Racket Tip When Blocking

On Tuesday I linked to Racket Position, a 54-second video from Samson Dubina. It brought back a memory of my own during my peak years in the 1980s and early 1990s. In the video, Samson explains why it’s an advantage to keep the racket tip down in the same way for all shots (i.e. an extension of the arm), so you can do different shots from the same starting position.

Unfortunately, when I started out in 1976 I learned instead to raise my racket tip on my blocks, to about 45 degrees on the backhand, and a bit more on the forehand. This led to problems later on, as I’d have to have the racket tip up on some shots, down on others, and I’d often get caught the wrong way. Once I started blocking I tended to continue blocking rather change the racket tip up position. And so at my peak, I went on a roughly two-year mission where I tried to fix this, and forced myself to block on both sides with the racket tip more down. This allowed me to wait until the last second on each shot before deciding whether to block, counter, smash, or loop, and perhaps also kept the opponent in the dark.

However, at that point my blocking with the tip more up was pretty much ingrained, and I was never able to block consistently or effectively with the tip down. After losing numerous matches during those two years because of this I went back to my old way, and to this day I generally raise my racket tip when blocking. It’s especially noticeable on my forehand. On the backhand, I now block both ways, which probably isn’t good. In drills, I’ll often lower the tip on the backhand as that’s how I drilled for those two years, and it became pretty consistent that way – but only in drills. In games, I almost always raise the tip.

As Samson suggests, I recommend learning with the same angle for all shots, with the tip generally a bit down so you can also loop most effectively. But if you’ve already ingrained blocking one way (or some other technique), it might not always be worth trying to fix it, especially if you’re an older, established player. But you can try!

MDTTC Camps

Thursday was another exhausting day. How exhausting? When I got home around 7PM I literally (and I mean literally) sat in my lounge chair and slept for three hours, something I’ve never done. (It was also the first time all week that I didn’t have private coaching after the camp.)

As to the camp, we did a lot more on serves and serve return, as well as more fundamentals. We also played more regular games – and I was sort of floored (but kept a straight face as I explained) when two kids were both mystified with the idea that if they missed a shot, the other person scored a point.

Two kids tried out my racket and liked it a lot more than the slower ones they were using. The problem was I only had two of them, my main one and my backup, and both wanted to use it. I finally gave in, and lent out both for the day, and used one of theirs to feed multiball and rally with beginners. We’ll probably do it again today. I hope the poor parents aren’t going to have to shell out a ton of money for these two eight-year-olds, who I’d describe as advanced beginners (around 800 level). I use a Butterfly Timo Boll ALC ($136) and Tenergy 05 and 25 ($68 each, or $136 total, the same cost as the blade), so a $272 set-up. On the other hand, at least I don’t use a Zhang Jike Super ZLC ($375)! (I still remember buying Sriver and Mark V back in 1976 for $5/sheet…)

My Table Tennis Books

Here’s where you can buy them at Amazon - just a brief reminder!

Serving Grip – Learn How to Maximize Spin on Your Serve

Here’s the coaching video (60 sec) from Samson Dubina. (I’ve never tried the two-fingered version of the reverse pendulum serve – have to try it out.)

Ask the Coach by Richard Prause – All 19 Segments

Here are all 19 segments of the Ask the Coach Show with German coach Richard Prause at the Werner Schlager Academy. Parts 1-6 are in German with English sub-titles. Starting with Part 7 they are in English and more professionally done. Part 19 just came out this morning.

1. Part 1 (2:24) - What is talent in table tennis?
2. Part 2 (1:42) - Service tactics
3. Part 3 (3:13) - How do professionals practice?
4. Part 4 (2:22) - What is a good exercise?
5. Part 5 (1:45) - What is the difference between Europe and China?
6. Part 6 (2:28) - Practice Champions
7. Part 7 (1:51) - How to begin a match and what to do if you realize that a tactics does not work.
8. Part 8 (2:18) - Mental Coaching
9. Part 9 (1:19) - Short Pimples
10. Part 10 (1:36) - Plastic balls
11. Part 11 (4:26) - How to beat the Chinese
12. Part 12 (2:07) - How can the wrist create spin?
13. Part 13 (3:11) - Footwork
14. Part 14 (2:44) - Doubles Practice
15. Part 15 (2:15) - Touch
16. Part 16 (1:46) - Footwork
17. Part 17 (1:31) - Beginner's equipment
18. Part 18 (1:15) - Preventing easy mistakes
19. Part 19 (1:42) – Short balls

USA World Champions

Recently there was a USATT email discussion about past U.S. world champions, as part of a possible promotional item. So, without further ado, here is the complete list of the ten titles won at the World Table Tennis Championships by U.S. players. (Not including "Consolation Singles” or disabled events.) Here is the wiki list of world table tennis champions, and here’s a more detailed list of the world team champions. Of the players below, one is still alive: 90-year-old Thelma “Tybie” Thall Sommer, who I’m told still plays and attended the 2014 USA Nationals in Las Vegas as a spectator. (I bet she’ll be at the U.S. Open in 16 days as well!)

• 1936:
  • Women's Singles (Ruth Aarons)
  • Men's Doubles (Jimmy McClure/Robert Blattner)
• 1937:
  • Women's Singles (Ruth Aarons, co-champion with Gertrude Pritzi)
  • Men's Doubles (Jimmy McClure/Robert Blattner)
  • Men's Teams (Abe Berenbaum, Robert Blattner, Jimmy McClure, Sol Schiff)
  • Women's Teams (Ruth Aarons, Emily Fuller, Dolores Probert-Kuenz, Jessie Purves)
• 1938: Men's Doubles (Jimmy McClure/Sol Schiff)
• 1948: Mixed Doubles (Dick Miles/Thelma “Tybie” Thall Sommer)
• 1949: Women's Teams (Peggy McLean, Mildred Shahian, Thelma “Tybie” Thall Sommer)
• 1956: Mixed Doubles (Erwin Klein/Leah Thall Neuberger)

USATT Insider

Here’s the new issue that came out Wednesday.  

An American in China: Two Weeks of Training with the Pros

Here’s the USATT article by player/writer Jeff Pepper.

