Coaching Tennis Players at Table Tennis
This keeps coming up. (I played tennis on the side for many years.) I'm coaching a ten-year-old who plays tennis and insists on using an almost tennis-style backhand. Whenever I get a new player who's played a lot of tennis, five things happen – one good, one sort of good, one bad, two very good.

1. They have good forehands. Table tennis and tennis forehands are somewhat similar, though there are differences. In table tennis you stroke more from the elbow, i.e. arm snap, while tennis is more from the shoulder. (Both use body rotation about the same.) However, in tennis, players often raise the racket high during the backswing, a habit we have to fix for table tennis.
2. They have good smashes against lobs. However, they often do them tennis style, with an overhead instead of turning sideways and doing a more conventional smash. Usually this isn't hard to fix, and tennis players are often a terror against lobs – they are especially good against any lob that lands a bit short, where they use their regular tennis overhead.
3. They want to turn sideways for backhands. That may work for tennis, but not in table tennis for two reasons. First, you don't have time in a fast rally to turn sideways for both forehand and backhand shots. And second, turning sideways on the backhand moves the contact point well to the side, meaning there's a lot of distance between the forehand the backhand contact points – and so it's extremely difficult to cover the middle (shots at the elbow). Tennis players do pick up the backhand pretty quickly, but rarely have quick ones, and even years later you can almost always tell if a player started out as a tennis player by looking at their backhand stroke, where they will usually always turn a bit sideways.
4. They are really good at putting topspin on the ball. They can do this on both the forehand and backhand – it's natural for them after playing tennis. This is sometimes difficult to teach a beginner, so it's always nice to have a tennis player who does this so easily.
5. They move. In tennis, you have a full court to cover. In table tennis, you have less time but much less court. Tennis players are used to moving to stroke, and they do this in table tennis as well.

Pips and Anti
Here's the new coaching article by Samson Dubina. (He won the Millcreek Open – see below!) The article talks about the myths about these surfaces, and goes over how different players use these surfaces, such as Dan Seemiller, David Zhuang, Angela Guan, and John Wetzler.

Ask the Coach Show
Episode #181 (18:11) – Serving Styles (and other segments)

"I Never Thought It Would End This Way"
Here's an article from a soccer coach on the values we teach the kids we coach.

2015 ITTF World Cadet Challenge
It's taking place right now in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, Oct. 23-31. Here's the USATT page for the event, and here's the ITTF page with complete results, articles, pictures, and video. USA players competing (and representing North America, along with their Canadian counterparts) are Victor Liu, Jack Wang, Crystal Wang, and Grace Yang. The North American Boys' and Girls' Cadet Teams both lost in the semifinals to Team Europe. The NA Boys defeated Latin American for third, while the NA Girls lost to Asia in the playoff for third. Asia defeated Europe in the Boys' final, but in a shocker, Latin American Girls upset Asia in the semifinals and Europe in the final! Here's the Boys' draw and the Girls' draw. (Both show complete results of individual matches – click on team scores.)

World Championships of Ping Pong U.S. Qualifier Added to U.S. Nationals
Here's the USATT article. For those not in the know, this is for sandpaper table tennis. I'm a little flummergasted (yeah, I made up that word) because I want to play in this event but USATT is having a board meeting all day on Sunday, Dec. 13, and until roughly noon on Monday, Dec. 14. The Qualifier is Monday morning. I'm going to take a good hard look at the agenda and see if there's anything I consider important on Monday morning.

A Purpose for Ping Pong
Here's the article by Kim Gilbert on Ping Pong Charity events.

Women's Hardbat Events at the USA Nationals
Here's the USATT article.

Millcreek Open
Here's the USATT article by Sam Steiner.

How I Turn from Love to Hate Table Tennis
Here's the article. Some things to think about.

Top Ten Points at the Men's World Cup
Here's the video (6:16).

Savio College Exhibition with Mario Genovese

• Some "forehand to forehand" (48 sec)
• Around the world (15 sec)

Incredible Shot by Michael Maze Against Ma Lin
Here's the video (37 sec, including slow motion replay) as he does an improvised running around-the-the net roll-on-the-table loop at the 2015 Tsingtao Tour. (Yeah, Ma Lin still plays, even if he isn't the best Ma anymore.)

Bouncing Ball on Racket Handle Challenge
On Friday,  Monday, and yesterday I linked to players setting records on this, and yesterday I wrote that 445 was the "ultimate record that will never be broken (yes, that's a challenge)." Well, challenge taken. Here's video (5:09) of 1109 in a row!!! Make sure to see the near miss and incredible recovery at 4:14. (I can't find the name of the person from the video or comments underneath.) Yes, a new record that will never be broken…

Caesar Pong
Here's the picture! (Here's the non-Facebook version.)

Google a Gorilla
Here's some of what you get if you google "King Kong Ping Pong Pictures" and "Gorilla Table Tennis Pictures."

• King Kong Ping Pong 1
• King Kong Ping Pong 2
• King Kong Ping Pong 3
• King Kong Ping Pong 4 
• King Kong Ping Pong 5
• King Kong Ping Pong 6
• King Kong Ping Pong 7
• King Kong Ping Pong 8
• King Kong Ping Pong 9
• King Kong Ping Pong 10
• King Kong Ping Pong 11
• King Kong Ping Pong 12
• King Kong vs. Godzilla
• Long-Armed Gorilla Pong
• Chicago Cub Gorilla Pong
• Dr. Neubauer Roaring Gorilla Pips
• Gorillas Playing Pong
• Gorilla Blade 1 (there were over 20 different ones)
• Gorilla Blade 2
• Gorilla Blade 3
• I Love My Gorilla Paddle
• Gorilla Ping Pong Ball (there were over 20 different ones)

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Toby Kutler: Flat to Spinny Backhand
Yesterday I had an interesting discussion with Toby Kutler, a 24-year-old local who's recently made the jump to 2300+. I've known and played him since he started playing at age 12, including coaching him at camps and a few times in tournaments. He's been training very hard the last year or so, after having hip injuries that sidelined him for over two years, 2012-2014. From 2008-2011 he was roughly a 2000 player. (He wasn't training as hard most of that time as he does now.) In 2011 I trained with him regularly, and during that time he jumped to about 2150 before the injury problems. (Here's a 13-sec video of him in 2014 where he's doing forehands footwork. Here's an article on him training in China in 2011.)

Even then I always saw the major flaw in his game – his backhand. He had a very strong forehand loop, but on the backhand he simply did everything pretty well – he could block and hit well, and could backhand loop, but there was no serious threat there. I discussed it with him a few times. Backhand looping is pretty much a must at the high levels these days, but it just wasn't a big part of his game at that time.

He began playing seriously again in 2014, including training for a time at the Werner Schlager Academy in Austria, where he was told, "The days of the flat hit are over." He also trained in California with Stefan Feth, who also convinced him to spin the backhand, and worked with him on it. And so he decided to make the switch from a mostly flat backhand to a topspinning one, i.e. backhand looping.

He said he was able to do it in drills early on, but that it wasn't instinctive in games at first. But after two months of it – what I call "Saturation Training" – he said it became natural and instinctive.

Before his backhand just wasn't a threat to stronger players – in rallies they'd quickly turn him into a blocker, allowing them to attack while taking out Toby's strong forehand. But now he attacks from both wings, and so there's nowhere to go. He can still block well, but it's now a secondary game as he mostly loops from both sides – and that allows him to get his forehand into play far more than before. Result? He's now rated 2308, with a recently high of 2339. He's also now training and playing matches regularly at the club with better players than before, which could also push him to a higher level.

