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.)
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!
I got back last night from seven days in Texas and seventeen in Mexico. My todo list makes the shark from Jaws look like a minnow and I'm a week behind on sleep. So I'm going to postpone this week's blog until tomorrow, Tuesday Aug. 30. Meanwhile, this week's Tip of the Week is up, along with the three I put up while I was away. Enjoy!
Next Blog on August 29
As noted below, I'll be out of town Aug. 4-28. However, there will still be a Tip of the Week every Monday. See segment "Houston, San Antonio, Mexico."
=>UPDATE - Here are the nine articles I wrote at the Classic Hardbat World Championships, Aug. 6-7 In Missouri, TX, just outside Houston.
Tips of the Week
World Classic Hardbat Championships
They will be this weekend in Missouri City, TX, just outside Houston. Here's the player listing by event – it's pretty strong! Here's my article on the USATT News Page. (This is an update of the one published by Butterfly a month ago.) I'm only playing one event – Over 60 Hardbat – and will be there primarily doing coverage. I expect to write up a storm!
Quick note to those in the Over 60 Event – you have no chance against my absolutely unstoppable forehand. Give up now. Your only chance is if you find my weak backhand. (Shhh – keep that a secret. I don't want others in the event to know.) There's a history behind this. In sponge (which is what I primarily play and coach), I developed a forehand-dominant style, with just a consistent backhand. With sponge, I could just rebound the ball back, over and over. But I can't do that with hardbat, where you have to stroke the ball more – and so my backhand isn't so good. Good thing that, at 62, I still move like a [really old and broken down] cheetah!
There was some controversy regarding this event and USATT, which initially wouldn't put the article up on their news page. However, after twelve days, it's been resolved, and USATT is going to post the updated article on their news page tonight. I'll link to it when it goes up. (I wrote a long article on this topic for today, but since it's been resolved, I decided not to post it.)
Houston, San Antonio, Mexico - Sightseeing!
I leave this Thursday for a 24-day odyssey through Texas and Mexico, Aug. 4-28. Here's my schedule:
2022 US Open Table Tennis Championships
Here's the USATT news item – they will be held in Ontario, CA (just outside Los Angeles, not Canada), Dec. 16-21, 2022. I will be there and so should you! It'll be the seventh time we've had a US Open in the Greater Los Angeles Area. I attended the 1994 and 1995 US Opens in Anaheim and did major writeups of the events for USA Table Tennis Magazine (I was editor) – in fact, I've been to every US Open and US Nationals from 1984 to present. My first Open was the 1976 US Open in Philadelphia. (I started playing early that year.) Alas, I missed the 1977 US Open in Hollywood.
The article says, "This will mark the first time in the 91 years of playing the US Open that USATT has hosted a major event in this Southern California inland region." This is a little bit misleading, though presumably they are referring to strictly the inland region east of LA. Below is a listing of past Opens in the LA region. Your best source for such info (including results of every US Open and Nationals in our history) is US Table Tennis Results History, created and maintained by Vince Mioduszewski.
Maccabiah Games – Table Tennis
News from All Over
Since I've been away two weeks, 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.
Fan Zhendong Moments of Magic
Here's the video (9:19) from Table Tennis Central.
Tomokazu Harimoto vs Lin Gaoyuan | MS | WTT Champions European Summer Series 2022 (Final)
Here's the video (14:05).
China and Table Tennis: Inception of a Sport Juggernaut
Here's the video (12:26), from Feb. 2021. I found this video fascinating as it covers the rise of Chinese table tennis and the Cultural Revolution's negative effect on it – leading to multiple suicides. My table tennis fantasy novel The Spirit of Pong has a chapter that's sort of a flashback during the Chinese Cultural Revolution for Rong Guotuan, China's first table tennis champion, who is featured in the video.
The Kids of Austin Table Tennis Club
Here's the video (2:09) from KVUE.
Rwandan Man Chases Career in Table Tennis
Here's the article from the English News. "Didier Nzosaba, one of Rwanda's best table tennis players, is using his success to inspire more people to develop a career in the game."
Carlos Alcaraz Tries Table Tennis Amid Dominant Hamburg Campaign
Here's the article and pictures. Alcaraz is world #4 in tennis at age 19.
Commonwealth Games 2022: Tin-Tin Ho on Tackling an Eating Disorder and Sporting Stress
Here's the article from the BBC.
Little Tokyo Table Tennis Unites the Young, the Old, the Fashionistas
Here's the article from KCRW.
Clayton Kershaw To Host Annual Ping Pong 4 Purpose
Here's the article from Sports Illustrated.
Ping-Pong Hats
I bet you didn't know Amazon had so many!
Lots of Table Tennis Cartoons – in French
Here they are!
How Panda Trains for the World Championship
Here's the video (2:04)!
This Serve Can't Be Returned
Here's the video (8:31) from Pongfinity!
Mostly Non-Table Tennis
Here's my new blog on my latest science fiction & fantasy happenings, with some table tennis included. I'm always split between my TT and SF worlds!
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Send us your own coaching news!
=>NOTE – Next blog will be on Monday, Aug. 1. See segment below on "Upcoming Schedule."
Tip of the Week
Contact Point on Racket When Serving.
Strategic Versus Tactical Thinking
[I was going to write about this – and then I realized I could just copy and paste from my book, Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers. Here are all my books – buy a few so I can afford supper!]
What’s the difference? Strategic thinking is how you develop your game. Tactical thinking is how you use what you already have to win. Strategic thinking is long-term planning while tactical thinking is short-term, usually confined to a specific match. (These are the general definitions, and they are what I will use in this book though they are not universal.)
For example, a strategic thinker with a good loop might think about what types of serves will set up his loop, and develop those serves in practice sessions. A tactical thinker might think about what serves he should use to set up his loop in a match against a given opponent. Strategic thinking takes place during the developmental stage of your game—which never ends as long as you are still practicing. Tactical thinking takes place while preparing for and playing a specific match.
Suppose you have a weak forehand attack against backspin. When an opponent pushes heavy to your forehand, you have to tactically choose whether to use your weak forehand attack (perhaps using good ball placement to make up for the weakness of the attack), or whether to just push it back. Tactically, these may be your only options. Strategically, you should note this weakness in your game and go practice your forehand attack against backspin so next time you aren’t so limited tactically.
