Blogs

Larry Hodges' Blog and Tip of the Week will normally go up on Mondays by 2:00 PM USA Eastern time. Larry is a member of the U.S. Table Tennis Hall of Fame, a USATT Certified National Coach, a professional coach at the Maryland Table Tennis Center (USA), and author of ten books and over 2100 articles on table tennis, plus over 1900 blogs and over 600 tips. Here is his bio. (Larry was awarded the USATT Lifetime Achievement Award in July, 2018.)

Make sure to order your copy of Larry's best-selling book, Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers!
Finally, a tactics book on this most tactical of sports!!!

Also out - Table Tennis Tips, More Table Tennis Tips, Still More Table Tennis Tips, and Yet Still More Table Tennis Tips, which cover, in logical progression, his Tips of the Week from 2011-2023, with 150 Tips in each!

Or, for a combination of Tales of our sport and Technique articles, try Table Tennis Tales & Techniques. If you are in the mood for inspirational fiction, The Spirit of Pong is also out - a fantasy story about an American who goes to China to learn the secrets of table tennis, trains with the spirits of past champions, and faces betrayal and great peril as he battles for glory but faces utter defeat. Read the First Two Chapters for free!

September 8, 2025

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.

I also was harping on players who kept pushing and Pushing and PUSHING!!! One player, rated about 1000, said, “It’s my playing style!” I hit a few balls with him and showed him what higher-rated players do if you push too much. He’s still a big skeptical, but mostly because his pushing works against his current peers. Hopefully, he’ll get more aggressive later. We did a drill that helps combat this pushing problem – we played up-down tables, games to 11, where the server had to serve short, the receiver had to push long, and the server had to attack or lose the point.

China and Brazil Visas and a Rather Funny, Eary Story
I’ll be playing on a US Over 60 Team at the Amity Cup in Nanjing, China, Nov. 14-15. (I’ll be there Nov. 11-19, also sightseeing in Shanghai.) I was in China for the 2005 Worlds, and coached the US Junior Team to a bronze medal at the 1994 World Youth Cup Championships in Taiwan. To go to China, of course, I had to get a Chinese visa. So, I filled out all the paperwork online and paid $140. It took three days, and two visits to the Chinese Visa Office in Washington DC. Then I ran into a snag when I went to pick it up on the second visit. They had given me a receipt that apparently had other info on it that was needed. But I couldn’t find it. So, I had to go through a line and other complications to get it. We finally found it – when they gave it to me, I had tucked it inside my passport, and they had held on to the passport for the three days they needed for processing. After I got the visa and they returned the passport – that’s when I found it.

I’m also competing in the Classic Table Tennis World Cup in Três Coroas, Brazil in January. (I’ll be sightseeing afterwards in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Lima, Peru; Machu Picchu, Peru; and Bogotá, Columbia. (I wrote about some of this in my blog last week.)

But getting the Brazil visa was both easier and much more – shall we say ear-raisingly exasperating and downright funny? I did it all online, no visit to the Brazil visa office was needed. But the problem was they required me to take a passport photo of myself. Their software would then evaluate the picture. Over and over it rejected the picture, with the automated software telling me over and over that the ears needed to show and that I needed to brush my hair back to allow them to show. But my hair wasn’t long – apparently my ears are just flatter than normal people’s, and from the front only partly show. The ears actually did show, but apparently not enough for the software, which might have a small software problem. After over a dozen rejections, I finally solved the problem – I literally jammed Kleenex paper behind each ear so they’d stick out - and then my picture was accepted!!!

I’m also competing in the Huntsman Senior World Championships in St. George, UT in October and the US Open in Las Vegas in December - so I’ve got a busy schedule! (Soon I’ll be making plans for the World Masters in Gangneung, South Korea in June next year.)

I Have Four Upcoming Books Coming Out
When it rains, it pours. When I write, the books just pop out! The weird timing thing is that all four books will be coming out between January and April of next year. (Here are links to all my current books – and note that Christmas is coming up!) The four are:

  • Even Yet Sill More Table Tennis Tips (April, 2026), the fifth the Tips series.
  • Amazingly Even Yet Still More Pings and Pongs (January, 2026). It’s the sixth in my “Pings and Pongs” short story collections. Outside table tennis, I write science fiction and fantasy, with four novels and 242 short story sales. (187 of them are original stories, the other 55 are resales.) When I’ve sold enough of them, I put them together in a collection, which sells on Amazon and at science fiction conventions.
  • Cats and Bats (January, 2026). In the world of science fiction and fantasy, I’ve sold five stories that feature cats, and five that feature baseball. And so, they are coming together in “Cats and Bats”! I already have a professional artist doing a nice color cover of a cat playing baseball.
  • Ping-Pong Paddles Can’t Talk! (April, 2026.) I’ve written about this several times – it’s my children’s picture book, for ages roughly 6-10, which introduces table tennis to kids, coming in April, 2026. Next week I’ll likely share the finalized pictures of the characters in the book – Kevin and Li, the main stars, plus Kevin’s parents, the Tournament Director, and the Tournament Referee, and, of course, the main co-star, Paddle, who may or may not talk. (A frog may also make an appearance.)

BIG NEWS - Major League Table Tennis Launches Table Tennis TV
Huge news – here’s the news item! Other MLTT links:

Butterfly Training Tips

Fethomania
With Stefan Feth and Larry Thoman

How to Loop Half Long Balls
Here’s the video (3:50) from PongSpace with Cheyanne Chen.

3 Hidden Backhand Banana Details That Change Everything
Here’s the video (5:48) from Andreas Levenko.

New from PingSkills
Ask the Coach

The Entire History of the Table Tennis Ball
Here’s the video (3:40) from Table Tennis Central.

Underspin Slices Deep and Is a Win!
Here’s the NCTTA review by Michael Reff of the upcoming table tennis novel, Underspin, by E.Y. Zhao. (I was sent an advanced copy and have already read it and written a review. Since the novel comes out on Sept. 23, I plan to post my review here in my blog on Monday, Sept. 22.)

The Star Who Vanished: What Happened to Fang Bo?
Here’s the video (3:27) from Beyond the Podium.

New from Steve Hopkins/Butterfly

New from USATT

New from ITTF

The Hardest Sport in the World According to NASA
Here’s the video (48 sec). “Research even links table tennis to improved cognitive flexibility and protection against neurodegenerative diseases. It’s literally one of the most comprehensive workouts for both body and brain that humans experience.”

Ranking Funniest Truls Moregard Moments - World #5 from Sweden!
Here’s the video (60 sec)! Watch just for the rally in the second example. (Side or edge?)

Crazy Lin Shidong Serve – the World #1 from China!
Here’s the video (11 sec)!

Living Room Pong?
Two videos from Ping Pong Maestros!

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September 1, 2025

Tip of the Week
That One Good Block.

