My Thoughts on the Men's Gold and Bronze Medal Matches
Last night Ma Long went from being the best in the world to being an all-time great. He now does just about everything a little better than Zhang Jike. Zhang might have a slight edge on the backhand, but it's close. Ma Long has more power and consistency, and is able to rip forehands at will. Every decade or two a player comes along that simply raises the bar higher than anyone before - such as Wang Liqin and Jan-Ove Waldner. Ma Long might be doing that now. He completely dominated the gold medal match.

On the other hand, Zhang Jike simply didn't look as good as he used to be. Are his days near the top of the Chinese team over? He even struggled with Samsonov in the semifinals. I think that Zhang Jike at his best would have played Ma Long somewhat closely, though I do think Ma Long has passed him by and would have been favored, even if Zhang were at his best. I'm betting Fan Zhendong might be slowly moving into the #2 spot on the Chinese team, with Zhang and Xu Xin battling for #3. (And, of course, Fan is already #2 in the world, Xu #3, and Zhang #4 - but much of the time Zhang was winning the biggest titles he wasn't ranked #1 in the world either; he wasn't as good outside the big ones.) 

Did anyone notice how much the players used short receive? Players have so overused backhand banana flipping that servers are just too used to it, and can hang back and attack it. The best players are very good now at mixing in flips and short receives, as well as occasional long pushes. Samsonov sometimes likes to push serves out to the forehand so he can block into the server's backhand. The receive in these matches was almost a throwback to times past when short pushing was king. 

Back to Coaching, Office Coaching, ITTF Classes, and Dan's Autobiography
After my five weeks wandering the country, I'm back to regular coaching. I was coaching during most of my travels – but much of that was coaching matches at the USA Nationals and Junior Olympics. I did a lot of "regular" coaching at the USATT Supercamp, but since I didn't apply to be one of the National Team Coaches (which I was for about ten years back in the 1990s/early 2000s), I was more of an assistant there – sometimes a "walk around" coach, other times working one-on-one as a practice partner/coach. (But my primary duties there was a manager and writer.) It was great fun working with many of the top U.S. junior players from all over the country, but now it's back to coaching just locals.

But with the Nationals and Junior Olympics over, for many players now's the time to start reworking parts of their game, thinking long-term. One of my players currently dominates with his serve and his backhand, but is having forehand problems - attacking, rallying, and blocking – and so we're really working on this, with some major technical changes. It's tiring for me since to work on his forehand block, someone has to loop – and that would be me! I had two hours of coaching last night – not too much – but it'll get busier in the coming weeks. Fortunately, I wasn't needed at this week's MDTTC camp so I'm able to catch up on things. I might be needed in the next two camps coming up, however. (They are all Mon-Fri.)

Five Weeks Wandering - MD, NV, NJ, NH, TX
I've been all over the place these past five weeks. (I've spent the last five days catching up on piles of work…) Here's a recap – in reverse order.

One More Day…
I really planned on an extensive blog this morning – my first in a while – but I need one more day to catch up on work missed during my five-week absence. I promise to start blogging regularly again tomorrow. Meanwhile, below are some segments I put together previously for the blog, including the Tip of the Week. Alas, I have a number of other links that I'll compile in tomorrow's blog.

Tip of the Week
Three Weapons: The Triple B's.

Olympic Coverage
Here's the ITTF International Coverage, and here are USATT's News Segments.

7 Best Table Tennis Blogs from Around the World
Here's the article from Table Tennis 11 - guess which one was listed first?

7 Step Plan to Improve Your Forehand Topspin
Here's the article from Tom Lodziak.

Starting Out In Table Tennis #269
Here's the new video (50 min) from PingSkills.

Footwork Exercise Tip to Improve the Forehand and Backhand Strokes
Here's the video (1:32) from Eli Baraty

The Real Rallies of Table Tennis
Here's the article from Coach Jon.

Next Blog - Tuesday, Aug. 9
It’s been a great eleven days here at the USATT Supercamp, but now I’m off for my annual “vacation.” Normal people vacation at the beach, camping, Disneyworld, or some other sane thing. Me, I go to an annual science fiction writing workshop, July 22-30. So Friday morning, after taking Matt Hetherington to the airport at 7:15AM (see below), I’ll be driving up to Manchester, NH (four hours), for my “vacation.” I drive back to Maryland on Saturday afternoon, July 30 (I’m dreading the eight-hour drive), and flying out to Houston early the following morning to coach at the Junior Olympics, returning on Aug. 4. After that I'll need a few days to catch up on work, plus I'll be back to coaching at our summer camps. I’ll be back on my regular blogging schedule, Mon-Fri, starting Tuesday, Aug. 9, with the usual blog and other segments.

USATT Supercamp - Day Eleven
By Larry Hodges

This is my last day here; I’m leaving tomorrow morning for my annual vacation. But it was a really full day! We started with physical training - and today’s was short and simple. After jogging half a lap and walking the rest to loosen up, and some stretching, we did a timed mile. Below are the times. Nope, they aren’t good enough; we need more in the 5:30 range. We’ve been on the players about this, and expect to see improvement over time.

USATT Supercamp - Day Ten
By Larry Hodges

[Here's the USATT Day Ten page, with video and photos by Matt Hetherington, and this article.]