But the key to this was two very basic things: lots of hard work, and learning to topspin the backhand – and the key to the latter was the decision to make this major change. Why not take a good hard look at your own game, and see if there's one thing like this that you could do to jump up a level? (Maybe you too should be looping the backhand?) Then, with a little saturation training, you'll be at a whole new level.  

Ping-Pong Diplomacy 1972 and a Challenge!
Here's video (6:02) of the Chinese tour of the U.S. in 1972, part 2 of Ping-Pong Diplomacy. (Part 1 was the U.S. tour of China in 1971.) Commentary is in Chinese, but the images tell the story as they gave exhibitions with the U.S. team in LA, NY, DC, Memphis, and other places. Chinese players include Zhuang Zedong, Zhang Xielin, Liang Geliang, Li Furong, and Lin Huiqing.

You'll see lots of top U.S. players, so here's the challenge: How many can you name? Email me, and I'll tomorrow I'll post who got the most. Some should be easy, such as the guy pinning a pin on a Chinese player at 1:34 or the lefty playing at 1:45. (Don't comment below – that'll give it away.)

New Articles from Coach Jon

• A Fresh Look at Fishing
• Breaking Away from Table Tennis - a look at cheating in table tennis, using the cycling movie "Breaking Away" as an outside example, where a character has the revelation that "Everybody cheats." He writes, "There are many players, however, who clearly know the rules but choose not to follow them. When a match is close and a good serve is really important, you can bet an illegal serve is on the way." I've blogged about this many times as well – this is what players face regularly at the higher levels, and yet we can't seem to get the rules people to act on this – they all seem to be waiting for someone else to do something.

In the Zone Part 8
Here's the article. I linked to parts 1-7 on Oct. 21.

Ask the Coach Show
Episode #180 (18:11) – The Exciting Push (and other segments)

Off the Table with Caroline Kumahara
Here's the ITTF Video (3:13) of the Brazilian star.

Pink Pong – Table Tennis Charity
Here are pictures of Kim Gilbert and others at a TT charity for breast cancer.

11 Questions with Scott Butler
Here's the USATT interview.

Ping Pong Champ a Hit on ECU Campus
Here's the article on Nepal's Norden Tamang from East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma.

Bouncing Ball on Racket Handle Challenge
On Friday and Monday I linked to players setting records on this. Today we have the ultimate record that will never be broken (yes, that's a challenge) as Magnus Mallander, described as a youth coach from Halmstad, Sweden, bounces it 445 times in a row! Here's the video (2:37).

Unbelievable Point Between Ovtcharov and Mizutani
Here's the video (47 sec).

Great Defense Then Offense Point
Here's the video (34 sec), with a big celebration afterwards.

Seahawks Use Ping-Pong as an Escape from Football
Here's the article and audio video (3:02). (They don't show pictures in the video, only audio, with a note, "Sorry, no photos of the Seahawks playing ping pong. Pictures are not allowed in the locker room."

Righty and Lefty Play on a Robot
Here's the video (5:51).

Build a 300mph Ping-Pong Cannon
Here's the article and video (47 sec), and watch someone try to return the ball. I'd like to see a 2700 player try to return these!

MDTTC October Open
Here are results and pictures from our tournament this past Saturday, run by Charlene Liu. Click on names to see pictures. Complete results available at Omnipong.

Open Singles – Final: Chen Bo Wen d. Wang Qingliang, 4,-3,9,6,-8,10; SF: Chen d. Bojun Zhangliang, 8,8,-9,8,-8,6; Wang d. Stefano Ratti, 9,6,4,5; QF: Chen d. Klaus Wood, 6,-8,5,2; Zhangliang d. Albert Senter, 7,6,5; Ratti d. Allen Lin, 5,4,-5,10; Wang d. Raghu Nadmichettu, 6,-9,4,7.
Under 2300 – Final: Raghu Nadmichettu d. Klaus Wood, -9,6,-8,5,8; SF: Nadmichettu d. Tiffany Ke, 6,6,-11,7; Wood d. Amy Lu, 6,8,-8,7.
Under 2000 – Final: Yunhua Gong d. Costel Constantin, -2,-8,8,6,6; SF: Gong d. George Li, 6,6,4; Constantin d. Kevin Zhou, 7,8,12.
Under 1700 – Final: Leonid Koralov d. Alvin Whitney, 8,-8,5,-4,9; SF: Koralov d. Maksim Danilau, -4,7,9,9; Whitney d. Walid Alkadi, 7,6,11.
Under 1300 – Final: Hassam Alkadi d. Kallista Liu, -9,9,-4,11,2; SF: Alkadi d. Siliang Huang, 9,2,5; Liu d. Walid Alkadi, 9,-8,5,6.
Over 50 – Final: Ernest Byles d. Lixin Lang, 7,4,4; SF: Byles d. Morteza Sajed, 5,5,5; Lang d. Alnoor Hemani, 3,3,3.
Under 16 – Final: Klaus Wood d. Tiffany Ke, 11,2,9; SF: Wood d. Eric Li, 6,6,4; Ke d. Louis Levene, 2,-8,8,8.

World Weaver Press News Release
As noted in my blog on Oct. 16, I'm now a novelist for World Weaver Press, who bought my novel "Campaign 2100: Game of Scorpions." Here's their press release about it. The novel covers the election for president of Earth in the year 2100, where the world has adopted the American two-party electoral system, and includes first contact with an alien ambassador, who travels with the campaign as an observer. It also has lots of table tennis as one of the four main characters is a championship player, who teaches the alien to play. The novel will be out in late January.

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Tip of the Week
Develop a Practice Partner.

Nationals – I'm Top Seed in All Four Events!
Yes, it's true. Okay, so far only 192 have entered, but that's roughly 1/4 of the expected 800 players. This year, besides coaching, attending meetings, and selling my books, I'm entered in four events – Hardbat Singles, Over 40 Hardbat Singles, Hardbat Doubles (with Ty Hoff), and the FASTT Sandpaper Singles. Here's the list of entries by player and by event (set dropdown menu to "2015 USA Nationals") – and as you can see, I'm top seed in all four!!!

Although I'm normally a sponge player, and that makes up the vast majority of my coaching, I've also been a hardbat player at the Open and Nationals for many years. (I've won Hardbat Singles twice, Over 40 Hardbat four times, Hardbat Doubles 13 times – nine with Ty Hoff, four with Steve Berger – and Over 50 Hardbat Doubles twice – once each with Jay Turberville and Jeff Johnson). But age has slowed me down, making it difficult to play my mostly all-out forehand attacking game. (I mostly chop on the backhand, where I'm pretty good, but not good enough to chop down the top hardbatters, especially with the fast racket I use to enhance my attacking.)

I'm retired from tournament sponge play, and I've retired from tournament hardbat play at least two or three times in disgust at my play. But this year might be different. I decided to try to win a few of these events one more time. And so I've done two things.

First, I've been dieting for about three weeks, and have gone from 196 lbs to 185. I plan to continue right down to perhaps 175, and then go to a weight maintenance diet. Here's the Larry diet, ©2015. (I also have a daily vitamin pill.)

