Blogs

Larry Hodges' Blog and Tip of the Week will normally go up on Mondays by 2:00 PM USA Eastern time. Larry is a member of the U.S. Table Tennis Hall of Fame, a USATT Certified National Coach, a professional coach at the Maryland Table Tennis Center (USA), and author of ten books and over 2100 articles on table tennis, plus over 1900 blogs and over 600 tips. Here is his bio. (Larry was awarded the USATT Lifetime Achievement Award in July, 2018.)

Make sure to order your copy of Larry's best-selling book, Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers!
Finally, a tactics book on this most tactical of sports!!!

Also out - Table Tennis Tips, More Table Tennis Tips, Still More Table Tennis Tips, and Yet Still More Table Tennis Tips, which cover, in logical progression, his Tips of the Week from 2011-2023, with 150 Tips in each!

Or, for a combination of Tales of our sport and Technique articles, try Table Tennis Tales & Techniques. If you are in the mood for inspirational fiction, The Spirit of Pong is also out - a fantasy story about an American who goes to China to learn the secrets of table tennis, trains with the spirits of past champions, and faces betrayal and great peril as he battles for glory but faces utter defeat. Read the First Two Chapters for free!

August 7, 2023

Next Blog on August 21 – See Segment on Classic Nationals Below

Tips of the Week
I’ve been away since July 17, so there are the last three Tips of the Week. (Remember, even when I’m out of town and don’t do a blog, a Tip of the Week still goes up every Monday.)

Classic Nationals
I’ll be at the Classic Nationals in Austin, TX, Aug. 11-12, Fri-Sat, at the Austin TTC, run by Classic TT guru Steve Claflin. Afterwards I’ll be sightseeing in Austin for three days, returning to Maryland on Wednesday, Aug. 16. So no blog next Monday. There are six events in the tournament: Hardbat Open, Hardbat Women, Hardbat Over 55, Hardbat Under 18, Austin City Hardbat Championships, and the Sandpaper Open.

I’m running a FREE Hardbat Clinic there on Friday night, 6-7PM. I plan to cover Hardbat Equipment, Serves, Forehand, Backhand, Chopping, Playing Against Sponge, and a Q&A session. (I normally use sponge, but hardbat is a big sideline for me.)

Besides trying to win Over 55 - only event I’m playing - I’m top seed but face formidable opposition - I’m there primarily to do coverage. I’ll likely write a flurry of articles that’ll hopefully go up over the weekend at Butterfly News. The articles will be both regular coverage and profiles of top players, such as the top seeds in Hardbat and Sandpaper Open, Jimmy Butler and AJ Carney.

After the tournament I plan to do tours of the State Capital, LBJ Presidential Library, Austin Aquarium, Austin Zoo, and the famous Austin Bat Tour.

Major League Table Tennis on TV!
Here’s the one-hour show from ESPN 2, from this past Friday, Aug. 4, showing Major League Table Tennis, the only professional TT league here in the US. (You might have to have to put in your service provider.) The matchup was Team Zhuang (Agnieszka Maluszczak, Ojo Onaolapo, Enzo Angles and Hong Lin) vs. Team Fu (Alexandru Cazacu, Yasiris Ortiz, Mishel Levinski, Romain Lorentz). MLTT was created by Flint Lane - hope to see it get bigger and bigger! 

Pan Am Youth Championships and WTT Youth Contender
From July 23 to Aug. 4, most of the top youth players in the Americas were in Charleston, West Virginia, for the following events:

=>Butterfly Coverage by Steve Hopkins

=>USATT Coverage by Joshua Dyke

World Table Tennis Events
One just finished, one just started!

Butterfly Training Tips

Peak Performance Table Tennis on Sale
Here it is, by Kevin Finn – it’s 40% off for the print version (US and Puerto Rico only) at checkout with the code Peak2023, through Aug. 12.

Jan-Ove Waldner Top Ten Tips
Here they are, from one of the greatest player of all time! (He was generally considered the greatest until Ma Long.) This is reprinted from Jan-Ove Waldner: When the Feeling Decides (updated in 2022). I have a copy of the original version, signed by Waldner. The book was also translated into French, Jan-Ove Waldner : Question d’instinct, by David Salomez, who also translated my Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers into the French version, Tactiques de Tennis de Table pour Pongistes Penseurs. 

Tony's Table Tennis Talk - Episode 1 - What was the call?
Here’s the video (3:49). So, what’s your call?

The Impact of 2 Month Online Training Toward Stroke Drive Ability in Table Tennis Players
Here’s the technical article (in English) from the Turkish Journal of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation.

News from All Over
Since I haven't blogged since July 17 due to traveling, rather than try to list every interesting article, here are links to some of the main news and coaching pages that have been active in that time, and you can pick and choose.

Former Doctor with Multiple Sclerosis Goes From Prescribing Medications to Playing Ping Pong
Here’s the article and video (4:20) on Dr. Antonio Barbera from Denver 7 News.

Top 5 Incredible Table Tennis Counter Attacks
Here’s the video (66 sec) from Top Table Tennis.

Some Very Sad Ping-Pong Balls?
Here they are!

Best Table Tennis Poems
Here’s the page from Poetry Soup. Here’s another, “Ping Pong” by Ron Cohen. (I remember seeing a new one this past week on Facebook and thought I copied the link – but can’t find it now. Email me if you have the link.)

Human vs. Robot?
Here’s the video (13 sec)! However, it’s obviously done with AI, with much of it apparently copied from real rallies. I recognize the chopping rally at the start from an exhibition I’ve seen but don’t remember who it was. However, the sudden forehand block at the end is just recreated from the famous Jan-Ove Waldner block against Timo Boll!

New from Adam Bobrow!

New from Pongfinity!

Businessman Pong
Here’s the video (90 sec)! This is a takeoff on the famous Matrix Table Tennis video (1:46).

Non-Table Tennis – War Around the Clock and TNEO
My fantasy anti-war story War Around the Clock is up at Bullet Points. It’s about the stupidity of war – and literally takes place on a . . . well, you’ll have to read the story to find out. Or read the title, literally!!!

From July 21-29 I was in Manchester, NH for my 14th (and 11th consecutive) “The Never-Ending Odyssey” science fiction writing workshop. It’s basically nine days of critiquing each other’s stories; master classes on SF writing; brainstorming, readings; and related issues. I had three stories critiqued, and another got the “Plot Breakout” treatment where four of us basically reworked the plot (such as putting it into a three-act structure, etc.). I’ve since finalized three of the stories and will likely finish the last one in the next day or so, though I’ll likely put all four aside for one more reading in a week or so before submitting them to the various magazine and anthology markets. What were my stories about?

  • Two Dreams: Dr. King and the Alien. An excited and idealistic alien makes first contact at the 1963 Martin Luther King March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
  • Bullet Time. A robber shoots a teller during a bank robbery, but time nearly freezes for the teller, and so it takes five days for the bullet to arrive – meanwhile, he’s stuck, frozen like everything else, just watching it approach, thinking about his life . . . and periodically getting visited by a strange Tinkerbell-like creature!
  • Connoisseur of Cambrian Cooking. The world’s first time traveler goes 500 million years into the past, to the Cambrian Explosion, but gets stuck there – and is forced to extreme measures to survive. (I managed to work in a ping-pong reference.)
  • Time Sweater. 11-dimensional beings are bothered by the plight of freezing, homeless children (also 11-dimensional), and decide to knit one of them a warm sweater – made from timelines. Which means splitting our timeline over and over to create new timelines for the sweater, causing havoc!

Meanwhile, I sold a story to Storia.com. A God and his pet squirrel return to Earth and are disappointed with what they find. They try to fix things, but it only gets worse. Finally, they decide to start over, wiping out humanity and replacing them with intelligent squirrels – but it turns out there are even higher powers!

***
Send us your own coaching news!

Add a comment

July 17, 2023

BREAKING NEWS - Major League Table Tennis to Debut on ESPN2
Here's the MLTT news item. The ESPN2 showing (on "The Ocho") is on Friday, Aug. 4, at 5PM.
(This was added on Wed, Aug. 2.) 

NEXT BLOG – Monday, Aug. 7
I’ll be out of town July 21-29 at TNEO – see segment below, at end. Perhaps also see the note about joining the Zoom story reading! Also see the segment on Table Tennis Doubles for Champions – have a good doubles picture? Send it, and if used, you’ll get paid and a signed copy of the book!

Tip of the Week
Five-Minute Rule.

Richard Hicks: RIP - November 28, 1937 - July 12, 2023
Alas, the great champion died last Wednesday. I’d known him for many decades, though not as well as many others. I watched him win Men’s 80-84 Singles at the 2018 World Veterans Championships in Las Vegas, where I was doing coverage, and interviewed him afterwards – see my article about it below.

Surprisingly, through the 47 years I’ve played, starting in 1976 (and far longer for him!), we only played twice. But those two matches tell a story. Richard is a chopper with long pips on the backhand, and it so happens that during my peak years, I ate choppers for breakfast. During a 25-year span, I beat five choppers rated over 2450 (and hordes below that) and didn’t lose to any under 2500. So when I played Richard the first time, it was breakfast, and I won easily. (We were both around 2250 at the time.) A few years later, we played again – and as I verified afterwards, he remembered that match, and had researched me. This time he chopped maybe one-third of the time, enough to keep me looking for his defense, but the rest of the time he attacked over and over. He kept hitting in my serves with his backhand, in particular, putting me on the defensive, and when he did chop, I was caught off guard. So he won the second match, not by chopping, but by adjusting to his opponent. That’s smart table tennis.

Here are some links.

Here’s is the complete text to that last article, where I wrote about him winning Men’s 80-84 Singles at the 2018 World Veterans Championships.

Men's 80-84 Singles
The two USA players won against German players in the semifinals, setting up the only all-USA final in the tournament. The showdown: Tay Chong Keng, rated 2188, who'd already won Over 80 Men's Doubles, a long-pips penhold blocker who rarely attacked, just blocks and Blocks and BLOCKS!; versus USATT Hall of Famer Richard Hicks, rated 2003, who's won dozens of national age titles in the U.S., a chopper with long pips on the backhand. Tay was a former banker who started playing table tennis at age 40, and so has now been playing for 40 years, half his life.