Revenge is a Dish Served Ice-Cold for the Dutch Duo

Here’s the article on the two Dutch players in the semifinals of Women’s Singles at the European Games, which finish today.

Ping-Pong on the Chappy Ferry

Here’s the article from the Martha Vineyard Times.

The Love for Table Tennis

Here’s the video (63 sec) of little Shia.

Quadruple- and Quintuple-Bounce Chop Blocking

Here’s the video (15 sec).

Fan Zhendong – The Dominator

Here’s the highlights video (5:44).

Xu Xin – The “Cloud Walking” Penholder

• Part 1 (8:15)
• Part 2 (7:50)

Chinese Players Training

• Ma Long and Zhang Jike (2:30)
• Ma Long and Zhou Yu (14 sec)
• Ma Long and Fan Zhendong (13 sec)
• Kids Training in China (10:13)

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.

Ping-Pong the Animation

Here’s where you can watch all eleven episodes.

Silly Auctioneer-Style Commentating

Here’s the video (69 sec) of Adam Bobrow. On a more serious note, here’s Adam’s coaching advice between games (30 sec).

Some Serious Animated Table Tennis Action

Here’s the animated table tennis cartoon.

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.)

• Supergirl Pong
• Peace Pong
• Whirly Table Pong

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MDTTC Camp

Yesterday was another long day at camp, including an extra hour of private coaching. Strangely, most of the kids seem more energetic than ever. (But not all!) We spent a lot of time working on serves, as well as a lot of fundamentals.

A lot of other interesting stuff probably happened, but perhaps I don’t remember it. I was feeding multiball to a righty ten-year-old, and I gave him a pop-up to his wide forehand. He smacked it down the line at a zillion mph, smack into the middle of my forehead. I think I saw stars for a few seconds, and I had a slight headache for the next couple of hours. (It’s times like this I’m glad I wear glasses when I play table tennis – I wouldn’t want a ball like that in the eye.)

Backspin Return Over Net Serve

Here’s a video (30 sec) of a Japanese player doing this serve. It’s actually not that difficult a serve for an advanced player, though it takes practice to do it consistently. I did 14 in a row last week in a demonstration for a class, which tied my previous best. (Missed #15 both times. All 14 were “clean,” bouncing back over the net on one bounce and not touching the net in either direction.) I did this serve once in a tournament at something like 20-12 match point against U.S. Under 10 Champion Sunny Li (who I trained with regularly) back when he was about 1900 but too short to reach it, but that’s the only time I’ve done it in a serious competition.

However, it’s low percentage to do this against most good players. If he’s tall, he’ll have no trouble reaching for it, and likely smash it. If he’s quick, he’ll go around the side of the table and smash it. The problem is that for a split second the ball is high over the net, and easy smash. I did see it used effectively once, by a 1900 player who used the serve to upset Derek Nie (rated about 1950 at the time at age nine or so), and almost did it again later on when Derek was about 2100. Both times there was a rather large crowd booing the player for taking advantage of Derek’s size and age in this way – but it’s legal. (The only time it’s not legal when playing against a wheelchair player.)

A game we sometimes do at camps goes like this. Both players get ten serves, five at a time. If you make the ball bounce back over the net on one bounce without touching the net in either direction, you get three points. If you get it to come back over the net but it takes more than one bounce or touches the net in either direction, you get two points. If you get it to bounce back so it at least touches the net or net posts, you get one point. Twice I’ve done ten in a row for a perfect score of 30, but I’ve been doing this since the late 1970s.

If you want to learn to do this, simply serve very high backspin, essentially scooping the ball up (as shown in the video), and aim to land the ball as close to the net as possible on your side. It’s basically just a matter of creating heavy backspin and being able to serve it high, no more than a few inches short of the net. The spin will do the rest.

Thumb Positioning

Here’s the new coaching video (52 sec) from Samson Dubina.

Interview with Sampson Dubina

Here’s the interview with the Ohio star player, coach, and writer.

All About Tenergy

Here’s the article. (Disclosure: I’m sponsored by Butterfly, and both I and most of my intermediate and advanced students use Tenergy. I use Tenergy 05 black 2.1 on forehand, Tenergy25 red 2.1 on backhand.)

NCTTA Newsletter

Here’s the June 2015 issue of the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association.

Jean-Michel Saive Breaks Barriers

Here’s the video (48 sec) as he breaks the side barriers while lobbing against Sweden’s Kristian Karlsson at the European Games. (Not an exhibition.)

Super Sidespin Counterloop by Chopper

Here’s the video (12 sec).

Highlights of Samsonov vs. Boll at the Energis Masters

Here’s the video (3:28).

Josep Antón Velázquez on CBBC's Kick About +

Here’s the video (4:15). He and football (soccer) freestyler John Farnworth combine for soccer-table tennis freestyle play. The table tennis starts about one minute in, and features Velázquez, the ITTF trickshot champion.

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.)

• Pool Pong (in prep for the US Open Pool Party?)
• Animal Pong (and the Facebook Table Tennis group)
• Green Pong
• Blue Pong
• Pink Cactus Pong
• Outdoor Italian Pong
• Outdoor Walled Pong
• Ancient Monk Statue Pong
• Mini Jurassic Pong

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MDTTC Camp and Coaching

Yesterday felt like one of the most exhausting days ever, probably because it was. Imagine coaching a group of 6-to-10-year olds for three hours, eating lunch, frantically reading a must-read document for an hour, then coaching the kids again another three hours, then doing 90 minutes of private coaching, then doing this blog (so I wouldn’t have to get up extra early this morning to do it). All in a day’s work for many full-time coaches, but it left me exhausted, as it has the many times I’ve had to do this before in our camps. But I’m getting older, and it’s not so easy anymore! (There are about 40 players in the camp.)

Several of the kids in my group were near-beginners, so we did a lot of work on fundamentals. Quite honestly, a few seemed pretty untalented at the beginning but surprised me with their progress as the day progressed. At the end, nearly all of them were able to hit the bottle of “squeezed worm juice,” and I was forced to drink quite a bit. Yuck!!! (As far as some of the kids know – and some sort of believe me – I’m spending the night at the hospital getting my stomach pumped.)

It has to be said – I’ve never seen a group who could lose paddles so quickly. I think we spent half the camp searching for lost rackets. I might have to tie them to their wrists.