• Breakfast: 4 oz Banana nut muffin and half a glass of Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice
  Calories: 450
• Mid-morning snack: Granny Smith Apple (sometimes varied with a pear, grapefruit, or handful of carrots)
  Calories: 80
• Lunch: Various soups from Campbell's Chunky and Progresso brands. I stocked up with several each of over ten types.
  Calories: 200-300
• Dinner: More soup! (But I vary it sometimes with salads.)
  Calories: 200-300
• Splurge #1: I allow myself one 7.5 oz can of Mountain Dew per day. (Actually, I've skipped this 2-3 times a week, and often only drink half of it. But I also ate a handful of peanuts the other day, so we'll leave this at the full caloric value.)
  Calories: 110
• Splurge #2: I allow myself a bag of popcorn every other day
  Calories: 300, so about 150/day
• Total daily calories: ~1300/day

According to the Calorie Counter (where I put in my height of 5'10", starting weight of 196, age 55, and put myself down as "active" (I do coach a lot of hours plus I'm weight training – see below), to maintain my starting weight I need about 3100 calories/day. Since 3100-1300=1800, and a pound of fat is 3600 calories, I should be losing a pound every two days. And guess what? I've dieted about three weeks – call it 22 days – and that means losing about 11 pounds, exactly what I've lost!!!

Second, I started weight training three weeks ago, three times a week. My routine takes about 30 minutes. I blogged about this on Oct. 7.

This will be a good test of whether getting in better shape will affect my play at the Nationals. We'll see! (But I already do feel more energized than before.)

State Championships
I blogged about this initiative on Friday, and it's a USATT news item. The goal is to have state championships in all 50 states in 2016. Since Friday we've had volunteers to run state championships from five new states! I'll blog more about this later. If you are interested in running a state championship, and there isn't one already in your state, contact me.

Polish Open
Here's the ITTF home page for the event, which finished yesterday, with results, articles, pictures, and video. The event was held in Warsaw, POL, Oct. 21-25. Here are some links:

• Men's Singles Main Draw
• Women's Singles Main Draw. Women's side just isn't interesting to me much these days – it's repetitively all Chinese, with an occasional Japanese or other Asian player in there, though rarely winning. The #1 non-Asian woman in the world is Elizabeth Samara of Romania, world #16, which tells us that something is wrong with the training of women outside Asian countries. (Han Yang of Germany is #8 in the world, but she's a former Chinese star.) On the men's side, it's also mostly Chinese, but there are several non-Chinese players who do regularly challenge the Chinese stars, and it is those conflict which are most interesting – such as what happened here, at the Polish Open Men's Semifinal and Final, as well as the Men's Doubles Final, where a pair from Sweden defeated a pair from Poland.
• Women's Final: Liu Shiwen (CHN) d. Ding Ning (CHN) (5:05, with Ding retiring because of injury after two games).
• Men's Final: Fan Zhendong (CHN) d. Stefan Fegerl (AUT) (14:05): 1,-9,-9,3,7,-8,7
• Men's Semifinal: Stefan Fegerl upsets Zhang Jike (14:47), 15,-6,-8,8,3,13. Here's a highlights point (36 sec)!
• Insane Athleticism by Xu Xin (24 sec)
• ITTF Polish Open videos. Here's the ITTF videos page, where you can find videos from all ITTF events.
• Highlights video (5:22) of Ma Long vs. 12-year-old Harimoto Tomokazu of Japan in round of 64. On Friday I linked to the ITTF article on him being youngest ever to reach the main draw in an ITTF Tour event, and video of his upset of world #72 Tan Ruiwu (world #72) from Croatia. Here's an article from Tabletennista on him – his idol? Fan Zhendong.

Playing Less Predictably
Here's the new coaching article from Han Xiao, which features and analyzes the recent World Men's Cup Final between Ma Long and Fan Zhendong (including a link to the video).

Ask the Coach Show
Episode #179 (23:20) – Drills Before a Tournament (and other segments)

Table Tennis School – Doubles Training
Here's the video (17:07).

Olympic Coach Magazine
The new issue of Olympic Coach Magazine (Fall, 2015) just came out.

2015 World Cup Highlights with Jimmy Butler
Here's the video (3:44).

World's Best Cadets Prepare for 2015 World Cadet Challenge
Here's the highlights music video (46 sec).

Bouncing Ball on Racket Handles
On Friday I linked to this challenge made to top players – here's the video (3:18), with Xu Win setting the record with 55 in a row. At the end of the video players were challenged to try to top these players. And here are two responses!

• Steve Chan bounces ball on racket handle 103 times in a row in 36 sec!
• Tuan Le alternately bounces ball on two racket handles 46 times in a row in 18 sec!

95-year-old from England Still Perfecting Her Game
Here's the article on Rita Tanner.

Around-the-Net Rolling Loop

Here's the video (15 sec, including slow-motion replay).

Great Scoop off Floor, Ball Rolls on Table
Here's the video (11:33, with the point in question starting 38 seconds in – link should take you directly there). The match itself is a great counterlooping duel as Mihai Bobocica (world #89, #1 from Italy) defeats Kirill Gerrassimenko (a young player from Kazakhstan) in seven games.

More Mike Mezyan Pictures
NOTE - If you are unable to see these pictures, all you have to do is join the Table Tennis Group - it's easy! Here are all the past, present, and (soon) future pictures he's collected. (I pick out his best ones for here - he has more.)

• Breakfast Anyone?
• Puppy Pong? (Is this the cutest ping-pong picture ever?)

Ping-Pong Ball vs. Ping-Pong Ball
Here's video (10 sec) of Kevin Korb pounding a ball off his shoe . . . sort of. "When your office is a ping pong club, you find creative ways to fit #trickshots into the daily routine."

Table Tennis Trick Shots
Here's the video (32 sec) of all sorts of crazy trick shots.

Ma Long and Chen Weixing Go Around the Table
Here's the video (32 sec) as the two clown around.

A Cartwheeling Killer Smash to the Gut!
Here's the sad, sad video (37 sec, including slow motion as the mortally wounded Shmyrev falls to the ground) as Agent 0011 – Rushton, Andrew Rushton – takes down Russian agent Maxim Shmyrev with a killer shot in this sandpaper rally.

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State Championships

(This also just went up as a USATT news item.)

Dear Table Tennis Leaders,

USA Table Tennis is making it a goal to have State Championships in all 50 states – and we'd like to do it in 2016. We want to turn these events into major events for both the players and the media. Here is a listing of all fifty states and which ones have a 2015 State Championships (including those with a State Games).

For most players, the State Championships should be one of the most important events of the year. Many can compete to become a State Champion, whether it be in men's or women's singles, a senior event, a junior event, hardbat or sandpaper, a rating event, or doubles. It gives them something to train and look forward to. It's also the time when players from all over the state get together for table tennis and fun, usually ending with everyone going out for dinner together.

We'd like to celebrate these champions by commemorating them on a USATT State Champions Page as well as on the USATT News page. We'd also like to have an annual Parade of Champions at the U.S. Nationals, where, between matches during the showcase events, we invite all the attending state champions to take a march around the playing arena as the crowd cheers.

We'd like to turn these State Championships into major events in the local media. To do this, the tournament director or publicity director would simply Google the local TV, radio, and newspaper listings to get contact emails. Then, the week before the tournament, send them press releases inviting them to cover the tournament. Afterwards send them a follow-up press release that they can use.

To get this done, we need your help. In states where there are no State Championships we need volunteers or entrepreneurs to set up and run these tournaments. It's not hard to do so; all that you need to know is in the USATT Tournament Guide. It includes info on getting a referee, sanctioning, events to run, etc. (For info on getting referees and umpires, see the USATT Rules and Officiating page.) Here is the Tournament Directors Info Page. 

Here is a sample State Championship entry form. You'll need to fill in the local info where indicated. Feel free to make changes – design it for your state's needs. You get to choose which and how events you'd like to run (you don't have to run 22 events!), and schedule them as you see best. It can be a one-, two-, or even a three-day event starting on Friday night.

