August 12, 2013

Tip of the Week

Service Contact Point.

When and Where to Learn to Loop

One of the toughest decisions for a coach is when to start a player on looping. There is the "Chinese" theory, which is that you focus on the fundamentals - forehand and backhand drives - for a long period, while teaching the loop only against backspin. When the drives are well developed, then the player just extends his backswing and changes his contact and the shot becomes a loop, and soon the player is looping everything. Then there is the "European" method, where players often learn to loop almost from the start. This allows even smaller kids to loop the ball as they let the ball drop down to their level and spin it on the table. (Of course they have to first learn to hit the ball, so even here they first learn basic forehand and backhand drives.) I put the two methods in quotes because this isn't an exact thing; some Chinese coaches teach the "European" method, and vice versa.

I generally go with Chinese theory, but teaching the loop a bit sooner than most Chinese coaches. However, some kids seem to take to looping very easily, and for them, we go to looping much sooner. More and more Chinese coaches are also introducing looping earlier. Those who learn looping early tend to have more natural loops. Those who go the "Chinese" method tend to have more powerful loops. However, these are just tendencies.

There's also the question of whether to loop from off the table when learning to loop, so as to give time to develop the stroke before trying it closer to the table (which can lead to rushing and a poor stroke), or learning it close to the table from the start. I prefer to have players learn from farther off the table and gradually move in as they improve. Others think they should be topspinning close to the table very early on. I find that in a faster rally, those who try learn to loop close to the table are rushed, and so learning this way often leads to awkward strokes.

These questions have come up a few times because some local juniors have gotten conflicting advice from coaches and top players. The conflicting advice they get isn't wrong, it's just different ways, and you can't do two contradictory things at the same time.

MDTTC Camp and Montgomery County Fair

Last Friday ended Week Eight of our ten weeks of camps; today we start Week Nine. Lots of stuff was covered, as usual. When one kid wasn't using good for when hitting forehands, this is what I told him:

"Don't use bad form because then you miss. When you miss, you get irritated. When you get irritated, you bicker with others. When you bicker with others, it makes me go crazy. When I go crazy, I kill small children. Don't let me kill small children. Use good form."

After the camp ended at 6PM on Friday I took a group to the Montgomery County Fair - lots of rides and games. Here are some pictures, all taken by Celina Wu (except when she's in the picture!)

New Ball Confirmed by ITTF for 2014

Here's an article/forum discussion, which links to the ITTF study and announcement. We're going non-celluloid in 2014!!! (I'd say we're going plastic, as the article states, but technically celluloid is a type of plastic.)

Liu Shiwen and Guo Yan Training

Here's a short video (33 sec) of Liu Shiwen (on right, world #2, world #1 for nine months in 2010) and Guo Yan (world #6, world #1 for five months in 2010-2011) in training.

The Power of Block

Here's a video (3:25, I might have posted this once before) of Jan-Ove Waldner that demonstrates his incredible blocking skills.

How a Nittaku Table Tennis Ball is Made

Here's the video (14:01).

Timo Boll vs Liu Guoliang

Here's a video (5:55) from the 2013 Shakehand vs. Penhold Challenge. The match was Boll vs Ma Lin, but the rules allowed for another player to come in as a substitute for 2 points, and so Liu Guoliang came in. The former World and Olympic Men's Singles Champion, the last of the "great" pips-out penholders, retired in 2001, and is now the Chinese Men's National Coach, but can still play a little at age 37.

Table Tennis, the People's Sport

But usually you don't have a people as the net!

***
Send us your own coaching news!