December 9, 2015

Busy
Things are about to get busy for me – or more specifically, go from the usual busy to lip-smacking, hyper-driven sheer non-stopiness as the work piles on. Benjamin Franklin once wrote, "If you need something done, ask a busy person." Thanks a lot, Ben. Here's my upcoming schedule – mostly table tennis, but with a little (lot of) SF at the start.

  • Copy edits on "Campaign 2100: Game of Scorpions." This is my new science fiction novel, coming out in late January. The editor just sent me the copy edits, and I now have to go through them, one by one, and approving or not approving each change. This'll likely take up much of the next few days. Meanwhile, I have to find time to do laundry, go to bank, get a haircut, get a flu shot, and visit Best Buy to find out why my Kaspersky Internet Security refuses to renew.
  • USATT programs. Regional Leagues, State Championships, Regional Associations. When I ran for the USATT Board of Directors, I promised to work on these and other issues, and it's a lot of work. Is it too late for me to change my mind? (Just kidding!) Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg – things come up pretty regularly in my three USATT positions – board member, chair of league committee, and regional associations coordinator. What was I thinking???
  • Las Vegas and Eugene. I leave Saturday morning (Dec. 12) for the USATT Board meeting (Sun & Mon, Dec. 13-14), the USA Nationals (Mon-Sat, Dec. 14-19), the USA Team Trials (Sun & Mon, Dec. 20-21), and Christmas with family in Eugene, OR (Mon-Sat, Dec. 21-26). Here's a breakdown.
  • USATT Board Meeting. It's all day Sunday and half of Monday, Dec. 13-14. I haven't seen the final agenda yet, but I'll be giving a presentation on my activities (see USATT programs above), plus there'll be lots of stuff on the budget, national team, and other fascinating issues. I'll blog about that later on. I also had to put together a USATT report on my activities, which I'll use for the presentation.
  • USA Nationals. They are Mon-Sat, Dec. 14-19. I'm mostly coaching, but I'm also in three hardbat and one sandpaper event, plus a bunch of meetings. Here's the USA National home page.
  • Other Las Vegas Events. I'm entered in the World Championships of Ping Pong Trials on Monday morning (sandpaper – here's the entry form), but will likely have to drop that because of the USATT Board meeting. On Tuesday at 7PM is the USATT Assembly, where USATT leaders and members get together and talk table tennis, with refreshments. On Thursday at 7PM is the Hall of Fame Banquet. (I was inducted in 2003.) On Saturday morning and afternoon are the USATT League Finals. I'm scheduled to play hardbat singles that morning, but if I can't find a volunteer to help run them, then I'll have to default out to do so.
  • USA Team Trials. They are on Sun & Mon, Dec. 20-21. I'll both be coaching and watching. Here's info.
  • Christmas in Eugene. We'll be gathering in my dad's house, Mon-Sat, Dec. 21-26. I've already mailed off several boxes full of presents. We'll be doing our annual jigsaw puzzle, play Settlers of Catan, and see Star Wars 7 (I'm hyperventilating) on Christmas Day.
  • Christmas Camp. From Dec. 26-31 is our annual Christmas camp at MDTTC, which we've done since 1992.
  • Tim's History Volume 17. On Jan. 5, USATT Historian Tim Boggan moves in with me for another 10-14 days as we do the page layouts of his next volume. Here's info on all his History of U.S. Table Tennis books.
  • Book Launch. From Jan. 21-24 I'll be in Novi, Michigan, for the Confusion Science Fiction Convention where they'll be doing the launch of my science fiction novel – see above.
  • Blogging, every morning, Mon-Fri. I will take a break during the Nationals and Christmas holidays. Besides this table tennis blog I also do a weekly science fiction blog on Monday mornings, the same morning I do the weekly table tennis tip here.
  • Coaching & Tutoring. The usual private and group coaching, about 20 hours a week. Recently a couple of students have missed a lot, due to injuries and school, so it's been a bit lighter than usual, but that's temporary. I also do a lot of afterschool tutoring.
  • Weight. Meanwhile, since Oct. 1 I've gone from 196lbs to 179lbs. I've been living on soup. I actually got to 182 pretty quickly; the last three pounds were a struggle.

Ask the Coach Show
Episode #202 (27:24) - How Important Is Luck? (and other segments).

Joo Saehyuk and the Rebirth of Defensive Play
Here's the article from Butterfly, with link to video.

Adrien Mattenet - Big Backhand [Bundesliga 2015 - 2016]
Here's the video (32 sec, including slo-mo replay).

Super Defense
Here's the video (35 sec, including slo-mo replay), as the chopper returns some rips, including a spin-around return.

Old Ping - Johnny Leach & Others
Here's the video (8:35) of some vintage pong.

California State Open
Here are the results, and here are pictures by Long Nguyen.

How to Make Ping Pong Ball Lights
Here's the article, with pictures illustrating each step.

iPhone Pong by Michael Maze
Here's the video (28 sec). I do this in my junior classes all the time!

Toddler on Table Pong
Here's the video (41 sec) – pretty impressive! Imagine when he stands up…

The Origins and Importance of Table Tennis
Here's the Norwegian video (36:41) on this. It's mostly in Norwegian, alas. Here's what table tennis historian and author Steve Grant wrote about it:

Table Tennis was Part 7 this week of a funny and educational 8-part weekly series by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation on the origins and importance of 8 different sports. Based partly on my book Ping Pong Fever---the Madness That Swept 1902 America, this episode opens with an attempted fratricide-by-racket on the host's lifetime rival. Later highlights include a spit-take by Mr. Jaques, head of the eponymous 200-year-old British sporting goods firm that first popularized table tennis; a ping-pong-curious squirrel; filming at Bounce, the ping pong social club that is the London counterpart of New York City's Spin club; and a reenactment of the moment of my discovery of the game's inventor. Lowlights include a treatise on Virginia Woolf simply because she later lived in the same house as the inventor (a segment that the show's producer mercifully ends with a phone call demanding a return to the show's subject) and a table tennis demo by the director of the Nobel Prize Institute simply because he is a Cold War historian living in Norway who had things to say about Ping Pong Diplomacy. Some parts are in English, but for a Norwegian transcript that you can translate into any garbled language using an online translator, click on "Teksting" under the video.

Justin Bieber Gets Golden Ping-Pong Paddle to Celebrate His Success on Spotify
So table tennis has finally made it.

Ping-Pong on His Mind?
Here's the picture! (Here's the non-Facebook version.)

Flying Pong
Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird, it's a plane . . .  no, it's just four ping-pong players. (Here's the non-Facebook version.)

Ape Over Table Tennis
Here's the picture!

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