April 20, 2016

20 Things to Harp On
Here are some things I constantly harp on with students.

  1. When forehand looping, contact is to the side of the body, not in front.
  2. If you back off the table when looping, you'll probably be reaching for the ball in front of you instead of contacting it from the side with power.
  3. If you are straining, something's wrong. Power should come easily from proper technique – think "easy power."
  4. Step to the ball. Assume you will have to do so on every shot and be pleasantly surprised the few times you don't.
  5. Balance is the secret to recovery, which is the secret to getting to the next ball.
  6. The secret to a good push isn't doing anything great, but doing all of the following pretty well – quick, low, heavy, very deep or very short, angled, and with last-second changes of direction.
  7. Loop the deep serve unless you have a reason not to. An inability to loop a deep serve may be a reason not to do so in a big match, but it mostly means you have to practice it.
  8. The secret to super spinny serves is racket acceleration (not speed) and grazing contact.
  9. You serve short by grazing the ball so there's little forward speed, not by slowing down your motion.
  10. Practice your serves!
  11. If you want to have a good receive, you need someone to serve to you over and over so you can practice your receive.
  12. If you have a good grip and good foot positioning, everything else will usually fall into place.
  13. You must develop at least one overpowering strength that opponents will fear while having no overpowering weaknesses that opponents can easily play into.
  14. If you want to know what your weaknesses are, play a top player and ask him to make you look silly.
  15. When fixing technique, it's often best to exaggerate the change.
  16. Your attacks and most other shots (including receive) should go to the wide corners or opponent's middle (roughly his playing elbow).
  17. If you have something that needs work, do practice drills that zero in on that weakness repeatedly.
  18. In a match, focus on basic tactics, and then your mind won't wander or get nervous.
  19. In tournaments or leagues, scout out unfamiliar opponents, either by watching him play (live or on video), or by asking about him.
  20. Keep your sponge rubber clean.

Ask the Coach Show
Episode #255 (25:34) - Olympic qualification hots up (and other segments). (For some reason the picture doesn't show up for the first 25 seconds, but you get sound.)

Upcoming State Championships
This weekend is the Indiana State Championships! Here's the entry form.

History of U.S. Table Tennis, Vol. 17, Chapter 5
Here it is! (1989: Post U.S. Open Tournament Through July.) You can buy this or other volumes at TimBogganTableTennis.com.

How Ping-Pong Diplomacy Thawed the Cold War
Here's the recent article from history.com.

11 Questions with Pete May
Here's the USATT interview.

Top Players Find Their Ping-Pong Niche
Here's the article from the Santa Monica College Corsair.

Honolulu’s Michelle Wie hosts 3rd annual “Wie Love Ping Pong” event to benefit HSJGA
Here's the article.

Off The Table - Zhang Jike
Here's the ITTF interview (4:25).

Table Tennis Olympian's Career Began in Stanford University Laundromat
Here's the video (2:31) on Lily Zhang from NBC Bay Area. "My dad was a professor there. So every time we went to do laundry, and there was a table there, I played my parents for fun."

Making Your Mark: Ping pong bringing students together
Here's the video (2:58) from ABC 13 News.

Interview with Bohan Zhang, 2016 Butterfly Cary Cup Champion
Here's the interview (3:01) by Barbara Wei.

Interesting Point – Lobbing and Sidespin Chopping!
Here's the video (52 sec).

Kids Bouncing Balls Off Side of Table
Here's the video (46 sec) – this is harder than it looks, especially for kids!

Crazy Ping Pong in Bedroom With iPong Ball Machine
Here's the video (66 sec)!

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