Tip of the Week
Remember the Feel of the Good Shots.

Backspin/No-Spin Serves
We did some practice on this in my adult training session yesterday, 6:30-8:00 PM. Most of the players there could serve good backspin serves, but that becomes passé at a certain level – it needs variation. If you switch to sidespin or topspin, it's rather easy to attack. But a very low no-spin serve is hard to do much of anything with – and if it looks like backspin, it can be devastating.

When you serve backspin, at most levels you will most likely receive a long push return, and so you likely set up to loop, forehand or backhand. For some, that's enough. But why not get some "free" points as well? A low, heavy, short backspin serve is difficult to attack, and that's why it's usually pushed back. But it's also easy for the receiver to push it back low and heavy, and so while you get to loop, you don't get a really easy ball to go after. That's where no-spin comes in.

When you serve no-spin, there's a higher chance the receiver, if he reads it properly, will attack it. But most likely, if you've set him up by serving backspin previously, will push it back. And if he doesn't adjust by chopping down, the ball will tend to pop up, giving you an easy ball to put away. It'll also have less backspin, as there's no incoming backspin to rebound with backspin.

How do you serve a no-spin serve? With spin, you contact the ball with a grazing motion toward the tip of the racket, since that's the fastest moving part. For non-spin, do the same motion, but contact the ball near the handle, the slowest moving part. You might also pull back slightly at contact to really lighten the contact. But fake like it's heavy spin – I even like to grunt sometimes! There's a reason why a good no-spin serve is called "heavy no-spin" – you fake heavy spin (usually backspin) with a big motion but give no spin. If you just pat the ball over with no fake motion, it's just no-spin, and easy to read.

When serving no-spin, you should be prepared for the receiver to try to attack, but if you serve it very low to the net – that's imperative – it's actually very tricky to do so. If they do push it, be ready for it to be slightly high and with less backspin – and so be ready to rip! When you serve backspin, be ready to loop. When you serve no-spin, be ready to loop hard! Some players almost telegraph this – when they serve backspin, they look to loop from either side, but when they serve no-spin, they cheat to their backhand side and look to for an all-out forehand. I'm probably guilty of this, but most opponents are a bit too busy receiving to notice.

Here are four Tips of the Week related to this – some redundancy.

• Those Dizzying No-Spin Serves
• The Power of a Low, Short, No-Spin Serve
• Fast, Quick Motions Disguise a No-Spin Serve
• Use Simple No-Spin Serves in Doubles

The Real Rules of Table Tennis
Here's the hilarious new video (8:24) – you don't want to miss this! I usually put the humorous items at the end, but I'm putting this first.

Dima Ovtcharov Backhand Tutorial - Part 2
Here's the video (5:13). Here is Part 1 (5:38), from a month ago.

Tomahawk Serve Preview
Here's the new video (1:47) from PingSkills.

The Amazing Serve of Kenta Matsudaira
Here's the video (69 sec) of the world #28 from Japan.

Table Tennis Serves in Slow Motion at the 2015 Swedish Open
Here's the video (2:01).

Bohan Zhang Wins 2016 Butterfly Cary Cup
Here's the home page for the event held this past weekend in Cary, NC, where you can get results, pictures, and video. (See "Results & Photos" for Days 1-3.) Here are articles by Barbara Wei.

• Bohan Zhang Wins 2016 Butterfly Cary Cup
• Top 16 Seeds Advance to Single Elimination Rounds at 2016 Butterfly Cary Cup
• North American Olympic Qualifier Participants Compete at 2016 Butterfly Cary Cup
• Butterfly Cary Cup Showcases Top East Coast Table Tennis Talent (also posted last week)

Good Sport
Here's the article on USATT Hall of Famer Dr. Michael Scott, subtitled, "94-year-old medical alumnus has traveled the world as a physician and table tennis champion."

MDTTC Newsletter
Here's the April issue. (I'm the editor.)

Tom's Table Tennis Newsletter
Here's the April issue from Tom Lodziak.

Different Levels but Level of Enthusiasm Same for Back to Back Indian Courses
Here's the ITTF article on USA's Richard McAfee's latest coaching courses in India.

15-Year-old Diaz Secures Historic Olympic Qualification
Here's the ITTF press release on the first Puerto Rican table tennis Olympian.

The Drinkhall Family on BBC Saturday Sportsday
Here's the article and video (2:29). Paul Drinkhall of England is world #65.

Incredible Around-Net Shot Leave Ma Lin Speechless
Here's the video (26 sec, including slow motion replay).

Sidespin Counterlooping Double-Bounce Shot
Here's the video (60 sec).

Table Tennis Head Shots
Here's the new video (40 sec) where the pair from PingSkills try to knock cones off each other heads.

Legos Pong
Here's the picture!

Non-Table Tennis: Interview with Larry Hodges [science fiction writer]
Here's the interview with me at the Aspiring Writers Unite! Web page, where I talk about my new science fiction novel, Campaign 2100: Game of Scorpions, and other writerly things. I do mention table tennis several times. (One small problem – I had about 15 links in the interview, but they were inadvertently taken out. I've emailed asking if they can put them back in.)

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Ping-Pong for Quitters – My New Book!
Are you gutless under pressure? Unwilling to fight? If so, I have written the book for you!
Ping Pong for Quitters is my 12th book, my eighth on table tennis. (Here are all of my books.)
Realizing that most players are not as serious and hard-working as most high-level players,
I decided to write one for you, the normal player, the ones who don't always try their best,
like to goof off, and would rather quit than fight hard and put in all the hard work needed
for those who want to be the best. Some players will fight to the end in every game, but
others just don't have that warrior instinct. It is for those players that I dedicate this book.
Of course, few players will admit to being of the lazy, quitting sort, but no one has to know!
Like most of us, you can just have fun with the sport, and leave the sweat and tears to the
Stars (who buy this book instead) – and this book tells you how. On sale soon at Amazon!

MDTTC Spring Break Camp
This past week we had our Spring Break Camp at the Maryland Table Tennis Center. We had about 40 players in all, mostly ages 7-15. Because we have seven full-time coaches, I was only needed in three of the ten sessions, but my great coaching (and a bag of Jolly Ranchers candy) put me in great demand. The camp ends today - and little do the kids know that I have several bags of candy (Jolly Ranchers and Hershey Kisses) that at the end of the session I'll piled onto the table and let the kids try to knock them off as I feed multiball. (Whatever they knock off they get to keep - they are allowed to trade what they win with what's on the table.) 

