Tip of the Week
Move In to Cut Off the Angles with Quick Blocks.

Balance and Recovery
During coaching sessions yesterday I spent some time harping on balance. Way too often, when moving to the wide corners, players go off balance, either because they are reaching instead of stepping, or because they step, but not far enough. And so they hit the next shot off-balance, leading to a weak and erratic shot. Perhaps even worse is it leaves them unable to return quickly to ready position, so they aren't ready for the next shot.

What seems to happen to many players is they learn to make these slightly off-balance shots somewhat consistently, and so it becomes a habit. The problem, besides the loss of power, is that because they are off balance from that shot, it takes time to recover the balance to move back into position – and so they are late on the next shot. And then they scream, "I'm so slow!!!" It's not a slowness problem; it's a technique problem, caused by faulty feedback. Instead of realizing they are missing the next shot because of a balance problem that leads to slow recovery, they think it's natural slowness, and don't fix the problem.

Often staying balanced while moving to the wide corners is a simple matter of taking a longer step so as to keep your center of gravity between your legs. By doing so, you stay balanced, and can recover almost immediately for the next shot. And then, as if by magic, you'll think you've suddenly gotten faster! (An expanded version of this will probably become a future Tip of the Week.)

Need 50 Reviews on Amazon
Today I'm asking a favor of readers – in particular those who have read (and liked!) my book Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers. Amazon has a rather complicated algorithm for ranking books, and I attended a seminar on this recently. The speaker wasn't from Amazon, was actually another writer who had investigated it, and he'd come up with some interesting conclusions.

One of the interesting things he said is that books are ranked more by 4- and 5-star reviews than by sales. I'd heard this before, so this was verification. I also learned that it goes up in the rankings if the 4- and 5-star reviews get a lot of people clicking "yes" on the "Was this review helpful to you?" question at the end of each review.  

But another thing I learned – which I'd also heard and have read others say – is that a "magical" thing happens once your book gets 50 reviews, assuming most are 4- and 5-star reviews – it shoots up in rankings, shows up more as a "suggested book," and other nice things. The book currently has 39 reviews – 32 are 5-star, 6 are 4-star, and there's one 3-star. So the current average is 4.8. Now if I can only keep that average but get 50 reviews!

So here's my request – and there are really two of them. (Note that it doesn't matter if you do the review on the print or kindle version, all the reviews are listed on both.)

1. If you've read the book, and like it, please give a short review and a starred review – hopefully 5-star! The review can be a single sentence; you don't need to spend much time on this. To do this, simply go to the review section for Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers.  
2. Click "yes" on the "Was this review helpful to you?" question on all the 4- and 5-star reviews.

Tao Wenzhang & Lily Zhang, California State Table Tennis Champions
Here's the article and results. (As of this writing, not all the Sunday results are listed, including Men's and Women's Singles.)

State Championships
This next weekend is the New York State Championships and the Alabama State Championships!

Top 8 Common Table Tennis Mistakes and How You Can Overcome Them
Here's the article from GreenPaddle.com.

Tom's Table Tennis Newsletter
Here's the newsletter from Coach Tom Lodziak with a number of coaching tips:

• Can you pass my consistency test?
• Tactics for beating a blocker
• What went wrong with my season?
• Time for practice (five tips)

Nutrition Session for Table Tennis Athletes by Michiyo Kimura (PhD)
Here's the video (19:05).

The World's First Brain Training Experience
Here's a review of ttEDGE app. (Also see interview about the app with Coach Brett Clarke underneath.)

Develop Sharp Minds / Mental Alertness
Here's the article that features table tennis. There have been a lot of articles on this recently.

First for Gujarat State, Not First for India, Numbers Growing at Rapid Rate
Here's the ITTF article.

MHTT Training Video Blog Kicks Off
Here's the article from Matt Hetherington, with links to videos featuring two days of training (16:07 and 14:15 long).

Dropping the Double Reverse
Here's the video (12 sec) from Matt Hetherington. The first is a standard reverse pendulum serve, but watch the second for a great surprise variation!

Incredible 41-Shot Rally
Here's the video (78 sec) as Nigeria's Aruna Quadri lobs and fishes back shot after shot. (I may have linked to this one once before, but it's still fun to watch.)

Mima Ito in Waldner Mode?
Here's the video (36 sec) as she plays a chopper.

Olympic Qualification 2016 MA Long VS FAN Zhendong
Here's the video (13:39), with Adam Bobrow doing the commentary.

2016 Butterfly Cary Cup Highlights
Here's the video (10:52).

Dr. Horrible vs. Bad Horse at Ping Pong
Here's the hilarious music video (1:45)!

Mexican Team Members Building Wall for Trump?
Here's the picture. I'm not sure that six-inch net will keep the Mexicans out.

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USA Nationals
So . . . are you going? Here's the entry form! Online registration will open later at the 2016 USA Nationals home page.

This year there is a record 100 events, something for everyone. They include "Championship Events" (Men's and Women's Singles, Doubles, Mixed Doubles, and singles and doubles age events ranging from 10 & Under to Over 85); Rating Events (ranging from Unrated and Under 1000 to Under 2400, often split into Adult and Junior events, plus rating doubles events from Under 2700 to Under 4200); ten Hardbat and two Sandpaper events; and five Paralympic events. All entries get a free USA Nationals t-shirt.

