Tip of the Week

How Many Serving Motions Should You Have?

Weekend's Coaching and Arm & Cramp Problems

Well, I did it again - I hurt my arm. I think I did too much looping during a coaching session on Friday so a student could work on blocking. Then on Saturday I did a lot of multiball, and feeding backspin put some strain on the arm. At the end of the session I served to a student for about ten minutes straight, and that's what finally killed the arm. (Advanced serves can put a lot of strain on the arm!) I thought I'd be okay the next day, but on Sunday I quickly discovered it wasn't. I had 3.5 hours of private coaching and 3.0 hours of group sessions scheduled. The group sessions were no problem, but I finally had to hire Derek Nie to do some of my hitting in one session. Even blocking was a problem as it put a strain on the arm reaching for shots. I ended up teaching a lot of serves, pushing, lobbing, and lots of multiball - mostly topspin since feeding backspin hurt the arm.

Since I was on my feet coaching almost continuously all day Sunday, I paid the price - at about midnight, a few minutes after I put aside the book I was reading to go to bed ("Ogi: The Life of Ichiro Ogimura"), my right leg cramped up. It got so bad I had to get up and walk around for ten minutes until it stopped.  

Meanwhile, between cries of pain, I did some coaching over the weekend.

In the Adult Beginning/Intermediate Class on Sunday I taught them how to feed multiball to each other. This allows them to do a huge number of drills - but in particular, it allows them to rapid-fire practice their loops against backspin. As I demonstrated, you get about ten times as many loops against backspin as you get if you do it one ball at a time by serving and looping and then either playing the point out or chasing after the ball. It wasn't easy for a lot of them, but most got the hang of it. The biggest problems were a tendency to pick the ball up out of the box of balls, bring it back to the racket, and drop the ball straight down. It's much easier and realistic to throw the ball backwards with a low bounce, and then hit it with essentially a regular forehand drive or push shot. Also, many would bounce the ball high instead of low.

I put them in groups of mostly three so one could feed multiball, one did the shots, and one picked up balls, rotating every three minutes. First they did simple topspin, side to side, doing forehand footwork practice. Then we did a recap of forehand looping against backspin, which we had covered last session, and we did the rotation again, three minutes each. Then I gave a demo and lecture on backhand looping, and then one more rotation, three minutes each. (As usual, Raghu Nadmichettu and Josh Tran assisted.)

I did a lot of multiball over the weekend, both scheduled a non-scheduled due to my arm. I do a two-hour session on Saturdays with John & Kevin that's essentially all multiball, with receive practice at the end that's essentially me serving multiball fashion as they practice receive. Alas, the net I'd bought about four years ago to catch the balls for these sessions broke, and so I used a robot and its net to catch the balls. But the robot had a plastic basin for catching the balls, plus the robot itself, so balls were ricocheting all over the place as I fed the balls, which was both distracting and irritating. After mishitting still another ball due to a ricochet, I finally said, "These working conditions are intolerable!" Yes, I'm at war with the robot. Or at least its "bouncy" net construction.

I'd be amiss if I didn't also mention another great quote, when John mentioned a local player and said, "He has a penholder strawberry." For those not in the know, a "strawberry" is a backhand flip where you sidespin the ball the opposite way as the more standard backhand banana flip.

USATT Stuff

Meanwhile, my USATT todo list is growing. I'm working on three new bylaws proposals, which I'll blog about later; a serving rule proposal (to eliminate hidden serves by making it illegal to hide the ball from any part of the net - more on this later); sample Regional Association Bylaws; and compiling lists of current State or Regional Associations, State Championships, Team Leagues, and full-time Training Centers, with the plan to dramatically increase the number of all of these. I've blogged a lot about setting up regional and state association, team leagues, and training centers. One more goal I've added - I'd like to see state championships in all 50 states and DC in 2016. (I'll blog about this latter item, and my current listing, probably later this week.)

U.S. Open Entry Form

Here it is! And here's the U.S. Open page. A lot of changes this year. We're back to Caesar's Palace! (Along with the Linq, which is across the street.) Lots of new events, 94 in all - browse the list!

U.S. College Championships

They were held this weekend. There was a surprise in Men's Teams and Doubles! Who won? Here are complete results, here's the official page, and here's the USATT page with lots of video.

Learn the Backspin Serve - Like a Boss!

Here's the coaching video (3:15) by Brett Clarke - covers both backspin and no-spin serves. 

New Coaching Articles from Samson Dubina

• Kids - Read 5 points about junior table tennis
• Beginner Coaches - How can the new-coach-on-the-block establish credibility?

Table Tennis School

Here are some new training videos from Table Tennis School.

• Forehand Topspin Training (11:59). Note the body rotation and constant balance.
• Footwork Left and Right (12:45).
• Training an Offensive Player (12:15).
• Training a Defensive Player (21:28).

I Love What I Do Because I Do What I Love

Here's the table tennis coach's poster.

Jim Butler vs. Larry Kesler Intersection

Here's video (1:30, but you only need to watch the start) of Jim Butler forehand looping in a serve from his wide backhand, and following through into the umpire, Larry Kesler.

Massive Table Tennis

Here's a new highlights video (5:41).

Capital Area Super League

Another week of action in the Capital Area Super League! Here are two Division One results this past weekend - the other divisions were off this week. (Complete results are here.)

• MDTTC 3-0 Smokeoutz d. Team JOOLA, 7-2.
• MDTTC A Team d. MDTTC Lions, 7-2.

New ICC Center

Here's the video (2:11).

Off-Table Behind-the-Back Counter-smash

Here's the video (19 sec) of Lea Rakovac!

Werner Schlager Running Backhand Rip

Here's the video (38 sec) - watch how he ends the point!

Mini-Pong Exhibition

Here's the picture.

I Have No Idea What He's Doing

Here's the picture! If I were coaching him, I think I'd just give up.

Quintuples?

Here's the video (4:29) of this five on five game!

Gorilla Pong?

Here's the picture!

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Regional and State Associations, and Team Leagues - Current Status in the U.S.?

Before I get into this, the first thing to remember is that Regional/State Associations and Team Leagues are NOT the goal. They are a MEANS to a goal. The goal is huge numbers of players. By working regionally (as is done in other successful sports in the U.S. and table tennis overseas) and using the team concept (as is done in other successful sports in the U.S. and table tennis overseas - yes, I'm repeating myself on purpose), as well as on developing clubs, training centers, and coaching programs, we hope to achieve this goal. This is not something that'll happen overnight; it's a long process of growing the sport, but if start now and keep at it, imagine where we might be ten years from now?

In other words, we're looking for results. Any process or structure that doesn't lead to results, i.e. the goal of a huge number of players, is a process or structure that isn't working. And of course the processes and structure of USATT since it began in 1933 hasn't led to huge number of players, and so they need to be changed. We need Regional/State Associations to work locally to develop regional team leagues that can grow (like overseas and in other sports), coaching programs and training centers that bring in large number of junior players and others who wish to train, and feature state championships that become huge regional events. 

But before we can do anything, we need to know where we stand. And so my first task as USATT Regional Associations Coordinator and chair of the USATT League Committee is to find the current status of State/Regional associations, and of Team Leagues. (They go together.) It's surprisingly difficult finding info. I plan on doing an article for USATT Insider soon asking members for info they have on these topics. Then I'll likely post the same question on the various table tennis forums.

