November 14, 2017

Tip of the Week
How to Play Doubles with a Much Stronger Player.

USATT Board of Directors Teleconference
The teleconference took place at 7PM last night, going until about 8:45PM. Attending were all nine members of the USATT Board of Directors, plus USATT CEO Gordon Kaye, USATT Chief Operating Officer Marc Thompson, High Performance Director Jorg Bitzigeio, USATT lawyer Dennis Taylor, John McFadden (representing the USATT Foundation), and USATT member Lee Kondo.

Meetings always start with a few formalities – roll call, welcome remarks from board chair Anne Cribbs, and a call for conflict of interest statements. There were none. Then we got to the approval of the minutes for the Sept. 10 in-person board meeting, and teleconferences on Oct. 9 and 19. I asked for a minor typo correction for the Oct. 9 minutes, and the addition of a clarifying sentence for the Oct. 19 minutes. There were no other calls for changes. Then we voted for each – I was rather active this call, and made all three motions for approval. They were each approved unanimously, and should go online soon.

Next came a long session on SafeSport. The USOC did an audit of our SafeSport policies and procedures, and asked that we add a part about requiring USATT staff to pass SafeSport. (Apparently this was included in one part, but not another.) Once again I made the motion to add the needed language to our policies. We’re in overall compliance, with Jan. 1, 2018 the target date for “full compliance.” Of course, there’s no such thing as true full compliance as any club or tournament could sneak in a coach, umpire, or other person who is not SafeSport compliant and we might not know about it. But there will be penalties for this.

Next came updates on the USOC General Assembly (from Anne Cribbs and Tara Profitt), and an update on the USATT Board Manual. (I found two little mistakes – it made my day! But nothing important.)

Then came the CEO reports on the U.S. Open, the upcoming USATT Super Camp (Dec. 26 – Jan. 2 at the Triangle TTC in NC), and USOC funding. No surprises on any of this. (Did you know you can see the list of entries online? Here’s the listing by players, and by event.) We also discussed the upcoming in-person meeting at the U.S. Open. The meeting will take place on Fri, Dec. 15, from 1PM to roughly 6PM, and on Sat, Dec. 16, from 8AM to roughly 6PM. The meeting is open to all USATT members who wish to attend, except for occasional closed sessions for legal and personnel matters. There will also be the annual USATT Assembly, tentatively at 8PM on Tues, Dec. 19, at the convention center.

There was also a closed session where for about ten minutes we discussed super-secret stuff (legal and personnel), and here I’d like to joke about Russian connections except someone out there would probably take it seriously. Then we adjourned.

Seamaster German Open
Here’s the home page for the event, held in Magdeburg, GER, Nov. 7-12. The page includes complete results, and lots of great articles and video. The mind-boggling part was that Men’s Singles was another all-German final, Timo Boll vs. Dimitrij Ovtcharov, just like at the recent Men’s World Cup. Chinese stars Fan Zhendong, Zhang Jike, Xu Xin, Lin Gaoyuan, and Yan An all lost. (Ma Long and Fang Bo were not there.) Is China starting to miss Liu Guoliang? Here are a few other links.

New from Samson Dubina

New from EmRatThich

Training With Wang Hao and Lin Gaoyuan at 2017 World Cup
Here’s the video (9:10) from Arnaud Scheen. 

Tomorrow Table Tennis - How to Forehand Loop around the Net
Here’s the video (2:51) by Andy Zou.

San Jose Finalist for World Championships in a Growing Sport
Here’s the article from The Mercury News.

A Massive New Ping-Pong Bar is Coming to Downtown Seattle
Here’s the article from Seattle Magazine.

Has China Dropped the Ball?
Here’s the ITTF article. I think it way under-emphasizes the impact the “promotion” of Liu Guoliang from men’s coach into a pointless bureaucratic position.

ITTF Leadership Update
Here’s the ITTF article.

History of USATT - Volume XX - Chapter 2
Here’s chapter two of Tim Boggan’s latest volume, which covers 1991-1992. Or you can buy it and previous volumes at www.timboggantabletennis.com.

Robopong 2017 November BTTC Open Tournament
Here’s the article on the Florida tournament.

Nittaku ITTF Monthly Pongcast - October 2017
Here’s the video (13:02).

Timo Boll: Table Tennis Legend
Here’s the video (7:46).

Table Tennis, 1930s to Present
Here’s the video (2:47).

Table Tennis Stamps from Sierra Leone
Here’s the picture. Clockwise from top left: Kasumi Ishikawa, Ma Long, Koki Niwa, Zhang Jike.

Giant Ping-Pong
Here’s the video (13:13) with oversized paddles and what appears to be a beachball.

Bear vs. Monkey Pong
Here’s the video (7:30, but link should take you directly to 3:50, where they have a crazy game for about a minute, with a spider onlooker.

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