April 2, 2013

Reprint - Derek Nie Wins Coconut Cup Article

There was so much interest yesterday in 12-year-old Derek Nie's upset wins at the Coconut Cup that I thought I'd run the article again. After all, he keeps quoting sections in my Tactics book, even the section on Playing Bratty Kids! Here's the segment from yesterday (April 1):

12-Year-Old Derek Nie Defeats Three 2600+ Players to Win Coconut Cup

All you have to do is train the players really well, and they will get really good.
Perhaps that's a little simplistic, but it's what a top coach once told me, and he was
right. This past weekend 12-year-old Derek Nie, all of 70 pounds, won Open Singles
in the MDTTC Coconut Cup tournament. In the quarterfinals he upset Mang Bang
Liang, a chopper/looper rated 2600 - Derek's best win ever. "Before the match, I
found a whole chapter in Larry Hodges' book "Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers"
on playing choppers," Derek said. "I read it over in the back room. Everything worked!"
Only it was just the beginning of his banner tournament. In the semifinals he defeated
Lee Zhang Wook, a 2650 pips-out penholder visiting from China. "There's a section
about playing them in the Tactics book," Derek said, "and before the match I read it. I
played to the wide forehand, then came back to the backhand, like the book said, and it
really worked!" In the final, Derek played 2700+ Sammy Callaghan. "He's a bratty kid from
Ireland. But the Tactics book has an entire section on playing bratty kids!" Derek was able to
loop Sammy's serves, which had created havoc against other players. Most players had
found the serves almost unreturnable, but Derek had few problems. "There's a whole chapter
on returning serves in the Tactics book," Derek said, "and I read it over before going
out to play him." Derek won the match in a seven-game battle, ending the match by
loop-killing Sammy's serve at 11-10 in the last game. Congrats to Champion Derek!

Fun, Focus, Forget

I've come up with Triple F as a mantra for players who are too nervous to play their best. Even in a serious match, you'll play your best if you are enjoying yourself rather than obsessing over winning or not losing. Staying focused is always key - and one of the best ways of doing that is to think tactically between points (so you have something to think about rather worrying about winning or losing), then blank the mind out when you are about to play the next point. And forgetting the situation will allow you to play better than if you are obsessing over how important the match is. So have Fun, stay Focused, and Forget the importance of the situation. (And now I'm off to a rare weekday morning coaching session out in Virginia, scheduled at the last minute.)

Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers

I finally figured out what was causing all the formatting problems with the Kindle version of Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers. I'd thought I'd fixed the problem over a week ago, but it turns out some of the photos were still moving about, obscuring the captions and other text. The new version is now up with all 90 photos formatted properly. Amazon sent out an email to those who had downloaded it already with instructions on downloading the new version (for free, since they'd already paid for it).

There are now ten reviews on Amazon - all 5-star! I'm keeping my fingers crossed. The March/April USATT Magazine should be out soon, with a full-page ad, so there should be a bunch of sales coming up. It's already selling pretty well all over the world, with lots of sales in England, and a few in Germany and France.

MDTTC Open

It's this weekend, April 6-7, at the Maryland Table Tennis Center in Gaithersburg, MD, with about $1800 in prize money. 

Interview with USA Men's Coach Stefan Feth

Here's the video interview (2:36) at the World Team Cup in China.

Best Point at World Team Cup?

Here's a video (1:07) showing the 53-shot rally between Ding Ning (world #1 from China, the lefty) and Feng Tianwei (world #4 from Singapore) in the Women's Team Final.

The Lighter Side of Table Tennis

Here's a video (5:38) of players having fun. 

Door Table Tennis

Here it is! I featured a version of this once before, but I think that one was different.

Non-Table Tennis - Orioles Top Ten

My "Top Ten Reasons Buck Will Lead the Orioles to the World Series" is the feature article right now at Orioles Hangout.

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