Here's where things stand at this time as far as I know. Please email me with any info you have on either of these, in particular Regional/State Associations and Team Leagues not listed. Note that none of these State/Regional Associations or Team Leagues are "officially" recognized by USATT (as far as I know), but I hope we can do that later on, based on qualifying criteria. We've got a long way to go, but a trip of a thousand miles begins with a single person in a region deciding to take a single step that'll lead to a major jump. 

• State and Regional Associations
  • Los Angeles Table Tennis Federation
  • Bay Area Table Tennis Federation
  • Florida Table Tennis Association
  • Others?
• Team Leagues
  • LA League, ~128 players, 32 teams, five divisions
  • Capital Area Super League, 73 players, 13 teams, three divisions (first season). This is my region, which includes DC, Maryland, and Northern Virginia.
    • The strange thing here is that even though only three can play in a given team match, and the maximum number of players on a team is six, most of the teams have the maximum, with an average of 5.6 players per team. The league has nine 6-person teams, three 5-person teams, and one 4-person team.
    • We're thinking of removing the "Super" from the title since it makes it sound elitist, and this league is for all levels.
    • This will likely turn into a Capital Area Table Tennis Association.
  • Austin, Texas League, 37 players, 9 teams
  • New York League, 8 teams (one elite division, high level of play)
  • Others?

Once info is gathered on the current status, so we know where there are already Regional/State Associations, and Team Leagues, we can set up ones in those regions in need - which at this time, makes up the huge majority of the country. I'm currently working on sample bylaws for prospective regional associations.

One starting point for developing these Regional/State Associations would be to use the six regions and 27 divisions already used in the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association, i.e. the NCTTA regions. But there might be differences - for example, we seem to have a developing Capital Area Table Tennis Association (growing out of the Capital Area Super League), while NCTTA has the DC region (which includes Maryland) and Virginia region.

• Great Lakes: Michigan, Ohio East, Ohio West, Upstate New York
• Northeast: Lower New England, New Jersey, New York City Downtown, New York City Uptown, Upper New England
• Mid-Atlantic: Carolina, DC, Pennsylvania, Virginia
• South: Dixie, Georgia, Northern Florida, Southern Florida, South Texas, Texas
• Midwest: Central Plains, Lower Midwest, Minnesota, Upper Midwest
• West: Northern California, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern California

Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers - Now in French!!!

Here's the Amazon page, with two formats, print or kindle. The French title is the rather more cumbersome sounding "Tactiques de Tennis de Table pour Pongistes Penseurs." Or you can buy the English version. Or any of my other books - here's my Amazon page.

Covering the Wide Backhand

When someone moves you to your wide forehand and then comes back to your wide backhand, how do you cover it? Do you move in (blocks and quick drives or loops), sideways (drives and loops), or back (off-table loops, fishing, chopping)? Ideally, for most players, it would be one of the first two categories.

I've noticed that what many players do in games isn't what they do in practice. This is often because they only do rote drills in practice, where they know where the ball is going (i.e. to the wide backhand), and so react quickly. In a game situation, they don't know where the ball is going, and so are slower, and so they take the ball later than what they do in practice, and so they aren't very comfortable since it isn't what they practiced. Try adding some random drills to your practice routine, such as a partner or coach feeding balls randomly to either wide backhand or wide forehand, or the entire table, and try to react in those drills as you'd like to do so in a match. (An expanded version of this might become a Tip of the Week.)

Have You Practiced Your Serves This Week?

No? What's wrong with you? Get to it!!! (Here's my article Practicing Serves the Productive Way.)  

USATT Minutes and Actions

Here's the page. The Actions (i.e. motions and votes) for the last three meetings are now up, Jan. 21, March 5, and March 28. I've in all three meetings, and am involved in a number of these votes.

USATT Ratings Calculator

Here's the new feature. I hope they can upgrade this later so you can input multiple ratings in win and loss fields, so it can calculate one's rating from an entire tournament.

Mavericks Coach Welcomes Texas Wesleyan Table Tennis Team

Here's the article from the Dallas Star-Telegram.

Werner Schlager Wins Worlds!

Here's the video (30 sec) of the last European to win Men's Singles at the Worlds, in 2003.

Who Do You Think Will Win the Worlds?

Cast your vote here!

Atlanta Hopes Weekend Camp

Here's the video (6:25). The event, for 10-and 11-year-olds, took place April 3-5.

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.

Double-Sided Darth Maul Racket?

Here's the picture!

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How the Orioles Help Me Get Work Done

Other than table tennis, I don't really follow too many sports. Locals at MDTTC took great glee recently in quizzing me about the college basketball finals, or whatever that thing that went on recently, and laughing at my utter ignorance of who the "Final Four" were, or that it was even going on. I claim similar ignorance of NBA, NFL, NHL, and most other sports. (When quizzed, I was only able to name three current NBA players, though with time I guarantee you I could have come up with two or three more . . . at most.) I do follow tennis a bit. (I'm a former member of the U.S. Tennis Association, and went to group training sessions twice a week for years as my "side" sport.) But I do have one sport I follow, and that's Baltimore Orioles baseball. I've been a fan since I was a kid.

As readers might know, I've coached three of them at MDTTC - Darren O'Day, JJ Hardy, and Brady Anderson - and visited their clubhouse in 2013 with our top juniors to take on their players for three hours. (Here's my blog about it, and here's a group picture. It was surreal discussing topics like talent and training with Chris Davis and others, hitting with many of the players, and meeting them all.) I also write humorous articles about the Orioles, with 27 articles published in Orioles Hangout.

Normally I do my blog in the morning, but I run into problems doing that during our training camps, which take place all summer as well as in our spring break camp (going on right now). I'd have to get up extremely early to get the blog done before leaving to coach at these camps. So what's my solution?

I watch pretty much every Orioles game on TV (when I'm not coaching), but do the blog (and other writing and work) as I watch. It's a great compromise, and I get a lot done this way. Besides the blog, I often plan out in advance what I'll be working on during the next game. During the games I relax in my lounge chair with my laptop computer.

I learned something from coaching the Orioles and from hitting with many of them at their clubhouse: professional athletes are not like normal people. They have an almost surreal focus on learning techniques, and a perfectionist attitude that leads to high levels of performance. Attitude during training is one of the best indicators of future success; while most players focus on who has the most talent, most coaches focus on who has the best attitude. It takes both, but in the long run the one with the better attitude toward training almost always comes out ahead of the more talented one whose training attitude isn't so good. When you have both, you have a gold mine.

Serve and Return Footwork

Here's the new coaching article by Han Xiao, with links to videos of Ma Long vs. Zhang Jike, and Koki Niwa vs. Chuang Chih Yuan.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: How do you react to a loss?

Here's the new coaching article by Samson Dubina.

Forehand Flip Practicing Alone

Here's the video (66 sec) as a player finds a way to work on this by himself. (He calls it a "flick," which is what it's commonly called in Europe, but it's the same thing.) I remember doing a little of this myself when I was developing, circa late 1970s. From a technical point of view, he lifts his racket up too high during his backswing, a bit of wasted motion. But he steps in correctly, uses his free hand properly for balance, and has good contact. Here's a video of Zhang Jike (40 sec) and a video of Brian Pace (23 sec) demonstrating their forehand flips, where they move their racket almost directly to behind the ball. On the other hand, here's a video from PingSkills (4:55) that demonstrates and teaches the shot, where the racket does go up some during the backswing, but not as much as in the solo video above.