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

  • The MDTTC Fall Junior Training began this past weekend. I spent most of the sessions feeding multiball, with lots and Lots and LOTS of footwork. Also taught a kid how to do the reverse pendulum serve. Another rather tall kid was struggling to move and his forehands were always awkward. I saw the problem – there were two. First, he was wearing running shoes, whose thick heels are designed to make side-to-side movements awkward. (He’ll have TT shoes next time.) More importantly, he was playing with his feet and knees aimed directly forward, when they need to be pointed slightly outward to allow proper movement and rotation on the forehand. This is a somewhat common problem – make sure you do this properly! Watch top players to see this, as well as to how the knees rotate as they backswing and hit forehands.
  • Finalized, other than a few last-minute items coming later, the 2025 US Table Tennis Hall of Fame Program Book. (See segment below.)
  • Working with the illustrator, we’ve finalized the look of the characters in my upcoming children’s picture book, “Ping-Pong Paddles Can’t Talk!” The characters include the main character, 9-year-old Kevin in his first tournament; his friendly but very good adversary Li; Kevin’s parents; and the tournament director and referee. As noted in past blogs, it’s a humorous Seussian-like rhyming book for children. It introduces kids, roughly 7-10, to table tennis. It features a nervous boy and his talking paddle in their first tournament, where he meets and plays a girl who is really good, and they have an adventurous match. Along the way, kids learn about the sport, with themes on facing your fears, working toward a goal, honesty, and friendship. It’s about 3,000 words, 76 four-line stanzas and a few other miscellaneous lines. It’s a bit long for a children’s picture book at 76 pages (one stanza per page plus pictures), but has an interesting “break” in the middle! Book won’t be out until the Spring, however.
  • I spent this past Tue-Fri sightseeing in Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown. Yeah, I’m a history buff. Highlights included the Monitor exhibit, several cannon firing displays, and on the picturesque walk from the visitor’s center to Williamsburg, from about ten feet apart, a two-minute staring contest with a fawn!!! I won; it ran off suddenly. (The mother wasn’t in sight.)
  • After taking six weeks off due to injuries to side and shoulder, I start training again tomorrow (Tuesday, Sept. 2). I’ve got four big Senior and/or Hardbat tournaments coming up! (See segment below.) I’ll be training for both sponge and hardbat events. I’ve also accepted the fact that I’ll likely be playing injured since I’m always getting injured (foot, knee, side, shoulder, arm, always on the right side), and will just have to compensate.

2025 US Table Tennis Hall of Fame Inductions and Banquet
Here’s the info page. It will be held on Thursday, Nov. 6, 6-9PM, at the Los Angeles Table Tennis Association, in conjunction with the Si & Patty Wasserman Junior and Open Championships, which you can enter via Omnipong. This year’s inductees are David Del Vecchio and Betty Henry Link (with last year’s inductee Stellan Bengtsson also honored this year since he was unable to attend last year). Connie Sweeris will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. Why not join us, where you’ll get to meet numerous table tennis celebrities, and perhaps combine it with the tournament? I expect to be there, though I probably won’t play the tournament – no senior or hardbat events for me. (I play with both sponge and hardbat.) Tentatively, I plan to fly in on Thursday morning, take a tour of the Hollywood Museum in LA (which was closed due to Covid in 2020 when I spent five days sightseeing in LA after doing coverage of the Olympic Trials), attend the banquet that night, and fly back Friday morning.

Four Big Events I’m Training For – One Per Month
If you are at any of these tournaments, come and say hi!

  • Oct. 6-9: Huntsman Senior World Championships, St. George, UT. I’ll be among the top seeds in various senior and hardbat events.
  • Nov. 14-15: Amity Cup in Nanjing, China. I’ll be there Nov. 11-19, doing sightseeing in Nanjing and Shanghai after the tournament. I’m on a US Over 60 Team, along with Lily Yip, Ming Liu, Wally Green, and Dave Wilson (Team Leader). Wally isn’t over 60, but they gave special dispensation for him to play on the team due to the difficulty of getting over 60 players from the US.
  • Dec. 16-21: US Open in Las Vegas. I’ll be among the top seeds in various senior and hardbat events. I’m the defending champion in Over 40 and Over 60 Hardbat Singles. I’ve been to every US Open since 1985, so this will be my 40th in a row. (They skipped 2020 due to Covid.)
  • Jan. 18-25: Classic Table Tennis World Cup in Três Coroas City, Brazil. There are two days each for Sandpaper, Hardbat, and Wood events. I’m in Over 60 in all three. I’ll be in South American Jan. 16-Feb. 11, sightseeing after the tournament in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Lima, Peru; and Machu Picchu in Peru.
  • Also coming up – June 5-12: World Masters in Gangneung, South Korea. I plan on attending, and then sightseeing in South Korea and Japan. (I was at the 2001 Worlds in Japan, but other than one long afternoon randomly walking the streets of Osaka, all I saw was the hotel, the playing hall, and the street between them.)

Major League Table Tennis
Follow the action!

Table Tennis History Magazine
Here’s the September issue from Steve Grant, just packed with fascinating TT history!

New from Taco Backhand

Fethomania 10 with Stefan Feth and Larry Thoman

New from Pingispågarna

New from PongSpace

New from Andrea Levenko

New from Ti long

I Studied 100+ Table Tennis Workouts... Here's What They're Getting Wrong!
Here’s the video (9 min) from Kevin Finn of Peak Performance Table Tennis.

Are You Committing One of these DEADLY Forehand Mistakes??
Here’s the video (19:11) from Seth Pech.

Analysis of Service Returns in Table Tennis
Here’s the technical article from HAL Open Science. (NOTE – most of the technical articles I link to are sent to me by Kevin Finn of Peak Performance Table Tennis.)

My Road To The 2025 US National Champion by Sally Moyland
Here’s the article by Sally Moyland.

New from Table Tennis Central

US Open Teams Table Tennis Championships Reach Championship Division Final in Myrtle Beach
Here’s the USATT article by Vlad Farcas.

New from Steve Hopkins/Bowmar Sports

New from NCTTA

New from ITTF

New Videos

Education is Important But Table Tennis is Importanter
Here’s where you can buy the shirt at Amazon!

AI Cat Rally
Here’s the vicious rally (7 sec)!

Tank McNamara: Table Pickleball and Court Pingpong
Here’s the cartoon!

TTD Team vs Chop Block Queen Adriana Diaz!
Here’s the video (10:05) from Table Tennis Daily!

Ping-Pong Crew Dancers
Here’s the video (19 sec)!

How Good Is a World Rank 5 Player Actually?
Here’s the video (18:08), featuring Truls Möregårdh, from Pongfinity!

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August 25, 2025

Tips of the Week

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.

The big surprise came at the Pop Culture Museum. A boy, about 12 years old, came up to me and asked, “Are you Larry Hodges?” I said yes. He said, “I have your table tennis book!” Then he walked away. How did he recognize me? Besides my picture in most of my table tennis books, I was wearing my new T-Rex Playing Table Tennis cap. (My previous one, a different design, was lost when my bags were lost returning from the Nationals in July, as I’ve blogged about.) So, that was probably what got his attention. The irony is that I was at the World Science Fiction Convention, and that I have four SF novels and five SF short story collections, but I was recognized for one of my TT books! (The odds are it was Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers, my best-selling book.)

It's actually sort of a regular thing – in the world of science fiction, I’m sort of known as that “table tennis guy.” In fact, in the 2019 SF anthology “Across the Universe,” there’s a story by Cat Rambo titled “All You Need,” with the following lines:

No matter what, all major deals on this side of the mountains were sealed in the boardroom of the Larry B. Hodges Memorial Museum of Ping-Pong History. The original furniture was long gone; the only remnants of the original decor were the murals on the wall depicting a series of ping-pong tournaments on one side and the history of ping pong on the other, beginning with a scene of lawn tennis players fleeing raindrops and snowflakes by taking their game indoors and concluding with a scene of the museum’s construction, overseen by a smiling man Vito had always presumed was Larry Hodges.

Besides panels (such as one on Historic Mistakes in Movies (not just SF ones), where I elaborated on problems with “Braveheart” and “JFK”), I did a reading. I decided to read three of my very short stories (under 1000 words) from one of my short story collections. (These are stories that I sold and were published in various magazines, and then I put them together in collections.) I got to explain to the audience my ping-pong background, which is why I call them:

These, of course, parallel my Tips series:

More importantly, to entertain the crowd between readings, I pulled out a ping-pong ball and did my ball-blowing trick. (Link should take you to 38:45 of this interview I did in 2020.)

