Type of Table Tennis Forum Members

Here's a hilarious new video (12:27) that talks about the various types of people you find on a table tennis forum. It's spookily accurate!!!

I used to be very active in online forums, but in recent years not so much. Why? It was a combination of dealing with what the video calls "1500 Experts" and trolls. Often someone would post a coaching question, and I'd answer it, only to be contradicted and even scorned by these "Experts." Let's just say that there are some very opinionated people out there who haven't actually done anything in table tennis, and frankly speaking, don't know what they are talking about. This doesn't mean there aren't lower-rated players who are knowledgeable about table tennis, but they are outnumbered and often outposted by those who are not but believe otherwise.

One that comes to mind was a guy who argued strenuously with me about forehand looping technique. He'd argue to the ends of the earth that you only use your arm for the shot, no legs or hip rotation, and talked about his revolutionary methods that gave him a more powerful loop than those taught by the clueless people who taught table tennis. He admitted he'd never been to a table tennis club or tournament, nor had he played any top players, but he knew. He KNEW.

I've also had to deal with way too many trolls. I made the mistake (please slap me) of trying to have reasonable discussions with a few of them, and let's just say that never worked. I learned.

Easily the most infamous troll out there is known by many from online forums. I'm not going to name him, but many in online community know who I'm talking about. He's been trolling newsgroups and forums since the 1990s, and (as mentioned in the video above) likes to call others "Robo-Nazis." He regularly gets banned, but then comes back under another name – but using the very same language as before, making him instantly identifiable.

He likes to make up stuff about me. For example, he constantly refers to the "Hodges-Scholer Aspect Ratio Rule of 1998," and then goes on diatribes about it and me. This was a rule or regulation whereby the ratio of the height of a pips-out rubber to its width could not exceed a certain amount, which restricted long pips. I not only had nothing to do with this rule, I didn't even know about it until this troll started blaming me for it! It so happens that 1998 was the year I mostly took off from table tennis, and it was when I came back in 1999 I found out about it. And yet there are literally hundreds of postings about this with my name on it. I'm sure there are hundreds of people who think I was involved. I don't even have an opinion on the rule, despite his many postings to the contrary. (The only rule affecting long pips players that I was involved in was the two-color rule – that I was for, and was one of the people arguing for it when it finally became a rule way back in 1983. I don't even have an opinion on frictionless pips other than that if it's a rule or regulation, it should be enforced; if it can't be enforced, it shouldn't be a rule or regulation.)

There are different types of trolls. One troll who isn't so active anymore would go on and on about how great he was, and lecture everyone on every aspect of table tennis. He had incredibly strong opinions on everything, and an extremely inflated view of his own playing level, even challenging me to a $1000 match. And so, when the USA Team Trials happened to be in his city, I showed up at his club, accepting his challenge. He refused to play for money, but we did play two matches. I still have the scores – I won at 5,3,3,0 (yes, 11-0) and 3,6,4,1. He was about 1500.

Another troll I argued with a few times (no longer active) insisted there is only one type of equipment everyone should use, and one way to do every stroke, etc. He was an outspoken hardliner on all of this, and really dismissive of opposing views. I also met him at a club one time and played him – he was about 1900.

There's another troll out there who doesn't infect forums much anymore – he did so on one for a time but was banned, and never came back. However, his mode of operations now is to send out mass emails. When I ran for the Board last December he would send out dozens of mass emails on a daily basis. However, you only had to read one or two sentences before you realized the guy was crazy or a troll. He claims I wrote a feature article attacking him in a major newspaper, that I get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by the "sponge conglomerates" (I wish!!!) to keep hardbat and sandpaper down (!), and other stuff.

I also tired a bit of all the infatuation with equipment, i.e. equipment junkies. Getting good equipment is important, but it's a distant back seat to good technique. And yet I've been in at least a couple discussions with players who argue the reverse, that equipment is more important than technique, or at least on a par.

Event Listing for the 2015 USA Nationals

Here it is – over 90 events! They will be held Dec. 14-19 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The final event listing, with dates and times, will be released Sept. 23.

Beat the Lobber!

Here's the new article by Samson Dubina.

Stop Pushing!

Here's the coaching article from Ben Larcombe.

Ping-Pong Will Help Your Brain

Here's the article.

Top Talent to Compete at 2015 Butterfly Badger Open

Here's the article by Barbara Wei on the tournament to be held in Franklin, Wisconsin (15 miles from Milwaukee), on Sept. 18-20.

Street Pong the Next Big Thing?

Here's the article with pictures.

Steel Beams Salvaged from 110-Year-Old Railroad Transformed into Sturdy Ping Pong Table

Here's the article with pictures.

UTM Receives a Smash Hit for Ping Pong

Here's the article on table tennis at the University of Toronto.

Colorado Team League Started September 14

Here's the article about the team competition, organized by the Denver Table Tennis Alliance.

Once Again Chinese Community Center of Flushing Proves Popular Home

Here's the ITTF article on an ITTF Coaching Course held in the U.S., run by Sidney Christophe.

Interview with Hou Yingchao at the 2015 LA Open

Here's the video interview (2:36) by Barbara Wei with #2 seed, who would go on to win Open Singles over Joo Se Hyuk.

Great Champions of Table Tennis

Here's the music video (4:08).

Trick Shots with Kevin Korb

Here's the new video (15 sec).

The Spectacled Avenger?

