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April 15, 2019

Mon, 04/15/2019 - 14:13 — Larry Hodges

Tip of the Week
The Lead Problem.

MDTTC April Open, Weekend Coaching, Tim Boggan's History of U.S. Table Tennis, and a Serving Seminar
It's been a BUSY week, finishing with an even busier weekend. Here's a rundown.

  • JOOLA MDTTC April Open - Here are the complete results, care of Omnipong. (It was a wild Open final, with Lidney Castro winning over Chen Bowen in a wild duel with lots and Lots and LOTS of wild counterlooping - but Lidney can also block and lob really well. I ran the tournament with Klaus Wood, who is gradually taking over as the MDTTC tournament director. We ran things together on Saturday, but he ran it alone on Sunday - smaller turnout - while I mostly worked on other things in the back room. On Friday night we had serious computer problems - it took me 90 minutes and five restarts to get my laptop computer to work! Klaus brought his laptop as a backup, but for technical reasons, it wouldn't print on our printer. We then brought in the MDTTC's laptop computer - I didn't even know we had one! - but for some technical reason, it wouldn't allow us to load the Omnipong software! Carolyn Klinger (who along with Klaus helped in dealing with these technical issues) brought in a second printer, but again, for technical reasons, we were unable for a time to print to it from Klaus's computer. I finally got my laptop working and we ran the whole tournament off it, but it was scary for a time.
  • In the new Sunday Beginning Class (Week Two) we did forehand review and the backhand. Because of the tournament, we didn't have the advanced HW Global Junior Program (see below), so I stayed late and demonstrated and taught trick shots to them - the 50-foot serve, blowing the ball so it says in the air (sideways), backspin serves that come back over the net, speed ball-bouncing on the table, and smacking tossed balls out of the air.
  • But the bulk of this past week, and upcoming week, is on Tim Boggan's History of U.S. Table Tennis, Vol. 23. We started last Sunday morning and worked Sun-Fri, 7AM-5PM. We took the weekend off while I ran the tournament (he watched the Masters, rooting passionately for Tiger), and then we'll be back at it as soon as I finish this blog, probably a little after 10AM. I estimate we'll finish on Wednesday, and then he'll drive back to New York on Thursday, and I'll spend that day in bed.
  • Serving Seminar at Maryland Table Tennis Center - Here's the info flyer for the Serving Seminar I'll be running at MDTTC on Wednesday, April 24, 7-8:30PM. ***100% of all fees will be donated to the HW Global Junior Program at MDTTC.*** I'm dividing the seminar into two parts - third-ball serves (which should be the majority of your serves) and trick serves (serves designed to win the point directly, if not overused). There is, of course, overlap between the two, as I'll go over. We already have a bunch of people signed up - hope to see you there! I'll likely stay late to work with players.
  • If I weren't so busy working with Tim I'd be writing more on some of the segments below - especially on our bid for the World's (we are favorites) and on the Hall of Fame inductees. Hopefully I'll have more time for that after this week.

HW Global Foundation Talent Development Program - They need your support!
Here is their GoFundMe page, where they are trying to raise $15,000. (They are currently at $9500.) I'm one of their coaches, and I hope some of you can help out! Until May 1, Hans & Wen Hsu, the HW Foundation founders, will match all donations for this Campaign, up $10,000. (All fees from the Serving Seminar I'm running - see segment above - will go to this.)

2019 USATT Hall of Fame Inductees
Here's the USATT announcement, by Sean O'Neill. Congrats to Michael, Zhenshi, Sharon, and Richard!

World Table Tennis Championships
Here's the home page for the event, April 21-28 in Budapest, Hungary. (So it starts next Sunday.) There are already a lot of news articles there.

U.S. National College Table Tennis Championships
Here's the page for the event held this past weekend in Greensboro, NC. Also see NCTTA Segment below. Here's USATT's livestreaming:

New from National Collegiate TTA

Forehand Attack Down the Line . . . A Simple Shot to Win Cheap Points
Here's the video (7:50) from Tom Lodziak.

New from EmRatThich

New from Matt Hetherington

New from Steve Hopkins

USA Hopes Week and Challenge: 15-21 April, 2019, Sacramento, CA
Here's the USATT info page. Five top kids from my club (MDTTC) are going - Stanley Hsu, Mu Du, Ryan Lee, James Zhang, and Michelle Kang.

Would You Like To See Your Balance?
Here's the article from Coach Jon. "Sometimes, just like your bank balance, your table tennis balance might not be as positive as you thought. There have been numerous articles written about this by Larry Hodges and others. In Larry’s Balance Is a Habit, he relates the epiphany he had about balance, and its importance. Eight years later, I’m having the same epiphany."

Table Tennis Fan
Here's the article by Eli Baraty.

Table Tennis Recognition: Learn about the importance and pitfalls of recognition
Here's the article by Samson Dubina.

History of USATT – Volume 22
Here is Chapter Seventeen of Tim Boggan's History of U.S. Table Tennis, subtitled "Voices wanting to be heard." Or you can buy it and previous (and future) volumes at www.timboggantabletennis.com. Volume 22 is 469 pages with 1447 graphics, and covers all the wild things that happened in 1996-97 - and I'm mentioned a lot! Why not buy a copy - or the entire set at a discount? Tim sells them directly, so when you order them, you get it autographed - order your copy now!

8 Questions with Mima Ito!
Here's the ITTF interview.

Inside My Mind | Timo Boll
Here's the ITTF video (64 sec).

Nittaku ITTF Monthly Pongcast - March 2019
Here's the video (18:30).

Table Tennis from the 1920s
Here's the video (63 sec).

Like A Boss! Ma Long x TATA Trickshot Challenge 2019
Here's the video (2:25)!

Pong-Pool Long Distance Serve
Here's the video (13 sec) of Scott Preiss!

World Table Tennis Day with Adam Bobrow
Here's the video (48 sec)!

Giant Z-Pong?
Here's the video (2 min)!

Table Tennis Arcade Game
Here's the video (27 sec)!

Table Tennis Tricks
Here's the latest video (1:28) from the Ping-Pong Kid!

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