March 24, 2016

Off Until Tuesday
As usual, when there's a holiday and the kids are off school, I'm off too, and they are off Friday (Good Friday) and Monday (Easter). Spring Break actually begins today – no school locally today, tomorrow, or all of next week, with schools reopening on Monday, April 4 – but I'm only taking the two "official" holidays off. I'm not really taking Friday off – I'm declaring it a "USATT day," where I spend the day working on USATT issues. (This weekend and Monday, on the other hand, I may do a "House of Cards" marathon!) I'm also coaching at the two-day mini-camp at MDTTC later this morning and tomorrow, probably only the morning sessions.

In Memoriam
Here are some of the people I've known well from table tennis who have died. The list isn't comprehensive; there are many more, but these are the ones who were influential to me, in alphabetical order, with apologies to those missed. (Feel free to post your own comments below on any of them.) 

• Rutledge Barry. He made the semifinals of Men's Singles at the USA Nationals at age 15, then a year or so later disappeared from the sport for about 15 years. I used to study his receive - so much touch! The last time I saw him before he disappeared I guaranteed him he'd be back, and I was right. But things didn't go right in his life, and he committed suicide I his early 30s.  
• Alan Evenson. One of the best regional players my first few years, he was the long-haired "hippy" who could loop anything when looping wasn't yet as widespread. I watched him play in awe at my first tournament, the 1976 Maryland/Virginia/DC Area Closed, where he won Open Singles. We had some great battles after I finally caught up to him about three years later. I tried, and failed, to copy his backhand loop.
• Alan Fendrick. One of the funnest people ever, and a member of the famous/infamous "Boos Brothers" at the Teams. I jokingly called him Fenwick, but promised I'd never do it again if he ever beat me in a tournament. Sore arm problems helped, and so did his constant changing of pace, and after he upset me in a tournament, I never called him Fenwick again.
• Herb Horton. One of the most influential players for me, a very defensive 2000+ chopper with antispin on both sides who got everything back, he seemed to like playing me right from the start, and is the primary reason I developed a strong forehand. The first time we played he beat me 21-1, 21-0, 21-2. Fourteen months later, no doubt because of his willingness to play me regularly, he was the first 2000 player I ever beat in a tournament.
• Kjell Johansson. He's the only one on this list I never actually met, but after spending huge numbers of hours copying his forehand, I felt like I knew him. He was a Men's Singles finalist at the 1973 World's, three years before I started playing.
• Tony Khan. He offered to give me a ride to a tournament out in Virginia, an hour away, back when I was 17. He showed up in a motorcycle, and so I had my only motorcycle ride of my life. If my parents had known, they would have vetoed it – my brother almost died in a motorcycle crash. At the tournament in the final of Under 1700 he had me 20-15 match point, and I came back to win. He died in a motorcycle crash on the way home afterwards.
• Carl Kronlage. He picked me for his league team back when I was a 1400 player (late 1976, the year I started at age 16), and practiced with me for the league matches. I remember copying his strokes.
• Tong Lee. Some found him abrasive, but he was almost always right on the issues during his time as USATT treasurer, and put in long hours.
• Chris Manglitz. A pure TT enthusiast, always ready to help out, who'd drive anywhere to play, and loved doubles. And then someone shot him and his wife. For years afterwards we ran an annual Chris Manglitz Memorial Doubles Tournament to raise college funds for his three sons, who were roughly ages 8-12 when their parents died. (They were adopted by Chris's brother.)
• Dennis Masters. I spent many hours practicing with his son, Brian, and then he began to run 4-star tournaments all over the country, plus U.S. Opens and Nationals, and I tried to play in them all.
• Dick Miles. We spent years arguing over whether it was possible to change the direction of the racket's motion right around contact to vary the spin – he believed this was impossible. But he regularly called me up with ideas to promote table tennis.
• Marty Prager. He and I spent decades competing as coaches at the Junior Olympics, Junior Nationals, and other major tournaments, with professional respect for each other – and had a great time debating table tennis issues on the sidelines.
• Marty Reisman. Without him, I never would have played table tennis. I was 16 and looking for a book on Track & Field at the library, and looked to my left, and there it was – "The Money Player," by Marty Reisman. That's how I discovered Table Tennis. When I first met him many years later, I told him this story – and he replied, "Great. Another life I've ruined."
• Barry Rodgers. One of the nicest and most well-meaning people, he and I ran for the USATT board in 1991 and we both made it. He was a big leader in Pittsburgh area table tennis for years. Great things were in store from him, but liver cancer ended that.
• Ron Snyder. One of the advanced players at the club my first few years (going from 1700 to 2000), a blocker with a great backhand smash, he was willing to play me right from the start, even though he probably won the first 100 times we played.
• Johnny Stillions. I became friends with him at tournaments – I knew him through Brian Masters, who I was practicing with regularly – and he and I played pranks on Eric Boggan. Then he died in a car crash when he was around 16.
• Nate Sussman. Defensive whiz, 1800+, another good guy who played me right from the start.
• Jim Verta. One of the nicest guys you'd ever meet and a titan of regional table tennis, he too played me right from the start, and spent years combining table tennis and bridge. He was the Over 60 National Champion when I started, and I was in awe of this.
• Zhi-Yong Wang. One of the best coaches I ever met, with gravelly advice on anything table tennis – but the smoking (and lung cancer) did him in.

Club Friday at Potomac Community Center
I recently did three two-hour long demo/clinics at the Potomac Community Center for their Club Friday program. (All unpaid volunteer.) Here are pictures taken: Slideshow1 and Slideshow2; and Video1 (13 sec, by Shaw Zee – this one automatically downloads a .mov video) and Video2 (11:38, by Terry Berman – this youtube video starts with me warming up with Gary Schlager (who also volunteered) before getting to the demo and clinic).

History of U.S. Table Tennis, Volume 17 (1989-90)
USATT is now featuring each chapter, one each week. Here's chapter one of the 17th volume by USATT Historian Tim Boggan, subtitled "1989: USTTA President Eisner on How Things Are Going." Or you can buy this one, or any of the preceding 16 – or all 17 – by going to Tim Boggan's page, which I maintain for him.

Ask the Coach Show
Episode #247 (34:51) - Engaging the Legs (and other segments).

DHS ITTF Top 10 - 2016 Kuwait Open
Here's the video (4:02) of the top ten shots at the Kuwait Open.

SPiN Chicago
Here's the video (1:29) of their recent opening.

Zhang Jike Motivated By Dimitrij Ovtcharov
Here's the article (with links to video) from Tabletennista.

Qatar Open
Here's the ITTF home page for the ITTF World Tour event, March 23-27, with results, articles, pictures, and video.

Paralympian Tapper One Win Away From Olympic Dream 

Here's the ITTF press release about Australia's Melissa Tapper on the verge of making both the Olympic and Paralympic teams.

Hudson Trio Shines at Table Tennis Tournaments
Here's the article from the Hudson Hub Times. Featured for the performances at the recent Arnold Challenge are Roger Liu (14), Janset Aykanat (8) and Aydin Aykanat (41).

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.

FOOTPONG | Pongfinity vs. Lassi Hurskainen
Here's the video (4:27) where football (that's soccer to us Americans) and table tennis take each other on in various contests, such as putting out a lighted candle, going through a small, rolling tube, or curving around a pole.

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