May 28, 2015

The Spirit of Pong

The Spirit of Pong is getting a lot of publicity!

Meanwhile, 10-year-old Daniel Sofer, a student of mine (who I wrote about yesterday), read it cover to cover on Tuesday night . . . and found three typos. AAAAAHHHHH!!!!! (Fortunately, it’s in print on demand and kindle formats, so I can upload a new version and have it up within a day.)

What to Do When You’re Too Tired to Play

I coached a 13-year-old student yesterday who had been up late the previous few nights due to vacation and last-minute work on a school project. He was almost too tired to play and had what he described as a headache that kept coming and going. My solution? Sometimes the simplest ones are best. I sent him to the sink in the bathroom to splash his face with water. (I’ve used this coaching “technique” for many years, with great results.) It basically solved the problem, and he ended up having a great session, with the focus on basic forehand and backhand looping – and we had a nice counterlooping segment. We stayed late and worked on his serves, especially his reverse pendulum serve, which he’s now getting the knack of.

History of U.S. Table Tennis

Tim Boggan and I continue our work, but it’s slow. Yesterday we basically did chapter four, another extremely long and cumbersome one. Chapter four is titled “1988: Non-Tournament Preoccupations.” It’s 17 pages, but with 45 graphics, most of which needed tedious cleaning up and fixing in Photoshop. We worked on it from 7:30AM to 2:30 PM, with a one-hour break for lunch and so I could do other work. Hillary Clinton or perhaps Ted Cruz will be president by the time we finish if we don’t pick up the pace.

Then I left to do our afterschool program (picking up kids and then one hour of coaching), and then a 90-minute private coaching session. I then met with a few MDTTC people on various issues. Next I met Tim for dinner at a steakhouse he chose. I didn’t get home until after 9PM. So what did I do after that 14-hour binge? The MDTTC June Newsletter; worked on the Disabled Veterans Camp report for USATT; wrote an introduction to Samson Dubina’s upcoming coaching book; tried and failed to find time to work on an ongoing USATT ratings issue; spent way too much time on the phone and online trying to resolve a problem with a shipment of my books that went to France and then inadvertently was sent back; and then wrote most of this blog. I got to bed at 1:45AM, and will be back at work with Tim at about 7:00AM. Such is the life of your average table tennis coach.

Learn Table Tennis Serves – Like a Boss!

Here’s the new coaching video from Brett Clarke.

Introduction to Multiball Practice

Here’s the video (9:42) from the Werner Schlager Academy in Austria. (It’s in English.) “Maybe you know the multiball practice from your own training or you have seen players doing multiball sessions. In this video we explain what the use of multiball training is and what you need to take care of while doing multiball.”

Ask the Coach

Episode 131 (19:00) – When to Attack.

USATT Insider

Here’s the issue that came out yesterday.

USATT Ratings Algorithm Adjustment

Here’s the USATT article.

Team "NJTTC" Takes Title at 2015 America's Teams Championship in Impressive Style

Here’s the article from Barbara Wei.

Richard McAfee Coaching in Samoa

Here are pictures as he teaches at a girls’ school. Here are more.

Zhang Jike Backhand Loop

Here’s a new video (8:41) that shows his backhand over and over, including slow motion. It shows each one a number of times so you can study it.

Best of Ma Long vs. Xu Xin

Here’s the video (8:28).

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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