If you would like to run a 2016 State Championships, or have any questions, please contact the appropriate person below, and contact me to let me know you are running one, or for general questions. We thank you for helping to develop the sport in this country!

Sincerely,
Larry Hodges
USATT Regional Associations Coordinator and At-Large Director on USATT Board of Directors

• For info on running tournaments (including USATT sanctioning), see the USATT Tournament Guide, or contact Larry Rose, USATT Tournament Committee Chair.
• To find your Regional Sanctioning Coordinator, see the USATT Tournament Coordinators page.
• For info on getting a referee or umpires, see the USATT Umpires and Referees page, or contact Joseph Yick, USATT Umpires and Referees Committee Chair.
• For info on doing a direct mailing to players in your state (email or regular mail), contact Andy Horn, USATT Membership Director.
• For info on publicizing your State Championships, contact Richard Finn, USATT Media Director.
• For info on publicizing your events on the USATT web page, contact Sean O'Neill, USATT Webmaster and Social Media guide.
• For general info, contact Larry Hodges, USTT Regional Associations Coordinator.   

Greatness is an Attitude, Part 2

Here's the new podcast (43:24) from Expert Table Tennis, featuring Coach Marc Burman. (Here's Part 1 (42:48), which I linked to when it came out last week.) Topics in Part 2 include the following:

• Why you should focus on your performance, not your results.
• Why sometimes it is a good idea to play against your opponents strengths.
• What Marc learned from Jean-Philippe Gatien at the London Open.
• How to develop the habit of winning.
• Marc’s views on the importance of talent and personality.
• Six practical tips that will turbocharge your improvement.
• The difference between “good mistakes” and “bad successes”.
• How to deal with the pressure of being expected to win.
• The attitude that will help you to consistently beat lower ranked players.

Ask the Coach Show

Episode #178 (14:45) – When to Increase Drills (and other segments)

Rate This! Table Tennis Ratings

Here's the new article from Coach Jon. "High ratings are so coveted that I have heard players claim they will retire from table tennis once they get their rating over 2000." … "We definitely need to take a fresh look at our sport. Are we so obsessed with ratings and improved play that we are not enjoying playing?"

Multiball Training in Germany

Here's the video (2:22).

Polish Open

Here's the ITTF home page for the event, with results, articles, pictures, and video. It started Thursday, and is in Warsaw, POL, Oct. 21-25.

Tomokazu Harimoto Causes Sensation, Youngest Ever to Reach Main Draw

Here's the ITTF story on the 12-year-old from Japan, already ranked #286 in the world in Men's. He made the main draw at the Polish Open (final 64), but guess who he faced in the first round? Men's Singles World and World Cup Champion, and World #1 Ma Long (5,5,3,6). I can't find video of that match (I'm guessing it'll go up later) but here's video (8:15, with time between points removed) of him in the qualifier defeating the group's top seed, Tan Ruiwu (world #72) from Croatia. His world ranking is going to shoot up.

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.

Ask a Pro Anything – Marcos Freitas

Here's the video (19 sec) where Adam Bobrow invites you to submit questions for the world #8 from Portugal.

Bouncing Ball on Racket Handle Challenge

Here's the video (3:18) as top players in Asia are challenged to see how many times they can do this. To see the final standings, go to 3:07; to see the record performance of 55 by Xu Xin, go to 2:49.  

USATT Member, Comedian, and Author Judah Friedlander on The Daily Show

Here's the video (6:11) from Tuesday night (Oct. 20) of Judah Friedlander. With a 1607 rating (over 2000 if he sheds the excessive weight from his hair and beard), he's the "World Champion"! "Comedian Judah Friedlander explains the inspiration behind his signature look and discusses 'If the Raindrops United,' his book of satirical illustrations." (He's also the author of "How to Beat Up Anybody."

I've coached Judah a number of times at MDTTC – while he now lives in New York, he grew up in Maryland, and spends a few weeks here every year. One of my surreal moments was the time I coached, back-to-back, Delaware Governor Jack Markell (USATT rating 1223) and then Judah, and then introduced the two and they played each other for over an hour.

More Mike Mezyan Pictures

NOTE - If you are unable to see these pictures, all you have to do is join the Table Tennis Group - it's easy! Here are all the past, present, and (soon) future pictures he's collected. (I pick out his best ones for here - he has more.)

• Four Very Strange Tables
• Ping-Pong Drawing
• "Small But Strong" Table
• Robot Viewing of Pong
• Chandelier Pong
• The Ultimate Dinner Setting!

Bonding Time with the Women's USA Team

Here's the video (50 sec) as USA Women's team members Lily Zhang and Jiaqi Zheng have a "Lady and the Tramp" moment – with Adam Bobrow there to capture the moment.

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The More Two Players Drill Together the Better They Drill Together

One of the keys to improving is getting a good practice partner. Usually these are two players who are roughly the same level. But it's more important that they both want to improve, are willing to work together, and are regular to train on a regular basis. The more they train together the more used to each other they get, and the better each plays in these drills. This leads to both players' levels escalating up – an upward spiral to excellence! (Here's my article on How to Play and Practice with Weaker Players.)

I want to emphasize how amazingly better you play when you drill with someone regularly – you get used to their shots, and your own shots become more and more natural and consistent, as well as more powerful. Some might think this is artificial, since you are playing against the same player and shots, which isn't what happens in tournaments or leagues. But the key is how much this type of drilling develops your foundation.

Players still need to play others with different styles, especially matches – that's imperative - but drilling with a good partner develops the foundation that's so important to develop your game.

Once you find someone to train with regularly, take turns with the drills. But remember that in any drill, both players are doing the drill. If one player is doing a footwork drill to the other's block, then the other is doing a blocking drill. Players not only need to learn to move and attack, but also to control an opponent's shots.

Don't forget to get a box of balls and do some multiball training! (Here's my article on Multiball Training.) Multiball training makes up about 1/3 of the training of world-class players. (A version of today's blog might end up as a Tip of the Week.)

Polish Open

Here's the ITTF home page for the event, with results, articles, pictures, and video. It started yesterday, and is in Warsaw, POL, Oct. 21-25.

Ask the Coach Show

Note – for much of yesterday there was a bad link for Episode 176, so I'm linking it again today.

• Episode #176 (21:18) – Ding Ning's Reverse Tomahawk Serve (and other segments)
• Episode #177 (23:44) – Confusing Table Tennis (and other segments)

Table Tennis Training China

Here's the video (1hr 13min 13 sec) – that's a lot of TT! It's in Chinese but you can learn by watching.

Interview with Andrew Baggaley

Here's the interview with the English star.

Ma Long and Zhang Jike Training

Here's the video (47 sec, including slow motion replay) as Ma forehand loops to Zhang's backhand.

Ding Ning vs. Liu Shiwen

Here's video (6:14, with time between points removed) of the world's top two women playing each other recently in the Chinese Super League.

Ask a Pro Anything: Fan Zhendong

Here's the video (2:24) as Adam Bobrow interviews the Chinese superstar. We learn about his favorite game – Clash of Clans – and watch him play with Adam doing the play-by-play! We also see his impression of Bruce Lee! Plus he sings! (He speaks decent English.)

Ambidextrous Table Tennis – Watch These Four Three Play!

Here's the video (32 sec) as one player shows how he can be two in a drill!

How to Knock a Ping-Pong Ball Off a Tee

Here's video (8 sec, repeating) of Kevin Korb showing an inefficient way of doing this.

Adam Bobrow Circles the Table with Jorg Rosskopf

Here's the video (25 sec) as the two clown around.

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Leagues, Leagues, Leagues!