MDTTC April Open
Next Saturday, on April 9, I'll be running the MDTTC April Open in Gaithersburg, Maryland – so sign up now! You can sign up online. Here's the MDTTC Tournament Page, and here's the entry form for this year's tournaments. Events include Open, U2350, U2000, U1700, U1350, Under 14, and Over 50 (all RR).

Sean O’Neill: Top Tips for Intermediate Players
Here's the new podcast (57 min) with the five-time U.S. Men's Singles Champion and two-time Olympian, from Expert Table Tennis. In this episode you’ll learn:

• How Sean got started in the sport and improved so quickly [1:00]
• Sean’s views on the future of table tennis [10:00]
• Why video analysis and scouting is so important [17:00]
• 3 tips for intermediate players [25:00]
• The important of good footwork and mastering the basics [32:00]
• Sean’s thoughts on The Expert in a Year Challenge [41.00]
• Encouragement to keep going when times are tough [46:00]
• How to contact Sean [52:00]

Forehand Topspin Tutorial
Here's the video (1:24) from 3StarTT coaching.

Ask the Coach Show
Episode #250 (28:16) – "Our Last Show." Yep, it's hard to believe, but they are breaking up the band – no more "Ask the Coach" shows. I blame Yoko.

Junior Olympics and JOOLA Teams South
Table tennis is back in the Junior Olympics! They will be held this year in Houston, TX, Aug. 1-3. Here is the info page and the entry form. Some players will be going down a few days early as they will be holding the JOOLA Teams South in the same venue immediately before the Junior Olympics, on July 30-31. Get ready for five straight days of table tennis!

Butterfly Cary Cup Championship Live
Here's where you can watch the tournament this weekend, Fri-Sun.

World Table Tennis for All Day - April 6
Here's the USATT page for the event.

Judah Friedlander: The World Champ on 30 Rock, Trump, and Ping Pong
Here's the podcast (51:21) on the table tennis playing comedian & actor.

Athlete of the Month – Tin-Tin Ho, 17, from London
Here's the 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.

Top Ten Shots at the Qatar Open
Here's the video (6:11).

2016 Qatar and Kuwait Open Finals
Here's the USATT page with links for Men's and Women's Singles and Doubles finals.

Dream Garage Honda Civic Ad
Here's the video (30 sec) that features table tennis!

Jamie Oliver Playing Ping Pong
Here's the hilarious video (58 sec) of the famous British chef showing off his secret talent at table tennis.

Batman versus Superman
In honor of the #1 movie at the box office…

• Batman vs. Superman – the Ultimate showdown!
• Batman in an ITTF Pro Tour
• Batman serving
• Batman and Robin play doubles
• Batman vs. Robin
• Batman plays pong in a park
• Batman plays pong on a building
• Batman ping-pong set – with black balls
• Batman ping-pong balls
• Superman grabs paddle
• Superman flying with paddle
• Superman smashes cartoon
• Superman ping-pong set – with blue balls

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A Simple Side-to-Side Drill
Sometimes the best comes from the simplest. Yesterday I was working with Navin on his forehand-to-backhand transition, feeding multiball side to side as he hit forehands and backhands. After a bit I said now let's do it randomly, where he had to react to where the ball goes. But he hesitated. I asked why, and he said he was now hitting the forehand so well that he wanted to do the simple side-to-side drill longer, to really ingrain it. We'd been working a lot on his forehand, and more and more it's beginning to click. So we continued doing the drill for a while longer.

This brought back a memory from 1979, when I was an up-and-coming 19-year-old. From 1979-1981 I lived and trained in Wilson, NC, at the Butterfly TTC. I was training regularly with Bowie Martin Sr. (co-founder of Martin-Kilpatrick, more commonly known as Butterfly North America). He's a lefty, and I often drilled into his backhand. I remember doing the very same side-to-side forehand-backhand drill with him, over and over, with him backhand blocking side to side, often doing the drill more than once per session. Why? Because I was making the transition from forehand hitting to forehand looping. The drill allowed me to not only ingrain the stroke, but do it faster and quicker, often almost right off the bounce. By doing the drill constantly, I became very fast at moving to my wide forehand, good at taking the ball close to the table, and the stroke itself became very ingrained and consistent. I still fall back on this drill when I need to quickly get back into practice.

A key part of this is that you still need to do it in game situations, i.e. random drills. And so I also did random drills with Bowie – and guess what? Navin's going to be facing more and more in the coming weeks. (We're also going to do drills where he serves, I roll the ball back softly, and he smashes.) But he's also going to get a steady diet of side-to-side forehand-backhands. (This drill also ingrains the backhand and moving to the backhand, but that's a different story for a different day.)

Junior Olympics
After a several-years absence, table tennis is back in the Junior Olympics! Here's the entry form. It's in Houston, Aug. 1-3, with a North American Teams South on July 30-31 at the same venue. I'll likely be coaching at these events.

Seven Free Videos from International Table Tennis Skills
Here are free videos from Samson Dubina.

• How to Loop Long Serves
• Returning Short Serves
• Table Tennis Footwork
• Slow-Motion Serve Demonstration
• Backhand Loop Demo
• Mini-Steps for Huge Improvement
• In-and-Out

Important Aspects of Table Tennis Training Program
Here's the article.

Ask the Coach Show
Episode #249 (31:00) - Frustratingly Close to Winning (and other segments).

Taught by Richard McAfee, Frederick Lee Puts Knowledge Learned to Good Use
Here's the ITTF article.

History of U.S. Table Tennis, Vol. 17, Chapter 2
Here it is! You can buy this or other volumes at TimBogganTableTennis.com.

Second World Table Tennis Day Happening on Wednesday April 6
Here's the ITTF press release.

Jumpy University of Wisconsin-Madison
Here's the picture from the recent College Championships. L-R: Yash Shah, Pamela "Weirdo" Song, Maria Castillo, and Yixin Zhang. (Here's the non-Facebook version.)

Sausage Pong
Here's the video (50 sec)!

Panda Pong
Here's the picture!

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Systematic Drills
I've never understood why more players don't focus like a laser beam on exactly what they need to do to improve, and do specific drills that allow them to systematically develop those techniques. The key phrase here might be "systematically." For example, many rallies begin with an opponent looping against a push. This means you will face a loop off a push a lot - and so should practice systematically against it. To many, this means perhaps playing games or doing drills where the point starts with a player looping off a push - and that's a start. But suppose you do that, while your twin does a drill where he faces these loops against backspin five times as often, who's going to improve against it faster?