One of the nice features of the Nationals are the venders. There'll be a lot of them! Sure, you can do your shopping online, but there's something different about being there in person, where you can browse over the merchandise in your hands. Lots and Lots and LOTS of table tennis stuff on sale! Just browsing the lines and lines of rackets and sponge can take half a day, and then there's all the other stuff – balls, shoes, clothing, towels, books (BOOKS!!!), videos, and all sorts of miscellaneous stuff – including my books. (I can autograph them.)

Next to playing, probably the best thing about the Nationals is the 1000 other table tennis people who will be there - those you know personally, those you will meet, and the many table tennis legends who will be there. Most will be happy to hobnob with you and sign autographs. USATT officials will also be there if you have anything to discuss.

The official hotels are the Flamingo and the Linq. Both have discounted prices for the tournament, plus those who stay at them get free entry to one event; free transportation on the monorail (which is easy to use – I used it extensively at the last Nationals); $25 food and beverage credit; and a free USATT ratings pin.

I'm told there are other fun things to do in Las Vegas, but I don't know anything about that.

I'll be there mostly to coach, sell my table tennis books (see me at the Butterfly booth!), and attend various meetings, but I'll likely play as well. I'm basically retired from tournaments, but (as I've blogged before) I usually play in the hardbat events at the Open and Nationals. I'll likely play Over 40 Hardbat (which I've won four times, along with Hardbat Singles twice) and Hardbat Doubles (which I've won 13 times, mostly with Ty Hoff). Ty and I will likely play doubles again, both in hardbat and in Over 50 Men's Doubles, probably my only sponge event. (I normally use sponge, and that's how I coach.) We made the quarterfinals of Over 50 Men's Doubles at the last Nationals, losing in five (yes, 3-2) to the top seeds, Chu Bin Hai/Li Yu Xiang.

I'm bringing my infamous clipboard to take on challenges. (I mostly chop and pick hit.) There was a ten-year period where I raised about $5000 for USATT junior development with it – I'd take on challenges from anyone rated under 2000, and give them 2-1 odds. I'd put $40 on the table, they'd put $20, and we'd play. During those ten years, I only lost to one player – Bruce Liu, rated 1999 one of the times – who won 11-9 in the third both times (!), but donated the money to USATT junior development anyway. So I never actually lost money this way while winning about 200 matches in a row against sub-2000 players. (Many of the challengers were well under 2000, but I probably beat 50 players over 1900 in a row along the way, other than Bruce. We also had a few matches for more than $20, including a pair of $600 challenge matches I won!) At 56, my level is down a bit, but I'm still pretty confident against anyone under 2000. (I've beaten players over 2300 with the clipboard.)

So come to play . . . spectate . . . shop . . . meet friends and other TT people . . . meet the celebs . . . and whatever else people do in Las Vegas! (Did I mention my books will be on sale?)

Secrets of the Chinese - The Fastest Way to Learn a New Table Tennis Skill
Here's the article. This is basically a version of Saturation Training.

Long Pimples Simplified
Here's the article.

Vote for Kanak Jha for The Best of April 2016 Male Olympic/Paralympic Athlete of the Month
Here's the USATT link. (Deadline to vote is May 9.)

Watch the California State Championship Live This Sunday!
Here's the info page with links.

Meiklejohn North American Seniors Open
Here's the entry form. The tournament, at Laguna Woods, CA, June 2-5, is for senior players only, with age events from Over 40 to Over 80, and $16,000 in prize money.

How a South Bay Community Center Became an Olympic Launchpad
Here's the article and video (2:18).

Olympic Qualification 2016 MA Long vs ZHANG Jike
Here's the video (11:14, time between points removed).

History of Olympic Table Tennis
Here's the video (3:25), showing great points from the past, set to music.  

Warren Buffett, Bill Gates & Ariel Hsing Playing Ping Pong at 2016 Berkshire Hathaway Meeting
Here's the video (1:44).

International Table Tennis
Here's my periodic note (usually every Friday) that you can great international coverage at TableTennista (which especially covers the elite players well) and at the ITTF home page (which does great regional coverage). Butterfly also has a great news page.

Champ Vs. Trump
Here's the teaser (37 sec) starring Judah Friedlander and The Donald!

Pong Angry!
Here's the picture of an angry racket!

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Down-the-Line Pushes, Chop Blocks, and Other Adventures
Yesterday I was showing a student how you can mess up an opponent when receiving a short backspin serve to the backhand by, at the last second, dropping the racket tip and pushing short or long to the forehand. The server reacts to your racket aiming to his backhand, and so is caught off guard when you make the last-second change. Why more players don't do this I've never figured out; it's incredibly effective.

But then he began experimenting, and when I served sidespin-topspin to his backhand, he did the same thing, chop-blocking the ball down the line. It's another effective shot that few use. I found myself struggling to react to the shot, even though it was right there, to my forehand, and I've got a pretty good forehand. I've used the same shot against others, but only occasionally have others tried it against me.

