January 22, 2014

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

One of the headaches I face as a coach is that I don't have perfect technique. I can demo pretty good technique for most shots, but in live play it's not always perfect - and if I'm not careful, that's what beginners begin to copy.

For example, I have an effective 2200 level forehand loop. If you analyze it piece by piece, the technique isn't bad; it's a bit short, which isn't necessarily a problem. But it's somewhat jerky. No one would mistake it for the smooth loops of your average world-class player. If I'm not careful, students will subconsciously begin to copy the jerkiness of the stroke when that's the one thing about it they shouldn't copy. So I always make a point of mentioning this to students, and often point out the smoother technique of our top players.

I also have a rather flat backhand, when these days most top players use far more topspin. I can demo this, but not that well. So again I often point out the more topspinny backhands of the top players in our club. But when I practice with students, they see my normal flat backhand, and so I have to keep reminding them to go for more topspin and not hit it as flat as I do.

Even my receive has a few things I wouldn't want them to copy. I was an early proponent of the backhand banana flip - except it would be more accurate to call what I used to do a backhand banana mini-flip, since I didn't go for quite as much topspin as top players do these days. I can topspin just about any short and low serve, no matter how much backspin is on the ball, but it's only in recent years that I've focused putting more and more topspin on it, as they do with the modern banana flip. And so in games, sometimes I do true banana flips; other times I only put a little topspin on the ball, and I'd rather students go for more. One thing students should pick up on is the ability and willingness to flip, push short, or push long, and to vary these, based on the opponent. I do this, and always stress this. (In the modern game, the move is for more and more flipping, in particular backhand banana flipping, but if you go overboard on this it becomes predictable.)

On the other hand, if I could get students to adopt my serving habits, I'd be happy. There I have pretty good technique. And my forehand smash technique against low balls is excellent - except nobody does that anymore, not since they came up with that loop thing. Alas.

MDTTC Camp - Day Two

We had about eight inches of snow yesterday here in Germantown, MD (USA), and the temperature as I write this is a blazing 3.6 degrees. (That's Fahrenheit, or -15.78 Celsius.) School is cancelled today, so I don't have to do my usual 2:30PM pickups for our afterschool program.

But the mini-camp went on! The government was closed, schools were closed, and even the Gates of Heaven were temporarily shut while St. Peter shoveled the parking area. But MDTTC opened as usual for the second day of our two-day mini-camp. (Schools were closed already on Mon and Tue for MLK day and teacher's meetings.) So what was the turnout? We had seven coaches and seven brave players. I suggested a big basketball game, but we went for table tennis instead. Since we didn't need all the coaches, I volunteered to go home, and so went back to work on Tim Boggan's history books. (We're through 19 chapters of 30 chapters.) All in all, I'd rather have joined Derek and George Nie in building their snow fort.

Developing and Training a Full Stroke Range

Here's an article from Table Tennis Master on developing a full range of strokes.

New Poly Balls on Sale

Here's a note on their going on sale at Palio and Nittaku.

Ma Long a Favorable Candidate

Here's an article from Table Tennista, "Ma Long Is A Favourable Candidate Of Liu Guoliang For The Rio Olympics."

Supersonic Ping-Pong Ball Going Through Paddle

Here's a video (33 sec, but first two seconds is the main event) of a ball traveling at supersonic speeds as it goes right through a ping-pong paddle.

Double Turtleneck Ping-Pong

Here's a video (3:14) of Jimmy Fallon and Jessica Alba together in a huge turtleneck sweater, playing table tennis "doubles" against two others (Fallon sidekicks?) also in huge turtleneck sweaters.

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