The 800-Pound Gorilla in the Ping-Pong Hall: Muscle Memory
Think about it: everything you do when you play table tennis beyond the beginning level involves muscle memory. Muscle memory controls your strokes and serves, your reactions to the opponents' shot, even most of your tactics.

I'm sure there are many advanced studies on this, but what's important here is the practical aspect. And for that, I would say there are two types of muscle memory in table tennis: what I will call "rote muscle memory" and "reactive muscle memory." (I'm sure there are actual technical terms for this, but I'm not going for the technical side here.)

Rote muscle memory is what you use when you tie your shoelaces, play a song you know well on an instrument, do table tennis serves, or hit forehand to forehand with someone who keeps the ball in the same place. It's the first thing beginners learn as they develop into intermediate players. Without this, you simply wouldn't be able to make high-level shots with any consistency. An example of this is a demo I regularly give in my classes, where I put a water bottle on the far side of the table, and then rapid-fire smack it over and over with my forehand, all the while carrying on a conversation with the players. The shot is so ingrained into my rote muscle memory that I can hit it ten times in a row pretty regularly from about eight feet away. (I have a box of balls on my side so I can rapid-fire grab them to hit.)

USATT Election
As noted in yesterday's blog, USATT has an election coming up. Yay!!! Here's info. It was also in yesterday's USATT Insider, and will be in a mass email by USATT to members this Friday.

The candidates are Attila Malek and Rajul Sheth, who are running for the open At-Large position (a four-year term) held by Mike Babuin the past eight years. (He's term-limited from running again.) As you'll learn from their campaign statements, both have been very active and successful in their table tennis careers. I've debated about whether to endorse one, but frankly, I don't want to do that when I'm fine with either - both will bring their expertise to develop the sport, both at the grassroots and elite levels. When the day comes that I do endorse a candidate, it'll likely mean that there's both a candidate I really want to see on the board AND a candidate that I really don't want to see on the board. And believe me, there are many who fit both categories!

One reason I don't want to get into this is that while I agree on most issues with both, there are also some disagreements. I've found that when I get into these things, if you agree with someone on 9 out of 10 issues, guess which one gets all the attention? I'm ready to work with either, but at the same time, at some point I'll want to sit down with whoever won and go over my thoughts on the their campaign statements - specifically, the specifics! Yes, the Devil is in the details. Trying to get things done with USATT, with its severe lack of resources despite being an Olympic sport governing body for a country of 320 million, can sometimes be maddening. I know; I have my own campaign promises that I've been working towards. (I'm halfway through my own four-year term.)

Timmy and Ping-Pong and Calfie, Oh My!
Tim moved in with me yesterday around 3PM, and within minutes we were hard at work, me doing pages of Volume 19 of his History of U.S Table Tennis, him saying "This goes there! Scan this! Type this! No, you fool, that's not what I meant!" We did the front and back covers and the first 15 or so pages (of a projected 500), plus I scanned and fixed up a bunch of other photos. We then left for dinner at about 5:15 PM, Carrabba's. (It's a nice Italian chain, with lots of authentic Italian dishes with Italian-sounding names. I had pepperoni pizza, Tim had Linguini with white clam sauce.) After dinner, he went to bed (around 7PM as usual for him), and I stayed up late writing. (A new SF story, plus started on the blog.)

I went to bed after midnight, was up by 5:30AM to get the blog down, and to be ready to work with Tim by 7AM. As I write this, I'm looking for more ways to postpone getting started with Tim, because once we start, we'll be at it ALL DAY!!! At least until 5PM, when I leave to coach.

The calf injury is 2/3 healed, but I'm still worried about re-injuring it. But I'm going to go ahead and do the one hour of coaching I have scheduled tonight, with a 1700 player. I'll likely just block and feed multiball - not sure if I should play open rallies, but we'll see.

2017 USATT Election
Here's the USATT info page (including campaign statements) - it's Attila Malek vs. Rajul Sheth in this upcoming battle to the death to be on the USATT Board! Voting begins on Jan. 14 and continues for two weeks. 

3 Reasons to Feel Good After a Tough Loss
Here's the article.

History of U.S. Table Tennis: Volume 19
It's hard to believe, but we're into Volume 19 of Tim Boggan's History of U.S. Table Tennis! As I write this, he's relentlessly driving toward Maryland, with an expected arrival of 3PM. Then we go to work!