Here's the picture – it looks like some sort of Super Woman playing table tennis1

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Tip of the Week

Do You Have the Blocking Reachies?

My Weekend

Here's a short rundown of my weekend, Fri-Tue morning.

• Friday: This is usually my slowest day, where I normally only do the afterschool program, which includes picking up kids, coaching for 30-60 minutes, and tutoring. I'm tutoring one eight-year-old in English after our table tennis sessions. On Friday we focused on capitalization as he has a bit of trouble with that. Then, since he needed writing practice, I had him write a one-page story. The story was "How Larry Died" . . . and I had many glorious deaths (suffocated on Mars, hit on the head by a meteor, star exploded around me, and I was forced to eat 50,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 planets full of fish crab cooked dark green vegetable mushroom pumpkin pie ice cream. (That's how many zeroes he used, and as you can see, he knows what foods I don't like. I love ice cream, but not this flavor!) Alas, he still forgets to capitalize a lot of things, including my name, which was "larry" over and over.
• Saturday: I was scheduled to coach only 1.5 hours that day, but I'd coached every day for about three weeks, and so I got a substitute and mostly took the day off, where I mostly read. That night at 8PM we had an organizational meeting of the Capital Area Team League, where I met with Stefano Ratti, John Olsen, and Richard Heo and worked out the fall schedule and other issues. More on this later when it's all finalized. (We currently have 12 teams with 59 players, but may have one or two last minutes teams added.)
• Sunday: I did 2.5 hours of private coaching with Sameer and Navin, and the 1.5 hours adult training. (The 1.5 hour junior class I normally run on Sundays is on break, starting up again next Sunday.) Sameer is going through a grip change, and so while his strokes are now smoother and more powerful, he doesn't have as much control yet in games – but that will come. (I blogged about this last Thursday.) Navin continues to work on his forehand, and in particular his transition from backhand to forehand. We also did a lot of work on serve and receive. He recently went from short pips on the forehand to inverted, and he has a bit more punch on his forehand now. Since he now has an inverted side to go with the long pips on his backhand, I'm working with him on developing spinny serves. As to receive, the focus is on low returns at wide angles. I spent most of the morning and then late into the night working various USATT issues, in particular league and regional association plans, and didn't get to bed until 4:15AM. 
• Monday: I did 2.5 hours of private coaching with Daniel (recently back from a summer in NYC and Germany) and Sameer. Daniel's a bit out of practice, but I was happy to see that the work we did in the Spring on his forehand loop had taken hold – his strokes are good though a bit rusty. He used to swing with too much arm, and so we spent much of a month really working on that, including lots and lots of shadow practice. (I blogged about it while we were doing it.) Alas, I was feeling a bit sick that night, and went to bed early, around 10:30PM.
• Tuesday morning: I woke up with what I think is a minor cold. It was already 8:30 AM – I'd slept for ten hours straight!!! That's unheard of for me, except when I'm sick – I normally sleep about six hours/night. I almost didn't do the blog this morning because of this as I was exhausted, but then I realized the earth might fall into the giant orange ping-pong ball in the sky if I didn't.

Serving More Deceptively

Here's the new coaching article by Han Xiao, with links to video.

Mental Pitfalls: Switch to Winning in Your Mind

Here's the coaching article by Frank Völler.

The First Three Strokes

Here's the video (27:39) of former superstar player Zhang Yining at a seminar. (She speaks through a translator.) She was the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Gold Medalists for Women's Singles, 2005 and 2009 World Women's Singles Champion, and 4-time Women's World Cup Champion.

Laj Forehand Counterspin Analysis

Here's the video (2:22) where Coach Brett Clarke analyzes this player's forehand counterloop.

The Mysterious Table Tennis Coach

Here's the new article from Coach Jon.

USATT Board of Directors Action Items for August 21-22, 2015 Meeting in Chicago

Here's the page. A more detailed version with minutes will go up later. I made several motions in the meeting – feel free to ask about any of them.

Top 8 Health Benefits of Playing Ping Pong

Here's the chart. (Here's the non-Facebook version.) I linked to another, more detailed one last week – Health Benefits of Table Tennis Infographic.

"I am standing where the ball comes…"

Here's a great quote from the legendary Jan-Ove Waldner. (Here's the non-Facebook version.)

11 Questions with Cory Eider

Here's the USATT interview with the 2013 USA Nationals Men's Singles Finalist.

2015 Newgy Ohio Open

Here's the article (with links to video) by Samson Dubina.

Ma Long Training

Here's the new video (1:22).

Japan Table Tennis – The Young Kids are Incredible

Here's the video (65 sec).

One of the Greatest Rallies Ever

Here's the video (64 sec, including replay) of what say is the best rally ever. That's Xu Xin (near side) and Zhu Linfeng, both lefties, in this crazy 35 seconds of counterlooping at the Chinese Super League.

Top Ten Shots from the Austrian Open

Here's the ITTF video (5:28).

Backhand Around-the-Net Counterlooping Practice

Here's video (28 sec) of this fundamental shot that everyone should have.

Chinese Cherries? Nathan Hsu in China

Episode 5 of Nathan Hsu's trip to China is now up. All five episodes are below.

• Episode 1 (6:44) – I'm back in Tongxiang
• Episode 2 (3:47) – Happy Meals are … Gross?
• Episode 3 (5:17) – Taiwan and Stuff
• Episode 4 (5:23) – Shanghai and Stuff
• Episode 5 (6:03) – Chinese Cherries?