Why was it so effective? Three things are happening, all causing varying degrees of calamity. First, as noted above, he'd aim to my backhand until the last second, and then change directions to the forehand. This causes the muscle memory to prematurely react to a ball to the backhand, and so you get caught off guard when it goes to the forehand. Second, since we're mostly expecting a topspin return, muscle memory again misdirects us, leading us to move to a position a step or so off the table – but since it's instead a softer backspin return (with the backspin further deadening the shot), we end up too far off the table, and so are stuck reaching for a ball dropping in front of us. And third, since we're not expecting backspin, we're caught with our racket too high, and have to last-second drop it.

Many players will have no problem with such shots, so guess what? You don't use such tactics against them. But for the rest of us, change-ups like this are highly effective, both the ones mentioned here and others. If you limit yourself only to shots and tactics that give everyone trouble, you will be greatly limiting your game.

ITTF PTT Level 1 Coaching Course Fremont
Here's the info page on the course, taught by Shashin Shodhan. The course will be June 6-10 in Fremont, CA. (I will likely be running one at MDTTC this fall – the more coaches the better!)

Better Aging Through Practice, Practice, Practice
Here's the article from the New York Times, which is actually about tennis – but as Coach Jon Gustavson says, just replace "tennis" with "table tennis" as you read it.

Coach/Team Leader Selection Procedures for 2016 Olympic Games
Here's the info from USATT.

Sidorenko Vladimir: Two best points at the 2016 Russia Cadets Championship
Here's the video (39 sec). That's a nice first point!

Superb Liu Shiwen and Xu Xin win all China 2016 Asian Cup Table Tennis Finals
Here are the videos (5:01 and 6:18).

2016 Asian Cup Highlights: Zhang Jike vs Wong Chun Ting (SF)
Here's the video (5:18, time between points removed).

Buffet and Gates
Here's the repeating gif image of the two recently playing doubles against an unseen Ariel Hsing at the 2016 Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting. Here's an article and pictures of the same event in 2015, also with these three.

Tom "Loki" Hiddleston Playing Table Tennis
Here he is as Loki, and in real life. (Here's the non-Facebook version.) Loki is the evil brother of Thor in the Avengers series.

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USATT National Team System
Here's the new document with the USATT Statement of Core Beliefs, Team Selection Procedures, and National Team Funding Methodology. The document is 10 pages long. Pages 2-9 are about the selection procedures for the USA National Junior, Cadet, and Mini Cadet Teams, and page 10 is about funding for team members. The first page is perhaps of most interest to readers. Below is the text from page 1, starting with the Henry Ford quote.

Perhaps the most important of these is #3, about creating a "team first" culture. At various times in the past, countries such as Hungary, Sweden, Korean, and Japan challenged and beat the Chinese – and they did so by working as a team. It's somewhat eyebrow-raising, for example, that I can give a lecture on how to play most of the top USA junior players that juniors from my club often face, but have no real idea about the top juniors from China, Japan, Germany, etc. Why? Because the focus right now is on beating other USA players. That's not going to completely go away, but once we have a core group of up-and-coming players who really can challenge their rivals from around the world, it's key that our top coaches know these rivals so they can train our players to beat them, both strategically (long-term development) and tactically (tactics at the table).

An example of strategic development comes from watching our top juniors compete against their rivals. There's been much discussion of this among coaches (usually informally), and there's a general consensus that while our players can match up in a number of ways, they are behind in physical training and receive. So guess what we need to focus on? But it's not enough to focus on fixing weaknesses; we also have to focus on developing overpowering strengths – and sometimes the best way of doing that is to work so hard at a weakness that it becomes an overpowering strength. Like physical fitness and receive!

"Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success."
-Henry Ford

The National Team System will focus on a “52-week approach,” with an emphasis on teamwork, collaboration, coordination, and commitment. By better leveraging our collective system-wide resources, we will provide our athletes, coaches and key stakeholders with the necessary tools to develop and sustain competitive excellence. Simply put, our staff, coaches, clubs, players and families must work as one with a collective goal of systematic international competitive excellence.

How We Will Achieve This

1. Professionalize the National Team System;
2. Clearly articulate the goals, procedures, priorities and expectations;
3. Create a “team first” culture among athletes, coaches, clubs, and parents;
4. Develop a system-wide approach to elite player and coaching development with a strong emphasis on coordination, integration and interaction;
5. Utilize technology to enable collaboration among key stakeholders;
6. Reduce the importance of team trials events in selecting national teams, particularly among younger players with a stronger emphasis on development;
7. Provide continuity and expand participation by increasing team sizes and qualification opportunities;
8. Hire high quality national coaches to work in a system to work regularly with team members, parents, local/regional coaches, and clubs;
9. Produce programs and camps designed to build team spirit, monitor physical fitness, playing techniques, and mental strength;
10. Provide training tools and programs to supplement local training programs; and
11. Be more efficient and effective with funding by placing a greater emphasis on ability, potential, and commitment to excellence.

USA Nationals Entry Form
Here it is! The tournament will be held July 4-9 in Las Vegas. This year there are exactly 100 events - I think that's a record. And for those not keeping track, yes, they flipped the Nationals and Open, with the Open now in December. There were several reasons for this, but the biggest was the problem kids had in attending the Nationals in December due to its proximity to final exams. Hope to see you all there!

