Jim's Forehand

About two months ago I started coaching Jim. He's a lefty in his early 60s, perhaps 1000-1200 level, and very tall. He had a pretty good backhand but very awkward forehand. When he'd hit forehands he'd lean over and down, tilting his head sideways, and sort of lunge at the ball. During his forward swing his head would move about three feet sideways as his whole body went off to the side, throwing him off balance and killing his timing. I wasn't sure whether we should fix the stroke, rush it to the nearest hospital, or just bury it in the local cemetery.

We decided to fix the stroke. And lo and behold, it worked! We made this the focus of over half of our sessions, using Saturation Training. Now he stays balanced throughout the stroke, and his head stays straight and only moves perhaps six inches sideways. He now has precision, and we now have vicious rallies, his forehand to my backhand. He has a very nice smash now, in practice.

However, he's not out of the woods yet. For example, when he smashes to my backhand and I block it back, he still has trouble with the second shot, and usually hits it soft. He doesn't yet have the deep-down confidence to just let the shot go over and over. It also means it's not quite ready for matches yet.

I explained to him Larry's Six-Month Law and its corollary, Larry's Six-Month Law for Strokes. The latter means that when you develop a shot until it's proficient in practice, it'll take about six months of practice before you can use it consistently and effectively in matches. He's now on that path.

One thing that really helps when coaching basics is being surrounded by top players. Whenever I needed to give Jim a visual image of a good forehand, we'd just look around and there'd be about ten players over 2200 hitting on the other tables. It gives me and other coaches at our club an unfair advantage over others when we coach. (I can demo my forehand, of course, but it's better seeing two top players doing it back and forth. It's also inspirational for a student: "If all those players can do it, then gosh darn it, so can I!")

RGIII Response Video

The RGIII Response Video made the Washington Post! It was already in the Dallas Morning News, Table Tennis Nation, the USATT web page, and the USOC web page. Let me know if you see it anywhere else. Keep reposting - let's make this go viral!!!

Jim's Table Tennis Page

Here's an interesting page that's basically a primer on table tennis, including lots of coaching tips. (No relation to the "Jim" mentioned above!)

Chuang Chih-Yuan Training Center Sponsorship

Here's the article (in Chinese) on this training center in Taiwan's new sponsorship. (Chuang Chih-Yuan is a long-time Taiwan star, currently ranked #7 in the world, previously ranked as high as #3 in 2003.) Here's the short version, care of Bruce Liu/ICC: "Chuang Chih-Yuan's training center in southern Taiwan got a major boost from the wealthiest person in Taiwan. Terry Guo is a Taiwanese tycoon and the founder and chairman of Foxconn, a company that manufactures electronics on contract for other companies - such as Apple Inc. According to the report, it will be a 10-year sponsorship worth about US $2 million in total. Mr. Guo also donated US $5 billion to the Medical Center of the Taiwan National University for cancer research in 2007."

Kenta Matsudaira Documentary

Here's the video (44:05). The Japanese star is ranked #18 in the world. Together with Koki Niwa and Jun Mizutani (# 12 and #14), they make up a suddenly powerful team that could challenge the Chinese men. (Japan also has players ranked #33, 43, 47, 52, 54, 75, 79, and 100.)

The Practice of Practicing

Here's an article on this that features piano - but we could probably get a few insights from this.

Cartoon Cats

Here they are, a whole bunch of them playing or watching table tennis!

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Random Drills

One of the best ways to improve is through multiball training, and one of the best drills you can do there (besides an intense stroke workout) are random drills. When you play a match, you don't know where your opponent is going to put the ball, so you have to be ready to cover the whole table. When you do simple rote drills like forehand to forehand or backhand to backhand, or side-to-side footwork, you get practice, but you are not getting the practice needed to prepare you for the randomness of actual match play. For that you need to do random drills.

The problem with random drills is that you can't really do them very well live (i.e. with a practice partner) until both players are relatively advanced. And so players avoid doing them until they are somewhat proficient - and then they practically have to start from scratch doing random drills that they should have been doing early on. Once you can hit a decent forehand or backhand you should be doing some sort of random drills as well. Few do so.

So get a coach, or a practice partner you can take turns with, and do random multiball drills. At first have them feed the ball randomly to two spots - middle forehand and middle backhand. Make sure your first move is the right one; you have more time than you think, so don't rush. When you are comfortable at doing this at rally speeds, then go random the whole table. Learn to cover all five spots - wide forehand, middle forehand, middle, middle backhand, and wide backhand.

Let me emphasize - the key is that the first move must be the right move. No moving to the forehand and then changing when you see the ball going to the backhand, or vice versa.

Here's a short video (26 seconds) of Soo Yeon Lee doing random multiball. She's hitting; depending on your level and playing style, you can do this hitting or looping.

RGIII Response Video

The RGIII Response Video has gone semi-viral, with over 1000 views in two days. Last night I sent a press release out to all the local media, hoping they will pick up on the story. I also posted it on three Redskins football forums. Last night it was featured in the Dallas Morning News, and it's also featured at Table Tennis Nation, on the USATT web page, and the USOC web page. Let me know if there are other places featuring it. Keep reposting - let's make this go viral!!!

RGIII vs. the MDTTC Kids

Here's Berndt Mann's version of what would happen if RGIII were to actually take on the MDTTC juniors in table tennis, as posted in the about.com forum:

I can just imagine the matches between RGIII and your talented juniors.

First up is Crystal vs. RGIII.  RGIII lines up in the shotgun formation, some five yards behind the table.  She serves a hard long side-top to RGIII, who snatches the ball in his right hand, then rifles it 75 yards down the MDTTC to a friend, who makes a spectacular one-handed catch and slams the ball down on the Gerflex, breaking it.