Basic Serve Accuracy

Here's video (16 sec) of Japan's Ryusuke Sakamoto showing his serve accuracy as he knocks three balls off the table. The thing many won't realize is that this is the norm for top players who practice their serves regularly, not something they have to do over and over to get it right. When you practice your serves regularly, they go where you aim them. (Yes, I could do this, though it would take me a bunch of tries since I don't practice my serves regularly anymore. I used to do this all the time, and my hitting percentage was at least 50%. So I guess my chances of getting all three in a row back then would have been about one in eight.)

Footwork Left and Right

Here's a video (14:41) showing juniors doing side-to-side footwork drills.

USATT Insider

Here's the new issue. (It includes the article on my being named "USATT Regional Associations Coordinator," and on the motion I made that passed to allow people to get on the ballot with 150 signatures.)

Nittaku ITTF Monthly Pongcast - March 2015

Here's the video (13:38).

Great Point

Here's video (29 sec) of a nice point between Sabine Winter and Britt Erland in a league match a few days ago on Bavarian TV.

Under-the-Leg Around-the-Net with a Big Celebration

Here's the video (16 sec, including slo-mo replay).

13 Lines Indian Table Tennis Players Are Used to Hearing

Here's the article and pictures!

Trick Shots Across the Globe

Here's the new video (3:05). Some great stuff, including playing with an oversized racket while on a moving tractor and playing on ice on ice skates.

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Never Rile Up a Potential Rival

Here are two times where I inadvertently broke this rule and paid for it. In theory, a riled-up opponent should be emotional and thereby play poorly. In reality, at the higher levels in sports, when you rile up a player they just get more focused. Here are the two examples.

In the early 1990s I was chatting with a local player, and he asked me about my recent success against Dave Sakai. Now my lifetime won-loss record against Dave - Hall of Famer, former top five in the U.S., and 1979 Pan Am Team Member - is roughly 5-infinity. (We've played many, many times, dating back to the late 1970s.) It just so happens that three of those five wins had just come consecutively, and was what brought on the question of my recent success against him. I commented that I seemed to have a good style against Dave, since he couldn't stop my third-ball attack and I could rally with him on his serve. Well, the local player told Dave, and you know what happened. I played Dave in a tournament about a week or so later. I've never seen a more focused or determined player. Anyone who plays Dave knows he rarely makes mistakes, but this match I don't think he made any. Suffice to say, he returned my serves better and dominated the rallies on his serve. (Believe me, you don't want to rile up 68-year-old Dave even now, not unless you're over 2500. He's the reigning U.S. Open Over 65 Men's Singles Champion, as well as in Over 50 Doubles and Over 60 Men's Doubles [both with Dan Seemiller], Over 65 Men's Doubles [with Dell Sweeris], and Over 60 Mixed Doubles [with wife Donna Sakai].)

The other time was in the early 1980s, when I was approaching my peak. I had just played Pandit Dean, a two-winged looper rated about 2250, but he was too soft on his backhand, and so I was able to attack his backhand loop over and over with my forehand and win. I had to play him again in the very same tournament. Before the match someone asked me about Pandit, and I said, "I should beat him again. His backhand loop is too soft." Well, it turns out Pandit was sitting quietly right behind me and overheard. When we went out to play a little while later - and I had no clue he had overheard me - he came out ripping backhand loops all over the place, and soon I was reduced to blocking and waving at the ball, and lost. When we shook hands, he said, "Backhand too soft?" I later apologized to him, and complimented his backhand - but asked why he didn't play that way all the time? He said, "I didn't have incentive."

So my best advice is to let sleeping dogs lie. So, Dave and Pandit, I just want you to know how much I admire your brilliant table tennis games. (There, now I have a chance against them if we ever play again.)

Junior Star Allen Wang is Starting a School Club (Part 2)

Okay, people, let's get serious - he needs donations to buy tables for the school club he's starting. (And he's NOT from my club - he's up there in New Jersey, which is rumored to be somewhere up north of Maryland.) Currently he's at $620 of the $1600 needed. (And a big thanks to big donar Fadi Kaddoura.) I put this in my blog yesterday, and not nearly enough people donated. C'mon, you can afford $10 can't you? (Or more?) If you do, everyone will see your name in the donations listings and know that you are a good person! And if you're not in the listing, of course, that means you are a bad person. I plan to list the names of every human on earth who does not donate. You don't want to be on that list.

Amy Wang: Young Athlete Puts it All on the Table

Here's the article in the Philadelphia Enquirer.

Wait a minute, that's two consecutive articles on the brother-sister combo of Allen and Amy Wang! Well, I guess two Wangs make a right. (You can hunt me down and shoot me for that.) On a completely unrelated note, am I the only one who gets hungry whenever I see someone named Wang? Hasn't anyone else noticed that that it's just "gnaw" backwards?

Crystal Wang Featured on Sinovision TV

Here's the article and video (3:15) - alas, it's mostly in Chinese, but Crystal answers questions in English three times, at 0:49, 2:06, and 2:40.

And yeah, that's three straight Wang/Gnaw articles. (Crystal is from my club, no relation to Allen and Amy.)

3T Table Tennis Training

Here's a site with about a zillion training videos.

Ask the Coach

Episode #110 (19:46) - Are Choppers Making a Comeback? (and other segments)

Ma Long's Reverse Backhand Serve

Here's the video (22 sec, including close-up slow motion) of this very rare serve. Who else does it? Well . . . me!!! Here's a picture of me doing it back in the 1990s, in a hard bat match, though I used this serve occasionally with sponge as well. (I normally play with sponge.) So why don't more players use this serve? I can do it with varied spins, usually either side-topspin or side-backspin. I don't use it much as a coach, however, since few players use it, so my students won't be facing it - so instead I use more "normal" serves so they can practice against them.

Hitting/Practicing with Lower/Higher Rated Players

Here's an interesting article and discussion on this at the mytabletennis.net forum. (Here's a related short Tip I wrote back in 2011, Message to Lower-Ranked Players from Higher-Ranked Players.) 

Staying Sharp for the Aging

Here's an article in yesterday's Washington Post that talked about the benefits of sports like table tennis for the aging. It focused on fencing, but also wrote:

"In addition to fencing, sports that use what are called 'open motor skills' include basketball, hockey, football and table tennis." "Closed-skill sports, which include biking, bowling, golf and gymnastics, involve self-paced movements." "Last year, researchers in Taiwan conducted a study that looked at cognitive function in 60 participants whose average age was 69. … open-skill exercisers showed greater neural efficiency than the closed-skill exercisers."

College Table Tennis

The U.S. National College Championships are coming up, April 10-12, at the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire. Here are some articles.

• 2015 College Table Tennis Bracket Challenge
• UW-Eau Claire to Host College Championships
• Ohio State University Table Tennis

11 Questions with Doru Gheorghe

Here's the interview with USATT's Chief Operating Officer, High Performance Director, and Women's Coach.

Kanak Jha Named ITTF Dream Building Ambassador for Junior Players

Here's the ITTF story. (I linked to this picture/poster a couple days ago.)

Pictures from Regional Hopes Camp in Atlanta

Here are the pictures from this past weekend.

Zhang Jike doing Multiball

Here's the video (51 sec).

Top Ten Shots at the Spanish Open

Here's the video (2:49).

