June 26, 2015

MDTTC Camp, Sick & Exhausted, and Media

One of the side effects of coaching kids is you are exposed to every germ known to mankind. Yep, I’ve come down sick. It’s probably just a cold – 100 degree temperature, extremely sore throat, aching teeth, the general sick feeling (every muscle feels like it was hit by a tsunami), and complete exhaustion. The problem is I was exhausted before I came down sick, from coaching every day for over two weeks, including coaching all day (and sometimes night) in our camps Mon-Fri, even longer hours on Sundays, and about two hours on my “rest” day, Saturday. So right now my exhaustion level on the Richter scale is 11.0, enough to win a game while destroying half the planet.

Even after 24 years of coaching at MDTTC I’m never really sure where to draw the line at when I should just stay home, for myself but even more so I don’t get anyone else in the camp sick. But I’m sort of needed – without me the sun might fall out of the sky, right?

Meanwhile, we did a lot of smashing yesterday. I was surprised at how fast some of the new players picked it up. One seven-year-old registered his first backspin serve that came back into the net; he was quite excited. Here’s the serve demonstrated by Ma Lin (1:18) on an apparently hot day.

I was interviewed by a reporter from the University of Maryland Alumni Association for their newsletter, which is doing a feature on fellow alumni Navin Kumar. Also had an email exchange with one of the sports reporters at the Baltimore Sun, who is both going to put the results of the Capital Area League in the paper (see below) and do a special on Han Xiao. Strangely, we’re more local to the Washington Post, but they’ve always been more difficult to get into, except for KidsPost, which has twice featured us.

I was planning to do blog about the book Ogi: The Life of Ichiro Ogimura, but I’m just too tired to get into that right now so I’ll try to get to that next week. (Here’s the cover of the English version. It’s not yet on sale through normal channels – I’m told it will soon be sold on Amazon – but you can order copies from Etsuko Enami. The price is $25/copy including airmail postage, which you can pay to her email (ete@yj9.so-net.ne.jp) via Paypal.) I’m also planning to attend the Capital Area League Finals Saturday, but am not so sure anymore. Anyone got any chicken soup?

Local Events

Here are two BIG EVENTS this weekend – if you are anywhere near the Washington DC area, come on out!

Winning Edge

Here’s the first issue of England’s new online table tennis coaching magazine.

The Forbidden Phrase

Here’s the new coaching article from Samson Dubina – where the phrase “I just need to practice more” is analyzed and banned! Now why would he do that? Read on!

Ask the Coach with PingSkills

Episode 143 (24:20).

Born to Win: top athletes don’t share a single talent gene, but hundreds of them

Here’s the article from The Conversation. Long ago I got tired of debating this issue, but the bottom line is there is such a thing as talent (based on over 30 years of coaching), but the question remains how much effect it has in the long run. I blogged about this on March 11, 2011 and again on August 14, 2013, which repeats some of the items in the first one. German coach Richard Prause also spoke about this recently in this video (2:24). There are always going to be extremists who argue there is no such thing as talent or that talent is the primary requirement (as opposed to a host of factors including hard work and coaching), but the truth is somewhere in between.

USA Table Tennis to Host Finals of 2015 US Open at OMNIA Nightclub at Caesars Palace July 11

Here’s the article from last week in Vegas News.

Japan Open

Here’s the ITTF home page for the event, which is going on right now in Kobe, finishing on Sunday. Breaking News – World Men’s Singles Champion Ma Long, who has been undefeated in the World Tour this year, just lost to his Chinese teammate, unseeded Shang Kun.

Rachel Sung and the Sung Sisters

Here’s the article and video (1:23).

Best Serve in History?

Here’s the video (18 sec) from 2011, with Ma Lin serving to Zhang Jike. There’s also this serve, the fastest one in history. 

International Table Tennis

Here's my periodic note (usually every Friday) that you can great international coverage at TableTennista (which especially covers the elite players well) and at the ITTF home page (which does great regional coverage). Butterfly also has a great news page.

An Aerial Roberto Byles Smashing Against Jimmy Butler

Here’s the picture! (If you can’t see that, here’s the non-Facebook version.) “I believe I can fly…”

90,000 Ping-Pong Balls in a Pool

Here’s the video (1:23) of the 1972 Royal Bath Hotel in Bournemouth, England, where they use the balls to conserve heat.

Table Tennis: Not for the Timid

Here’s the artwork.

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