"You can't do that", says the ref.  RGIII doesn't seem to notice.  On Crystal's second serve, RGIII deftly catches the ball, holds it snug against his chest, doesn't see anybody open, and does an end around the table, Nathan, Derek, and Roy trying vainly to catch up to him.  Touchdown, or it would be if this weren't table tennis.

This time the ref is miffed.  He issues RGIII a yellow card.  RGIII sneers a true jock sneer and proceeds to tear up the card.  His buddies cheer.  But he's down 2-0 and playing football when he should be trying to play table tennis and he loses every match and ends up with a rating of -256.  So much for Olympic aspirations.  

But RGIII is a good sport about it all.  He offers to take Crystal, Nathan, Derek, and Roy out to a nearby pizza parlor in his limousine.  Gracious in victory, they accept his offer in the spirit in which it was made.

Never Doubt a Man and His Paddle

Here's a video (2:02) that profiles (mostly without words) a player at Spin Standard.

Ten Cool and Unusual Table Tennis Table Designs

Here's the article and pictures.

25 Best Points of 2012

Here they are (13:14).

Chen Weixing Secret Training

Here's the video (1:27) - it's Karate Kid meets the Food Network meets Table Tennis!

Non-Table Tennis - Publisher's Author's Page

I'm now listed in the author's page at Class Act Books, which is publishing my novel on Nov. 15 ("The Giant Face in the Sky").

Non-Table Tennis - My Science Fiction & Fantasy Page

I've recently redone my SF & Fantasy page to include Wordpress, so I could blog there a couple times a week. However, I've run into some problems with this. For one thing, I can't find a way to put in pictures other than the thin one in the header. I'd like to have a permanent picture of the cover of my upcoming book somewhere near the top. Anyone experienced with this have any idea what I'm supposed to do? I've tried about a zillion "themes" but none seem to allow this.

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RGIII Response Video

We're up to 689 views (as of 10AM EST) on the RGIII Response Video (1:15). Let's make it go viral!!! (I blogged about this yesterday.)

Last night I posted it two Washington Redskins forums, The Hogs forum and Extreme Redskins forum. I also posted it several times on Facebook, on my page and on the pages of the four players, with requests for others to repost, and it's been reposted by a number of people. (So should you.) It's also on the USATT web page and on the USOC web page. Today I plan to send it to some local media.

Video Review Before Tournaments

On Oct. 26-27 I'll be coaching at the 4-star South Shore Butterfly Open in Indiana. This means lots of practice for the players going there over the next ten days. For me, it means video review. I'll be coaching three top players, so I'm spending more and more time watching them in practice so I'm ready to coach them. More importantly, I'm about to hit the video screen soon to study video of their recent tournament matches. This is where you really learn a lot about a player. You can learn a lot by watching them play locals, but they are used to playing those locals, and so it's not the same thing. To properly prepare to coach someone in a tournament you need to see what they do against players they are not used to playing.

For example, one of our local top players tends to do a lot of very short serves. Players get used to this and expect it, and so are comfortable against it. Another likes to serve long a lot, and again, players are used to it and are ready for it. But against a player they are not used to, they have no clue what's coming next, at least at the start, and so their comfort zone is lower. Often they fall back on something simple like flipping all the serves, or pushing all the backspin serves back long. (When coaching top juniors, the first thing that goes when they play a new player is their short game - they may do it well against players whose serves they are used to, but they aren't so comfortable doing it against a new player. So I usually have to remind them to bring that receive into play.)

There are also rallying tendencies. A player may not hesitate to counterloop against players they are used to playing, where they probably react very quickly to shots since they are so used to the opponent. But there's often some hesitation when playing a new player. Often you have to remind the player to play "free," and just let himself go and do what he does in practice. There are also the never-ending reminders to attack an opponent's middle. (I think players forget this in matches because so many practice drills involve going into the practice partner's backhand or forehand corner, and so they naturally do that in matches as well. They all do drills to the middle as well, but the majority of practice shots generally go to a corner.)

I also watch videos of likely opponents, but for a tournament like this, there are just too many possible opponents, and so I instead will mostly rely there on memory of past matches, watching them at the tournament, and my rather lengthy file of notes from past matches.

Great Rally at Japan Open

Here's a video (35 sec) showing a great rally at the Japan Open between Japan's Jun Mizutani and Taiwan's Chen Chien-An.

Ping-Pong Ball Fire Pit

Here's a video (2:09) of what happens when you fill a fire pit with ping-pong balls and light it. Wait'll you see how high the flames go!

Hold On to Your Racket

Here's a video (56 sec) of USA's Erica Wu and Lily Zhang at the worlds against Ai Fukuhara and Kasumi Ishikawa of Japan. As Erica goes for a shot, her racket hits Lily in the leg and goes flying! She gets great distance. (I may have posted this once before, but let's watch it again.) 

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RGIII Response Video

On Friday, Robert Griffin III (alias RGIII, the Washington Redskins quarterback) put out a video (3:22) where he talked about his Olympic dreams. At the end of it (go to 2:57) he jokes that he might make the Olympics in ping-pong.

We at MDTTC decided we were not going to take this quietly. Here is the response video (1:15), put together by Nathan Hsu (17, 2303 but recently 2397), with players Derek Nie (12, 2297), Crystal Wang (11, 2267), and Roy Ke (14, 2261).

LET'S MAKE THIS VIDEO GO VIRAL!!! Post it wherever you can - on Facebook, Twitter, in blogs, any place you can. It's already the Video of the Day at USA Table Tennis, with RGIII's video featured on Friday.

