April 1, 2018

Tip of the Week
Arrange Practice Partners in Advance.

I'm hired as the Head Chinese Coach!!!
An incredible announcement: I've been hired as the Head Table Tennis Coach for China!!!
Probably because of the recent very poor performance of Chinese players, the Chinese TTA
reached out and hired me on Sunday. Liu Guoliang was replaced as head coach last year, and
it hasn't gone well for China since. But that is going to change - I'm already in contact with
Liu to get his advice on bringing Chinese table tennis back to the top. I'll be working with
famous players: Ma Long, Fan Zhendong, Zhang Jike, Xu Xin, Lin Gaoyuan, Fang Bo, and
others on the men's side, and stars Chen Meng, Zhu Yuling, Chen Xingtong, and Liu Shiwen
on the women's side. I am going to work these players to death! I have a few weeks before I
leave, but seriously, this is a dream come true. Beijing, here I come!

As if that weren't enough, I'll get paid a LOT more than I ever got paid here in the U.S. - they
pay top dollar. But I'll have to earn it. The sport is a whole lot more serious over there, and I'll 
really need to work like 16 hours/day. I can say just a few table tennis phrases in Chinese, so
I've decided I'm NOT going to learn Chinese - I'll coach in English, and the Chinese players will
learn English or they will be off the team. I think this will force them to respect and obey a coach
from a foreign country that they probably don't consider a top table tennis power. However, based
on my table tennis books, and Germany's sudden dominance, the Chinese TTA decided to bring me
on, and I don't plan on letting them down. I'm already studying video of their top players. This is
literally historic, China naming a USA coach as their head coach. I'm going to Make China Great Again!

Summer Training Camps
I'm putting together a listing of summer table tennis camps in the U.S. - if you are running one, let me know! Ones I already know about include MDTTC, ICC, Powerpong, Lily Yip, and Ohio Megacamps.

2018 US Youth National Ranking Tournament
Here's the home page for the event that was held this past weekend in Davie, FL. Here are two USATT articles by Matt Hetherington, and a great lobbing point.

Butterfly Cary Cup
Here's the home page for the event held this past weekend in North Carolina. Here are complete results on Omnipong. The tournament has already been processed for ratings.

New World Rankings
The new ones are out, with changes at the top.

9 Aspects of Blocking
Here's the article by Samson Dubina.

New from Ping Sunday and EmRatThich
Here are four new articles

National Collegiate Table Tennis
They have a number of new articles on their home page, featuring regional championships, sponsors . . . and new balls!

ITTF Museum Officially Launched in Shanghai China
Here's the ITTF article.

Melton Table Tennis Newsletter
Here's the April issue from Australia, "Across the Net."

DHS ITTF Top 10 - 2018 German Open
Here's the video (5:54).

Table Tennis Training on a Treadmill
Here's the video (66 sec) of world #8 Cheng I-Ching of Taipei. .

Backspin Serve, Spinning, Ball Smacking Shot
Here's the video (10 sec) of Matthew Gandy.

Best of Pongfinity Part 4 I Ping Pong Trick Shots
Here's the video (3:09)!

Easter Bunny Pong!

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