One of the kids in my group, about eight, who has been in several of our past camps, wrote a note and handed it to me. It read, “Dear Larry, Larry is varey (sic) nice. By [name withheld].”

After a sufficient amount of pleading and negotiating, I finally gave in and treated them all to Slurpees at 7-11 after lunch. There goes my income…

Tomorrow we’re going to spend quite a bit of time on serves. I always look forward to the jaw-dropping, bug-eyed looks of shock when I demonstrate backspin serves that bounce back into the net. I really should video that part.

For the private coaching, because my arm is still bothering me and keeping me from playing 100%, I had two students come in together, Sameer and Daniel, along with Coach Raghu, and we had a joint session, where we each spent half the time with each. I did the multiball and blocking drills while Raghu got the fun ones – looping to them and counterlooping, and playing out points.

U.S. Open Finals Prepares to Rock Las Vegas

Here’s the USATT article. I leave for the Open in 18 days!

Ask the Coach with Richard Prause

Episode #18 (1:15) - Preventing Easy Mistakes.

Training to Drive the Ball Low to the Net

Here’s the video (1:30), with a barrier over the net.

Want to Be a Table Tennis Aerobics Instructor?

Here’s the article with a link to video.

USATT Board of Directors Minutes

Here are the minutes to the May 29, 2015 USATT Teleconference. I was on the call (as a board member), but wasn’t particularly active in this one, though I was involved in some of the U.S. Open and the Friends with Paddles discussions.

11 Questions with Larry Bavly

Here’s the USATT interview.

Olympic Solidarity Course has Immediate Effect in Samoa

Here’s the ITTF article, which features USA’s Richard McAfee.

2015 Missouri Show Me State Games Open

Here’s the article with a link to video.

Social Networking App for Table Tennis Players

From Pong Universe: for iPhone, and for Android.

Meet the Philippines National Table Tennis Team

Here’s the video (3:02) with Adam Bobrow.

Crazy Shot by Bojan Tokic at European Games

Here’s the video (20 sec) as the ball hits the net, bounces off the side, hits the post, and bounces back and hits the edge!

San Francisco 49ers Colin Kaepernick and Jarryd Hayne Play Table Tennis

Here’s the video (1:16).

ELITE Table Tennis Club Dance

Here’s the music video (2:54) as this club’s juniors put on a show.

Non-Table Tennis – “Head or Heat”

My horror story “Head or Heat” is coming out soon in ARES Magazine, one of the nicer SF magazines. It’s the top cover story. It’s a takeoff on Halloween. Here’s a description:

"Head or Heat, Head or Heat, give us something good to eat!" chant the master race Sizan children, in various costumes, in their version of Halloween. But what they want to eat are the yummy-tasting heads of the slave race Slabinnac children, or they'll burn your house down. What's a slave mother to do?

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MDTTC Camps

MDTTC’s annual eleven weeks of summer camps started yesterday. Originally local schools were supposed to finish last week, but because of snow days they pushed over and so yesterday (Monday) was the final school day. Because of that, we had a lower first-day turnout, and so I was able to mostly stay home and do various USATT and MDTTC paperwork. (We still managed to get over 20 players for the afternoon session.) I went in for a 5-6:30PM coaching session with Daniel, and then rushed home for the USATT teleconference at 7PM (see below).

Most likely I’ll be coaching much of the rest of the summer from 10AM-6PM, with a lunch break. I’ll likely have some coaching sometimes during the lunch break, as well as after 6PM, so things are about get busy. Add in the blog, tip of the week, MDTTC stuff (group sessions, private coaching, newsletter, and other marketing things), USATT stuff (don’t get me started…), and few minor details like sleeping and eating, and I’m about to will the earth rotation to slow down so I have a few more hours in the day.

On top of that, my arm was bothering me a bit after coaching nearly all day on Sunday. I’m going easy on it – today, after the camp is done, I’ve got a 90-minute session with two of our juniors, and I’m bringing in Raghu so that I do the multiball and blocking drills, he does looping and free play drills, and we switch halfway through. (Alas, he gets the fun stuff.)

USATT Board Teleconference

We had a teleconference last night, rough from 7-8:30 PM. Main topics included:

1. Approval of minutes from last meeting
2. Audit Committee report
3. Review of Strategic Initiatives, including:
   • 2015 US Open (with 1065 entries and a few more to be inputted, the most ever, excluding special cases where it was combined with something else, such as the 1990 U.S. Open/World Veterans Championships/International Junior Championships.)
   • Fundraising/Friends with Paddles
   • Ratings (including possibly working with Canada for a combined North American rating system)
4. 2016 US Open and Nationals
   • One thing being discussed is possibly flipping the dates, with the Nationals in early July and the Open perhaps in December. Currently the Nationals take place in December, right when kids are taking final exams, which has been an ongoing problem for decades. This idea has come up periodically for years, and seems an obvious thing to do.
5. Marketing & Fundraising Proposal from Innocean (more on this later)

Tip to Speed Up Your Backhand to Forehand Switch

Here’s the coaching article from Expert Table Tennis.

Racket Position

Here’s the coaching video (54 sec) from Samson Dubina.

Table Tennis School – Basic Forehand

Here’s the video (51:24).

Korean National Coach Bringing Olympic Champion Spirit: Interview with Ryu Seung Min

Here’s the interview from MH Table Tennis.

RIP: Rosalind Rowe Cornett

Here’s the obituary on the two-time World Women’s Doubles Champion, 1951 & 1954. She and her twin sister, Diane, made the final of women’s doubles five straight years, 1951-1955.

2015 European Games

They are taking place right now in Baku, Azerbaijan, June 13-19. Here’s the official page, and here are results. Portugal just defeated France in the men’s team competition. Austria came in third, top-seeded Germany in fourth. (Germany’s Timo Boll had to withdraw due to illness. Here’s an article on Germany’s loss to France.) Germany won women’s teams over Netherlands, with Czech Republic third, Ukraine fourth.

61 seconds of Xu Xin vs. Patrick Franziska

Here’s the video. Xu of China is #2 in the world (#1 for 12 months until March this year), Franziska of Germany is #27.