RGIII to the Olympics?

Now that Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III is out of his starting quarterback position, perhaps this would be a good time for him to make good on his dream of making it to the Olympics, perhaps in ping-pong? Here's the video (74 sec) from two years ago of him making this statement, with the response from the MDTTC juniors!!! (Nathan Hsu created this video back then, with Tong Tong Gong, Derek Nie, Roy Ke, and Crystal Wang.) 

Ma Long and Liu Guoliang Around the Table

Here's the video (21 sec) as they put on an impromptu exhibition.

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.)

• Lay's Potato Pong?
• Wavy Lined Three-Eyed Pink Pong?
• Head Pong?
• Bigger Head Pong?
• Helmet Pong?
• Holy Pong?
• Blue Pong?
• Cat Forehand Loop Pong?
• Wood Pong?
• Street Lamp Pong?
• Water Color Pong?
• Anime Sketch Pong?
• Ping Pong on Fire!

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Today is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. I'm not Jewish, but the local schools celebrate it and are closed today. If the kids I coach get the day off, so do I! So no blog today, and the Tip of the Week will go up tomorrow, as I sleep late. But not too late – I've got a long todo list today involving various USATT, MDTTC, and CATTL issues, plus some private coaching tonight. (You may notice I'm putting this up at about 4:15 AM Monday morning. Guess what I've been doing all night?) But to tide you over, here's an…

...Incredible Doubles Rally at the Belgium Open

Here's the video (38 sec) between the Koreans and Hungarians in the semifinals at the Belgium Open held last weekend. Hungary won the match! (They'd lose the final. See Men's Doubles results.) 

Some Ping-Pong Reading?

Why not spend some of your weekend (or next weekend) reading some table tennis books? Or are you one of the 28% who haven't read a book in the last year? No, table tennis players are too smart, and of course are voracious readers. Here's my table tennis book collection – currently at 234 books and 13 feet of shelf space. You could, of course, just read my books - here they are. (Here's my Amazon page.) Or you could browse these, mostly from the last ten years.

Table Tennis Instructional Books

• 100 Days of Table Tennis (2015) by Samson Dubina. Here's my review (see right side of page – more a promotional segment). I thought I'd done a review of this in my blog, but apparently not.
• Expert in a Year: The Ultimate Table Tennis Challenge (2015) by Sam Priestley and Ben Larcombe.
• Table Tennis Tips (2014) by Larry Hodges. This covers three years of my Tips of the Week (2001-2013), in logical progression.
• Ping Pong for Fighters (2014) by Tahl Leibovitz. Here's my review.
• Get Your Game Face On Like the Pros (2014) by Dora Kurimay. Here's my review.
• Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers (2013) by Larry Hodges. (Here's the French version.) This is my best-selling book.
• The Table Tennis Playbook (2013) by Ben Larcombe.
• The Next Step (2013) by Alex Polyakov.
• Breaking 2000 (2012) by Alex Polyakov. Here's my review.
• How to Win at Table Tennis (2012) by Greg Letts.
• Table Tennis Tips from a World Champion (2011) by Werner Schlager and Bernd-Ulrich Gross.
• PATT Notes: Volume One (2010) by Donn Olsen with Kyongsook Kim.
• PATT: A Principles Approach to Table Tennis (2009) by Donn Olsen with Kyongsook Kim.
• Table Tennis Tales & Techniques (2009) by Larry Hodges. This includes both technique articles, essays, and humorous table tennis stories.
• Table Tennis: Steps to Success (2009) by Richard McAfee.
• Advanced Coaching Manual (2009) by ITTF.
• Table Tennis: Level 1 Coaching Manual (2003) by Glenn Tepper.

Table Tennis History Books

• History of U.S. Table Tennis, Volumes 1-16 by Tim Boggan (see reviews linked to some of the books).
• Ping-Pong Diplomacy (2015) by Nicholas Griffin. Here's my review.
• Adventures of the Ping-Pong Diplomats (2012) by Fred Danner. Here's my review.
• Ping Pong Fever: The Madness that Swept 1902 America (2012) by Steve Grant. Here's my review.
• Boys Look at the Stars (2011) by Enzo Pettinelli.
• Ogi: The Life of Ichiro Ogimura (2009) by Mitsuro Jojima. Here's my review, which includes ordering info at the end.

Table Tennis Novels

• The Spirit of Pong (2015) by Larry Hodges.
• The Mystery of the Lost Racket (2013) by Enzo Pettinelli. Children's book.
• Doubles (2009) by Anne Borrowdale.
• My Secret Life as a Ping-Pong Wizard (2005) by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver. Children's book. Here's my review (page down a bit)
• The Mighty Walzer (1999) by Howard Jacobson.

Other Table Tennis Books

• USATT Club Development Handbook (2015) by Yang Yu. Here's my review.
• Professional Table Tennis Coaches Handbook (2013) by Larry Hodges. Do you want to be a professional table tennis coach? Here's how!
• Everything You Know is Pong (2010) by Roger Bennett and Eli Horowitz.

Zhang Jike Backhand Loop Multiball Training

Here's the video (53 sec).

USATT Insider

Here's the new issue, which came out Wednesday.

Nations Top Players to Compete at Sports Complex

Here's the article by Jeff Bandry on the Butterfly Badger Open coming up Sept. 18-20 in Milwaukee.

