What Is Your Game?

I've always said that coaching is a partnership, and that the top expert on a player's game shouldn't be the coach; it should be the player himself. One of the jobs of a coach is to encourage the player to become such an expert. If a player can't write a book about his game, it means either he doesn't know his game, or he doesn't have a game. A beginner doesn't yet have a game, but once you've reached the intermediate stage, you do. So . . . what's your game? (Just a summary of the "book.")

Me? I'm an all-around player with a strong and varied serve & attack with forehand loops and smashes, but little backhand attack. Once past the serve & attack stage, I'm primarily a steady player who mostly blocks and counters on the backhand, and blocks, counters, loops, or smashes on the forehand. When in trouble, I chop or lob.  On the receive, I tend to topspin most serves back with flips off short balls, and forehand loops and backhand drives off deep serves. My strongest shots are my serve, forehand smash, steady forehand loop off backspin, steady backhand counter, and (surprisingly) forehand block against loops. My weakest shots are my backhand attack, tendency to play too soft in rallies, and (in recent years) my forehand counterloop, alas.

What's the Fastest Growing Sport in America?

Sandpaper Table Tennis??? There are now FOUR (4!!!) sandpaper table tennis associations in the U.S.:

Have Things Speeded Up?

We switched the site to a new plan, and the site should be faster now. Is it?

Table Tennis in the Superbowl!

Yes, it was - did you see the 30-second Xfinity ipad ad? It ran twice, with the short table tennis sequence at the start as an example of things you could watch on the ipad. Was this the single largest "showing" of table tennis in history?

World Championships of Ping Pong, I mean International Classic Ping Pong Championship

The "World Championships of Ping Pong," which are today and tomorrow (Feb. 7-8) in Las Vegas, was the original name. However, the ITTF objected to their using the term "World Championships," since they run the World Table Tennis Championships. President Adham Sharara wrote a letter threatening action if they didn't change it, and saying that players who competed in it "will not be allowed to take part in any ITTF events indefinitely." The organizers hastily renamed it the "International Classic Ping Pong Championship. Sharara wrote a second letter saying, essentially, that all was well. (Both letters are in the same link given here twice.)

Did I mention it's an all-sandpaper event, with $100,000 in prize money!!!

Ode to the Backhand

I've been thinking about the most memorable backhand play I've seen. This is not a listing of the "best" backhands, but the ones that really stick out in my memory.

The Myth of Nets & Edges Evening Out

I was thinking about this myth recently after losing *another* match on a series of nets and edges. To be specific, in the fifth game of a practice match, I was up 3-1, and my opponent got two edges in a row, and shortly after followed with another edge and two nets. I got zero nets or edges that game.

Many coaches and players say "it all events out," but it really doesn't. Certain styles get more nets and edges than others. Hitters and blockers (especially those with dead surfaces) tend to hit with a lower trajectory, and so they get more nets. They also tend to hit deeper on the table, since they don't have topspin pulling the ball down, and so get more back edges. Blockers who block at wide angles get more side edges. On the other hand, loopers hit with a higher trajectory, and their topspin tends to pull the ball down shorter, and so they get fewer nets and back edges. Steady, precise players also tend to get fewer nets and edges. So yeah, style matters. It doesn't even out.

Some would argue that the styles that get more nets & edges do so because they are playing more aggressively, i.e. hitting lower to the net and deeper, and going for wider angles. Well, of course. But then say that, and don't fill the air with the fictitious "it all evens out" mantra that many of us know simply isn't true.

Also, the "aggressive" argument isn't always true. For example, long-pipped blockers get hordes of net balls, and they don't do so from playing aggressively. I don't think anyone chooses a style because it'll give them more nets & edges.

World Rankings

Site Fast Enough?

Sometimes the site seems slow to me. Let me know if you are having trouble with this. The last thing I want are a world full of table tennis players and coaches staring at a screen in impatient disgust. Impatient disgust should only be employed when you miss an easy shot to lose a match at the Nationals, and realize it'll be another year before you are national champion.