Go Girls

Did you know that girls are dominating the lower age groups in the U.S. right now? Go to the USATT ratings, click on "Customizable Member Lists," and put in the proper settings (make sure to put in a number in the first field), and here's what you get.

In Under 9, the #1 player is Tiffany Ke of Maryland at 1749. (The #2 is Ted Chensheng Li of Texas at 1559.) Among girls, the #2 is Katherine Fang, also of Texas, at 819, almost a thousand points behind Tiffany.

In Under 10, the top two are Youruo Wu and Rachel Sung of California, both girls, rated 1978 and 1906. Tiffany Ke is #4 at 1749.

In Under 11, the #1 is Amy Wang of New Jersey at 2217. Youruo Wu is #4 at 1978, Rachel Sung #6 at 1906, Kelly Zhao #9 at 1796, and Tiffany Ke #12 at 1749.

In Under 12, the #1 is Crystal Wang of Maryland at 2267. Amy Wang is #2 at 2217. Youruo Wu is #12 at 1978.

Drill Your Skills with the Chinese National Team, Part 1

Here's a video (7:41), covering the forehand serve.

Best of Penholder Players

Here's a video (5:56) that shows spectacular rallies and shots by penholders, such as Ma Lin, Xu Xin, Wang Hao, and Ryu Seungmin. Some really great rallies here.

Ping-Pong Ball Fires

Here's an article about a beer-pong ball setting an apartment alight. But that's nothing. Here's a short article about a half million ping-pong balls bursting into flame. (Go to the "Noisier Than Bubble Wrap" segment, but the entire text follows.) "During a heat wave in Hong Kong this summer, a metal container packed with more than half a million ping-pong balls burst into flames. 'The blast was probably caused by air expansion inside the ping-pong balls,' a police spokesperson said."

Alternate Piggyback Pong

Here are two attempts at this incredibly difficult and dangerous version of table tennis. Here are Yahao Zhang and his wife (15 sec), and here are Adam Hugh and Michael Landers (20sec). Do not try this yourself - these are trained professionals!

Non-Table Tennis - Cover of My Novel

My novel "The Giant Face in the Sky" comes out Nov. 15 from Class Act Books. It's a humorous fantasy that parodies the U.S.-Soviet space race of the 1960s, but with sorcerers instead of astronauts. It's Hitchhiker's Guide meets the Space Race. Here's the cover. And here's the blurb on the back cover:

It is 1969, at the height of tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Neil, 13, badly wants to be someone. Instead he's stuck as a sorcerer's apprentice for Gus, the "meanest sorcerer in the world.” Gus creates a magical talisman to spy on the Soviets, but instead it spies on them and sends text into space. A Giant Face in the Sky shows up, reading the text.

Since whoever gets to the Face will have the world at their mercy, the Race to the Face begins. The Soviets invade the U.S. in their attempts to kill Neil, who is prophesied to defeat them. A floating, talking meteor assassin named Buzz becomes Neil's companion--but in one week, Buzz must kill Neil.

President Kennedy puts together a motley crew that includes Neil, Gus, Buzz, a dragon, a 2-D sorcerer, and the sorceress Jackie Kennedy. Can they make it to the Face before the Soviets, and before Buzz kills Neil?

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Tip of the Week

Playing Choppers. This week I'm "cheating" - this is a previously published article that's listed in the Articles section here. However, I've had several requests for advice on playing choppers, and I realized that none of my 139 weekly tips since I started them in January, 2011, covered this. However, I did some rewriting of the section, so it's not exactly the same. Also, I plan on publishing a compilation of all these tips next year, and this will make them a bit more complete. (I was going to do a Tip on why it's often best to give the serve away at the start of a match, but I'll save that for next time.)

Veep

Last Thursday I blogged about my day on the set of the HBO comedy "Veep." I was only there on Wednesday - for 13 long hours. The episode featured table tennis, and I went in originally as one of the table tennis players - but they wanted only players in their 20's, and so I was relegated to being a possible extra as a janitor - but they didn't use me, alas, as even there they wanted people in their 20s. On Thursday they did the actual table tennis scene. I wasn't there, but Toby Kutler told me about it.

He and Khaleel Asgarali were the real table tennis players in the scene. (Qiming Chen was there the day before but wasn't there on Thursday.) Two actors who - falsely - claimed to be good table tennis players were also used. Toby said that he was originally told that he and Khaleel would be playing, and that he would accidentally smack a ball that would hit star Julie Dreyfus, that he'd get to speak a line "Sorry about that," or something like that), and that she and her aides would all get angry and start screaming at him and the other players, and tell them to leave. However, there was a last-minute directorial decision to have them play doubles, and so the two actors who said they could play were added, meaning the rallies were much weaker. One of the others than had the honor of hitting the ball that smacked Dreyfus, and there were no speaking lines from the real TT players. Also, the players didn't actually hit her; they used a ping-pong gun to shoot a ball at her instead.

The table tennis episode is Episode 3.3, the third one of season three, and will air in March or April of 2014. Toby, Khaleel, and Qiming will be seen in the episode not only as TT players but as workers on a computer and walking by, possibly in several scenes.

The Brains of Einstein and Chinese Table Tennis Players

Here's an article from yesterday's Washington Post (though it apparently appeared first in the LA Times) about Einstein's brain. It references a technique developed by a Chinese physicists for "measuring the thickness of the corpus callosum in Chinese table tennis players, whose sport requires remarkable feats of inter-hemispheric coordination."