The rallies involved lots of maneuvering, yet the essence was the same - Hicks chopped, Tay push-blocked, meaning he took the chops right off the bounce with his long pips. The pips "reversed" the spin, so his shots came out with topspin - which Hicks would chop, and so on. Hicks had more variation, throwing chops, no-spins, topspin rolls, and sudden pick-hits. Tay was a wall, moving the ball all over the table. The rallies went on and On and ON! But Tay won the first two, 11-8 and then 11-2, and with his 185-point rating advantage, he seemed on the verge of his second gold here.

But Hicks wins the third, 11-7. In the fourth, Hicks goes up 8-7 and they have a rally that, well, goes on, and On and ON - and Hicks wins it to lead 9-7. But two missed chops and it's 9-all. Hicks goes up 10-9, but suddenly Tay, for I think the first time, winds up and smashes a forehand - deuce! But Hicks catches him off guard with a backhand from the forehand side, smacked crosscourt to Tay's suddenly open forehand, 11-10 - and Hicks wins the game, 12-10.

At this point all the other matches have finished, and so this is the last match of the tournament - and the crowd is going crazy on every point, incredulous that they could keep it in play so long. They were not patting the ball back and forth; Tay's push-blocks are somewhat aggressive, and he kept Hicks constantly moving.

In the fifth, it's 6-6 - and then, five long rallies later, Hicks has won the last five points in a row and the gold, -8,-2,7,10,6!

Afterwards I asked him, "Richard, he was killing you. What did you do?" He said, "I had to be more forceful with my pushes and chops, and look for more balls to hit." And it's true that while the rallies were incredibly long, probably half of them ended with a sudden Hicks hit, forehand or backhand. He also said, "I just had to tough it out. I never quit."

The match itself took about 70 minutes. You are allowed one minute between games, but let's say they spent 2.5 minutes between games. That's ten minutes between games. That means the five games themselves took 60 minutes, or 12 minutes per game. Any time a game takes more than ten minutes the Expedite Rule is supposed to be called, but apparently nobody was timing it. My guess is that expedite would have favored Hicks, since he had a slightly better attack. I'm fairly sure all but game two took longer than ten minutes.

Gold: Richard Hicks (USA)
Silver: Tay Chong Keng (USA)
Bronze: Klaus Kruger (GER) and Dieter Lippelt (GER)

Table Tennis Doubles for Champions – and a Doubles Picture CONTEST
I can go public now – my next book will be Table Tennis Doubles for Champions. It should be out sometime this fall, definitely before the US Open in December. Much of the “how to” and other technical stuff is written, including chapters on doubles serves, receives, rallies (both technique and tactical), footwork, what makes a great team, and other topics. I plan to add a historical chapter on some of the great doubles teams of the past. Here is the chapter heading:

  1. Introduction to Doubles
  2. Weird Doubles Facts
  3. Great Partnerships
  4. The Start of a Doubles Match
  5. Doubles Tactics
  6. Serving
  7. Receiving
  8. Rallying
  9. Footwork
  10. Doubles History and All-Time Great Teams
  11. Doubles Rules

The most difficult part is finding good pictures to go with it. I need both a great cover picture, and at least one picture to go with each chapter. Some can be generic; others need to be more specific, such as someone serving in doubles for the chapter on Serving. So I’m going to have a contest.

For the cover, I’m looking for something that’s really eye-catching and sharp at 300 dpi. Ideally, it might be a vertical picture that covers the front cover (9 inches tall, six inches wide, or perhaps just over 12 inches wide, so it wraps around the spine and back cover), or it can be horizontal (six inches wide). It would be in full color. Ideally, it would be of top, well-known stars, but not necessarily – the most important aspect is that it’s eye-catching. The internal pictures would be black and white for the print version (I can convert from color), but full color for the kindle version. Most would be action shots, but they could be non-action ones, such as coaches coaching them between games. Pictures can “genuine” or staged. (Special thanks to Grant Bergmann, who’s already sent me a bunch.)

So, email me your best table tennis doubles pictures! Deadline: Aug. 15.

  • For the cover picture chosen, I’ll pay $100, a signed copy of the book, and full attribution and copyright.
  • For pictures used on the inside, I’ll pay $20, a signed copy of the book, and full attribution and copyright. (If I use multiple pictures from one person, then only one signed copy, unless you really badly want two.)

Yet Still More Table Tennis Tips
It has come to my attention that you – yes, I’m talking to YOU, the one reading these words right now – have not yet bought a copy of Yet Still More Table Tennis Tips. It’s fourth in the Tips series, but each is independent, so you don’t need to read them in sequence. (And they go great with my best-selling book, Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers!) Alas, Amazon doesn’t allow for a discount for buying entire set - I tried - and there are no boxed sets.

Hardbat, Sandpaper, and Wood, Oh My! Three Huge All-Classic Tournaments Coming Soon
Here’s the USATT version of the article I wrote about them. I will be at all three, both competing and doing coverage at the Nationals and World’s. (There are also lots of hardbat and sandpaper events at the regular US Nationals in July.)

Pong You Later, Alligator
Two days ago I had the weirdest dream. I literally was in a river playing table tennis with an alligator! It started on the surface, with the table floating, then we and the table went underwater, and we kept smacking the ball back and forth. Apparently we had a ping-pong ball that didn’t float and I could breath underwater. The alligator held the paddle in his front right leg, or arm, or whatever. Not sure who won.

National Senior Games (USA)
They were held in Pittsburgh, July 7-18, with table tennis events July 12-18. Here are complete results.

Peak Performance Table Tennis Routine
Here’s the article and videos from Kevin Finn/Peak Performance Table Tennis. “This is a table tennis specific workout routine that I am putting out for the table tennis community free of charge.” You might also want to get a copy of Kevin’s book, Peak Performance Table Tennis.

New from Samson Dubina

Common Mistakes and Four Keys to Returning Serves
Here’s the video (2:39) from Damien Provost/PongSpace.

Problems With Your Footwork? Start With Your Eyes.
Here’s the article from Tom Lodziak.

New from PingSunday/EmRatThich
46 new videos in the past week!!!

Bojan Besinger's class about MENTALITY
Here’s the video (28:02).

New from Performance Biomechanics Academy

New from Ti Long

In & Out Movement for Choppers
Here’s the video (2:49) from Derek May.

Ask the Coach
Here are the latest questions from PingSkills.

My Unforgettable Experience at the 2023 US Nationals Table Tennis Championship
Here’s the article by Kef Noorani. Here’s the related article by Stephanie Sun, Kef Noorani Wins Three U13 National Champions at US Nationals Championships.

Tashiya and Tiana’s Remarkable Journey in 2023 US National Table Tennis Championship
Here’s the article by Thilina Piyadasa

New from Steve Hopkins/Butterfly

USATT News

ITTF News

2023 China Super League
Here are three great matches.

Greatest Table Tennis Hits of All Time - Vol. 1
Here’s the video (9:46) from World Table Tennis.

New from the Malong Fanmade Channel
Lots of videos here.

Syed Radio Series Focuses on Ping Pong Diplomacy and Rise of China
Here’s the article, and here are links to Sideways BBC podcasts on this and other table tennis topics. Here are direct links to the ones on China and Ping Pong Diplomacy.

Electromyographic Evaluation of Upper Extremity Muscles During Forehand and Backhand Table Tennis Drives
Here’s the technical journal article from JPES, the Journal of Physical Education and Sport. Don’t let me scare you, but here’s an excerpt:

“The selected upper extremity muscles based on reviews were flexor carpi radialis (FCR), extensor carpi radials (ECR), biceps brachii (BB), pectoralis major (PM), anterior deltoid (AD) and stomach oblique (SO). The EMG signals data was collected through Wireless surface electromyography having eight channels. A fixed window of 100 ms was used to calculate the RMS (root mean square) value of the signals. One-way ANOVA was used as a statistical technique for comparison and a separate post-hoc test was conducted for pairwise comparison. The study concludes that Pectoralis Major and Anterior Deltoid muscles are important factors for forehand and backhand topspin drive.”

Funny Table Tennis Stuff from Etsy
Here’s the page!

Table Tennis Nut
Here’s where you can buy the picture!

New from Pongfinity

Mostly Non-TT: TNEO – The Never-Ending Odyssey
I’ll be out of town July 21-29 at The Never-Ending Odyssey in Manchester, NH, as I’ve done this time of year nearly every year since 2006, including the last fourteen years in a row. That’s me in the group picture, back row, third from left. If you page down, you’ll see quotes from attendees – mine is the first one: “There’s a reason some of us come back, year after year, always striving to improve our writing. We could spend the time at the beach or camping or at Disneyworld, but we’ve discovered a much more fulfilling learning experience at TNEO, a week with other writers where we are fully immersed in just the craft of writing.”

It’s a science fiction writing workshop run by graduates of the six-week Odyssey science fiction writing workshop. (I went in 2006.) The last three years have been on Zoom, but we’re back to meeting in person at Saint Anselm’s College. We’ll spend nine days critiquing each other’s work, running “master” classes on writing, doing readings, and other SF writing-related activities. This year there will be 19 participants. (My world is divided about 50-50 between table tennis and science fiction. Is there anything more? Both are fun and both pay. I just sold a short SF story for $750.)

I did manage to work in a table tennis reference in one of my stories, “Connoisseur of Cambrian Cooking,” about a scientist who time travels back 538 million years to the Cambrian Explosion, where it says, “The closest she ever came to sports was occasional ping-pong, where she'd mindlessly rally with her grad students while pondering the secrets of time and the universe.” The time machine’s battery blows up and she’s stuck there, and the early Cambrian life turns out to be poisonous – so how will she survive and return to the present? You’ll just have to read the story someday when it comes out! (Or privately ask me if you are really curious.)

Technically, I’ll be back on Monday, July 31, but I’ll have so much work piled up from being away, plus major rewrites on my stories critiqued a TNEO, that I need that week off to catch up, so no blog that week.

===>SPECIAL NOTE – on Wednesday, July 26, from 7-9 PM, we’ll be having the annual TNEO SLAM, where participants do five-minute readings. I’ll be reading, “The AI Went Down to the Submissions Page,” a humorous take on AI writing. The readings will be on ZOOM. We are allowed to invite up to four people to join the session where you’ll see and hear lots of short science fiction/fantasy stories. If you are interested in joining us, email me.

***
Send us your own coaching news!

Add a comment

July 10, 2023

Tip of the Week
Forehand Back Foot Placement.

