Tip of the Week

Five Steps to a Great Spin Serve.

Meeting with Montgomery County School Officials

Yesterday MDTTC officer Wen Hsu and I met with officials from Montgomery County Schools about creating an afterschool table tennis program. The program would start this fall, on Thursdays. If there is a good turnout, then we'd expand to other days.

One interesting item of agreement came up. Many times when clubs look to do such programs they are very ambitious, and look to have such a program every day, or at least multiple times each week. It sounds great, and there's nothing wrong with aiming toward this - that's where the ambition should lead. The problem is that very often all this does is spread a limited number of players at the start over multiple days, and so instead of getting a good turnout once a week, you get a very weak turnout multiple times each week. When the kids come in and see there aren't many others, they lose interest.

When we were first discussing this program, the original idea was to do it multiple times each week. I argued for once a week at the start so we could get as many kids at once to start. (Obviously you have to take your club's size into account; we have 16 tables normally set up and can go to 18.) When we discussed with the school officials how many times per week we should do it, I said once a week to start, and expand later when we have the numbers. They were openly relived - turns out they regularly have this problem with groups wanting to expand too quickly rather than focus on getting a good turnout once a week, and had sort of a "canned lecture" on the importance of this - which was roughly what I said above. Anyway, we agreed on Thursdays, and will expand if we get the numbers.

#$%^%$#(*&^%&!!!!!

This morning I have a meeting at 10AM with Montgomery County school officials about a potential afterschool table tennis program. I was going to get up early to do the Tip of the Week and my blog. However, after a major run-in with the tenant downstairs, I was pretty much up all night, too irritated to sleep, and woke up this morning with a major headache.

I own a three-floor townhouse, and live on the third floor, renting out the first two floors. The 56-year-old person I rent to (who has a full-time job) believes that if he can't pay the rent I shouldn't question it. After much hassling, I was able yesterday to get $400 of the $1080 that was due a week ago, but with no promise on when or if he'd pay the rest, and he seems to think I should be happy that he paid that much. He believes that if he doesn't pay the rent on time, that I should assume he can't pay and I shouldn't ask for it. He's been late month after month, only paying after I hassle him for it, which he says is "condescending." As I belatedly discovered, he's got a credit rating about as low as is mathematically possible (quick pat on the head to myself: I have essentially a perfect credit rating. Yay me!), is a slob (I should take pictures), and keeps me up late at night with regular screaming fights with his 24-year-old son, who also lives downstairs. Recently they got so loud the neighbors called the police at 2:30 AM on a weeknight. I plan to give him one-month's notice soon.

So no blog today or Tip today; I'll restart tomorrow. 

Good Misses, Bad Misses

In a session with an advanced beginner yesterday, while hitting forehand to forehand (we're both righties), I pointed out to him the difference between a "good miss" and a "bad miss." Ideally, there would be no misses, but some are better than others.

When his shot went long, that was a "good miss" since at least he was driving into the ball, usually with some topspin, and he only needed to adjust his racket angle and perhaps not lift so much. When his shot went into the net, it was a "bad miss" because it usually meant he was taking the ball too quick and hitting it straight on into the net, rather than with any type of topspin. The same was true later on when I had him loop against backspin (multiball) - spinny loops off the end - good. Loops into the net - bad.

When his shot went wide (to my right), it was a "good miss" because, again, he was driving into the ball, and only needed to adjust his timing. If his shot went toward the middle of the table but actually hit the table, that was still a "bad miss" because it meant he was probably turning his wrist in and letting his racket tip fall back, i.e. it was a technique problem, not just a timing issue.

Another "good miss" is a missed serve that has lots of spin. When I play practice matches with juniors, I often claim "I wasn't ready!" if they miss a serve. I want them to push the envelope and go for great, spinny serves rather than wimp out and go for safe ones. If they serve high I'll return it passively, but mention they need to practice keeping it lower. (Key to that is a low contact point with a fine grazing motion.) A "bad miss" is any serve that misses - or hits! - that's not otherwise a good serve, i.e. spinny. (Not all serves have to be spinny, but I'm talking about players learning to serve with spin, not advanced players learning to serve no-spin that looks spinny, i.e. "heavy no-spin.")

Top Ten Table Tennis Things That Were At One Time Unthinkable

Some things to ponder! These are not in any particular order.

U.S. Open Entries Shooting Up

They are up to 847, with more likely being entered as I type this. (They were at 835 when I started writing this.) You can check the numbers, see who's entered, and find out who is in what events here. The deadline for entering the Open ended on May 24, last Friday.

Note that there is no Men's or Women's Singles listed, or Under 21 Men and Women. These four events are part of the ITTF Pro Tour event, technically called the "America's Challenge Series." You can see the list of entries for that here. (This goes straight to "Men Entries." For women, click on the link for "Women Entries" at top left.)  The listing says there are 86 entries, which seems strange because I see 34 men and 32 women listed, or 66 total. I don't see a separate listing for Under 21 - they seem to be included in the Men's and Women's listings. The deadline for entering is June 3, so more entries are probably coming. Here's the ITTF page for the America's Challenge Series.

There's an overlap between the events - many players are entered in both the Open and the Pro Tour Events. (But there are restrictions - for example, players were told they had to choose between the Under 21 events and the Junior Team Competition in the Open, since both start Tuesday morning.) To get an exact number I'd have to go through the Pro Tour entries one by one to see if they are also in the Open, so I'll leave that to someone else. (Plus it's kind of pointless right now, since the Pro Tour deadline isn't until June 3, so there'll be more entries.)