Interview with Joo Se Hyuk

Here's the video (1:50) of the interview with South Korean defensive star at the recent LA Open, by Barbara Wei.

Tin-Tin Ho: 12 Years a Table Tennis Player

Here's the new podcast (40:30) with the 17-year-old English star, by Expert Table Tennis.

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 Top Loop Practice?

Here's the "Easy Swing" device, perhaps overpriced at $43.84. It's for practicing spinning the ball. I have a different version of this, and I'm on my third one – they break rather easily if you mishit. So . . . don't mishit.

Austrian Open Men's Final Highlights

Here's the video (5:40, with time between points removed) of the final between Jun Mizutani and Dimitrij Ovtcharov.

Around-the-Net Counterloop and Backhand Sidespin Counterloop

Here's the video of these two consecutive shots (30 sec, including slow motion replay).

The Four-Table Serve

Here's the video (8 sec). I've done three; looks like I'm going to have to up my game!

The Fashionable Soo Yeon Lee

Here's the article, here's the pictures, and there's the video (1:48). (This is from 2011 – I may have linked to some of this long ago.)

Ping-Pong Match: The Slammer

Here's the funny commercial (31 sec) for Grubhub Restaurant. So . . . how many of you naively believe it's real, and the ball wasn't put in by computer?

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Fixing the Grip

Here's an interesting coaching story. I've been coaching one junior for about three years. Over the last year he's grown about six inches and his hands grew even more –at age 14, they're as big as mine. During his first three years his biggest technical problem was a tendency to stand up too straight, which affected his strokes. In particular, it led to a tendency to stroke too much upward. Often his strokes would start forward and then go upwards as he contacted the ball, which is the natural tendency of players who stand up too straight.

Over the past year, as he's grown, he's run into another problem - he began to forehand loop with mostly his upper body, with less and less legs and hip rotation. I kept harping on this, but he had difficulty doing so. At the same time, he seemed to overcome his problem with standing up too straight, adopting a very wide stance that kept him relatively low. So we'd sort of swapped one problem for another. 

And then, a few weeks ago, he sort of "confessed" something to me - that he'd been changing his grips much more than I'd thought. Yes, grips.  

I'd known that, like Waldner and many others, he had what I thought was a minor grip change from forehand to backhand, where he'd put pressure with the thumb on backhands, which rotated the racket slightly into the backhand position. However, over the last year - probably because his hands were getting bigger - he'd begun using more and more extreme grip changes, to the point where he was now using a relatively extreme backhand grip for backhands, and a relatively extreme forehand grip for forehands. And he was running into all sorts of problems in rallies as he tried (often unsuccessfully) to switch back and forth. The subject had actually come up about six months ago, but at that time it was only a minor forehand and minor backhand grip, and he wasn't having quite as much trouble switching yet.

And now my guilty admission - it happened so gradually that I never noticed the grip changes until he showed them to me a few weeks ago. But once I saw how much he was switching his grip, I saw that that was the root of the problem he'd had over the past year with using his legs and hip rotation on forehand loops. 

Some top players do use forehand or backhand grips, but they do so only after they've developed their strokes. You want to use a neutral grip when developing the foundation, with the racket aimed in the same direction as the natural stroke. In this case, the student's extreme grips were affecting his strokes. The extreme forehand grip, combined with wider stance, led him to a stroke where he basically rotated his upper body only, while driving his racket mostly forward and away from the body, rather than rotating more in a circle. For a long time I thought this was because of bad habits from his previously standing up too straight. 

So for the past few days (three sessions – he's recently greatly increased his weekly sessions) all we've done are basic strokes where he has to use a completely neutral grip. He's not completely comfortable with it yet, but the result in multiball drills is obvious - his shots are much more fluid and powerful, and without any of the bad habits from before. From a technical point of view, his technique is now very good. He just isn't used to it. So we're going to spend at least a month where he doesn't play any matches, not even practice ones, except for a few closely supervised ones with me. I expect that by October he'll be completely comfortable with the neutral grip and his much better technique. 

After all, a Neutral Grip will lead to such awesome play that it'll induce an Elating Purr from users. And since I expect that he's reading this, just letting him know that if he says "Elating Purr" (which, of course, is an anagram for "Neutral Grip") at the start of our session today, we'll play more practice points in today's session so he can get more used to the new grip in game situations. That'll make him very happy induce an Elating Purr!

Traveling with the North Koreans

Here's the article from Matt Hetherington.

USATT Rules Committee Minutes – July 2015

Here's the link.

Why Table Tennis is a Surprisingly Great Study Aid

Here's the article – and with the kids just going back to school, maybe now's the time they take up the sport?

Aiming for a Moving Target

Here's the video (51 sec).

USATT Hall of Fame Inductees Slide Show

Here it is – watch as the pictures at the top go through the slideshow of all the new inductees.

ITTF Present Table Tennis Fire

Here's the video (4 min).

Just a Great Rally

Here's the video (10 sec).

More Trick Shots

Here's the video (16 sec).

CJ Anderson of the Denver Broncos Plays Table Tennis

Here's the video (3:02) where he does an entire interview while rallying. He's using a hardbat with basement strokes.

Krazy Table Tennis Set from 1920s

Here's the picture – and here's where you can buy it on Ebay. (Update – it sold before I posted this – for £49.99, which is $76.74.)

Rules Changes in Table Tennis

Here's the hilarious video (9:48) – with apologies to Adham Sharara!