China's Top-Down Take on Innovation

Here's an article from the Wall Street Journal that references table tennis as an example of where China is good at innovation, while explaining why, in general, it is not. "To understand why China has such a tough time producing world-class innovations, take a look at how the Chinese play games. Ping pong tables are everywhere in public spaces and open to all comers, from kids to agile retirees, producing a reservoir of talent that has made China a ping pong innovator and champion. By contrast, basketball courts in China are generally locked up. Entrance is controlled by the state—in this case, school officials—shrinking the talent pool and the chance for youngsters to hone their moves. The result: basketball mediocrity."

Nine-Year-Old's Trick Shot Compilation

Here's an article with a link to a video (1:27) of a nine-year-old's ping-pong ball trick shots. Pretty impressive for any age!

Bobby Riggs Commercial

Here's a video (38 sec) from the 1970s that advertises Hasbro's Power Tennis Game, and shows Bobby Riggs playing a version of table tennis in a commercial that spoofs his internationally televised "Battle of the Sexes" match against Billie Jean King. Here are some pictures of Riggs playing table tennis: photo1 (Reba Monness on left) photo2 (Mary McIllwain on left) photo3 photo4 (jockey Chris McCarron on left) photo5 (tennis player Billie Jean King on right)

Non-Table Tennis - Capclave

I spent Friday night, and about half of Saturday and Sunday at the Capclave Science Fiction Convention in Gaithersburg, MD, held five minutes away from the Maryland Table Tennis Center. I was on three panels, including two that I moderated, plus I did a reading. (I still managed to get a number of coaching hours over the weekend, but I was able to reschedule many of them.)

I moderated the infamous "Religion and Politics" panel, which can get rather heated, but we managed to keep it mostly low-key this time around - much of the discussion wasn't about actual religion or politics, but about famous religious or political novels and movies that influenced the world. This was a good fit for me, as many of my short stories and both of my novels (one coming Nov. 15, the other in a state of flux as I do a rewrite for a publisher) are political. I sat next to the famous James Morrow during the panel. It's the second time I've been on a panel at a convention with him.

I also moderated the panel on "Amazon - Good or Bad?" I had to great moments in this panel. At the start, after we introduced the panelists, I said, "I have some disturbing news. Some of us who really hate Amazon have gotten together and formed an Orange Crush Party." (I held up a can of Orange Crush that I'd just picked up from the con suite.) "We demand that Amazon be closed down immediately. Otherwise, we will defund and close down Capclave. There will be no more panels, the exhibits and dealer's room will be closed, and all parties are cancelled." At first people in the audience thought I was serious, but they figured it out and laughed at the end. I also did a stunt where, right there on stage, I bought a book from one of my four fellow panelists on my Kindle. I also explained my experiences with Amazon in selling my TT books. One surprise - I thought most of the people would think Amazon was bad, as they continued to use it, but the general consensus - with a few notable exceptions - was that Amazon was good.

I was also on the "1001 Uses for an Unsold Story" panel where we talked about the possibilities - rewriting it, reusing the central ideas of the story in another story, using it in a novel, or just saving it for the appropriate anthology that might someday come along. Or printing it out to line your parakeet cage.

I did a 25-minute reading on Sunday, where I read an excerpt from my upcoming novel, "The Giant Face in the Sky." I also had time to read my "cult classic" story, "The Bat Nerd," about a bat that thinks it's a superhero.

And I got to meet and shake hands with George R.R. Martin, author of the Game of Thrones novels, now an award-winning HBO series. Plus I attended a number of panels and readings, and spent much time in the dealer's room, where I ended up buying only two books somehow.

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Blog Featured on USATT Page

My blog on Thursday morning (on my day on set with "Veep") is featured on the USA Table Tennis home page. Page down and the picture (as of this writing) is on the left. (Last night it was on the right.) I'm sitting next to Derek Nie, the 2012 U.S. Open Under 12 Boys' Champion (currently rated a monstrous 2297). As noted in past blogs, they also are featuring pictures of Derek and I in the numerous Tips of the Week I did for USATT a decade ago in their Tip of the Day feature.

Coaching the Backhand

One of the things I've improved in my coaching is how I coach the backhand. As I've blogged about a number of times, the average backhand these days has more topspin than backhands from the past. It's evolved this way as an interaction between better sponge surfaces, which leads to better topspin technique, and  better technique, which leads to players going to more advanced sponges. These days at the higher levels nearly every backhand is essentially a backhand loop, usually done right up at the table.

But what really stands out is how this has trickled down to the intermediate level. During the speed gluing era (roughly 1980s to early 2000s) most players didn't glue except at the relatively higher levels. It was a lot of hassle, and the conventional wisdom at the time was that you had to reach a pretty high level before you could control a glued-up sponge. These days, with ease of buying a sheet of super sponge, players are using it at lower and lower levels, despite the high prices. With these super sponges it's easy to topspin the backhand (as well as the forehand), and so players do it sooner in their development. This shows that players can do it earlier in their development than was thought before, and so more and more often they are taught to do so. 

When I coach beginners I always mention to them that my backhand tends toward the flat side. (Sometimes when coaching I go for a bit more topspin for the student's sake, but it's not natural for me.) Some students have copied this, and so began to develop too-flat backhands in an age of topspin. So now I really stress putting topspin on these backhands. 

It's showing up in my students. I have several junior players who topspin away with their backhands even though they are still in the 1200 range in level. When I started out not many 1200 players could do this! A few days ago I was silently amazed as one of my students, who was much stronger on the forehand, was topspinning away on the backhand in backhand-to-backhand rallies, and he had no idea how impressive I found this. He (Matt) still needs a lot of work to control this consistently in a match situation, but he's well on his way to developing better backhand technique than I ever had. 