US Nationals
They were held July 3-7 in Fort Worth, Texas, with 810 players, 108 tables, and 105 events. (There were 112 but the seven Parkinson’s events were canceled due to lack of entries.) Here are complete results, care of Omnipong. I was there primarily as one of the five MDTTC coaches, with 13 junior players. On Sunday, after arriving sometime before lunch, we had a three-hour practice session where I hit with our players, rotating around. Then, for the next five days, I was up early with 8:30 AM matches each morning. It was a busy six days! I’ve complained a lot about how many of the recent Nationals and Opens were poorly run, but this one was run better and on time except for conflicts. (But I think I am going to have a talk with somebody about common sense table numbering – those who were there know what I mean!)

Here are a number of articles and livestreaming:

The flights were also eventful. Due to a lot of last-minute issues, I was up pretty much all night before leaving for the airport at 5:15AM on Sunday, so I planned to sleep on the flight. I was in the center seat. (I strongly prefer window, but not this time.) The woman in the window seat boarded with a coffee and a water bottle and kept drinking. Result? Three times on the three-hour flight she had to use the restroom, twice waking me up to do so. The flight back six days later wasn’t so bad, but the interesting thing was the person sitting to my left spent much of the trip playing a modern version of Pong on his phone.

Here are some things I said to my players during the tournament.

  • “Remember the best match you ever played. Play with the same mentality.”
  • “Put a big X on his elbow and aim at it every time until a corner opens up.”
  • “Never smash or loop to his forehand when he’s off the table. He’s rip it back and it’s an unforced error if he misses. Smash or loop to his middle and wide backhand.”
  • “This is the last tournament where you get to serve and push. After this, you have to serve and loop!” (I also assigned practice matches where the player had to serve backspin, opponent pushes long anywhere, and the player loops.)
  • “Stop serving long to the forehand!”
  • “After the tournament is over, I’ll show you how to do a really big breaking sidespin serve.” (On Friday, I spent 30 minutes working with this player on his serves.)
  • “Don’t let him get away with serving long – loop them. Make him serve short so you can rush him with short and long pushes, flips, and wide angles.”
  • “He’s changing the spin on his chops. When he takes a big swing, he’s faking it, it’s no-spin. When he has a small swing, it’s heavy backspin from his wrist.”
  • “Now you have good variation on your receive. Before everyone knew you were going to return long with either a flip or long push.”
  • “Under pressure, your serves will probably go longer, so if you want to go short, serve shorter than usual.”

Due to my coaching duties, I didn’t get to see many of the big men’s and women’s singles matches. I did see the men’s final between Nikhil Kumar and Jishan Liang. It was the first all-lefty men’s final since the first Nationals in 1976. The only other lefties to win men’s singles have been Ilija Lupulesku (four times) and Dan Seemiller (five times), with lefty Sol Schiff winning the special US Closed event at the 1936 US Open. There were two famous all-lefty US Open men’s finals, between Mikael Appelgren (SWE) and Zoran Kosanovic (YUG/CAN), with Appelgren winning 21-17 in the fifth in 1980, and Kosanovic winning 21-19 in the fifth in 1982. There may have been other before that, but I’ll let someone else research that.

However, this final wasn’t close: 6,7,3,3 as Nikhil won for the second year in a row. Jishan had been playing spectacularly until the final, but there he hit a triumvirate of problems. First, Nikhil simply played a level better than anyone else in the tournament. Here are the scores of all his matches, in order: 3,5,4,3,2,5,3,8,8,7,-8,6,4,0,4,7,5,5,5,4,5,10,8,9,4,5,6,7,3,3. That’s a 29-1 game record. The opponents’ ratings, also in order: 1097, 2125, 2152, 2351, 2465, 2576, 2626, 2646. The only one to get a game was Keenan Zhou (2351). Second, Nikhil completely tactically dominated the start of each rally with his serve and receive. With these two, Nikhil was a lock to win. But it also seemed as if Jishan didn’t seem comfortable playing another lefty, while Nikhil had no such problem, making the match even more one-sided.

Nikhil also won Mixed Doubles with Amy Wang. Most would agree that Nikhil is the best male doubles player in the US. He and Amy are #25 in the world in Mixed Doubles. In Mixed Doubles Individuals, Nikhil is #56 in the world. And yet, in my last blog, I wrote that Daniel Tran “...is arguably the dominant male doubles player in the US.” Why did I write that? Two reasons – First, Daniel won four of five doubles events he played at the 2022 Nationals (Men’s Doubles, Under 19 Men’s Doubles, Under 19 Mixed Doubles, and Under 15 Boys’ Doubles), and second, I was looking at the Nationals, and Nikhil only played Men’s Singles last year – you have to play doubles to dominate in it. However, he and Amy won Mixed Doubles at the US Open in December, while making it to the semifinals of Men’s Doubles with Jinbao Ma. Meanwhile, at this year’s Nationals, Nikhil and Amy won Mixed Doubles again. Daniel also did pretty well in doubles – he won Under 19 Boy’s Doubles again (with Nandan Naresh); he and Lucy Chen got second in Under 19 Mixed Doubles; and he and his brother, Michael Tran, made the semifinals of Men’s Doubles (after winning it last year). Daniel also finished second in Under 19 Boys’ Singles, losing 11-9 in the fifth to Nandan.

This year the righty/righty team of Jinxin Wang/Krishnateja Avvari won Men’s Doubles over righty/lefty Nandan Naresh/Jishan Liang. Nikhil curiously played Men’s Doubles with Bosman Botha, rated 2067, and lost in the second round to the eventual winners, Wang/Avvari – and, despite an average team rating of 2369 to the opponent’s 2568, somehow almost beat them, losing at 11,5,-10,-4,8!

Overall, perhaps I was premature in calling Daniel “arguably” the dominant male doubles player in the US. As Cory Eider pointed out to me at the Nationals, while Daniel is the best junior doubles player, and among the very best overall, Nikhil is still the best overall men’s doubles player. (On a side note, Jishan Liang, another lefty, is another top doubles player who’s won a lot of doubles titles.)

Lily Yip almost certainly set a record, winning NINE (9) Golds! They were: Over 40, Over 50, and Over 60 Singles; Over 50 and Over 60 Women’s Doubles (both with Patty Martinez-Wasserman); Over 40 and Over 50 Mixed Doubles (with Guo Hui Lu and Martin Gohr); Women’s Hardbat; and Women’s Over 40 Hardbat. She also got a bronze in Over 40 Women’s Doubles with Patty. Wow! If not for the limit of ten events, she might also have won Over 60 Mixed Doubles.

On Wednesday night I attended the US Table Tennis Hall of Fame Dinner, where Ashu Jain, Willy Leparulo, Dennis Davis, and Ken Brooks were inducted. Congrats to the new inductees – it’s always fun teaching the Ways of the Pong (i.e. the secret handshake) to the newbies! Here’s the program booklet I did for the event, with profiles of the inductees. Had a lot of discussions with my fellow Hall of Famers, both new and old! Hope to see some of you there next year.

I had an interesting discussion with a top player in both sponge and hardbat. He wasn’t getting as much spin on his hardbat serves as one of his rivals. I pointed out the reason. With grippy inverted, the ball sticks, and so you can go into the ball with full acceleration and velocity. With pips-out sponge, the ball sinks into the sponge, so it also grabs the ball. But with hardbat, there’s no give, and so if you go into it too fast, the ball just slides across the surface. You have to go into it slower, and smoothly accelerate through the serve, essentially rolling the ball across the surface and keeping it on the paddle as long as possible.

I also played in one event, Over 60 hardbat. (I normally use sponge.)

  • Good News: Back on May 8, I weighed 210 pounds, and decided enough was enough – and so I’d been dieting since, getting down to 196 for this tournament.
  • Bad News: Unfortunately, I’d hurt my shoulder badly four months before, and even a week before leaving, I didn’t think I’d be able to play.
  • Good News: I tested it out at the tournament, and it seemed to have improved a lot the last week. It didn’t greatly affect my play, though it still limited my reach going to the wide forehand.
  • Bad News: My left knee started hurting during the preliminaries.
  • Good News: A knee brace solved that problem.
  • More Good News: I made it to the semifinals and played George Guo.
  • Still More Good News: I played great almost to the end and had a zillion match points in the third (best of three to 21).
  • Bad News: At the end, my legs were so dead from racing around to attack with my forehand that I could barely move, while George was still moving me side to side without missing.
  • Really Bad News: I lost, deuce in the third. (George would go on to win the event, sweeping the Over 60 events – Over 60 Hardbat, and Over 50 Men’s Singles, Doubles, and Mixed Doubles.) As to me, I really, Really, REALLY don’t want to talk or write about that match. I’ve won enough sponge and hardbat titles that I can afford to have one get away...

WTT Star Contender Ljubljana 2023
Here’s the home page for the event held July 3-9 in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Major League Table Tennis - First 4 Team Names and Cities Revealed
Here’s their page! Here is their upcoming schedule:

  • July 10: First 4 Team Names and Cities Revealed
  • July 17: Second 4 Team Names and Cities Revealed
  • August 9: MLTT Lottery to Determine Draft Order
  • August 12-13: MLTT Combine East
  • August 19-20: MLTT Combine West
  • September: MLTT Season Begins

Hardbat, Sandpaper, and Wood, Oh My! Three Huge All-Classic Tournaments Coming Soon
Here’s the article I wrote about them. I will be at all three, both competing and doing coverage at the Nationals and World’s. (There are also lots of hardbat and sandpaper events at the regular US Nationals in July.)

The Battle of Backhands: Exploring Chinese vs. European Techniques
Here’s the video (7:14) from Rational Table Tennis Analysis.

New from Pingispågarna

The Many Advantages Gained From a Strong Table Tennis Serve
Here’s the article by Subham Kundu.

New from Performance Biomechanics Academy Table Tennis

New Chopping Drills from Angela Guan at PongSpace

News from All Over
Since I haven't blogged since June 26 due to the Nationals, rather than try to list every interesting article, here are links to some of the main news and coaching pages, and you can pick and choose.

Félix and Alexis Lebrun: The teenage French brothers ready to conquer the table tennis world, 500 days out from Paris 2024
Here’s the article from Olympic.com. “At only 16 and 19 years old, Félix and Alexis Lebrun are already world top 50 players.”

36 Counterloops in Around-the-Table
Here’s the video (33 sec)!

Unreturnable Shot
Here’s the video (15 sec, including slo-mo replay) of Stanley Hsu’s serve and unreturnable loop against Ahmed Adeleye at the MDTTC June Open! The ball hit the net, rolled over, hit the clamp on the far side, then rolled onto the table! (I was there and saw it in person.)