If I hear or read that word one more time I believe I will hurl myself off a ping-pong table. Okay, the 2.5-foot fall probably won't hurt me and I'll just brush myself and go back to work, but it seems leagues (ugh!) is all I see or do that last few days – except when I'm coaching or blogging. (And here I'm blogging about it!!!) (Oh, and there's that pesky time I'm spending working with my new publisher on my upcoming SF novel – which has a lot of table tennis – and I'm writing a new SF short story, but I won't talk about that on this table tennis blog . . . much. Today is also Back to the Future Day, but believe it or not, my intensive online search found exactly zero table tennis pictures involving that movie or actors Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd.)

I took yesterday morning off from blogging so I could work on the prototype USATT Regional Team League (that word again!). The goal is to create something that can spread to other regions, as I blogged about here. I kept running into roadblocks as the leagues (ugh!) in LA, NY, and the Capital Area are run a bit differently. I ended up deleting most of what I did. I got so tired of working on it that I finally called an early halt to it and worked on something else, and then went off to coach.

And then, last night, while mulling over it at about midnight after going to bed I had a spurt of inspiration and energy. I leaped out of bed, ran to my computer, and worked until 3AM – and it's (mostly) DONE! Well, except for the roughly dozen more bullet point items that need to be incorporated that I thought of afterwards.

However, I still might not be able to go public as there are still some major questions coming up. One big question is whether we'll need software or not. If we go with that, then that has to be developed. Looking into that is high on the league (there's that word again!) todo list. Software would be used for everything from registering teams, scheduling, and ratings. It's also the primary thing USATT can offer such leagues (aah!).

As noted below, we had the second meeting of the Capital Area Team League (ugh!) on Saturday from 5-10PM. After League (ugh!) Commissioner Stefano Ratti compiled and sent the results to me, I updated the online results, put them in a better format, and updated the standings. Due to some complications, things got complicated.

Meanwhile, there's been much discussion on the National League (aah!) Finals that are normally held every year at the Nationals. I can't go into details, but we need to more formalize the process to turn it into something more than "a bunch of top players show up and play and nobody knows about it." I'll likely have more on that later – I'm working with CEO Gordon Kaye and NY League (aah!) Director Mauricio Vergara on this.

I'll be at the club this afternoon and tonight. If anyone says the "L" word to me, I will smite them with a ping-pong ball. (Now I'll find out how many people from my club read my blog!)

Tutoring

I can't blog without writing about some funny stuff at the club. I'm tutoring one eight-year-old kid on his writing (I also coach him), and we run into some interesting situations. Yesterday:

• In a war between Minions and the Penguins of Madagascar over control of Mount Rocky Road (ice cream), the penguins win.
• Most of his stories involve my quest for rocky road ice cream, and most end with a fish sticking out of my mouth. (My aversion to sea food is well known.)
• For one story, we calculated that we could fit roughly 691,200,000 worms inside MDTTC, assuming worms are 6"x1/4" – big, fat ones – and the club is 10,000 square feet with 15" ceilings. To simplify things, we assumed the worms are rectangular, so each has a volume of 6"x.25"x.25" = .375 cubic inches. Club has a volume of 10,000' x 15' = 150,000 cubic feet, or 259,200,000 cubic inches. Then we divide 259,200,000/.375 = 691,200,000 worms. Have your eyes glazed over yet?

USATT Hall of Fame Dinner Highlight 2015 National Championships Week

Here's the USATT article. (I'm especially pleased that Coach Jack Huang - from my club - is being inducted!) "The highlight of the evening’s events, which are hosted by USATT Hall of Famer Tim Boggan, will honor the 2015 inductees, including Dean Johnson (contributor), Jack Huang (contributor), Eric Owens (player), Wang Chen (player), and Tahl Leibovitz (player). The Hall of Fame Committee will also award the Mark Matthews Lifetime Achievement Award to Si Wasserman."

Plugged In: Gordon Kaye, USA Table Tennis

Here's the article on the USATT CEO from Sports Business Daily. He covers topics including professionalizing the sport, calling it "pingpong," the lack of USA Olympic meals, pitching to sponsors, and getting on TV.

How to Grow Recreational Table Tennis in the U.S.

Here's the article from the USA Hobby Table Tennis Coalition

What is the Number One Weakness in Your Game Right Now?

Here's the new coaching article from Expert Table Tennis. You can discuss your own #1 weakness in the comment section below the article. My main weaknesses are my too-soft backhand and being an aging (i.e. slower feet) one-winged attacker. How about you?

New Coaching Video and Article from Samson Dubina

• Serve Return – Part II: How to Loop Long Serves (2:30). Here's Part I – Returning Short Serves (2:11) from last week.
• Recipe for Success: Read 7 tips that I gave my students this week

Ask the Coach Show

• Episode #175 (21:18) – Ding Ning's Reverse Tomahawk Serve (and other segments)
• Episode #176 (25:24) – Ma Long's Fast Straight Serve (and other segments)

In the Zone: Training Emotional Skill in Table Tennis

Part 7 is new. I previously linked to 1-6.

• Part 1: Introduction and the Nature of Emotional Skill
• Part 2: Ten Attributes of Poised Players, What About Us?, and Diagnose
• Part 3: Intervention and Changing Goals
• Part 4: The Components
• Part 5: The Skills
• Part 6: Training Emotional Skill
• Part 7: Effective Focus is Agile, Relaxed Approach, Play Like You Train, Appropriate Arousal Level

Capital Area Team League Results

The fall season of the Capital Area Team League had its second meeting this past Saturday night at the Washington DC Club, for players in the Maryland, Virginia, and DC area. Here are the Standings and Results. (MDTTC A and JOOLA 1 have a makeup match to play, so they are currently down in the standings until they play.)

11 Questions with Jimmy Butler

Here's the USATT interview. "If I had to face Ma Long, I would ask him to come to the U.S., play him on slippery concrete with no barriers and no scorekeeper, and swing away.  ;)"

Table Tennis Champ Offers Free Lessons for Anyone

Here's the article on George Taplin of Abilene.

'Table Tennis Touch' Version 2.0 Update Adds Local and Online Multiplayer and Much More

Here's the article on this table tennis simulator. (It only costs 99 cents!)

TODAY Anchors Buzz About Caffeinated Peanut Butter Table Tennis Tech

Here's the video (2:45). The table tennis part starts at 1:40, where they go to a table and play, using a "vibration activated scoring system."

Incredible Backhand

Here's the video (36 sec including slow motion replay) by Ioannis Sgouropoulos (GRE) against Damien Llorca (FRA).

Great Point at the Philippines Open

Here's the video (40 sec) of this point between Jung Youngsik (KOR) (on the near side) and Kenta Tazoe (JPN).

The Legend of Bruce Lee . . . Ping-Pong Player!

Here's the picture! (Here's the non-Facebook version.) And for the one or two people on this planet who haven't already seen it, here's video (2:37) of "Bruce Lee playing table tennis with nunchucks," where he easily beats the best players. (It's actually a Bruce Lee look-alike in Nokia cell phone ad, but try convincing his fans of that!)

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I'm just inundated with work, and need to take the morning off to catch up. No blog today - back tomorrow. But here's a new highlights video!

Game of Pong

Here's the highlights video (8:02). 

Tip of the Week

The Power of a Low, Short, No-Spin Serve.

Memory Lane

On Saturday night we had the second meeting of the Capital Area Team League, held at the Washington DC Table Tennis Center. (We'll have results up by tomorrow.) Afterwards, while driving home, I realized I was within a mile of the house where I grew up – 1967-1979, ages 7 to 19, plus a year from 1990-91, ages 30-31. And so, on the spur of the moment, I took a tour down memory lane. (It includes some table tennis.)

