February 19, 2015

Ping-Ping Diplomacy by Nicholas Griffin - Review

This book should be of great interest to table tennis buffs, history buffs, and Chinese buffs - lots of great stuff! It's subtitled "Ivor Montagu and the Astonishing Story Behind the Game That Changed the World." It's 275 pages, plus another 61 pages - so 336 total - of various end notes, acknowledgements, index, etc. It has 51 chapters, divided into four parts. There's also a very nice photo section in the middle.

Part 1 is titled "The West." Here we learn about Ivor Montagu, the founder of the ITTF, the person most responsible for table tennis becoming an international sport due to his tireless efforts - when he wasn't spying for the Soviets. Yep, our sport was pretty much founded by a communist spy! But we learn how he was instrumental in helping spread the sport to China as well as a little bit of Soviet history, where we even meet Trotsky.

Part 2 is titled "The East." To me, this was the most fascinating part. We learn not only about the rise of table tennis in China and Japan (much of it due to Ichiro Ogimura), but also much of the history of China as the Chairman Mao and the communists took over, and the rather horrible events that took place during the Cultural Revolution. Due to the elite nature of players on the Chinese national team, they were persecuted during this time, with many of them falsely accused of crimes, humiliated, and even tortured, with three members committing suicide. The inside story of much of the Cultural Revolution and how it affected table tennis (and others) is vivid. I was especially hit hard by the story of Rong Guotuan, China's first table tennis World Champion, who won Men's Singles in 1959, coached the Chinese Women's Team to their first world championship in 1965 - and after false accusations of spying, humiliation, and torture, hung himself in 1968 at the age of 30. You also learn about the ups and downs of other Chinese players, such as three-time world champion Zhuang Zedong (1961, 63, 65), who bounced back and forth from political favor to humiliation, from diplomat and champion to street cleaner and back.

Part 3 is titled "East Meets West." This is basically the lead up and actual events that took place during the 1971-72's Ping-Pong Diplomacy, where the USA team went to China, and then the Chinese team visited the U.S. Much of this I already knew about from Tim Boggan's History of U.S. Table Tennis, Volume V (which covers the Ping-Pong Diplomacy Years), but there were a lot of new details.  The story jumps back and forth between the backgrounds and meet-up of the two main table tennis protagonists here, Zhuang Zedong and the hippy Glenn Cowan, as well as the rest of the contingent, including idealist and possible communist sympathizer John Tannehill, George Brathwaite, Errol & Jairie Resek, Dick Miles, Judy Bochenski Hoarfrost, Connie Sweeris, Olga Soltesz, Rufford Harrison, Jack Howard, George & Madeleine Bubin, Tim Boggan, Ping Neuberger, and USTTA president Glenn Steenhoven. There's also lots of coverage of the major political protagonists, in particular ping-pong lovers Chairman Mao and Zhou Enlai, Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, and many others.

Part 4 is titled "Aftermath." This covers the events that took place afterwards. Probably most interesting here is the tragic aftermath of Cowan as he sinks lower and lower as he attempts to cash in on his fame, and finally dies in 2004 at age 51, homeless and nearly forgotten. In contrast, Zhuang Zedong, upon hearing of Cowan's death and how he had been forgotten, says, "When I die, everyone in China will know." (And when he dies in 2013 at age 71, he is right.) We also learn of the many implications of Ping-Pong Diplomacy, both for table tennis and the world in general.

The book is available at Amazon in paperback, hardcover, and Kindle. Here's are reviews of the book by The Washington Post and The New York Times. (Tomorrow I review Ping Pong for Fighters by Tahl Leibovitz.)

Happy Chinese New Year!

(But you still have to play ping-pong tonight.)

Five Worst Temper Tantrums I've Ever Seen in Table Tennis

NONE of these incidents happened at the Maryland Table Tennis Center!