There's still debate on when to start to really topspin the backhand. Should you teach a "regular" backhand until the player is something like 1800 level, or have them topspin earlier? I have an 8-year-old student, about 1400 level already, who likes to back up and topspin everything, often from down at his level, contacting the ball below table level. He basically soft loops or fishes all his backhands AND forehands, except when he's lobbing, which is often.

Returning Serves

Here are two articles on this from Table Tennis Master.

• Returning Serves, Part 1
• Returning Serves, Part 2

Table Tennis Coaching Gifs

Here are some great gifs of top table tennis players you should study. I especially thought the third one was great in demonstrating how to do the reverse pendulum serve.  

Milwaukee Table Tennis Fundraiser

Here's the article. They will pit amateurs against pros (with creative handicaps) to raise money for Pathfinders Milwaukee, which provides shelter, counseling, education and other support to homeless and at-risk youth. Event takes place Oct. 17 at The Tent at Pier Wisconsin.

Table Tennis: The Sport That Makes You Use Your Brain the Most

Here's the article from Uberpong. I especially like the Albert Einstein Table Tennis graphic. Someone should turn that into a shirt. (Hello, Uberpong?)

Mouth Juggling Anyone?

Here it is, on the David Letterman Show under "Stupid Human Tricks."

Table Tennis Fail

Here's a video (3:27) of top players messing up. Study this one really hard, copy what you see, and play my students!

Non-Table Tennis - the Capclave Science Fiction Convention

This weekend I'll be commuting back and forth between coaching at MDTTC and the Capclave SF Convention, held about five minutes away in Gaithersburg, MD. (As some of you know, besides table tennis coaching and writing I'm also a science fiction & fantasy writer.) I'm on three panels, two of which I'm moderating. I'm also doing a reading. Below is my schedule. Here's my Capclave Bio. If you are in the area, come join us!

Friday 4:00-4:55 pm, Salons CDE
God Emperor of Capclave - The Politics and Religion Panel
Panelists: Brenda W. Clough, John G. Hemry, Larry Hodges (M), James Morrow, Brian Shaw
Verboten at the dinner table, but not here. How do authors' political perspectives and religion influence their writing? And what happens when an author's politics/religion starts influencing the real world (cue Ayn Rand)

Friday 9:00-9:55 pm, Rockville/Potomac Room
Amazon, Hero or Villain?
Panelists: Marilyn "Mattie" Brahen, Larry Hodges (M), John Edward Lawson, Kathryn Morrow
Debate: Amazon is good for its low prices, Kindle, and ease of shopping. Amazon is evil for killing off bookstores, taking more and more profit/control from writers/publishers, and for being so big

Saturday 12:00-12:55 pm, Rockville/Potomac Room
1001 Uses for an Unpublished Story
Panelists: Laura Anne Gilman, Larry Hodges, Victoria Janssen (M), Craig Alan Loewen, Alan Smale
Sometimes they sell,sometimes they don't, what do you do with your unsold stories? Do you ever write anything you know can't be sold? Do you mine the novel in your trunk?

Sunday 3:00-3:25 pm, Frederick Room
Reading: I'll be reading an excerpt from my upcoming novel, "The Giant Face in the Sky," a humorous fantasy that parodies the U.S.-Soviet Space race of the 1960s, but with sorcerers instead of astronauts. If there's time, I'll also read my "cult classic" short-short story, "The Bat Nerd," about a bat that thinks it's a superhero called Manbat.

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Veep

I had a wild day on the set of Veep yesterday. And when I say "wild," I mean sitting around doing nothing other than watching for 12 hours. It was fascinating and incredibly boring. Yes, I got to spend lots of time practically standing next to Julia Dreyfus, Anna Chlumsky, Tony Hale, Gary Cole, Matt Walsh, and the rest of the cast and crew. But most of it was watching rehearsal after Rehearsal after REHEARSAL, and then watching take after Take after TAKE!!! And in between these rehearsals and takes? Lots of waiting around.

As I've blogged about before, Veep had an episode that would feature table tennis: Episode 3.3, which would be the third episode in season three, which will run sometime early in 2014. They had contacted me, looking for "high-level table tennis players in their 20s." I had helped bring in Khaleel Asgarali, Toby Kutler, and Qiming Chen. (Khaleel, rated 2391, used to be over 2400 and was on the Trinidad National Team; Toby is rated 2154 and used to be over 2200; Qiming, rated 2113, is the University of Maryland Champion and a graduating senior.)

I'm 53 and didn't quite fit the age profile, but they told me to come in anyway. I assumed I was part of the table tennis. However, at about 10PM on Tuesday night all the extras received a long email giving instructions on things such as what to wear, when and where to park and meet, etc. In the listings they had Khaleel, Toby, Qiming, and three others I'd never heard of listed as "Table Tennis Players." I was listed along with two others as "Clovis Custodial Staff." Huh?

I left my house at 5:30 AM and arrived at the parking garage at University of Maryland just before 6AM. I was there early because I didn't want to get stuck in traffic; we were supposed to be there by 7AM. They had a shuttle for the extras starting at 6:30 AM, which took us to the Physical Sciences Building, the site of the shooting, where I'd be from 7AM to well past 7PM. (I believe this was the same building I took computer science classes in when I was an undergraduate there many years ago, but it looked very different now.) They had turned the front of the building, the lobby, and the second floor into "Clovis Corporation." It was pretty extravagant; I wish I had pictures of the setting, but photos weren't allowed. A lot of the stuff involved recreational stuff, including large Lego tables, foosball, some sort of golfing area, and yes, two ping-pong tables.