It is the strategic thinking that leads to developing the tools needed for tactical play. But it works both ways—it is tactical thinking that makes you aware of what parts of your game need development, which leads to strategic thinking. Call it the Circle Of Strategy & Tactics, or COST.
Many years ago there were two juniors at my club. Both started out together, and by age twelve were getting pretty good. One mostly won by pushing and blocking, a winning tactic, while the other mostly attacked, using tactics to allow himself to do so. When they played in tournaments, the pusher/blocker won over and over. Then one tournament match the pusher/blocker tried to win by attacking, and lost. After the match his father yelled at him, and over the next year his father made him play tactically, both in practice and tournaments, relying on his pushing and blocking to win. The other junior continued to attack, even though he kept losing to the pusher/blocker. Then, predictably, about a year later the attacker began winning, and soon his level was much higher. This was a classic case of strategic thinking (the attacker) versus tactical thinking (the pusher/blocker). You need both.
There are also countless cases of strategic thinkers who never learn to play tactically, and so never win at the level they should win. You need to learn both strategic and tactical thinking. It’s a balance. From a mental and tactical standpoint, you should develop the mindset that you should win, and expect to win, against players at your level, and even those above. Playing matches strategically too often (and thereby not thinking tactically) may affect this winning mindset. So find a balance.
As you read these pages, think about how each topic relates to your own game—which is both tactical and strategic thinking.
My Upcoming Schedule
I'm going to be hyper-busy the rest of the summer, including a lot of travel. There will be a Tip of the Week every Monday – I've written them in advance – but no blog on July 25, and then, after doing one on Aug. 1, no more until Aug. 29. During that time I'll be traveling in Texas and Mexico – see schedule below. This Friday I'll be in a nine-day science fiction writing workshop. Do not even DREAM of asking me to do anything during that time – the workshop is all day, every day, and most nights. Here's my upcoming schedule. (Yes, my world is split between table tennis and science fiction.)
Two Upcoming Major Events You Should Attend
Maccabiah Games – Table Tennis
They are taking place in Israel right now. Here are some links.
Butterfly Training Tips
New from PingSunday/EmRatThich
He's been Busy! (See comment on first item under "VIDEO.")
ARTICLES
VIDEO
New from Samson Dubina
New from Ti Long
New from Taco Backhand
New from Drupe Pong
Lower Body Circuit; Coordination and Agility
Here's the video (64 sec) from the Performance Biomechanics Academy Table Tennis.
Ask the Coach
Here are the latest questions from PingSkills.
Table Tennis Central
They have 20 new videos this past week.
New from Steve Hopkins
USATT News
U.S. Table Tennis Tour Kicks off to Honor Legacy of Ping Pong Diplomacy
Here's the video (2:30). "The first leg of a special table tennis exhibition honoring the renowned "Ping Pong Diplomacy" between China and the U.S. kicked off in Houston, Texas over the weekend, marking the start of a five-city tour which aims to carry on the legacy of the historic diplomatic turning point between the two nations."
ITTF News
WTT Star Contender European 2022 [Felix LEBRUN VS MA Long]
Here's the video (12:42) between the French rising penhold star (world #80) and perhaps the GOAT from China.
Truls Moregard vs Wang Chuqin | MS | WTT Star Contender European Summer Series 2022 (Finals)
Here's the video (11:13) of the match between the world #5 from Sweden and #14 from China.
Funny Table Tennis Shirts
Happy Birthday Ping Pong Cards
Here they are!
Six Seconds of Real TABLE Tennis
Here's the video! (That's Nadal on near side, I think Djokovic on far side.)
When The Boys Take Ping Pong Too Seriously
Here's the video (35 sec)! (It's from 2020, but I don't think I'd seen this one.)
Political Table Tennis Cartoons
Here are two! (Greece, Turkey, and Refugees; Climate Change)
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Tips of the Week
While I was in at the US Team Trials and US Nationals, two Tips went up, plus this week's Tip. Here they are!
US Team Trials and US Nationals: Coaching & Covid!
I returned this past Friday from two weeks in Fort Worth, Texas, for these two huge events. For the Team Trials, June 25 – July 1 (Men's, Women's, plus boys and girls U19, U15, U13, U11), our club (Maryland TTC) had an even ten junior players and five coaches (Wang Qingliang, Cheng Yinghua, Jack Huang, Jeffrey Zeng, and myself). For the Nationals, July 2-7, we had 18 junior players and four coaches (Cheng had to leave after the Trials).
The last three US Opens and Nationals were run very poorly by USATT, ending a streak of well-run ones dating back to 1994. Those who attended them or who read my blog may remember all the problems and the seeming inability to learn from the past. This time they brought in a new director, Mike Babuin, and other new staff, and Craig Krum made some adjustments in Omnipong, and this time they got it right. It mostly ran on time, helped by having extra tables and better scheduling. The facility was also nice. There were still a number of problems, but listing them would seem nitpicking. I already went over some of them with Mike and Craig. After three disasters in a row, our long national nightmare is over. :)
And here are the results and video! Congrats all the champions, including Men's and Women's Singles Champions Nikhil Kumar and Lily Zhang! (It's Lily's sixth.)
Women's Singles
Men's Singles
More Links
I arrived on Thursday, June 23, helped run training sessions on Friday, coached on Saturday & Sunday at the Trials . . . and then came down sick. Yes, Covid. I'd managed to go 2.5 years into this pandemic without getting it, and I chose a rather bad time to come down with it.
I actually had Monday, June 27 off, since we had few players playing in the Trials that day. So that became my sightseeing day, specifically the Fort Worth Stock Yards and the Fort Worth Water Gardens. I went over early in the morning with Stanley & Kurtus Hsu, their dad, and Mu Du. Before leaving I was felling chills, but blamed it on my roommate, Cheng Yinghua, who had lowered the temperature in the room. I was tired all day, but blamed it on the 95 degree heat – we were mostly outside. I returned to the hotel in mid-afternoon – and that's when it really hit me. I was burning up. I finally went across the street, where there was a CVS, and bought a thermometer and Covid test. At 7:30 PM, my fever was 102.4, and I'm sure it was higher earlier. I took the Covid test . . . positive.
Yes, I was vaccinated and boosted. But as Dr. Hwang explained – see below – these days that mostly keeps people who get it from getting it worse, and if I hadn't been vaccinated and boosted, I probably would have gone to the hospital and been sick much longer. Fortunately, no one else from Maryland or others that I interacted with seemed to have come down with it. However, I'm told there were a few other cases.