So instead of playing out points, why not have one player serve and loop against a push, and while the other player reacts to the loop (probably by blocking, smashing, or counterlooping), the other player is reaching for another ball from a box of balls to serve and loop again. Result? One player gets systematic practice looping against a push; the other gets systematic practice against a loop off a push, perhaps working on his counterloop, which is different against a loop off backspin then a loop in a topspin rally. Both players dramatically improve. 

The same logic applies to other situations. Have trouble with a specific serve - say, a big breaking serve into the backhand? Then have a coach systematically give you that serve, without playing out the point. Or have a practice partner give you that serve and perhaps he plays one shot off your return, and then reach for another ball. Result? He systematically practices his serve and attack, while you systematically practice your receive off the serve that gives you trouble. 

So analyze what you need to work on in your game, both weaknesses to address and strengths to develop or improve, and find systematically find ways to develop them. This doesn't mean you never play out points; it means using a part of your practice systematically working on these techniques, and other parts of your practice playing out points. 

Training Alone
Here's a one-man coaching video (4:28) from Sri-Lanka. It covers nearly every shot.

College Table Tennis

• 250 of the World's Best in Round Rock for Collegiate Championships (with link to video)
• Ohlone's Ying Wang Takes Women's Singles Title
• Mississippi College Star Yi Chi Zhang Captures Singles Title
• Table Tennis Title Comes Home to Fort Worth!
• See Andrew Chen interview below!

Interview with Victor Liu
Here's the video (2:56) from Butterfly.

Interview with Tara Profitt
Here's the USATT interview.

11 Questions with Ross Brown
Here's the USATT interview. 

Butterfly Cary Cup Showcases Top East Coast Table Tennis Talent
Here's the article by Barbara Wei on the Cary, NC tournament this weekend.

How Garry Shandling Protected Me in Comedy (and Crushed Me in Ping Pong)
Here's the article from Vanity Fair.

Table Tennis Comes Alive at the World War Memorial Building
Here's the article from KX News (South Dakota).

2016 World Veteran Table Tennis Championships iOS App
Here's the info page.

Paddle Battle for Mental Health
Here's the info page, where they've so far raised $23,265. "The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is Canada’s leading hospital for mental health, providing for more than 30,000 patients each year. They provide urgent, inpatient and outpatient care and specialized services for children, youth, families and seniors. CAMH has Ontario’s only 24/7 emergency department dedicated to psychiatric care. CAMH is also a leading centre for brain science research, focusing on genetics, molecular medicine, brain imaging and new drug development to better treat and prevent mental illness."

Playing Ping Pong to Fight Poverty
Here's the article from Tristate News (Indiana).

Top Ten Rallies from Fan Zhendong in 2015
Here's the video (5:05).

Interview with University of Texas and Andrew Chen
Here's the hilarious interview at the National College TT Championships this past weekend – the link should take you directly to 2hr 24min 49 sec, where there's a hilarious interview for about two minutes – that's Andrew Chen saying, "…but let's talk about me," and so on. The whole video is over ten hours if you want to browse the rest.

Elephant, Rabbit, Hippo Pong
Here's the image.

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Tip of the Week
Stroke Technique vs. Consistency, Serve, and Receive.

USATT Training Camp
USATT will be running a two-week "Super Camp" for USA team members immediately after the July 4-9 USA Nationals. With July 10 a travel date, the camp will run July 11-24. The location will be finalized soon, probably this next week. (We already have at least one very good option.) Organizing it is the new USATT High Performance Director Cory Eider, with assistance from Sean O'Neill, Han Xiao, and myself. I'm the volunteer, unpaid camp manager and one of the coaches. Sean and Han will also be there one week each as coaches. Other coaches will be named later, including a head coach for each week. (On a side note, I got the okay from Cory to go public with all this. I don't want to upstage USATT on their camp, but he wanted everything to be transparent and said to go ahead and blog about it.)

We had a 2.5 hour Google hangout meeting yesterday (Cory, Sean, Han, and myself, from 3-5:30PM), where we discussed and planned the camp. A big emphasis is going to be physical training. As I blogged last Wednesday (see item #3 of the items where I discuss my thoughts on the HPD position), we have to focus on the weaknesses of USA players, and we were all in agreement that physical training was a top priority. That and receive seem to be the biggest weakness relative to our overseas competitors.

Invited to the camp will be the members of the U.S. National Men's, Women's, Junior, Cadet, Mini-Cadet, and Hopes Teams. Others will likely be invited as well. If you are a top, Top, TOP player or coach, or have a top, Top, TOP-class venue, then perhaps you should contact Cory.

As I've blogged before, right now we have the strongest group of players at the cadet and younger age level than at any time in history, and it's not even close. This is the first group since the hardbat era with the real potential to take the world by storm, ending our 60-year-nap. Our last major title at the World Table Tennis Championships was the 1956 World Mixed Doubles title – Erwin Klein and Leah Neuberger. We should bring in Tybie Sommer to give the USA team a pep talk – she's the USA's 1948 World Mixed Doubles Champion (then known as Thelma Thall) with Dick Miles, and is alive and well in Scottsdale, AZ. USA's heyday was 1937, when we swept Men's and Women's Teams, Women's Singles, and Men's Doubles. We were competitive at the highest levels into the 1950s . . . and never since.

As an incentive to the players to work hard in the camp, especially during physical training, here's a challenge from this former high school miler and marathon runner (40 years ago). In any long distance running, anyone on the Men's, Women's, Junior, or Cadet Teams who finishes behind me has to run extra. If anyone on the Mini-Cadets or Hopes Teams finishes ahead of me, I have to run extra. So train hard so you can shame me or avoid getting shamed yourself!

I'll have to miss the last three days of the camp. Here's my extremely complicated July schedule:

• July 3-10: USA Nationals in Las Vegas
• July 10-22: USA Training Camp in [TBD]
• July 22-30: Manchester, NH, for my annual writing workshop vacation
• July 30-Aug. 3: Houston, TX, coaching at 4-star Team Competition (July 30-31) and Junior Olympics (Aug. 1-3).

Podcast with Jan-Ove Waldner
Here it is (40:29). From TableTennisDaily. He's arguably the greatest player of all time. Topics covered:

• 02:30 Naturally gifted? 
• 04:30 Why Jan started playing.
• 06:40 How Jan gets feeling for the ball.
• 08:10 How much practice Jan did when he was younger.
• 11:24 How to get good at reading the game.
• 14:19 More on the importance of matches in the practice hall.
• 15:46 Was Jan really as calm as he looked when playing big matches?
• 19:00 The Waldner Service.
• 27:35 Ball issues.
• 29:00 Changing from 38 to 40mm ball.
• 30:40 Prize money.
• 34:30 ITTF.
• 35:43 Ma Long.
• 37:03 Chinese Hurricane rubber.