The ping-pong tables each had a pair of cheap hardbat rackets. But rather than a ping-pong ball, they both had a Koosh ball! This was about 1.5 times the diameter of a ping-pong ball, and very dead. When it bounced on the table it made little noise, and that's why they wanted it. However, to me, it looked very awkward, as there's supposed to be sound when the ball hits the table, and it's supposed to bounce, not die like these balls did, plus it was way too big. With a little practice, you could rally with them, but you had to take the ball right off the bounce (since there was little bounce) and hit it pretty hard to get it over the net. I mentioned there were three people listed as table tennis players I'd never heard of; it turned out they were actors who had put "ping-pong" down as things they were good at. One of them didn't show. The other two were just advanced basement players. They spend much of their time practicing hitting the Koosh ball back and forth.

There was also a large Snack Corner, which was where I'd spend the next twelve hours. Not to eat, but there was a sitting area behind it, and that's where many of the extras sat while waiting for their big moment. When the cameras were pointing the other way (which fortunately was most of the time) we were able to gather behind them and watch the shooting.

When I arrived, I was given a Clovis Corporation t-shirt to wear - white with a large colorful "C" on the front. I was also given a blue apron I was to wear. So much for my dreams of playing table tennis on Veep!

The next twelve hours gradually went from great interest to great boredom. It became obvious the ones doing the casting weren't sure what the ones doing the directing were interested in, and they were interested in people in their 20s, to fit the profile of techies. (I think they modeled "Clovis Corporation" on Google.)  The two others listed as "custodial" were both in their 60s; out of the 50+ extras, we were the only three not to be used. We just sat around all day. There was a 30-minute lunch break where they catered an extravagant feast - extremely well-seasoned chicken (I think Cajun style), what looked like prime rib, fish, all-you-can-eat salad, lots of vegetables, lots of desserts. I was surprised that everyone ate the same food - Julia Dreyfus and the rest of the stars, the directors, and the rest of the actors were right there with the extras. Then it was back to work - or in my case, to sitting around.

What were they actually filming? Basically, Julia (Vice President of the U.S.) and her staff were visiting some high-tech Google-like corporation. There was lots of playful banter between the cast members; Julia mistook some of the recreational activities as child care and launched into a campaign-type speech that got interupted; her assistant, played by Tony Hale, kept whispering things into her ear, often nearly word-for-word what she was being told, and she'd react sarcastically. She was shown around, then there was a short board-type meeting, then they met the big executive with the ping-pong going on in the background. And that got us to 7PM.

During one long break Khaleel and I did an impromptu exhibition with a real ping-pong ball. It got lots of "Oohs!" and "Aahs!", but the only ones that saw it were the extras and lower-level technicians. The main cast and crew were on the other side of the set and I don't think noticed. (It was a big set!)

During the first 2.5 hours they did the opening scene to their arriving at Clovis over and Over and OVER!!! It took that entire time to do what I timed to be a 90-second scene. Then they did the next scene, also about the same length, and it took hours. By the end of the day, with 11.5 hours on set, my guess is they got about five minutes of filming done. But that comes to 30 minutes in five days, and most episodes are about 23 minutes, so perhaps they are ahead of schedule.

While I wasn't getting used, they used Khaleel, Toby, and Qiming almost nonstop - but as regular Clovis employees! For example, in the opening scene, a Clovis director is showing the main cast around, and most of the scene is around two tables with five Clovis employees working at computers - and three of them were Khaleel, Toby, and Qiming. (This was done about 30 times over 2.5 hours.) Later there was a scene where they are meeting some Clovis executive, and all three of them were told to walk by in the background. It was kind of funny watching one of the assistant directors time when to send them. Qiming walked alone; they sent Toby and Khaleel together. They did this about 20 times, so they got lots of exercise.

During the scene where they are meeting the Clovis executive two of the actors who were listed as having "table tennis skills" were playing in the background. (It was a LOT of playing since they did the scene over and Over and OVER.) The irony is that this was the scene were Khaleel, Toby, and Qiming were walking by in the background, right past the table. So while they had the amateurs playing ping-pong, the real players walked by. However, we were told that they'd be playing some tomorrow. I was also told how the table tennis scene will culminate - but I think I'm sworn to secrecy. Let's just say that Julia will get involved, and it won't end well for her. (No, it's not something as simple as her getting beaten by a top player! If you ask me in person, I may be able to tell you what happens to her. Remember, this is a comedy.)

At the end of the day the extras had lots of paperwork to do, and then lots of waiting in line (almost an hour for me) to get our forms validated so they can mail us our checks. The normal rate for extras is $75 for nine hours work (so $8.33/hour), and 1.5 times that rate after nine hours (so $12.50/hour) Because we were listed as having "special skills," Qiming, Toby, and Khaleel all got double pay (so $16.66/hour), and for the 2.5 hours past nine hours, triple pay ($25/hour). I wasn't listed for that, but after I argued my case, and pointed out that I'd help bring in the three real players, they put me down as having a "special skill," even though I wasn't going to use it in the show except as an informal advisor. Then I drove home, returning around 8:30 PM - 15 hours after I'd left.

I was invited to come back today, but decided against it. First, I dreaded spending another 15 hours on this, most of it sitting around. Once you've hobnobbed with Julia and the others for a day it gets kind of old. Second, I've got lots and lots of things I need to work on, both table tennis and various writing projects. And third, I was EXHAUSTED. Yes, spend 15 hours like this and you'd be tired too.

I'll check with the three on what happened today and report back. Meanwhile, set your calendars for sometime in 2014 to watch the exciting table tennis action on Veep!

2013-2014 NCTTA League

Here's USATT Board Member Kagin Lee's blog about the upcoming NCTTA season.