I spent the next week quarantined in my hotel room. (Cheng had to move to another room.) I bought cereal, milk, bread, peanut butter & jelly, paper plates & bowls, plastic silverware . . . and mostly lived on that, though I also ordered some online, mostly soups since I couldn't stomach much else. The first few days were rather bad. After that, the symptoms mostly went away. I started taking a Covid test each night, but it stayed positive. The guidelines from the CDC are I had to spend at least five days in quarantine plus a negative test. I finally tested negative on Monday, July 4 – and so, after one week, I was finally able to get back to coaching!
A great thanks goes to Dr. Dennis Hwang, who was great help while I was sick – even prescribing and delivering Paxlovid, a Covid medicine, and other supplies. He was there coaching his son, Nathaneal, who made the US National Under 13 Boys' Team (top eight). I've known Dennis since he was 16 and a member of the USATT Resident Training Program at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, which existed from 1985-1993. I was at various times manager, director, and a coach there. Dennis was a part of it for four semesters, from Fall, 1988 through Spring, 1990 – and graduated as Valedictorian! (He's a pulmonologist, specializing in the respiratory system, i.e. the lungs.)
I'd missed the last five (out of seven) days of the Team Trials and the first two days of the Nationals, but went back into it 100%. (As a precaution, I always wore a mask.) While I was primarily there to coach, I was the defending champion in Over 40 and Over 60 Hardbat Singles. (I normally use sponge, but play hardbat on the side.) Because Over 40 coincided with some of the junior events I would be coaching, I didn't enter that, so I was only entered in Over 60. But after missing so much coaching time, and with many of our junior matches taking place at the same time as Over 60, I dropped the event. (I wonder how well I would have done after lying in bed for a week?)
This was my 83rd US Open or Nationals, dating back to my first Open in 1976, and including every Nationals and Open from 1984 to present, other than the ones cancelled in 2020. (I've also been to the US/North American Teams every year since I started in 1976.)
MDTTC had some pretty good results. 12-year-olds Ryan Lin (rated 2224) and Winston Wu (rated 2168, but recently as high as 2238) dominated Under 13 Boys. In the Team Trials, Winston came in first, Ryan fourth. (Ryan was actually in a four-way tie for second, and came in fourth based on their game records.) In the Nationals, they finished 1-2, with Ryan winning 4-3 in the final over Winston. That automatically made Ryan #1 on the National Team, so they were 1-2 in both the Nationals and on the National Team. The final of the National was a bit crazy – Ryan was up 3-2 and led 10-6 championship point. Winston fought off seven (7!) match points and ended up winning that game, 18-16. But Ryan won game seven, 11-5. Until he faced Winston in the final, Ryan had not lost a game in seven matches in Under 13. (They also played well in other events. Both of them, especially Winston, had a bunch of upsets, and Ryan had multiple match points on two 2300+ players.)
Here's Winston and Ryan, with their dads. (Here's the non-Facebook version.) Here's Ryan with his medal and certificate for winning Under 13. (Here's the non-Facebook version.) Here's the trophy they got for making the Under 13 Boys' National Team. (Here's the non-Facebook version.)
What does making the National Team mean? In this case, the top four will be eligible for the Pan Am Juniors. The Pan Am Under 11 and Under 13 Championships are Sept. 17-24 in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, and it's likely Ryan and Winston will go on the Under 13 Boys' Team, along with Kef Noorani and Dhruv Chopra. (I might even go as coach – I've coached US junior teams in the last six months in Ecuador, Jordan, and Austria.)
Stanley Hsu (2406) teamed with Yishiuan Lin (2205) of Massachusetts to win Under 15 Mixed Doubles. (I coached all their matches.) In the semifinals, they defeated the second-seeded team of Daniel Tran/Hannah Song (2553/2187) at -4,5,6,8. In the final they defeated the top-seeded team of Darryl Tsao/Rachel Wang (2516/2272) at 6,7,11. (Lefty Daniel Tran dominates in doubles - at these Nationals he won Men's Doubles, Under 19 Doubles, Under 19 Mixed Doubles, and Under 15 Boys' Doubles - and he did so with four different partners. This was his only doubles loss. He's the best doubles player in the US among juniors, possible among everyone.) Their only close call was in the quarterfinals, where they won 13-11 in the fifth over Andrew Cao and Amber Liu.
So . . . how did they pull off these upsets? From my book, Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers, "Tactics isn't about finding complex strategies to defeat an opponent. Tactics is about sifting through all the zillions of possible tactics and finding a few simple ones that work." That's what happened here – they executed one simple tactic that allowed them to dominate. (It also worked in the close quarterfinal match, but in that match the opposing team found a very smart, unorthodox tactic, but it only worked in one order – and it allowed them to win games two and four, and make gave five so close. The scores tell a tale – 6,-4,6,-8,11.)
Most good coaches would have used the tactic. But that wasn't enough - the key was understanding that everything in the matches (based on the playing styles of the players) centered around this tactic. The players executed it beautifully and played great overall, and the result was they dominated against very strong opponents. (You have no idea how much I'd like to write specifically about this tactic - but then I'd literally be coaching against my own team!)
Stanley, 13, also made the Under 15 Boys' Team, finishing sixth. He and Mu Du won Bronze in Under 15 Doubles. Both of them will be eligible again next year, with all the players seeded ahead of him no longer eligible.
Samuel Altshuler, rated 973, upset a 1373 player to get silver in Para Class 6-7. Nicholas Nash won six consecutive matches to get the bronze in Under 1900 juniors. (Due to early ratings used for eligibility, the event included five players over 1900, with the top seed rated 2027.) Nicholas lost in the semifinals to eventual winner and second seed, Ben Zhang, rated 1983. Todd Klinger/Kurtus Hsu made the quarterfinals of Under 3800 Doubles.
Besides coaching our junior players, I also coached Navin Kumar in various Standing Disabled and Parkinson's events. (This was the first time we've had Parkinson's events, a nice addition.) Navin did well – he won Gold in Para Doubles Standing (with Ilya Rozenblat); Silver in Parkinson's Under 55; and Bronzes in both Parkinson's Open and Parkinson's Class 2. Here's a happy Navin with his medals (here's the non-Facebook version), and me coaching him (here's the non-Facebook version).
2022 Classic Hardbat World Championships
Here's my article on the upcoming event near Houston. Hope to see you there!!! Here's the current list of entries, by name, rating, and event. (Look who's top seed in Over 60! But the other players in the event are scary.)