As usual, the volume is projected to have about 500 pages and 1000 photos. USATT Hall of Fame official and photographer Mal Anderson scans most of the photos in advance and sends them to me on a CD. But nearly all of them need fixing up in Photoshop as many are scans directly from magazines or are old, vintage (i.e. poor quality) photos - and that's the first part of my job. And then I do the page layouts, with Tim sitting next to me, jabbing his finger at the screen periodically and screaming, "No, it goes there, you fool!"

He used to type up nearly all the text and then we'd place the photos (including captions and photo credits). But in recent years, to save time, he's had Mal scan the articles directly, and so I often place entire pages in one shot. However, the pages need lots of time-consuming fixing up, plus Tim always has a zillion replacement photos to take the place of those scanned.

As in the past, it'll take 10-14 days to complete the job. (I think this one covers 1991-1992.) We generally work from 7AM to whenever I leave to coach - usually around 4:00 or 5:00 PM. And then, in about six months, we start all over again! (When will I do my blog and other work? Late at night. I won't be sleeping much the next two weeks.)

Calf Injury
It's healing okay, but I'm still limping. I've already had to cancel or get replacements for all private coaching from Saturday through today, and I may have to cancel tomorrow's coaching (Wednesday). On Thursday I only have a one-hour session with a beginning junior, so I may make that one.

Tip of the Week
Focus on How to Beat Someone, Not On Why You Can’t. (As explained in my Dec. 28 blog in the Tip of the Week, I'm putting up extra Tips of the Week and post-dating them for earlier in December so I'll end up with 150 Tips for the period 2014-2016. So today's Tip of the Week is dated Dec. 27.)

My Weekend….
Tennis and calf injury and new classes, oh my!

How My Coaching Differs from Some
"You can't do it!" I told the 7-year-old girl.

"Yes I can!" she insisted. I'd challenged her to hit 20 forehands in a row.  

"Prove it!" I demanded. In the next rally, after she missed after about ten shots, I shook my head in disgust. "See? I told you weren't good enough. I think you should give up!"

"No way!!!" Of course, a short time later she was gloating at me while I hid my face in embarrassment. "You were lucky!" I declared. "You'll never get that many in a row again!" Of course, within minutes she hit 30. (This all happened in a session last night.)

Most coaches like to encourage their students. I like to take the opposite approach – and it works. Plus, I have the fun of insulting all my students – and they like it! Of course, you have to have the right manner when you do this. I've seen some stern-faced coaches who, if they said, "You aren't good enough to do it," the student would burst into tears and run for the door. You have to keep it both fun and challenging.

Programs at a Professional Table Tennis Center
It's an honor to work at a really professional training center. What do I mean by professional (in italics)? It means that it's not just a place where people come in and call winners; it means the place actually has programs for the various needs of the players. No two centers are the same, but successful ones have a variety of programs. Here's what we have at the Maryland Table Tennis Center, where I coach.

TT-Flex
I tried out the TT-Flex at the club yesterday, the new invention of Samson Dubina. Here's the video (4:02, though you can get the idea about it in the first few seconds). "TT-Flex is a full body strengthening system that targets the exact table tennis movements you need to enhance your game!" It hooked up easily to a table leg, and worked as advertised. It was similar to some oversized rubber bands I'd been given years ago to use to rehab from arm injuries, except, of course, this ties in directly to a weighted metal racket, with various hole placements to work on specific shots. It seems a pretty interesting way to exercise and develop the shots.  

I showed it to one of my junior students, who wanted to try out the weighted racket in rallies. Not easy – it's got those holes for the rubber bands! But he learned to hit the ball at the bottom of the hitting surface, where there's no holes, and spent ten minutes chopping and chop-lobbing to my smashes. I'll show it to others in my adult training class on Sunday.