College Table Tennis Championships
Here is the home page, results and video for the event, held this past weekend in Round Rock, TX.

Qatar Open
Here's the ITTF home page for the event held this past weekend, with results, articles, pictures, video, etc.

Developing a Basic Tactical Plan for Competitions
Here's the new coaching article by Francisco Mendez, 9-time Mexican Men's Singles Champion.

The Best Physical Training Exercises for Developing Table Tennis Footwork
Here's the new coaching article (with links to video) from MH Table Tennis.

Ask the Coach Show
Episode #248 (30:20) - Dealing with Backspin (and other segments)

Indore Host for First Ever Level Three Course Stage in India
Here's the ITTF article on the latest coaching course ran by USA's Richard McAfee.

The Table Tennis Buddy System
Here's the new article from Coach Jon.

Playing Ping Pong is Exercise for Life
Here's the article.

Make New York State Consider Drunk Driving a Violent Crime
This is only tangentially table tennis, but here's the petition from USA Paralympic star Tahl Leibovitz.

RIP Garry Shandling
Why is this in a table tennis blog? Because Garry did one of the best table tennis spoofs ever. In a December, 1988 episode of "It's Garry Shandling's Show," he did a table tennis episode titled The Natural, which spoofed the great Robert Redford baseball movie The Natural. "Garry attempts to make a comeback at ping pong in spite of an incident that put an end to his ping pong days 18 years ago." Unfortunately, I can't find any of the episode online.

ITTF-European Olympic Qualification Tournament Moved to Halmstad, Sweden
Here's the ITTF press release. "Due to the present circumstances in Turkey, the European Table Tennis Union (ETTU) has come to a conclusion to reschedule the ITTF-European Olympic Qualification Tournament that that was originally scheduled to be held in Istanbul, Turkey."

Tapper Becomes First Australian Paralympian to Qualify for the Olympic Games
Here's the ITTF press release.

Competitive Table Tennis Finds a Home in Northern Virginia
Here's the article from the Loudoun Times-Mirror.

San Ramon, Calif., Tween Excelling in Table Tennis, Named to U.S. Team
Here's the article on 11-year-old Mudit Mahajan.

Quentin Robinot - No Look Shot
Here's the video (23 sec, including slow motion replay) of the French play, #107 in the world.

12 Table Tennis Balls in One Hand
Here's the video (1:30).

New Roger Federer Table Tennis Commercial
Here's the video (30 sec). Here's the other one (46 sec) from last November.

Everybody Wants Some – Trailer
Here's the trailer (2:30) for the upcoming movie "Everybody Wants Some" – with four seconds of table tennis, starting 40 sec in. (Link should take you there.)

NEW Rotisserie-Style Chicken at SUBWAY
Here's the video (30 sec), which strangely starts out (first four seconds) with someone playing table tennis using a tablet as table tennis racket. Like the movie trailer in segment above, it too ends with a player throwing his "racket."

Table Tennis (or Spoon Pong?) on King of Queens
Here's the video (1:50)!

Crazy Table Tennis Spin Serve!
Here's the video (15 sec)!

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Off Until Tuesday
As usual, when there's a holiday and the kids are off school, I'm off too, and they are off Friday (Good Friday) and Monday (Easter). Spring Break actually begins today – no school locally today, tomorrow, or all of next week, with schools reopening on Monday, April 4 – but I'm only taking the two "official" holidays off. I'm not really taking Friday off – I'm declaring it a "USATT day," where I spend the day working on USATT issues. (This weekend and Monday, on the other hand, I may do a "House of Cards" marathon!) I'm also coaching at the two-day mini-camp at MDTTC later this morning and tomorrow, probably only the morning sessions.

In Memoriam
Here are some of the people I've known well from table tennis who have died. The list isn't comprehensive; there are many more, but these are the ones who were influential to me, in alphabetical order, with apologies to those missed. (Feel free to post your own comments below on any of them.) 

• Rutledge Barry. He made the semifinals of Men's Singles at the USA Nationals at age 15, then a year or so later disappeared from the sport for about 15 years. I used to study his receive - so much touch! The last time I saw him before he disappeared I guaranteed him he'd be back, and I was right. But things didn't go right in his life, and he committed suicide I his early 30s.  
• Alan Evenson. One of the best regional players my first few years, he was the long-haired "hippy" who could loop anything when looping wasn't yet as widespread. I watched him play in awe at my first tournament, the 1976 Maryland/Virginia/DC Area Closed, where he won Open Singles. We had some great battles after I finally caught up to him about three years later. I tried, and failed, to copy his backhand loop.
• Alan Fendrick. One of the funnest people ever, and a member of the famous/infamous "Boos Brothers" at the Teams. I jokingly called him Fenwick, but promised I'd never do it again if he ever beat me in a tournament. Sore arm problems helped, and so did his constant changing of pace, and after he upset me in a tournament, I never called him Fenwick again.
• Herb Horton. One of the most influential players for me, a very defensive 2000+ chopper with antispin on both sides who got everything back, he seemed to like playing me right from the start, and is the primary reason I developed a strong forehand. The first time we played he beat me 21-1, 21-0, 21-2. Fourteen months later, no doubt because of his willingness to play me regularly, he was the first 2000 player I ever beat in a tournament.
• Kjell Johansson. He's the only one on this list I never actually met, but after spending huge numbers of hours copying his forehand, I felt like I knew him. He was a Men's Singles finalist at the 1973 World's, three years before I started playing.
• Tony Khan. He offered to give me a ride to a tournament out in Virginia, an hour away, back when I was 17. He showed up in a motorcycle, and so I had my only motorcycle ride of my life. If my parents had known, they would have vetoed it – my brother almost died in a motorcycle crash. At the tournament in the final of Under 1700 he had me 20-15 match point, and I came back to win. He died in a motorcycle crash on the way home afterwards.
• Carl Kronlage. He picked me for his league team back when I was a 1400 player (late 1976, the year I started at age 16), and practiced with me for the league matches. I remember copying his strokes.
• Tong Lee. Some found him abrasive, but he was almost always right on the issues during his time as USATT treasurer, and put in long hours.
• Chris Manglitz. A pure TT enthusiast, always ready to help out, who'd drive anywhere to play, and loved doubles. And then someone shot him and his wife. For years afterwards we ran an annual Chris Manglitz Memorial Doubles Tournament to raise college funds for his three sons, who were roughly ages 8-12 when their parents died. (They were adopted by Chris's brother.)
• Dennis Masters. I spent many hours practicing with his son, Brian, and then he began to run 4-star tournaments all over the country, plus U.S. Opens and Nationals, and I tried to play in them all.
• Dick Miles. We spent years arguing over whether it was possible to change the direction of the racket's motion right around contact to vary the spin – he believed this was impossible. But he regularly called me up with ideas to promote table tennis.
• Marty Prager. He and I spent decades competing as coaches at the Junior Olympics, Junior Nationals, and other major tournaments, with professional respect for each other – and had a great time debating table tennis issues on the sidelines.
• Marty Reisman. Without him, I never would have played table tennis. I was 16 and looking for a book on Track & Field at the library, and looked to my left, and there it was – "The Money Player," by Marty Reisman. That's how I discovered Table Tennis. When I first met him many years later, I told him this story – and he replied, "Great. Another life I've ruined."
• Barry Rodgers. One of the nicest and most well-meaning people, he and I ran for the USATT board in 1991 and we both made it. He was a big leader in Pittsburgh area table tennis for years. Great things were in store from him, but liver cancer ended that.
• Ron Snyder. One of the advanced players at the club my first few years (going from 1700 to 2000), a blocker with a great backhand smash, he was willing to play me right from the start, even though he probably won the first 100 times we played.
• Johnny Stillions. I became friends with him at tournaments – I knew him through Brian Masters, who I was practicing with regularly – and he and I played pranks on Eric Boggan. Then he died in a car crash when he was around 16.
• Nate Sussman. Defensive whiz, 1800+, another good guy who played me right from the start.
• Jim Verta. One of the nicest guys you'd ever meet and a titan of regional table tennis, he too played me right from the start, and spent years combining table tennis and bridge. He was the Over 60 National Champion when I started, and I was in awe of this.
• Zhi-Yong Wang. One of the best coaches I ever met, with gravelly advice on anything table tennis – but the smoking (and lung cancer) did him in.

