crossword editor and table tennis aficionado Will Shortz interviews photographer and fellow TT aficionado and Alec Soth about his new book, "Ping Pong," which features table tennis photographs.

How Ping Pong Saved the World

Here's info on the film, including a trailer, 1:53. "How Ping-Pong Saved the World is a feature length documentary that recounts the events of April 1971 when a US Table Tennis team became the first Americans invited into communist China in more than two decades. For eight days 15 Ping-Pong diplomats captivated the world with their visit behind the Bamboo Curtain and in the process helped reshape world history. Ping-Pong Diplomacy soon became a metaphor for the on-going difficult relations between two ideological opposites on the brink of détente. Their unlikely invitation paved the way for President Richard Nixon's landmark visit to China just eight months later in February of 1972."

Late Note - here's the entire How Ping Pong Saved the World Documentary online (74 min). I actually linked to this last Tuesday but forgot about it.

Table Tennis - Simply the Best Sport

Here's a highlights and motivational table tennis video (7:53) that came out a year ago that I somehow never saw before. It features

Pittsburgh Steelers Decide Only Vets Can Play Ping Pong in Locker Room

Here's the story from Table Tennis Nation! This is one of the great injustices of the century . . . we shall march on Pittsburgh, and we shall overcome, because I dream of a time when ping-pong players will be judged by their ratings and not by their football seniority.

Jimmy Fallon on Playing Table Tennis with Prince

Here's a video (4:58) of Fallon telling a funny story on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno about playing table tennis with Prince. "It's like spinning, it's like flames are coming out!"

The Ping Pong King Kong

Here's a video (1:51) that shows some of the fastest and best table tennis I've ever seen! (And the facial expressions are great.) Watching this video will wake you up - it's fast and hilarious.

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Walter Wintermute Visit

Coach and player Walter Wintermute from North Carolina visited MDTTC last night. He'd emailed in advance, saying he would be in town for a business trip, and wanted to observe our coaching. So he watched while I ran a one-hour session with five beginning junior players. Then he watched some of our top juniors in training (Crystal Wang, Derek Nie, Nathan Hsu, others), and played a practice match with another local top junior (Josh Tran). Then we talked table tennis coaching for half an hour. He's been coaching more and more and wanted to see how we did it. So I went over the various techniques used for coaching juniors, as well as how we ran the sessions, the games we played at the end, etc.

Walter and I go way back. In early 1977, when I was 17 and had been playing about a year, I was rated 1480; he was rated just a few points lower and was two years younger. We played in three finals in a tournament in Virginia - I believe it was Under 1500, Under 1600, and Under 1700. He won two of them, alas. Later that year we would both shoot up in ratings to 1900. Two years later, in 1979, I would move to North Carolina for two years, where I would play Walter regularly on weekends and at the monthly tournaments.

The last two years his son, David, 15, has been coming to our camps. He has an unearthly resemblance to his dad from 35 or so years ago, so it's sort of nostalgic when I work with him. 

Looping Seniors

Sometimes a student surprises you. Yesterday I was coaching an older player, one of the few non-juniors I'm coaching . He had some major technique problems with his forehand, and we'd been working for a few weeks on fixing them. His backhand, however, was pretty good. His overall level was about 1200 or so. I decided it was time to start him on looping. I figured we'd start with the backhand loop against backspin and spend a few weeks on that before moving on to the forehand loop, where I figured we'd have some problems.

So I went over the backhand loop stroke with him, making sure he had the technique down before actually hitting anything. Then I began feeding him multiball to his backhand with backspin. And he picked it up immediately! I was pleasantly surprised, but not shocked as he did have a pretty good backhand. We worked on it for perhaps 8-10 minutes, and I told him he should make that a strength.

