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!

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 China. 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 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 China.

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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May 26, 2025

Tip of the Week
If You Step Around Your Backhand to Play a Forehand, Go All the Way.

Weekend Coaching and Balticon and Cataracts, Oh My!
I coached two junior group sessions on Saturday morning. Call it Footwork Always in Saturday Training (FAST) as I spent much of the session making sure feet were lively. I also fed a lot of multiball – same thing, footwork, Footwork, and More FOOTWORK!!! Note that when I say lively, that means the habit of moving the feet – i.e., lively feet – which isn’t the same as foot speed. But lively feet lead to maximizing your footspeed. A slower player with lively feet will always cover more ground than a faster player without lively feet. It’s like running a five-foot sprint where one group gets a three-foot head-start.

Then I drove out to Baltimore for the Baltimore Science Fiction Convention, which is Fri-Mon (ending today), but I was only there for the weekend. One of the funny things there is how many people there know me as “Mr. Ping Pong”! One author even told me he has friends who are USATT members, and wanted a signed copy of one of my books to give them as a present. I had copies of Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers in my car, and so traded a signed copy for one of his science fiction books, also signed. I was on two panels, one on giving and receiving critiques of stories, and one on where writers get their ideas – I chaired the latter. Alas, no pictures, but be assured we left huge audiences staring in awe at our awesome words . . . or at least I hope so!

After the highly successful cataract surgery on my right eye a couple months ago, I’m having the same on my left eye this Wednesday, May 28. The right eye went from 20-150 to 20-15; I’m hoping for similar success on the left, which was 20-70, though it’s gotten somewhat better on its own via special eyedrops. I’ll have to take about ten days off from table tennis, then I can go back to training for the Nationals around June 7. Then I leave for the Nationals on June 28 where I will conquer all or I want my money back for the cataract surgeries.

World Championships
They were held in Doha, Qatar, May 17-25. Here are the results! News coverage is in links below.

World Championships - Steve Hopkins/Butterfly

World Championships - ITTF News

HUGOOO!!! How Did Calderano Beat LJK At The WTTC? (MA EP. 09)
Here’s the video (13:23) from Olav Kosolosky.

My Match Analysis against Truls Moregard | World Championship Finals Doha 2025 
Here’s the video (15:38) from Andreas Levenko.

Butterfly Training Tips and Highlights

New from Matt Hetherington

How to Improve at Table Tennis Without a Coach
Here’s the article from Tom Lodziak.

New from the Ma Long Fanmade Channel

New from Ti Long

New from PongSpace

New from Pingispågarna

Lin Gaoyuan Drop Shot Against Simon Gauzy
Here’s the video (78 sec) from Drupe Pong.

The Man Who Made an Entire Generation Fall in Love with Table Tennis
Here’s the video (5 min) about Xu Xin from Taco Backhand.

Benyamin Faraji: The 14-Year-Old Who Beat the World Champ
Here’s the video (3:14) from Beyond the Podium.

The Best Of Leszek Kucharski | Polish Table Tennis Legend
Here’s the video (3:04) from Table Tennis Media.

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

New from NCTTA

New from Steve Hopkins/Butterfly
(Also see his articles on the Worlds in the second on the Worlds above.)

ITTF News – Non-Worlds

New Table Tennis Song!
Here’s the video (1:37). I don’t know who the singer is, but she’s obviously a table tennis player – otherwise she wouldn’t have the ball control to keep bouncing the ball in tune to the music.

Ping Pong Purr-fection!
Here’s the video (8 sec)!

Skeleton Pong
Here’s the picture!

Guard Pong
Here’s the cartoon!

Coaching Godzilla
Here’s the cartoon!

***
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May 19, 2025

Tip of the Week
Learn from Students of the Game, Crafty Veterans, and Hedgehogs.

Weekend Coaching, Dr. Seuss, Ongoing Injuries, and the Baltimore Science Fiction Convention
I coached in three junior group sessions. The focus this weekend might have been random play. I did a lot of random drills and just random rallying with players. The keys here are 1) ready position; 2) don’t anticipate, just react; and 3) return to ready position.

Besides the normal keys to a good ready position, a key thing I emphasize is that their ready position changes based on where I’m hitting the ball. If they go to my wide forehand, then I have more angle into their wide forehand (assuming we’re both righties), and less into their backhand, and so they have to move toward their forehand side. They also should roughly point their racket at where I’m hitting the ball from, so they can move equally well to their forehand or backhand side, depending on where I hit the ball.