News from All Over
Since I haven't blogged since June 20 (due to the US Team Trials and US Nationals), 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.
Sally Moyland Martial Arts
Sally, who just turned 15, won Silver in Women's Singles at the recent US Nationals. She won gold in Under 15 Girls' Singles & Doubles, and Under 19 Mixed Doubles, and won Bronze in Under 21 and Under 19 Girls' Singles. She also came in first in Under 19 and 15 Girls at the US Team Trials held the week before, as well as fourth in Women's. So, what makes her special? Hmmm . . . could it be martial arts? Here's video of her from four years ago (82 sec)!
Tears of My Opponents – Ping-Pong
Here's a selection of cups and mugs!
BasketPong?
Here's the video (71 sec)!
Feline Forehand
Here's the video (15 sec) – if only our junior players could smash lobs so well!
Beat Me, Win $100
Here's the video (13:51) from Adam Bobrow!
World's Most Expensive Racket
Here's the video (9:15) from Pongfinity, where three players have to make their own racket – but one has a $1 budget, one has a $100 budget, and one has a $1000 budget!
Non-Table Tennis – Releasing Hitler
My story Releasing Hitler was just republished by Metastellar. What happens if, a million years from now, Hitler is paroled from Hell?
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Next Blog – July 11
I'm off for the US Team Trials and Nationals in Fort Worth, TX, June 23 – July 7, where I'll be coaching for two weeks. However, the Tip of the Week will still go up on both Mondays while I'm gone. See you soon!
Tip of the Week
1% Hesitation = 100% Miss.
MDTTC Open
I spent much of the weekend coaching at the MDTTC Open at the Maryland Table Tennis Center. Here are complete results, care of Omnipong. One nice breakthrough – after making the final in four consecutive tournaments (and losing some close finals), Stanley Hsu (US #1 in 13 and under) broke through and won Open singles, over Khoi Dinh, 8,9,5. He also teamed with Mu Du (who made the quarters of the Open) to win Open Doubles. Here's a picture of Stanley, and of Stanley & Mu Du. (Here are the non-Facebook versions – Stanley, Stanley & Mu Du.) Stanley only lost one game in singles – to Ryan Lin (US #1 in 12 and Under) in the quarterfinals. Stanley, Mu Du, Ryan, and lots of other top juniors all train together regularly at MDTTC.
Serve practice and selection seemed to be a key aspect of many of the matches I coached. In one close match, up 2-1 in games and at 9-9, I signaled Ryan Lin to use a serve he hadn't used the entire match. It wasn't one of his front-line serves, and he only serves it with sidespin-topspin, but looks a little like backspin. Normally, when it's close, you want to use your best serves. But in this case I was pretty sure the opponent would hesitate and pop the serve up, something he hadn't done with almost any of the past serves. And he did – a serve and easy rip, leading to the win.
I had worked with Navin Kumar a lot on serves before this tournament, especially his backhand serve, where he had a good side-top serve, but needed a fast, dead one. So he worked on the fast, dead one – and it worked! Player after player put it in the net, and he ended up winning his preliminary round robin. Ironically, he now was having trouble doing his side-top serve – but he's going to practice it to make sure he can do both at the upcoming Nationals.
I coached two players against two different lobbers, and both had difficulty. One problem with modern table tennis is that it's all centered around looping, so players generally don't smash as well as they used to. But a combination of patience, placement, and mixing in blocks enabled both players to win. One thing that helped one player was to always set up as if smashing to the wide forehand, and then, a little before contact, rotate the shoulders back and smash down the line. In general, when playing a good lobber, it's best to smash to the backhand and middle, and only go to the forehand when you see an open court. Most players are more consistent, spinnier, and have more range on the forehand lob than on the backhand lob, which was the case in the two matches I coached. They are also almost always a bigger threat to counter-attack on the forehand side. But it depends on the lobber. And, of course, it's always best if you can disguise your direction until the last second.
US Nationals Entries
Here's the apparently final listing of 752 players, which is about the norm for a Nationals. Two surprises. First, last year's winner, Xin Zhou, who would have been top seed in Men's Singles at 2771, is only playing Men's Doubles (with Aditya Godhwani). Second, for the second year in a row, Kanak Jha, rated 2767 (and world #31 and presumably the favorite if he played), who won the event four times in a row (2016-2019, with 2020 skipped due to pandemic), isn't entered. Neither Xin nor Kanak are playing in the US Team Trials either. (Team Trials are June 25 – July 1; Nationals are July 2-7; both are in Fort Worth, TX. I'll be coaching at both.)
New from Samson Dubina
5 Tips To Improve Your Reverse Pendulum Serve
Here's the video (65 sec) with Vlad Farcas.
Ti Long Corrects 9 Techniques and Guides 3 Exercises
Here's the video (25:55).
New from Taco Backhand
New from TT Shorts
Ask the Coach
Here are the latest questions from PingSkills.
National Collegiate Table Tennis Association June Newsletter
Here it is!
New from Steve Hopkins
New from Butterfly/Bowmar
New from USA Table Tennis
A U.S. Table Tennis Tour Honors the Legacy of Ping Pong Diplomacy
Here's the video (2:48).
How Many Table Tennis Players in the World
Here's the article from PingSunday/EmRatThich.
New from ITTF
Comparison of dynamic elasticity between two types of new material plastic table tennis ball: taking DHS D40+ and Nittaku 40+ as an Example
Here's the paper from Research Square. Just some light summer reading.
Joo Sae Hyuk, From Defense To Offense
Here's the video (37 sec).
Extreme Ping Pong
Here's the video (4:45) – with one of the strangest and funniest commentaries on the game I've ever heard!
Ping Pong Gun Game 4
Here's the video (8:54) from Pongfinity! Where they take on challenges with sandals, skateboards, irons, a jar of peanut butter, a racket with a huge hole in it, boxing gloves, motorcycle helmets, basketballs, spoons, and giant kids' toy car!
Belly Pong?
Here's the video (13 sec)!
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Tip of the Week
"Losing Is Not My Enemy. Fear of Losing Is My Enemy."
Weekend Coaching
On Saturday morning we had our roughly quarterly junior program party, at Seneca Creek State Park. Lots of barbecue (hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken) and other food & drink! I brought three frisbees, others brought a soccer ball, football, and a volleyball net & ball, and the kids (and two dogs) spent over two hours in non-stop activity.