I made a quick plan as I drove down University Blvd. Rather than turn left and go directly to the house where I grew up, I went straight so that I could do a more logical circuit of all my old haunts. However, I was pretty hungry so I stopped first at an Arby's (intersection of University Blvd. and Riggs Rd.) for a sandwich. This wasn't there before. After taking my order, the guy at the counter, whose nametag said Hasim, asked if I played table tennis – he saw I was wearing a Butterfly warm-up suit. It turns out he was a student at University of Maryland and played at the University of MD Table Tennis Club! (Which, by the way, I founded in 1981 while living in a dormitory there.) He knew the top players there, such as Toby Kutler, Charlie Sun, and Vikash Sahu.

Next I continued down University Blvd. and went left on Adelphi Rd, passing University of Maryland along the way. I drove the same route I used to take my bicycle nearly every day from 1976-79 (when I was 16 to 19), to the Prince Georges Community Center, where I used to practice regularly with Brian Masters, Mike Shapiro, Jerry Goldman, Timothy Ang, and others. (I also played at the New Carrollton TTC on Tue, Fri, and Sun nights.) I hadn't been there since 1979. Sure enough, it was still there! I went inside, and while there were changes, it was almost the same. However, the table tennis area, where there used to be two tables plus a foozball game, had been replaced by an exercise area, with weight equipment, stationary bikes, and jogging machines.

Across the street was the Prince Georges Library, looking exactly as it had 36 years ago. I'd spent many long hours there, sometimes doing schoolwork (since it was conveniently close to where I practiced table tennis) and checking out science fiction novels.

A short interlude: I was alone for this journey, but I felt like I was on a tour, and so I found myself giving running commentary to an imaginary guest.

Next I drove back down Adelphi Rd., just as I had so many years ago. I turned left on Cool Spring Rd., passed the Fleming's house (where a friend of mine, Eric, grew up before he became a meteorologist). I did a quick detour and retraced my old paper route (which I inherited from my older brother), which I did for about three years, roughly age 11 to 14 or so. I found the spot where the stack of papers to be delivered was always left; the steep hill where I used to have to lug the wagon full of papers up; and found the various houses where I'd have to dodge dogs to deliver the papers.

Then I continued on and turned left on Cool Spring Lane, and there it was – on a hill at the intersection of that and Rosette Lane – my old house. As noted above, I'd lived in that house with my family from age 7 to 19 (1967-1979), plus a year during grad school (1990-91). (My parents retired and moved to Eugene, OR, a couple years later.) The first change I noticed was the Rosette sign. Back then the sign had always been misspelled "Rossette." But at some point it had been replaced with the correct spelling.

The bushes around our house were gone, as was the goldfish pond, but the greenhouse was still there. I circled the house – half expecting someone to call the police about a stalker (it was about 8PM at night) – and much of it looked the same. All the rooms seemed to be lit. I could see silhouettes of people in what used to be my room in the basement, as well as in the kitchen and dining room upstairs. I considered knocking on the door and asking if I could look around, but decided that would be too weird. Other than a large shed in the back someone had put up, much of it looked the same.

I walked around the neighborhood, naming the people that used to live in the various houses – the Densbergers, Talbots, Whites, Fanales, Appletons, and Allens. Then I went out to the fields where we used to play football, and had a shock: it was now all forest! It was amazing how fast the trees had grown. As I wandered in, I spooked a herd of about ten deer. That was surprising.

Finally I returned to my car, and did one more drive around the neighborhood. Then I went back to Cool Spring Rd., went left, and saw all the new developments. It had once been mostly forest, but now it was all housing, with streets going into new neighborhoods. I went right on Riggs Rd., noting that the old gas station there – originally an ESSO station, then an Exxon station (which a quick Google search showed me happened circa 1972) – was now a Limousine service.

And there it was, about a mile down the road: Adelphi Elementary, my old elementary school. I parked out front and walked about. The front seemed almost the same as before. I went out back, hoping I wouldn't get yelled at by some security guard, but no one was about. (It was about nine PM or so.) The big shock – the huge oak tree in the playground out back was gone! Half the playground had been paved over for a basketball court. That oak tree had been center to everything back then as kids played about it and used it for shade. Alas. I was tempted to jog around the entire field, as we had done back in PE class, but decided against it. But the old backstop for kickball, baseball, and softball games was still there. I remember playing on it, and went over and did a few imaginary kickball kicks. (I never was good at kickball – I never could hit the ball solidly back then.)

Then I was back in my car, left on Riggs Rd. again for about two miles. Along the way we passed the local rather small shopping center, and the only thing left from before was the Golden Bull Restaurant that we'd gone to a few times, and that my brother used to work at.

The then, there it was, Buck Lodge Junior High School. I'd gone there from 1972-75 (ages 12-15, grades 7-9). I walked about, and it looked about the same as before. I wonder what happened to George Zachariah? He and I used to study together and compare notes on science fiction novels.

Then I was off for another three miles or so on Riggs Rd., which turned into Powder Mill Rd., and there it was – High Point High School – I was class of '78. It looked like it had been expanded; it was HUGE. Unlike the other two schools, the parking lot was jammed, and all the lights were on, and there were people everywhere. It turned out that there was some huge Christian Revival meeting going on. I went inside with all the other people, and asked a janitor if it would be okay to look around. He was hesitant, but said it would be okay to look around the front area. And so I walked up and down the hallways for the first time in 37 years – and gradually began to recognize it. I was still giving a tour to my imaginary guest, and pointed out the front entrance, the main office, the auditorium, and other landmarks to him. On office wall was a big picture of Francis Tracy, the principal during my time there.

I have surprisingly few memories of high school. I didn't start playing table tennis until I was 16, and from there on, that's most of what I remembered. (I do remember rushing through my homework at the library mentioned earlier so I could practice TT!)

I finally went back to my car and went home. It was a long sleepless night as I couldn't help reminiscing about all those years ago.

Men's World Cup

Congrats to Ma Long, the 2015 World Men's Cup Champion! Here are a few links.

• ITTF Home Page (with results, articles, quotes, pictures, and video)
• Men's Singles Results
• Men's Singles Final: Ma Long vs. Fan Zhendong (9:57)
• Videos of all the matches, highlights, interviews
• ITTF Article on Ma Long's Win
• ITTF Press Release
• Highlights Video
• Ma Long Serves into Camera (4 sec)
• Jimmy Butler (USA) at the Worlds:

• Jimmy Butler vs. Simon Gauzy (FRA, world #28) (3:08)
• Jimmy Butler vs. Panagiotis Gionis (GRE, world #25) (4:56)
• Video interview with Jimmy Butler (4 min).

Brief Tactical Analysis of Stefan Fegerl (AUT) vs. Dimitrij Ovtcharov (GER)

Here's the new article by Han Xiao about this match in the European Men's Team Finals. Includes link to the match (14:17).

Ask the Coach Show

Episode #174 (20 min) – Elbow Position for Serving (and other segments).

Ma Long Sets Wheels in Motion to Equal Grand Slam Record

Here's the new article from Matt Hetherington.

Celebrity Battle: Chris Paul vs. LeBron James

Here's the USATT poll – who would win?

Ping-Pong Designs

Here's a plethora of table types.

Navin Kumar's New Parkinson's Medicine

Here's a video (3:03) from yesterday of Navin's first session with me after starting with his new medication – I'll let him explain: "My first table tennis training session after starting my new Parkinson's medication. My coach, Larry Hodges is hitting primarily to my forehand since my Parkinson's has negatively impacted that the most. Forehand feels MUCH looser and relaxed thanks to the reduced tremors and stiffness in my right hand and arms."