From doing so many rote drills, the strokes may be good, but too often players, after hitting a forehand, get into a forehand position for the next shot, and vice versa after hitting a backhand shot. A side benefit of all this is I got to teach the kids the words “neuromuscular adaptation,” which is training the brain to react to such random shots. (Kids are fascinated by long words, about half of them immediately recited “pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.”

Dr. Seuss has also entered our training. I’ve been working on children’s picture book, currently titled, “Paddles Can’t Talk!”, which would be a Seussian rhyming story about a kids first tournament and general introduction to the sport for those roughly ages 5-9. I ordered copies of “The Cat in the Hat” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” as examples – I’m using a similar rhyming meter as he used in them. But both books are hardcover, and I discovered I can play TT really well with them, mostly chopping and pick-hitting – and so I’ve been staying after sessions and taking on challenges. I’m probably about 1800 with them. Yesterday some of the kids borrowed “The Cat in the Hat” while I used “Grinch” and we had some good rallies, with them attacking and me chopping.

Alas, I’m currently dealing with too many doctors. Dr. Seuss; Dr Pepper (my go-to drink while writing, including right now); plus doctors for my upcoming cataract surgery on my left eye (May 28), and other doctors for various problems with my shoulder, knees, and feet. Plus, this morning I woke up with my neck killing me. (See last segment below.)

Things took a turn for the worse on Saturday. We have an Elite League on Saturdays at 4PM for players rated over 2000. I’ve been running them for the past six months, but playing sporadically due to shoulder issues. I was sufficiently read to play on Saturday – but in my first match, second game, I pulled something in my lower right side while forehand looping. I played a few points after that, then had to stop. I don’t think it’s a major injury, but I will likely take this week off from practicing. Then, on Wed, May 28, I have the right eye cataract surgery, and so will have to take another 10-12 days off. So, I’ll likely take up to three weeks off – a good thing for all the ongoing issues that come with trying to train like a 25-year-old at age 65 – problems with my shoulder, arm, neck, side, knees, and feet. During the break, I’ll do a lot of walking, and shadow practice with a weighted racket. I should then have three more weeks of practice before I leave for the Nationals on June 28.

Meanwhile (and this is non-table tennis), next weekend I’ll be coaching on Saturday morning. Then I leave for Balticon, the annual Baltimore science fiction convention, where I’m a panelist. (I’ll be there on Friday as well, plus Sat & Sun. Here’s my Balticon Bio.) I’m only on two panels this year:

  • Critiquing Do’s and Don’ts (Saturday 5:30 PM)
  • Lightbulb Moments; How Authors Develop Ideas (Sunday 11:30 AM)

MASTER the Backhand Loop Against Underspin
Here’s the video (24:13) from Louis Levene.

Your Serve or Mine
Here’s the video (56:46) on Ping-Pong Diplomacy (1971-72) that aired on PBS on April 26.

DONE FOR THIS WEEK – Neck Problem
I did the above for my blog this morning, but I have to stop. I woke up this morning with my neck hurting, and can barely hold my head up right now. It’s been bothering me all week, but I think I slept on it wrong, and aggravated it more when I first got up this morning. Plus, my side is still bothering me from where I pulled it on Saturday, and my shoulder is an ongoing issue. So, I’m going to post this, then go lie down with my head propped on a pillow. Between this and my cataract surgery, I think I’m going to get a lot of rest and reading these next three weeks.

***
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May 12, 2025

Tip of the Week
Warm Up Your Serves.

Weekend Coaching
I think the mantra for this weekend was, “If you can’t do it in practice games, how can you do it in a serous match?” and “If you are scared to do the shot, that means you need to practice the shot, and that’s what this is – practice!” In practice games, too often players were pushing too much, scared to loop. How do you overcome that? By looping every chance you can!!! We also played some doubles, where it’s even more important to loop deep serves – and so I was all over anyone who didn’t.

Other than that, it was mostly the standard focus on fundamentals, with lots of stroking and footwork drills. I had a couple of multiball sessions with advanced beginners where we worked on smashing. I put an empty bowl on the table, and their job was to hit it over and over until they knocked it off the table. I coached in four group sessions, and after some of them I pulled out my new secret paddle – a hardbat copy of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” and used it to chop and pick-hit my way to victory in numerous challenge matches. (I’m about 1800 with it.) Why do I have a copy of this book? See segment below about “New Table Tennis Novels”!