Then, with about 15 minutes left in the session, I asked if he wanted to focus on serves the rest of the way or start work on the forehand loop. He wanted to try looping. So, weeks ahead of schedule, I went over the forehand loop with him, again making sure he had the technique down before hitting anything. Then I began fed him multiball. The very first shot - wham, a perfect loop! Okay, not perfect; he tended to stroke from the shoulder, and hit inside-out. But it looked like one of Timo Boll's patented inside-out forehand loops! We worked on it for ten minutes, and he did the shot over and over, no problem. I was severely impressed. We're going to continue working on these shots so that he can serve and loop from both wings against any push return. And then - dare I say it? - looping out of the rally? Or even counterlooping???

Message from Saive

Here's a video interview (7:19) from Belgium superstar Jean-Michel Saive, former world #1. He talks about his beginning, coaches, the importance of talent, and family.

Ellen Degeneres Surprises Tour Group with Private Ping Pong Tour

Here's the story and video (4:59) from Table Tennis Nation.

Adam Hugh's Second Entry

Yesterday I linked to Adam Hugh's entry to the ITTF Trick Shot Competition. He has a second entry (1:17). He wrote of this one, "This is my 2nd submission. Actually it was the first one I recorded and was originally intended to be a test for the camera but I figured what the heck." Here's the page showing videos entered so far.

Adam Bobrow's 40-Shot Dialog Rally

Here's the video (60 sec) as he lobs away. (Spoilers ahead!) The smasher (Sherwin Afshar) yells something like "Foo-aw!" over and over, and Adam does it right back. Then the dialog begins: "Die!" "No." "Die!" "Not yet." "Die!" "Why?" It all ends with - you guessed it - an edge ball.

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Yesterday's Coaching Activities

I had three hours of private coaching, then a meeting with others to go over our new junior progress reports.

The first session was with an 8-year-old, about 1200 level, who's struggling to decide whether to be an attacker or defender. He may well be the best 8-year-old lobber I've ever seen; he can lob back my hardest smashes dozens of times in a row as long as I don't smother kill at wide angles. (There's something humorous about a little kid lobbing from way back at the barriers!) He also chops well. He's also got a nice loop from both wings, but has one serious problem on both: he's too impatient to do the same shot over and over, and so it's hard to get him to develop a repeating stroke. Unless I keep a firm hand on the drills, most rallies end up with him looping a couple balls, taking a step back after each, and then he's off lobbing and fishing, and looking for chances to suddenly counter-smash. He's recently faced the realization that if he's going to chop, he'll probably need long pips, which will take away his backhand lob - and he doesn't like that. So we're in a state of flux on whether to train him as an attacker or defender. Ultimately, I'm letting him make the final decision. I've advised him that, unless he very much wants to be a chopper/looper, he should focus on attacking, and he can always switch to more chopping later on. It's a big decision that'll affect the rest of his life!!!

The second session was with an 11-year-old, about 1200 level, who's about to finally start playing tournaments. He's playing in the MDTTC October Open and the North American Teams in November, and perhaps others. He's a big forehand attacker who likes to run around the table ripping forehand loops and smashes. Most interesting part of the session was when I urged him to really develop the backhand (while still focusing on the forehand) - and his reaction was he wanted to practice backhands for nearly half the session. We had some great rallies, and near the end it started to really click in. He wants to really focus on serves as well, and I promised we'd start off next session with that.

The third session was with a 12-year-old who was having only his second session since being away all summer. He's about 1000, but rusty. So we're focusing on fundamentals. He's doing really well in multiball drills, where we did a lot of looping against backspin (both wings) and combinations (loop a backspin, smash a topspin). In live drills he's still a bit too erratic, but it's getting better.

Then I met about what I've been calling the Junior Progressions. These are a series of criteria a beginning/intermediate player needs to fulfill to move from Level 1 to Level 5. At the lowest level, players need to bounce the ball on the racket a certain number of times, demonstrate proper grip and ready position, know the basic rules, hit a small number of strokes, etc. As they move up, it gets harder; at Level 5 they have to hit 100 forehands and backhands and demonstrate a few counterloops. We're still finalizing and testing them. We'll be using them for the first time later this fall. Once I'm more confident we have the right criteria, perhaps I'll publish them. (We'd been shown examples of how some other programs did this, such as AYTTO.