Then it was back to work. In the Novice Junior Class, we did an hour of multiball, and then it was time for games! As usual, the most popular is building a wall or pyramid of plastic cups and then taking turns knocking it over as I feed multiball. Here's video (2:19) of the end of the class as the kids destroy "The Pretty Good Wall of Maryland"!
In the other groups we had an end-of-season tournament. (This was the meeting before summer camps begin, other than the Novice group which has one more session next Sunday.) I mostly watched and recorded results, but I also spoke with them between matches. One thing I kept emphasizing was playing aggressive. Most of the players are playing in the MDTTC Open next weekend, and 18 are going to the US Team Trials and/or the US Nationals in late June/early July. So we're getting them ready for those. Some of the players in Group 3 are playing in their first or one of the first tournaments next weekend, so I went over things they needed to know about tournaments – such as not to walk in another player's court while the ball is in play, which happened several times in the session! Also, how to record scores, etiquette, and so on. Next on the todo list for them: Why ratings are the single most important thing in life. :)
With these tournaments coming up, I've been on the players to really practice their serves. One serve some of them are trying to perfect is the fast, down-the-line serve. See video of this below under Butterfly Training Tips, demonstrated by Yu Di. Some players have real problems returning this serve, and if they have to guard against it, they have more problems with other serves. If you don't have this serve, you are handicapped when you play these players. Even against players who don't have major problems with the serve it's still effective to use once or twice a match, both to catch them off guard and so they have to guard against it. (There are three deep serves that I consider the "holy grail" of deep serves that everyone should have – along with variations. The three are the fast down-the-line; fast no-spin at the elbow; and a big breaking serve deep to the backhand that curves away from the receiver.) I also had a private session with Navin Kumar on Sunday, where we also focused on serves, along with smashing and the usual drills.
US Nationals
As I write this, there are exactly 700 players entered in the US Nationals, with the final deadline in two days, on Wednesday, June 15. It's in Forth Worth, July 2-7. However, before that there is also a week of US Team Trials, also in Fort Worth, June 25-July 1. I'll be coaching at both. We have 13 from our junior program in the Team Trials (which includes the various junior teams) and 18 going to the US Nationals. (At the Nationals, I'm also playing one event, Over 60 Hardbat. I'm the defending champion in both that event and Over 40 Hardbat, but due to scheduling conflicts, I can't defend my title in the latter. I normally use sponge, but play hardbat on the side.)
Last week I noticed that when you sort the players in the US Nationals by club, it actually sorts by state and then club. Since the 18 players in our junior program are from three states (14 MD, 3 VA, 1 PA), they were listed in three different segments. I emailed Craig Krum (founder and owner of Omnipong), and he not only fixed the problem almost immediately, but added a Sort by State button as well. Thanks Craig!
Butterfly Training Tips
51 Coaching Articles from Matt Hetherington
Here they are! (He also has a video page.)
New from Samson Dubina
10 Mistakes Table Tennis Players Repeatedly Make
Here's the video (10:48) from Table Tennis Daily.
New from the Performance Biomechanics Academy Table Tennis
New from Taco Backhand
Ask the Coach
Here are the latest questions from PingSkills.
New from Barbara Wei/USATT
New from Steve Hopkins/Butterfly
New from the ITTF
Reflection On The Month Of May
Here's the article by Joanna Sung.
Well Placed Shots from the Best Table Tennis Matches
Here's the video (1:39).
Haruna Ojio vs Lily Zhang | WTT Feeder Westchester Women's Singles Final HIGHLIGHTS
Here's the video (6:16).
Top Plays from World Table Tennis
FINAL | German League 2022
I think these are two matches in a team final, but I'm not sure. If you know better (and have links to any other matches in it if it's a team final), email me!
Christina Kallberg vs Linda Bergstrom | Final | 2022 Swedish National Championships
Here's the video (9:53)
Highlights - Hana Goda vs. Fatimo Bello | Final | 2022 ITTF Africa Cup
Here's the video (5:44).
Meet the Table Tennis Prodigy and Climate Champion Who Has Given Joe Biden Advice
Here's the article from UK Sports.
"...Over to You" Nation Africa Ping Pong
Here's the cartoon – but I'm not sure what it means. Email me if you know!
Stable Tennis?
Here's where you can buy a "I Like to Play Stable Tennis" shirt!
New from Adam Bobrow!
Non-Table Tennis – New SF Story Published
My story, "Four Score and Seven Years of the End of America: A Bibliography," was published by Daily Science Fiction this morning. It's the story of the downfall of America from 1953 to 2040 – told in the form of a bibliography! It has a lot of inside jokes. Most of the names, especially in the second half, are real people.
***
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Tip of the Week
What Are Your Strongest and Weakest Links?
Weekend Coaching and Preparing for the Nationals
Things are getting serious as our players gear up for the upcoming US Nationals! (As of now, there are 660 players entered, with final deadline on June 15. There are 22 players from MDTTC entered, including 18 from our junior program.) Especially noticeable are the added serve practices, and the increased intensity both of that practice and practice in general.
When our top juniors practice their serves, they are often so focused I'm hesitant to disturb them by saying anything to them, like, you know, coaching stuff!!! So I am a bit more hands-off, though I still swoop in with magic words of wonder. For example, yesterday one of our top juniors was practicing serves for a LONG time, with great focus. I noticed he was practicing short serves for a long time, then long serves for a long time. So I made sure he ended the session by alternating them. It's easy to do a fast and aggressive deep serve (with speed, spin, and depth) when you are doing it over and over. But being able to do it after serving short is trickier. I sometimes tell players when practicing long serves to imagine it's deuce-in-the-fifth, or better still down match point, so they can learn to pull off those serves when it's close. Of course, at these higher levels they mostly serve short, but it's a lot harder pulling off an aggressive long serve under pressure than a short one. But I also challenge them to do a short serve under an imagined pressure score where the second bounce is just short of the end-line – another serve that's hard to pull off under pressure. Under pressure, many players serve a little longer than usual, and so their long serves go off, and their two-bounce short serves go long and get looped.
Another focus this weekend was recovering from forehand loops from the corner. Too often players finish these shots off-balance or out of position. When you forehand loop from the wide forehand or backhand, following through back into position is part of the stroke and technique. Too often players don't so this, and so can't cover the other wide angle – and then, instead of realizing the root of the problem, they just say, "I'm too slow!"