California State Championships
They are this weekend, at the ICC in Milpitas. Finally, our biggest state has a State Championship! (With the New York State Championships the following weekend! As well as the Alabama State Championships!)

How to Play Table Tennis
Here's the ITTF series of eight videos, averaging about three minutes each. They include Service Basics; Reverse Pendulum Backspin Serve; Forehand Topspin; Backhand Drive; Backhand Topspin; Forehand Drive; Service Receive; and Block.

Important Positioning Tips
Here's the coaching article from former USA National Team Member Judy Hugh.

Ma Long Multiball
Here's video (30 min) of Ma Long doing multiball a year ago. Lots to study here!

JOOLA and HW Global Encourage Young Players
Here's the article that features one of the junior programs at MDTTC, for the most talented and hardest working players from ages 7-10.

Gordon Kaye Interview at ICC Table Tennis Center
Here's the interview (2 min) with the USATT CEO.

Table Tennis Coaching's Dynamic Duo: Interview with Jeff and Alois from PingSkills
Here's the interview (with links to numerous videos) from MH Table Tennis.

Getting To Know Michael Landers
Here's the video (6 min).

Is the Tech Bubble Popping? Ping Pong Offers an Answer
Here's the article from the Wall Street Journal.

Dubina Table Tennis Academy Grows Table Tennis in Northeast Ohio
Here's the USATT article.

11 Questions with Patrick Hrdlicka
Here's the USATT interview.

Interview with Gavin Evans: Bulletproof Table Tennis
Here's the podcast (53:18) from Expert Table Tennis. In this episode you’ll learn:

• Gavin’s first memories of table tennis as a five-year-old [1:00]
• How Gavin improved so quickly and overtook his brothers [4:00]
• Gavin’s experience of playing in China [12.00]
• What it was like being part of the England team as a cadet [15:00]
• What to do when you’re not playing your best table tennis [24:00]
• All about Gavin’s injury problems as a junior [30:00]
• Gavin’s advice for dealing with adversity in table tennis and life [34:00]
• What life is like for Gavin now [40:00]
• Gavin’s Top Tip – Build a bulletproof body [44:00]
• How to contact/follow Gavin [50:00]

The Perfect Match: Timo Boll and KUKA
Here's the video (80 sec).

Susan Sarandon and James Corden Battle Kids in Ping Pong
Here's the video (90 sec) from the Late Show! Susan and James talk trash with the kids.

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Tip of the Week
React to Opponent's Swing.

Serve, Loop, and Follow Drill
Here's a basic drill I'm having a number of students do. It's a basic serve & attack drill, with minor restrictions. Starting at the intermediate level, the most common rally is where the server serves backspin, the receiver pushes, and the server loops. Let's take that one shot further.

The basic drill is similar. Server serves short backspin. Receiver pushes long to the side the server needs practice on (forehand or backhand). Server then loops, usually to a pre-arranged spot. Receiver's first block is also (not always) pre-arranged, often to the wide forehand. Then you POP – play out point. (POP is the shorthand I've used for decades.)

For example, server may serve backspin short to backhand; receiver pushes to middle; server loops forehand to receiver's backhand; receiver blocks to wide forehand; server moves wide and loops or smashes, and then POP.

There are endless variations. One important one is where receiver randomly pushes to either side, so server can practice looping from both wings (or all forehand if he's very, very fast), and learn to react to different placements. Receiver can also push quick to the middle, so server has to make a quick decision between forehand or backhand attack.

Other variations include the server's first loop going down the line, or looping anywhere. Sometimes receiver might throw in a short push so server has to react to that as well. There are endless variations. But before choosing which variation to do, ask yourself what exactly in your game needs work, and work that into the drill.

My Trip Back from Ravencon in Williamsburg
"Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip…" Yes, my trip back from Ravencon was like Gilligan's Island – a three-hour tour that took 6.5 hours. (I wrote about Ravencon on Thursday – see "Now the science fiction stuff…".)

Apparently there was a 16-car pile-up on I-95, and traffic at one point was frozen for nearly 200 miles. I was parked in one spot almost continuously for over three hours. After being parked for a while I turned on the radio as the Baltimore Orioles were about to start a game – and my car didn't move until the ninth inning! I left Williamsburg at 11AM, expecting to be back by 2PM, and ready to teach my 4PM junior class. Instead, I had to call ahead and get others to sub for me. I arrived home around 5:30PM.

One ramification – as I've blogged in the past, one thing I'm proud of is that in the 24 years since MDTTC opened in 1992, in something like 20,000+ sessions, I've been late exactly twice – once because I had my schedule mixed up, and once because a traffic accident blocked traffic (like this time). Well, this makes three times, i.e. once every eight years. (Another side problem – I strained my right knee slightly while carrying a box of my books up some stairs.) I did sell a bunch of my novel ("Campaign 2100: Game of Scorpions"), and had a great time on panels.

Capital Area League
We had our second meet of the season this past Saturday at Smash TT in Virginia. Here are the results and standings! There are 24 teams and 127 players this season in this rapidly growing league. Next meetup is May 14 at MDTTC.

Ryu Seung Min on Forehand Footwork
Here's the article (with links to video) from MH Table Tennis.

Don't Copy Him!
Here's the new coaching article from Samson Dubina.