Alas, after finding out it would cost about $100 each way to Uber to the Seattle Pacific Table Tennis Club, I didn’t go there. However, amazingly, Spin Seattle was only two blocks from the where we held the WSFC – so I stopped by twice, just to visit. But there were no coaches there either time, and just beginning-level players playing, and nobody I knew or who knew me.

As to non-table tennis, besides the panels and the reading, I attended a lot of interesting panels, watched some of the movies in the SF and Fantasy movie festival, and spent a huge amount of time browsing the gargantuan dealer’s room, which was about three times the size of a football field. (I also signed for dealers a number of anthologies that included my stories.) I also did a LOT of sightseeing (lots of new refrigerator magnets!) – here’s a listing:

  • One-hour Harbor Cruise
  • Five-hour Whale Watching Cruise – saw three killer whales (spent nearly an hour watching them), plus two harbor porpoises, two elephant seals, hundreds of harbor seals lounging on a beach, lots of leaping fish, four bald eagles (one adult, three juveniles), two blue herons, and a kingfisher.
  • Three-hour Seattle Bus Tour
  • Fremont Troll
  • Space Needle
  • Seattle Great Wheel
  • Pop Culture Museum – Captain Kirk’s actual chair from Original Star Trek, Arnold’s jacket from Terminator, the axe and swords of Gimli, Aragorn, and Frodo from Lord of the Rings, loads of Star Wars and Marvel original items, and . . . well, just about everything! I spent hours there.
  • Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture
  • Pike Place Market
  • Seattle Aquarium
  • Woodland Park Zoo
  • Olympic Sculpture Park
  • Underground Tour

FlashScore
Here’s a site that shows table tennis results from all over the world.

Touring China's Table Tennis Museum
Here’s the video (8:26) of the museum in Shanghai. I will be there in November, playing on a US Over 60 Team in the Amity Cup and sightseeing – more on that next week.

Coaching and News from All Over
Since I’ve been away for three weeks, rather than try to list every interesting article, here are links to some of the main news and coaching pages that have been active in that time, and you can pick and choose. (I checked all the usual sites to see which ones had new material.)

Cat Pong Shirt
If you’re a cat person, you have to buy one of these!

Five Seconds of Real Table Tennis
Here’s the video!

Second-Story Pong
Here’s the video (19 sec) with Adam Bobrow (above) and Matt Hetherington (below)!

When Coaching Becomes a Desk Job
Here’s the video (9 sec)!

I Challenged CHINA… what could POSSIBLY go wrong?
Here’s the video (16:29) from Adam Bobrow!

How Many Bounces Can Average Players do? [$1000 Contest]
Here’s the video (12:02) from Pongfinity!

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August 4, 2025

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)

Shadow Practicing in My Office and Upcoming TT Events
After re-injuring my right side, shoulder, and knee at the Nationals last month, I've taken a month off from playing. However, that doesn't mean I've been sitting around. As part of the rehab process, I've been doing a lot of shadow-practice and stretching in my office. I use a weighted ping-pong paddle I bought in Japan at the 2001 Worlds. (I don't see them on sale anywhere, but you can make your own - just find a way to attach extra weight to a racket. Or just use your regular paddle.) I try to do 15 minutes each day, often alternating forehand and backhand stroking and footwork, sometimes while watching TV. I'm also doing a lot of stretching. I will try to do some easy practice soon, but I have to be careful.

So, do you shadow-practice? You should! Here are three Tips I've written on this.

Here are my main upcoming table tennis events, where I'll be playing in both senior (with sponge) and hardbat events. If you are at these, come over and say hi!

  • Oct. 6-9, Huntsman World Senior Games, St. George, UT.
  • Nov. 6-9, US Table Tennis Hall of Fame Inductions and Si & Patty Wasserman Junior & Open, Los Angeles, CA.
  • Nov. 13-20, Amity Cup, Nanjing, China, where I'll be playing on an Over 60 USA team and sightseeing.      
  • Nov. 28-30, North American Teams, Washington DC, but I'll only be coaching there.
  • Dec. 16-21, US Open, Las Vegas, NV, both playing and coaching.
  • Jan. 18-25, 2026, Classic Table Tennis World Cup, Três Coroas City, Brazil. (I will be staying up to a week afterwards to sightsee.) Here's the promo card they put together on me!
  • June 5-14, 2026 World Masters, Gangneung, South Korea. Then lots of sightseeing in South Korea and Japan.
  • July 3-9, 2026, US Nationals, San Jose, CA, both playing and coaching.

My Upcoming Table Tennis Books

  • Ping-Pong Paddles Can't Talk. Tentatively, it will come out in April, 2026. The illustrator is hard at work on it, a humorous Seussian-like rhyming book for children. It introduces kids, roughly 7-10, to table tennis. It features a nervous boy and his talking paddle in their first tournament, where he meets and plays a girl who is really good, and they have an adventurous match. Along the way, kids learn about the sport, with themes on facing your fears, working toward a goal, honesty, and friendship. It’s about 3,000 words, 73 four-line stanzas and a few other miscellaneous lines.
  • Even Yet Still More Table Tennis Tips. The fifth in the series will have 150 new tips, like the previous four. They are a compilation of my Tips of the Week that come out each Monday, but organized in logical progression. I currently have 116 Tips, and expect #150 will come out on Apr. 13, 2026. Then "Even Yet Still More Table Tennis Tips" will likely come out sometime in May, 2026. Here are the first four in the series:
    -Table Tennis Tips
    -More Table Tennis Tips
    -Still More Table Tennis Tips
    -Yet Still More Table Tennis Tips

What Kind of Exercises Should Table Tennis Players Focus On?
Here's the article by Kevin Finn at Peak Performance Table Tennis.

Coaching and News from All Over
Since I’ve been away for three weeks, rather than try to list every interesting article, here are links to some of the main news and coaching pages that have been active in that time, and you can pick and choose. (Alas, as noted above, I'll be away the next two weeks as well, but then I should get back to every Monday.)

Technical Journal Articles

Education is Important But Table Tennis Is Importanter
Here's where you can buy the shirt at Amazon!

GOAT vs. GOAT
Here's the video (32 sec) of a few points in the Ma Long vs. Jan-Ove Waldner exhibition!

Mostly Non-Table Tennis
In my other world of science fiction & fantasy writing, I've had a busy month. I was at the annual "The Never-Ending Odyssey" science fiction writing workshop in Manchester, NH, from July 18-26. And I'll be in Seattle Aug. 9-19 for the World Science Fiction Convention (Aug. 13-17) and a lot of sightseeing, including a probable visit to the Seattle Pacific TTC. More importantly, over the last month I sold five stories and had three published! Below are the three that were published. The first one below you can read online; the other two you have to buy the magazine.

  • The Mind of a Nuke. The story is told through the thoughts and actions of an AI during the last five seconds as it guides a nuclear bomb to a major city.
  • Frog Heaven. This was the featured cover story. Everyone in the world wakes up one morning transformed into bullfrogs. They still have human intelligence and vocal cords, but the human world wasn't designed for frog-size beings, and dogs and cats are now huge monsters looking to eat them. With society falling apart, Jerry takes charge, hhoping nobody realizes he's just a 13-year-old kid. 
  • Thirty-Five Genie Heads on a Wall. While being bullied at the beach, teenager Robbie is sucked into a Coke bottle. So begins his life as a genie, including classes at Genie University. His owner is a brutish king on a planet far from Earth – and the squirming, tormented heads of the king’s previous 35 genies are on display on a wall. 

