Tip of the Week
Chopping and Playing Choppers – It’s All About the Mindset.

Weekend Coaching
“Keep your left arm up for balance!” I think I said that twenty times this past weekend, mostly to three players, all righties. It seems like every week there’s a different mantra, and that was this week’s. It’s so easy to let the arm just hang there when you aren’t moving too much, and then it becomes a bad habit and the player doesn’t even know how much they are off balance because of it. If you are 1% off balance in table tennis, you might as well be playing in a chair.

I worked with a group of kids on their fast, deep serves, using various targets on the table. For this, you should generally have three, sometimes four targets at the very end of the table. One on each wide corner, of course, but also one where a righty player’s elbow would normally be, a prime target for a fast serve or any other aggressive shot. You can also have a fourth target where a lefty’s playing elbow would be.

Tip of the Week
Focus on Controlled Receives at Start of Match.

Weekend Coaching
I coached in four junior group sessions this weekend. While I did a lot of multiball (as always), I also got to work with several kids on serves. One of them is really picking up some tricky deep serves. I explained to him the importance of developing short serves for serve & attack, with the tricky deep breaking sidespin serves as a variation for occasional free points and to keep opponent watching for them so they are slower to react to shorter serves. If you overuse deep serves, they lose their effectiveness, and they generally don’t work as well at higher levels except as surprise serves.

I also did a lot of work with transitioning from looping against a backspin to looping against a block or topspin. In multiball, that means feeding a backspin ball, player loops, then I give a quick topspin, and they loop again. The key is the back shoulder – it drops some against backspin, but if you drop it against a topspin ball, you’ll likely go off the end.

Tip of the Week
That One Good Block.

Fall Table Tennis Season Begins
It’s been a packed week. Let’s see:

Tips of the Week

• Aug. 11: Down the Line Deception
• Aug. 18: Knee and Feet Direction on Forehand Shots
• Aug. 25: Eleven Tips For Playing Against Quicker Opponent

Table Tennis and the World Science Fiction Convention
I had a busy nine days in Seattle – and while it was for the World SF Convention (7,739 attendees), there was also some table tennis! As a reminder, when I’m away I still have a Tip of the Week every Monday, which you can find in the Tip of the Week tab to the left. Above are the three tips that went up while I was gone.

Next Blog August 25
I'll be out of town Aug. 9-19, where I'll be a panelist at the World Science Fiction Convention in Seattle, plus lots of sightseeing. I do plan on showing up sometime at the Seattle Pacific TTC. Due to injuries, I haven't played since the Nationals a month ago, but it's time to start my comeback.

Tips of the Week (since I was away the last few weeks)

Next Blog – Monday, August 4
I’m going out of town. But the Tip of the Week will still go up each Monday.

Tip of the Week
Ten Tips for Faster Footwork.

The Perfect Storm of Messes
And when I say storm, I mean a storm of headaches. (Well, the first two, plus a bunch of time-consuming stuff.) I almost didn’t do a blog this morning – too many irritating, time-consuming things going on. Here’s a rundown.

Tip of the Week
Playing Kids.

US Nationals
I just finished playing in my 40th consecutive US National Table Tennis Championships, in Ontario, California, near LA, in my 50th year of competing in USATT tournaments. Here are complete results. Browse over them – you’ll find a lot of players winning multiple events! Kanak won his sixth Men’s title (tying David Zhuang for most at the US Nationals since they became a separate event from the US Open in 1976), and Sally Moyland won her first women’s title at age 18. Here are news articles:

USATT Coverage of Nationals by Joshua Dyke

NEXT BLOG JULY 7
I’ll be out of town next week at the US Nationals, so next blog will be Monday, July 7. However, not only will there be a Tip of the Week next Monday, I’ve already put it up, along with today’s! And they are:

Tips of the Week
Since I’ll be out of town next week at the US Nationals, I’ve gone ahead and put up both this week’s and next week’s Tip of the Week. Enjoy!

Tip of the Week
How to Serve to Passive and Aggressive Receivers.

Training and Weekend Coaching
I had a whirlwind training period this past week, getting ready for the upcoming US Nationals. (I leave for them on June 28 where I’m seeded in a number of senior and hardbat events.) Due to shoulder injuries that made forehand looping difficult, I finally made the big decision to go from my regular inverted both sides (Tenergy) to short pips. Not just on the forehand, but on the backhand as well, so that my sponge game would be similar to my hardbat game. However, while this would likely be effective since I probably hit better than I loop, the experiment only last a few days. Why? Because, after two practice sessions with them, I played my first practice matches with it. Halfway through my second match I re-injured my right side, making it difficult to rotate back and forth quickly. Two results: First, I have to take another week off to let it heal, and second, since I won’t get much match practice with pips, I’ll stick with inverted both sides for the upcoming US Nationals. Meanwhile, I’m back to physical therapy for both my right shoulder and side. I’ll just have to play through these injuries at the Nationals – they won’t completely heal before that.

Just a short blog today, but the Tip of the Week is up: Most Competitive Matches Are Won or Lost on Two Things. Why the shortened blog?

Over the next two days I have a root canal and then a tooth capping. Then, this afternoon, I start up physical therapy again for both my shoulder and side. Why? After ten days off for the highly successful cataract surgery in my left eye, I practiced on Friday – and immediately re-injured my shoulder. Then, on Saturday, while hitting with a student in a group session, I re-injured my right side. Meanwhile, when I don’t have a dentist jabbing sharp instruments into my mouth or a physical therapist putting my shoulder and side into awkward positions, I’ve got several writing projects. (One includes a secret table tennis book project – first draft was completed last week, but it’s got a ways to go. I may blog about it sometime soon.) I’m also finalizing a new non-table tennis science fiction story, and about a dozen other things on my todo list for today.

One interesting note – the injuries mostly affect forehand looping. So, there’s a good chance I may play the Nationals with short pips on the forehand (with sponge) and just focus on forehand hitting, as I do with my hardbat game. (I leave for the Nationals on June 28.) I may actually be better that way in general, but I’ve always stuck with inverted since, as a coach, it makes me a better practice partner. Who knows, now that I’m older, maybe it’s time to consider long pips on the backhand? Hmmm...