2015 China Super League: Tianjin Vs Sichuan

• Tianjin: Ma Te, Liu Dingshuo, Wei Shihao, Chuang Chih-Yuan
• Sichuan: Xu Ruifeng, Zhu Linfeng, Lai Jiaxin, Tang Yushi, Chen Chien An

Here’s the video (2:10:47). Here are the matches:

1. Chuang Chih-Yuan - Xu Ruifeng @ 6:40
2. Ma Te - Zhu Linfeng @ 32:25
3. Wei Shihao/Liu Dingshuo - Zhu Linfeng/Lai Jiaxin @ 1:13:35
4. Ma Te - Xu Ruifeng @ 1:40:13

Lily Yip Feeding Multiball with Broken Hand

Here’s the video (17 sec). Hey, my arm hurts a little too!

Waldner and Persson Head-to-Head

Here’s the totals! Surprisingly, Persson, who is over six months younger, leads 53-50. (Waldner was born Oct. 3, 1965, Persson April 22, 1966.) But this includes matches since 1978, when they were roughly 12-13 years old. They played in the Men’s Finals at the 1989 and 1991 Worlds and split matches.

USA Table Tennis Bans Hitler from USA Olympic Trials

Here’s the video (20 sec)! (Can anyone translate what he’s actually saying?) I created this in just a few minutes. There’s a link so you can create them yourself, with a choice of multiple videos to use, where you just put in the captions. I challenge readers to come up with their own! (But let’s keep it clean; let’s not demonize anyone specific by actually comparing them to Hitler.)

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Tip of the Week

Good Receive is What Works.

Equipment Edventures
(Did I just coin a new word, or simply force a word to start with “E”?)

Three of my students had equipment adventures this weekend, all involving Tenergy, which they all use on both sides. All are in the 1550-1700 range.

Sameer, 13, has been having trouble against slightly high balls, especially when I go back and fish. Over and over in practice games or drills if I step off the table and just get the ball back, he’d start missing. Part of this is the trajectory as when a player backs up to return with topspin, the ball will bounce out more, and so the attacker also has to take perhaps a half step back or he’ll get jammed. But Sameer was complaining that his sponge was old and that was the problem. He was right that the Tenergy was old as he hadn’t switched in a long time. So he finally bought new Tenergy this weekend. We had a session on Saturday before the change, and he was still struggling against my fishing. After changing, we had a session on Sunday and suddenly he was ripping them. So yes, Virginia, there is such thing as sponge that’s too old.

Daniel, 10, also was having trouble as he too hadn’t changed sponge in way too long. I’d told him he needed new sponge, but he put it off until Friday – with a tournament at MDTTC on Saturday. (See link to results below.) After months of using old sponge, the switch to new sponge cost him control, and he wasn’t able to make the adjustment immediately – and so had a bad loss in his first match at the tournament. But then he adjusted, had a pair of nice wins, and made it to the semifinals of Under 1700. (Much of adjusting to newer sponge is mental, as you not only have to adjust to the sponge, but you have to have confidence you have adjusted or you’ll miss your shots.)

Matt, who just turned 14, also had aging Tenergy. I’d told him he needed to change it, but he decided to wait until after the tournament, since he was so used to the older sponge. And it worked – he won Under 1700. It was his only event, and he went undefeated without even a close match. With the tournament over, and him playing so well with the older sponge, it might be best to just stick with it a little longer until he has another tournament coming up – but make sure to switch well in advance of that.

Tenergy and other “tensored” sponges are pretty much the norm now, not just at higher levels, but pretty much for anyone past the beginning stage. The paradigm has changed. It used to be players were encouraged to use slower, less bouncy and grippy sponges their first few years, and that was probably right for when the game had more balance between hitting, blocking, and looping. But now that it’s mostly looping or fast topspin exchanges, it’s become obvious that players who switch to high-end sponges earlier tend to develop higher-level shots, and become better both in the short- and long-term. See the video below from Richard Prause, where he discusses beginner’s equipment and says similar things.

Winning Without Speed and Power

Here’s the new coaching article from Han Xiao.

Ask the Coach with PingSkills

Episode #142 (27:39) – Waldner’s Sidespin Block (and other topics).

Ask the Coach with Richard Prause

Episode #17 (1:31) – Beginner’s Equipment.

Improving the Brain’s Visual Skills

Here’s the ITTF article. Includes a link to the “Redesign My Brain – Table Tennis” video (5:12).

Red or Black Rubber Worth a Second Shot

Here’s the article by Arthur Liu.

Chinese National Team Practice Hall

Here’s the video (6:49), where they take you on a tour of where the Chinese National Team trains. I wish I’d had this when I wrote the training scenes at the (imaginary) Chinese national training center in my novel “The Spirit of Pong”!

MDTTC Open Results

Here they are – the tournament was held at MDTTC in Maryland this past Saturday. In the final, Bowen Chen defeated Sampson Dubina.

“The Silence is the Problem”

Here’s the article where Timo Boll talks about how to make table tennis more spectacular.

BBC Celebrates Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri

Here’s the article.

Articles on Ma Long and Zhang Jike

• Ma Long Gave 120% Against Fan Zhendong
• Zhang Jike Admits Playing Weak Against Fang Bo

2019 World Table Tennis Championships Bidding Opens

Here’s the article from Philsports. (Here’s the ITTF article – I linked to this last Wednesday.)

Highlights from the 2015 Meiklejohn Championships

Here’s video highlights (1:31) of the senior final between Jimmy Butler and Khoa Nguyen, set to music.

ITTF Monthly Podcast – May 2015

Here’s the video (16:05).

Scary Good Japanese Kid

Here’s the video (1:33) – maybe we should surrender now?

Fan Zhendong Training for China Super League 2015

Here’s the video (90 sec).

Mima Ito and the Power of Serve, First Attack, and Something Else

Here’s the video (94 sec). Mima of Japan, 14, is now ranked #9 in the world.

Driving with the Stars – Ai Fukuhara

Here’s the video (2:37).

22 Fantastic Ping-Pong GIF Images

Here’s the page – alas, some of the links are bad, but most work.

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Preparing for the U.S. Open and Other Competitions

Many of you will be competing in the U.S. Open a month from now, or perhaps someday in your future will have some other major competition one month away. It's time to prepare!!! Here are some things you should be doing or thinking about right now. 