Club Friday at Potomac Community Center
I recently did three two-hour long demo/clinics at the Potomac Community Center for their Club Friday program. (All unpaid volunteer.) Here are pictures taken: Slideshow1 and Slideshow2; and Video1 (13 sec, by Shaw Zee – this one automatically downloads a .mov video) and Video2 (11:38, by Terry Berman – this youtube video starts with me warming up with Gary Schlager (who also volunteered) before getting to the demo and clinic).

History of U.S. Table Tennis, Volume 17 (1989-90)
USATT is now featuring each chapter, one each week. Here's chapter one of the 17th volume by USATT Historian Tim Boggan, subtitled "1989: USTTA President Eisner on How Things Are Going." Or you can buy this one, or any of the preceding 16 – or all 17 – by going to Tim Boggan's page, which I maintain for him.

Ask the Coach Show
Episode #247 (34:51) - Engaging the Legs (and other segments).

DHS ITTF Top 10 - 2016 Kuwait Open
Here's the video (4:02) of the top ten shots at the Kuwait Open.

SPiN Chicago
Here's the video (1:29) of their recent opening.

Zhang Jike Motivated By Dimitrij Ovtcharov
Here's the article (with links to video) from Tabletennista.

Qatar Open
Here's the ITTF home page for the ITTF World Tour event, March 23-27, with results, articles, pictures, and video.

Paralympian Tapper One Win Away From Olympic Dream 

Here's the ITTF press release about Australia's Melissa Tapper on the verge of making both the Olympic and Paralympic teams.

Hudson Trio Shines at Table Tennis Tournaments
Here's the article from the Hudson Hub Times. Featured for the performances at the recent Arnold Challenge are Roger Liu (14), Janset Aykanat (8) and Aydin Aykanat (41).

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.

FOOTPONG | Pongfinity vs. Lassi Hurskainen
Here's the video (4:27) where football (that's soccer to us Americans) and table tennis take each other on in various contests, such as putting out a lighted candle, going through a small, rolling tube, or curving around a pole.

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Cory Eider Named USA Table Tennis High Performance Director
Here's the USATT article. "Eider will be responsible developing and directing all of USATT’s Olympic and National Team programs (Senior, Junior, Cadet, Mini Cadet, and Para), National Team coaches, as well as creating a National Team Development Program."

This could be a landmark for USA Table Tennis. Here is the "High Performance Director Wanted" notice, where it covers in detail what the HPD would be responsible for. I strongly urge you read the section under "Responsibilities and Requirements."

However, it's not just what he's responsible for – it's what he's expected to do. And that's to develop a year-round program where training centers, top players, top juniors, top coaches, and parents around the country work together to develop a national team that'll put the rest of the world on notice that USA, after sixty years of napping, is back.

Of course, those are just words – the question is how. I had a great discussion on some of this with Cory this past weekend at the Westchester Open. (There were some comic moments where I discussed some of these issues with players, but since USATT hadn't announced Cory's hiring yet, I couldn't tell them that the person who was being hired was standing right next to us, and listening in.) Already there are plans for training camps and international tournaments, where Team USA becomes not just a bunch of individuals, but a TEAM. I could go more into this, but it's better to come from Cory directly to the players involved. (I'll likely give periodic reports.) We actually talked about the individual players who are coming up right now, especially at the cadet and mini-cadet levels. As I've said before, we are stronger at the cadet level than at any time in our history, and it's not even close. (I'd start listing them but no matter where I end the list, I'd be insulting those left off.) The potential for great things is there.

Here's a simple progression. Step 1: Top Ten in the World. Step 2: Top Four in the world as we join the small select group of countries that sometimes challenges China. (Or should we go directly for Top Two here?) Step 3: Beat China. This current group of cadets definitely have the potential for steps one and two – and guess what? Sweden, Hungary, Japan, and other countries have shown that China isn't always God when it comes to table tennis. And if they are, then why can't we be co-God?   

I've known Cory for over twenty years – but much of it was coaching against him during his junior days. I've had some interesting tactical discussions with him and he definitely knows what he's talking about in that realm. He also knows the current group of up-and-coming players quite well. He's got a strong background for the position, and at age 32, he's old enough to have experience while young enough that he's not yet jaded, with lots of energy and drive. (I jokingly pantomimed the looks on his face during his tenure, from pure enthusiasm on day one to increasing frustration and finally to total disgust by day five - but so far he's proved me wrong.)

Here are some of my thoughts on the HPD position, which I sent to the USATT board a while back before Cory was hired. Some of this came about after discussions with USATT CEO Gordon Kaye.