Table Tennis on Box of Cereal/Curry

Here's the picture of Jun Mizutani (world #5, Japan #1) on a box of curry that was initially mistaken for a box of cereal. The question asked is, "When do you think this will ever happen in the US? A table tennis Ad on a cereal box, or even better a table tennis player's pic on a cereal box!" The answer is - in 1936, and again in 2012. Here's USATT Hall of Famer George Hendry on the Wheaties box in 1936, and here's 2009 National Champion Michael Landers on the Kelloggs cereal box in 2012. Here's another picture of the Kelloggs boxes on the shelf.

Fashion and Table Tennis

Here are two pictures (click to see second one), in honor of World Table Tennis Day. I'm oblivious to fashion, but these pictures do have a bit of . . . something?

Your Doorway . . . to Your Table Tennis Future?

Here's the artwork from Mike Mezyan!

Hyperbolic Pong

Here's the picture! (Or is it Pringles TT, as Sean O'Neill messaged?)

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Tip of the Week

Tiger Woods Distraction Drill.

Regional Associations Coordinator and Election Petition Bylaw

Here's the USATT News Item on these two items, "USATT Appoints Hodges Regional Associations Coordinator." This is an unpaid volunteer position. It will put me in a position to work on several things I promised to do when I ran for the board - create state and regional associations; promote coaching programs and training centers; and set up a nationwide network of team leagues. They all go together.

Or to quote me from the article:

"I have long believed that a strong system of regional and state associations are necessary for the growth and development of the sport in the United States. With the sheer geographical size and diversity of our country, regional and state associations allow us to develop programming at a more local level. Central to this will be creating state championships, coaching programs and training centers, and regional team leagues."

Right now I'm in the learning and planning phrase. Also, we're in the middle of the MDTTC Spring Break Camp, and so I'm pretty busy coaching there, though I might get one of the other coaches to sub for me so I can work on these issues. But I've already done a lot of planning and will be going public with some of this later. (Much of the implementation will start in the fall and in 2016.) One difficulty is that I will be coaching long hours during the summer due to our training camps, and so won't be as active during that time. On the other hand, it is a volunteer position! (Maybe if they double my salary, I'd do more? Oh wait…)

One of the first steps is finding out just what state and regional associations are out there. Where there already exists one, I hope to work with them to expand to the next level, with state championships, coaching programs and training centers, and team leagues. If you already have lots of these, then great! But lets continue to grow.

If you are involved with, or know of any state or regional table tennis associations in the U.S., please email me. Don't be shy; we really don't have much into on this. I know about ones in Florida, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area, and the beginnings of ones in the Washington DC and New York areas with their team leagues. Sometime soon I plan to do a systematic Google search where I put in all fifty states, one by one, in front of the words "Table Tennis Association" and "Table Tennis Federation."

As I promised when I ran for the board, at the recent USATT Board Meeting I made the motion to allow candidates to get on the ballot with 150 signatures. To do this required giving the board 30-days' notice, and then it would require 2/3 of the entire board to pass, i.e. six votes. USATT legal counsel Dennis Taylor helped with the final language. Then I gave a presentation to the board on why this was important, and gave three arguments for the bylaws. I blogged about this on Monday, March 30.

I'd once again like to thank the board for approving this by a 7-1 vote, including USATT Board Chair Peter Scudner, who supported the proposal. To quote him:

"The Board believes this is an important change to our election procedures that will open access to the election process for all members. USATT is a membership based organization, and our members now have a more direct opportunity to be a part of the election process."

However, note that there are only two At-Large members, each elected to a four-year term, and term-limited to a maximum of two terms. My initial term ends at the end of 2018. The other is Mike Babuin, whose second term ends at the end of 2016. Since he's term-limited (we'll miss him!), that'll be an open spot. You can start collecting signatures to run on Jan. 1, 2016! (If you are interested in seeing the new election bylaws, here are the USATT Bylaws, already updated. See 7.6.b.3, which is on page 19, and see the third paragraph, which is the new one.)

I do thank the USATT Board and CEO Gordon Kaye for helping and supporting both of these issues. Meanwhile, I have four other bylaw proposals that I haven't sent to the USATT Board yet. I don't want to overwhelm anyone, so we'll keep that a secret between us for now, okay? Shhh.

Junior Star Allen Wang is Starting a School Club

He needs help with funding - so here's how you can donate!

French Translation of Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers

Here it is, on sale at amazon.fr, the French Amazon. Or you can get the English one! Do it for the good of table tennis - the more copies that sell, the less I need to coach, and the more time I can spend developing the sport in the U.S.! (On my increasingly longer todo list: creating the French Kindle version, which will take a couple of hours.) Great thanks to David Salomez for doing the translation.

I'm now looking for someone to do a Chinese translation. Any takers? We can negotiate payment! If you are interested or know anyone who might be, email me.  

The Spirit of Pong

I finalized the draft of this fantasy novella (25,000 words) over the weekend, and sent it to eight pre-readers, who will critique it and get back to me. I already have the cover graphics ready, care of the Mezyan Table Tennis Imaginarium. (Aren't you dying to see it? Patience!) I blogged about this novella on March 16. I hope to have it ready by the end of the month. Then you'll get to read about American Andy Blue and how he learns the secrets of table tennis in China from the spirits of past champions.

I'm working on the back cover text. How's this? Suggestions are welcome.

"Andy "Shoes" Blue wants to be a table tennis champion, but he's just another mid-level American. And so he goes to China to learn the secrets of table tennis. He is trained by the mysterious Coach Wang, and begins an odyssey where he learns the secrets of table tennis from the spirits of past champions such as Ichiro Ogimura (who spawned China's greatness), Rong Guotuan (China's first world champion in 1959, whose tragic story Andy must relive), the Dragon, and many more. Can he overcome treachery and learn the final secret of table tennis in time to defeat his ultimate nemesis?"

The Wake-Up Call - Would you like an early-morning alarm?

Here's the new coaching article by Samson Dubina

Ask the Coach

Episode #109 (15:39) - World Table Tennis Day (and other segments).

U.S. Open Events

Here's the listing from USATT. Entry form should be out soon.

ITTF Coaching Courses in the U.S.

There are four scheduled. They are:

• Flushing, NY - ITTF Level 1 Course - April 6-10, 2015
• Morrisville, NC - ITTF Level 1 Course - June 7-11, 2015
• Austin, TX – ITTF Level 2 Course – June 21-26, 2015
• Akron, OH – ITTF Level 2 Course – September 14-19, 2015

Ask a Pro Anything: Aruna Quadri

Here's the video interview (6:37) by Adam Bobrow. Special bonus - hear Aruna sing!

Table Reviews by Ping Pong Ruler

Here's the new page.

Great Attack vs. Chop Point

Here's the video (5:41), but it's the first point (between Feng Tianwei and Seo Hyowon) that's incredible! But note how many times the attack goes after the chopper's middle? That's how you play choppers.

30 Years Ago Today That We Won the World Doubles Title

Here's the video (13 sec) from Mikael Appelgren to Ulf Carlsson. Yes, once upon a time, China didn't sweep everything - nope, not a fairy tale!!!

Zhang Jike

Here's the picture - yep, that's him, playing table tennis at around age four or five!

GeekWire Bash

Here's the USATT story, pictures, and video!