Fundamentals of a Close to Table Game

Here's the article from Table Tennis Master.

Tips for Playing Against Antispin

Here's the article from Table Tennis Master.

Five Peculiarities to Become a Great TT Player (Revisited)

On Tuesday I linked to this somewhat tongue in cheek video. Here's a blog about it from Expert Table Tennis.

MIT Working on Robot Table Tennis Algorithm

Here's the article and links from Table Tennis Nation. Our Table Tennis Masters are in development, and soon even the Chinese National Team will have to bow before our Robot Ping-Pong Warlords!

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Off to Veep

I'm off to the Veep taping this morning, leaving at 5:15 AM. I'll be there all day (and perhaps partially into the night) today and tomorrow. I'll say hello to Julia Dreyfus for you! I'll ask if I'm allowed to post anything about the taping, but I'm probably going to be sworn to secrecy. Or perhaps I'll come up with some wild, imaginary story about it and see if anyone believes me. (Julia, the Vice President, is hijacked by lizard-like ping-pong playing alien cyborgs! I play the lizard-like ping-pong playing alien cyborg leader!)

Don't Think About Form When Playing Matches

Here's a Guest Posting by Des Preston that I found interesting - and I agree with it. It comes at a timely time since (as noted above) I'm leaving at 6AM for the Veep posting.

I love the tips you give to your readers and I'd like to share one that I often remind myself of. A lot of intermediate-advanced players 1800+ spend too much time thinking of their own technique/form during matches. At the 1800+ level, unless you are purposely trying to fit a certain shot into your game, constantly reminding yourself of your own technique can be a hindrance.

To help me pay more attention to my opponent and less time watching myself I switch the wording around in my head. If I miss a shot or make a weak return, instead of saying, "Open your paddle more" or, "C'mon swing like this!", I think to myself, "Ok his serve has more backspin on it than I thought," or "His blocks are mostly dead." This way I'm thinking more about their shots, and letting my own subconscious figure out how to handle it. 

At a lower level this may be difficult, but once a player has all the shots they need in their arsenal, this might be a better way to think. It's less taxing on the player's mindset as well. I feel like I'm not blaming myself, I'm just pointing out that the other player did something I wasn't expecting.

Three Secret Steps to Supercharge Your Footwork

Here are the articles from Table Tennis Master: Part 1 and Part 2.

Houston Rockets Renovated Locker Room Features Ping Pong

Here's the article. "The Houston Rockets recently spent $7 million upgrading their locker room as they enter the beginning of the James Harden-Dwight Howard era and it seems like table tennis playing General Manager Daryl Morey had at least a little bit of an influence since the locker room features table tennis."

The Funny Table Tennis

Here's a video (4:31) with a compilation of hilarious and spectacular play, much of it exhibition, and set to music. It's from 2010, but I don't think I'd ever seen or posted it.

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Nostalgia - The Top Players of Today and Yesterday

Mondays is usually my day off. However, since I'm going to be away at the Veep taping on Wed and Thur (see yesterday's blog), I asked my five students on those days if we could reschedule, and all five obliged. So yesterday I did two hours coaching, the first time I've done so on a Monday in a long time. I've also got two extra hours today, so I'll be coaching almost non-stop from 2:45-8PM. (Fortunately I'm over my arm problems.)

I was coaching on one of the front six tables. (We have 16 tables, sometimes 18 for training camps, but the front six are extra-large.) During the first hour I looked around at the other five tables, and couldn't help but reminisce. I remember back when I was starting out at the old New Carrollton Table Tennis Club (in Maryland) in the late 1970s. Between matches I'd watch as the club's star players played on the tables on the far right - we had something like 9-10 "great" players, all in the 1800-2000 range! Wow! This was back when I was about 1100, and to me they were the greats of table tennis - Herb Horton, Bob Kaminsky, Jim Verta, Carl Kronlage, Jim Mossberg, Ron Snyder, Gary Akinsette, Tim Ang, Barbara Kaminsky, Donna Sakai, Yvonne Kronlage - wow, were they good! Not to mention up-and-coming juniors Brian Masters, Mike Shapiro, Curt Kronlage, and Phil Shaw. Oh, and me, though I didn't start until I was 16.

But the world has changed, and I'm now a coach at the Maryland Table Tennis Center. I still have that same sense of "Wow!" when I look about. And now back to the present, and those five other tables.

On tables 1-5 was Nathan Hsu and Chen Jie ("James"); Wang Qing Liang ("Leon") and Derek Nie; Raghu Nadmichettu and Harold Baring; Dong Yiming ("Steve") and Roy Ke; and Chen Bo Wen ("Bowen") and Crystal Wang. I'm not going to give all their ratings, but they range from 2250 to 2600, and six of the eight are under age 18, including such phenoms as Crystal (11, 2267, formerly 2355) and Derek (12, 2297). And hovering over tables one and two was Coach and former Chinese team member Cheng Yinghua, former 2850 player, not playing this time, just coaching. (Coach Jack Huang, former 2800 player and Chinese team member, would normally be there but was in China on a three-week vacation.) 

There are other clubs in the U.S. with such high levels of play; I'm just lucky to be in one of them.

ITTF Monthly Pongcast - September 2013

Here's the video (11:34).

Five Peculiarities to Become a Great TT Player

Here's the video (5:11). This is not technical advice, but a list of five attributes most of the top players have. The short list? Shakehands, lefty, attack, Butterfly, Asian.