The American Youth Table Tennis Organization (New York)

Here's their Winter Report. They have a feature on Middle School Table Tennis at North Star Academy. They're also looking for volunteers and donations. Lots of great stuff is going on there! If only more regions had groups like this. Some of the stuff they are doing:

• Organized League Matches
• Saturday Academy Expert Instruction
• Tournaments
• Scrimmage Matches
• Instructional Clinics

2011 Pan Am/National Team Trials & Qualifying Tournament

Deadline to enter is Feb. 7, this Monday. Or you might just want to make plans to go watch. It's in San Jose, at the Topspin Club, Feb. 25-27. Here is the Prospectus (which explains everything), the Entry form, and (if you really need them) the Pan Am Code of Conduct, and the National Team Code of Conduct.

Coaching Stories

The Minutes for the USA Table Tennis Jan. 10, 2011 Teleconference

Here they are. As usual, they got a lot done. As usual, I don't see anything that'll lead to the large membership increase so needed by our sport. At the USATT Strategic Meeting 17 months ago, our 8000 membership was deemed a "round-off error," and there was a consensus that drastically increasing it was our top priority. That won't happen without a nationwide system of leagues and the systematic development of junior programs (i.e. recruit and train coaches to set up and run them). Or we can sit around and wish for it to happen really hard.

I did notice that at a recent meeting they finally did what I pushed so strongly for at that Strategic Meeting: set up a League Task Force, as opposed to the "Grow Membership Through Added Value" (I'm not making that up) Task Force which implemented nothing and is no longer active. The very people who pushed for the "GMTAV" Task Force instead of a League Task Force back then now seem to make up the members of the League Task Force, so I'm a bit . . . peeved.

=>Message to USATT: Naming new task forces isn't going to solve our problems if nothing useful is implemented. As I said over and Over and OVER at the Strategic Meeting, you need to 1) set goals, 2) work out a plan to reach those goals, and 3) implement the plan. We have yet to reach 1). So, League Task Force . . . what are your goals, what is your plan to reach those goals, and will USATT implement that plan?

Table Tennis or Ping Pong? (Or is that Ping-Pong?)

We now know with absolute certainty that the term Table Tennis overtook Ping-Pong as the primary name for our sport in 1940. How do we know this with such unflagging absoluteness? Why, from the Google Books Ingram Viewer, of course! Put in your own words, and see what comes up.

And now, a short history lesson time. The sport was originally ping-pong. However, the name was trademarked by Parker Brothers, and so in 1926 the International Table Tennis Federation was born with the new name, followed by U.S. Table Tennis Association in 1933. Almost everyone played with a hardbat. Then came sponge in the '50s, looping and lobbing in the '60s, speed glue in the '70s, powerful backhand loops in the '80s, reverse penhold backhands in the '90s, 11-point games, 40mm ball, and no more hidden serves in the '00s, and, well, here we are. That is all. (I did say a short history lesson. Did I miss anything?)

Celebrities Playing Table Tennis

This morning I updated the Celebrities Playing Table Tennis Page. Why not explore it and find your favorite celebrities playing your favorite sport? There are now 664 celebrities pictured. (Special thanks to all the contributors, especially Steve Grant, who's been tirelessly finding and sending photos nearly every month.) I'd give a short listing of some of the major celebrities who are pictured, but any such list wouldn't do it justice. It's simpler to give a list of celebrities who are not pictured. So here it is:

Grip Experimentation

I spent much of my playing time this weekend experimenting with my grip. The problem I run into is that my forehand loop is at its best when I use a forehand grip, i.e. rotate the top of the racket a little bit left. This messes up my backhand. My backhand is at its best when I either use a slight backhand grip and put my thumb more on the racket (better for blocking and punching), or grip it mostly by the handle (allowing more power). But what helps the backhand hurts the forehand.

Over the years I've generally favored a slight forehand grip, but gripping it more by the handle to help the backhand. But when I play someone who loops a lot, forcing me to block more, I sometimes use a slight backhand grip, which doesn't affect my forehand blocking or smashing, but does hamper the forehand loop.