The Best Table Tennis Training Camps
Here's the new article from Expert Table Tennis. MDTTC (my club) is one of the camps listed.

10 Things I’ve Learned About Running a Table Tennis Coaching Business
Here's the new article from Coach Jon.

Li Jia Wei's Serves
Here's a video (2:29) where she demonstrates her serve. The first 20 sec they seem to be putting on makeup and talking in Chinese, then they get to her serves. Li was a former Singapore star who reached #3 in the world in 2005.

2016 Asian Cup: Liu Shiwen Regains Title
Here's the article.

USA Masters Games
Here's info on the table tennis events, July 28-31 in Greensboro, NC.

Table Tennis Trainer 3000
Here's the article and video (2:16) from Thomas Mayer. "The basic idea of my bachelor thesis was to track the ping pong ball in realtime to create data visualisations for trainers and players. After a few weeks of working I started developing a projected mapped interface for the ping pong table to show the collected data. By projecting game obstacles on the surface I figured out that I can change the game play totally."

History of U.S. Table Tennis, Volume 17 (1989-1990)
Here's chapter 7! Or order your own print copies at TimBogganTableTennis.com.

This Isn't Your Usual Game of Ping-Pong
Here's the article from the Fay Observer that features the Cape Fear TTC in North Carolina.

2016 Asian Cup Army Competition
Here's a nice match (3:08) between Feng Tianwei (world #7 from Singapore) and Tie Yana (world #20 from Hong Kong).

Chinese Players Attacked by Ping-Pong Balls
Here's the video (12 sec)!

Popeye and Bluto Play Ping-Pong
Here's the hilarious new cartoon (4:46)!

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No blog today - while out of town this weekend (since Friday morning), I broke an old tooth filling, and so am off to see the dentist this morning. Plus I have a todo list longer than the Great Wall of China (which I visited in less busy times), and it didn't help that my three-hour car drive back from Williamsburg took 6.5 hours (due to 16-car pileup on I-95), and I had to then rush over to the club to coach, and so didn't get home until late last night...I'll be back to blogging tomorrow!

No Blog on Friday
I'll be out of town at Ravencon - see segment below under "Now the science fiction stuff…"

Happenings
First the serious stuff…

• I wrote about how Sameer had a great tournament this past weekend, going from 1528 to 1826. He dominated with his serves, but I see a great opening for him if he develops his reverse pendulum serves – which we're going to focus on in today's session. He also had some trouble with players who played aggressively with deader surfaces, and so I'm going to pull out a sheet of short pips for him to practice against. There's a couple of other things he needs work on, but I can't write about them here or others might tactically use them against him!
• Another student, Matt, is developing an inside-out backhand sidespin loop that you have to see to believe. Every time he pulls off this shot I practically freeze, as I'm not used to seeing it, and my muscle memory doesn't know what to do. I keep telling him this shot will make him world champion, and that the shot has no future. That way I'm covered no matter what happens.
• Recently a number of up-and-coming players at MDTTC have discovered the adjustable serving bar John Olsen had made for me a few years ago. You set the bar at various heights and serve under it, which forces you to learn to serve low to the net. (Here's a picture at a high setting, and here at a low setting.) Now they bring it out every day to practice with.

Now the funny stuff…

• While coaching yesterday one of my students, age 10, got it into his mind that he wanted to do an under-the-leg shot. But he timed it wrong, and smacked his playing hand into his foot. He had to walk around for a bit, waving his hand in pain. Table tennis is a dangerous sport.
• One of the kids in one of my junior classes (age 9) is a big World War II history buff. He knows everything about it! (Just yesterday he was lecturing me on the differences between the German Tiger tank and the American Sherman tank.) Yesterday, during a break, I made the following aside to him: "Do you realize that Adolf Hitler died in 1945, seven years before the introduction of sponge rubber – and so he never knew about table tennis sponge or looping?" I also (jokingly) explained that no one knows whether Hitler ever played table tennis, that it was one of the ongoing mysteries "lost to the ravages of time." After the session I had a 30-minute English tutoring session with him, where he was to work on his creative writing. So what did he write about? His story was "Trump vs. Hitler," and imagined a huge battle between the two – where both were zombies! It ended with them teaming up. Then I show up in the story, only to get nuked as they win World War II. But then three others from the group session came over and wanted to write something – and soon we had four different stories, all involving Hitler and Trump! I featured prominently in three of them. In one, Trump introduces me to Hitler, and I give Hitler a World War II history book, and he then uses it to win the war. It ends with Hitler nuking me (they like to nuke me), and he and Trump rule the world. Another involves me battling with Hitler, and he somehow turns my arm into a zombie arm, and I get strangled by my own arm. (On a side note, mocking Trump has been an ongoing source of amusement for the kids. Maybe they got that from me.) 