  1. After blowing a 20-18 match point lead, a junior player (age 14) went into the bathroom, and did the following: pulled the toilet, toilet walls, sink, hand dryer, and overhead light all off the wall & ceiling. We heard the crashes, but he'd locked the door. Before we could get the door open, water was pouring under the door - the place was flooded from pipes pulled out of the wall. The junior's parents had to spend thousands of dollars in repairs.
  2. Same junior as above, a few months before: Up 20-12 match point in the third (best of three) on a player rated about 500 points lower in a league match, he lost three in a row (20-15). In disgust, he slammed his paddle down, breaking the handle. He continued playing with the racket, holding it by the blade, and lost the next three points (20-18). He then borrowed a paddle from someone else, and lost four points in a row and the match. He then took the borrowed paddle - which the other player needed for his league match - and broke it over his knee, and stormed out of the room. 
  3. After blowing a 20-15 match point lead in the final of Under 18 at a tournament, a top junior tore his towel to shreds. He then tore his shirt off and ripped it to shreds. Then, in just his playing shorts and shoes, he stormed outside (temperature: 3 degree F and breezy). When he didn't return after 15 minutes or so, I went outside, and found him shivering on a corner two blocks away.
  4. After losing a practice match, a player grabbed a notebook, and systematically pulled the sheets of paper out, one by one, and chewed and ate them, the whole time glaring at everyone. After eating at least ten pages, he then began chewing on his racket handle, and managed to take a chunk out, which he chewed and swallowed. 
  5. After losing a practice match, a player started smacking his head on the table. There were two others of us there, so we stepped out for a few minutes. When we came back, the player was gone, but every barrier (about 40) had been kicked over. 

Reverse Pendulum Serve

Here's the new coaching video (4:21) by Coach Brett Clarke.  

Why is My Training Level Better Than Match Level

Here's the coaching article by Matt Hetherington.

Ask the Coach

Episode #79 (17:35) - Can Ovtcharov win in Qatar

  • Yesterday's #PQOTD  - 1:02: Without the Chinese players at the Qatar Open, can Ovtcharov win?
  • #PQOTD  - 1:50: What are the critical factors for running a successful club?
  • Question 1 - 3:08: Andre: I’ve been think about this for a while now, why don't people hide their strokes, like their serves back in the day? I know it would be hard to master but adding side spin slightly to a topspin ball can really make the difference.
  • Question 2 - 6:10: Martinand: When we play slowly it's easy to know if I play with forehand or backand but when the play is quicker it's difficult to know where the ball arrive for the forehand we have to arm the arm before the ball arrives. Any suggestions?
  • Question 3 - 9:46: DK: Do you have any idea how to practise footwork and connect it with the stroke?
  • Question 4 - 13:17: Jake: In other sports, I've benefited from cross training (such as adding some swimming while training for track and field). Are there non-table tennis activities you recommend as part of a table tennis training program?
  • Question 5 - 15:00: Brock: Do you know a great table tennis exercise that is very effective?
  • Question 6 - 16:25: Brock: How is it going with your cube Alois?

Qualification is First Hurdle for Kanak Jha and Joe Seyfried

Here's the ITTF article on the USA and French junior stars.

Ping-Pong a Hit Among Many Celebrities

Here's the USATT article.

Plastic Balls - Your Questions Answered

Here's the question and answers by Table Tennis England.

Diane Jiang Seeks Redemption at National Team Trials

Here's the article by Barbara Wei.

ITTF Racket Control

Here's the video (10:35). It'll either fascinate you or bore you to death.

Waldner and Appelgren Exhibition

Here are pictures.

Around the Net Receive by 12-year-old

Here's the video (29 sec, including slow motion replay) - I've never seen one like this before!

Adam Bobrow Coaching Jorgen Persson

Here's the video (40 sec) as the two discuss higher tactics between games.

Sean O'Neill vs. Pat O'Neill, Mini-table, 1973

Here's the picture!

Chariots of Fail

Here's the video (2:50) - "Everything looks better in slow motion, especially kids playing ping pong and failing big time."

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