The Importance of Lobbing

Here's the latest USATT Tip of the Week, another of the ones I wrote.

ITTF Level 2 Coaching Course in Austin

Here's the ITTF article on the coaching course Richard McAfee ran in Austin, TX last week.

Adam Hugh's Juggling No-Look Target Serve

Here's the entry of former USA team member Adam Hugh to the ITTF Trick Shot Showdown Contest. "Your move." Here's the page showing videos entered so far.

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Focus While You Play

Have trouble focusing when you play? Here are a few tips for keeping or regaining your focus in a match. (Here are some helpful links on sports psychology.)

1. Make a habit of clearing your mind before every point. If it becomes habitual, then it becomes part of your routine, and it'll get easier and easier.
2. Develop simple rituals before each point to help clear your mind. For example, bounce the ball a certain number of times before serving, or take a deep breath, or rub your hand on the table, or relax and drop your playing arm and swing it back and forth (which I do), or something else. If you do the same thing every time, your mind develops a Pavlovian response to it as the ritual signals to it that it's time to focus.
3. If you lose focus, call a 60-second timeout to regain it. You can do this once per match.
4. Pick out something in the distance and stare at it. This helps to clear the mind.
5. Walk around the court between points. Don't overdo it - that's stalling - but a quick walkabout can help you regain focus.
6. Think about tactics before the point as this gives you something to focus on. Then clear your mind just before the point begins.
7. Remember that it is your subconscious that controls play in a rally. Your conscious mind should be just a spectator - its job during rallies is to just watch play and stay out of the way so the subconscious can do its job. So just let yourself go and spectate.
8. Convince yourself it's just another match at your club. Then relax and have fun.
9. Have something on your mind? Then mentally ball it up, spit it out, and put it on the sidelines. Now you can put it out of your mind; it'll be there for you when you finish your match.
10. Too nervous to focus? That's a huge topic. But here's a simple way that often works, similar to the previous one. Imagine balling up all your nervousness. Then spit it out and toss it in the trash can, or toss it out the 

One Awful Footwork Mistake You Don't Realize You Make

Here's the article. Do you fall back on your heels after a strong forehand?

Longest Rally

Here's the article on high schoolers Max Fergus and Luke Logan recently setting the Guinness World Record for longest rally, going 8 hours 30 minutes and 6 seconds to break the old record by about 15 minutes.

Michael Maze

Here's a video (57:04) all about the Danish star and his training. (He's currently #22 in the world, formerly #8.)

Cartwheel Table Tennis

Here's a video (57 sec) that shows a player twice making a shot while doing a cartwheel, apparently an entry for the ITTF Trick Shot Showdown Contest. (Here's a 37-sec video of another cartwheeler from a while back, chopper Chen Xinhua on the far side.) Want to see more? Here's the page showing videos entered so far.

Comedian Daniel Tosh Carries a Big Stick

Okay, THAT's a big PADDLE.

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Junior Program

Monday was my "off" day - the only day I don't coach. But it never really is an off day. First, I did the Tip of the Week. Then I did the blog. Writing a feature article and then blogging should be enough, but that just started my day. Then I spent much of the day doing accounting, planning, and organizing for new MDTTC junior programs.

We have two changes coming up. Until now we've had a system where juniors in my beginning/intermediate sessions bought ten sessions at a time, and came whenever they wanted. This meant that we never really knew how many players would come in a session, and so never knew for sure how many coaches would be needed. With beginners, you need to have a rather low player-to-coach ratio as they can't really practice effectively among themselves yet. So starting this weekend players are required to pay for ten consecutive weeks at a time, either the Saturday session (10:30AM-noon) or the Sunday session (4:30-6:00PM). We will allow players to transfer back and forth from one to the other as long as they let me know in advance so I know who's coming each session. This is similar to how we already set up our school program with local schools, which meets Thursdays 6-7PM and Saturdays 9:30-10:30AM. Yesterday I sent out an email explaining the changes to parents, and emailed back and forth with those who had questions.