***
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July 14, 2025

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.

=> Battle for the Bag. I wrote about this last Monday. I still don’t have the big bag I checked in, and at this point there’s a good chance I never will. Briefly, here’s what happened. Last Saturday I was supposed to fly home from the US Nationals, with an 11AM flight on American Airlines (AA). After boarding the plane, they couldn’t get one of the engines to work, and so they cancelled the flight, and we had to get off. I spent nine hours at the airport, finally getting on a 7PM flight. Instead of arriving home at Saturday at 9PM, I arrived at 7AM on Sunday. But they’d lost my bag. They said they would be on the next flight and that they’d deliver them to me. They weren’t on the next flight, but they finally arrived at 6PM. At around 7PM a delivery truck went out, with the promise I’d have my bag by 10:30 PM. It didn’t arrive, nor did anyone contact me.

On Monday I called AA, and they said the bags were supposed to be delivered by a company called Roadie, and gave me their number. After nearly 90 minutes on hold, I finally got through – and they told me the delivery truck, with my bags and lots of others, had been stolen while making deliveries! Since that time, I’ve called Roadie twice, both times waiting 90+ minutes but they never answered. I’ve spoken to AA multiple times, all they can do is verify that it’s been reported to the police. There’s no communication – I can’t find anything without calling and going through the usual long wait times. At some point I’ll have to fill out a complicated form where I list everything that was lost, and try to produce receipts. The good news is that I had my table tennis rackets and other important stuff in my carry-on bag. But I lost most of my USA Team shirts that had my name on them (six of them), a pair of USA warmups, and something like $1000 in all in miscellaneous items, even three statuettes I’d bought as souvenirs. So, to reiterate, AA cancelled my flight, stranding me at airport for nine hours; they lost my bag; they found my bag but lost it when the delivery vehicle was stolen. So, how was your day?

If you want to follow the action, it's Alexandria, VA Police Report #25-055671, from July 6, currently listed at "Pending."

=>”Ping-Pong Paddles Don’t Talk!” and a Jaw-droppingly Insane Threat. I’ve posted previously about my upcoming picture book, “Ping-Pong Paddles Can’t Talk!”, which is a humorous Seussian-like rhyming book for children. It introduces kids, roughly 7-10, to table tennis. It features a nervous boy and his talking paddle in their first tournament, where he meets and plays a girl who is really good, and they have an adventurous match. Along the way, kids learn about the sport, with themes on facing your fears, working toward a goal, honesty, and friendship. It’s about 3,000 words, 77 four-line stanzas and a few other miscellaneous lines.

The good news is I’ve hired an illustrator, and the book should be out by the end of March next year. I’m really excited about this project! I’m so tired of coaching kids but not having any age-appropriate table tennis books for them. But now the weird and crazy news.

There’s a local table tennis player who is also an artist. I’d mentioned to him that I needed to hire an illustrator. He said he knew someone, and messaged me the contact info, and said that he’d already let the illustrator know I’d be contacting her. But by the time he messaged me, I’d already tentatively hired someone. But since he said the illustrator was expecting my email, I emailed her, letting her know that I’d tentatively hired someone, but if that didn’t work out, would she be available? She politely emailed back that she was booked for the next 1.5 years, and so couldn’t do it. So, I messaged the local table tennis player who’d introduced us, and here is the exact message, including even the typo. (“Appreciated” is missing the “d” – I was typing quickly.) Note the exact wording. Anything offensive?

"Appreciate! I emailed her, and unfortunately she said she is booked for the next 1.5 years. However, I think I may have someone."

Then, yesterday, I received an email from the illustrator, where she wrote the following:

“I don’t appreciate you editing my email and showing it [to NAME REDACTED] in order to place me in a bad light. I am blocking you from contacting me again and I will be warning everyone I know in this industry of your unethical business practices.”

This was completely out of the blue, and I have no idea what she’s talking about. (I have a suspicion she has me mixed up with someone else.) I both emailed and messaged her a screen shot of my one and only message about her (see above), and guaranteed her that I had never written or said anything to put her in a bad light, and definitely hadn’t “edited” her email. But she’s blocked me, and who knows what will happen next. If she does make any false accusations against me to anyone in the industry, I will sue her, and it should an easy case to win. I ended up spending way, Way, WAY too much irritating time on this yesterday.

UPDATE - It turns out this illustrator was given mistaken info from a third party who had nothing to do with any of this. She's apologized via the local table tennis player, including the note that she was too embarrassed to apologize to me directly. 

=>Classic Table Tennis in Brazil and South American Tour. The $50,000 Classic Table Tennis World Cup is in Três Coroas, Brazil, Jan. 18-25, 2026. This is for hardbat, sandpaper, and wood. I’m in the midst of planning for this, and there’s a lot to arrange – schedule, flights, hotels, sightseeing, etc. I plan to fly down Jan. 16, compete in the Over 60 category for all three events, and then spend Jan. 26-Feb. 13 touring Brazil (mostly Rio de Janeiro), Argentina (mostly Buenos Aires), and Peru (Lima, Cusco, and Machu Picchu). I’m trying to arrange it all this week before I go out of town on Friday.

=>Injury Rehabs. Due to my right side and shoulder injuries at the Nationals, I’m also busy rehabbing them both. Right knee is also giving me trouble. I had to drop out of the US Nationals last week (singles events, though I struggled through the doubles so as not to let my partners down), the Maryland Senior Olympics (held this past Saturday), and the National Senior Games in Iowa (July 31-Aug. 5). I hope to make a triumphal return at the Huntsman World Senior Games in Saint George, Utah, Oct. 6-9, and the US Open in Las Vegas, Dec. 16-21. (Also the Classic Table Tennis World Cup in Brazil in January (see above), and the World Masters Table Tennis Championships, June 5-14, 2026, in Gangneung, South Korea. (There doesn’t seem to be a webpage yet for this, but there’s some info here. It used to be called the World Veterans, but they are renaming it next year.)

=>The Never-Ending Odyssey. This Friday I will fly to Manchester, NH for this annual 9-day science fiction writing workshop. I went to the six-week Odyssey science fiction writing workshop in 2007, and this is the annual gathering of graduates, where we run our own workshop with master classes, critiques, readings, and so on. This will be my 16th time there, including 13 years in a row. I’m busy finalizing all the critiques of stories from others. (Four of my stories will be critiqued there.)

=>Jamestown/Yorktown/Williamsburg/Monticello. Alas, no. I was planning to drive down Tuesday (three-hour drive) and spend a couple days sightseeing. However, with all of the above, I’m going to postpone this until sometime in August. 

=>My Own Writing. With all of the above, I’m not getting much of my own writing done, both table tennis and science fiction! It’s not just writing – it’s also rewriting/editing/proofing/submitting, and these take time that I currently have a shortage of. I was hoping to start a young adult table tennis novel by now, but with all these things going on, that’s on hold. (The hero, a teenaged member of the USA National Team, who trains and competes at table tennis by day, is a secret vigilante at night – he’s Pongman, who uses a special paddle and balls to smack criminals with great accuracy, even from a distance. When China is to play North Korea in the semifinals of the World Table Tennis Championships, with USA to play the winner in the final, the KingPing of North Korea kidnaps the Chinese team, hoping for a default, and it’s up to our hero to save them in time . . . even though Team USA would much rather play the weaker North Korean team in that final!)