• Balls. They are using Nittaku Premium 3-star 40+ plastic poly balls. (Say that five times fast without breathing.) Unfortunately, they aren't on sale anywhere in the U.S. - the supply is out. They are sold here by Paddle Palace, but they are currently (and for some time) listed as "out of stock." A rumor recently went around MDTTC that I had some, and since then I've been pummeled with requests for them. (I had three 3-packs, plus two loose ones. I sold a pair of 3-packs, and am holding on to the other five balls for use the last week before the Open. Unlike the celluloid age, the different balls play differently. No other ball really plays like the [long name given above]. What to do? Probably the best option if you don't have any [long name given above] to practice with is to simply practice with whatever plastic ball you can get. It won’t play quite like the [long name given above], but it’ll at least play a little like it. (It’ll feel heavier and harder to spin than a celluloid.) When you get to the Open, the very first thing you'll do is buy some [you know what goes here], and head for the table to practice. Don't just do drills - play some practice games. You'll adjust somewhat quickly. Just remember that most of your opponents will be in the same situation. 
• Serves. Are you practicing them, or are you planning to handicap yourself at the start of half the points? Will you have the guts, say, to serve a fast down-the-line serve against a forehand attacker at deuce, or will you wait until it's deuce and you see the opening before you realize you haven't practiced this serve and don't have the confidence to do it? Are your serves bouncing low? Are your spin serves effective? Are your long serves effective? Can you control the depth? Are you practicing serves the productive way? Have you bought Table Tennis Tips, which has 150 different Tips, including 25 on serving? (Hey, it’s my blog, so I get to advertise it here!!!)
• Game Drills. From this point on your focus should be on game-type drills and games. You should still do practice your shots, but you need to get as much match practice from here on as possible. Figure out how you are scoring points and focus on increasing that; figure out how you are losing points and focus on decreasing that. Are you familiar with Training Cycles?
• Food and Fitness. Are you going to show up at the Open feeling weak? The last week isn't the time to diet. So you have about three weeks to diet and train for the Pool Party tournament. You want to be in the best physical shape of your life a week before the tournament. Then, that last week, eat well (not too well!), play lots of matches, and go easy on the physical training (both so you'll be rested and to avoid injury). 
• Playing MDTTC Players. Come prepared to play special tactics against players from my club. Practice serving high, lobbing serves back, and whatever ways possible to make our players over-confident so that once you are way, way behind and have little chance of coming back, that's when you make your move, and our overly-confident players will collapse and blow the biggest lead in history. 
• Cash and Credit. Make sure you have lots of money on hand to spend at the Open - those equipment booths are sooooo enticing. Plus - and this is just rumor - I'm told there are other things to do in Las Vegas besides table tennis. I can't imagine what.

MDTTC Open, Adult Training, and Summer Camps

• We have an MDTTC Open tomorrow (Saturday) – you can still enter!
• Here’s the new flyer for my adult training sessions, Sundays, 6:30-8:00PM.
• MDTTC Summer Camps begin on Monday and continue for eleven consecutive weeks, Mon-Fri, 10AM-6PM. They are dominated by kids, but are open to players of all ages and levels.

Ask the Coach

Episode #141 (11:00) – Gears on the Forehand Topspin.

Daniel Ives: Table Tennis Daily in China (Part 1)

Here’s the article and podcast (26:45). Daniel Ives is the founder of TableTennisDaily, one of the most popular table tennis websites in the world.

Magical “God” Serve

Here’s one minute of elite serving – see how the ball comes off the receiver’s racket different each time.

USATT Insider

Here’s the new one, which came out on Wednesday. I’m in it a few times, with my article “What to Think About in a Match”; the feature on my club in a local newspaper where I’m quoted and pictured (“You Play Ping Pong in Your Basement...THIS is Table Tennis”); and there’s the announcement of Volume 16 of Tim Boggan’s History of U.S. Table Tennis series (I did the layouts and lots of photo work). I’m also mentioned by Dell in his “11 Questions with Dell Sweeris”! They also have articles on the Open (I’m going), on Jim Butler winning the Meiklejohn Seniors again (here’s my updated illustration), and lots of other stuff. 

What to Expect at the World’s Biggest Ping Pong Pool Party

Here’s the article from MH Table Tennis, about the planned 1500-person pool party at the U.S. Open on Friday, July 10. If you’ll be at the Open, or in the area that night, here’s where you can get more info and sign up!

Top Ten Health Benefits of Table Tennis

Here’s the article from HealthFitnessRevolution.com.

Quadri Aruna on Being Africa’s Best Table Tennis Player

Here’s the article from the BBC. He’s currently #45 in the world, was #30 in November. (His name is misspelled as “Qadri” in the article, but according to the ITTF rankings and his Wiki entry, there’s a “u.”)

ICC Fundraising

Here’s an article on the club’s fundraising, from the Indiawest.com.

Setting the Example for UNOSDP Youth Leadership Camps

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.

Table Tennis Best

Here’s the new highlights music video (7:44).

The Power of Sidespin

Here’s the video (5:00).

Fan Zhendong and Zhou Yu Training for China Super League

Here’s the video (1:29).

Timo Boll’s Hand-Switching Around-the-Net Loop

Here’s the video (18 sec).

Pong Humor

• A little brick-wall defense . . . by the net? (Here’s the non-Facebook version.)
• Full of energy for Pong? (Here’s the non-Facebook version.)
• Choo-Choo Pong? (No more hurting your arm in desperate attempts to toss the ball to your opponent when it’s his serve.)

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Miscellaneous Table Tennis Stuff

Lots of table tennis stuff happening recently. Here’s a rundown.