1. Just as the USATT board of directors has mostly allowed the CEO a free hand in most of his actions, we need to allow the HPD a relatively free hand in his job. The only way this won’t work is if we hire the wrong person. So the key to everything is hiring the right person. To some of us, that’s equates to “duh!” But it’s very easy to hire the wrong person – flashy credentials don’t always mean flashy results.
2. A key is to rely on the resources of clubs, including the parents who are paying for their kid’s training. USATT may be able to budget one or two hundred thousand dollars to this; many millions are already being spent at clubs. Just for perspective, many clubs already have many parents paying well over $20,000/year for their kids' training, and even more paying over $10,000/year. The HPD needs to find ways to best utilize the resources we already have.
3. The HPD needs to emphasize the development of general weaknesses among U.S. players. For example, many of our top juniors don’t do enough physical training – and while there are several reasons for this (coaches get paid mostly for table time, not physical training; lack of time in general due to school and other activities; no one taking the initiative to start physical training programs), a HPD could approach the clubs with strong junior programs and work to get physical training more emphasized. (You only need one coach at each club to run the physical training sessions, which would be group sessions.) There are other general weaknesses among U.S. players, such as receive, so the HPD could also ask that training centers put more emphasis into that, or whatever aspects he believes are needed.
4. Because we need training centers all over the country to buy into this national concept, we need three things: a) reasons why they should buy into it; b) a HPD who can sell them on it; and c) a few top training centers to join in early on, so others would follow.
5. In general, we need to change the culture from the current situation, where most up-and-coming players focus almost exclusively on winning national events and making national teams, to focusing on beating other countries and becoming the best in the world. At the cadet level (both boys and girls), we can challenge any team in the world outside China, and might even give them a run for it. This is the perfect backbone of a future world-conquering team. Now is the perfect time to start moving in that direction.
6. We also need to remember why we suddenly have so many promising cadet players – the dramatic increase in the number of full-time training centers in the country, from 8-10  just eight years ago to over 80 now. This is the source of our future elite players, and if we keep increasing the number of such training centers with top coaches and training programs, our situation will continue to improve. So we need to focus on that aspect as well. The depth of play now compared to just a few years ago is mind-boggling – at the cadet level we now have dozens of players who likely would have dominated their age group ten years ago, while players who used to make the semifinals or even finals likely wouldn't make the final 16 or even 32 these days. I remember one year the final of Under 14 Boys was won by the top seed, rated just over 2100, over a 1950 player who had upset a 2000 player in the semifinals! Those players wouldn’t make the final 32 these days.

The Ultimatum in Table Tennis Service Receive: Shut Down or Initiate
Here's the new coaching article from MH Table Tennis. If you strive for high-level receive – or just want to know how the top players do it – this is a must article.

Ask the Coach Show
Episode #246 (25:50) - Ma Long's Spin Catcher

Regional College Table Tennis
USATT has six new articles on regional college table tennis – four by Andy Kanengiser, one by Brent Hearn, and one by Brent Hearn & Rahul Acharya.

• Doubles Is The Key In NCTTA South Regional Championships
• Michigan Wolverines Win Great Lakes Regionals
• Lindenwood Lions Roar in Midwest Regional
• Virginia Tech Returns To 2016 National Championships
• Baruch Settles Score With NYU In Northeast Regional
• First-Timer Ohlone Brings The Thunder In West Regional Win

11 Questions with Morris Jackson
Here's the USATT interview. (Morris is from my club – I've been playing him since the early 1980s!)

2016 ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Smash All Social & Digital Records
Here's the ITTF press release.

Impromptu De Niro Ping Pong
Here's the video (27 sec) of comedian Frank Caliendo channeling his inner Robert de Niro and playing Jimmy Butler. He has a USATT rating of 1665 from three USATT tournaments, the last one the 2015 U.S. Open last July – but I hear he's gotten better. He was at MDTTC a year or so ago where I got to play doubles with and against him.

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Tip of the Week
Visualize Your Serves and Make Them Do Tricks.

The Brain, Visual Skills, and Ping Pong
Here's the video (5:13). The video from a year ago focuses on the two major visual skills needed in table tennis. (Here's the ITTF article on this.) The subjects are William Henzell and Trevor Brown, two Australian Olympic table tennis players. Brown, who is studying to be a neuroscientist, was asked, "What's the key to being a good table tennis player?" He answered, "It's being able to process info as quickly as possible."

The narrator says, "They have honed two visual skills to near perfection." The two keys are:

• The speed their brain processes visual information
• They take in lots of information with every psychotic synaptic snapshot.

Here's the main takeaway for table tennis players. To develop these habits, you have consciously tell yourself to watch for the various telltale signs. When Henzell reacts to the subtle wrist motion of Brown, it doesn't just happen; at some point in the past, during his many years of training, Henzell consciously or subconsciously made the connection between that motion and the direction the ball will go, as well as its speed, spin, trajectory, etc., and reacting to it became second-nature. But if you aren't constantly watching your opponent and making these connections, they won't happen. Most of it happens subconsciously, but you should make a conscious effort to be aware of the opponent and his motions so your subconscious will begin to react to these motions. For example, you can read much about the direction an opponent is about go by watching his shoulders. So be aware of the opponent's shoulders, and you will develop the proper reactions to his shots, reacting faster and faster.

It's not about having faster reflexes; it's about developing proper reactions that just make you appear to have fast reflexes. I'm good at reacting to smashes, not because of fast reflexes but from 40 years of watching opponents, so I react to where their shot is going well before they contact the ball. So do all top players, and so should you.

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Your First Table Tennis Tournament …But Didn’t Know Where To Ask!
My article, which I wrote about 13 years ago (with a few recent updates) is currently featured on the USATT page. Also featured (and linked to last week) is my Letter to Club Leaders, on State Championships and Regional Leagues.

The Most Popular Table Tennis Footwork Drills Among Professional Players
Here's the new coaching article from MH Table Tennis. (Includes a link to Ryu Seung Min demonstrating his footwork.)

Distractions: Learn to Control Your Thoughts
Here's the new coaching article by Samson Dubina.

Ask the Coach Show

• Episode #242 (23:00) - How Much Is Too Much Training
• Episode #243 (20:15) - Serving, Spinning, and Smashing
• Episode #244 (27:16) - Playing Against Long Pimples
• Episode #245 (23:15) - Who is Karakasevic?

Lapse in Concentration Almost Results in Dire Consequences
Here's the article.

The Intangibles of Table Tennis
Here's the new article from Coach Jon.

Amazing Kid Fastest Human Ball Machine
Here's the video (2:21). In China (and other training centers around the world) kids learn to feed multiball to each other.

