September 12, 2022

Next Blog
Next blog will be Monday, Sept. 26. I’m out of town Sept. 15-25 coaching US junior team in Santo Domingo (see segment below).

Tip of the Week
Consistency is King.

First Galactic Table Tennis Championship
It’s finally here! No, not the actual first galactic table tennis championship, but my new novelette, “First Galactic Table Tennis Championships”! It’s in both print and kindle formats. It’s about 10,000 words, about 40 pages double spaced. It takes place about 100 years from now, and table tennis has spread to the galaxy – and the title pretty much tells you what it’s about. Yes, the aliens are coming! (To Beijing, to be specific, where the Championships will be held. Only Open Singles, no women’s events.) Cost is only $5 for a print copy within 1-2 days, or $3 for kindle. (Gee, I wonder who “Danny See” is named after?) I had a lot of fun imagining various alien TT players, including the Ith, who are like giraffes but with arms just under their head, so instead of moving to the ball, they just move their heads on their long necks! It’s a huge advantage. Here’s the back cover description:

Li Yi is a member of the Chinese National Table Tennis Team and the best woman in the world. She has trained long hours since she was a child. But now she faces her biggest challenge – aliens! Table tennis has spread to the galaxy and alien players now dominate the sport. The best are the giraffe-like Ith, with their dominating champion Egrayu.

But Earth isn't part of it, not since the cowboy Americans colonized a moon in the Ith home system, which led to a blockade of Earth. The Chinese hope to reopen trade with the galaxy by using "Ping-Pong Diplomacy" – by running the first Galactic Table Tennis Championships in Beijing. Li, her teammates, and the American champion Danny See – a literal cowboy –  play aliens of all shapes and sizes, including the seemingly unbeatable Egrayu, as they battle for the biggest cash prize in table tennis history. But Li is drawn into a corrupt conspiracy that will shake the very foundations of honor and sportsmanship. Plus, there's that problem with the Chinese dumplings…

Regarding the thing about the Chinese dumplings, this is a takeoff on an actual experience I had many years ago, except it was cheeseburgers – here's the story on that. Many of the incidents that take place in the story are taken from my own playing and coaching career.

ITTF Pan Am Under 11 & Under 13 Championships in Santo Domingo
I’ll be in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Sept. 15-25, as one of the coaches of the US Junior Teams at the ITTF Pan Am Under 11 & Under 13 Championships. The other coaches are Wei Qi, Wu Yue, Xinyue “Taylor” Wang, Thilina Piyadasa, and Cheng Yinghua (team leader). In the team competition, I’ll be coaching the Under 11 Boys’ Team. Once they get to singles and doubles, they usually have a number of them play at the same time, so coaches coach others from outside the team we’re in charge of. I have extensive notes on many of our opponents from competitions this past year in Ecuador, Jordan, and more recently in Austria in May, which I’ll share with the other coaches when we play them. US Head Coach Gao Jun has been working with us in preparing for the event, including two Zoom meetings (one last night). Here’s the complete team listing:

  • Under 13 Boys (Coach Wei Qi): Ryan Lin (2200), Winston Wu (2181), Kef Noorani (2092), Dhruv Chopra (2105)
  • Under 13 Girls (Coach Wu Yue): Amina Batkhuyag (2231), Aria Shi (2106), Genelia William (2034), Mandy Yu (2072)
  • Under 11 Boys (Coach Larry Hodges): Kyler Chen (2045), Jason Liu (1970), Caillou Chen (1929), Arjun Kumar (1981)
  • Under 11 Girls (Coach Xinyue "Taylor" Wang): Sophia Chen (1886), Abigail Yu (1886), Tiana Piyadasa (1919), Irene Yeoh (1897)
  • Team Leader: Cheng Yinghua. Volunteer Coach: Thilina Piyadasa

MDTTC Open and Weekend Coaching
Here are the results of the MDTTC Open. Coach Wang Qingliang now runs these – I retired from running tournaments in 2019 after running 203 USATT tournament. Alas, he had to go somewhere Sunday night, so I ran it the last four hours. Just when I think I’m out . . . they pull me back in. They also had a computer problem and so had to run the entire tournament off my laptop. Meanwhile, due to the tournament we only had one junior group session, for the Novice class. Lots of multiball!

New from Samson Dubina

New from EmRatThich/PingSunday

New from Taco Backhand

Worried About Winning or Losing? Set Yourself a Different Goal
Here’s the article from Tom Lodziak.

Ti Long Guides and Corrects Forehand Push Technical Errors for Swedish Students
Here’s the video (15:19). Most of it has English subtitles, and some is in English.

Ask the Coach
Here are the latest questions from PingSkills.

New from USA Table Tennis

New from Steve Hopkins/Butterfly

North Carolina Table Tennis Hall of Fame
Here’s the video (6:37) of Ty Hoff’s induction into the North Carolina Table Tennis Hall of Fame. Ty and I won hardbat doubles at the US Open or US Nationals eight times! Here’s the complete list of the 2022 inductees. (Here’s the non-Facebook version.) Here’s the news item on the inaugural 2021 inductees. (I don't have a video of the whole ceremony.) 

My Experience At The U13 US Team Trials
Here’s the article by Kef Noorani

New from ITTF

New from the Malong Fanmade Channel
Lots of new videos here.

Truls Moregardh vs Elias Ranefur | FINAL | Sweden Tour Masters 2022
Here’s the video (6:44).

Rules in Para Table Tennis
Here’s the video (4:52). It’s in Swedish, but with English subtitles. With Swedish national para team players David Olsson and Peter Molander.

25 Table Tennis Cartoons from Cartoonstock
Here they are!

Never Underestimate an Old Man Who Plays Ping Pong
If the heading fits, this is the shirt for you! I can’t find one for “Woman,” but here’s Never Underestimate a Girl Who Plays Table Tennis. And how about Never Underestimate an Old Man Who Plays With Long Pips?

The Point Isn’t Over Until the Point Is Over
Here’s the video (16 sec) - watch that last shot and the premature celebration!

Win 1 Point, Win $100
Here’s the video (15:14) as Adam Bobrow once again entertains while promoting table tennis – and giving away hordes of money!

Non-Table Tennis - Soul Testing in Major League Baseball
My story "Soul Testing in Major League Baseball" came out last Friday at Daily Science Fiction! It's a satire on drug testing and the steroids scandal in baseball. Forget steroids - what happens when major league baseball players illegally sell their souls to Satan to become stars? Finding ways to test for souls leads to an ever-escalating battle between players and Major League Baseball. If you like it, don't forget to rate it! (Come to think of this, is this really non-table tennis? There was at least one case of a suspension in table tennis due to steroids usage, so who knows how many others have sold their souls to the Satan in return for power loops and footwork?)

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