I had a private session with Navin Kumar. Major focuses for the day were smashing (both forehand and backhand), and serves.
New from Samson Dubina
How to Do Advanced Forehand Topspin Against Backspin
Here's the video from Ti Long (12:45).
How to Blow a 5-0 Lead – My Latest Tournament Disaster
Here's the article by Tom Lodziak.
3 Table Tennis Drills to Help Improve Hand-Eye Coordination
Here's the article and video (4:20) from Men's Health, with Adam Bobrow.
Ask the Coach
Here are the latest questions from PingSkills.
New from the Performance Biomechanics Academy Table Tennis
New from Taco Backhand
Truls Moregardh vs Viktor Brodd | Final 2022 Swedish National Championship
Here's the video (10:05).
New from USA Table Tennis
New from the National Collegiate TTA
New from Steve Hopkins/Butterfly
New from Joanna Sung
In Memoriam: Truong Manh Tu
From Truong's Family. Truong was a long-time worker for Butterfly USA and a top player and coach at the Silicon Valley TTC. Here's a tribute (and title listing) from PingSunday.
Southeast Asian Games
Here's the interview with Suthasini Sawettabut
New from ITTF
How Will Shortz Turned Pleasantville into a Table Tennis Mecca
Here's the article from The Inside Press.
"Rafael Nadal Said He Wanted to Kill Me"
Here's the article from The Sports Rush. "Nico Rosberg plays table tennis with 21-time Grand Slam winner in the latter's luxurious yacht."
Why Table Tennis Has Unique Place in Lagos Calendar
Here's the article from The Guardian.
Ping Pong Master Shirt
Here's where you can buy one, or as a hoodie.
Etsy Table Tennis
Here's where you can buy all sorts of ping-pong knick-knacks – pins, ties, socks, statues, shirts, you name it!
Infinite Loop of Ball Hitting Stretchy Paddle
It's sort of mesmerizing!
Ping Pong Ball Trick Shots
Here's the video (20 sec) set to music.
Ping Pong Egg Race Gets Intense
Here's the video (42 sec) from Pongfinity!
Peter Breaks Table Tennis Table
Here's the video (25 sec)! I wrote about the Family Guy table tennis episode in my March 28 blog (with the episode airing the night before), but this gives a nice action compilation of the big climax! Note that Cleveland served the last ball high on purpose, so Peter could smash, as at the end Cleveland wanted Peter to win.
***
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Tip of the Week
Practice Matches vs. Tournaments.
Balticon and Table Tennis
I had a Science Fictional Table Tennis Weekend! I spent Friday and Saturday as a panelist at Balticon, the annual science fiction convention in Baltimore. (Here’s my Balticon Profile and Schedule – I was on two panels and had a book signing.) Despite being a science fiction convention, there were a lot of table tennis angles.
Here’s a picture of me at my signing. Here are the table tennis connections:
One sad thing. On Saturday, while I was having eating in the hotel dining hall, pandemonium broke out across the street. As dozens of us watched, 15 police cars, two ambulances, and a fire truck arrived within minutes. Several said they had heard gunshots, though I didn’t hear that. A few hours later I went for a walk and discovered the whole area was cordoned off by the police, and a dozen police officers were guarding the area. I asked them what had happened, and they said it had been a shooting. Here's the Baltimore Sun article on the shooting at the waterfront promenade – two 17-year-olds were shot, one died.
Besides the panels and signing, my highlight of the tournament was finally meeting David Gerrold, who is both a famous SF writer (“The Trouble with Tribbles” and “The Martian Child,” which won the Hugo and Nebula awards, and about 70 novels) and a very active and outspoken progressive activist on Facebook, where I follow him and sometimes comment. I spoke with him for about ten minutes, and bought a couple of his books plus one of his toy tribbles.
I was back at MDTTC coaching on Sunday, where I had two group sessions, plus a private session with Navin Kumar. (Here's video, 54 sec.) In the Intermediate group, I was a walk-around coach. Focus was footwork (as always) but also placement – I kept harping on keeping the ball to the wide corners, not a foot inside the corners as so many do. For the Advanced session, they had an odd number, so I was a practice partner for 90 minutes – and after spending two sedentary days at Balticon, I was stiff as a rock. I came out exhausted, and had cramps that night! As usual, I blocked well, but when I had to move my level goes down, alas. But I actually had some good counterlooping rallies with some of the kids!
Operation Mincemeat with Ivor Montagu and Ian Fleming
I recently saw the movie Operation Mincemeat, which dramatized a real event from World War II. It’s described on IMDB as, “During WWII, two intelligence officers use a corpse and false papers to outwit German troops.” But there’s a table tennis angle – one of the main characters in the movie was the real-life founder of the ITTF and long-term president, Ivor Montagu! Yes, when Montagu wasn’t playing and developing table tennis around the world, he was a communist activist, while his brother, Ewen Montagu, was a British agent and one of the primary movers of the operation. Here’s the Wikipedia entry on Operation Mincemeat, and the Wikipedia entry on the movie. Here's an ITTF article on both his table tennis and his spying for the Soviets, and another on his founding of the first Worlds. (Ian Fleming, who would later write the James Bond novels the movies are based on, was also involved in the operation and as a character in the movie.)
New from Samson Dubina
New from TacoBackhand
Ma Long Table Tennis Player: Inspiring
Here’s the video (8:51) from the Performance Biomechanics Academy Table Tennis.
Ask the Coach
Here are the latest questions from PingSkills.
NCTTA Internships – Available for Summer 2022
Here’s the info page from the National Collegiate TTA.
New from Steve Hopkins/Butterfly
New from USA Table Tennis
New from the ITTF
Aruna Quadri vs Omar Assar | FINAL | Africa Cup 2022
Here’s the video (15:40).
Bundesliga Final 2022 with Borussia Düsseldorf
Here’s the article from PingSunday/EmRatThich.
Top 10 Classic Shots of Timo Boll
Here’s the video (5:20).
Useful Backhands 2 | from the Best Table Tennis Matches in the World
Here’s the video (3:28).
Romain Ruiz vs Samuel Walker | Final Challenger Series
Here’s the video (6:05) of this Challenger Series event between Walker (ENG, world #89) and Ruiz (FRA, world #584 but well underrated).
Veterans Champ Rallies Support for Ping-Pong
Here’s the article. “National veterans table tennis champion, Emmanuel Daitey, has appealed to corporate bodies in the country to support the growth and development of the sport.”