• NBC News. On Tuesday they came in to do a special on Navin Kumar, Parkinson’s, and table tennis. I acted as Navin’s practice partner and was interviewed. I’ll post when the news video is up – should be within a week or so.
• Diet. Due to arm injuries and then Tim Boggan’s two-week stay, I haven’t been as active as usual the last couple of months, and when I’m not active, I tend to also eat more. Result? I’m at 195 lbs, which isn’t good. I plan to lose 10 pounds by the U.S. Open.
• The Spirit of Pong. One of my students, 10-year-old Daniel Sofer, found three typos in The Spirit of Pong. Also, despite the explanation in the Introduction, some seem to think I got Kong Linghui (Chinese Women’s Coach) and Liu Guoliang (Chinese Men’s Coach) mixed up when I decided to name the fictional Chinese Men’s Coach in the book “Kong Guoliang.” So I’m going to change his title in the book to simply “Chinese Head Coach.” I’ve put in these changes, and a note about Daniel in the Introduction – now the USA Men’s Coach, “Dan Steth,” is partly named after him, as well as Dan Seemiller and Stefan Feth (past and present USA Men’s Coaches). Due to the wonders of Print on Demand, I will upload the changes this morning, and the new version will be up within a day.
• History of U.S. Table Tennis. Tim Boggan had a few last-minute corrections, including adding two photo replacements I have to scan and put in, so I’ll be doing that later this morning, and then uploading the final version. Within a day or so Volume 16 will be ready. Tim will be selling the directly – you order from him, and he’ll send you an autographed copy. More on this when it’s officially ready.
• Booth at U.S. Open. I’m debating whether to get a booth there. Cost for a 10’ booth would be $750, plus $55 for a table, plus insurance, shipping costs, etc. If I did this, I’d be selling my table tennis books. I wouldn’t do it alone – I’d look to share the booth (and costs) with others, perhaps ones also selling books or videos. I’m not going to make money – I’ll lose money for sure – but it’ll be fun, and give me a place to leave my playing bag all day and to hang out when not coaching. (I’d likely only be at the booth at most half the time.) If interested in joining me, let me know. Deadline is Monday.
• Public Table Tennis Speaking. One of my students, 13-year-old Sameer, gave a speech at his school’s graduation. While I didn’t see it, it brought back memories of my learning to give speeches. When MDTTC opened in 1992, I’d already coached a lot, including some group sessions, but they were always nerve-wracking, since talking to groups wasn’t a strength back then. So I took a public speaking course, and practice giving table tennis speeches in away the instructor suggested – I lectured my dog, and the dryer. (The idea was to have something that actually moved about as a stand-in audience.) It worked, and I’ve been giving table tennis talks to groups regularly for 23 years now.
• Olympic Theme Song. Here’s Navin Kumar playing the theme on his violin. He’s a student of mine who is leaving for Barcelona next week for a Paralympic event – and he could use some funding help.
• Return of My Short Side-Top Serve. I’m not as fast as I used to be, and because of that, in practice matches with students, I tend to serve more backspin than I used to, so I’d more often get a slower backspin return I could forehand loop. The problem was this meant not just moving, but also lifting the ball and overpowering the backspin, which isn’t as easy when on the move. Recently I’ve gone back to my favored short side-top serves, where the return might be a big quicker, but all I have to do is drive forward – and it’s worked. Students are learning that to stop my forehand attack, they have to be aggressive, place the returns, and hide their placements until the last second, with last-minute changes. Because if they don’t…

Ask the Coach

Episode #140 (18:54) – Half Short Ball.

How Do You Maintain Focus During a Match

Here’s the video (2:50) as part of the “Ask Mark” series at Expert Table Tennis.

Training – Are you Practicing the Right Things?

Here’s the new coaching article by Samson Dubina.

Table Tennis on Cover of Wall Street Journal’s Business & Tech. Page

Here’s the cover. Alas, I believe you have to subscribe (i.e. pay) to see the article.

World Table Tennis Day Celebration – Buenos Aires, Argentina

Here’s the video (4:50) – with a little of everything.

Xu Xin vs. Fang Bo, Chinese Super League 2015

Here’s the video (6:03, with time between point removed).

Two-Hour Session in 26 Seconds

Here’s the video – all in time lapse mode.

Pistol Paddle

Here’s the racket for sale for $19.95 – you ready to be a pistol packin’ outlaw?

How to Weaponize Table Tennis Balls with a Ping-Pong Gun

Here’s the video (5:00) – ball gun shoots balls at 106mph! (Note link to Table Tennis Ball Speed article, which shows that contrary to popular myth that says balls are hit up to 100mph, the fastest hit balls are about 70mph.)

Pong Picture

The Dark Side of Pong!

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Top Ten Surprising USATT News Items

Here are some new USATT issues you might not be aware of.

1. Chinese table tennis has been outlawed.
2. Jim Butler, who recently won the USA Nationals, North American Cup, and Meiklejohn Seniors, has been banned from table tennis to allow younger players to have a chance.
3. Plastic is flammable, so we are switching to tin balls. (This is what happens when you mix hot metal balls with regular ones. Which side would you prefer to be on?)
4. Only legal surface is speed-glued sandpaper.
5. The modern TV audience doesn’t have the patience for 11-point games (not to mention those interminable 21-point games from before), so henceforth all matches will be best of one game to one point. (With the new scoring system, the U.S. Open will now be held on July 6 between 1:00 and 2:00 PM.)
6. Because USATT is devoted to improving your table tennis games, they will be adding 100 rating points to all USATT members. Additional points are on sale at $1/point.
7. Topspin is illegal.
8. Players with long pips are required to wear a picture of a yellow ping-pong ball with six “long pips” sticking out from it.
9. The U.S. Open and USA Nationals now have first place prize money of $1,000,000 (pending receipt of $1,000,000 sponsorship).
10. My book, “The Spirit of Pong,” is now the official bible of USA Table Tennis. All members will be required to put their hands on it as they swear eternal allegiance to USATT. Table Tennis is God, and Andy “Shoes” Blue is his prophet.

Upcoming ITTF Coaching Courses in the U.S.

Here’s the USATT listing.

• Morrisville, NC - ITTF Level 1 Course - June 7-11, 2015
• Milwaukee, WI - ITTF Level 1 Course - June 19-29,2015
• Austin, TX – ITTF Level 2 Course – June 21-26, 2015
• Akron, OH – ITTF Level 2 Course – September 14-19, 2015

Ask the Coach with PingSkills

• Episode #138 (24:44) – World Australian Open (and other topics)
• Episode #139 (25:54) – Importance of the Short Push (and other topics)

Ask the Coach with Richard Prause – Part 16: Footwork

Here’s the video (1:46).