US Smash
The ITTF event, held July 3-13 in Las Vegas, ended yesterday. Here’s the home page, with links for results and other info. (I was asked if I could attend and do news coverage, but I was just too busy. Maybe another time.) Here are news articles:

=>Steve Hopkins/Butterfly

=>USATT News by Joshua Dyke

=>ITTF News

Jha’s Strong Points with Jorg Bitzigeio

Butterfly Training Tips

Table Tennis Tips Every Veteran Needs to Hear!
Here’s the video (3:15) from Pingispågarna. “In this video, we present three powerful tips tailored specifically for players aged 60 and above who want to keep improving, stay competitive, and enjoy the game to the fullest. Whether you’re aiming to sharpen your technique, adapt to physical changes, or simply get more out of your training – these insights will help you take your play to the next level.”

Looping and Driving
Here’s the video (3:18) with Cheyanne Chen from PongSpace.

Lilian Bardet STUNS Liang Jingkun – Match Analysis / Watch Along
Here’s the video (15:51) from Andreas Levenko.

Dimitrij Ovtcharov Opens Up About Ma Long!
Here’s the video (12:26) from Table Tennis Daily.

New from PingSkills
Ask the Coach

Waldner '97, Best Table Tennis Player Ever
Here’s the video (4:13) from Taco Backhand.

Major League Table Tennis
Follow the action!

ITTF News

Table Tennis Cartoons from Cartoon Stock
Here’s the page! (I’ve linked to most of these in the past.)

Eight Is Enough
Here’s the video (16 sec) of eight players playing on one table!

The Most Unexpected Return
Here’s the video (22 sec)!

He Traveled 8,740 MILES for REVENGE!
Here’s the video (17:58) from Adam Bobrow! “Southern California was sunny, but the real heat came from the Orange County Table Tennis Academy. Watch how it unfolds!”

***
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July 7, 2025

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

Steve Hopkins/Butterfly Coverage of Nationals

Normally I coach as well as play at these tournaments, but this time I was mostly just playing. Alas, due to injuries, it wasn’t a particularly successful one. I was entered in nine events, mostly senior (with sponge) and hardbat events, singles and doubles. I was seeded in the top two in four events, top four in eight, top six in all nine, and defending champion (from the US Open) in two. I’d spent much of the last few months recovering from injuries to my right side and shoulder, as well as ongoing knee issues, but hoped I was mostly over them, and between injuries had put in a LOT of practice time. I’d even brought a bag of balls and spent a bunch of time at the tournament site practicing my serves.

Alas, in my first hardbat match, I reinjured my side. As I stepped around to hit a forehand, the ball hit the edge. As I leaned back and sideways to react to it, I re-injured my right side, and could no longer rotate my upper body. I almost defaulted there, but continued. Along the way, while trying to cover for the side injury, I managed to re-injure my shoulder and wrench my knee. After losing the first game, I won the match in three, mostly by playing backhands (instead of my usual all-out forehand attack) . . . but afterwards, realizing the extent of the injuries, I defaulted out of all my singles events. I stayed in my four doubles events rather than let my partners down, but struggled in them, mostly playing backhands or awkward forehands. In Over 65 Men’s Doubles (with Ming Liu) and in Hardbat Doubles (with James Therriault), where my teams were seeded second, we managed to make it to the semifinals before losing, while making it to the quarterfinals of the other two before losing to lower-seeded teams. So, I returned to Maryland with two bronzes and two serious injuries. I’ll be rehabbing (again) for the next few months while focusing more on writing.

Airport Tribulations
Things didn’t get much better at the airport. On Saturday I had an 11AM flight to Dallas, with a connection getting me home at 9PM Saturday night. The flight had engine trouble, and after we boarded, it was cancelled and we had to get off. They rescheduled me on a 7PM flight to Phoenix, with a three-hour layover, then to DC, arriving at 7AM tomorrow morning. So, I found a table at Einstein Bagels at the Ontario, CA airport, and spent the day working on a science fiction story (involving aliens whose central philosophy is a type of humor that is beyond human comprehension) and a fantasy story (involving using the mouth on the so-called magic mirror on the wall as a garbage disposal unit, which it doesn’t appreciate) while eating bagels and sipping Dr Pepper. I ended up spending nine hours at the airport.

I finally arrived at the National Airport in Washington DC at 7AM Sunday morning – but my large check-in bag didn’t make it. They said they expected it on the next flight, four hours later, though they weren’t sure. So, I went to long-term parking, found my car, and drove home. That afternoon they finally located the bag, and a delivery service called Roadies picked it up at 7PM and was supposed to deliver it to me by 10:30 PM Sunday night. There was even an online page where I could follow its progress. Alas, I gave up on them around 1AM and went to bed. At 9:20 AM this morning I called Roadies, and was put on hold. I didn’t get through until 10:45AM (an hour and 25 min on hold listening to irritating music). So, what happened to my bags?

They said that while delivering a package, the delivery truck had been STOLEN!!!

They said the truck has a tracking device [EDIT: They didn't] and the police are searching for it. So, all I can do now is wait and see if I’ve lost all that stuff. Then Roadies sent me an online form to fill out – but the link sent me to a page that linked to the original page – so all I can do is page back and forth between the two pages, with neither having the form - so I can’t find the form, and do not want to spend another hour and 25 minutes on hold trying to get through to them!!! (I just texted them.)

Peak Performance, Tactics, and AI
I’ve worked out an agreement with Kevin Finn at Peak Performance – and now, on their PUSH+ page, they have a Tactical AI portal! (Page down to find it.) I’ve tried it out, and it’s rather weird asking tactical questions and getting answers from my own writings! Here’s the description:

AI Assistant [Beta]
NEW! Get instant, 24/7 answers to your training and tactics questions. Our exclusive AI is powered by the knowledge base from Peak Performance Table Tennis and the legendary Larry Hodges. It’s like having a coaching oracle in your pocket.

Jha’s Strong Point: #1 Putting time pressure on the opponent with quick attacks
Here’s the article and photo sequence by Jorg Bitzigeio.

Fethomania 6 with Stefan Feth and Larry Thoman

Butterfly Training Tips

New from PongSpace

We Trained with One of Poland’s Top Table Tennis Clubs (Lupus Kabaty)
Here’s the video (24:40) from Pingispågarna.

Werner Schlager: A Tactical Masterclass
Here’s the video (6:16) from Beyond the Podium.

Performance Assessment in Elite Table Tennis Matches Using the Enhanced First Offensive Shot Model
Here’s the technical article from Springer Nature. “Technique and tactics are key elements in assessing table tennis performance and have been widely studied. However, most existing methods classify shots solely by sequence or shot number, overlooking the tactical attributes and their impact on rally outcomes. The First Offensive Shot (FOS) model attempted to address this issue but remained too coarse-grained. To overcome these limitations, this study introduces the Enhanced FOS model (EFOS), which integrates shot type and shot number into a more refined state-transition framework. This novel approach provides a more detailed representation of rally dynamics, enabling a deeper analysis of rally progression.”

New from Table Tennis Daily

Thanks Timo
Here’s the career documentary video (18:48) from Taco Backhand.

New from Steve Hopkins

New from ITTF

Wall Ball With Waldner
Here’s the video (14 sec)!

Leopard Girl Pong
Here’s the video (40 sec) – though I have no idea why the father is a Doberman!

3 Stooges: Table Tennis Tussle
Here’s the video (3:14) from Kartoonzee!

Duck Pong?
Here’s the video (14 sec)!

The Impossible Table
Here’s the video (11:32) from Pongfinity! “Every time you win a point you drill a hole on the table.”