The second change is we're adding junior progress reports. This means that at the end of each ten-week cycle the players will be given a series of tests to see how they've improved. At the beginning levels this will involve things such as how many times they can bounce a ball up and down on a paddle, balancing a ball on the paddle while walking about, and explaining and demonstrating the service rules. As they advance it becomes more table tennis specific as they see how many of each shot they can execute in a row, etc. As players improve they will advance from Level 1 to Level 5. Wen and John Hsu were very helpful in putting these together; I'm meeting with them soon to go over and finalize them.

I also spent some time thinking about some of the things some of our juniors need to focus on. For example, I coached one of them in a tournament on Sunday and have a specific list of five things I want him to focus on. It's not always weaknesses you focus on; in this case I was so impressed with his backhand loop in matches that I want to focus more on it as a strength to build around. There was also a serve he did that I think shows promise, and we're going to work on that. (But he also needs work on staying down and driving forward when forehand looping, pushing, and returning serves.) I watched several others in league matches on Friday and have some ideas on things I want them to work on as well. When you give private or group coaching, you can't just watch your players when you work with them; you have to see them in action in real matches against other players to really see what they do.  

How Ping-Pong Saved the World

Here's the full-length documentary (74 min), just released. Description: "How Ping-Pong Saved the World" is a feature length documentary that recounts the events of April 1971 when a U.S. Table Tennis team became the first Americans allowed to enter communist China in over two decades. Their invitation paved the way for President Nixon’s landmark visit just eight months later in February of 1972. For eight days these Ping-Pong diplomats discovered the little known world behind the Bamboo Curtain and in the process reshaped world history. "Ping-Pong Diplomacy" soon became a metaphor for the on-going difficult relations between the United States and China --- two ideological opposites on the brink of detente. It marked the beginning of a new relationship between the United States and the People’s Republic of China; one that over the next 40 years would evolve into the world’s most important bilateral alliance.

PongPlexed - Twisted Table Tennis

Here's PongPlexed: "Based in Brighton, England, a highly skilled team of artists, designers and Ping Pong lovers have created a range of Tables that are bringing people together through the medium of Table Tennis."

Ping-Pong Balls and Liquid Nitrogen

Here's a video linked from Table Tennis Nation that shows what happens. Or just watch the repeating gif image they show below of the actual explosion.

Table Tennis on a Moon of Saturn

Here's what it looks like! Cool image.

Non-Table Tennis - Capclave SF Convention

On Oct. 11-13 (Fri-Sun) I'll be bouncing back and forth from coaching and attending the local Capclave Science Fiction Convention. It's held annually at a Hilton Hotel about five minutes from MDTTC. For the sixth straight year I'm a panelist. I'm on three panels, two of which I'm moderating. I'm also doing a reading from my upcoming novel, "The Giant Face in the Sky." (I plan to read an excerpt where the sorcerer and his apprentice are going through security at an airport, and meet up with the very literal-minded and bureaucratic sorceress Jackie Kennedy, who moonlights as a security agent. The novel takes place in the 1960s, but the scene satirizes modern airport security.) Any table tennis players want to join me at the convention? You'll get to meet some big names in the SF and fantasy world, including guest of honor George R.R. Martin, author of Game of Thrones! Plus lots of panels and other events to attend, as well as the always great Dealer's Room. Here's the programming schedule. Here's the list of panelists. Here's my Capclave bio. And below is my schedule. (It's also online.)

Fri 4-5PM: God Emperor of Capclave - The Politics and Religion panel (Moderator)
Fri 9-10PM: Amazon: Hero or Villain? (Moderator)
Sat 12-1PM: 1001 uses for an unpublished story
Sun 3-3:30: Reading from my upcoming novel

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Tip of the Week

Real Tactics versus Parroting Tactics.

