March 2, 2017

MDTTC Happenings

  • The Gang's Back Together
    With Coach Zeng Xun ("Jeffrey") back from vacation in China, all our coaches are back in action - and all of them were coaching at MDTTC yesterday. The coaches are Larry Hodges (hey, that's me!), Cheng Yinghua, Jack Huang, Jeffrey Zeng Xun, Alex Ruichao Chen, Wang Qing Liang ("Leon"), Chen Bo Wen ("Bowen"), Wu Jiacheng, John Hsu, and Wen Hsu. Ten active coaches in one club, often coaching at the same time - that's a lot of coaching!!!
  • Hopes Camp and Tournament
    We're holding it this weekend at MDTTC. The camp is for players under age 13, the tournament for players born in 2005 or 2006 (though players under age 16 may play in the rating events). Here's the USATT Hopes Program Page - see the "Maryland Regional Hopes Training Camp and Trial." I'm one of the hoard of coaches at the camp on Saturday, and am running the tournament on Sunday.  
  • Wootton and Robert Frost
    Wootton High School and Robert Frost Middle School in Maryland (near MDTTC) are among the strongest schools in the country. At the club last night we compiled a list of the players at these two schools. (All of the Robert Frost players will be going to Wootton in the next few years.) Hopefully I haven't missed anybody!!! (We have plenty of other strong junior players, but they don't go to these two schools.)

Wootton High School

  1. Roy Ke, 17, 2428
  2. Derek Nie, 16, 2350
  3. George Li, 14, 2133
  4. Spencer Chen, 14, 2089
  5. Darwin Ma, 16, 1964
  6. Matt Stepanov, 15, 1641
  7. Patrick Chen, 17, 1626
  8. Edwin Yu, 17, 1602
  9. Eileen Chen, 17, 1558
  10. Callie Xu, 15, 992

Robert Frost Middle School

  1. Ryan Dabbs, 13, 2275
  2. Tiffany Ke, 12, 2247
  3. Ronald Chen, 12, 2024
  4. Daniel Sofer, 12, 1646

New Articles/Podcasts from Expert Table Tennis

Try a Little Defense
Here's the coaching tip from Carl Danner.

Butterfly 2017 Arnold Table Tennis Challenge Press Release 2
Here's the article by Barbara Wei. (Here's the first Press Release.)

College Championships

Zoran Primorac - Croatian Legend
Here's the video. He was ranked as high as #2 in the world, won the Men's Singles World Cup in 1993 and 1997 (and made the semifinals four other times), won the silver medal in Men's Doubles at the 1987 Worlds and 1988 Olympics (both times with Ilija Lupulesku), and made the final of Men's Singles at the European Championships in twice and won the bronze four times.

Illinois Table Tennis Association
Here's a nice state association page. Wouldn't it be nice if we had something like this for all 50 states?

Weird Ping-Pong Tables
Here's the picture!

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