***
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June 23, 2025

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!

Off to the Nationals – Soon!
I spent most of the last ten days resting my right shoulder, right side, and right knee. Hopefully, they’ll all be A-OK for the Nationals! Either way, I’m playing – if they get re-injured, I’ll have to play through it. I do have a few practice sessions this week. Then I fly to Ontario, CA (an hour from LA) next Saturday.

I’m in nine events (yikes!). They are Over 65 Men’s Singles and Doubles; Over 60 Men’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles; Hardbat Singles and Doubles; Over 40 and Over 60 Hardbat Singles (I’m the defending champion from the US Open); and on the spur of the moment, I entered Sandpaper Singles, since it’s the only event I’ll be playing on Monday, June 30. I’m seeded to win medals (top four) in seven of these events. (I normally play with inverted sponge, but as readers here know, I also play a lot of hardbat events.)

I was also entered in Over 65 Mixed Doubles, where we would have been seeded third. I emailed a player who was entered in other events, asking if she wanted to play. She emailed back, “OK.” So, I entered it and stopped looking for other partners. But as the deadline approached, she hadn’t entered this event. I emailed her, and she said someone was helping her enter. Then, a couple days before the deadline, I saw that she had withdrawn from the tournament without telling me. At that point, all the potential partners where we might have been competitive were taken. Oh well!

There’s also a problem with my hardbat rating. My last hardbat tournament was the US Open in December. Last night I discovered that there were numerous errors in my rating. I had nice wins in the semifinals and finals of Over 40 and Over 60 – but none of those four matches were processed! In Hardbat Singles, I lost to a 2337 player – but he was mistakenly given a rating of 1817, so I lost a LOT of rating points. And so my hardbat rating is only 2065, but should be around 2250. (In the current listing, it’s 2308, but I think that’s an old rating – they haven’t updated it yet in Omnipong.) I emailed yesterday to get those five mistakes corrected. (Classic ratings, which include hardbat, sandpaper, and wood, are similar to USATT ratings, but are done separately.)

How to Solve the SafeSport Problem for Coaches, Umpires, and Others
Getting so many people SafeSport certified each year is a big hassle. It seems USATT could really help with this problem. Why not, on the night before the US Open and US Nationals, invite coaches, officials, and others to come together in one big room, and everyone does the course together? USATT could have a person on hand to assist with technical issues, and in one shot, everyone’s SafeSport certified! There’s the downside if someone doesn’t pass and so can’t take part in the tournament until he does – but that’s rare, and they can just take it again immediately after not passing.

Full-Time Table Tennis Clubs in the US
I keep a running list, but it’s probably getting dated. If you have any updates – full-time clubs that have opened or closed - email me with their webpage. Current listing has 117 full-time clubs in 26 states and DC. See the rough definition on the page.

Non-Table Tennis – Voteometer
Any entrepreneurial techies out there with good math skills? I created an app, Voteometer, that helps voters decide between candidates in a primary election, where they are trying to decide between voting for who they think would be the best president, and who would be the most electable. (If you vote for who want to be president, even if he’s not that electable, you are likely to help elect the opposing party’s candidate.) The app asks users to rate the candidates, and to judge the probability they’d win against each of the opposing party’s candidates – and once these subjective judgements are inputted, it works out the probability of each scenario and gives an absolutely objective recommendation on who to vote for to get the maximum possible result on average. However, it needs a number of enhancements, and I’ve taken it as far as I can. If you are interested in taking this over – and having complete control in developing and marketing it - email me and I’ll send you the four-page document about it, along with a link and password to the current version. (I don’t need any recompense for this other than being listed as the originator and/or co-creator. I have a math degree from circa the Jurassic period.)

Dora Kurimay Free Live Seminar: Unlock Your Champion
Mental Toughness & Growth Mindset Strategies for Life, Sport, and Success
Dora will be running this free one-hour seminar on Zoom from 4-5PM on Wed, June 25. (I will be attending.) Bonus - All participants will receive a free mental performance worksheet and exclusive mindset insights from Dora’s published books. She’s a former member of the Hungarian National Team, now coaching in New York. She’s a sports psychologist with two Master’s degrees, one in psychology, the other in sports psychology. She also has a few books on table tennis sports psychology.

MDTTC Open
It was held this past weekend. Here are the results!

WTT Youth Contender in New York
Here’s the info page for the event held Jun 24-27 at the Westchester TTC.

Butterfly Training Tips and Highlights

New from Pingispågarna

Short or Half-Long Service Receive
Here’s the video (5:27) from Andrea Levenko.

Long Side-Topspin Pendulum Serve
Here’s the video (3:10) from PongSpace. For other videos showing other types of forehand pendulum serves (linked to last week) see their video page.

Master Your Table Tennis Development: The Strategic Power of Goal Setting
Here’s the article by Dr. Alan Chu from Paddle Palace.

New from Performance Biomechanics Academy Table Tennis

Waldner Gave Timo Boll Nightmares!
Here’s the video (40 sec) from MH Table Tennis, where Timo talks about the “legendary” walk-off block Waldner did against him.

The Man Who Never Gave Up
Here’s the video (6:31) featuring Michael Maze from TacoBackhand.

Wang Hao: The Greatest Player Who Never Won Olympic Gold
Here’s the video (6:11) from Beyond the Podium.

New from PingSkills
Ask the Coach

Retro TT Channel
Here’s where you can find videos of old-time players – blasts from the past!

New from ITTF

Ping Pong Shirts
Red Bubble has an incredible variety of ping-pong shirts. The link takes you to page 1 of 25 pages!

200 Ping Pong Jokes
Here’s the page from Punsify – but most are rather dumb. I think AI came up with these.

I Would've Been Friends with Stalin If He Had a Ping Pong Table
Here’s the segment from Seinfeld (22 sec)!

“I’m the only one who can help Godzilla with his form!”
Here’s the cartoon and every table tennis coach’s dream scenario.

NO MERCY: Adam vs. Kao Cheng-jui
Here’s the video (10:38) from Adam Bobrow! Kao is the 2025 Men’s Doubles Silver Medalist, former World #1 Under 19, and current World #24 from Taiwan. The two played previously – but this time, as Kao says, “No mercy!”

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June 16, 2025

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.

On Saturday we had our final regular training session of the season – but our Summer camps begin today. During that final session I mostly fed multiball, but also hit with some players, which was tricky as I’m trying not to get any more injured before the Nationals. (Even if I eventually go to short pips, I’d still normally use inverted when coaching and acting as a practice partner.) One interesting thing that keeps coming up is when to teach backspin serves, pushing, and looping. They go together!!! I know some coaches who teach backspin serves and pushing early on to junior players, but don’t want to teach looping until later. The problem is that if the junior is serving backspin or pushing, that means he’ll face pushes – and while he’ll often push, he’ll also do what he sees others do, which is to attack the push. If they aren’t taught to loop at this time, then they’ll just do it on their own, and by the time they are taught how to loop by the coach, they’ve already learned it wrong. It’s a LOT easier to teach it correctly from the start than trying to fix a bad habit. So, yeah, learning to serve backspin, pushing, and looping all go together. You can teach a soft loop at the start, just to get them started. Many coaches think it’s best to put off all three for a time, and have them just serve topspin and bang it out with regular forehands and backhands – and when they are good at that, then teach backspin and looping.