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Table Tennis Bucket List

A long time ago, when Pterodactyls ruled the skies, Jimmy Carter was president, and I had just graduated high school (1978), I put together a bucket list - things I wanted to someday do. Some of it was table tennis; some was writing; some was other things, like traveling to historical sites. At the time I was rated around 1800. (I didn't start until I was 16.)

Since you are a table tennis person (why else would you be reading this?), why not create your own table tennis bucket list? Here are some suggestions.

1. Achieve a certain rating.
2. Win a state or national title.
3. Play table tennis in a certain number states.
4. Play table tennis in a certain number of clubs. 
5. Play at a U.S. Open or Nationals.
6. Become proficient at multiple styles.
7. Master a certain stroke you've never been able to do well.
8. Start and/or run a club/tournament/league/training program.
9. Become a USATT or ITTF certified coach.
10. Become a USATT certified umpire.

Here is the bucket list I made. I've managed to do 14 of the 20, but still have a few to go.  (This was not the original order, which was scrawled in somewhat random order on a lined paper in very bad handwriting.)

1. √ Break 2000. My highest rating was 2292, but with rating inflation, that's higher in modern ratings, though techniques have also improved even as the ratings inflated. I had about 50 ratings over 2250 without ever breaking 2300, alas.
2. √ Win a state or national table tennis title. I've won 26 in college teams & doubles, and in hardbat.
3. √ Coach a national table tennis champion. I've coached hundreds in junior national and junior Olympics.
4. √ Write a book on table tennis. I've written seven.
5. √ Visit all 50 U.S. states. The final one was New Hampshire in 2006.
6. √ Tour China. Took a three-day tour after the 1995 Worlds, and visited the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden Palace, and many other sites.
7. √ Write a novel. I've written three, two published.
8. √ Qualify for Science Fiction Writers of America. This requires selling either a novel or three short stories to a "professional market."
9. √ Adopt a dog from a shelter. Sheeba was four when I adopted her in 2002, and she lived to be 16. This is her trying to get bacon.
10. √ Own a house. I've owned it since 2001. I make the final payment on it in April, 2018.
11. √ Visit Disneyworld. I went there for two days back in 1987 – I want to go again!
12. √ Publish a cartoon. I had five or six published in my college newspaper – a career I wish I could have focused on. I also had this one published in USA Table Tennis Magazine. I also like to do play with pictures in Photoshop – here's probably the weirdest one I've ever created. There's also my Donald Trump table tennis one!
13. √ Get published in a math or science journal. I had a paper published in Math and Computer Science Education Magazine in 1986 for solving the "Magic Rectangles" problem posed by Mark Gardner.
14. √ Work at a zoo. I'm going to take credit for this, since I spent an entire summer working at the Insect Zoo at the National History Museum. But I'm not sure that's what I was thinking about at the time. (I took a day off last year to visit the Smithsonian National Zoo for the first time in probably 30 years.)
15. Spend a week in the middle of nowhere with just a pile of books. I've sort of done this at home, but never "in the middle of nowhere." I just don't have the time – but I'm thinking I might make time sometime this next year.
16. Tour the ancient ruins of Rome and Greece and the Great Pyramids. At least three times I've made plans, but again I've just never had the time, not to mention the cost.
17. Visit all seven continents. I've only been to North America and Asia, alas. Only countries I've been to are USA, Canada, Mexico, China, Taiwan, and Japan – all as either coach of the USA Junior Team (Canada, Mexico, Taiwan, and of course USA) or as a table tennis writer (China and Japan).
18. Spend a week at a major overseas training center. Came close to this as I was the team coach for the USA Junior Team that trained in a Taiwanese training center in 1994 for four days. But I'd like to spend time at either the Chinese National Training Center, the Werner Schlager Academy, or something like that.
19. Patent an invention. I have a whole file on ideas that are likely patentable, but I've never had time to work on this.
20. Ride in a helicopter or in a submarine with a view. Alas. 

Rhythm and Timing – Underrated Table Tennis Skills

Here's the new coaching article from Expert Table Tennis.

Backhand Sidespin Flick Tutorial – the Banana Flip

Here's the new coaching video (6:28) from William Henzell. This is one of the best tutorials on the shot I've ever seen. 

Interesting Table Tennis Training

Here's the video (2:02), which includes hitting targets and more conventional training.

Emma's First Swing Ping-Pong Lesson

Here's the video (67 sec). I wouldn't mind buying one for our club for the younger kids, but apparently it's only sold in France and Belgium.

ITTF Monthly Pongcast – August 2015

Here's the video (14:22).

Highlights from Austria Open Men's Final

Here's the video (2:02) of the best points between Jun Mizutani and Dimitrij Ovtcharov. That's Adam Bobrow doing the commentary.

Polish Video

Here's the video (32 sec) of what appears to be a preview of a tournament and then a sensational point.

Between Legs Shot at North American Championships

Here's the video (24 sec). That's Canada's Marko Medjugorac making the crazy shot as they score against USA's Timothy Wang and Kanak Jha.

Off-Table Inside-Out Around-the-Net Sidespin Backhand Counter-Smash from the Forehand Side

Here's the video of this fundamental shot that every beginner should master (21 sec, including slow motion replay).

North American Men's Team Champions on JibJab

Here's the video (66 sec). Can you name the players? (Spoiler - 60 seconds in you see all five. L-R: Jimmy Butler, Kanak Jha, Yahao Zhang, Coach Stefan Feth, Timothy Wang.)

