April 21, 2014

Tip of the Week

Every Battle Is Won Before the Battle Begins.

Note from 1979 - Starving in NC

I was going through my files last week, and found this note from May 26, 1979. It brought back some serious memories. I was 19 and had just moved to North Carolina a few months before to train for table tennis at the Butterfly Table Tennis Center in Wilson. I had thought I had a job at McDonalds, but that fell through. And so I found myself jobless and running out of money. On this date I sat down and listed all my assets and deficits. It wasn't pretty. I would use up most of the food listed in the next few days. I would use the last $5.03 I had to buy cheap loaves of bread (which I'd eat with just jelly) and corn flakes (which I'd eat straight, since I quickly ran out of milk). During this time I pretty much ran out of real food, and went from being skinny to probably skeletal. I'm guessing I lost 20 pounds. (I was too stubborn to call my parents.) 

Finally, a few weeks after I wrote the note (and unable to pay rent, but not yet kicked out of the room I was renting), I was given a job at a Hardees by a local table tennis player, Dick Barnes. I became the biscuit maker there! For about a year I would work there from 5:30AM-11AM, then I'd walk over to the Butterfly club to practice serves during my lunch break (eating lunch as I walked over), and then return to work the lunch shift, I think 12-2PM. Then I'd be back to the club to practice all afternoon (originally with Bowie Martin Jr., and then daily for about a year with Bowie Martin Sr., the founder of the company), and play matches at night. During my two years in Wilson, 1979-81, my level went from about 1900 to 2150 or so. (I took two years off after high school for table tennis, even though I was "only" 1900 at the time.) Here's a listing of what's in the note:

Assets
$5.03 in cash
$3 owed by Greg Cox
1/4 pounds sloppy joes
1.5 loaves bread
9 cans misc. vegetables
2 boxes cereal
4 servings oatmeal
1/2 gallon milk
10 eggs
1 head of lettuce
4 waffles
4 fish fillet [this was before I stopped eating fish, though I'd stopped eating shellfish for many years]
1 lb strawberries
6 apples
1 lb carrots
Misc.: syrup, sugar, choc. Mix, jelly, margarine, tartar sauce, one-a-day vitamins
Water

Deficits
$23.00 owed to Tom Poston
$31.46 owed to Bowie Martin [I think Sr.]
$80.00 rent on June 1

USATT Magazine

Here's the new USA Table Tennis Magazine. I have two article in this one, one on Crystal Wang ("Youngest US Team Member in History") and on Shadow Practice.

Article in Wall Street Journal

Here's the article from the Friday issue, titled, "Don't Call It Ping Pong: College Sports Rivalry Expands to Table Tennis."

Michael Maze

Here's an article on him, "If you have some goals you want to reach, fight for them."

1979 Hungarian World Champion Team

Here's a current picture of Hungary's "Three Musketeers" from 1979 with Jorgen Persson, L-R: Istvan Jonyer, Tibor Klampar, Persson, and Gabor Gergeley. The three defeated China in team final at the 1979 Worlds. Here's a picture of them after winning the title 35 years ago (from left, Gergeley, Klampar, and Jonyer. The other three are Janos Takacs, Tibor Kreisz , and coach Zoltan Berczik). Jonyer's gained a little weight, and Gergeley's a little gray!

Dimitrij Ovtcharov's Physical Training

Here's seven seconds of the world #4 (and #1 outside China) doing physical training.

Great Rally

Here's the video (50 sec). But why didn't the Japanese player (near side) loop down the line to the Hong Kong player's almost open backhand? He had several chances.

Why doesn't the player on the near side loop one to the backhand?

Table Tennis Touch Game

Here's the trailer (1:33) for Table Tennis Touch, a new table tennis video game.

Table Tennis Tutorial, Beginning to Advanced

(This was in my Friday blog, but I forgot to put in the link until that night. So here it is again.) Here's the video (58:58). Alas, it's in Chinese, no English sub-titles.

Happy Easter Table Tennis!

Gangnam Style Table Tennis

Here's the video (52 sec). It starts slow, then from 20 seconds on it gets a faster and then crazier.

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