Farsley 70-year-old Achieves Dreams of Becoming National Table Tennis Champion
Here’s the article from the Yorkshire Evening Post.
How Olufunke Oshonaike Turned Her Breaking Point into a Breakthrough
Here’s the article on the Nigerian star. “As Olympic history beckons, Africa's most successful female table tennis player shares with the Olympic Channel how her troubled times inspired her to sporting glory.”
My Quest for a Natura Psychedelic High
Here’s the article from Mel Magazine. “It’s possible to experience a temporarily altered state without drugs or alcohol through a neurological phenomenon known as the Ganzfeld effect. And all it takes is a ping-pong ball, headphones and a knife.”
Feel Table Tennis Challenges
Here’s the video (15 sec) from Ti Long.
New from Pongfinity
I Was Not Expecting That!
Here’s the video (13 sec) – with a dog swallowing finish!
Kids Double-Hit Pong
Here’s the video (16 sec) of the new ping-pong version that’s sweeping the nation.
Why Ping-Pong is Racist
Here’s the video (30 sec)!
I Like Ping Pong and Maybe 3 People
Here’s where you can buy this shirt at Amazon!
1943 Mutt & Jeff Table Tennis Cartoon
Here’s the cartoon – you can buy it for $9.95.
***
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Tip of the Week
Rushed Backhand Loop.
Weekend Coaching
It was another busy weekend. I coached in six junior group sessions. (We have about 60 kids divided into four groups.) In the Novice group, I introduced three kids to forehand looping against backspin. We also had a forehand-to-forehand competition.
In the Intermediate group, an interesting thing happened. During such sessions, when I'm a "roving" coach, I often subconsciously twiddle my paddle back and forth between shakehands, penhold, and Seemiller grips. One of the kids saw the Seemiller grip and asked about it. During break, I showed him and a couple others the grip, including its strengths (strong in middle, great for blocking and for wristy forehand loops [super spinny, especially against backspin], having an alternate surface) and weaknesses (difficult to backhand loop, forehand counterlooping not as good, not as good at covering the wide angles), and explained that two US players had reached top 20 in the world with this grip - Eric Boggan (17) and Dan Seemiller (19). Next thing I know they all are fooling around with it! I had to get on them to stick to shakehands before one of the other coaches noticed and wondered who'd brought this on! (Here's video of Dan Seemiller vs. Wei Qi from ten years ago. Besides the grip, note how much trouble 2500 player Wei has with Dan's backhand serve, especially early on.)
Ever notice how some coaches, when walking about, hold the racket with a penhold grip, even though they are normally shakehanders? There's a simple reason for this - it's the most restful grip for holding the paddle when your arm is at your side. With the shakehand or Seemiller grip, you have to contract muscles more to hold the racket. I've seen some even feed multiball this way, for the same reason.
In the advanced group, I focused a lot of positioning and ready position. Near the end, I was recruited to play up-down tables - not easy when you're out of practice, stiff from walking around coaching for hours, and getting older (62)! I started off poorly, missing easy shots, but gradually improved. Over and over my serves saved me. But I kept missing easy forehands!!! One player asked afterwards why my receive position was so off to the side. I explained that I came from an era where many players greatly favored the forehand, and so was looking to receive most serves with my forehand - ideally, by looping, otherwise forehand flips. This generation mostly favors backhand receive (due to the advent of the banana flip), and so stands more neutral. Next time I'll show him videos of players from the past, who stand even more extreme than me. Here's Ryu Seung Min (KOR) on his way to winning the gold medal in Men's Singles at the 2004 Olympics against Wang Hao (CHN) - link should take you to the first point, where you see Ryu standing way over to the left.
We've Been Insulted . . . By Dexter: New Blood!
I watched the new 10-episode series from Paramount+. In Episode 2, at 38:43, Harrison (son of Dexter) says, "Wrestling is an Olympic Sport, Audrey." His girlfriend, Audrey, responds, "So is Ping-Pong." Yikes! Someone needs to watch some table tennis highlight reels.
South African Table Tennis Coach Looking to Coach in US
Here's the table tennis resume of Omar Zain Eddin. He's the High Performance Manager and National Team Head Coach for South Africa. I met him at the recent ITTF Hopes Camp in Austria, where he asked about this since he wasn't able to coach full-time in South Africa.
Tahl Leibovitz's Paddle at the Olympic Museum in Colorado Springs
Here's the video (18 sec) with Tahl.
New from Samson Dubina
Butterfly Training Tips
New from PingSunday/EmRatThich
New from TacoBackhand
Ti Long Trains and Corrects 7 Exercises
Here's the video (13:58).
Ask the Coach
Here are the latest questions from PingSkills.
New from USATT
(Note - while the five WTT articles are dated May 8, 9, 10, 15, and 16, when WTT published them, they actually all went up on the USATT news page on the night of Thursday, May 19. As I noted in my blog last week, timely news articles like these should be going up immediately.)
New from the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association
New from Steve Hopkins
New from ITTF
Puerto Rican Dominance in the Caribbean Table Tennis Championship
Here's the article and three videos.
Creating Unimaginable Table Tennis
Here's the article and video (2:59) from Butterfly.
Process Of Making Table Tennis Racket in South Korea
Here's the video (10:40).
Sugar Cane Secret to Taiwan Table Tennis Player's Singles Success
Here's the article.
Table Tennis Player Breaks World Record with 117 Opponents in One Rally
Here's the article and video (3:46)
Toddler Swallows Table Tennis Ball, Dies of Suffocation
Here's the article. If you have young kids at home, be careful of leaving balls lying around, and watch them if you take them to the club.
Austrian Bronze Cats Playing Table Tennis
Who wouldn't want to pay $450 for this??? Handmade in Austria!
Ping Pong Design - Today's Schedule T-Shirt
Who doesn't want this shirt? Today's Schedule: 8AM Coffee; 9AM-5PM Ping Pong; 6PM Happy Hour.
Table Tennis Backflop onto Table
Here's the video (8 sec)!
Cat Pong - Ball on a String
Here's the video (26 sec)!
Adam vs. Yasi
Here's the video (14:36) as Adam Bobrow plays Yasi Ortiz, the Champion of the Caribbean!
***
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Tip of the Week
Never Decide If You Have to Move.
Table Tennis Timeliness and Weekend Coaching
I was three minutes late for a group session yesterday. Yes, three minutes - and it's only the third time I've been late in the thirty years since we opened MDTTC in 1992. I estimate I've done about 25,000 sessions in that time. So, what happened?