Ma Long’s Backhand Technique

Here’s the video (47 sec).

Bidding Process for 2019 World Championships

Here’s the ITTF article. Place your bids now!!! (I wonder if we could run them at the Maryland Table Tennis Center? Hmmm…)

Zhang Jike Undergoing Rehabilitation

Here’s the article from TableTennista.

Ma Long, Joo Se-Hyuk, and Yan An Training for China Super League

Here’s the video (3:20). Can anyone identify the fourth? (If it turns out to be someone obvious like Zhang Jike or Ma Long, I’ll be embarrassed.)

Australian Open

Here’s an article, results, and video.

Table Tennis Alone

Here’s the video (55 sec) – who needs a playing partner when you have a wall? (A long distance runner might point out that he’s “hitting the wall.”)

9 Chickweed Lane

Here’s a table tennis cartoon that only partially makes sense. I think there’s an inside joke here somewhere.

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.)

• Plant Triple-Table Pong – because an octopus doing this on four tables just isn’t enough. (Yeah, I’ll use any excuse to post the octopus video!)
• Shovel Pong – Australian miners playing table tennis in 1890!!!
• Table Tennis Buns Pong – the eatable kind!!!
• “Quit Playing Ping Pong with my Heart” (Pong).
• Water Bottle Pong – they do put water only in those things, right?
• More Birthday Cake Pong – because a day without a table tennis birthday cake is like a day without prune juice.
• Table Tennis cookies – because you can never have enough table tennis cookies.
• Serving Spatula Pong – but I’m hungry, so we’re going to need a bigger [paddle].
• Summer Grass Mini-Pong – but what a loser table, it’s been defeeted.
• Roller Pong – for those who think the game isn’t difficult enough.
• Chicago Pong – is this a warning?
• Octopus Pong with Balls and Balloons – at least that’s what I think it is. I still prefer this version. (Yeah, any excuse will do.)

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One-Sided Coaching

Had an interesting coaching session with 10-year-old Daniel yesterday. He’s about 1700 level, but tends to play way too passive in matches, and so we spend nearly all our time working on his attack – especially his opening loops, forehand or backhand.

When we were warming up for our session yesterday he was looping to my block, and kept going into the net. It was rather noticeable that the ball was sliding off his forehand sponge. I checked it, and sure enough, the surface was rather slick – it was worn out. The rubber on the other side was fine. He had a backup – his dad’s – but it had a slow sponge on one side. So with either racket he had one side that wasn’t really usable. (He’s getting new sponge today.)

What to do? We spent most of the 90-minute session doing one-sided drills, where he’d play all forehand or all backhand. We skipped ones where he’d have to do both forehand and backhands. For example, in multiball, I had him do a lot of side-to-side forehand looping off both backspin and topspin. Then I’d feed backspin to his backhand, then a quick topspin to his forehand, and he had to loop them all with his forehand. We did similar backhand drills.

Result? Perhaps because he was so focused on just one side at a time he had perhaps his best shot-making session ever. If he could bring into match play the shots he was doing yesterday, things might get scary!!!

NBC News

I’m off this morning to the club for a taping with NBC News and Navin Kumar, he of the Parkinson’s and mechanical heart. More on this tomorrow. (I had to get up at 6AM to do this blog…)

Thoughts on the Plastic Ball

Here’s the new coaching article by Han Xiao, where he analyzes how it has changed the game.

How to Serve Faster

Here’s the new coaching article from Expert Table Tennis. These are two of the main things I also stress when teaching this.

Ma Long Technique

Here’s a new video (2:14) that features Ma Long’s techniques in slow motion.

11 Questions with Dell Sweeris

Here’s the USATT interview with the Hall of Famer. (Hey, I’m mentioned – but I don’t keep track of matches! Except in my head, of course.)

Jimmy Butler Wins Fourth Straight Meiklejohn Cup

Here’s the article. I linked to the results yesterday.

Invitation to Bid for Hosting Rights of ITTF North American Events

Here’s the USATT article.

Kanak Jha and Jack Wang Qualify for 2015 Cadet National Team

Here’s the article – they automatically qualified based on world ranking.

Table Tennis “Try”
Here’s the new highlights video (5:58). Kanak Jha’s around-the-net loop against Jimmy Butler is featured at 3:27.

Ruth Aarons and Sandor Glanoz

Here’s video (67 sec) from the 1930s of the two U.S. stars doing an exhibition. Near the end they begin circling the tables! Aarons was the 1936 and 1937 World Women’s Champion. (She was co-champion with Gertrude Pritzi in 1937 as the final wasn’t finished due to time problems. I initially wrote the match "wasn't played," but as emailed to me by Steve Grant, the match was stopped after 1 hour and 45 minutes because they violated the match length rule, and the title was declared vacant until 2001, when the finalists were declared co-champs.) 

Timo Boll vs. Dimitrij Ovtcharov

Here’s the video (9:24) between the two German stars from the Champions League 2015.

2015 China Super League (Men): Tianjin vs. Shandong

Here’s the video (1:32:43) of the entire team match.

1. Ma Te - Zhang Jike @ 7:54
2. Liu Dingshuo - Fang Bo @ 40:12
3. Wei Shihao/Chuang Chih Yuan - Zhang Chao/Hao Shuai @ 1:18:24

2015 China Super League (Women): Shandong vs. Jilin

Here’s the video (2:48:40) of the entire team match.

1. Gu Yuting - Wang Manyu @ 10:35
2. Chen Meng - Chen Ke @ 45:42
3. Gu Yuting/Gu Ruochen - Yuan Xuejiao/Chen Ke @ 1:32:35
4. Chen Meng - Wang Manyu @ 1:48:41
5. Fan Siqi - Liu Fei @ 2:16:26

USATT CEO vs. CTTA CEO

Here’s video (60 sec) of USATT CEO Gordon Kaye vs. CTTA CEO Tony Kiesenhofer (Canada) at an ICC fundraiser. (Gordon is rated 1563; not sure about Tony, though he looks pretty good.)

Miss “Table Tennis”

Here’s a new music video (3:27) that celebrates the best women players.