Game of Chairs

Here's a video (5:47) from Sesame Street that satires Game of Thrones. Except they have three thrones, a wiffleball chair, a golf chair - and a ping-pong chair that's made up of dozens of copper-colored paddles and balls! They show up at 1:13. Here's a picture of the three chairs. I want the ping-pong chair!

Macho Easter Bunny Pong

Here's Macho Easter Bunny Pong! (Yesterday I linked to two Easter Bunny Pong pictures, Smacking a shot and Dancing with paddle. Wimps.)

Ping-Pong Go Round

Here's the picture of this circular table tennis! (I linked to a version of this before. For those wondering, a segment lifts up to allow access to the inner part.)

Crazy No-look Backhand by Koki Niwa

Here's the video (27 sec, including slow motion replay)!

Ice Skating Pong

Here's the picture!

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Shortened Blog Today

We're running our Spring Break Camp at MDTTC this week, Mon-Fri, with local schools closed, so just local kids. I thought I was off this morning - we have eight full-time coaches and several part-time ones - but I've been called in at the last minute. I've put together the segments below, but haven't done my own blog yet, or finished the Tip of the Week, which will go up tomorrow. But I think there's plenty below to keep you occupied! I'll start earlier the rest of this week, or work on it the night before.

Disabled Veterans Camp

I'm running another four-day camp, May 18-21, at the Maryland Table Tennis Center. Here's info! They are free to veterans with disabilities and members of the armed forces with disabilities. (I also ran one last August.)

World Table Tennis Day

Here's the ITTF Press Release. It's today!!!

Capital Super League

Here's the report on the latest matches this Washington DC area team league. All teams have now played. And there were some nice games and nice shots - see next segment on Derek's shot!

Derek Nie's Around-the-Net Backhand Loop Receive

Here's the video of this shot from league matches this past weekend! (The link should take you directly to 14:20 into the match, when Allen Lin is serving, with no idea what's in store for him!)

Backhand Topspin - Like a Boss!

Here's the new coaching video (5:45) from Brett Clarke.

Counterlooping

Here's the new coaching video (4:26) from William Henzell of ttEdge.

The Serve of Niwa Koki

Here's the video (11:57) of the serves of the world #12. It's in Japanese, but you can learn by watching.

Richard McAfee's ITTF Coaching Course in West Bengal, India

Here's the ITTF article.

Brian Pace Forehand Wrist Flip

Here's the video (23 sec).

One of the Greatest Counterlooping Rallies of All Time!

Here's the video (45 sec) of the point between Bojan Tokic and Kalinikos Kreanga (far side).

Japan Team Slow Motion at the 2015 Spanish Open

Here's the video (4:42) - rather

Trolley Car Table Tennis Club

Here are two recent videos on this Philadelphia Club

• CSN Philly
• My Fox Philly

Kanak Jha an ITTF Dreambuilding Ambassador

Here's the link. I couldn't find an article on this - anyone have a link?

I'm Perfectly Fine

Here's the non-table tennis music video (3:05) by table tennis player Nathan Hsu, which he composed himself. He's 18 and was recently over 2500. What's his guitar, singing, and song-writing rating?

Table Tennis as Inspiration for Art

Here's the article and pictures from Killerspin.

Easter Bunny Pong!

• Smacking a shot
• Dancing with paddle

Mascot Pong?

Here's a picture of USATT coach Gary Fraiman hitting with Phinley, the mascot of the Clearwater Threshers, a Florida minor league baseball team. Who won? Gary answers in the comments!

Ball in Mouth Smash - the Hunger Games!

Here's the video (8 sec)!

Dog Plays Table Tennis

Here's the video (58 sec) - is this for real?

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No Blog on Friday

Why? Because:

1. It's Good Friday.
2. Everyone else is off work, so why not me?
3. We have a one-day camp at MDTTC.
4. I'm working on several big projects.
5. I need to take my car to the shop in the morning for some minor repairs that I've put off for a long time.

European vs. USA Question

In the U.S., the first thing a player is often asked at a club is, "What's your rating?" But in Europe it's different. Stefano Ratti emailed me the following  after he recently visited his brother in the Netherlands and played a tournament there. Note that 18,000 players in the Netherlands equates to about 340,000 in the U.S.! (Stefano has been instrumental in helping set up the Capital Area Super League.)

I spoke to a number of local players (remarkably few people of Asian origins, compared to the U.S. TT population) and it was very interesting to see how the team leagues are the backbone of the sport. If you ask somebody what level they are, their answer is “I play in Division x for xyz team”, not “my rating is X”. They seed players based on their percentages in the team league, which basically puts players in a certain “class” – for example, if you play in the National Division 2 and have a 60% win percentage, you may be considered class B.  There appears to be a rating number (again, calculated ONLY on the basis of team league matches), but it is not widely used (my brother was barely aware of its existence).  Also, tournaments don’t seem to count towards any sort of rating (the opposite of what we have here!).  They have 4 National league divisions, and 7 regional league divisions. If I get my numbers straight, there are about 16 million people in the Netherlands and 18,000 registered players (I am one of them now!).

Wednesday Happenings

• Behind-the-Back Craze. Seems like everyone is trying to do this shot, including players at my club. In one private session one of my students was so determined to do the shot that we devoted five minutes to practicing it. (On March 25 I linked to videos of a number of these shots.)
• Segregated Balls. For coaching we have about a 50-50 mixture of white and orange Butterfly training balls. (Celluloid, though we plan to make the switch to Butterfly plastic training balls when they become available, which should be soon.) When doing multiball I subconsciously tend to feed all the white balls first, then the orange balls. In a multiball session yesterday, the player I was working with was forehand looping crosscourt from the forehand side. About halfway through the box (about a gross of balls), we switched and had him loop backhands from the backhand side. After we finished, we looked back - and since I'd fed all the white balls first, all of the white balls were sitting in one corner, all the orange balls in the other. Ping pong segregation!!!
• Friday Rest. For the last couple months I've been coaching nearly seven days a week. This has led to extreme exhaustion. As of yesterday, I've worked it out so that on Fridays I only do pickups for the afterschool program, but after dropping them off at the club, I'm done.
  There's a chance I might finally catch my breath. (The only complication is that Coach Cheng Yinghua will be going to China for a month on April 15, and during that time they'll need me on Fridays. So I'll go back to exhaustion and grumpiness during that time.)
• Barrier for Back Tables. My long ongoing quest to get another barrier for the back left area of the club has finally been answered, and yesterday I put the barrier there, to great acclaim. (Well, I applauded it.) We're always short about a foot back there where I do much of my coaching (especially group sessions), and so I'm always moving the barriers about trying to find the best way to cover for this.
• Sports Team Championships. I had an interesting email discussion yesterday with some "people in high places" about an idea I've toyed with for a while: trying to get all the major sports franchises (baseball, football, basketball, hockey, soccer, etc.) to have club table tennis tournaments, and then we set up a Sports Team Championships for the champions of each club. Each of the champions would be assigned a top local coach. (I have dibs on JJ Hardy of the Baltimore Orioles!) Ideally, it would be in Las Vegas, with ESPN, prize money, etc.

Hidden Serve Rule

I've blogged before about the problems with the current rule. The current rule is (roughly speaking) that the ball cannot be hidden from the opponent throughout the serve. The problem is that umpires cannot usually tell if the serve is hidden or not. (I watched 16 different players on video at the recent USA Team Trials, and 14 of them hid their serves at least some of the time.) The rules state that it is the responsibility of the player to serve so that the umpire is satisfied that he is serving legally, and if an umpire can't tell if the serve is visible or not, then he cannot be satisfied that the serve is legal, and should warn or fault. In reality, few umpires do that, and so many or most of our national titles go to players who abuse this rule and hide their serve.