May the Pong Be With You

Here's the picture of Darth Vader with light saber paddle from Mike Mezyan. (Here's the non-Facebook version.)

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Tip of the Week

Never Look for a Winner.

North American Championships

They were held this past weekend (Sat-Mon) in Toronto. Here's the ITTF page for the event, which has results, articles, pictures, quotes, and video. Here's the ITTF Press Release.

The big news is that USA swept everything over Canada, all eight events – Men's and Women's Singles and Teams, Cadet Boys' and Girls' Singles, and Junior Boys' and Girls' Teams. Historically, there have been many USA-Canada battles for many decades, and it's usually been competitive. But the strength and depth of USA Cadets is just too strong for Canada. As I've blogged a number of times, USA is stronger at the cadet level than it has ever been in history, and it's not even close. (Cadets is under 15, but due to dates used, some players are eligible after turning 15.)

But USA had to make two near miraculous comebacks to get the 8-0 sweep. In the Women's Singles Final, Lily Zhang (USA) was down 0-3 to Mo Zhang (CAN) before coming back to win 4-3. In the Men's Team Final, USA (Jim Butler, Timothy Wang, Kanak Jha) was down 0-2 before coming back to win 3-2. (Here's the match sheet.)

But USA overall dominance was rather obvious. In Women's Singles, seven of the eight quarterfinalists were USA, with Mo Zhang the only Canadian. In Men's Singles three of the four semifinalists were USA, including cadets Kanak Jha and Jack Wang. In Cadet Boys, all four semifinalists and seven of the eight quarterfinalists were USA. In Cadet Girls, all four semifinalists were USA.

The USA Cadet dominance showed even more in Junior Teams, which is for players under 18. The USA Boys' Team were all cadets, as were two of the three on the Junior Girls' Team, and both teams beat Canada 3-0.

I wasn't at the tournament but watched many of the matches online. Two things stood out: USA dominance at the cadet level, and all the illegal hidden serves – it's gotten even worse than I thought. I'll blog about that later, but the rampant cheating that is allowed in our sport is unbelievable. We've taught our kids that if you want to compete, you have to cheat. (I've blogged about this a lot, but rest assured I'm working on this – see this blog on hidden serves.)

In the Zone

Here's the new coaching article by Stephen Freedman with Clyde Young.

Ma Long Training

Here's the new video (2:01, includes slow motion).

Li Xiaodong on Serving

Here's the new video (23:28) from the Chinese coach.

Edmonton Junior Training

Here's the video (69 sec).

Multiball with Navin Kumar

Here's 95 seconds of my feeding multiball to Navin. (I've blogged numerous times about Navin, alias "The Bionic Man," who has a partially mechanical heart and Parkinson's.)

Hou Yingchao Wins Butterfly LA Open

Here's the article by Barbara Wei (with link to video), and here are the results. (Hou defeated Joo Saehyuk in the final.)

Table Tennis and Baseball

Here's the new article from Coach Jon.

With a Paddle, Tennis Stars Find They're Up the Creek

Here's the article from the New York Times.

11 Questions with Rahul Acharya

Here's the USATT Interview.

ITTF President Meets Tokyo 2020 President to Discuss Additional Gold

Here's the ITTF press release.

Kids Open in Dusseldorf

Here's the video (2:54).

Waldner, Persson, Appelgren

Here's the new video (2:32) featuring the Swedish legends.

Washington DC Council Plays Table Tennis

Here are 13 pictures, and here's an article. On the far side of the first picture is Jack Evans, DC Councilman and brother-in-law to Sheri Cioroslan (who many of you remember as former USATT President Sheri Soderberg Pittman). (I blogged about this briefly last Monday; here's the article on it.)

Andy Akiho's Ping Pong Concerto

Here's the short video (60 sec). Here's the article with link to the full version – over two hours!

El Bandito Richard McAfee

Here's the picture! (Here's the non-Facebook version.) Here's the rest of his gang.

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.)

• Super Colorful Wavy Sides Table Pong
• Super Colorful Table Legs Pong
• Puppy vs. Net Pong
• Ping-Pong Ball Dispenser (but the table's under a maroon canvas?)

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Let's Revisit the "91-Shot Lobbing Point"

I posted the video a few days ago, and it's all over the Internet. Sure, it's spectacular, the lobbing point of the century. But there's one obvious thing most are missing – why Adrien Mattenet was lobbing in the first place. The video is 2:27 long, and you can watch it over and over, but we're only going to concern ourselves with the first two seconds.

Par Gerell, the lefty on the far side, is serving. He tosses the ball up and slightly sideways and backwards. The rule is the ball must be tossed "near vertical," which isn't well defined. By tossing the ball somewhat high, Gerell can throw the ball a little sideways and backwards while keeping the serve "near vertical."

At first the ball is easily visible, and Gerell actually moves his head backwards, away from the ball. But watch how the ball moves sideways, and Gerell moves his head forward, thrusting it in front of the ball just before contact! Yep, an illegal hidden serve. And that's how Gerell got the easy ball to loop kill that forced Mattenet to lob in the first place.

Here's a five photo sequence showing this. (The white "G" logo on the floor conveniently shows the relative positions of the ball and Gerell's head throughout the serve.)