Nittaku ITTF Monthly Pongcast - February 2016
Here's the video (10:20).

Para Table Tennis a Part of Integrated 2018 Commonwealth Games Program
Here's the ITTF press release.

Incredible Table Tennis Point at the 2016 ITTF Kuwait Open
Here's the video (48 sec) between Jun Mizutani (JPN, world #6, lefty on near side) and Tiago Apolonia (POR, world #20) and– is this the point to end all points? And it happened at 10-all, with Mizutani up 3-2 in games.

2016 Kuwait Open

• ITTF Home Page for the Kuwait Open from this past weekend, with results, articles, pictures, video, quotes, etc.
• Women's Final highlights (4:16): Ding Ning vs Li Xiaoxia
• Men's Final highlights (9:14): Ma Long vs Zhang Jike

TableTennisDaily Vlog #4 - A day with Adam Bobrow!
Here's the video (8:17). Behind the scenes with features ITTF Commentator Adam Bobrow at the Swedish Open. 

2016 Butterfly Arnold Table Tennis Challenge Angela Guan Interview
Here's the video interview (1:52) by Barbara Wei.

Lunacon, Live to Read, and Westchester Open Table Tennis
I spent the weekend at Lunacon, a science fiction convention in Rye Brook, NY. Here's my write-up. I was there to promote my new SF novel, Campaign 2100: Game of Scorpions. (You have bought a copy, right? It has table tennis in it!) Here's a picture of me at my autographing session. I also have a guest blog on Live to Write: "The Big Ideas of Campaign 2100: Game of Scorpions."

By an incredible coincidence, the convention was only 15 minutes away from the 4-star Westchester Open, held at the Westchester TTC. So on Sunday afternoon, after my last Lunacon panel, I drove over. I stayed for four hours, chatting on various table tennis topics with Will Shortz, Cory Eider, Tahl Leibovitz, George Brathwaite, Michael Landers, the Alguettis, and MDTTC players Toby Kutler and Tiffany Ke.

Smacking Balls and Trumps
Here's a picture of a player smacking many ping-pong balls. Here it is again, this time smacking many Trumps!

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Off Until Tuesday
I'm leaving very early Friday morning for Lunacon, a science fiction convention in Rye Brook, NY, March. 18-20. I'm there to promote my SF novel Campaign 2100: Game of Scorpions – I'm on six panels, doing a reading, and will be in two autograph sessions. (Here's my bio and schedule. My reading is 4-4:30PM on Saturday. And remember, as I've blogged, the novel has lots of table tennis!) I'll be returning very late on Sunday night/Monday morning, so no blog on Monday. See you on Tuesday! (Coincidentally, the convention is about 15 min away from the 4-star Westchester Open held this weekend, but I don't know if I'll have time to stop by.)

2016 State Championships (so far)
There are currently 15 State Championships sanctioned for 2016 – but it's still early in the year. There'll be plenty more – for example, I'm running the Maryland State Championships later this year, but haven't sanctioned it yet. I know there'll also be a DC championships, and based on the listing for 2015 State Championships, there are plenty more to come. Here's the original USATT news item on this, with info on how you can run one. (Here's the USATT news item from earlier this week, on Regional Team Leagues and State Championships.)

I'm especially happy to see the 4-star California (May 6-8) and New York (May 14) State Championships! These are new, in two of the biggest states, and I'm guessing are the first time in history that a state championship was a 4-star event! A great kudos goes to Rajul Sheth and Will Shortz for setting these up. Hopefully they and others can work with USATT in getting publicity for these events.

And so here is the listing (hopefully none sanctioned were left out), which includes some already run. (It also includes both the Florida Closed and State Games.) Why not enter? Even if you can't win, you get to meet up with all the other players in your state – and like a lottery ticket, there's always that chance….

• Winter State Games of Oklahoma, Jan 23, Oklahoma City, OK, 0-star. Contact: Britt Salter, bsalter5@gmail.com
• Minnesota State Championships, Jan. 30-31, Eden Prairie, MN, 2-star. Contact: Mitch Seidenfeld, mitch@tabletennismn.com
• Arkansas State Closed Championships, Feb. 27, Little Rock, AR, 2-star. Contact: Eugene Atha, eatha@swbell.net
• Alabama State Team Championships 2016, Mar. 19, Anniston, AL, 2-star. Contact: Mike Harris, 238mike@bellsouth.net
• PA State Closed Championships, Apr. 16, Philadelphia, PA, 2-star. Contact: Brian Hoffman, brianhoffman@att.net
• Wisconsin Closed State Championships, Apr. 16, Shorewood, WI, 1-star. Contact: Linda Leaf, linda.leaf@gmail.com
• Indiana State Championship, Apr. 23-24, Indianapolis, IN, 1-star. Contact: Robert Clyde, indytabletennis@sbcglobal.net
• Arizona Closed, Apr. 30 – May 1, Phoenix, AZ, 1-star. Contact: Jay Turberville, pttc@studio522.com
• California State Championship, May 6-8, Milpitas, CA, 4-star. Contact: Rajul Sheth, rajul@indiacc.org
• New York State Championships, May 14, Westchester, NY, 4-star. Contact: Will Shortz , wshortz@aol.com
• Missouri Show-Me State Games Open, June 4, Springfield, MO, 2-star. Contact: Bill Lewis, epcotmagic@aol.com
• Virginia State Championship at Smash TT, June 4-5, Herndon, VA, 0-star/ Contact: Michael Levene, michael@smashtt.com
• Florida Sunshine State Games 2016, June 18-19, Lakeland, FL, 0-star. Contact: Brad Woodington, bradwoodington@gmail.com
• Summer State Games of Oklahoma, June 18 OKC, OK, 0-star. Contact: Britt Salter, bsalter5@gmail.com
• Florida State Closed, Oct. 15, Orlando, FL, 2-star. Contact: Hung Tran, coachhungpp@yahoo.com

Ask the Coach Show
Episode #242 (23:00) - How Much Is Too Much Training (and other segments).

World Championships Teammates Turn Rivals at 2016 Kuwait Open
Here's the ITTF Press Release.

Stars Zhang Jike, Liu Shiwen to Descend on Dubai for Table Tennis Asian Cup
Here's the article.

Amazing Michael Maze Retires from Table Tennis
Here's the ITTF press release. (This is different than the ITTF article linked to yesterday – which had a bad address for part of the day.)

Destination: Destin
Here's the write-up of the ITTF coaching course held in Destin, TX, with head coach Roger Dickson.

International Table Tennis
Here's my periodic note 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.