If You Wanted a Soft Serve You Should Have Gone For Ice Cream
Here’s where you can buy the shirt!

World's Best Battle
Here’s the video (18:50) from Adam Bobrow! “The HIGHLY-anticipated World Championships COULD BE the LAST for the G.O.A.T!”

90° Table Challenge
Here’s the video (8:05) from Pongfinity!

***
Send us your own coaching news!

Add a comment

June 26, 2023

Next Blog on Monday, July 10
I’ll be out of town July 2-8 at the US Nationals in Fort Worth, TX, so no blog next week. (But there will be a Tip of the Week.) On a side note, I just checked, and this is my 1928th table tennis blog, along with 609 Tips of the Week!

Tip of the Week
See Things from Opponent's Point of View.

US Nationals in Fort Worth, Texas
I leave for the Nationals this Sunday morning, where I’ll mostly be coaching, Mon-Fri, July 3-7. I’ll be one of the four MDTTC coaches working with our 13 junior players competing. (Other coaches are Wang Qingliang, Cheng Yinghua, and Jack Huang.) There are 811 players listed in the entries at Omnipong. (You can also list it by event.) This will be my 39th US Nationals in a row, and this December will likely be my 39th US Open in a row. I've been to every one of them starting in 1984, plus a few from 1976-1983, starting with the 1976 US Open in Philadelphia, the year I started and my first major tournament other than an Easterns. I've also been to 46 consectutive US/North American Teams (in Detroit, Baltimore, and DC), starting in 1976 - 46 in a row. (All three were skipped in 2020 due to Covid.) 

Here’s an excellent USATT article on the top players at the Nationals, Nandan Naresh and Amy Wang Lead 2023 Nationals Line Up, by Jim Short and Barbara Wei. One small issue – it has a paragraph on Men’s Doubles, where top-seeded Nandan and Sid Naresh “are the team to beat in Men’s Doubles.” It mentions their formidable challenges “from Zhou Xin / Aditya Godhwani, Wenzhang Tao / Jensen Feng, and Nikhil Kumar / Bosman Botha.” They left out the defending champions, brothers Michael & Daniel Tran, who pulled off a series of “upsets” to win, and will be defending their title.

Daniel, who turns 16 the day before the US Nationals (July 2), and rated 2559, is arguably the dominant male doubles player in the US. (It greatly helps that he’s a lefty playing with righty partners, including his older brother, Michael, another excellent double player rated 2442.) All you have to do is look at the record. At last year’s Nationals (here are results), after just turning 15, he was entered in five doubles events with five different partners and completely dominated. He won four – Men’s Doubles, Under 19 Men’s Doubles, Under 19 Mixed Doubles, and Under 15 Boys’ Doubles. In Men’s Doubles, where they were seeded seventh, they beat the top seeds, Jishan Liang/Kai Zhang, whose average rating was 2675, to the Tran’s 2515, as well as the fourth seeds, Yahao Zhang/Timothy Wang, whose average rating was 2595. 

The only one he didn’t win was Under 15 Mixed Doubles, where his team was seeded second (average rating 2370) – he lost in the semifinals to the lower-rated team of Stanley Hsu/Yishiuan Lin (average rating 2299), who I coached – and the two had brilliant execution. After losing the first at 4, we did a major change in tactics and they won three straight at 5,6,8. (A few coaches asked me about how to beat Daniel in doubles. There really is a way, and I’ve explained it to a few of them – but at this point, unless you are from my club, I’m keeping it a secret! But it takes a high level of play to execute.)

Besides coaching, I’m also entered in two hardbat events, Over 40 Hardbat and Over 60 Hardbat. (As readers here know, I normally use sponge but play hardbat as a side thing.) I’ve won Over 40 Hardbat at the US Nationals or US Open eight times, including the 2022 US Open in December. I won both Over 40 and Over 60 Hardbat at the 2021 Nationals. (Alas, I came down with Covid last year and didn’t get to compete at the 2022 Nationals.) I’ve also won Hardbat Singles twice and Hardbat Doubles 14 times – but age has a way of making those events more difficult to win. The competition is tough – I’m seeded fourth in Over 40 Hardbat - with the BIG hurdle being Jimmy Butler . . . who has somehow avoided facing my forehand in singles for many years - and second in Over 60 Hardbat. Regarding Jimmy, I'm actually 1-0 against him in hardbat, or at least 0.5-0. at the 1998 Nationals, Ty Hoff and I beat Jimmy Butler/Pete May in the final of Hardbat Doubles. So, if we play at this year's Nationals, 25 years later, I'm just giving him a rematch . . . right? (For those not in the know, 4-time US Men's Singles Champion Jimmy hasn't lost a hardbat match to a US player since I think 1999.) 

There’s just one problem. In early February, I made the decision to see if I could get back to a high level one more time. So I went to the Samson Dubina camp for two weeks to train with much younger players. Alas, I lasted five days, and had to stop, with shoulder, knee, and back injuries. Yep, at 63 I finally have to accept the fact that I’m 63. Training the way I used to train simply won’t work.

How is this relevant four months later? The knees and back are fine now (knock on wood), but after four months where I’ve done all I could to avoid aggravating it, the shoulder is still hurting. There are certain moves I struggle to do, but I’m not about to list them here for possible competitors. The reality is that I figure it’s less than 50% I’ll be able to complete. The problem is I can’t really test the shoulder without risking hurting it. When I warm up for the event, if it’s really bad, I’ll default. Otherwise, I’ll see what I can do. Jimmy, you may be off the hook yet. 

I’ll also be at the US Hall of Fame Induction Dinner at 6PM on July 5 (Wednesday) at 6PM. You can still buy tickets – see segment below. I’ve heard there will be some other USATT meetings at the Nationals but haven’t heard anything official or seen anything scheduled.

It’s going to be a busy week!!!

Yet Still More Table Tennis Tips
As announced last week, Yet Still More Table Tennis Tips is out!!! It’s on sale at Amazon for only $14.95. The kindle version is now up as well, for $9. It’s another 150 tips, all in logical progression. It’s the fourth book in the Tips series – which now has a Series Page at Amazon! This makes it easier to order any or all four of the books in the Tips series. (Alas, it doesn’t allow for a discount (I tried), and there are no boxed sets.) Here are links to all my books.

NOTE – I previously ran the two segments below on the Hall of Fame and Classic Events, but thought I’d run them again. Hope to see you at both. (There are still a few open seats for the Hall of Fame dinner.)

US Table Tennis Hall of Fame Induction Dinner
Here’s the info page and here’s the Class of 2023. The dinner and induction banquet will take place during the US Nationals at the Fort Worth Convention Center on Wednesday, July 5, starting at 6PM. I’ll be there and hope to see you too! (I just finished the program booklet for the event.) This year’s inductees – Kenneth Brooks (athlete), Ashu Jain (athlete/contributor), Dennis Davis (contributor), and Willy Leparulo (contributor).

Hardbat, Sandpaper, and Wood, Oh My! Three Huge All-Classic Tournaments Coming Soon
Here’s the article I wrote about them. I will be at all three, both competing and doing coverage at the Nationals and World’s. (There are also lots of hardbat and sandpaper events at the regular US Nationals in July.)

News from Major League Table Tennis
Here are some news items from Major League Table Tennis, the upcoming professional league in the US. These are some segments from an email sent out by the founder, Flint Lane, not on their webpage.

  • Last call for players who want to participate in MLTT Season 1. Draft registration ends at 1 PM ET on June 30th. Over 180 athletes have signed up for the draft from 40 countries.  Wow! 
  • Players who have signed up for the draft will be notified between July 1st and July 7th whether they've been selected to attend one of the MLTT Combines. We've put together this comprehensive list of Frequently Asked Questions to help answer any questions that you may have - www.mltt.com/MLTT-Player-FAQs.pdf. 
  • MLTT welcomes Mimi Bosika as our new Director of Competition. In this role, Mimi will work with players and coaches to make sure we deliver an outstanding experience for all. Mimi was born in Serbia and began playing table tennis at 6 years old under the coaching of her father Jon Bosika, who was the 1996 US Olympic coach. After moving to the US,  she won multiple US Open Junior and Youth Championship titles. Mimi earned her MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and has been a wellness entrepreneur for over 10 years. 
  • Starting in July we will be announcing the locations of our 8 teams including team names and logos.

"Mission Possible" NCTTA Fundraising for Video Production!
Here’s the article from the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association. “NCTTA’s goal for this summer’s fundraising campaign is NCTTA Video Production which now has a Go Fund Me page: https://www.gofundme.com/f/mission-possiblenctta-video-production-help”

Butterfly Training Tips
They have a lot this week!

How To Master Deceptive Sidespin Serves
Here’s the video (6:42) from Rational Table Tennis Analysis.

Footwork
Here’s the video (34 sec) from the Performance Biomechanics Academy Table Tennis. (One small thing – it says, “Look at the opponent’s racket before hitting the ball.” I think there’s a translation problem and they mean to watch to say opponent’s racket to see where to move to.)

New from Samson Dubina

New from Ti Long

New from PongSpace

Table Tennis Teaching Children
Here’s the video (6:52) from Dr. Table Tennis.

New from PingSunday/EmRatThich

Ask the Coach
Here are the latest questions from PingSkills.

Great Point between Fan Zhendong and Harimoto Tomokazu
Here’s the video (36 sec).

New from Steve Hopkins

Ping Pong Is Not “The Game of Table Tennis”
Here’s the article by Isabella Xu

Tashiya Piyadasa Wins 3rd Place in U13 Girls at WTT Youth Contender in Helsingborg Sweden
Here’s the article by Tashiya Piyadasa

The GOLDEN GENERATION Of Hungarian Table Tennis
Here’s the video (10 min) from Table Tennis Media. Their Jonyer-Klampar-Gergely domination started just before I started in table tennis in 1976. At one point I copied the Hungarian-style loop for a time. I can still demonstrate it, but few do it now.

New from the ITTF

Want a “Think Fast” Table Tennis Sticker?
Here they are!

“You’re the Ping to My Pong” Throw Pillow
Isn’t this what you’ve always wanted? (Or as a gift.) Three versions!

Exhibition Point
Here’s the video (35 sec) – some good lobbing and the run around the table!

Another Exhibition Point
Here’s the video (38 sec)! Waldner (1989 and 1997 World Men’s Champion on far side) vs. Persson (1991 World Men’s Champion), both from Sweden.