1. Photo 1: Gerell throws the ball up.
2. Photo 2: The ball moves toward Gerell even as he leans away from it.
3. Photo 3: Gerell moves his head forward as the ball moves towards him. Right about here he begins to pull his non-playing arm away, which draws the umpires' attention away from his head.
4. Photo 4: The ball starts to disappear behind his head – see arrow. 
5. Photo 5: Gerell thrusts his head forward (to our right), and the ball continues moving sideways (to our left), and so contact is hidden behind the head. Compare position of his head in this picture to where the ball was in previous picture (and still moving left) and you can see how well hidden it is!

You can see how Mattenet moves way, way over to his right, receiving the serve with his backhand from the wide forehand. Is he doing that because his backhand receive is better, or because he's trying (unsuccessfully) to see the serve? Probably both. Imagine receiving this serve in a normal receiving stance – you wouldn't come close to seeing contact. (Even a lefty wouldn't be seeing contact, not unless he stood around where the right-hand umpire sits.) End result – Mattenet pops up the illegal hidden serve, Gerell creams it, and just like that – 90 shots later – he's won the point.

From the umpires' point of view, it's difficult to see if the ball is visible, but based on that alone they should call a warning or fault, since the rules state:

"If either the umpire or the assistant umpire is not sure about the legality of a service he or she may, on the first occasion in a match, interrupt play and warn the server; but any subsequent service by that player or his or her doubles partner which is not clearly legal shall be considered incorrect."

However, as we know, most umpires are hesitant to call a hidden serve unless they are pretty sure it is actually hidden. So what's needed is a rule where if a player tried to hide the ball from a receiver, it would be clearly illegal. 

I've recommended changing the rule so that during the serve the ball cannot be hidden from the entire net or net post, or its upward extension. (Here's my blog on that.) Under that rule, either umpire could clearly see that the ball is hidden from the left-hand net post (the one to Gerell's right), and would likely have faulted him. If Gerell were to change his motion to make it at least possible he wasn't hiding the ball from that net post, there's no way he could still hide the ball from Mattenet.

And then we wouldn't have had the lobbing point of the century! (Oh wait, we've already had it, so now we can change to a saner rule.)

To be fair to Gerell, most top players these days are hiding the ball when serving – cheating is rampant since the rules aren't being enforced, and so they do so to compete. (Here's Mattenet on the far side serving 31 seconds into this video, where he does the same illegal hidden serve as Gerell, with contact hidden by his head. A lot of "smart" players are using their heads these days!) To me, whoever hides their serve first is the one in the wrong; after that, if the umpire doesn't enforce the rule, the other player has little choice but to do the same if he wants to compete on an equal basis. My beef is with players who hide their serves even against opponents who aren't doing it to them – as well as with umpires who don't enforce the rules and officials who don't take action to fix the problem.

Capital Area Team League

Enter now - Deadline is Monday! (This is for players in the Maryland/Virginia/Washington DC region.)

North American Championships

Here's the web page, with results, articles, and video (including live streaming. They are this weekend at the Westchester club in New York. 

Getting More Spin on Your Serves

Here's the new coaching article by Han Xiao, with links to video.

Multiball Training

Here's the video (1:58) - see if you can identify each drill- and do them yourself. Player is Philipp Floritz, 6-time member of German National Team.

Just a Typical Serving Practice Session

Here's the video (1:14). 

Interview with Kevin Korb: "I Bought a Club"

Here's the podcast (30:42) from Expert Table Tennis. Kevin's the 19-year-old who is the new owner of The TopSpin, a full-time, 16-table club in the Bay Area.

Olympic Coach Magazine

Here's the new issue, with links to past issues.

Westchester TTC to Host North American Championships This Weekend

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.

Switch Hands Off-the-Bounce Counterloop

Here's the video (9 sec). 

"I Can't Play Ping-Pong by Myself"

Here's another Beetle Bailey comic strip that has table tennis, sent to me by Marv Anderson, who points out that Beetle could use a robot. I blogged about Beetle Bailey table tennis comics on May 11, 2015, where I compiled links to 13 of them, all dated. I can't find the date for this one – it's marked "2-2," but I can't make out the year. Can anyone out there figure out the date for this one?

Cat Rallying!

Here's the video (34 sec) – yes, this cat can really rally! (It's been a while since I've posted a cat rally, so this is overdue.)

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Smart Phones and Smart Coaching

Well, I've finally done it. I've bought a smart phone. I've fought the temptation and peer pressure long enough, knowing that once I got one, there'd be no going back. I'm now entering the 24-hour online world, where coaches can check email while students are chasing after balls and perhaps watch a Disney movie on their phone while feeding multiball. 

I'm used to the idea of checking email when I get home from coaching; now I'll be able to do so at any time. I'm not sure this is a good thing. But there's no going back. I've fallen to the dark side - they have cookies. 

I've used smart phones in my coaching. Just a few days ago I had one of my students use his cell phone to video his forehand loop so he could see how he wasn't rotating his hips into the shot. I'll likely be doing this more often. I plan to get a tripod to make this easier. Isn't there an app for coaches to make it easier to video students? (Who'll be the first to find me that link? Email me!) 

I was going to get a Verizon cell phone, since I've been using one of theirs for many years - yes, a flip phone, like the ones used by these two celebrities. Their service has been great, and their cell phone was highly successful in making phone calls. But I received an emergency email from John Olsen, who warned me that I'd be wasting my money. He recommended a Moto E from Republic Wireless, an inexpensive ($129) cell phone that would fulfill all my needs for only about $30/month. (I was currently paying $60/month.) I ordered it on Monday morning, and it arrived Wednesday afternoon. 

