September 14, 2016

Dan Seemiller’s Book and A Tale of Two Quotes
So . . . have you bought “Revelations of a Table Tennis Champion” yet? Why not? This is the story of our greatest modern champion. Warning – some people won’t like some of the things he says. But I’m more interested in what we can learn from the book.

Here’s an interesting quote from page 129 of the book, where Dan says, “I normally don’t get nervous, I’m too busy thinking about strategy instead of the score.” This is one of those things I’ve harped about here and in my books, that if you think about tactics between points, you won’t be thinking about winning or losing, the score, what’ll happen if you lose, etc., and so won’t get nervous (or as nervous). It’s one of those basic things that sometimes takes years to learn, and many never learn it. Contrast that with an actual exchange that took place during my coaching last night:

Me: “Since you can do this shot in practice, what happens in a game?”
Student: “I get scared and miss the shot.”
Me: “Then let’s practice getting scared and missing the shot.”

Now I was joking with that last part – though not completely, as you always want to practice what you do in matches, though perhaps not getting scared and missing – but the point is that many players get scared and so can’t play. They are too worried about winning and losing, and so can’t think or play straight. Instead, if they focused on what they want to do – tactics – then they would play much better.

And just for the record, there were many other great quotes in the book. Here’s perhaps my favorite!

Eric Boggan (2-time U.S. Men’s Singles Champion, #18 in the world, and Dan’s rival for many years), on page 133: “To me, losing is like God blowing his nose on me.” Somewhere out there is an artist who can illustrate this in a cartoon.

USATT News Items
There are a LOT of new items on the USATT news page. I started to put together segments on each, but decided it’d be better to just direct you there.

MDTTC September Open Ratings and Write-up
Here they are – that was fast! I ran the tournament on Saturday and sent the results in that night. They were processed on Tuesday morning. And as I relentlessly last night tried to convince 7-year-old Stanly (now rated 1366), “There is nothing more important than ratings. Not family, not school, not food, nothing. It is the single most important thing there is. Period.” Alas, he has a smart phone with games on it, and so you know what he considers more important. (I did a write-up of the tournament in my blog yesterday, and it’s now up as a USATT News Item.)

How to Read Spin Serves in Table Tennis
Here’s the new coaching article from Expert Table Tennis.

Footwork: Training vs Warm-Up Article and Video
Here’s the new coaching article and video by Samson Dubina.

USATT’s North American Championships Page
Here’s the page, with results, pictures, and video. (This is a bit confusing as this is not the North American Championships where they have singles championships. They only had USA vs. Canada team championships to decide who would represent North America and the World Cup. USA won both men’s and women’s.)

Nittaku ITTF Monthly Pongcast - August 2016
Here’s the video (14:15).

Table Tennis is the Olympics’ Most Revealing Sport
Here’s the article about how the difference between an Olympic table tennis player and a casual player is described as the biggest gap among Olympic sports.

Omron's Table Tennis Robot FORPHEUS Certified by Guinness World Records
Here’s the article.

Poland's Partyka Claims Fourth Consecutive Paralympic Singles Gold in Rio
Here’s the ITTF Press Release.

12-year-old Cerebral Palsy Athlete Makes Paralympic History
Here’s the article from Pong Universe.

A Little Chinese National Team Doubles Smashing vs. Lobbing
Here’s the video (30 sec).

Game On! The Monolith Ping Pong Table
Here’s the article and pictures.

Table Tennis Replaces Baseball as an Olympic Sport
Here’s the meme.

Chimpanzee Playing Table Tennis?
Here’s the video (13 sec) – I think this is real!

Non-Table Tennis - 80th Short Story Sale
Yesterday I sold “The Electrifying Aftermath of a Demon Thrice Summoned” to Galaxy’s Edge Magazine. They are one of the “pro” magazines that pay well. (I’ve sold 14 to the “pros.”) The humorous story is about the U.S. president and the person running against her, with each summoning the demon to wreak havoc on the others campaign – with an “electrifying” conclusion in the U.S. Senate the third time he is summoned. The poor demon just wants peace and quiet so he can read the works of Dante and Faulkner, but finds himself loose in the world of these evil humans, where he can do good or seek revenge. What does he do? (Their current issue has my story "Manbat and Robin," another humorous one about a bat that thinks it's a superhero.) 

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