My Training
I’m still working to get ready for senior and hardbat events at the upcoming US Nationals, Huntsman World Senior Games, National Senior Games, and Maryland Senior Olympics. Alas, I’m having more shoulder problems. I was training four times a week and trying to play matches 1-2 times a week, but with the ongoing shoulder issues, I’ve had to cut down on it, and for now don’t practice on consecutive days. I’m also having some knee problems, alas. But I can work around these issues.

New Table Tennis Novels . . . and Dinosaurs
Two new table tennis novels are coming out. They are:

  • “Underspin” by E. Y. Zhao, 252 pages, coming Sept. 23. (Here’s the Amazon link.) I received an advanced copy to read and review, and last night I read the first 77 pages. It’s a somewhat dark story of the rise and fall of a table tennis star. The novel starts with the player’s funeral – he dies in “mysterious fashion” in his 20s. The rest of the novel is about his rise and fall as we learn how it all happened, from his junior years to the end. The story is told in 14 chapters, each from the POV of a different person in his life, ranging from other players, an umpire, and his overly-strict coach. I’ll write a full review later after I finish the novel. (Tomorrow I plan to spend much of the day at the Smithsonian museums in DC, where I’ll spend a few hours at one of the museum cafeterias reading it. Then, from 6:30-8:45 PM I’ll be at the Natural History Museum to watch the free movie, “Why Dinosaurs?” followed by a question and answer period with the movie’s co-directors and several paleontologists. Feel free to join us!)
  • “Ping” by Lisa Lucas and Steve Landsberg, 144 pages. “Alternating between the pivotal 1971 Ping-Pong Diplomacy - where a simple game of table tennis thawed the icy relations between the U.S. and China during the Cold War - and the present-day struggles of a family weighed down by legacy, Ping is a compelling tale of history, politics, and personal conflict.” I just ordered a copy, and will likely read and review it soon. Here’s an interview with one of the authors about the novel.
  • Recently, in a flash of insight, I realized what this world needed was a Dr. Seussian-like humorous rhyming picture book introduction to table tennis, for kids roughly ages 6-9. And so, I’m working on it. The working title is, “Ping-Pong Paddles Don’t Talk!” It’s about a very nervous kid in his first tournament, where he meets seemingly overbearing adults and other tribulations .  .  . and yes, his paddle does talk. When the text is ready, I’ll have to hire an illustrator as I’m no artist. I bought a copy of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” as a model to emulate – I’m writing it in “Seussian Anapestic Tetrameter.” (I already have two TT novels – “The Spirit of Pong” and the novelette “First Galactic Table Tennis Championships.”)

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

Butterfly Training Tips

New from Matt Hetherington

New from Andreas Levenko

1 TIP - Improve Serve - SPEED - CONTROL - HIDE SPIN - EEFFICIENCY…
Here’s the video (9:52) from Ti Long.

Short Topspin Hook Serve
Here’s the video (2:52) from Pong Space.

11 Exercises to Improve Striking and Footwork Techniques
Here’s the video (8:12) from Dr. Table Tennis.

It Is Not So Easy As It Looks!
Here’s the video (3:09) from Pingispågarna. I introduced versions of this game to our club, and the younger kids often play it during breaks. They usually do it across the width of the table (five feet), and start out just tossing the ball by hand. As they improve, they do it with their racket. We call the game, “Bounce.”

I Challenged A Pro With A Mystery Table Tennis Bat!
Here’s the video (6:50) as Table Tennis Daily challenges USA’s Kanak Jha!

Sharath Kamal: How He Became the Face of Indian Table Tennis
Here’s the video (4:10) from Beyond the Podium.

New from Steve Hopkins/Butterfly

Record-Breaking 2025 USATT Pacific Championships Highlight Bay Area’s Table Tennis Dominance
Here’s the USATT article. Strangely, there is no attribution as to who wrote the article.

New from ITTF

Meatball Pong
Here’s the video (60 sec) – toward the end they play ping-pong with a meatball as a ball!

I Warned the Basketball Club Members Playing on the Table Tennis Table
Here’s the manga cartoon (14:29).

Table Tennis EPP
Here’s the cartoon TT video (91 sec) from the Kingston School of Art.