I've been too busy on other things to play around with it yet, and haven't yet transferred my phone number to it (my number won't change), but will likely do so this weekend. (However, Coach Cheng Yinghua and one of my students, 14-year-old Matt, have already explored it, and between them and John, I'll get expert advice when needed.) And then, like all reputable coaches, my students will just have to wait on me during their paid lessons while I take regular breaks to check email, surf the web, watch videos, take a selfie, and maybe play a game. Right?

With practice, I will defeat Wally Green and Matt Hetherington and become the World Smart Phone Table Tennis Champion. I can't be beat, I won't be beat!

80 MPH forehand: Learn to put yourself in a difficult situation

Here's the new coaching article from Samson Dubina.

Could Ma Long Be the Favorite in Rio?

Here's the article (with link to video) by Matt Hetherington. 

Heartrate-Based Table Tennis

Here's the new video (5:39) from Brian Pace. Note the pulse rate indicator on the right. "Have you ever wondered how high intensity table tennis training affects the heartrate? Watch this video that displays Heartrate in real-time during multi-ball training with Coach Nelson Navarro."

The Story of Jimmy Butler

Here's the USATT video (3:57). 

Ding Ning Tribute

Here's the new video (3:04) on the reigning and two-time World Women's Singles Champion.

Ma Long Tribute

Here's the new video (7:38) on the reigning World Men's Singles Champion.

Happy 27^th Birthday Dimitrij Ovtcharov

Here's his birthday picture, with birthday hat, presents, and cake.

Super Serious Pong

Here's the picture of kids on a makeshift table – let's join them!

"Tiger" Cartoon

Here's the table tennis cartoon from April 16, 1995.

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Are We Done Yet?/Can We Practice More?

It's always interesting to see the different attitudes. Recently I had a session with two younger kids, who took turns, one doing multiball, the other ball pickup. One didn't try very hard except in spurts, kept asking what time it was, kept close track of how much longer he had to practice, and tried to bargain to leave early. The other was silent throughout all this, practicing pretty hard. But when the session ended and the first kid raced away happily, the second one asked, "Can we practice more?" Since I didn't have another session for 30 minutes, we did an extra 20 minutes (no charge). He got some good stroking and smashing practice. (We did it live, not multiball.)

You can always tell which ones will get good. Sure, there's talent (let's not start that argument for now!), but the ones who are determined to get good have this disturbing tendency to get good, while those who want to get out of practice or don't try have this weird tendency to not get good. I don't understand it!!!

On a related topic, long-time and older players often find themselves hitting the wall in their attempts to improve, even when they try hard. Often they start to give up, as even though they practice more (like the second kid above), they don't improve as much as they'd like. For those, I suggest taking a look at what they are practicing. I've seen players lose match after match because they couldn't block, and afterwards spent all their time practicing their attack. Or players who lose over and over because they couldn't return serves, and afterwards spent all their time practicing their attack. Or players who lose over and over because their serves are weak, and afterwards they spent all their time practicing their attack. (See a pattern?)

Of course, there are other types, who practice very hard on something they need in their game, but once a game starts goes back to their old habits and so never incorporate their new talents. When you incorporate a new talent, you will usually lose at first. Accept that as the short-term cost for long-term improvement.

The quickest way to improve, and the quickest way for a coach to see if a player is really serious? See how much time they spend practicing their serves on their own. (Or receive.) But don't just practice simple serves – aim high and develop advanced serves. See a coach or top player for help, or study videos of top players serving. And then work on these advanced serves. This article might help: Practicing Serves the Productive Way. (I've met at least two players who were no more than 1000 level other than serves, but their serves were at least 2000 level. Both studied videos of top players serving, and then guess what they were practicing in their basements all the time?)

Help Khaleel Asgarali Compete and Train in Germany

Here's the funding page. He's a top player and coach here in Maryland. Here's how his bio starts – to read the rest, go to the funding page! "My name is Khaleel Asgarali and I have dedicated my life to the sport of table tennis. I was born in Trinidad and Tobago but migrated with my family to Maryland in 1992. My father was a top table tennis player in our homeland so I naturally was trained at an early age to follow in his footsteps."

Risk Taking Out on the Table

Here's the new coaching article from Matt Hetherington.

Never Turn Down the Chance to Try New Table Tennis Equipment

Here's the article from Table Tennis 11.

11 Questions with Adam Bobrow

Here's the USATT interview with the Professional Table Tennis Commentator, Actor, Voice Actor, MC, Comedian & Ping Pong Pro at SPiN Standard.

Ma Long – Topspin Near the Table

Here's the new video (3:14) of the men's world champion. [NOTE - the comment below points out this is just an "bad copy" of an excerpt from this video (55:29) from 2013. The copies part starts at 31:08.]

100 Days to the ITTF World Tour Grand Finals

Here's the new promotional video (46 sec).

Czech Open Women's Final

Here is the highlights video (4:09) of the final between Ai Fukuhara and Jeon Jihee.

Ping-Pong Around the State of Maine

Here's the video (2:38).

Playing Ping-Pong in Shorts, Just Like a Red

Here's the article in the Washington Post – lots of fun language, with the ping-pong mention in the last paragraph.

"I don't always play ping pong. But when I do…"

Here's the meme!

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