Sometimes cold print like this doesn’t really do justice to all that’s happening. With luminaries like Dan Seemiller, Sean O’Neill, Lily Yip, Richard McAfee, Samson Dubina, Han Xiao, Wang Qing Liang, and Cory Eider, and with so many of the top juniors in the country, there are so many interactions going on that there’s no real way of reporting on them. For example, Lisa Lin has a really nice backhand serve, her best serve. I told her how Dan probably had the best backhand serve in U.S. history - incredibly spinny and deceptive, plus he knew how to follow it up - and suggested she talk to him about it. Five minutes later I find them in deep discussion as Dan’s demonstrating and explaining it for her. This is how knowledge is passed from one generation to the next.

The kids got to sleep late today - no physical training. (But we have evil plans for tomorrow - another timed mile run.) After a morning of video games on various devices (and a room inspection, followed by forced clean-ups as I stood guard, arms folded), we went over to the club at 11:30AM for a birthday party for Michael Tran (who turned 14 today) and his brother Daniel (who recently turned nine). We had lots of chocolate and vanilla cake.

Sean O’Neill had to leave for the day, driving back to Virginia for a funeral. He’ll be back tomorrow. Lily Yip ran the 12-2PM session for the lower group, with my assistance, while Dan and Cory were with the upper group. (Note that “upper group” refers to overall level; the kids in the “lower group” may be lower rated, but they are also mostly younger.)

USATT Supercamp - Day Nine
By Larry Hodges

[Here's the USATT Day Nine page, with video and photos by Matt Hetherington, and this article. Here's a group shot taken today.) 

Never have I seen so many totally dedicated coaches working with so many talented players. Richard, Samson, Han, Leon, Dan, Sean, Lily, and Cory - they didn’t come here for work, they came excited to finally get so many top up-and-coming USA juniors training together with the opportunity to do something we haven’t done since the 1950s - take on the world with a chance to win. They are putting their all into this effort - not just by themselves, but as perhaps a spark to get it going. The final responsibility will rest with these kids, their parents, and their coaches, spread all over the U.S., as team spirit spreads and we transform from a bunch of clubs into Team USA, a rising worldwide table tennis power.

USATT Supercamp - Day Eight
By Larry Hodges

[Here's the USATT Day Eight page, with video and photos by Matt Hetherington, and this article.]

The physical training this morning was the most grueling yet, though this was partly because of the heat - already into the 80s at 9:30AM. After a quarter mile warm-up run and a number of warm-up exercises, the wind springs began. We started with 100-yard sprints, six players at a time, with the next group starting as soon as the previous one finished. Then they did it again, going back. They did about 6-8 at this distance, then continued with 50-yard sprints, and then 40 yards. We kept pushing them to accelerate as they reach the end, since many would slow down instead. We also had to keep pushing them to pump their arms as they ran.

At first it was almost fun, as they raced each other, but gradually they got more and more tired, and many began to struggle - “It’s just as I suspected,” said coach Dan Seemiller about our lack of fitness. Two players were so exhausted they had to stop. One hard-working one hurt his leg, but it was minor, and he was back in action that afternoon. We finished with another quarter-mile jog, and then we were done with the physical.

New players joining us were three local New Jersey juniors; Tina Lin (17, 2354), Stephen Chu (16, 2108), and Sam Rockwell (16, 1854). This gave us 28 juniors for the day, including five over 2500 and ten over 2300 - and an impressive number of up-and-comers ages 10 to 12 with ratings from 1900 to nearly 2300, plus a pair of nine-year-olds over 1800.

Next came the best part of the day (for me) as Dan Seemiller and Sean O’Neill gave a 50-minute talk on a number issues, mostly on ball placement and other tactics, and stroke mechanics. Dan led the discussion, with Sean joining in with comments. Here’s a sampling.

USATT Supercamp - Day Seven
By Larry Hodges

[Here's the USATT Day Seven page, with video and photos by Matt Hetherington, and this article.]

We’ve had sad farewells for the Week One coaches leaving us - Samson Dubina, Han Xiao, and Wang Qing “Leon” Liang, with Richard McAfee leaving on Monday night. But this morning we welcomed Sean O’Neill, with Dan Seemiller coming in tonight. Sean and Dan have each won five USA Men’s Singles titles - or as I put it to the kids, “Dan, Sean, and I have combined for ten Men’s Singles titles.” Lily Yip is also joining us, but she’s been here all along doing her own coaching here at the Lily Yip TTC. Sean and Lily give us two Olympians - and since about half the kids have put making the Olympics their primary goal, perhaps they’ll get some Olympic stories. They join Cory Eider and I for the second week.

Today was an “off” day, with no table tennis training as they rested from a week of training and the tournament on Saturday. Instead, an even 30 of us made the trip to Lancaster, PA, 2.5 hours away, where Peter Scudner (chair of the USATT Board of Directors) and his son Evan Scudner, and the staff at the Triode Media Group, Ltd., gave the 23 kids a day of media practice. They did this for free - what would normally have cost many thousands of dollars. So a great thanks to them! These kids are elite up-and-coming players who may be looking for sponsors and get interviewed by the media - and now they are a lot more ready than before.

USATT Supercamp - Day Six
By Larry Hodges

[Here's the USATT Day Six page, with video and photos by Matt Hetherington, and this article.]

I thought I’d start this with something we can all use - the “Think Circle.” On Thursday I wrote about Coach Samson Dubina’s lecture and game drills on tactics. He emailed me the following as an elaboration, which he spoke about in the lecture.

The Think Circle
Between pitches in baseball, the batter steps out of the batter’s box to re-focus. The same thing is true in table tennis; the pros often call this the “Think Circle.”

Between points, step back about 4-6 feet away from the table and draw an imaginary circle around yourself and collect your thoughts in your think circle.  Every pro athlete has a different method of processing the points, relaxing, and gearing up for the next point, but I’m going to give you the method that I personally use.