Table Tennis Score Keeper
Here's a new scorekeeper app. "Table Tennis Score Keeper app is a simple application which helps players, their parents or friends in scoring matches. It can be used in local tournaments, leagues, college, or practice games. Scorekeeper app can score Best of 7, 5, 3 or 1 games. It records which player will serve next. You can add the player names and also extend by adding club or country name. Once a game in a match is completed it can be added and the next game can be scored. The app works on Portrait mode and also is tested on landscape for Nexus 7 and Nexus 4. It is best suited for parents, coaches or friends who are scoring for their player during a match."

Internet Calls Bluff on Incredible Ping-Pong Video

Yesterday I posted a link to the video "Amazing Ping-Pong Tricks with a Knife." I also asked if you thought it was real. (In the comments below Doug explained why he was sure it was not.) Well, the Internet has called its bluff and says it is not real - here's the article. So who are these people? They are the Tumba Ping Pong Show, and they need a segment of their own....

Tumba Ping-Pong Show

Here's their home page. I've linked to some of their staged videos before. They have lots and lots of these spectacularly staged table tennis videos - take a look!

This Is How You Hang Out with Friends

The title of this video is longer than the video (5 sec) but it's pretty funny. Someone called it shaolin ping-pong.

Are We Twins?

Here's a hilarious video (2:23) starring Samson Dubina and Xavier Therien. I know them both so well (mostly from coaching against them) that it never occurred to me that they were twins - until now!

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Tip of the Week

Covering the Middle with the Forehand. (Note - here's a related Tip from a year ago, "Covering the Middle.")

Veep

My chances for winning an Emmy just went up a million times, from one in a quintillion to one in a trillion. Yep, a million times better.

On Friday I got a call and emails from one of the casting directors for the TV show Veep. This is the high-rated HBO comedy starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus (of Seinfeld fame) as the constantly befuddled and out of her depth vice president of the United States. A few weeks ago she won the Emmy for Best Actress in a Comedy. I've watched most of the episodes - it's pretty funny.

It seems they are doing an episode that at least partially features table tennis. They need 6-8 high-level table tennis players, aged 18-30 but all appearing in their 20s, of varying diversities. They also hired me, even though I'm outside their age range at 53. The filming is this Wed and Thur, at University of Maryland. We have to be there all day both days. It is paid work.

From what I understand from a very brief description, the players will be dressed in regular business attired, and the scene takes place at some techie place like Google. At some point the workers get up and play table tennis, and they're all great. That's all I know, or think I know.

If you fit the profile for this, and are free all day Wed and Thur, and would like to join us, email me and I'll put you in contact with the casting person.

Table Tennis & Academic Afterschool Program

We're starting a new program at the Maryland Table Tennis Center where we combine table tennis with academics. It doesn't start until January, but we're already taking applicants - and there already a number of interested people. Basically the MDTTC coaches will pick kids up after school (either at school or at home), bring them to the club, and then they do both a study period and table tennis session. Guess who's in charge of the academic side? Yes, that would be me. (We have six other full-time coaches who will run the table tennis side, though I'll likely help out.) I've tutored kids for years. My qualifications: bachelor's in math, masters in journalism, and seven books and over 1400 published articles. (Wen Hsu is also helping with the tutoring.) I not only can tutor math and English, but I'm also pretty good at history and most other subjects - except for one subject, which has always been my nemesis, foreign language. Yep, I'm your typical one-language American. If you are local and interested, here's the MDTTC Table Tennis & Academic Afterschool Program.

2013 Annual USATT Giving Campaign

Here's the USATT page where you can donate money. They've raised $20,439.65 so far this year. (One thing I don't understand - why do they have the "Honor Roll Pledge Gift: $250" first, and then the "Platinum Gift," which appears to be over $1000, with pledges as high as $5000 (from Richard Lee of North American Table Tennis)? They have it listed the same way in the new issue of USATT Magazine.

Ma Long Doing Multiball

Here's the video (49 sec) of the world #1 ranked player looping from both wings against backspin. Watch how he moves his feet, and how he generates power with his whole body.

Interview with Fan Zhendong

Here's a video interview (1:59, with English captions) with the teenage sensation from China, already ranked #10 in the world at age 16. I like how he stressed how they kept it fun when he was younger so that his interest stayed. A lot of coaches and parents don't understand that part.

Great Point at Europeans

Here's the video (1:12, though it really ends after 52 sec). Lots of ground covered, switching hands, and yes, that chop did climb over the net for a winner. They also show a second spectacular point, but the first one is the one to watch.

The Beauty of Table Tennis Part 4

Here's the video (5:24). And in case you missed them, here is part 1, part 2, and part 3.

Gravity the Movie

Yes, there's a table tennis connection! I saw Gravity on Saturday night - it was great, and you should see it. (It's getting great reviews from both critics and regular viewers.) I'm not big on 3-D, but this is one movie you should see in 3-D. Now come some minor spoilers - read at your own risk. Early in the film, in a U.S. ship, you see a figurine of Marvin the Martian floating about. When they get to the Russian ship, it's a chess piece floating about. When they get to the Chinese ship, about ten minutes from the end, twice you see a ping-pong paddle floating about! The three floating items represent the country - Marvin the Martian is sort of an icon to the U.S. space industry; chess is the national pastime in Russia; and of course table tennis is a national sport in China. But here's the 800-pound gorilla in the room: why in heck would there be a ping-pong paddle in a spaceship? There's no room for a table.

Mrs. Met vs. Serena Williams

Here's a picture of the two playing table tennis. (Mrs. Met is a mascot of the New York Mets; Serena Williams has won a few tennis tournaments.) Apparently Mrs. Met won!

Amazing Ping-Pong Tricks with a Knife

Here's the video (37 sec) - don't try this yourself!!! So here's my question: is this real, or do you think it was done digitally?

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