Extremely Fun Ping Pong
Here’s the video (11:41) from Pongfinity! “We have 15 completely new challenges.”

***
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May 5, 2025

Tip of the Week
Top Eleven Things About Top Table Tennis Players.

Talking Table Tennis
One of the quickest and easiest ways to tell if someone is a real student of the game is simple – ask them table tennis questions. If someone has spent many years or decades studying and thinking about the game, they’ll have lots and Lots and LOTS of thoughts about it. So, ask them. In the huge majority of the time, they’ll love to talk table tennis. It’s what they do!

This is especially true of coaches. It’s their profession. Some coaches coach only because they have nothing else they can do, and may not really be that interested in it. They put in the time for the money, and have the needed playing level as a practice partner, and they are often good at the fundamentals – they know how a forehand should be hit, etc. HOWEVER...

They may not put out the extra effort other than what’s needed. They’ll mostly teach the standard fundamentals without taking into consideration the specific needs of individual players. They won’t spend a lot of time watching you play so they can better coach.

We expect players to keep learning, yet many coaches do not. I always like to talk coaching with other coaches or players, at the club or tournaments. Some do not, and it often shows in their coaching. Unless you think you know more about every single aspect of the game than another coach or player, you can learn from him. I know coaches who think that way, and could never learn anything from me or most other coaches - their arrogance really hurts them, and ultimately their players. 

So, if you see me at a tournament, and I don’t look too busy – and most tournaments are at 70% waiting around – feel free to come up and talk table tennis. Warning – I can be triggered into long soliloquies by questions about tactics, strategic development, serve, receive, how to develop as a coach, or hardbat. (Also science fiction writing and presidential history!) Bring popcorn and any of my books you’d like me to sign.

MDTTC Open Results
Here they are! The tournament was held this past weekend at MDTTC.

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

Butterfly Training Tips

New from Pingispågarna

New from Pongspace

Two- to Four-Minute Tips from Matt Hetherington
Here’s his video page with eight new tips over the last two weeks.

New from Tom Lodziak

Lots of Coaching Videos at TTProNet
Here’s the video page from Robert Gardos.

Fan Zhendong Analysis of the Forehand Topspin Backswing
Here’s the video (7:11) from Biomechanics Applied to Table Tennis.

Hugo Calderano Push Tactic Against Tomokazu Harimoto
Here’s the video (56 sec) from Drupe Pong.

New from PingSkills
Ask the Coach

Zhang Jike – The Rockstar of Table Tennis
Here’s the video (8:52) from Taco Backhand.

May 2025 Table Tennis History Magazine
Here’s the new issue, from Editor Steve Grant. Here are past issues.

Table Tennis Articles from Technical Journals

New from Steve Hopkins

New from USATT

New from ITTF

The Ping Pong of Tariffs
Here’s the cartoon!

Warning: May Start Talking About Table Tennis
Here’s where you can buy the shirt!

One of the Craziest Ping-Pong Music Videos
Here it is (2:20) – Little Sis Nora, AronChupa - Ping Pong. Will you ever get that song out of your head?

Pool vs Pong Venomtrickshots
Here’s the video (2:16) from Matt Hetherington!

Adam vs. Philippines level 1-14
Here’s the video (14:12) from Adam Bobrow!

***
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April 28, 2025

Recent Tips of the Week

Cataracts, Vision, and Weight Training
I had cataract surgery on my right eye on March 25 – and it was a HUGE success. Before the surgery, I had 20-150 vision in that eye, along with 20-70 vision in my left eye. The result was I couldn’t recognize people from 30 feet or so. When I coached at the club, there was a clock about 30 feet away – and I couldn’t read it. Here are the results - including the improvement of the left eye – see below. I can now read the clock and recognize anyone easily from across the club, about 120 feet away. I can stand at the far side of the club, look across those 120 feet and out the door, across the street, and not only read the street signs for businesses, but their phone numbers in smaller print. My right eye now is at 20-15, far better than even the doctor had thought would happen. With reading glasses, I can easily read now. (I blogged about how, before, I couldn’t read for more than a few minutes without getting a headache.)