Paid Illustrator Wanted for "Ping-Pong Paddles Can't Talk!"
This is the title of the new children’s book I’ve written. It’s 314 lines of humorous Seussian rhymes in anapestic tetrameter. The book features a nervous boy and his talking paddle in their first tournament, where he meets and plays a girl who is really good, and they have an adventurous match, with a surprising aftermath. Along the way, kids learn about the sport, with themes on facing your fears, working toward a goal, honesty, and friendship. It’s aimed at children, roughly 7-10. It’ll likely be about 28-32 pages, plus the covers.

The problem is I need an illustrator. The high-level ones charge a fortune, plus I’d have to spend time making sure they get the table tennis parts right. Are there any illustrators out there? I’ll pay directly, plus, of course, you get to do a fun table tennis project and add it to your portfolio!!! If you are interested or you know someone who might be, email me.

New Junior Program For Autistic Kids
One of our top junior stars, Stanley Hsu (16, long-time member of various US junior teams), is setting up and running a junior class this Summer for autistic kids. Though I’ll be traveling a lot this Summer, I may help out when I’m in town. I’ve taught about a zillion such classes.

I spent an hour with him yesterday going over how to teach a junior class, while we discussed the differences since the kids are autistic. We went over the basics of how to teach the various techniques, i.e., the tricks of the trade. It wasn’t all strictly table tennis - perhaps the most interesting tip I gave involved pets and clothes dryers (!). When I first started teaching group sessions, I took a class in public speaking since I wasn’t a good public speaker. I learned that to prepare for a lecture, you want to practice with something that simulates an audience, i.e., something that moves. And so, you practice by lecturing a pet or a spinning dryer! He has a dog, and that dog may be getting a lot attention soon. The other thing to remember when teaching a table tennis class is that in that domain, YOU ARE THE MASTER. Have confidence in your table tennis knowledge. (Some of the stuff I went over is in my Professional Table Tennis Coaches Handbook.)

Above all, I emphasized that when teaching beginning juniors, you have two primary goals – teach the fundamentals and get them excited about table tennis. Give lots of eye-dazzling demos, keep it fun while focusing on getting the techniques right, and they’ll stay for years. Stanley started out in my beginning junior class about ten years ago, and he’s still here! (If you are local and interested in helping out with this class, email me and I’ll put you in touch with Stanley.)

Dora Kurimay Free Live Seminar: Unlock Your Champion
Mental Toughness & Growth Mindset Strategies for Life, Sport, and Success
Dora will be running this free one-hour seminar on Zoom from 4-5PM on Wed, June 25. (I will be attending.) Bonus - All participants will receive a free mental performance worksheet and exclusive mindset insights from Dora’s published books. She’s a former member of the Hungarian National Team, now coaching in New York. She’s a sports psychologist with two Master’s degrees, one in psychology, the other in sports psychology. She has a few books on table tennis sports psychology. She’s been in the news a lot recently!

Butterfly Training Tips & Highlights

New from Pingispågarna

New from PongSpace

5 Ways to Dominate the Backspin Serve
Here’s the article by Tom Lodziak.

The 3 DEADLIEST COMBOS in Modern Table Tennis
Here’s the video (6:48) from Andreas Levenko.

Three Steps to Practice Short Balls
Here’s the video (58 sec) from Dr. Table Tennis. Get out those towels!

New from MH Table Tennis

The 2025 Chinese Super League Preview
Here’s the video (3:09) from Table Tennis Media.

The Rise of Hugo Calderano: From Underdog to Champion
Here’s the video (5:53) from Beyond the Podium.

Ping Pong for the Planet
Here’s the video (3:02) from Ti Long.

New from PingSkills
Ask the Coach

New from the Malong Fanmade Channel
Lots of new videos here.

New from TT11TV

My First World Championship Experience In Doha
Here’s the article by Sally Moyland

Major League Table Tennis
Follow the action! (Here are news items over the last month.)

New From Steve Hopkins/Butterfly

New from ITTF

Bob Chen – Self Ping Pong For Fun
Here’s the video (76 sec)!

Around the Table
Here’s the video (29 sec) – I count 16 counterloopers!

Who Said Table Tennis Doesn’t Make You Sweat?
Here’s the video (6 sec)!

King Pong Shirts
Here’s a selection!

Which Stupid Shot is Illegal?
Here’s the video (18 sec) from PingPongMaestros!

3 Stooges: Table Tennis Tussle
Here’s the video (3:14) from Kartoonzee!

Adam vs. Kao Cheng-jui
Here’s the video (12:14) as he takes on the 2025 Men’s Doubles Silver Medalist, former World #1 Under 19, and current World #24 from Taiwan.

Impossible Mountain Battle
Here’s the video (8:02) from Pongfinity!

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June 9, 2025

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...

On Sunday, the MDTTC junior program had our end-of-the-season practice tournament. Here’s the group picture. I’m on the far right. (Missing the picture was Ryan Lin, recent Under 17 Boys’ winner of the USATT Junior Trials #2 – he’s in Sweden for the WTT Youth Contender in Helsingborg.)

And here’s ten seconds of crazy table tennis trick shots! If this is real (not AI), then I wonder how many tries it took to pull these off?

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June 2, 2025

Tip of the Week
Showing Frustration or Confidence.

USATT Initial Ratings Problems
For many years there’s been a serious bug in the USATT ratings software, which I’ve periodically pointed out to USATT people and here in my blog. Specifically, it often gives out nonsense ratings for initial ratings, especially if the player wins or loses all of their matches in their first tournament. This is unfair to these players, who find themselves way over-rated (and so can’t play in rating events where they might be competitive) or under-rated (making it unfair for others who have to play them, especially in rating events), and messes up seeding. This didn’t use to be a problem. (Here is the Guide to USATT Ratings, which explains how USATT ratings are processed, including initial ratings.)

There are four ways to judge an initial rating: based on wins and losses; based on games won and lost; based on scores; and based on the tournament director’s judgement. It used to be that the software took all four into account. (Tournament directors were given an optional field to estimate ratings for new players, and if they did so, it was factored into the equation. I don’t know if they still do this, but that’s not what I’m writing about here.) From what I’m told, a number of years ago a member of the Ratings Committee objected, saying that scores and game results shouldn’t be used as there’s always the chance a stronger player may let the weaker player score more points than he should, out of mercy. And so they were taken out of the algorithm – leading to the problem. Even worse, the algorithm that used game and point scores for initial rating was also apparently deleted and lost to eternity.

It is sometimes true that a strong player lets a weaker player score more than they should, but scores are a good indicator of a player’s level after a few matches. (Plus, if you require, say, at least five tournament matches to achieve a rating, then inaccurate ones are averaged out.) But using that data almost always gave a more accurate initial rating than just winning or losing. For example, if a player loses to a 1500 player at 1,1,1, it’s fairly obvious the player is probably under 1000 level, while if he loses 11-9 in the fifth, it’s fairly obvious that he’s probably close to 1500 level himself. But now the software looks at these two as the same, which is silly.

Here are three examples of nonsensical initial ratings. (I’m not giving out the names publicly, to protect the innocent players who had nothing to do with these mistaken initial ratings.)