Division 2E Highlight: Gin and Donic vs. Megahurtz

Here's the video (39 sec) of a highlights point from the LA League where Jayson Vera Cruz blocks down Dominic Jun. You don't have to be world-class to have a nice point!

Why Actress Susan Sarandon Thinks Ping-Pong is Democratic

Here's the article.

Highlights Video

Here's a new ITTF highlights video (1:50).

North Korea's Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un

Is this his new conference table? And why is he wearing gloves, to keep the table clean? (Here's the non-Facebook version.)

Raving Bunny Pong

Here's the picture!

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It Was Going to Be a Short Blog Today

I blogged Monday (Columbus Day) because the local schools were open. They are closed today – the school calendar doesn't specify why, but I presume it's Indigenous People Day. (We're having a one-day camp at MDTTC for the kids out of school. We have so many coaches at MDTTC that I'm not needed today, so I'm working at home on some USATT league stuff.) So I was planning to be off too! (Also, I've been on the go every day for a long, long time - "I need a vacation.")

However, yesterday was a banner day for me, though not for table tennis reasons. (Though there's a big table tennis angle.) Life for me just got more complicated – for the better. Here's what happened….and I ended up doing a normal blog.

Campaign 2100: Game of Scorpions - SOLD!!! – and Table Tennis!

I sold my science fiction novel to World Weaver Press. It covers the election for president of Earth in the year 2100, where the world has adopted the American two-party electoral system. It's a satirical drama featuring a moderate third-party challenge to the two main candidates, the conservative president and the liberal challenger, as they campaign all over the world for electoral votes and the presidency. I've been describing it as "West Wing in the 22^nd Century." The novel is 123,000 words long, which is 622 pages in double-spaced 12-point Courier New. It'll likely be published in a 9"x6" format, about 400 pages.

There is a huge table tennis angle – one of the four main characters is a table tennis champion, who always carries a ping-pong ball around, which he nervously tosses about and smacks people with. Chapter four takes place at the U.S. College Championships (all the players are full-time professionals) and is one long table tennis scene as our champion plays table tennis while simultaneously listening in on breaking political news. There's also an extensive scene with a table tennis exhibition in China – it does not end well for our heroes. (They also go shopping for table tennis supplies in China.) The novel also has an alien ambassador, who joins in the campaign and learns table tennis while traveling the world. (His ancestors snatched flying insects out of the air, so he has great reflexes and hand-eye coordination, so he learns fast – to the chagrin of our human table tennis champion!) I blogged about the various table tennis scenes in the novel on June 13, 2014. I also blogged on May 17, 2012 about how table tennis has changed in the year 2100. (No major spoilers in the two blogs.) The novel has been making the rounds for several years – publishers take a long time to get back to you.

My previous novel, the humorous fantasy Sorcerers in Space, was originally published by a rather small publisher. (I have since bought the rights back and am now self-publishing it. The novel also has a table tennis angle, as the main star, 13-year-old Neil [Armstrong] has to give up his ping-pong dreams to save the world.) World Weaver Press is a much nicer one, a couple of steps up.

Because it's a political novel, we want it out at the start of the US Presidential election, so they are going to make sure it comes out in January, before the Iowa Caucuses on Feb. 1. I plan to send advance copies to lots of people in both the SF and political worlds, in the hopes of getting some good reviews and publicity.

I'm going to have to spend some time going over proofs and galleys and other pre-publication work. After it's published I'll be doing a lot of publicity work, including going to science fiction conventions and perhaps some TV. I'll do my best to make sure this doesn't interfere with my major table tennis work.

This is sort of the culmination of a vow I made many years ago to write at least three novels – a political satire, a humorous fantasy, and a table tennis fantasy – and see which did best. All three are now written and either published or soon to be published. Here's the result:

• Political satire: Campaign 2100: Game of Scorpions (coming January 2016!)
• Humorous fantasy: Sorcerers in Space
• Table tennis fantasy: The Spirit of Pong

I've been planning on taking a week off from Nov. 9-13 at a local writers retreat to work on a sequel to The Spirit of Pong. It looks like I'll instead be working on the sequel to Campaign 2100! I've longed planned it as a trilogy – I have rough outlines for the next two:

• Campaign 2100: Game of Scorpions
• Campaign 2110: Scorpions in Space
• Campaign 2120: Galactic Scorpions

But Campaign 2100 wasn't my only sale yesterday…

The Many Heads of Mr. Krup

When I got to the club yesterday to coach, I checked email on my new smart phone – and there it was, another acceptance letter! This was from Space and Time Magazine for the science fiction story titled here. (Sorry, no table tennis this time.) They are a somewhat major SF magazine. This is my fourth short story sale to them, and 72^nd science fiction or fantasy short story sale. (Here's my science fiction & fantasy page, which I probably need to modernize. I still haven't updated it with the two sales from yesterday.) I've been a cover story for Space and Time twice, Spring 2011 and Spring 2015.

My Reaction After Learning I'd Sold My SF Novel

Here's the video! (With apologies to Adam Bobrow.)

World Men's Cup

It starts today, in Halmstad, Sweden, Fri-Sun, Oct. 16-18. Here's the ITTF home page for the event where you can get results, articles, pictures, and video. Preliminary draws are up; USA's Jimmy Butler will be up against world #25 Panagiotis Gionis (GRE) at 1PM Swedish time (that's 7AM Eastern Time). (Alas, he lost 4-0. Next he's up against Simon Gauzy of France, world #28.) Here is the player's list:

1. MA Long (CHN)
2. FAN Zhendong (CHN)
3. OVTCHAROV Dimitrij (GER)
4. MIZUTANI Jun (JPN)
5. FREITAS Marcos (POR)
6. CHUANG Chih-Yuan (TPE)
7. NIWA Koki (JPN)
8. TANG Peng (HKG)
9. GAO Ning (SIN)
10. APOLONIA Tiago (POR)
11. GIONIS Panagiotis (GRE)
12. GARDOS Robert (AUT)
13. GAUZY Simon (FRA)
14. ASSAR Omar (EGY)
15. ACHANTA Sharath Kamal (IND)
16. KARLSSON Kristian (SWE)
17. TSUBOI Gustavo (BRA)
18. KALLBERG Anton (SWE)
19. HENZELL William (AUS)
20. BUTLER Jimmy (USA)

Chinese Team Hits with Local Swedish Kids

Here's video of Ma Long (8 sec) and Fan Zhendong (11 sec) hitting with the locals.

Greatness is an Attitude

Here's the new podcast (42:48) from Expert Table Tennis, featuring Coach Marc Burman. Topics include the following:

• Why Marc started Westcroft TTC at the age of 16.
• How he managed to quickly grow the club both in numbers and level.
• What he remembers of me as a nine and ten-year-old.
• Marc’s philosophy when it comes to introducing players to table tennis.
• Who Marc believes are the three greatest coaches of all time.
• The importance of personality and attitude in determining success.
• What Marc learnt from Carl Prean and Jean-Michel Saive.
• Why it is so hard to play as well in matches as you do in training.

Ask the Coach Show

Episode #173 (21:40) – Kenta's Forehand Sidespin Block (and other segments).

Pong Road

Here's the page about an upcoming table tennis documentary where Rocky Wang travels the country. "Pong Road is an episodic documentary showing the life of a professional American table tennis player and the ping pong sub-culture across the country."

The Newest Ping Pong Robot is a Giant

Here's the video (62 sec) – these table tennis robots can really play!