I was going to have cataract surgery on the left eye in early April, but a seeming miracle occurred. I'd been using Clear Eyes eye drops every morning for years. It turns out they are not good for you, as the eye doctor explained. They were a primary cause of my left eye vision problems. The eye doctor had me switch to using Systane eye drops, and the result was my left eye is now 20-25, with no surgery. So, I cancelled the surgery. However, after the success of the first surgery, and knowing that the cataracts in my left eye are going to get progressively worse in the next year or two, I went ahead and rescheduled. I took the earliest time available, which is May 28. With two “perfect” eyes, imagine how good my table tennis will be!

However, two realities have struck. First, after years of not really seeing the ball clearly, now I can read spin much better – but my reactions are out of practice. I’m working on it, but often I read spin but don’t react properly, especially on receive. Often I’ll realize this right as I’m about to hit the ball, but it’s too late. But I’m a lot better off now than before!

Second, a primary reason I played well at the US Open in December (where I won Over 40 and Over 60 Hardbat) was I did weight training from August to December. But after the Open, I stopped. When I started playing after the cataract surgery in mid-April, I discovered I was way out of shape and played poorly, even though I could see the ball so much better. I also got exhausted quickly when I play – alas, I play a rather physical game for my age. (Weight training not only builds up muscle, it builds up stamina.) I went to the gym two weeks ago, and struggled to lift what I had been lifting easily in Nov and Dec. So, I started up again. But it’ll take time. (I’m weight training three times/week again, doing four sessions/week with 2550 coach/practice partner Lidney Castro, and plan to play matches 2-3 times/week. I weighed 202 a couple weeks ago, and have dropped to 199, and hope to get to 190 or below. Also, lots of stretching.)

So, my plan is to train hard until the May 28 surgery. Then I’ll have to take about ten days off – no strenuous activity, no lifting anything more than ten pounds. But this time I’ll do what I should have done last time. Instead of sitting about all that time, the doctor said I can go for long walks to stay in shape. So, that’s what I’ll do each day. Then I’ll have about three weeks to prepare for the Nationals – I fly out on June 28.

Here’s perhaps the most interesting thing about my new vision. I’m still amazed at how I can clearly read signs in the distance, and see the label on the ball as it spins. But I went out at night recently and saw the full moon – and I could see it clearly for the first time in ages, and clearly see all the land masses on it.

Here’s my upcoming schedule, both TT and SF. I’m doing a lot more competing than before, where I’ve mostly coached the last few decades. But I get to battle for medals and titles at both senior events (mostly Over 60 and Over 65 singles and doubles events, where I use sponge) and hardbat events. At the SF conventions I’m a panelist and do book signings. Come say hi if you see me at any of these events (presumably the TT ones!).

  • May 23-26              Baltimore Science Fiction Convention
  • May 28                   Cataract surgery on left eye
  • May 30-June 2       Possibly coaching at US Junior Trials in Charlotte, NC
  • June 28-July 4        US Nationals, Ontario, CA
  • July 12                   MD Senior Olympics
  • July 18-26             “The Never-Ending Odyssey” Science Fiction Writing Workshop, Manchester, NH – I go every year. This is my 16th time, including 13 years in a row.
  • Aug. 1-3                National Senior Games, Des Moines, IA.
  • Aug. 9-19              World Science Fiction Convention (Aug. 13-17) & sightseeing in Seattle, WA
  • Oct. 6-9                 Huntsman World Senior Games, St. George, UT
  • Nov. 6-9                US Hall of Fame Dinner and Inductions/Si & Patty Wasserman Junior & Open, LA
  • Nov. 21-23            Philadelphia Science Fiction Convention
  • Nov. 28-30            North American Teams Teams
  • Dec. 16-21            US Open, Las Vegas, NV                                          

Weekend Coaching
I generally coach at three group junior training sessions on weekends. Some of the highlights of this past weekend:

  • The usual focus on footwork and good technique, and both live play and multiball.
  • Worked with numerous players on serves, including several who are now learning the reverse forehand pendulum serve. Also discussed with one of our advanced players how to make the serve more effective, with a few tips I learned from Jimmy Butler, who may do this serve better than anyone in the US.
  • Worked a lot with three beginning/intermediate kids on smashing – and they learned it pretty well. Key thing is a good backswing, turn sideways, and a smooth stroke.
  • Actual exchange after I missed a shot: Kid: “You missed!” Me: “No I didn’t, I just aimed differently.” Kid: “I saw you miss!” Me: “I can’t even spell M-I-S-S.” Kid: “You just spelled it!” Me: “No I didn’t, ‘it’ is spelled I-T, and I spelled M-I-S-S.” Kid: “You spelled ‘miss’ again!” Me: “How can I spell ‘miss’ again when I can’t even spell M-I-S-S?” Kid: “You spelled it again!” Me: “How many times do I have to explain that ‘it’ is spelled I-T? You keep MISSspelling it!” And so on...
  • One of the kids now collects ping-pong balls. I went through my shelves and found about 30 different ones for him. Many years ago I collected balls, and had over 1,000 different ones. But someone from Europe had been collecting them since the 1950s (!), and much more actively, and had something like 15,000. He bought my entire collection for a flat $1,000.