May 28, 2013

Tip of the Week

What to Do at the End of a Close Game.

Here Was My Weekend

SATURDAY. I was coaching pretty much all day. I gave a private lesson from 9:15-10:15AM, then a group beginning/intermediate junior session from 10:30AM-Noon. From 2-4 PM I gave private lessons, and then from 4:30-6:30 was a practice partner for a group session.

Probably the most interesting session was the 9:15-10:15AM session with Sameer, 11, rated 1181. I've been coaching him at his house where there's only about four feet going back. Today was the first time I gave him a private lesson at the club where there was room to go back - so much of the lesson was on looping against block, which he can't do at his house. He's going to start taking more lessons at the club for this reason. He has a tendency to stand up straight, and then his strokes fall apart. When he stays low and doesn't rush, he's a lot better.

In the afternoon one of my sessions was with John Olsen, 56, rated 1999. I've been working with him for a few years now, and now he's playing me dead even in our practice matches. Against juniors, I'm still pretty good, but more experienced tactical players are starting to see the holes in my game now that I've slowed down to sloth speed. It's not easy being a mostly one-winged attacker when your feet move like a sloth. Add that John's used to my serves, and that my blocking in matches has also deteriorated due to slower footwork (yes, good blocking takes footwork), and he's not easy to play anymore.

Memorial Weekend Off

It's Memorial Weekend, and like millions of Americans, I'm taking a four-day weekend. So no blog today or Monday. Instead, I'm spending today on various writing projects. (Oops, there goes my day off.) Then this afternoon I'm off for Balticon, a regional science fiction convention in Baltimore. Sat & Sun I'm coaching all day (and so will miss the rest of Balticon). Then I'm off on Monday. So my four-day weekend is really a one-day weekend. Oh well. I'll start blogging again on Tuesday, including the Tip of the Week.

Meanwhile, if you need a table tennis fix, why not read up on the international articles at Table Tennista? Or explore usatt.org and ittf.com? Or see Will Shortz (world famous puzzlist and NY Times crossword editor, and more importantly, owner of the Westchester TTC) on the Artie Lange Show on Wednesday (16:16)? As Will describes it, "I was on the 'Artie Lange Show' last night (via DirecTV's Audience Network), with guest host Colin Quinn. The conversation started with puzzles, then segued to table tennis, and ended with me playing Colin in a TT match." For the record, Will wins 11-1.

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Coaching Hitters and Loopers

Here's an interesting thought. For many years one of the great things about table tennis was the clash of playing styles. One of the most common ones was hitter versus looper. Over the last 20 years or so looping has completely dominated at the higher levels, leading to almost near-death of the hitting style. I consider this a tragedy - I like having such diverse styles. Note that by "hitter" I'm really talking a range of styles, from pips-out penhold hitters, to shakehanders with pips on the forehand or both sides, to shakehanders who open with a loop and follow with a smash, as well as hitters who block until they see a chance to hit. It might be better to call hitters "hitter/blockers."

While there's no question the looping style is superior at the highest levels, it's not quite as superior as the looping dominance would make it appear. What happens at the grassroots level when coaching kids is that, given a choice between two styles where one might be 1% better, nearly 100% of top coaches will go for the one that's 1% better, and so that style completely dominates out of proportion to its actual superiority. If just as many players were trained as hitters as loopers, loopers would still dominate, but there'd be a sprinkling of hitters in the top 100, and below that there'd be lots of them. Remember that it wasn't that long ago that Johnny Huang was top ten in the world as an all-out hitter - his last rating in 2004 was 2860. Liu Guoliang was #1 in the world in the late 1990s or so. The best hitters, if players were regularly trained that way instead of all being trained as loopers, would be at least 2800 level, probably 2850. Of course, the best players in the world are more like 2900 level in the USATT rating system.

My Top Fifteen Best Moments as a Player

Here are my best moments as a player, in no particular order. It was going to be a Top Ten list, but I couldn't keep it to ten. (On Thur and Fri I plan to write about my best moments as a coach, and my worst moments as a player.) Feel free to comment with your own best moments as a player. For some reason, I get lots of reads, but few comments. Feel free to speak up! What are YOUR best moments as a player?

Muscle Fatigue and Backspin

Recently my muscles have been feeling bone-tired, especially the legs. I feel like I've run a marathon before I even start. (I know; I ran one when I was 17, and went to my table tennis club that night just to prove I could do it - and could barely play at all.) The muscles are both tired and stiff. I'm hoping this is just a stage. I eat healthy and get plenty of sleep. (On the other hand, my dog, Sheeba, 15 years old, no longer can last the night without going out, and she gets me up around 4AM every single morning to go out. Maybe there's a connection. Or maybe I'm just an "old" 53.)

One result, of course, is I haven't been playing well. In fact, right now I'm probably playing the worse I've played since the 1970s. I'm a practice partner for our top juniors, but let's just say the last two weeks have been great confidence boosters for some of them. I've been going back and forth between trying to force the muscles to operate properly ("Move or else, you stupid legs!") or falling back on tactics. ("Age and treachery defeats youth and skill every time." Or so the saying goes.) There's a reason why this week's Tip of the Week was "Tools and Tactics for the Physically Challenged."