Cold?
I almost didn't blog this morning. I've had what seems a minor cold for about ten days now – including a continuous sore throat. Believe me, having a sore throat ten straight days is irritating! I haven't seen a doctor or taken anything for it yet, since it's mostly been a minor irritant, but now I'm toying with doing something about it. I'll probably spend much of today in bed, reading and willing the sore throat to go away. Later I'll stop by the supermarket and look about buying something for it. (I have already have throat lozenges, but I'm sick of them.) Fortunately, I only have one hour of coaching scheduled for today. (My Thursday junior class starts up again next Thursday, and then Thursday nights will get busy again.) 

Visual Imagery with Ma Long
Yesterday I had private sessions with two junior players. The first one, age 12, about 1700, has great ball control, but often falls back on forehand looping with mostly his arm, which leads to both a loss of power and frequent injuries. We've been working hard to fix the problem. Often he'll loop really well for a time, then he'll fall back into old habits. He'd taken some time off during Christmas (partly because I was also away), and so was a bit out of practice, and so I was worried he'd start up with his old habits. What to do?

After a short warm-up, we watched (on my smart phone) the first half of this video of Ma Long (5:06), which features his forehand loop. (For those living in a cave, he's the reigning world men's singles champion and ranked #1 in the world.) The idea was to get that visual image so that he could match it. And it worked – right from the start his loop technique was very Ma Longish.

My second student, age 10, about 1200, is working on developing his forehand loop. He tends to be backhand oriented, and so often blocks with his forehand from a backhand stance. So we're working on rotating sideways on forehands, which opens up the side for a bigger swing. Since we were going to spend much of the session on his forehand loop, about five minutes into the session (after giving him a good warm-up), we stopped and watched the first half of the video. It paid off – once again I had a student looping with Ma Longish technique.

While neither player is going to be Ma Longish level anytime soon, this type of technique training is a big first step. I strongly recommend other players to regularly watch videos of top players with techniques they'd like to emulate.

New Articles from Samson Dubina
Here are two more. I'm mentioned in one!

My 2017 Resolutions

1. Weight to 175. Currently at 191.
2. Win a National Hardbat Title at U.S. Nationals or Open.
3. Address the rest of the USATT issues I promised to work on when I ran for the USATT board.
4. Put together new book, "More Table Tennis Tips" (the 150 Tips of the Week from 2014-2016), the follow-up to Table Tennis Tips (the 150 Tips of the Week from 2011-2013).
5. Write "Parents' Guide to Table Tennis" (new book).
6. Help Tim Boggan put out two more volumes of his "History of U.S. Table Tennis" series – Volumes 19 and 20. (He moves in with me on Jan. 10 for two weeks to do Volume 19.)  
7. Write a new SF novel, my fifth. I plan to start on this on March 1, but will be doing a lot of planning and research in advance.
8. Write 20 new short stories (science fiction & fantasy).

Time Spent Out of Town in 2016
Total days out of town: 78. These do not include four days coaching at ITTF Cadet Camp at MDTTC (local), or six days where I did local exhibitions or coaching outside MDTTC. They are roughly split between table tennis (coaching at major tournaments or USATT meetings) and science fiction & fantasy writing (conventions where I promoted my novels, and writing workshops).

Tip of the Week
Last-Second Changes of Direction on Receive. (As explained in my Dec. 28 blog in the Tip of the Week, I'm putting up extra Tips of the Week and post-dating them for earlier in December so I'll end up with 150 Tips for the period 2014-2016. So today's Tip of the Week is dated Dec. 26.)

Barry Dattel: 1958-2016
Last night I got the horrible news – here's the USATT news item. Apparently Barry, an icon in our sport, had a heart attack while at his club late on Friday, Dec. 30, and passed away around 1:30 AM on Saturday morning, Dec. 31, at age 58. So it was a very bad end to the year. (Here's the Legacy obit.) 

I've known Barry since around 1980; we've competed against each other ever since, first as players (where he soon left me behind as he reached a 2500+ level), and later as opposing coaches in many a match. He was a top USA player for many years; as recently as 2013 he was the U.S. Open Over 50 Men's Singles Champion. He was the father figure in the First Family of Table Tennis – husband to Hall of Famer, Olympian, and head coach Lily Yip at the Lily Yip Table Tennis Center; stepfather to star players Adam and Judy Hugh (both former USA Team Members and many other titles), and father-in-law to Cory Eider (married to Judy), former U.S. Men's Singles Finalist, Men's Doubles Champion, and past USATT High Performance Director.