Tournament Tactics

I coached at a tournament this weekend, which inspired this week's Tip of the Week. Some strange things took place at this USATT-sanctioned tournament. The first match my student played was against a player using sandpaper (!), which isn't allowed in USATT tournaments, but they allowed it. We decided not to protest, and simply played (and won) the match. There was also a group of four that started at 1PM. One player didn't show, and so the other three finished at 2PM, and were returning the clipboard to the desk when the fourth showed, a kid about 13, over an hour late. Rather than default him, the players were told to return to the table and play it out. Again, we didn't protest - I mean, it was just a kid - so we just played it out. (My player barely pulled it out in five games.)

I was coaching a 12-year-old named Sameer, who was rated 1131 but was somehow still eligible for Under 1100 since they were using older ratings. He won the event. The strange thing about his matches (other than playing against sandpaper) was that over and over his opponents had strong backhands but weak forehands. Sameer tends to serve into the backhand, and so struggled in the first game in match after match. Over and over between games I'd tell him to serve to the forehand, and over and over it worked.

Tournaments are great for bringing out strengths and weaknesses. My eyes were opened to just how effective Sameer's backhand loop is getting - and I was wondering if it would be read for the Teams in November! But his forehand loop, while generally strong, has a hitch in it sometimes that we need to work on. When he's not confident, he tends to stand up straight, almost falling back as he lifts the ball.

No-Luck Matches

John Olsen told me an interesting idea this weekend. Players often complain about nets and edges, and let's face it, certain styles get more of them than others. So John had recently played some matches where the rule was if the ball hit the net or edge, the point is a let. He found there was little difference in the results. However, as noted, there are certain styles that will get more of these than others, such as anyone with a dead surface (such as long pips or antispin), which tends to get more net balls than others. A rule like this might make a bigger difference for them. Style also affects the value of these shots. For example, a chopper probably gets more nets than most players, but since their balls are coming in slow (so opponents can react), and since the chopper is often off the table (and o unable to take advantage of weak returns of these nets), a chopper's net balls aren't as effective as some other styles.

Two More Full-Time Table Tennis Centers

I've added two more clubs to the list I maintain of full-time table tennis centers in the United States, bringing the number to 58. (In December of 2007 there were only about ten of them, and that's when I made a proposal to the USATT that they get involved in recruiting and training of coaches to create full-time centers - and was told that there wasn't a demand for such centers.) The two new ones:

• Howard County Table Tennis Center, Ellicott City, MD 
• New Mexico Table Tennis Academy, Albuquerque, NM

USA Men's Champion Timothy Wang Versus Sergio Garcia and Matt Kuchar

Timothy took on the two PGA golfers. Here's the video (Wang vs. Kuchar, 1:40), and here's a photo gallery.  

Great Block by Dimitrij

Here's a video (12:36, time between points removed) of the recent LA Open Singles Final between Champion Dimitrij "Dima" Ovtcharov and Runner-up lefty Li Tianyu. See the great block by Dima in the point starting at 8:46! in the point starting at 8:46! (See the slow motion replay afterwards.) 

Spooky Pongers

Here's a spooky group of ping-pong players. Maybe this should have gone up on Friday the 13th, but better late than never. Kind of look like Star Wars Jawas, don't they?

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Friday the 13th and a Cold

I've still got my cold, and was tempted to skip the blog again this morning. After all, what worse combination is there than a cold on Friday the 13th? Alas, I dragged myself out of bed and forced myself to do this. Let's all have a round of pity for poor, poor me. (Anybody know where I can get cheap Kleenex? I'm going through a lot.) I managed to do my two hours of coaching last night, but am not sure about tonight's 2.5 hours scheduled.