Deception As Fair Play: Applying “Trickeration” To Business Strategy
Here’s the article – and it uses a story I told them about tactics I used once in a match to trick an opponent into playing poor tactics against me! They showed how this type of tactic can be used in businesses, calling it, “trickeration.”

USATT Bylaw Changes
Here they are. I haven’t gone over them closely and probably won’t – but one change that jumped out at me is that they are cancelling the annual USATT Assembly. (See where they are deleting 15.2 of the USATT bylaws.) The rationale is, “Since all board meetings are public and that holding the General Assembly during a major competition is impracticable, there is no need for this provision.” This makes no sense. First, the purpose of the USATT Assembly has always been for USATT members to meet and talk with board members and staff, ask questions, and make suggestions. It was done at major tournaments because that’s when we’d have lots of USATT members. Attending a board meeting is not the same thing, as that’s simply the board of directions doing their business as always, not for the purpose of listening to and meeting the membership. Second, if it were impracticable, then how is it they’ve done it for something like twenty years under past administrations?

Chinese Table Tennis chief Liu Guoliang Quits, Wang Liqin, Ma Long to Head Olympic Charge
Here’s the article from the South China Morning Post.

Table Tennis Evolution Since 1933
Here’s the video (2:22).

Point of the Year?
Here’s the video (1:25, point ends at .54).

Coaching and News from All Over
Since I’ve been away for six 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’ll get back to linking to individual articles next week.

Non-Table Tennis – Science Fiction & Fantasy Stories
I had four short stories published recently.

  • Apr. 17, 2025 – “Prissy and the Rude Fly” (Flash Fiction Magazine). Prissy is a spider who’s minding her own business when she’s attacked by a swashbuckling fly.
  • Mar. 28, 2025 – “High Plains Centaur” (Wyrd Wytchy West anthology). When a gunslinging centaur shows up to run for sheriff and clean up the town, the crooked sheriff and his hired guns (a vampire and a drunken, red-eyed unicorn) fight back. But what is the centaur’s real purpose?
  • Mar. 30, 2025 – Two stories: “As a Matter of Fact the Universe Does Revolve Around Me” and “Pretty Pictures at War” (Dragon Soul’s Between Realms Anthology). In the first one, A teenage girl is literally the center of the universe, which revolves around her, and scientists cannot understand it. Then Galactic Citizens show up. In the second one, after a well-meaning 4-D being inadvertently humiliates him, a vengeful billionaire invades their 4-D universe with an army. Things don’t go as planned.

I also sold two more stories. Yes, I get paid for all my SF stories as well as for my TT coaching!

  • “The Asteroid of Dinocles” sold to the upcoming Space Dinos anthology. The asteroid that was supposed to kill the dinosaurs instead went into orbit around Earth, for reasons you learn in the story. Velociraptors evolved (with pet lemurs), and with telescopes they see a building on the asteroid. This leads to a space race and the first landing on the asteroid. Nothing is as they expect, with a (hopefully) mind-blowing ending. (The title refers to the story of The Sword of Damocles - except instead of a sword hanging over them, it's this asteroid.)
  • “The Crab and the Cambrian Ghost” sold to the upcoming Murderfish anthology. A paranoid hermit crab believes the world is out to get him and vows vengeance – and then meets a ghostly nautilus with unnatural powers.

***
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March 17, 2025

NEXT BLOG – APRIL 28– SEE SEGMENT BELOW
BUT TIPS EVERY MONDAY

Tips of the Week

Cataracts and Next Blog April 28
I’m putting my blog on hold temporarily, tentatively starting again on April 28. However, there will still be a Tip of the Week every Monday. (I’ve already written enough to get through June.)