Evolving to Ping Pong
Here’s the cartoon!

***
Send us your own coaching news!

Add a comment

June 19, 2023

Tip of the Week
Stepping Versus Lunging.

Yet Still More Table Tennis Tips
My new book is out!!! It’s on sale at Amazon for only $14.95. It’s my 20th book and fourth in the Tips series:

Here’s the book description from Amazon:

Here are 150 Tips to help your table tennis game, by Larry Hodges - a member of the U.S. Table Tennis Hall of Fame and a National Coach. They compile in logical progression three years' worth of Tips of the Week (2020-2023) from TableTennisCoaching.com. They cover all aspects of the game: Serve, Receive, the Strokes, Grip and Stance, Footwork, Tactics, How to Improve, Sports Psychology, Equipment, and Tournaments. (This is a sequel to "Table Tennis Tips," which covered the 150 Tips from 2011-2013, "More Table Tennis Tips," which covered the 150 Tips from 2014-2016, and "Still More Table Tennis Tips," which covered the 150 Tips from 2017-2020.)

It's 162 pages with ten chapters:

  1. Serve
  2. Receive
  3. Strokes
  4. Footwork and Positioning
  5. Tactics
  6. Training and Strategic Development
  7. Sports Psychology
  8. Coaching
  9. Tournaments
  10. Miscellaneous

Sure, you could practice many long hours, but with this book . . . why hit when you can buy it? (Think you can come up with a better rhyme for “buy it”? No? Then quiet!)

MDTTC Open and Weekend Coaching
Here are the results of the MDTTC Open held this weekend at my club in Gaithersburg, MD, USA. Many of our junior players, after months of hard training, had breakout performances. Ratings are only an indicator of recent performance . . . but when the ratings come out (possibly today), there will be a large influx for them.

We only had one group junior session, the novice group, the last regular training session of the season. But our summer camps start today, June 19 to Aug. 25. I used to run these camps, but in recent years we have so many full-time coaches who need the hours that I’m only there part-time. (EDIT - shortly after writing this they asked if I could come in Tue morning and perhaps other days.) I’m semi-retired and so get to stay home more and write books! With the novice group, I did a lot of down-the-line practice. To help with this, I put one of the ball nets on the table so they only had about 18 inches of table to hit into. It’s not only good practice, but it’s another way to challenge the kids, which keeps things interesting for them.

Alas, I hurt my shoulder again. How did I do it? Technically, I can say I did it while coaching Todd Klinger, one of our players in group one, the top group. But it happened in the lounge. How did it happen?

I was watching Santiago Acosta play in our tournament against one of our top juniors and recognized a tactic he was using, one I used to use a lot and talk about in my book, Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers. I don’t know if he was doing it consciously or not, but it’s an effective tactic against a fast player. He was playing steady with his backhand, covering both the wide backhand and middle with it, but just waiting for the opponent to change directions and go to his forehand. Since he was waiting for it, it didn’t matter if the shot coming at him was a strong one – he jumped on it over and over. The key is that as soon as you see the opponent changing directions, you don’t wait – you practically jump to the wide forehand and counter-smack the ball. If the ball were to go into the middle forehand, you’re helpless since you are already covering the wide angle. But good players don’t go to the middle forehand when changing directions, and so you can anticipate it’s going wide. Result? He kept making spectacular forehand counter-attacks. The way to play against this strategy, of course, is to first, realize the opponent’s “middle” is now just to the right of the middle line of his forehand side; and second, mostly go after the middle and wide backhand, and don’t give into the temptation of going to the wide forehand if the opponent is waiting for it.

What does all this have to do with injuring my shoulder? I made the mistake of demonstrating this for Todd, shadow hitting a few steady backhands, and then the sudden move to the wide forehand and a quick forehand – and two seconds later yelled, “OW!!!” Yep, hurt it again. I injured it 2.5 months ago and still haven’t gotten over it, probably because I keep hurting it again while coaching even though I’m only hitting with beginning/intermediate players. Anyway, at this point I’m guessing it’s at most 50-50 if I’ll be able to play at the Nationals. I’m there mostly to coach, but I’m also entered in two hardbat events, Over 40 and over 60. (I’m the defending Over 40 champion, which I’ve won eight times.)

US Classic Nationals
The US Classic Nationals, for Hardbat and Sandpaper, are in Austin, TX, on Aug. 12, run by Steve Claflin. You can enter via Omnipong. I’ll be there, both playing and doing coverage – will you? Here’s the article I wrote about them and two other upcoming Classic tournaments.

WTT Contender Lagos 2023
Here’s the home page for the event that took place in Lagos, Nigeria, June 12-18. Here are the Men’s and Women’s finals.

How Pros Train Off The Table With Fitness Trainer Kevin Finn
Here’s the video (49:48) from Seth Pech. “Produce more explosive power in shots, Attain better stamina, increase overall strength without increase in size and weight.”

Butterfly Training Tips

How to Improve Your Reaction Time By Doing a Simple Random Topspin Attack to Backhand Drill
Here’s the video (2:23) from PongSpace featuring Damien Provost.

New from Samson Dubina

New from Ti Long

New from PingSunday/EmRathThich

Harmeet Desai Forehand Flick against Jang Woojin
Here’s the video (79 sec) from Drupe Pong.

Fan Zhendong Ma Long and Others Train at WTTC Durban 2023
Here’s the video (9:59) from the Performance Biomechanics Academy Table Tennis

Interview with Bojan Besinger
Here’s the video (15:12) from Pingispågarna with the German coach who runs the coaching company High Performance Table Tennis.

Ask the Coach
Here are the latest questions from PingSkills.

New from Steve Hopkins

Tournament Highlights

A Thrilling Journey at the Silicon Valley Teams Championship: Battles, Challenges, and Unforgettable Moments
Here’s the article by Charles Shen.

2023 Maryland Senior Olympics
Here’s the video (7:10) and here are results for the event held June 3 at the Potomac Community Center in Potomac, MD. John Olsen/Kevin Walton, two players I used to coach regularly, won 55-59 Men’s Doubles. (They didn’t play singles. They will be competing at the National Senior Games in Pittsburgh, July 12-18, in both singles and doubles.)

New from ITTF

Washington and New Delhi Share Interests, Not Values
No table tennis in this article from Foreign Affairs, but a nice table tennis image! Yes, that’s USA and India vs. China ping-pong paddles.

Blondie – Table Tennis Moves
Here’s the Blondie cartoon from yesterday (6-18-23)!

Ping-Pong in the Stone Age
Here’s the table tennis cartoon from 1901, on sale at Ebay! (Here’s a larger version.)

Pongfinity 4,000,000 Table Tennis Match
Here’s the video (15:22) from Pongfinity!

YouTuber vs. 10 Pros
Here’s the video (12:24) from Adam Bobrow! “After beating the top player at a club in Bali, I got invited to play the PRO team!” (So, how many did he beat?)

Forehand, Backhand Bird
Here’s the video (58 sec) – this is hilarious! (It looks like a crow or raven, except its throat and top of the head are turquoise. Email me if you can identify what type of bird this is. I Googled but couldn’t find it.)
BREAKING NEWS - it's a Superb Bird of Paradise from Papua New Guinea (see the second picture, which looks like the one above), according to Lance Bode, who emailed me this morning. 

***
Send us your own coaching news!

Add a comment

June 12, 2023

Tip of the Week
Accelerate Through the Ball for Power.

Comeback “Ghost” Serves and a Serving Rule Proposal
Comeback or ghost serves are serves that have so much backspin that, given the chance, they bounce backwards toward the net. I demonstrate this type of serve all the time – it’s just a matter of hitting the ball with high racket acceleration while grazing the ball finely with backspin. Normally, the main feature of such a serve is the heavy backspin, which opponents often put in the net.

At their most extreme, they land short and bounce directly back into or over the net, so shorter players (and often taller ones) cannot reach them – which I always consider extremely unfair. I do this serve all the time in practice, for fun – I used to practice it as an exhibition trick and once did 14 serves in a row that bounced directly back over the net. Younger kids love trying to return them for fun – they have to run to the side of the table to do so. In tournaments, I’ve done it three times, but only in lopsided matches for fun.

I once coached Derek Nie, the US Under 10 Boys’ Singles Champion, against an opponent who did this every serve. I think Derek at the time was ten years old and rated about 2100. His opponent was only 1800, and under normal circumstances would have little chance against Derek. But by serving short so the ball bounced back into or even over the net, Derek was unable to reach the serve. He tried running to the side of the table to do so, but even then couldn’t reach most of them, and it left him out of the point on the next shot. Even though Derek completely dominated on his serve and in any real rallies, he lost, deuce in the fifth. It was a sham of a match.

We actually have a game we play at my club sometimes, the “Backspin Serve Game.” Typically, each player serves five times, with the following scoring system. If you can make it so your serve bounces directly back over the net and onto your side, and does so on one bounce without touching the net in either direction, you get three points. If you get it to do so but it takes more than once bounce or touches the net in either direction, two points. If you make the ball come back so it touches the net, you get one point.

Here's my rules proposal:

“Any serve that doesn’t bounce away from the net after the first bounce on the receiver’s side of the table shall be a let.”

Here are some videos of these serves.

Weekend Coaching
I coached in six group junior sessions over the weekend, ten hours in all, plus a one-hour private session and a 20-minute video session. However, it’s the last “official” session before the summer, other than the novice group meeting next Sunday. (We have the MDTTC Open next weekend, but will run the novice class on the back tables Sunday late afternoon.)

One big task was writing up player evaluations. We have four groups; I was assigned to write them up for the Intermediate group. So I wrote up 14 evaluations that covered mostly technique and attitude. (I have evaluations for many of the other players in my head, which I sometimes go over with the player.)  

One interesting note – there’s one kid who always complains he’s too tired and doesn’t always seem to try. There’s no way he knew we were about to do evaluations – and yet, this weekend he tried hard the whole session, and really showed what he could do when he was focused. And then I discovered why. It turned out he normally had basketball practice just before the table tennis session, which was why he was always tired – but for the first time, he hadn’t had basketball that morning, and so was “fresh.” And so the mystery was solved! I put a note about this in the evaluation – hopefully we can find a way to give more rest between the two.