  • A woman played two matches in her first tournament, losing to a 2125 player at 3,3,1, and to a 2115 player at 6,5,6. Based on this, she’s probably under 1500, perhaps under 1000. But her initial rating after this? 2090! How can you lose to a 2125 player at 3,3,1, and have the software judge you to be almost as good, at 2090? By ignoring data! After this was pointed out to USATT Headquarters (and after playing a tournament with the 2090 rating where she lost a series of matches to players under 1000), she was manually readjusted to 900, and is currently 881, which is roughly accurate.
  • An 8-year-old went 0-8 in his first tournament, losing every match 0-3. Against players ranging from 1645 to 1862 he lost at 4,5,2,1,4,1,4,5,4,3,5,3,2,10,4,3,3,2,6,3,2,8,10,7. Based on this, he’s probably about 1000 level. Instead, he was given an initial rating of 1601, which was silly. (He lost to the 1645 at 4,5,2, for example.) After this was pointed out, he was manually readjusted to 1200. But for a week or so, this beginner was #1 in Under 9 in the country!!! (He thought it was pretty funny. In tournaments afterwards he quickly dropped to under 1000.)
  • A 7-year-old played exactly two matches in his first tournament. He lost to a 663 player at 1,4,7, and to a 1361 player at 1,1,2. Based on that, he probably should get an initial rating of maybe 300 or 400, at most. But the computer gave him a rating of 655, only 8 points lower than the player he’d averaged 4 points a game against. After this was pointed out to USATT Headquarters, he was manually readjusted to 400. (He went under 400 in his next tournament.)

A player should also play a minimum number of matches before achieving a USATT rating – perhaps five. Here’s an example. Another player played only two matches in his first tournament, beating players rated 648 and 541 at 8,6,9 and 3,3,4. From this, he was given a 660 rating, which was silly since he’d beaten the 648 player at 8,6,9 and the 541 player at 3,3,4. From just these two matches, you can’t really accurate rate him, but he should be at least be given a rating considerably higher than the 648 he beat 3-0, and way ahead of the 541 he beat so easily. In his second tournament, he played four matches, again winning them all 3-0, against players ranging from 1013 to 1592 – and came out 1276, which clearly wasn’t accurate. (He beat a 1329 at 4,3,3, though his match with the 1592 seemed close at 10,9,5.) If they’d waited until he’d played at least five matches (after his second tournament), the scores would more accurately show him at be perhaps at least 1800 level. In his fourth tournament he finally faced real competition, and came out at 2135, which turned out to be accurate. (All four of these tournaments came within a three-month period.)

There are many such examples – alas, I haven’t kept track of them. I remember another case of a foreign player going undefeated in his first tournament, beating 1800 players at around 3 points a game – and getting a high 1800 rating when the scores showed he was much, much stronger. (He turned out to be a 2500 player.)

Currently, the USATT solution is to ignore the problem, but if a tournament director complains, then they manually readjust, as they did with two of the above examples. My suggestions are as follows:

  1. Adjust the ratings algorithm to take games and scores into account for a player’s initial rating. USATT has a Technology Committee that should be able to do this. Or bring back the Ratings Committee, which used to deal with such issues. Or just hire a programmer with a math background. (I have a math degree and a minor in computer science, and many years ago I could have done this. Alas, I’m a bit rusty now.)
  2. Encourage tournament directors to give estimates of ratings for new players.
  3. Require a minimum number of tournament matches to achieve a rating – perhaps five.

Cataract Surgery
I had the surgery on my left eye last Wednesday. (I had it on my right eye on Mar. 25.) All seems well so far, but as before, I have to go about ten days without any heavy exercise, no lifting of anything over ten pounds, and wearing heavy sunglasses anytime I go outside. I see the eye doctor against this Friday, and if all goes well, I’ll be able to start coaching and practicing against next Saturday. One small issue – the left eye doesn’t seem to be as sharp as the right eye. I was astonished when my right eye went from 20-150 to 20-15 – making it way above average, and allowing me to read small print from a distance. But the left eye isn’t as sharp. I’m guessing it’s 20-20, which is average. If all goes well, from June 7-27, I train for the Nationals, then I fly out on June 28. Alas, I’ll have to be careful – I’m still having shoulder and right knee issues, though the injury to my side seems to be better, and (quick roll call) most of the rest of me seems to be working. When they bother me in practice, I stop. If they bother me at the Nationals, I’ll make do, unless the arm or leg actually fall off.

RIP Yaroslav “Bob” Kaminsky
Here’s the obituary - he died on Thursday, age 89. He may have been my first informal coach when I first showed up at the New Carrollton Table Tennis Club in early 1976, though I’m not sure – Jim Mossberg and Yvonne Kronlage also gave me some informal instruction. He had a huge influence on my game as the first table tennis between top players I ever saw was Bob (then rated about 1900, shakehands with short pips on both sides) against Herb Horton (a chopper rated about 2000, with antispin on both sides), where Bob would just hit over and over and Herb would chop them all back – long rallies. From this, I realized you could hit anything, and so I became an all-out forehand hitter from that. (It was only later I learned about looping.) As I improved, I also got to play against Bob many times. Bob's wife, Barbara Kaminsky, is a member of the US Table Tennis Hall of Fame. 

Tableball, and What If We Took Sport Names LITERALLY?
Here’s the video (73 sec) – go to 47 seconds to see 6 seconds of literal TABLE tennis. One of the great tragedies of our sport is when they adopted the name “Table Tennis” in 1926, since Ping-Pong was trademarked by Parker Brothers. There’s baseball, football, basketball, racquetball, handball, volleyball, dodgeball, and others with names that show what the sport is about – so why didn’t they adopt the obvious name, Tableball!!! Table tennis makes us look subordinate to tennis. (Of course, they just play court table tennis.)

ITTF Election Shenanigans
The headlines almost tell the story. Read on.

USATT National Junior Ranking Tournament II Kicks Off in Charlotte, NC Charlotte, NC
Here’s the USATT article by Melanie Griffin. The Trials end today. Here are complete results. Click on Draws and use dropdown menu to see results for each event.

Butterfly Training Tips

How to Feed the Ball to Advanced-Level Students for Practice
Here’s the video (4:03) from Ti Long.

Best Training Drills to Boost Your Reflexes!
Here’s the video (11 sec) from Pingispågarna – I may have to copy this one!

Short Backspin Pendulum Serve
Here’s the video (3:26) with Cheyanne Chen from Pong Space.

New from PingSkills
Ask the Coach

The Redemption Of Hugo Calderano
Here’s the video (6:38) from Taco Backhand.

Major League Table Tennis
Follow the action! (Here are news items over the last month.)

New from Steve Hopkins/Butterfly

New From ITTF

We Challenged Table Tennis Legend Tiago Apolonia!
Here’s the video (9:41) from Table Tennis Daily! Apolonia of Portugal is world #94, formerly #13.

Backhand to Backhand – on a Skinny Table!
Here’s the video (17 sec) – could you do this?

Table Tennis Musical Bouncing Dance
Here’s the video (17 sec)!

Kitten versus Rhino Ping-Pong Championships
Here’s the video (37 sec)!

Cute Puppy Wants to Play Ping-Pong
Here’s the video (41 sec)!

Non-Table Tennis – Short Stories
On Thursday I sold “Thirty-Five Genie Heads on a Wall” (8,400 words) to Black Cat Weekly, my third sale to them and 236th overall. While being bullied at the beach, teenager Robbie is sucked into a Coke bottle. So begins his life as a genie, including classes at Genie University. His owner is a brutish king on a planet far from Earth – and the squirming, tormented heads of the king’s previous 35 genies are on display on a wall. It’ll come out in a few months.

“Cemetery Whale” (3,700 words) came out in the Tiny Terrors anthology from Graveside Press. A lonely music-loving autistic killer whale ghost haunts a graveyard, and interacts and battles with a local girl and a ghosthunter with a deadly ectoplasmic harpoon.

“Thank You, Miss Kittykat!” (900 words) came out in the Amazing Stories: Best of 2024 anthology. In a future where we've genetically enhanced the intelligence of dogs and cats and given them opposable thumbs, there's a war (humans and dogs allied against the cats), the cats win, and humans and dogs are now pets while cats rule.

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