My suggested solution has been to change the rule so that throughout the serve the ball cannot be hidden not only from the receiver, but to both umpires or where they would sit if there is only one umpire or no umpires. However, some think this is too extreme, since the umpires may sit well off to the side. So I'm now proposing we just use the net, and require that the ball cannot be hidden from the entire net and the area directly above it. This would make it impossible to hide the serve from a receiver without it being somewhat obvious he was hiding it from at least part of the net. (Remember that the net not only goes over the table, but six inches out to the sides.)

Here is my suggestion on how to change the rules, with my addition in brackets. We would have to propose it to the ITTF.

Current rule 02.06.04: From the start of service until it is struck, the ball shall be above the level of the playing surface and behind the server's end line, and it shall not be hidden from the receiver by the server or his or her doubles partner or by anything they wear or carry. 

Proposed rule 02.06.04: From the start of service until it is struck, the ball shall be above the level of the playing surface and behind the server's end line, and it shall not be hidden from the receiver[, or the net and the area directly above the net,] by the server or his or her doubles partner or by anything they wear or carry. 

Table Tennis on The Big Bang Theory - Tonight!!!
In tonight's episode of The Big Bang Theory, "The Skywalker Incursion" (8PM eastern time on CBS), they play ping pong! Here's the description: "When Leonard and Sheldon are invited to speak at UC Berkeley, they take a detour to try and meet one of their idols. Meanwhile, while cleaning out Mrs. Wolowitz's house, a ping pong battle ensues when Howard and Bernadette argue over the fate of his TARDIS." Here are twelve pictures from the episode, six of which include ping pong. Yes, it's Big Bang Pong!

Ask the Coach

Episode #108 (27:36) - Short Topspin Serve (and other segments).

Backspin Serves into Net

Here's a video (1:36) of a player serving backspin so ball after ball comes back into the net. This is a good exercise in spin and ball control. Can you do this? If not, then practice it. Perhaps put targets on the net and try to make the ball bounce back and hit them!

USATT Insider

Here's the new issue that came out Wednesday.

International Table Tennis

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

Ask a Pro Anything: Dimitrij Ovtcharov

Here's the interview (6:10) by Jorgen Persson (subbing for Adam Bobrow).

How to Make Table Tennis Sponge

Here's a video (4:38) from Andro Table Tennis showing how they make table tennis sponge. It's in German but with English subtitles.

Table Tennis Fire

Here's a new table tennis music video (1:28) showing all aspects of the sport.

2015 Cornilleau 740 Open

Here's the USATT article on this tournament held March 21 in Springfield, Missouri. Sina Asadallahi of Houston, TX, won both the Open Round Robin and Open Singles.

Ma Long and Zhang Jike in Music Video Sing off

Here's the video (23 sec). So who's better?

Table Tennis Through Time (a Brief History of Ping Pong)

Here's the article.

April Fools' Day Postings

Here are links to my annual April Fools' Day postings - it's sort of a tradition! (In 2012 I had to do it on April 2 since that year April 1 was a Sunday, and I only blog Mon-Fri.)

• April 1, 2015: My Next Table Tennis Book - "Ping Pong for Quitters"
• April 1, 2014: Tongue Training
• April 1, 2013: 12-Year-Old Derek Nie Defeats Three 2600+ Players to Win Coconut Cup
• April 2, 2012: Wang Liqin is Coming to Maryland
• April 1, 2011: 13-year-old Makes Chinese National Team

Table Tennis: Not for the Timid!

Here's the artwork!

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My Next Table Tennis Book - "Ping Pong for Quitters"
(NOTE - For those how missed it when this went up on April 1, the day afterwards bolded certain letters in the below!)

After much thought, I've decided on my next major writing project. Recently the book
Ping Pong for Fighters came out, by Tahl Leibovitz. It does a great job for those
really into working hard, those who fight for every point. But what about the rest of us?
I'm talking about those of us who don't have the gumption to fight so much, but still
like to win.

For most of us, we long ago gave up on our dreams for the realities of a harsh world,
one where our aspirations have long been crushed and ping-pong stardom is not an
option. We'll never be champions. And yet most coaching articles and books are for those
lucky ones who do have what it takes to be a champion. But what about us forgotten
souls who have given up, the quitters of the world? We like to win just as much, thank you.

And so I've decided my next book will be "Ping Pong for Quitters." This book will teach
point-winning tactics and strategies for the rest of us, us quitters of the world who
really want to win, but without trying so hard. It'll be for those who don't want to fight,
instead looking to win the easiest way possible. This book will be for us, the more
lethargic of the world, who want to win but without moving or rushing about.

Fighting for every point is fine for some people, but not everyone. So it is for the rest
of us that I dedicate and write this book. I am also planning a sequel to my tactics book,
only this time for those of us who are not thinkers: "Table Tennis Tactics for Stupid People."
"Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired." Those words were
spoken by Jules Renard, the famous French writer. We should learn from him.

New York Cosmos Ping-Pong Challenge

Here's the video (4:46) - this prank is great! Cosmos coach Alecko Eskandarian is set up with a match against undercover 13-year-old Estee Ackerman, #8 in the U.S. in under 14 girls with a 1931 rating. She starts out playing left-handed, but watch what happens after she falls behind 0-3! (Here's another video (4:24) linked to two weeks ago, the New York Cosmos 3rd Annual Ping Pong Tournament.)

Breaking News Stories

Here are some huge breaking news stories - it's like the world is turning upside down!

• ITTF Chair Adham Sharara Sacked
• New Soccer-Style Ball to Be Used at the 2015 Worlds
• China to Use Celluloid Ping Pong Balls as Fuel Source
• Painting Reveals Table Tennis More Than 50,000 Years Old

Ask the Coach

Episode #107 (23:55) - Ma Long's Forehand (and other segments).

Multiball

Here's 45 seconds of the 2-1 multiball drill. Why can't you do this? But I thought this angle really shows the amount of topspin on each shot, and how quickly this forces the ball to drop. In particular, watch how she generates topspin on the backhand. You can't hit like this with a hardbat!!!

Butterfly Cary Cup at Triangle Table Tennis

Here's the feature article on the recent 4-star tournament by Tim Boggan.

College Table Tennis

Here are three new USATT articles on collegiate table tennis.

• Eau Claire, Wisconsin the Land of Opportunities, on the upcoming U.S. College Championships, April 10-12.
• Texas Wesleyan University Rams, the many-time defending college champions.
• Anders Thunstrom Builds Collegiate Table Tennis. Thunstrom is the managing director of TMS International, the marketing arm of the International Table Tennis Federation.

11 Questions with Carmencita Alexandrescu

Here's the USATT interview with the ITTF coach, umpire, and player.

USATT Athletes of the Month

Here's the USATT article. Who are they this month?

One of the Greatest Points

Here's the rally (39 sec) - and note their reaction afterwards.

I Have No Idea What This Is

But here it is. I think it's a reflection on man's inhospitality to the infirmity of man and striped ties and the overarching domination of the almighty dollar in a world of masked gunmen and smokestacks. Or maybe it's just a ping-pong doodle.

