March 24, 2014

Tip of the Week

Isolating Techniques and Combinations.

Table Tennis Forums

As noted in my blog on Thursday, the long-time popular table tennis forum at about.com has closed. So what are your options for online table tennis discussions?

I used to be a regular on about.com and sometimes at other forums, but in recent years have cut down quite a bit. But if you're a diehard TT person who wants to discuss it online, what are your options? I'm not an expert on this, but here are a few. Feel free to comment on other ones. (I'm only referring to ones in English here. Feel free to comment about others.) I did some googling of table tennis forums, and found a number that no longer seem to be active or that never had many postings, and so I'm not listing them.

My guess, based on no scientific evidence other than a quick browsing and past experience there and on other forums, is that MyTableTennis.com forum is the most popular one. It's probably where I'll post occasionally when I feel the urge. Like all forums, there are some raging arguments going on there at all times.

Other large ones include the Table Tennis Daily forum, which is centered in the United Kingdom, the PingSkills forum (which focuses on coaching and technique, and the TableTennisDB (which focuses on equipment) forums. Another is the OOAK Forum, which is mostly a sanctuary for players with combination rackets and off-surfaces. (They actually set up an "About.com TT Refugees Section," but based on the comments there from regulars, most don't like the idea of a "divided forum" and prefer the "refugees" integrate into the regular forum.) And, of course, there is the forum here, TableTennisCoaching.com/forum, though that aspect of this site never took off.

What are the other popular online table tennis forums, in English or other languages? Please comment and let us know.

Best Point of the 2014 Asian Cup

Here's the video (29 sec) of the point at 6-6 in the seventh between Ma Long (near side) and Fan Zhendong. Ma went on to win the championships this past weekend. Here's an article about it from Table Tennista. And here's the entire match (10:51, with time between points removed).

International Coaching Enrichment Certification Program

Here info on this new program for coaches offered by the U.S. Olympic Committee.

The Ability That Creates Disability

Here's an article by ICC coach Massimo Costantini about the technical differences between Chinese and European table tennis.

Michelle Obama Plays Ping-Pong in China - Ping- Pong Diplomacy 2?

Here's the article, pictures, and video. Page down to see three pictures of her playing table tennis, and then the video (1:54, with table tennis starting 74 sec in for about 15 sec).

World's Longest Rally Record Set

Here's the last 46 seconds of the 8 hours 40 minute and 10 second rally by peter and Dan Ives (father and son) staged yesterday as a charity to raise money for a Prostate Cancer UK Charity. The previous record was held by Max Fergus and Luke Logan at 8 hours 30 minutes and 6 seconds, so they only broke it by less than ten minutes.

Ping Pong Summer

Here's more news on the upcoming feature movie starring Susan Sarandon, Judah Friedlander and others. It premiered recently at the Sundance Film Festival. "This coming of age drama features two main characters who are vacationing and looking for ways to avoid boredom. Ping pong at a local venue called Fun Hub is the pursuit that saves them and soon brings them into contact with girls and the local bullies." As near as I can tell, it doesn't have a wide-screen release date yet.

Can Ping-Pong Help You Hire Better Employees?

Here's the article and video (48 sec). "Does the way a person approaches ping-pong correlate to the way they approach challenges in the workplace, and can the game be used as a predictive model?"

Pong Universe

Here's a table tennis page I just found that features lots of table tennis articles.

David vs. Goliath?

Here's the cartoon; I think Goliath's a penholder, but with hands that size I guess he doesn't have much choice.

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jfolsen Mon, 03/24/2014 - 18:06

Very interesting article by Massimo Costantini.

Yes, Tibor Klampar was way ahead of his time. Backhand topspin off the bounce, more compact Hungarian loop and played much closer to the table than the other Hungarian stars of that era.

jfolsen

Profile picture for user Larry Hodges
Larry Hodges Tue, 03/25/2014 - 03:34

Ironically I gave a short lecture on this topic to my beginning/intermediate class tonight. It came up as I was lecturing on and teaching the backhand loop, where I went over the history of its development.

-Larry Hodges 

JimT Tue, 03/25/2014 - 17:18

Re Coach Costantini's article:

Calls to work better and harder and concentrate more on relentless attacking game are all great but they will do nothing for two reasons (or more)

a) society and cultural traditions in Japan, Europe, Korea (mostly in Europe) are very different from Chinese traditions. In China if your coach tells you to drop dead but give him an hour more of BH drives or Falkenberg, the player says "yessir" and proceeds to do it even while possibly having a heart attack. French or Austrian player will take a look at his watch and excuse himself to go to his date or upon realization that he's already been at the club for his allotted 8 hours he will go and take a shower instead. Even if he will undertake the exercise he will not give it his all... simply because he does not want to drop dead. He knows (society tells him that) that he can do other things and that his health (in the long run) is more important than killing himself for a few years while possibly winning some tourneys. I am just talking about average top player, of course. Great example of this is Vladimir Samsonov - while being a tremendously gifted player he never "killed" himself out there, and while he reached some heights he always kept his long term prospects in mind. As a result he will play until he is at least 40 or even 45, but he never won a medal at Olympics and after his silver at WTTC 1997 he never again medaled at WTTC. Always very close but never quite there. It is of course his decision - it's up to him what matters to him most. I am just saying that the priorities are very very different in Europe and in China. And of course there are always exceptions...

b) Chinese tradition also has emphasis on training within large groups, where peer pressure and non-stop rhythm help keeping players practicing, keep them improving, maintaining discipline etc. This is not how training is done in Europe. Probably because they do not have enough players or because if they try foricng everyone in a largegroup to do more or less same things for some extended period of time then the group will fall apart pretty fast. Other reasons, psychological and societal, as well.

Profile picture for user Larry Hodges
Larry Hodges Thu, 03/27/2014 - 04:08

That's a very good question. Perhaps they changed their requirements for verification? I don't know. I'll put the question in my next blog, and will email Richard Bowling about this. I wonder if they have a copy of the 1984 Guiness Book of Records?

JimT Thu, 03/27/2014 - 16:34

I understand that might have changed their requirements but the record itself cannot be annulled retroactively because of that. Imagine that track&field records (100m dash, e.g.) from 1900-1930s were annulled right now because back then they didn't have equipment to measure the wind speed with necessary precision which is an absolute must right now at any international level track event... or if ITTF declared that all world championships from before 1983 are invalid because the lighting was not up to contemporary standards and because players used rubbers of the same or invalid color. Ridiculous, right?

Now if they belatedly dsicovered that one of Richards was PUI (playing under influence) smiley that might be a different case. But I doubt that was the reason...

Profile picture for user Larry Hodges
Larry Hodges Thu, 03/27/2014 - 16:58

I emailed with Richard Bowling about this, and asked if I could print his response in my blog. Assuming he says okay, I'll post the explanation. Bottom line - Richard Bowling and Rich Dewitt should still hold the record. More on this tomorrow. 

Olio Fri, 03/28/2014 - 11:30

There is a very active French forum at http://www.tennis-de-table.com/ (lots of discussion topics and sales), as well as http://www.matostt.com which is mostly for TT related buy / sell topics.

A few of the users (myself included) are also on TTdaily and MyTT.net