Some topics that came up during this weekend’s sessions:

  • Stay closer to the table! At least two kids tend to wander back, making things easy for their opponents. Playing off the table when the opponent attacks is a valuable tool for an attacker, but only when the opponent forces you off. Some players just like backing up because it’s fun – and while that’s true, it’s also a quick way to develop a weaker game.
  • When moving to the ball, stepping, not leaning, should be the proper reflex.
  • I explained the purpose of physical training to a group of kids. Some hadn’t really made the connection between some of the side-to-side physical training drills we do and what they do in table tennis in a real game. I also explained how, at the higher levels, it takes great physical training to physically do what the top athletes make look so easy.
  • I had a video session with one of our top juniors, where we watched videos of two of his matches and focused on his receive. (Tip – if it’s on YouTube, you can use the left and right arrows to move five seconds forward or back so you don’t waste time waiting for the next rally. You can also use the period to move one frame forward at a time, and the comma to move one frame backward.)

US Table Tennis Hall of Fame Induction Dinner
Here’s the info page and here’s the Class of 2023. The dinner and induction banquet will take place during the US Nationals at the Fort Worth Convention Center on Wednesday, July 5, starting at 6PM. I’ll be there and hope to see you too! (I just finished the program booklet for the event.) This year’s inductees – Kenneth Brooks (athlete), Ashu Jain (athlete/contributor), Dennis Davis (contributor), and Willy Leparulo (contributor).

Robots M-ONE is the World's First Humanoid Table Tennis Robot
Here’s the video (3:33) from the Performance Biomechanics Academy. This is intriguing! I’ve always said the biggest weakness of training with a robot is you aren’t reacting to a ball coming off an actual table tennis racket as you would in a game. This means when you practice with a normal robot, you learn to react to the ball only after it is coming toward you, and to a spin that you didn’t actually see being made. In real table tennis, you should be reacting to the ball as the opponent is contacting the ball or just before, since you can see what he’s doing before the ball is actually coming at you. This doesn’t mean practicing with a regular robot doesn’t help, only that over-relying on it can hurt your game.

Garry Shandling’s “The Natural”
Here’s the video (24:22) of the 1988 episode that features table tennis! It’s a takeoff from the 1984 movie “The Natural” starring Robert Redford, where Redford is an almost supernaturally gifted baseball player – except in Garry Shandling’s episode, Garry is an almost supernaturally gifted table tennis player! You don’t want to miss this. (And you should see the original “The Natural” as well – one of the greatest sports movies ever, though many coaches don’t like it since it implies that great athletes are born with their natural talent, which is at most only partially true.)

New from USATT

New from Samson Dubina

  • Pushing the Limits (6:04)
  • Nervous vs Energized! (7:09)
  • Mental Strength (1:56)
  • Table Tennis News – it’s about tabletenniscoaching.com! “Over the last few years, one of the top supporters of our content is Larry Hodges and his website www.tabletenniscoaching.com. I would encourage all of you to check out Larry's weekly updates on his website.  Not only does he have amazing coaching articles but he also links to so much online content with news, coaching videos, coaching articles, and funny things that happen in the table tennis world!”

New from PongSpace
Here are two videos from French star Damien Provost.

The Match I Broke USATT 2500
Here’s the video (10:40) with lots of commentary from Seth Pech on his match with Senura Silva (2600) in the semifinals of the Motor City Open.

The Curse of the Strong Server
Here’s the article by Tom Lodziak.

Cognitive Neuroscience in Table Tennis
Here’s the article from PingSunday/EmRatThich.

New from Pingispågarna

New from Ti Long

Online Coaching by The TT Service Guy
Here’s the page for Craig Bryant’s online coaching, which seems to feature “Helping players develop Killer Serves.” I did segment on coaches who do online coaching on Aug. 3, 2020, so you can add this to that list. Some of those links are outdated, however.

I Played Vs World Champion Werner Schlager
Here’s the video (12:57) from Table Tennis Daily.

New from the Malong Fanmade Channel
Lots of videos here.

New from Steve Hopkins/Butterfly

Oscar’s Dream
Here’s the article by Oscar A. Birriel.

Jessie Xu Finishes 2nd in 2023 Pan Am Selections Canada
Here’s the article by Stephanie Sun

Manufacturing Process of Butterfly Rubbers
Here’s the video (2:58).

Gionis Panagiotis vs Kaii Yoshida | FINAL | Polish Super League 2023
Here’s the video (20:14) – chopper vs. attacker – and see the big celebration at the end.

New from Table Tennis Media

King of Ping Pong Shirts
Here’s what you get at Amazon when you search for King of Ping Pong Shirts. C’mon, you’re not a real table tennis player if you don’t have at least one of these! You can also search for Queen of Ping Pong shirts but the results aren’t quite as good, though there are a few.

No Horseplay
Here’s the cartoon!

Brain Pong
Here’s the cartoon!

These Ping Pong Challenges are HARD
Here’s the video (8:01) from Pongfinity!

Non-Table Tennis – Superhero Satire Sale
Just this morning I sold a fantasy superhero satire story, “Drip,” to Ahoy Comics for $200. (The story is only 1200 words.) What happens when the world is so full of non-stop action, with the main hero fighting off villains and saving the world almost non-stop, that everyone’s idea of a break is to watch a movie about a drop of paint slowly dribbling down a wall? (Here’s my SF and fantasy sales bibliography.)

***
Send us your own coaching news!

Add a comment

June 5, 2023

Tips of the Week
In case you missed it since I had no blog last week, I’m including last week’s Tip of the Week as well as this week’s.

So Much Going On!
See below for segments on three major Hardbat/Classic table tennis tournaments (including a Nationals, an Open, and a Worlds); the Hall of Fame Induction Dinner and Ceremony during the Nationals in July; George Brathwaite League; and my 20th book, Yet Still More Table Tennis Tips!

Weekend Coaching
I had a very busy coaching weekend, coaching in six junior group sessions (about ten hours), plus a 30-minute private session. I was tired going in after spending over a week sick with TCTWGA (The Cold That Wouldn’t Go Away), but it’s finally gone away, mostly. Alas, I’m still having serious shoulder problems, though I can still rally as a practice partner as long as I don’t go all-out or reach out with my arm. (I can’t extend my arm to my wide forehand or for short balls, or hit aggressive backhands.) Some highlights:

  • On Saturday, in one of the junior group sessions, I hit with the players, rotating them around, mostly doing footwork drills. One of the players in my group was Ryan Li, age seven, the youngest player in the session, with a rather out-of-date rating of 642. The drill was forehand-forehand footwork, where I alternated hitting to his wide forehand and middle, and he moved side to side, hitting all forehands. The goal was to get 50, and then 100. So, how many did he hit? Brace yourself – he did 1,000 in a row!!! When we reached about 500, I told him I’d catch the ball at 1,000. The other coaches took the others in my group so I could stay with Ryan. By the end, most of the kids and coaches had converged around the table to watch as I called out the number every ten shots. The kids even called out in unison the last shots in a countdown – 990, 991, 992, 993, 994, 995, 996, 997, 998, 999, and 1,000!!! This is something he’ll remember forever. As I explained to Ryan and others, once you have decent technique, the rest is mental. He seems to have a similar mentality to a similarly-named player who started out in my beginning junior classes about six years ago and last year won Under 13 Boys’ Singles at the US Nationals – Ryan Lin, now 13 and rated 2266 – who just happened to be practicing on another table as this was happening.
  • In Group 1 (most advanced group), one of the drills had one player serving short backspin, the receiver, drops it short, server quick pushes deep to backhand, receiver backhand loops to backhand, and then they continued with the 2-1 drill (backhand from backhand, forehand from backhand, forehand from wide forehand). Several of the players had trouble pushing short. They were trying to ease up on the push and just pat the ball back, hitting the ball almost straight on. I demonstrated the proper way, which is to take the ball quick off the bounce, while the ball is very low, and graze it finely. It’s the grazing that both deadens the ball and puts backspin on it so it both doesn’t bounce out and makes it harder to attack. (Surprisingly, you can also push short by taking the ball on the drop, as long as you take it low and aren’t too far back from the net.)
  • One player was blocking pretty consistently in a drill, but not moving his feet too much. So I was on him to have “active feet” – see my Tip on Blocking Footwork. The problem is a player can often be consistent in a drill without moving the feet too much since he knows roughly where the ball is going to be and so can just reach for it, as coaches often do when they block for players for many hours. But in a game situation, you can’t, and so active feet becomes a priority.
  • I had a 30-minute session with para junior star Sam Altshuler. Many of his opponents use long pips, as he does, and he needs practice against these surfaces. So I pulled out my long pips no-sponge blocking racket for him to practice against. With my style – big forehand attack, consistent backhand with little attack – I probably should just use long pips myself! It’s tempting. I also pulled out my racket with medium pips and let him practice against that.
  • On Saturday night, from 4-6PM, we had our semi-annual junior party, with about 50 kids. (We have over 60 in the program.) Lots of great food! I was informally in charge of games, and so brought out my five mini-rackets (with super-bouncy Tenergy), my two giant over-sized rackets, and a box of hardbats, plus the mini-table, and the kids went at it. But by far the most popular game was “Long Pong.” I pulled two tables together, lengthwise, and put a barrier between them, held up by chairs. Result? An 18-foot court!!! It was so popular we set up a second court, and then we had a third one, where we put the two tables together sideways, so (with a gap in the middle), it was 12 feet long, nine feet wide. Here’s a picture and video (37 sec). You don’t see it in the video, but some of the kids got really good at this, essentially counterlooping back and forth. Most of the time they played doubles or even triples.

Yet Still More Table Tennis Tips
The fourth book in the series will be out by the end of June – I’ll announce it here. It’ll be my 20th book. This follows the first three books:

US Table Tennis Hall of Fame Induction Dinner
Here’s the info page and here’s the Class of 2023. The dinner and induction banquet will take place during the US Nationals at the Fort Worth Convention Center on Wednesday, July 5, starting at 6PM. I’ll be there and hope to see you too! (I just finished the program booklet for the event.) This year’s inductees – Kenneth Brooks (athlete), Ashu Jain (athlete/contributor), Dennis Davis (contributor), and Willy Leparulo (contributor).

Hardbat, Sandpaper, and Wood, Oh My! Three Huge All-Classic Tournaments Coming Soon
Here’s the article I wrote about them. I will be at all three, both competing and doing coverage at the Nationals and World’s. (There are also lots of hardbat and sandpaper events at the regular US Nationals in July.)

Dual Championships! George Braithwaite Club League 2023 Spring Championship and AYTTO National Championship 2023
Here’s the article, pictures, and video. Wish I could have been there, but as usual I’m busy coaching on weekends. We had three players there.