For beginners, it's almost always best to start out with a neutral grip, with the thinnest part of the wrist lined up with the racket. This greatly helps the development of the strokes. Using a forehand or backhand grip can really mess up the strokes if used too early, before the strokes are mostly ingrained. However, at the more advanced level, a lot of players adjust their grip to enhance their shots.

How about you?

USA Table Tennis Plans

For years, USATT has had online links to their "plans," except the plans were all circa early 2000s. They were like a huge banner that said "USATT is way, Way, WAY out of date." Now they've finally put up new ones, linked here, as well as some reports. Include are the following:

Backhand Looping Extraordinaires

Most players in the U.S. don't seem to know or appreciate that the U.S. has three of the best backhand loopers from the past. Cheng Yinghua (52, rated 2634, #5 in U.S., coaching in Maryland), Ilija Lupulesku (43, rated 2751, #1 in U.S., coaching in Chicago), and Fan Yiyong (42, rated 2722, #2 in U.S., coaching in Seattle) all had, during their peak years, among the best backhand loops in the world. Cheng, during his eleven years on the Chinese National Team (1977-87), was the first of the great Chinese backhand loopers, and many considered him the steadiest backhand looper in the world. Lupulesku, the 1988 Olympic Silver Medalist in Men's Doubles, was more off the table and softer, but could spin back anything. And Fan, who was the Chinese Junior Champion, may have had the most powerful backhand loop in Chinese history. Many of you have seen them in recent years; how many of you saw them at their peak, when they could challenge the best players in the world? I did, and believe me, it was a sight to see.

While none of these three still have the world-class backhand loops they once had, there is one active player who still has world-class skills. David Zhuang (47, rated 2657, #3 in U.S., coaching in New Jersey) still has among the best backhand blocks and return of short serves in the world. On the Women's side, Gao Jun (42, rated 2656, #1 in U.S., 1992 Olympic Silver Medalist in Women's Doubles, coaching in the LA area) still has one of the best backhand blocks in the world.

Visit to Spin TTC

On Saturday I visited the full-time Spin Table Tennis Club in New York City. (I was there for a writer's conference, but managed to get away for a few hours.) You may have heard of it - Susan Sarandon is one of the owners! When I got there a little before 6PM, Coaches Paul David, Ben Nisbet, and Tahl Leibovitz were all there. Paul had just finished coaching, while Tahl was with a student. When Tahl finished, we played some games - with sandpaper! Tahl's getting ready for the $100,000 "World Championships of Ping-Pong" (Feb. 7-8), where everyone will use sandpaper, and Tahl will represent Israel. Tahl's been practicing, and I hadn't, and so you can guess who won. (I think most others at the club were using regular sponge rackets.)

There were 17 tables, but it wasn't your normal table tennis club, even ignoring that Sarandon comes by to play several times a week. The lighting was poor, there was little room behind the tables (except for one "feature" table), there were no barriers, and there was loud music playing that made it hard to hear the ball hit the table. And yet, the place was jammed. You had to reserve a table in advance - none of this drop-in play like at other clubs, and yet many of the tables had parties going on, with 5-10 players on a table. (There was a bench next to the tables.) As to lack of barriers, each table had a large jar that probably held 100 balls. A full-time bellboy - a high school student - picked up balls full-time with a net, so there was little chasing of balls; you just grabbed another from the jar. There was also a bar next to the playing area where you could get drinks or sandwiches.

What, no mention of table tennis in the State of the Union Address??? Looks like we'll have to develop our sport on our own.

ITTF Coaching Development

USA Table Tennis is gradually incorporating the ITTF Coaching Certification Process. In September, they held the first ITTF Certification Seminar in the U.S., run by Glenn Tepper. Great thanks goes to Glenn and to USATT Coaching Chair Richard McAfee for putting that together, and for advancing coaching worldwide and in the U.S. Here are three articles about it - and I'm sort of featured in the last one!