Spinster Pong

Here's the picture - though I have no idea if the name fits, but it's just an interesting picture.

Oops. Thought It Was a Ball

Here's the picture!

Peekaboo Pong

Here's the picture!

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Table Tennis Birthday Parties

One of the things we do at Maryland Table Tennis Centers is table tennis birthday parties. I've run dozens of them over the years. We had one this past Sunday for Ryan Lee, one of our up-and-coming players - he just turned eight, and is already racing around looping like a maniac. Here's a picture from the party, and here's another. There were just over 20 kids this time, all about Ryan's age. Past ones have ranged from this age group up to teenagers.

The typical party starts out with a demo, which usually includes an exhibition. Then we give a short clinic on the basic forehand, backhand, and serve, usually taking the players up two at a time for about five shots each. Then we go to games. The most popular is the cup game, where I ask if the kids like to build things; they say yes. I ask if they like to destroy things; I get an emphatic yes. So explain how there's nothing better than where you get to build and destroy! Then I have them build pyramids, walls, or forts on the table with paper cups, and then they line up as I feed multiball and they knock them down. Here's a picture of this from a previous party. (We start with a lot more cups than this, but at this point they've knocked most of them off.)

We often finish with the bottle game, where if they hit a bottle I put on the table that's full of squeezed worm juice, I have to drink it. For the younger kids, who rarely can hit the bottle, I'll put two or even three bottles together on the table to give them a bigger target.

Then we go to free play and let them hit and play games on their own. Adults always want structure and rules; the kids have less interest than that, and like to just hit on their own. I sometimes join in and hit with them, or give demos of table tennis tricks, such as balancing the ball in the air by blowing on it, doing the 50-foot-serve trick, and serving with heavy backspin so the ball comes back into the net or bounces over it. I try to convince them it's magic while they argue that I'm only blowing on the ball or using spin.

Calling the Police

Yesterday, shortly before I was to leave to go coach at the club, I got a call from Raghu Nadmichettu, one of our top players and part-time coaches. When I answered on my cell phone, all I could hear were the sounds of someone crying and screaming. I kept saying, "Hello?", but there was no answer, just crying and screaming. After about 20 seconds we were disconnected. So I called back to see what was going on, and nobody answered; it went to voice mail. I left a message, and then called back again, but still no answer.

At this point I was pretty worried - what was happening? I finally decided I had no choice, and called 9-1-1 for I think the first time in my life. I explained the situation, assuming they could track Raghu by his cell phone, but they said they couldn't do that, and asked for an address. I didn't have it, but said I could get it, and that I'd check it out myself. So I called USATT, got Raghu's address, and drove over. (I've picked him up before and know where he lives, but didn't know the actual address or what apartment number he lived in.) When I got there, I listened at the door, and believe it or not, I could hear the same crying and screaming! I debated whether to call the police, since I had no idea what I'd find inside, and it sounded pretty scary. I finally worked up the nerve and knocked. Raghu answered, had no idea what all this was about. We finally figured out he must have accidentally dialed my number, and the crying and screaming I heard was coming from the movie they were watching on TV!

I jumped in my car and raced to the club, making it there two minutes before I was scheduled to coach - I have a reputation to maintain. See next segment!

Timeliness and Table Tennis

In 23 years at MDTTC and about 25,000 hours of coaching (about half group sessions), I've never been late to a single group session, and only twice (once every 11.5 years) have I been late to a private coaching session. (Once due to a scheduling mix-up, the other a traffic jam.) I'm kind of proud of this record, and still rue those two incidents that spoiled an otherwise perfect record. I always plan on getting to the club about 15 minutes before I'm scheduled.

Butterfly Tips

Butterfly is now using some of my Tips. Here's one they just put up, "Develop the Five Types of Rallying Shots." What are the five? Click and find out!

Expect the Unexpected

Here's the ITTF article, reposted by Butterfly.

Ask the Coach

Episode #106 (22:30) - Forehand Finish Position (and other segments)

Coaching Two Players at a Time

Here's video (31 sec) of a great way to work with two players at a time - one doing multiball, the other standing behind and shadowing the player. (There'll be at least one more player, doing ball pickup!)

What It Takes to be Great at Something

Here's the article by Ben Larcombe.

Ben Nisbet Interview

Here's the interview by USATT of the chair of the USATT junior advisory committee, co-founder and director of the American Youth Table Tennis Organization (AYTTO), and former Executive Director of USATT (circa 1999-2000). He's also the one I hit 2755 backhands in a row with (to his lefty forehands), at a Seemiller camp in 1978, when I was 18 and he was about 16. My arm still hurts just thinking about that.

Classroom Pictures from Richard McAfee's ITTF Course in India

Here are the pictures - click on them to see more. The ones at the start are all classroom shots, later they get to pictures at the tables. The courses are roughly 50-50 between classroom and at the table.

Chinese Team Focusing on English

Here's the article - I can't wait to star chitchatting with them!

Xu Xin vs. Jun Mizutani Point

Here's video (30 sec) of a great point from the 2015 Asian Cup.

Backhand Looping Around the Net Practice

Here's 12 seconds of what should be central anyone's training regimen.

Crazy Doubles Pong

Here's the cartoon!

Skeleton Pong

Here's 26 seconds of a skeleton (really!) dancing to music while others play table tennis! Notice the great focus of the two players as they keep their concentration and completely ignore the distracting dancing bones.

***
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Tip of the Week

Technical Problems Often Come in Pairs.

Saturday - USA Table Tennis Board Meeting

The USATT Board met from 9AM to 4PM at the Hilton Inn at BWI Airport near Baltimore. I blogged about this on Thursday, including the agenda. Attending the meeting in person were board chair Peter Scudner, Anne Cribbs, Ed Hogshead, Kagin Lee, Han Xiao, and myself. Mike Babuin and Jim Kahler also phoned in for certain issues. Also attending was CEO Gordon Kaye, High Performance Chair Carl Danner, USATT Legal Counsel Dennis Tayler, and Assistant Secretary Lee Kondo. Most of us met for dinner on Friday night.

Much of what went on I'll go over when the motions and/or minutes go online. Here's the gist of some of the more interesting items.

We started with breakfast (served in the meeting room at 8:15AM), then call to order and introductory remarks from Peter. Then came the roll call and conflict of interest statements. We went over the minutes of the January and March meetings, and they were approved with a few minor adjustments. Dennis Taylor gave us a legal update on several confidential issues. (This was also the Executive Session that was scheduled later in the agenda.)

Then came a long discussion of the committee members and their approval. There were some complications, but most were resolved. I'll wait for the minutes to go more in depth on this. I'm chair of the USATT League Committee (appointed three weeks ago), and all three members of the committee were approved - Adam Bobrow, Michael Levene, and Bruce Liu. There will also be a player rep appointed by the Athlete Advisory Council, probably Han Xiao, since I've been working with him on these issues already and he was on the previous league committee. Next was the financial report - all seemed well.

Next up was my Regional Association Task Force Update. With help from Han Xiao, I had put together a plan to develop state and regional associations, with a three-pronged approach: State Championships, Leagues, and Coaching Programs. There were lots of questions and some good suggestions. I'll post more about this later, but suffice to say that this is going to take up a lot of my time and energy over the next few years. One of my first jobs is to find out what state and regional associations are out there - if you know of any, let me know!