I was sitting in my lounge chair at home reading and about to have lunch, when I suddenly realized the clock on my wall that claimed it was about noon wasn't moving. I glanced at my watch . . . and it was 12:48 PM! And I had a session at 1PM, and I was about a 12-minute drive away! I leaped to my feet, threw things together, and raced for my car. I didn't have time for lunch. At a stop light I texted that I'd be a few minutes late. I walked ran sprinted into the club at 1:03 PM. Since Coach Wang was already leading them in stretching, hardly anybody noticed I was late. But it felt funny rushing into the club and right into a session. I normally arrive 15 minutes early, both so I'm not rushed, so I'm never late, and to set up things as needed (balls, ball nets, changing shoes, etc.).
The two other times I was late? Once I simply had my times off by an hour, and arrived an hour late. The other time there was a car accident, and I was stuck in one spot, with cars ahead, behind, and on both sides, for almost an hour before I was able to get out.
Timeliness is important for coaches. I know of two table tennis coaches who lost their coaching positions because they were late so often.
As to the coaching itself, I had six group sessions this weekend, all junior players, ranging from the weekly novice group to two sessions with the advanced group. I did two sessions primarily as a practice partner/coach, one mostly multiball, and three mostly as a walk-around coach. Some of the things emphasized this weekend were serving lower; keeping the ball to corners in drills (unless the drill is to go to the middle); and focusing on consistency, not ripping the ball.
WTT Feeder Westchester 2022
Here's the World TT Page for the event held at the Westchester TTC in New York, USA, May 11-15, with complete results. I was only there the first day, but it looked like it was run well. It is hopeful that we can attract stronger players to these ITTF Feeder events in the US - the top seed in Men's Singles (and eventual winner) was Chuang Chih-Yuan (TPE, world #25), and the top seed in Women's Singles was Shin Yubin (KOR, also world #25).
For something like this, you'd think there would be all sorts of news items on the USATT news page, but there aren't any, at least on the front page of the news page, going back to April 4. Shouldn't there be news articles promoting this event, as well as reporting the results? (There hasn't been a new news item there since May 6, and before that you have to go back to April. Remember when they used to have daily news there from around the US and the world?)
ADDENDUM: On Thursday night, May 19, three days after I wrote the above, five WTT news items on the WTTs finally went up on the USATT news page - all dated so they appear to have gone up on May 8, 9, 10, 15, and 16. I think they each went up on the ITTF/WTT news page on those dates. Why didn't USATT put these links up on our news page immediately, on the day of publication at WTT, before they became old news?
Here are two articles from Steve Hopkins on the Butterfly news page:
I went up on the first day with Ryan Lin and his dad. Ryan, 12 and about 2200, was there just for experience. He lost his only match (why is it SE instead of RR?), and we spent the rest of the day watching and doing homework. (I pointed out some of Chuang's techniques in his doubles matches, and others.)
One big nit - when a rule leads to a bad result, change the rule. They have a one-size-fits-all rule where a coach has to pay $300 for coaching accreditation to coach any matches. It doesn't matter if you are there to coach one match on one day, or coach lots of matches all five days! So, if I wanted to coach the US #1 12-year-old in his one match, we'd have had to pay $300 in addition to his $300+ entry fee. It wasn't worth it - $300 will get you 6-7 hours training with a 2600 player - so he played the match without a coach. I had to sit in the stands and watch. His opponent, a Canadian, had a Canadian national coach coaching him - it's cost effective for him to pay $300 since he'll be coaching a number of matches all five days. Seriously, there should be a daily coaching fee. Otherwise, it's like going to a nice restaurant and being told if you want one meal, you have to buy five days' worth of meals. (Plus, couldn't we negotiate some sort of break so USATT certified coaches don't have to pay so much? We already have to pay $75 annual "Pro" membership, an annual $50 coaching fee, pass SafeSport, and a background check. Now I have to play $300 to coach a top junior in his one match, right here in the US?) On the trip up and back, we took a break halfway each time and tossed a frisbee around for 15 minutes. That was fun! It's also becoming a tradition during our long drives to tournaments in NY, NJ, OH, and NC.
USATT Visits the White House
Here's the photo gallery.
Butterfly Training Tips
How to Train a Good Serve
Here's the article by Jeffrey Zeng (one of my fellow coaches at MDTTC).
New from Samson Dubina
Power is the Least Useful Skill at Lower Levels
Here's the article by Tom Lodziak.
New from the Performance Biomechanics Academy Table Tennis
New from Ti Long
Ask the Coach
Here are the latest questions from PingSkills.
New from Taco Backhand
ITTF News
Quadri Aruna
German League Rematch: Dusseldorf and Saarbrucken Advance to Final
Here's the article by Steve Hopkins.
Daniel González Ascends into the Top 100 World Ranking
Here's the article. The Puerto Rican player currently resides in NYC.
Sportageous Talks to Ecuadorian Pro Table Tennis Player Alberto Mino
Here's the article. "Ecuadorian table tennis player, Alberto Mino, talks about the Tokyo Olympics, being Ecuador #1, and the psychology of table tennis."
Ma Long Plays Insane Table Tennis
Here's the video (2:56).
The TT Point of the Century?
Here's the video (48 sec) of the point between Ma Long and Dimitrij Ovtcharov.
Best Women's Rallies of All Time
Here's the video (12:22)!
Useful Backhands from the Best Matches in the World
Here's the video (4:16).
Unstoppable Shots from the Best Matches in the World
Here's the video (3:00).
Taking Table Tennis to the Next Level
Here's the video (55 sec) from World Table Tennis.
Samuel Walker vs Tom Jarvis | FINAL | 2022 England National Championships
Here's the video (12:16). (Pitchford and Drinkhall did not play.)
Real Tennis Player VS Ping Pong Player
Here's the video (5:25). "Today I [Illya Marchenko] accepted a challenge from Slovakian table tennis player Lubomir Pistej."
Gov't to the Rescue of Table Tennis Team Stranded in Dom Rep
Here's the story from the Jamaica Observer.
Singapore Loses 0-3 to Thailand Ending Streak
Here's the story from Channel News Asia. "Singapore loses 0-3 to Thailand in 31st SEA Games table tennis women's team, ending 9 consecutive gold streak."
Saturday Evening Post Ping-Pong Cartoons
Here they are!
New from Pongfinity!
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