Now the movie stuff…

• On Tuesday night I saw the movie "Eye in the Sky." (Great movie.) There was a nice table tennis scene where they have to contact the U.S. Secretary of State, who's in China. When they reach him, he's at some table tennis event, with the press videoing him as he plays in some table tennis training hall with a group of players, all dressed stereotypically in all red. One "distraction" for me was that one of the characters was Gavin Hood – and he's the spitting image of Jan-Ove Waldner! (As a fiction writer myself, I saw the ending way in advance, but I won't spoil that for you.) There were also scenes of the late Alan Rickman that were is reminiscent of some USATT board meetings as he argues with bureaucrats.
• I have a long history of strange things happening to me at movie theaters – perhaps because I see so many, better than one per week. It's not table tennis, but perhaps I should blog about these incidents over the years at theaters, such as: getting sucker-punched by someone, who I clobbered (I have boxing experience), and he ran away; a huge fight breaking out a few rows behind me; someone systematically destroying my bike while I was watching a movie; and sitting in a vast, empty theater to watch a movie, and at the last minute someone I don't know comes in – and sits right next to me! (That inspired a science fiction story I wrote recently, but haven't sold yet.)

Now the science fiction stuff…

• This weekend (Fri-Sun) I'll be a panelist at the Ravencon Science Fiction Convention in Williamsburg, Virginia, about three hours away. I'll be there to promote my SF novel, Campaign 2100: Game of Scorpions. (As I've blogged many times, it has a lot of table tennis.) I'm on four panels, plus a "book launch" party and reading for the novel. The panels I'm on are: "First Contact and Politics" (I'm the moderator for this one); "Time Travel: Essential Books and Stories"; "Worldbuilding: Creating Fictional Political Systems"; and "Writing Humorous SF." Here's my Ravencon Writer Guest Bio. (I was originally helping with a writing workshop for writers on Sunday, but I had to drop out of that so I can drive back in time for my Sunday afternoon coaching classes, which run from 4-8PM.)
• Because I'll be leaving early Friday morning for the convention, I won't have a blog on Friday. 
• Want to know how to support a table tennis and science fiction writer? Buy his books!!!

Upcoming State Championships
This weekend is the Arizona State Championships!

The Professional Backhand and Radio Interview
Here's the new coaching video (1:44) from Samson Dubina. And here's his radio interview with WAKR, where he talks about Akron table tennis.

Ask the Coach Show
Episode #259 (19:55) - Keeping It Low (and other segments).

Strengthening Wrists: Tips and Exercises [for Table Tennis]
Here's the article (with links to video).

Hand (Body) – Eye Coordination (for Table Tennis)
Here's the article. "Eyes on the ball, a racket in hand, table tennis naturally promotes the coordination of the eye and body and ultimately the hand, with which the player strikes, strokes, spins, smashes, brushes, blocks, chop, chip, and return the ball to the opponent's side of the table."

Super Smart Ping Pong Table Teaches You How to Play Like a Pro
Here's the article and video (2:16) on this new "smart" table.

Jimmy Fallon Pays Tribute to Prince
Here's the article and video (9:15). "Jimmy celebrates the life and music of Prince by sharing a memorable story of when the Purple One randomly challenged him to a game of ping-pong."

Asia's Top Players Getting Ready for the Nakheel 2016 ITTF-Asian Cup
Here's the video (15:42). How many do you recognize?

Xi En Chamber Demonstrates "Shaking Ball"
Here's the video (2:03) – it's in Chinese, but interesting to watch the trick shot he demos, and other footage.

2016 All America Over 40 Tour Vegas Valley Over 40 Table Tennis Open
Here's the USATT article.

International Table Tennis
Here's my periodic note (usually every Friday) that you can great international coverage at TableTennista (which especially covers the elite players well) and at the ITTF home page (which does great regional coverage). Butterfly also has a great news page.

The Five Excuses When Losing at Table Tennis
Here's the new chart from Mike Mezyan. (Here's the non-Facebook version.)

Ping-Pong Time-Stopping Exhibition
Here's the video (1:38) – watch what happens about 15 sec in! (I might have linked to this before, long ago.)

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No Safe Lead
Here are some comebacks I've seen or heard about, including some recent ones. The key to a great comeback? Mental strength; good serve and receive choices; and general tactical play. You're near the end of a long match, so at that point if you don't know what serves, receives, and other tactics to use, you haven't been paying attention.

• At the Cassel's Giant RR in Virginia this past weekend, the player I was coaching, 14-year-old Sameer Shaikh, twice was down 2-7 in the fifth, and each time scored eight in a row. In one of them, despite the 10-7 match point lead against a player over 300 points higher, he still lost. (Despite that, his rating still went from 1528 to 1826.)
• At the USA Nationals in December, Derek Nie was up 9-2 in the fifth on Sharon Alguetti, and lost nine in a row. But this past weekend at the Westchester Open, he turned the tables – Sharon led 9-0 in the fifth, and Derek won in deuce!
• Back in 1977, 13-year-old Curt Kronlage (rated 1677, son of USATT Hall of Famer Yvonne Kronlage) won the first and was up 20-6 match point in the second against Sid Jacobs (a chopper rated 1858) – and lost 16 in a row, and the third game, 21-14. I was watching much of the match, but didn't realize what was happening at the time.
• I've been told that at one Worlds, Hungary's Istvan Jonyer and Tibo Klampar were up 20-8 match point in the fifth in Men's Doubles against a pair of Chinese – I think Cai Zhenhua and Li Zhenshi, but not sure – and lost. Jonyer was apparently so mad at Klampar that he dropped him as a doubles partner and began playing with Gabor Gergely.
• At the U.S. Team Trials in the mid-1990s, Brian Masters was up 20-10 match point on Jim Butler, but lost. I saw the match.
• I once had to spot 45 points to a player in handicap singles, one game to 51. I tied it up at 47-all, outscoring him 47-2 – and lost, 53-51!
• In the Under 2300 Final at a tournament in Pittsburgh in the early 1990s, I fell behind 10-0 to Pat Cox in the third game (best of three). I scored ten in a row to tie it at 10-all and won 26-24!
• One stat I'm rather proud of – in my 40 years of play, I've come back from 20-15 match point down seven times; nobody's ever done it to me. (Yes, this dates me – I've never done it since games went to 11 in the early 2000's, but I've been mostly retired from tournaments in recent years.)