Herbalife Table Tennis Ad

Here’s an ad (30 sec) from 2011 that features table tennis. I’m not sure why it’s labeled a “Messi” ad when it’s clearly for Herbalife. (As emailed to me by Steve Grant, the "Messi" is for Lionel Messi.)

Serena Williams Plays Table Tennis

Serena’s been caught playing table tennis again! Here’s a listing, starting with the most recent one.

• Here’s video (2:41) that just came out on what appears to be some French TV station.
• Here’s a page with a story, pictures, and link to video (1:49) of her playing in 2013.
• Here’s a video (1:30) of her playing English table tennis star Matthew Syed.
• Here’s an iPhone commercial (30 sec) featuring Serena and Venus Williams playing table tennis.
• Here’s a picture from 2012 of her playing Mrs. Met, a New York Mets mascot.
• Here’s a picture of her playing at an airport on the way to Wimbledon.
• Here’s an article that links to pictures of her and Venus Williams playing table tennis at the 2013 Australian Open.

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Tip of the Week

What to Think About in a Match.

MDTTC Featured in Montgomery County Magazine

This is the Olympic Sport of . . . Table Tennis came out over the weekend, featuring my club, the Maryland Table Tennis Center. The player pictured - and one of the main ones featured - is Ryan Dabbs, 11, who I’ll be coaching at the U.S. Open. To get that picture of him smashing a winner I lobbed up about 50 balls, one at a time, with him smashing and cameraman taking pictures until he got the perfect shot.

Weekend Coaching Sessions

It was another busy coaching weekend. In the junior class on Sunday, we did a LOT of side-to-side footwork, just forehand to backhand, with the focus on grip. Why? Because I’d noticed a number of the kids changing their grips for forehand and backhand. They needed to find a grip where they could hit both forehands and backhands with little grip change. (Some minor grip changes are okay, but not a lot.)

In the adult training session we did a lot of down-the-line practice. A number of players were trying to hit their forehands down the line with contorted upper body and arm movements, so we spent time working on that – hitting down the line is no problem if you position yourself properly (right foot more back, more shoulder rotation) and time the ball right (a little later, by the back leg). We finished the session with a lot of service practice.

In my private coaching sessions, one drill I’m doing a lot of recently is a serve and backhand loop game. The student serves backspin to my backhand, I push to his backhand, he backhand loops, and we play out the point. It’s both drill and game, and good practice. We also do variations where the student follows with a forehand from the backhand, or I push to the forehand and he forehand loops, or I push anywhere and he loops.

History of U.S. Table Tennis

Our long national nightmare is over – or at least mine is! On Saturday night, after 13 straight days of work, Tim Boggan and I finished the page layouts for Volume 16 of History of U.S. Table Tennis, which covers 1988-89.

From Monday, May 25, through Saturday, June 6, I worked thirteen consecutive roughly 17-hour days, where I’d roughly start work with Tim as early as 5AM and normally work almost non-stop (with a short lunch break) until I left to coach around 2:30 PM in our afterschool program at MDTTC. I’d also have private and group coaching most nights and weekends. When I’d return I’d have my blog to do and a zillion other things from my todo list. Sunday wasn’t so easy either, with 2.5 hours of private coaching, 3.0 hours of group coaching, and several other hours on various other projects.

The book is 427 pages long (8.5” x 11” pages), a little short by past standards, but it smashed all records for graphics, with 1327 jammed into those pages – better than three per page. The previous volume had set the record at 978, with the last ten volumes all over 800. (The numbers are all at TimBogganTableTennis.com.)

Here’s the cover, featuring the dancing clown from the 1989 Worlds, with ping-pong balls cascading all over him. Here’s the Magic Ball video (3:09) from those Worlds, showing the clown for about ten seconds starting 19 seconds in – but I strongly suggest watching the whole thing from the start as it’s hands-down the best table tennis song ever. I still use it in my mind to get psyched up for a match.

Like I’ve done with all his volumes, I’ve already created the files for createspace.com, which allows us to print and sell them. The new volume will likely be on sale in a week or so. The main delay is that once it’s ready, I’ll have a proof copy sent to Tim. Once he gives the final okay, he’ll be able to sell them within days. Once it’s ready, I’ll announce it here, and Tim will start distributing the flyer I created for him.

New Coaching Articles from Samson Dubina

• Lucky Balls: Returning Nets and Edges
• Push the Limits!

Ask the Coach

Episode #137 (16:10) – Attacking Medium Long Balls (and other topics).

Backhand Banana Flip Kills

Here’s the video (20 sec) – go for it! (However, I’d generally recommend not flipping so aggressively and focusing on placement, unless of course the serve is weak.)

Koki Niwa Training

Here’s a new video (3:22) of the world #11 Japanese star training. The commentary is in Japanese, but you don’t need to know Japanese to watch.

Physical Training by Galina Georginova

• Side-to-Side Training (58 sec) – three sets of 30 sec each, with ten seconds rest between.
• Rope Climbing (57 sec).

Meiklejohn National Senior Championships

Here are the results from this past weekend. Jim Butler once again swept Over 40, Senior Elites, and Hardbat.  

Table Tennis Targets Schools in Samoa

Here’s the newspaper article on Richard McAfee’s coaching seminars in Samoa, which (for us geographically-challenged Americans) is almost in the dead center of the Pacific, about 2500 miles south of the Hawaiian islands. (Here’s a map.)

Seattle Installing Ping Pong Tables in City Parks to Deter Crime

Here’s the article.

Another Incredible Behind-the-Back Shot

Here’s the video (24 sec). How does this compare to these past ones I’ve linked to?

• Kit Jeerapaet
• Xu Xin
• Daniel Habeshon
• Quentin Robinot 
• One of these ten?

The Most Unlucky Player – Timo Boll

Here’s the new video (5:32).

Floor Pong?

Here’s the video (43 sec) as a player falls to the floor and continues the rally on his knees, not even attempting to get up – and ends it with a loop kill while still on his knees!

Ball Rolling on Net Serve

Here’s the video (23 sec) – is it real? I suspect the net is cut at the top, creating a thin passage for the ball to roll across.

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.)

• Windup Pong
• Artistic Pong
• Wall Art Pong
• Figurine Pong
• Holy Pong
• Paddle Meal Pong
• Legendary Pongs (Liu, Kong, Waldner!)

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