Why? Because my eyes have gotten so bad that just reading text on a screen (even enlarged) gives me headaches. I’ve blogged about my upcoming cataract surgeries (Mar. 25 and Apr. 8), but as the dates approach, my eyes are getting progressively worse. I’ve mostly given up on reading which to me is like giving up on eating – I usually read a few hours every day. But after 5 minutes of reading I get a headache. It’s the same for staring at a computer screen. I’m mostly seeing out of my left eye, which puts a strain on it. My right eye was measured at 20-150 a couple months ago, but seems to be worse now. My left eye was measured at 20-70 and also seems to have worsened. I usually write every day, but that’s mostly on hold now.

One other side effect of the surgeries – I’m not supposed to do anything physical for two weeks after each surgery. Since they are two weeks apart, that means one month. Physical activity puts pressure on the eye and can damage them in the two weeks after the surgery. I demonstrated feeding multiball to the doctor, and he said it’s too much. So, during that month I can’t play table tennis, feed multiball, lift anything over ten pounds, and other restrictions. I even have to wear heavy sunglasses if I go outside to protect the eyes after the surgeries. I do have the okay to go for long walks, but have to walk leisurely, no brisk walking.

So, until about April 28 or so I won’t be reading or staring at my computer screen too much, and starting March 25, playing table tennis or much of anything else. It’s going to be a boring time! (We have a tournament next weekend, March 22-23, so no group sessions that weekend, so I’m done with coaching until two weeks after the second surgery.) The only good news – I can watch movies or TV as watching them is not as painful as reading text on a screen. I’m thinking of watching from start to finish one of the two following shows that I’ve never seen, either The Sopranos (86 episodes, about 55 min each) or Star Trek Voyager (172 episodes, about 45 min each). I might have time to do both! (On a related note, my shoulder’s been bothering me again, so taking these five weeks off may be helpful there as well.)

One hopeful thought - even straining to see the ball, I was playing at about 2100 level. When I can actually see the ball clearly again instead of just a blur, maybe I'll be 2200 level again, not bad for age 65. 

And just for the record, after writing the above and below and proofing it, I once again have a headache...

My New Book - Psychologie, Mental et Tennis de Table
My 23rd book is out – but there’s a catch. It’s in French!!! It’s on sale at Amazon in France - Psychologie, Mental et Tennis de Table. That roughly translates as “Psychology, Mental and Table Tennis.” The print version is 97 pages, with a kindle version coming later. David Salomez, who translated my Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers into French, had the idea of taking my 50 best Tips of the Week that involve sports psychology, translating them into French, and putting them together as a book. (I okayed it and we worked out a split of the profits.) I might put it together in English later – not sure. I wrote a forward to it (which includes pointing out that I’m not a sports psychologist, that I’m writing from the perspective as an experienced coach with many decades of experience who’s also taken a lot of sports psychology sessions and read books on it, while recommending further reading, such as Dora Kurimay’s page and books. When my eyes feel up to it, I’ll add the new book to my book listing.

Here’s the book’s description, as written by David and Google translated into English – and I didn’t see it until literally this morning:

“An iconic figure in table tennis in the United States, Larry Hodges' reputation is well established internationally. Author of several table tennis books, including the best-selling Table Tennis for Thinkers, Larry offers no fewer than 50 tips for developing your mental strength and approaching each competition and/or match better equipped psychologically!”

US Nationals
Entry form is out and you can now enter. As I’ve done with every US Open and Nationals starting in 1999, I proofed the entry form (which these days they call the prospectus). Normally I have fun doing so, but this time it was painful due to my cataracts, and I had a massive headache during and afterwards. It’s the last serious reading I’ll be doing for a while. I’ve already entered – I’m playing lots of senior (with sponge) and hardbat events.

Weekend Coaching
Between my eye and shoulder problems, it wasn’t a fun coaching weekend. Trying to watch a blurry little white ball flying about where one eye is almost blind and the other half blind causes eye strain, plus I’m trying not to aggravate the shoulder. We did the usual footwork drills, with an emphasis on active feet. I reminded players the importance of getting the feel of the stroke and contact right, and when you do it right, remember the feel of it and repeat. One kid learned how to serve backspin so the ball comes backwards. Some of the younger kids are getting good at hammering out fast serves that smack into targets I put deep on the table. I ended the sessions by mentioning I’d be away for a month, and explained briefly about the cataract surgery. Interestingly, one kid with glasses stayed after and grilled me all about the surgery – I think he’s a budding optometrist.

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