Wallet and Other Old Stuff

Since I'm feeling very old right now due to my cold, I thought I'd tell the story of my wallet, which turns 32 years old this month. This is only peripherally table tennis related, but since it's a source of legend among the locals, I might as well tell the story.

 In September of 1981, when I was 21 years old, I started classes at University of Maryland. (I'd taken two years off to train for table tennis in North Carolina.) On the very first day I went to the Student Union for lunch, where there were a number of restaurants. I went to the pizza place. When I reached the front of the line I ordered a pepperoni pizza, pulled out my wallet, and paid. As I handed the cashier the cash, I placed the wallet on the counter for a few seconds. When I reached for it, it was gone. I looked around, but couldn't find it. Someone behind me said, "Excuse me, was that your wallet on the counter?" I said yes. The person said someone had just picked it up and left. I ran out into the hallway, but I never saw the wallet again.

That afternoon I bought a new one, and vowed it would last me a lifetime. That was 32 years ago, and I still have the same wallet. It's rather beat up, with several holes, including one in the change purse. (I have to be careful or coins fall out.) The Velcro that closes it is almost gone, but there's still a tiny bit that sort of keeps it closed. Anyway, this month is the 32nd anniversary of someone stealing my wallet, and it's never happened again. Here are two pictures of this ancient wallet, top and bottom.

Unfortunately, while my wallet has remained safe, a lot of other stuff has gotten stolen, mostly in table tennis tournaments. My playing bag was stolen at a U.S. Open or Nationals back in the early 1990s; it not only had my rackets, but also all of my coaching files as the then-chair of the USATT coaching committee. I've had my laptop computer stolen twice, once right off the USATT desk at an Open or Nationals in the 1990s, where I was doing coverage, and once at a tournament in Philadelphia in the 1990s. (That time I made the mistake of leaving the laptop in the back seat of my car, and someone broke a window to get in and steal it. Always leave your laptop in the trunk!!!) Surprisingly, I've never had a racket stolen, though I once had my hardbat racket "borrowed" - just before my Hardbat Singles Final at the Nationals against Marty Reisman in 1997, forcing me to borrow a racket for the match (I lost), with the racket later returned anonymously. (But that's another story.)

Actually, it's been a long time since I've had anything stolen - the playing bag and laptops were both stolen in the 1990s. Maybe I've learned to be more protective of my stuff.

Review of Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers

Here's a review of the book by Alex Polyakov, the author of "Breaking 2000." And if you want to improve your game (as opposed to its smoldering away like a burning ember that'll never quite catch fire), then buy the book! (While debating whether to buy the book or allow your game to never reach its potential, you can read the other 22 reviews there.)

Interview with Ferenc Karsai

Here's a video interview (8:57) with Coach Karsai, coach of 2003 World Champion Werner Schlager of Austria, the last European World Singles Champion. He talks about talent in table tennis and working with Schlager.

Creepy Pong

In honor of Friday the 13th, here's Creepy Pong - see how many Halloween ghouls you can beat at table tennis! I couldn't get it to work in Chrome, but it worked fine in Explorer. It starts with an irritating 30-second Power Rangers ad. Note that when you do play, you can hit the ball harder by moving the cursor in as you hit; otherwise you'll just rally and never score.

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I'm fighting a cold, so no blog today. I think I started coming down with it yesterday, but managed to do the blog and some coaching. But it's a bit worse this morning, so I'm going back to bed, hoping to be in shape to coach tonight (two hours starting 6PM). Meanwhile, here are two matches to watch: Ma Long versus Wang Hao (6:24, with time between points removed) at the 2013 Chinese Nationals (I think Men's Singles QF - can anyone verify?), and here are two of the early great Swedes Kjell "The Hammer" Johansson versus Hans Alser (44:23) in 1970. (Johansson would make the final of Men's Singles at the Worlds in 1973.) Boy has the game changed! Part of this is equipment - try playing modern world-class shots with a sheet of cheap beginner's sponge, which is essentially what they played with back then.