May 20, 2015

Disabled Veterans Camp

We had nine players in the camp yesterday from 10AM-1PM. A big thank you goes to assistants Steve Hochman and Josh Friedlander, who volunteered to help out as coaches/practice partners. It was another great and highly enthusiastic group. We covered all the basics - grip and stance, forehand and backhand, pushing, and serving. We finished with the ten-cup challenge, where everyone had two chances to see how many cups they could knock over with Steve and I feeding multiball. 

The camp was made possible by a grant to USATT from the USOC. Not only is the entire camp paid for - the players don't pay a cent - but they sent a box of goodies for the players. Each of the players received a nice Stiga racket with sponge. It was an honor working with these servicemen. I'd like to thank them for all the hard work they put in, both in uniform and at the camp! I'd also like to thank those who made it possible - the USOC and USATT, the Department of Veteran Affairs, MDTTC officer Wen Hsu, and especially Jasna Reed, USATT's Director of Para Programs. 

Arm Problems Non-Problems

It's a miracle!!! Yesterday for the first time I tried out the new Bandit Therapeutic Forearm Band that I blogged about yesterday. (Paul Choudhury emailed me a month ago recommending this – I should have listened! But I did receive a LOT of recommendations.) I'd thought it would at most be a small help - after all, how much can something wrapped around the outside of the arm help an injury on the inside? Boy, did I get that wrong!

The arm band somehow holds the injured part together almost perfectly. When I'm hitting, I can still feel the injury, but it's like it's on the other arm or somewhere else since hitting doesn't seem to affect the injury much at all, even though I'm using all the muscles around the injury. At the start of the Disabled Veterans Camp yesterday, where I wore the arm band for the first time, I was very protective of the arm. As we went through various demos it dawned on me how well it was working. By the end of the camp I was smacking balls all over the place without any pain. I tested out forehand looping against Steve Hochman's blocking, and as long as I go somewhat easy I think I'm okay. I was worried that I’d feel the effects today, but this morning the arm seems fine, i.e. still injured, but no worse than before.

I'm still going to be taking an inflammatory cream twice a day, and should start ultrasound treatment later this week. But I can get back to regular coaching now, starting tonight. (Of course, I might be posting tomorrow how I jumped the gun and that I was rushed to the hospital during a coaching session for an emergency arm transplant.) 

The Aging Ageless Jim Butler

Here's the REAL picture of Jimmy Butler after winning the North American Cup . . . right? I linked to this yesterday, and Jimmy thought it was pretty funny and posted it on Facebook and responded to me on the USATT News Page. Unfortunately, he also wrote, "I'll get you back!" Uh oh. (I originally added an AARP membership card with Jimmy's name on it, tucked under one of his wrist bands, but it didn't really add to the picture and you couldn't really read his name anyway.)

Crystal Wang and Derek Nie in Washington Post

Here’s the print version from yesterday’s paper. I blogged about this yesterday; here’s the regular online version.

McAfee’s Mechanics: Correcting Movement Problems

Here’s the new coaching article by Richard McAfee.

Ask the Coach with PingSkills

Episode 127 (20:16) – Mental Muddle.

Ask the Coach with Richard Prause

Part 10 (1:36) – Plastic Balls.

Ryu Seung Min Training Backhand Fishing and Counterloop

Here’s the video (1:23). He’s sort of the last of the great conventional backhand penholders, but the techniques for this type of thing are about the same for all grips.

US Open Tiered Super Round Robin Event

Here’s the USATT article on this new event.

11 Questions with Tahl Leibovitz

Here’s the USATT interview.

Nittaku ITTF Monthly Pongcast – April 2015

Here’s the video (12:12).

North American Cup Men’s Final

Here’s the highlights video (11:25) of Jimmy Butler vs. Timothy Wang. Here’s a video (1:16 sec, including slo-mo replay) of Timothy Wang as he reacts to an edge ball at 5-4 in the third game.

The Silicon Valley Table Tennis Band

Here’s the video (3:53) – “What the coaches at SVTTC do after full day of coaching.” (Note the “dancing” coach in the background picking up balls!)

Table Tennis Fall

Here’s the video (27 sec) – yep, table tennis is a dangerous sport!

“Astig” vs. “Stiga”

Here’s a “cool” Filipino comparison from Adam Bobrow.

More Mike Mezyan Pictures

NOTE - If you are unable to see these pictures, all you have to do is join the Table Tennis Group - it's easy! Here are all the past, present, and (soon) future pictures he's collected. (I pick out his best ones for here - he has more.)

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