January 27, 2016

Tip of the Week
Should You Develop Your Forehand Push?

Campaign 2100: Game of Scorpions, Table Tennis, and Donald Trump
Since the novel has so much table tennis in it, I'm going to blog a bit about that, about recent happenings on it, and about some table tennis scenes – including Donald Trump being in it! There's also some futuristic table tennis in it – more on that and Trump below. But first:

Good news: It was scheduled to come out from World Weaver Press on Jan. 26 – yesterday. Yay!

Bad news: On Thursday, Jan. 21, five days before publication, I received an email from the publisher saying something no author wants to hear: the publisher was closing down, and so my novel wasn't going to be published. NOOOO!!!!!

Good news: The very next day I received an email from one of the assistant editors that she was negotiating to buy the company, and still wanted to publish the novel. The deal is apparently going through, and so the novel is back on track – but the publication date has moved to March 8.

Bad news: The novel was long planned to come out in the middle of the presidential election, since it's a political novel that covers the race for president of Earth in the year 2100. (With a third-party moderate challenge, a father pitted against a daughter, and an alien ambassador observing and often participating.) The plan was to have it out before the Iowa caucuses, which will be held Feb. 1 (next Monday). So we'll lose some of that.

Good news: Without any advance knowledge that Trump would be running for president and dominating the news, he's in the novel!!! Sort of. Hopefully he'll learn of this and sue me or call me a hack writer, thereby putting sales through the roof. How is Trump in the novel?

One of the four main characters, Bruce, is a professional table tennis player who drops out of the pro circuit to run the worldwide third-party challenge for the presidency. He is sponsored by Trump Sports, and uses Trump table tennis equipment! Yep, I decided to make the imaginary Trump Sports a big company in the year 2100, where it's mentioned six times – Bruce uses a Trump Maestro Prime racket, wears Trump table tennis shoes, and at one point browses over a pack of Trump sports cards, where the best table tennis players in the world are featured. (He's disgusted because he's not included. That Trump is such a hack!)

The upside to all of this is that now we'll have time to build up buzz, and we'll still get the novel out during the height of the presidential race. So . . . should I wear makeup when I get interviewed on CNN?

I blogged about the various table tennis scenes in the novel on June 13, 2014. I also blogged on May 17, 2012 about how table tennis has changed in the year 2100. Below are the Trump related excerpts. (And remember, Trump plays table tennis – right? And yes, I'm the guilty party who created this graphic. That's really a headless Wang Liqin. Truly headless!)

Here's where we introduce Bruce's racket and future table tennis technology:

Sling was the latest model of ping-pong paddle, a Maestro Prime covered with Spinsey pinhole sponge, both from Trump Sports. When the ball hits it, the Spinsey sponge compresses, forcing air out through the tiny, angled holes that permeate the surface. If he held it one way, the air would shoot upward from the parallel holes, creating a topspin. If he flipped the paddle, so the backhand side became the forehand side and vice versa, then the air would shoot downward, creating a backspin. He held it in the topspin position for attacking.

Here's where sore-loser Bruce, who's broken his racket after losing a match, is looking for a replacement at shops in the Great Mall of China – a 3000-mile long shopping mall that parallels the Great Wall of China.

And right now Bruce was searching for a new ping-pong paddle. After losing to Twenty-two, he’d broken Sling, his former partner in table tennis. Now he hoped to find another Trump Maestro Prime.

A few paragraphs later:

He finally arrived at the table tennis store. Normally he got his equipment free from sponsor Trump, but he didn’t have time to wait. On the front wall hung hundreds of rackets. Nearly every brand name was represented. There had once been a Bruce Sims model, a modest seller, but it had been discontinued.

He browsed through the Trump brands, and there it was: a Maestro Prime.

Next he’d need new sponge covering, and again there were hundreds to choose from in numerous bright colors. Best to stick with the familiar; he found two sheets of Spinsey pinhole sponge.

Trump’s newest playing shoe was the Firmfoot Adjustable, named for its adjustable traction. Bruce found his size.

He browsed through the rest of the store, with every variety of balls, tables, nets, clothing, racket cases, playing bags, and numerous other accessories. He looked through the latest Trump playing cards, but he wasn’t in them this year.

To learn more about the life and times of Bruce Sims, professional table tennis player and campaign director, you'll have to wait until March 8! (One note – Bruce is really just me unleashed, where I can say whatever I want. Writing his sarcastic dialog was fun!) If you want to read more about the tribulations of the novel and its apparent cancelation/resurrection, I blogged about it this morning in my science fiction blog.

Snow
Schools were cancelled for the fourth consecutive school day here in Montgomery County, where we had about 30" of snow. So no afterschool program today. Other than two walks in the snow, I haven't left my house since Thursday. However, I'm coaching tonight at 5:30PM for the first time since then. Hope I still remember how to play.

2015 USATT Coaches of the Year
Here's the USATT article. This year's winners are:

  • National COY – Massimo Costantini:  For his continuing achievements in developing and training players to succeed at the highest levels of the sport, including national champions, world team members, and Olympians.   
  • Development COY – Yang Yu:  For his multi-dimensional development of programs for beginner and competitive junior players; and for his technical achievements in becoming one of the first U.S. coaches certified as Level 3 by the International Table Tennis Federation, and in delivering two technical papers to the ITTF Sports Science Congress. 
  • Para COY – Matthew Winkler:  For his achievements in helping to develop a U.S. Open and Romanian Open gold medalist.  
  • Doc Counsilman COY – Samson Dubina:  For his development and effective use of a two camera, instant playback system for providing immediate analysis and feedback to students, along with online video coaching and development of full-length coaching DVDs. 

Table Tennis Lesson - Advanced Mechanics - Like a Boss!
Here's the new video (4:38) from Brett Clarke.

Backhand Footwork – is it Necessary?
Here's the new coaching article from Samson Dubina.

New from MH Table Tennis
Here are some new articles from New Zealand Team Member Matt Hetherington

USATT 2016 Budget Report
Here it is.

World Championships of Ping Pong
King Baggaley Retains His Crown in Epic Final. (This is the $100,000 sandpaper championships in London.) Here's the final (14 min), where England's Baggaley defeats Maxim Shmyrev. Here's a promotion video (4:07).

Butterfly Newsletter
Here's the January 2016 issue.

Interview with Allen Wang
Here's the USATT interview by Rahul Acharya.

11 Questions with Logan Herman
Here's the USATT interview.

USATT News Items
Here's their news page – they've put up a lot of stuff since last week! Some of it I've linked to in other segments here.

The Brain and Ping Pong
Here's the video (2:18), which starts with a Forrest Gump montage, and goes on to how it affects the brain.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of NYC Pong Championships Event
Here's the video (3:37) of the event held at Grand Central Station.

Greater24 Studios Production
Here's the video (7:05) showing how over $250,000 was raised using Ping

Top 10 Most Popular Sports in the World – We're #7!!!
Here's the video (1:47) – table tennis comes in 33 seconds in, for 9 seconds.

Three-Year-Old Plays Pong
Here's the video (15 sec) – he's really on top of things here! Here's a longer version (2:58).

The Dreamer
Here's Mike Mezyan's latest table tennis artwork. (Here's the non-Facebook version.)

Snow-Related Humor

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