The Professional Forehand
Here's the new video (2:06) from Samson Dubina. The focus is on why the stroke is usually slightly circular.

Ask the Coach Show

• Episode #257 (19:21) - Closing Out a Match (and other segments).
• Episode #258 (20:54) - Wider Angles (and other segments).

Table Tennis Camp for Veterans with Disabilities and Members of the Armed Forces with Disabilities at the Maryland TTC
Here's the USATT info page on this camp I'll be running at MDTTC, June 6-8, 2016. We just organized it over the weekend.

Playing Style of Khaleel Asgarali
Here's the article from Table Tennis Spot. I got to watch Khaleel develop during his junior years in Maryland.

Interview with Kanak Jha
Here's the USATT interview by Rahul Acharay.

Navin Kumar: Defying the Odds
Here's the new article. I'm mentioned!

Tom Hanks Had Some CGI Help for His Forrest Gump Ping-Pong Scenes
Here's the article and video (2:56). Anyone know who the Chinese player is, "Valentine"?

UVA 20 Years and Still Going Strong
Here's the USATT article on the University of Virginia TTC.

History of U.S. Table Tennis, Vol. 17, Chapter 6
Here it is! ("Juniors Get Attention.") You can buy this or other volumes at TimBogganTableTennis.com.

Ping Pong Tournament in Military Park Brings Out Hundreds for Day of Fun and Games
Here's the article from Brick City Live.

Top Ten Shots of 2016
Here's the new video (4:33, set to music) from Charles Yang.

Whiff-Whaff Table Tennis Cartoon
Here it is!

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No blog today - as is my norm, when schools are out, I'm out! And today's election day here in Maryland. Let's all go out and vote for Donald Trump for the entertainment value, and so that in a few years, amidst the crumbling remnants of civilization, we can all smugly say to his supporters, "I told you so!" It's tempting, but I'm a moderate Democrat, so naah. 

Tip of the Week
Clean Your Racket.

Saturday Coaching at Cassels Giant Round Robin
I spent Saturday at SmashTT in Virginia at the Cassels Giant RR, coaching one of my students, 14-year-old Sameer Shaikh. Here's the tournament write-up and results, care of Director Michael Levene, who also runs and coaches at SmashTT. Sameer is featured in the writeup. The tournament ran well, and we had a great time! 

Sameer went in rated 1528, and looking for the breakthrough that he's been on the verge of for many months. The first step was getting into a good division. The format started with groups of four, with the top two going to Division A (two groups of ten players), and the next two to Division B. Sameer was seeded third, and so seeded for Division B. He faced a 1613-rated player to get into Division A. Complication #1 was that the player had short pips on the backhand, something Sameer wasn't used to playing. (How the sport has changed…) But with a few adjustments for these quick, dead shots, and a focus on keeping the ball deep (that's key when playing non-inverted surfaces), he won the match 3-1, and so advanced into Division A – where he'd be the lowest rated player. In fact, other than a 1650 player (122 points higher), the next lowest was 1813. So began his nine matches in Division A.

Things did not start well – in fact, after four matches, I was rather worried he was in for a disastrous day with his 0-4 start. Two of them were somewhat meaningless, against the top two seeds (both over 2200). Then he lost to an 1813 player who he had recently beaten at the MDTTC league. It was a match he thought he could win, so it was hard to get over it.

And then he played an 1856 player, with a Seemiller grip and long pips (though he rarely used them), and a surprisingly good forehand loop for a player in his 60s. Down 2-7 in the fifth, Sameer scored eight in a row! Redemption! His best win ever! Except . . . up 10-7 match point, and again up 11-10 (on a net dribbler), he couldn't convert any of the four match points, and lost the match. And so from the heights of near-glory with what would have been his best tournament win ever (by far), he was now at the lowest low, 0-4, and things were not looking good.

Long story short: He followed that by beating players rated 1814, 1846, and 1868! All three of them were five-gamers against three very different styles. (One a standard two-winged looper; one a penhold forehand looper and lobber; one a pure blocker and flat hitter. He had many great points, attacking from both wings. Often he'd mix in deep serves that opponents would struggle to return without giving Sameer a winner from either wing, or with short serves that he'd follow with loops, also from both wings. One of Sameer's strengths is he attacks and rallies well from both sides. (And did I mention his deep serves can be deadly?)

His last match was against the next lowest rated player in the group, rated 1650, but with rather flat shots that gave Sameer trouble. Next thing you know Sameer is down 2-7 in the fifth – and just as he had done earlier against the 1856 player, he scored eight in a row! Up match point 10-7 he misses an easy shot, and as he said later, memory of that previous match entered his mind. But he pulled off the next point to win.