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.

America's Funniest Videos Looks at Table Tennis

Here's the video!

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103 Best Table Tennis Animated Images

It took quite a long time to search down and shamelessly steal all of these from whatever pages I could find them, but it was fun. (Hey, I'm in there – twice!) It was a tough job, but someone had to do it, and now you don't have to. So instead of a regular blog this morning, we'll go with this. (They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so that makes this my longest blog ever at 100,000 words. Or is an animated image worth 10,000 words?) You can spend some time exploring these and perhaps put them up on your table tennis web pages. (I found a lot more than 100, but I only put up the ones that I liked.) 

I was a bit disappointed that no one's created an animated gif of a few seconds of this octopus table tennis (perhaps when he smashes near the end?) or this energizer battery table tennis (perhaps when he's playing alone at the end) – hint hint! The first ten are roughly my top ten, but after that it's not really in order. Have fun! (Note - I've since added more, so we're over 100 now.)

1. Minion pong
2. Ghost pong
3. Alien vs. Predator pong
4. Speedy Gonzalez pong
5. Godzilla pong
6. Hospital pong
7. Snoopy pong
8. Behind back counter-smash
9. Belly Pong
10. High-toss serve hits partner (from movie "As One")
11. Wang Liqin rips forehand (most spectacular)
12. 91-shot lobbing rally
13. Loki pong (from The Avengers)
14. Trick pong
15. Baby smashing pong
16. Wang Hao multiball
17. Body-spinning counter-topspin
18. Behind back counter-hit
19. Chinese exhibition
20. Minion paddle pong
21. Forrest Gump
22. Forrest Gump backhand
23. Tom Hanks street pong
24. Bruce Lee nunchucks pong (it's not real!)
25. Arnold Schwarzenegger dancing pong
26. Tommy Lee Jones pong
27. Daniel Radcliffe ("Harry Potter")
28. Barack Obama and David Cameron (British Prime Minister)
29. Derek Nie vs. Manny Machado
30. Derek Nie and Manny Machado reaction
31. Larry Hodges flip kills winner (hey, that's me!)
32. Larry Hodges forehand (I didn't even know about this one!)
33. Baseball clubhouse pong (I think this is the Dodgers; not sure who the main player is)
34. Dance pong (starring Adam Bobrow)
35. Pigeon pong (this is real!)
36. Forehand loop
37. Mousetrap pong
38. Penguin pong
39. Lizard pong
40. Puppet pong
41. Head pong
42. Plate pong
43. Cat smash
44. Cat pong
45. Cat rally
46. Cat watching pong
47. Cats watching pong
48. Cat and mouse pong
49. Cat bouncing ball
50. Kitten cartoon pong
51. Kitty cat pong
52. Jumpy dog pong
53. Bird playing tetherball pong
54. Timo Boll vs. robot
55. Robot pong
56. Man vs. robot
57. Man vs. five robots
58. Cartoon robot pong
59. Cartoon drawing pong
60. Breaking table pong
61. Ping pong gun shoots ball through paddle
62. Ping-pong ball smashing through paddle (from a ping-pong gun)
63. Ping-pong ball smashing through cucumber in mouth
64. Exploding ping-pong balls (boom!)
65. Never-ending rally (watch person walking on top right to see the break)
66. Woman in orange
67. Ball bouncing on paddle
68. Backboard pong
69. High-toss trick serve (funniest one?)
70. Lob bounceback pong
71. Smack in head
72. Man vs. cat (that's Steve McQueen from the movie "The Great Escape")
73. Dog pong
74. Paddle in pants pong
75. Jesus vs. Devil
76. Big paddle pong
77. Big paddle vs. big paddle
78. Big paddle and two balls
79. Ping-pong balls in space
80. Armless pong (racket in mouth)
81. Spinning armless pong
82. Solo pong
83. Smack in face
84. Child bouncing ball
85. Ping-pong ball eyes
86. Crazy action pong
87. Toy cowboy and indian pong (this one hurts my eyes!)
88. Speed women (this hurts my eyes too!)
89. Speed pong (another one that hurts my eyes!)
90. Forehand and backhand
91. Anime forehand smash
92. Anime smashes
93. Anime smash in red
94. Anime rally
95. Anime kid rally
96. Anime serve
97. Anime ball toss
98. Anime angry jump
99. Anime penhold vs. chopper
100. Anime smash and win
101. Anime girls and paddle in face
102. Anime slow motion
103. Player catching ball on racket, smashing

Have You Practiced Your Serves Today?

Here's my article on Practicing Serves the Productive Way. And here's my Tip of the Week from last week about Serving and the Snowball Effect. C'mon people, next to receiving, serving is the most under-practiced aspect of the game.  

World Men's Cup

It starts tomorrow, in Halmstad, Sweden, Fri-Sun, Oct. 16-18. Here's the ITTF home page for the event where you can get results, articles, pictures, and video, and here's the ITTF Preview video (38 sec).

Two Decades, Two Careers Later, Appearance Number Two for American

Here's the ITTF feature story on Jimmy Butler attending the World Cup.

Fill the Club

My blog item from Tuesday is now a feature article at Butterflyonline.com, Fill the Club. It's about three important principles for successful clubs, especially full-time ones. Here's their news page, with lots of other items.

Zhang Jike Injury

Here's the article.

Dimitrij Ovtcharov: A Closer Look

Here's the new video (2:52). And here's 13 seconds of him already in Halmstad, Sweden, preparing for the World Cup (which starts tomorrow, Fri-Sun). Check out that backhand serve!

The Power of Lob 2.0

Here's the new video (20:45). Here's The Power of Lob 1.0 (7:52, from 2010).

Crow and Dog Play Pong

Here's the video (1:44) as the two play with a ping-pong ball – especially the crow.

Ping-Pong in Virtual Reality

Here's the very weird video (52 sec) from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who wrote, "The craziest Oculus experience I've had recently is playing ping pong in virtual reality."

Newlyweds Mickey Rooney & Ava Gardner Play Ping Pong 1942

Here's the video (3:41) of the two famous actors. Rooney was once a junior star in California. In fact, it was his table tennis that got him his big acting break, as described in this bio of Mickey Rooney:

"After leaving the Mickey McGuire series, Rooney appeared in several films, but his career seemed to be leading nowhere. The dreamed of “big break” was to come from the unlikeliest of sources – a game of table tennis. According to Rooney, one Sunday afternoon, he was appearing in an exhibition table tennis game at the Ambassador Hotel. Seeing that he had an appreciative audience, the ham in him kicked in and Rooney began to show off. “I entertained them,” he later wrote, “with a line of picturesque speech and patter and some pantomime that had them in hysterics.” One of those most delighted by Rooney’s antics was the game’s referee who turned out to be none other than David O. Selznick, himself an avid table tennis fan. The legendary producer had not yet reached the pinnacle of his career but was nonetheless an important producer at MGM where he worked under his father-in-law, Louis B. Mayer. Following the match, Selznick reportedly tried to convince Mayer to sign his new discovery to a contract with the studio. When Mayer learned it was Mickey Rooney whom his son-in-law was so enamored of he was nonplussed, telling Selznick that Rooney, at fourteen, was a has-been. Selznick was undaunted by his father-in-law’s dismissal and sought to make Rooney a star by putting him in his latest production, Manhattan Melodrama (1934) set to star Clark Gable. That there was no part for a boy in the gangster film did not faze Selznick who called in writers Joseph L. Mankiewicz and Oliver H.P. Garrett to write one. This resulted in new scenes showing Clark Gable as a boy, played by Mickey Rooney, of course."

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