How to Play With & Against Long Pips & Anti
Here’s the video (24:05) from Seth Pech. This seemed like a good one to highlight.

Table Tennis How To Teach Children
Here’s the video (8:27) from Dr. Table Tennis.

News from All Over
Since I haven't blogged in two weeks (due to being sick), rather than try to list every interesting article, for this blog I'll just link to some of the main news and coaching pages, and you can pick and choose.

USATT News

Lily Yip, 59: Ping Pong Champion Returns for Gold
Here’s the article from Ageist Magazine.

Manor Table Tennis Club
Here’s the video (2:19) from Fox 43 News.

Effect of Specialized Table Tennis Training Program on Speed, Agility and Reaction Time of Amateur Table Tennis Players
Here’s the journal article from Researchgate.

Table Tennis and Data: Exploring Ways to Enhance the Fan Experience
Here’s the survey page. It’s a survey for “conducting research on the potential of incorporating more statistics and data-driven stories into the sport of table tennis. The objective is to identify what kind of additional information can make following table tennis even more exciting and engaging for fans like you, whether it be during live streams, reading online, or even discussing with friends.”

Table Tennis - 1 in a Million Moments
Here’s the video (17 sec) – the ultimate chop lob and the ultimate drop shot?

Cartwheel Pong
Here’s the video (30 sec)! Doing the cartwheels is Jindrich Pansky, with his hitting partner Milan Orlowski, both from Czech Republic. The two were finalists in Men’s Doubles at the 1985 Worlds.

Today’s Forecast - 100% Chance of Ping Pong
Here’s the shirt from Amazon!

Little Dot #106 (1966) High-Grade NM- Killer Ping Pong Table Tennis Cover
Here’s where you can buy the comic - $33.

Picklepong?
Here’s the Tank McNamara cartoon from yesterday (June 4)! How Pickleball Players See Themselves . . . How Tennis Players See Pickleball. Wait, I think we've been insulted!!!

Fetch!
Here’s the cartoon!

Level 1 to 15: Bali Challenge
Here’s the video (14:51) from Adam Bobrow!

Pongfinity vs. Strangers: 8 Weird Ping Pong Challenges
Here’s the video (8:01) from Pongfinity!

***
Send us your own coaching news!

Add a comment

May 30, 2023

UPDATE - I'm still sick in bed and feeling like someone dropped a ping-pong table on my head, and I've decided I'm skipping this week's blog. (Don't worry, I tested for Covid, negative.) I'm going through Kleenex like multiball and coughing up stuff every few minutes. I don't think I've had a cold or flu like this in several years. I think I caught whatever I have last Wednesday, when I spent the day in DC touring Ford's Theater, and then a tour of all the major monuments - Washington (took the elevator to the top), Lincoln, Jefferson, MLK, FDR, WW1, WW2, Korean, Vietnam, and even the Einstein Memorial a few blocks away from the National Mall. I also walked around the White House and visited Lafayette Square, and then visited Spin DC Table Tennis, which was also just a few blocks away. So I was around crowds all day, and also on the jammed subway back and forth. I was supposed to spend Fri & Sat as a panelist at the Baltimore Science Fiction Convention, but had to drop out. I was feeling better Saturday night, and so coached two group sessions on Sunday - but near the end of the first one, I got weak and dizzy and had to stop about 15 minutes before the end of the session. (But I still came back for the second one.) Afterwards, whatever I have got worse. But I think it's just a bad cold, though I have some suspicions I might have had mild flu at the same time - had some stomach problems. 

But the Tip of the week is up, Solving Slow Starter Syndrome. And here are Results from the World Championships, which finished over the weekend. Linked below are the two all-Chinese singles finals, with time between points removed. (The men’s semifinals were all-Chinese, and the women’s semifinals were three Chinese and Hina Hayata of Japan, who lost to eventual winner Sun Yingsha in the semifinals, 4-1.) In the men’s final, Fan was up 10-5 championship point in the fifth, but lost six in a row before losing 13-11, but he won the sixth easily, 11-3. It’s Fan’s second straight Men’s Singles title at the Worlds (2021 and 2023), and third final – he lost deuce in the seventh to Ma Long in the 2017 final.

Here’s an interesting thought – after Ma Long won three straight men’s titles, 2015, 2017, and 2019, he was often called the Greatest of All Time. But if Fan had won that nail-bitingly close 2019 final, where he led 9-7 in the seventh, this would be his third title, to Ma Long’s two – would they be calling Fan Zhendong the GOAT, with Ma out of the running? (Ma Long, 34, lost in the semifinals here, to Wang Chuqin.) Of course, they’ve both won a bunch of other titles – and Ma Long has won five golds at the Olympics, including the last two in Men’s Singles, defeating Fan in the final in 2020, while Fan has just one Olympic Gold, for teams. (If you want their complete medal records, click on their names above, linked to Wikipedia, and click on “medals record” on right.)

Add a comment

May 22, 2023

Tip of the Week
Table Tennis Gems.

Weekend Coaching
I coached five group sessions this weekend. I only had one on Saturday, with the other four on Sunday – including three in a row without a break, totaling five hours. I used to coach five hours straight somewhat regularly, but not anymore – and these days, it’s pretty tiring! And yet, the reality is I wasn’t that tired during the sessions where I was focused, mostly afterwards, when I felt like a ping-pong ball that had been used in a smashing drill and then stomped on by an army of over-excited kids.

As usual, I’m constantly harping on “active feet.” As an amusing side, it means I know everyone’s shoes, and even asked a few of them why they chose those particular shoes. In the higher groups, one wore volleyball shoes, which work can for table tennis, but the rest had various TT shoes. I also stressed always doing something with each shot, don’t just blindly do them. Choose and place each shot for a reason – the more you do that, the more reflexive it becomes. For example, don’t just push the ball back – do it quick and fast, or super heavy, or short, or aim one way and go another, or use an extreme angle, or something.

A local 2000 player, Konstantyn “Stan” Salatov, emailed me about the problem of slow starters, as both he and his son, AJ (13, rated 1787) tend to be slow starters in tournaments. It’s a common thing which I also had problems with long ago. I wrote a rather long email about this, as well as a follow-up. I was going to put it here, but it’s more of a Tip of the Week – so I instead wrote it up as one, which will show up at some point, maybe next Monday. (I’ve already written enough Tips to go through July.) But the super-short version is there are two equally important aspects to solving this problem – physical and mental. To prepare physically for a tournament, you shouldn’t just warm up with a bunch of rote drills. You also need play points and do random drills, as these allow you to “play free” instead of just robotically, where you know where the incoming ball is going. You need to do this both before your first match, and also in the days before. To prepare mentally, you need to remember the best match you have ever played, and remember the mentality you had in that match – and go into your first match with that mentality.

I also did a player analysis of one of our top junior players, whose parents sent me video of him from a recent tournament. I won’t go into my analysis here, but it’s important to look at videos from tournaments and figure out from there what needs to be worked on – both things that need fixing, and things that can become overpowering strengths. In this case, I had four main things. One was about active feet on receive, which will likely become an upcoming Tip of the Week.

2023 World Championships
Here’s the ITTF home page for the event, with lots of World Championships news. It also links to the World Table Tennis page for the event, which has complete results. Here’s the Youtube video page. They are being held in Durban, South Africa, May 20-28. Here’s the SUATT news item, USA Draws for the 2023 World Championships in South Africa.  

Here’s more on the Worlds from Steve Hopkins/Butterfly.

Proof of Citizenship at the US Nationals
Last week I received the following email from USATT Tournament Operations about the upcoming US Nationals:

Please note that in order to participate in the Championship Events (event #1-31) and Doubles Events (event #32-66) in this Tournament, a participant must be a citizen of the United States. All participants in the 2023 US Nationals who are registered in a Championship Event (singles and/or doubles) must provide a copy of his or her US passport, an original U.S. birth certificate, a naturalization certificate, a certificate of citizenship, or some other document recognized as legally proving US citizenship, as well as a photo ID, at the registration desk in order to pick the participant's player package.

The key thing here is we have to bring a birth certificate, passport, or some other proof of citizenship and show it at the registration desk. This makes no sense except for new players or those who just received citizenship. USATT maintains a “citizens” list, and once you are on it, you should be set and no longer need to bring proof to every event. That’s how it’s been done for decades - I haven't shown citizenship in about 35 years. I'm the one who created and maintained it for USATT for several years during my first tenure with them in the late 1980s (a paper list back then!), and I believe it has been maintained since. The USATT rating page (which comes from the USATT database) has a “Citizens” category you can list by, so they still have that in their database. So why are they asking us to bring proof of something they already have??? Do we have to bring proof now at every Nationals and Open again? It is sort of funny that I’ve been a USATT member since 1976, have been to every US Nationals since 1984 and numerous Team Trials where citizenship was required, am listed in their database as a citizen after showing them my birth certificate several decades ago, and once again I would have to bring proof! I’m curious if they will ask last year’s Men’s and Women’s singles champions, Nikhil Kumar and Lily Zhang, for proof of citizenship, as well as others who played championships events last year, or Olympians, which also required citizenship to compete. 

Dan Reynolds Resigns
This morning Dan Reynolds resigned from the USATT Board of Directors, citing exhaustion. I could write volumes on various issues related to this, but frankly, I’m tired of USATT coverage for now. Sometimes I have to remind myself and others that this site is TableTennisCOACHING.com, not USATTCoverage.com. (Hmmm, that’s an idea for a web page.) And having said that...

USATT News

Coaching the Coach
Here’s the article by Massimo Costantini.

Butterfly Training Tips

New from Ti Long

Hitting a Drop Shot Off of High Balls
Here’s the video (1:49) by Damien Provost from PongSpace.

Don’t Panic! How to Learn from Your Serve Receive Errors
Here’s the article from Tom Lodziak. Nice cartoon picture!

Three Classic Mistakes with Backhand
Here’s the video (3:19) from Pingispågarna.

On Spin and Anticipation in Table Tennis
Here’s the video (6:45) from Drupe Pong.

New from PingSunday/EmRatThich

Ask the Coach
Here are the latest questions from PingSkills.

NCTTA Collegiate Nationals
Here’s the article by Joanna Sung.

Tashiya Piyadasa Receives a Long Term Scholarship from OCTTA
Here’s the article by Tashiya.

Interview with Sathiyan Gnanasekaran – Winner of the 84th Indian Table Tennis Championships
Here’s the article.