CEO Gordon gave updates on US Open and other issues. (Entry forms should be out soon. Yes, there have been complications.)

Next up was my bylaw amendment to allow USATT members to get on the ballot for the two At-Large positions by petition (i.e. 150 signatures). Currently the USATT Board appoints a Nomination and Elections committee, who chooses from applicants who will go on the ballot.

Going in I had no idea what the thinking on this was - I'm not good at inside dealing and didn't feel comfortable asking around on this particular issue. Only one board member had publicly declared his intentions, Kagin Lee, and he said he was voting against it. The difficulty was that this was not a majority vote - it needed six votes period, i.e. 2/3 of the entire board, and three weren't present. But for this vote, Mike Babuin and Jim Kahler both phoned in. I gave a presentation, giving three big reasons to vote for it, which boiled down to:

1. Good Relationships with the Membership. Members who wished to run for the board often find themselves blocked from the ballot, with no recourse, leading to a lot of animosity from the membership and clubs;
2. Basic Fairness. I pointed out the unfairness of a system where we have elections, but we choose who they can vote between. I also pointed out that the USATT membership makes up 100% of our membership, that they directly make up about half the income, and indirectly well over half. I emphasized we were talking about only two of the nine positions on the board, or 22%.
3. Outside Energy and Fresh Blood. It's important for the Board to hear other views, that's difficult if we can effectively veto the candidacy of those we disagree with.

After much discussion, we made a few changes to the wording, and this is the final verison.

MOVED to append a new, Paragraph 3 to Bylaw 7.6(b)(3):
Any adult General Member in good standing at least 60 days before the record date, who obtains and submits to the Nominating and Governance Committee at least 150 signatures of support from current adult USATT General Members in good standing and whose membership is current as of the date of affixing of their signature, shall be placed on the election ballot as a candidate for At Large Director. Petition forms will be kept online at the USATT website and made available year round for prospective candidates. Signatures may be collected at any time between January 1 and December 1 in the year of the election.

And then we took the vote - and it passed, 7-1! I want to thank those who supported this, chair Peter for putting it on the agenda and also arguing for it (saying it was better than a previous proposal he had opposed because it gave an additional way to get on the board rather than replacing the current version), Dennis Taylor for helping with the wording, CEO Gordon for helping with certain logistics, and to Mike and Jim for phoning in. (If they hadn't, the vote would have been 5-1, and it wouldn't have passed, since it needed six votes. In which case I would have made the same proposal at the next meeting, and the next, and so on until it either passed or four people voted against it, meaning it couldn't get the needed six votes even with the full board voting).

Following that was High Performance Update by Carl Danner. Then came a discussion of plastic balls, led by Ed Hogshead, who pointed out the problems of so many balls that play differently being used in different tournaments, and argued for setting a date where we go all plastic in 3-star and above tournaments. The problem is that the different plastic balls themselves are very different themselves, and so unless we settled on one brand, it might not help much. No action was taken here, and most likely all we can do is wait one or two years until the manufacturers fix these problems with a more standardized ball.

We had a nice discussion of Strategic Vision. I gave my vision of regional leagues and coaching programs leading to huge memberships, and national tournaments and leagues allowing professional players to make a living in this country. (That's really two, so I have double vision.) I'm actively working now on the first part, and will be on the second part later - CEO Gordon also has plans, and so I plan to work with him on this, probably this fall.

And then we had a very short thing on old business, new business, and then we adjourned around 4PM. It was one of the best USATT meetings I've been to - I usually leave these things disgusted, but not this time.

Sunday - Coaching from 11:45AM to 8:30PM

Here's a rundown:

• 11:45AM-1:15 PM - private coaching
• 1:30-3:00 PM - group session
• 3:15-4:15 PM- private coaching
• 4:30-6:00 PM - junior group session
• 6:30-8:30 PM - adult group session
• 9:00-10:30 PM - got home in time to watch the season finale of The Walking Dead!

The adult group session was the Adult Beginning/Intermediate Class. Coaches Raghu and Josh assisted. There were 17 in the class, with two missing.

After the usual forehand and backhand warm-up, I had them push backhand to backhand for five minutes, both for practice and to prepare them for a drill we'd be doing later. Then I gave a demo and lecture on heavy backspin serves, where I explained how to create truly heavy backspin by literally scooping the ball up from just above table level. I also showed them some exercises, such as serving high backspins that bounce backward, and even games to play while developing this. I had them practice this for ten minutes.

Then we got to the main focus of the session - forehand loop against backspin. I gave the demo and lecture, and then there were lots of questions. Since they go together, I also went over blocking and demoed that. We got out to the tables a little behind, so we ended up going late. We had three groups, one with each coach, with the coach working with two at a time, feeding multiball to one while the other practiced blocking. The others did a drill where one would serve backspin, the other would push to a pre-arranged spot (usually the forehand or middle), and the server would loop, and then they'd play out the point. All six in my group were able to execute pretty good loops.

Backhand Banana Flip

Here's the new coaching article by Han Xiao, which includes a link to video of Ma Long.

Coaching Articles from Samson Dubina

• Reasons for the Loss - Learn to evaluate yourself and your opponent!
• Open Your Eyes 0_0 - Look at your opponent and win!

Mental Training for Table Tennis

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

Ask the Coach

Episode #105 (32:30) - Player of the Week (and other segments)

Oldest ITTF World Tour Title Champion

Here's the ITTF story about He Zhiwen, age 52, who just won Men's Doubles at the Spanish Open. "One week ago at the GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour German Open in Bremen, Japan's Mima Ito became the youngest player to win an ITTF World Tour title, when she beat Germany's Petrissa Solja in the final of the Women's Singles event . . . now one week later, on Sunday 29th March, at the GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour Spanish Open in Almeria, the host nation's He Zhiwen has become the oldest player to secure an ITTF World Tour title. Aged 52 years and 302 days, he partnered colleague, Carlos Machado to success in the Men's Doubles final."

Richard McAfee's ITTF Coaching Course in Dharwad, India

Here's the ITTF story of his continuing Indian tour.

PongStarz CEO Kim Gilbert Rallies for the KIPP Ping Pong Smackdown

Here's the video (4:02). And here's a picture of Kim last month helping a young cancer patient.

Pong Hero

Here's a new site that does equipment reviews.

Table Tennis Ideas Factory

Here's a new page with lots of video. It's in Chinese, but Google translated it all into English for me.

New Front Window at Westchester Table Tennis Center

Here's the picture!

Top Ten Points from the German Open

Here's the video (4:20).

Trick Shots from Editing Sports

Here's their Youtube home page, with lots and lots of links to trickshot videos. Since the word "edit" is in the title, I'm suspicious about whether they are all for real.

Nonchalant No-Look Behind-the-Back I-Don't-Care-Who-Won-Point Backhand

Here's the video (18 sec, including slow motion replay) as Renata Strbikova (that's the spelling!) of the Czech Republic makes this crazy shot against Wang Nam of Hong Kong. Note how Renata doesn't even look to see if she made the shot or who won the point!

Your Basic Behind-the-Back Backhand Smash

Here's the video (8 sec) - it seems like everyone's trying out this shot recently.

Balloon Net Table Tennis

Here's the video (1:45) of the new action-packed version of table tennis that's sweeping the world1

Jun Mizutani and Seiya Kishikawa Exhibition

Here's video (52 sec) of a great practice exhibition point by the two Japanese stars.

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