Now it would have been easy focus on the match that got away, when he'd blown the four match points from up 10-7. But Sameer and I agreed that since he went 4-1 in five-gamers, he could accept blowing that one in return for pulling out the others. And so he had his breakthrough tournament. It'll likely be processed in the next day or so – USATT is getting fast on this – and he'll likely be rated about 1800, making him one of the top 14 and under players in Maryland. (UPDATE - he came out 1826.)

Now ratings are not particularly important, but they are useful in some ways, as long as you focus on the positive aspects. I always tell players that when your rating goes down, they are meaningless (the focus there should be on why you are not playing as well, not the number), but when they go up, they are fun. And they are also great motivators. I'd told Sameer back in his 1528 days (circa Friday) that the goal this year was to get over 1800. Well, it didn't take him long to get those 272 points! (Well, it'll be close – he'll be adjusted upwards, but not sure of the final numbers, since other players he played might be adjusted as well. Assuming no adjustments among opponents, he had wins over against players rated 1868, 1846, 1814, 1650, 1613, and 785, with losses to 2245, 2216, 2005, 1968, 1856, and 1813 (and so finished at 6-6, with five of the wins "upsets"). Not bad for a "1500" player!

Now the aftermath – from the tournament, there are several things Sameer needs to work on. Some I can mention, such as practice against flat shots, since they gave him trouble this tournament. Others I can't mention as opponents might be reading this! Plus there's a new service variation that we're adding to his repertoire, with the hope to spring it on the world in a few months.

Back Problems Again…
Yesterday I played for 90 minutes in a training session, where I hit with several players, including a chopper for 20 minutes. About half an hour afterwards my back said, "Psst, Larry! I'm on strike!" And that's when I felt a knife jammed into my back and jiggled about. (Apparently when my back goes on strike it lets knives come in . . . or something like that.) I could barely sleep last night because of it, and I almost skipped my blog this morning as it's painful just sitting and typing. (Actually, just existing is painful at the moment.) I'm going through Ibuprofen rather quickly, but that doesn't appear to help much. Anyway, I've got two hours of coaching scheduled today. One is just a multiball session, which I think I can do. The other is a private session that I'll have to cancel. (I'll message the student after I put up this blog – he might read it here first.)

New Coaching Articles from Samson Dubina

• Coaching Timo Boll: 7 Foundational Principles
• Friction (Parts 1 and 2).

How Can You Beat a Player One-Level Higher Than You?
Here's the new coaching article from the Green Paddle Academy.

Why Ping-Pong is Good for Your Brain
Here's the new article from the Mother Nature Network. There's been a lot of articles and videos on this lately! I might need to put together a list of links – I'd just do a search for "brain" on this blog, and that should find them all. Unless someone else wants to do it!

AAC Nomination Election for USATT Athletes’ Advisory Council
Here's info from USATT. "Candidates must have represented the United States in the Olympics, Paralympics, Pan American Games, Para Pan American Games, World Championships, or Para World Championships, as recognized by the ITTF, in the ten (10) years preceding January 1, 2017."

TableTennisDaily Podcast #9 - Jorgen Persson
Here's the video (50:06).

ITTF Pongcast - March 2016
Here's the video (14:09).

Getting to Know Prachi Jha
Here's the video interview (3:50) from Butterfly. Prachi is on the 2016 USA World Team.

Kansas City Club Can't Handle Me
Here's the new table tennis music video (3:52). From a coach's point of view, this was great! The video focuses on two little kids going to and competing in a tournament, set to music.  

Zak Abel - Everybody Needs Love
Here's the table tennis music video (3:16) from the British musician. The table tennis starts about 12 seconds in and continues throughout. (That's two great table tennis musicals in one day!) (Addendum: Mike Levene emailed me that Zak Abel was formerly Zak Zilesnick, a former member of the British junior or cadet national team. "Talent beyond belief but decided to go into Music industry! Probably 2400-2500.") 

Prince and Table Tennis
The late musician was known for his obsession with table tennis. I've blogged about this four times:

• Aug. 6, 2013
• Sept. 23, 2013
• Feb. 4, 2014
• May 29, 2014

Here are three links from USATT. And here's Prince, Ping Pong and Musicians’ Humdrum Hobbies from The Guardian.

If it wasn’t odd enough that Prince chose Lianne La Havas’ living room in Leyton to host a press conference, Prince’s passion for ping-pong revealed during his recent UK residency (and New Girl cameo) has also been an unlikely turn out.

Prince isn’t the only musician who loves a game of whiff whaff - Damon Albarn is also an avid table-based sportsman. “Everywhere I go I have to have a table tennis table. I love it; it’s a brilliant way to relax when you’re working,” he explained to the Radio Times in 2008. The Blur frontman enjoys the sport so much he even played against the Olympic British youth team.

Trudell and Kobe and Pau Ping-pong
Here's the video (19 sec). "Lakers Reporter Mike Trudell plays ping-pong with Kobe Bryant, and Pau Gasol shows off his ping-pong skills."

National East Meets West Day
It's today, and here's the cartoon by Steve Worthington to commemorate it.

The Lion Ping King?
Here's the picture!

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