What’s a Ping Pong Olympic Champion Home Like?
Here’s the video (7:21), featuring Zhang Jike. “We renovated an Olympic champion home.”

Today’s Forecast - 100% Chance of Ping Pong
Here’s where you can get the shirt at Amazon!

Sports at the Dinner Table
Here’s the cartoon!

The Most Satisfying Ping Pong Challenge
Here’s the video (8:01) from PongFinity! Also, I found another one from them that I don’t think I’ve ever linked to - Ping Pong Meets Trampoline Park (8:01)!

US Presidents Play Wii Sports Table Tennis
Here’s the video (8:10)! Hilarious. Features Obama, Biden, and Trump, with Bush Jr. appearing toward the end. Warning – lots of profanity.

***
Send us your own coaching news!

Add a comment

May 15, 2023

Tip of the Week
Are You Trying Too Hard?

US Table Tennis Hall of Fame
All mention and links to the US Table Tennis Hall of Fame are gone from the USATT web pages. If you want to visit it, you have to know to go to their new website since it no longer exists, as far as USATT is concerned. It’s just indescribable how the current USATT does these silly things that hurt our sport. I could do a VERY long blog on how many table tennis groups the current USATT has gone to war with, all to the detriment of the sport. 

The US Table Tennis Hall of Fame is an independent group, just as the Hall of Fames of most sports in the US, including baseball, basketball, football, tennis, and most others – that’s the best way to keep it from becoming overly politicized. Here's the current Hall of Fame Board of Directors, a "Who's Who" of US Table Tennis, and far less politicized than USATT. There’s a battle going on right now as many of the current leaders of USATT want to take over the Hall of Fame, which would be a terrible move. The main consequence of USATT running a Hall of Fame would be the politicization that comes from wanting to “reward” political friends and punish “opponents.” 

I wouldn’t be surprised if USATT tries to set up their own separate Hall of Fame, arguing that the Hall of Fame should only recognize those who contribute directly to USA Table Tennis, i.e. not those who mostly worked on related organizations, like National Collegiate Table Tennis Association. And yet, when you go to their own USATT mission statement, it says:

“THE MISSION OF USATT IS TO SUPPORT, DEVELOP, GROW AND INSPIRE THE TABLE TENNIS COMMUNITY; AND TO PROVIDE RESOURCES THAT ENABLE ATHLETES TO ACHIEVE SUSTAINED COMPETITIVE EXCELLENCE AND PURSUE OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC SUCCESS.”

So, the USATT mission is to “Support, Develop, Grow, and Inspire the Table Tennis Community.” Note it says Table Tennis Community, not USA Table Tennis. USATT (and that includes me, a life member, and many readers here who are USATT members) are supposed to be developing this sport IN THIS COUNTRY, period. I was on the board of directors when we created this mission statement – the “Support, Develop, Grow, and Inspire the Table Tennis Community” part were my words, and we really meant it – but not so much the current group. We’re supposed to work together, not turn everything into a political fight and, say, remove links to the Hall of Fame if you don’t get your way. Heck, I work with USATT, despite our disagreements – in recent years I’ve coached our junior teams overseas in Austria, Jordan, Ecuador, and Santo Domingo, chaired and/or was a member of the coaching committee, and edited the complicated entry forms for the US Open and Nationals, including the upcoming one.

Disclaimer - I do the program booklet for the annual US Table Tennis Hall of Fame Banquet and Induction Ceremony, which are linked from the Dinner page, if you page down. I’m also in the US Table Tennis Hall of Fame and was awarded the 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award. But I’m only 63!!! Here’s a short History of the US Table Tennis Hall of Fame.

New USATT Webpage?
On Friday, a whole new USATT website went up. There was no advance notice or news item that I saw – it came out of the blue. It was a mess. I wrote an extensive blog this morning (Monday) about it for this week’s blog – but while I was doing so, after being public for three days, they reverted back to the old version. While that’s a good move, I have no idea why they are creating a new version, or why they put up one that’s not ready to go public for these three days. I’m sure some of them are happy about wasting my time – but they don’t look very good when they do such things – like taking out the Hall of Fame links (see above), it’s just silly. On a related note, there hasn’t been a single USATT news item in 17 days, not since Apr. 28. (They used to be much more common.) Ironically, the “new” version that’s disappeared had one from a few days ago about para table tennis, but it’s gone as well – and even then, just one in 17 days?
(Edit - the mysterious news item reappeared later on Monday, US Paralympic Medalists Looking to Have a Dominant Performance in Homecoming Appearance at the 2023 ITTF Para US Open.) 

Weekend Coaching
I did four group sessions over the weekend. I mostly did multiball or was a roving coach, so didn’t hit directly too much except for one session where I hit with alternating players for an hour. After two months, my shoulder is still injured and I probably need to rest it – I’m debating whether to see a doctor so he can say, “Yep, you have an injured shoulder and need to rest it.” But when I hit with beginning/intermediate kids, there’s usually not too much strain on the shoulder. (Once it’s a bit better, then I might start doing some easy exercises on it to build it back up, but it’s not ready for that yet.)

While coaching, I focused a lot on ball control this weekend. If you are hitting forehand to forehand or backhand to backhand, the ball should be going where you are aiming – and that’s the corners. As I explained at one point, “Top players don’t hit middle forehand to middle forehand.”

I also emphasized doing something with your push. You don’t just get it back – every push should be an adventure, where you put extra backspin on the ball, hit it quick or fast, place it, change directions, or something. Otherwise you make things easy for the opponent, like hitting with a predictable robot.

One thing that we’ve done a lot of recently toward the end of a session is have the kids line up, I put an empty basket on the table upside down, and I feed multiball as they try to knock it off. Typically I might feed three shots each, to wide backhand, middle, and wide forehand, and they play forehands. It takes a number of shots to knock the basket off – most hits nudge it maybe a quarter inch, though a hard, direct hit might send it two inches. We time and see how long it takes them to knock it off.

Here’s something to think about. In one session, the players were playing up-down tables, games to 11. For the very last game, for fun, I had everyone play one game to four points – opposite handed! So righties played lefty, lefties played righty. There were sixteen players, and fifteen players had fun. But one kid, surprisingly, took things so seriously that he was crying afterwards, almost inconsolable. Why? “I’m so bad left-handed!” he wailed. Yes, some kids take these things very seriously.

Forehand Topspin, Modern Versions
Here’s an example (33 sec) of a nice modern forehand – I think the player’s name is Azhara from the HATTA. Besides being a good example to copy, there’s something of historic interest here involving terminology. If you went back to the years I was developing (I started in 1976), and up until perhaps twenty or so years ago, this would have been called a close-to-table loop (or topspin in Europe). But now it’s just a standard forehand drive, which these days are taught to have this type of topspin. (It’s much easier and more natural with modern sponges.) It’s really a terminology thing – I watch it and see a close-to-table loop and remind myself that this is just a regular forehand, while a modern player just sees a regular forehand.

This isn’t the only change in modern forehands. Here’s video (8 sec) of Stanley Hsu (far side, about 2400) with Cheng Yinghua. Stanley blocks two, and then counterloops close to the table for a winning shot - and does so with his feet parallel to the incoming ball. In the past, players were taught to move the right foot back (for righties) for forehands, even in fast rallies, often taking a step back to do so. But now we teach up-and-coming juniors to keep the feet mostly parallel in faster rallies like this so they can play the ball more quickly and stay closer to the table. If he'd brought his right foot back, it would have slowed him down, making the shot more difficult and probably rushed, or he'd have had to step back some. One key issue - it takes a lot of physical training to do this type of body rotation at high speeds, so for most of us, old-style is probably better. I also wrote about this in my blog on May 1 – see third bullet point in Weekend Coaching. (There’ll be an upcoming Tip of the Week on this, currently scheduled for July 10 – I’ve written all the Tips of the Week through July.)

Improve Backhand Speed, Short Backhand Flips & More
Here’s the video (13:06) from Seth Pech – highly recommend this if you want to see these and other techniques from an elite point of view.

How to Topspin Any Serve Long to Your Backhand – Step-by-Step Guide
Here’s the video (5:08) from Rational Table Tennis.

How Using Your Body/Wrist Can Help to Increase Your Racket Speed
Here’s the video (4:59) from Drupe Pong.

Strategically Use of Half-Long Serves to Gain Advantage
Here’s the video (2:10) from Angela Guan/PongSpace.

Can Adult Players Change Technique
Here’s the article by Tom Lodziak.

Multiball Training is Fundamental to Early Success in Table Tennis
Here’s the article by Subham Kundu, a professional player and coach from India.

The Importance of a Coach in a Table Tennis Match
Here’s the article by Kasmono Monex.

Talking about Lower Back Pain (and Table Tennis)
Here’s the article by Dr. Alomar-Jimenez.

New from Ti Long

Ask the Coach
Here are the latest questions from PingSkills.

Daniel Gonzalez Joined Major League Table Tennis (MLTT)
Here’s the article by Stephanie Sun.

Samson Dubina Table Tennis Academy For Sale
The deadline for putting in bids is Wednesday, May 17, in two days. Here’s their Business Plan and new video Successful Academy (2:07).

Alexis Lebrun and Power of Serve
Here’s the video (35 sec).

Waldner’s Successor
Here’s the video (2:20) from Taco Backhand, featuring Truls Moregard of Sweden.

Truls Moregardh vs Koji Uezu | FINAL | Swedish League 2023
Here’s the video (5:51).

Timo Boll Withdraws from 2023 World Championships
Here’s the video (2:20) from TT11TV. He is still recovering from a shoulder injury.

TT Insider 'The reunion: Liam & Zak' mental health discussion
Here’s the video (4:31) with Liam Pitchford and Zak Abel.

New from Steve Hopkins/Butterfly

New from EmRatThich/PingSunday

New from ITTF

2Pong, SmashNet, Teqball and Headis - Has the World Gone Mad?
C’mon, table tennis is the REAL racket sport, and nobody’s going to play these newfangled things like these or pickleball!

King Pong Shirts
Here’s what you get when you go to Amazon and put in “King Pong Shirts” – there are so many to choose from! You can also do this with socks, hats, and with other animals – there’s a jungle of such ping-pong stuff out there just waiting to get bought.

I Don’t Remember What We Do Here
Here’s the cartoon!

Pongfinity Shorts
Here’s 43 hilarious short videos from Pongfinity! I link to their usually weekly longer videos, but these are shorter classics.

***
Send us your own coaching news!

Add a comment