Nice Rally and Behind-Back Shot!
Here's the video (26 sec).

Hardbat - the Movie
Here's the new movie (12:53). "An obsession with ping-pong disrupts an otherwise pleasant evening." It's been showing at a number of film festivals, and was the Audience Award winner at the Northside Film Festival.

The Wisdom of Charlie Brown
Here's yesterday's cartoon for Classic Peanuts, where Charlie answers Lucy's question about life's mysteries. He lists eleven things we should all do – and number 11 is the one we all need to learn in table tennis! (I think he was talking about baseball pitching.) Here are eleven items – I think I rank high in all of them, though I haven't sent many packages overseas lately, though I did send some comp copies of my books there. How about you? (Confession: I lob a lot, so about #11…)

1. Be kind.
2. Don't smoke.
3. Smile a lot.
4. Eat sensibly.
5. Avoid cavities.
6. Mark your ballot carefully.
7. Avoid too much sun.
8. Send overseas packages early.
9. Love all creatures above and below.
10. Insure your belongings.
11. Try to keep the ball low.

Medieval Pong?
Here's the picture – but I have no idea what's going on! (Here's the non-Facebook version.)

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Tidbits

• Capital Area Table Tennis League. We have an even 20 teams (about 100 players) for the new season, which begins on April 17. This is a big increase from last season's 12 teams/74 players. (We are already looking to get to 30 teams next season!) Just as importantly, we have a new website! I'm officially the webmaster, but as I told the others on the league committee when we started, my web skills are a decade or more behind. Well, Commissioner Stefano Ratti put together the new version in Wordpress, and you can see the result! (I've recently learned how to use Wordpress as well, using it to create my science fiction & fantasy page, but I'm no expert.) We also have six sponsors – Pong Mobile; JOOLA; West, Lane & Schlager; Go Table Tennis; Paddle Palace; and NW Global Foundation. (See links to each on the website.)
• USA Hopes Team. Over the weekend Tiffany Ke won the Hopes Trials in Austin, TX. Here are pictures and results. This is for boys and girls under age 12. This gives MDTTC (my club) two of the four girls on the USA Hopes Girls' Team, joining Lisa Lin. (Here's the USATT article on Lisa making the team, with a picture and a link to video. Here's the article from the Baltimore Sun on Lisa. There are two others Hopes Trials on the west coast, but I don't have those results handy.) Others MDTTCers on USA National Teams are Derek Nie (Cadet Boys' Team) and Ryan Dabbs (Minicadet's Boys' Team), plus Crystal Wang (USA World Women's Team, Junior & Cadet Girls' Team) before her mom got a job offer she couldn't refuse and they moved to Seattle last fall.
• Daniel's Forehand, Chopping Blade, and Nets & Edges. I had a 90-minute session yesterday with 11-year-old Daniel, who's about 1650 (but on the verge of making a serious jump). Three interesting takes on the session:
  • 1) His forehand keeps getting better as more and more he can loop winners past me; soon it might be as strong as his backhand. However, he's still less confident with it in game situations. It'll come around.
  • 2) I chopped to him for 30 minutes with my new chopping racket, which I got for coaching purposes – and it's great! It's a Butterfly Joo Saehyuk blade, fl, with Feint Long 2 1.3mm red on the backhand, Tenergy 05 2.1mm black on the forehand. (I'm normally an all-around attacker, with a Timo Boll ALC fl blade, with Tenergy 05 2.1mm black on the forehand, Tenergy 25 2.1mm red on the backhand.) My back and legs almost died during that time – it was exhausting. I'm still feeling the effects this morning. I'm toying with showing up at one of the MDTTC leagues as a chopper – I'm almost as good chopping as attacking, perhaps better these days.
  • During the first half hour we kept track of nets & edges. I've blogged about this before (see Dec. 8, 2014, Feb. 6, 2012, and Feb. 4, 2011), but it's a simple reality that some players, because of playing style and other factors, get more nets and edges than others – and Daniel gets more than anyone on the planet! (This despite the fact that he's a standard shakehander with inverted on both sides.) During those 30 minutes he got 41 nets & edges to my 2! Yes, two.
• Walking Dead Table Tennis Dream. I had a very strange table tennis dream last night. On Sundays, my busiest coaching day, I get home around 8:45PM, just in time to watch The Walking Dead. Last night I dreamed I was in the show – but no walking dead (I think). Instead, I was in some sort of meeting with the characters, where they were debating who should write the group's table tennis coaching book. Really!!! I had to stand up in front of them and give them my credentials, pointing out how I'd already written seven books on table tennis, and could beat any of them at it. But then Carol put in a bid, and she kept giving me these mean looks. They voted, and I won – but Carol wasn't happy. I was in the back of the room, and immediately began writing, and (as these things happen in dreams), finished the book within minutes. I brought the manuscript up front to give to Rick (the group's leader), with Daryl looking on, but Rick said (in that Rick Grimes voice) they'd changed their mind, and decided to have two books, Carol's and mine. I argued that I'd won the vote, but he was insistent. Then Carol showed me her manuscript, and it was a cartoon book. I began to laugh, and she got very angry, with Daryl looking over her shoulder, and I think she turned into a Walking Dead – and that's the last I remember. I may have woken up at that point – not sure. If you know the show, you know you don't want to get on Carol's bad side – people who do tend to end up dead. (Here are five other table tennis dreams I've blogged about.)

Winning at Deuce: Learn to play your strongest tactics
Here's the new coaching article from Samson Dubina.

Ask the Coach Show
Episode #241 (23:09) - How to Choose Your Drills (and other segments).

Sean O'Neill – Interview
Here's the USATT interview by Rahul Acharya.

14-Year-Old Table-Tennis Star Receives Local Congressional Award
Here's the article on Estee Ackerman.

Michael Maze Retirement
Here's the ITTF article.

ITTF to Use World Team Championships Success as Stepping Stone for Improving Olympic Sport Category
Here's the article.

Table Tennis Camp for Veterans with Disabilities and Members of the Armed Forces with Disabilities
Here's the slideshow from the camp in San Antonio, TX.

2016 World Championships Event Review
Here's the ITTF video review (4:47).

TT Girl Wednesday
Here's the picture! (Here's the non-Facebook version. I might have linked to this picture once before – not sure.) That's a huge picture in the background of Paul Newman on the right, Robert Redford on the left – here's the original.

Grand Table Tennis Entrance
Here's the video (74 sec) of this escalator entrance to the music of "2001: A Space Odyssey"! Easily trumps these other two escalator entrances, this one and that one.

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