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.)
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!
88 Full-time Table Tennis Centers in the U.S.
One of my most vividly bad memories in table tennis was the USATT Board Meeting in December, 2006, almost ten years ago. It was at that meeting that I made a proposal for USATT to actively recruit and train coaches and club directors to set up and run full-time table tennis centers and junior programs, with the goal of 100 such centers in ten years.
At the time there were only 8-10 such full-time centers in the country. I’d co-founded the Maryland Table Tennis Center in 1992, the first successful full-time center devoted to training, and we’d set the model that others were beginning to follow.
The response? It was basically laughed off. Two board members openly said that full-time table tennis centers wouldn’t work in the U.S. except in a few specific areas, and that these areas already had a full-time club, so there was no potential for more. The rest remained silent. I remembered arguing with these two with the growing realization that they had absolutely no idea what they were talking about, and yet they were running our sport and firmly believed what they were saying. [I'll likely blog about this more tomorrow, this deep-set belief of many that it's a zero-sum game, that there are only so many players and so only so many full-time clubs possible, as opposed to the reality that these clubs develop their own base of players.]
At the time I worked full-time for USATT as Editor of USA Table Tennis Magazine and as Program Director. I was so disappointed in the short-sighted response to my proposal that I resigned both positions. (I went back to coaching and writing.)
It’s now nearly ten years later, and without any real help from USATT, we’ve gone from 8-10 to 88 full-time table tennis centers. Over the last ten years coaches have been flooding into the U.S. and these centers have been popping up everywhere. Twenty-five states and DC now have full-time table tennis centers. This in spite of the fact that there’s no group actively recruiting or training these coaches, and that every time someone wants to open a full-time center they essentially have to reinvent the wheel as there wasn’t any manual on this.
One result? We suddenly find ourselves with the strongest group of cadet players in U.S. history – by far – one of the strongest groups in the world. Ten years ago the USATT board was focused on developing top players, but when I pointed out that top players start out as top juniors, and top juniors come from full-time centers where large numbers of them can train full-time under professional coaches – well, the response was underwhelming. (I would estimate that in those ten years we’ve gone from about 10-20 full-time coaches to easily over 300.)
USATT did make a move last year in adopting the USATT Club Development Handbook, written by Yang Yu, which covers much of what’s needed to open a full-time center. (Here’s my review of that on June 22, 2015.) Here’s the table of contents:
- Are You Ready to Start a Club?
- Mission Statement and Business Entity
- Facility and Equipment
- Income Sources (tournaments, walk-in play, membership, training programs, equipment sales, private events, donations, food & drink sales, sponsorship)
- Business Model (mixed operation model, training center model)
- Marketing Your Club (with 13 methods listed)
- USATT Club Affiliation and Recognition Program
- Club Management
- Outline the Financial Budget
There's also the Professional Table Tennis Coaches Handbook, which I wrote and published in 2013. USATT may use it at cost as part of any training program for coaches. The focus here is the professional side - recruiting students, setting up and running programs, maximizing income, finding a playing facility, etc.
Imagine if USATT had gotten move involved earlier – not trying to run things, but simply by trying to recruit and train such coaches on the professinal side of coahcing, including how to open up full-time clubs? We might have twice as many such centers. It’s something I plan to look more into soon. USATT should be actively recruiting and training these coaches. It doesn’t cost us anything – the coaches pay for the training. It can be done as an add-on to the current ITTF coaching programs we already run. If they don't, there's a chance I might try to do this myself. Whether it's a USATT Coaching Academy or the Larry Hodges Coaching Academy, we need some entity that actively recruits and trains coaches, not just on how to coach, but on the professional side.
Two new full-time centers have opened this past week, the Paddle Palace Club in Portland, Oregon, and Zing Table Tennis in Easthampton, Massachusetts. (Here’s an article on Zing.) Congrats and welcome aboard to both!!!
Why not browse over this list of full-time table tennis clubs in the U.S., and give thanks to all these table tennis entrepreneurs who took the effort to open and run such centers? Also let me know if there are any missing or other updates/corrections.
Let’s get to 90 this year, and break 100 next year.
USATT SuperCamp Request for Proposal
Here’s the info page.
10 Quick Tips to Better Table Tennis
Here’s the article from Newgy.
Alzheimer’s and Table Tennis
Here are two articles.
- Table tennis could be treatments for Alzheimer's disease – article and video (38 sec).
- Care home takes on Alzheimer's with table tennis
Numbers Growing, Healthy Situation as Star Names Head for Philadelphia
Here’s the ITTF article.
Female Table Tennis Pro Faces Average Joes to Promote Women's World Cup in Philadelphia
Here’s the video (1:49) of USA Olympian Wu Yue taking challenges at the Shops at Liberty Place in the Rotunda.
ITTF Flash News
Here’s the ITTF News.
Play Ping Pong Against a Robot Inside an LA Gallery
Here’s the article and pictures.
Princeton: Seniors Earn Table Tennis Gold
Here’s the article.
Diary of a 10-Year-Old
Here’s the entry on the upcoming World Women’s Cup by Sarah Jalli, in Philadelphia this weekend.
Vintage Table Tennis
Here are two very old videos:
Chimpanzee Playing a Table Tennis Robot
Here’s the video (2:24)! The headline says it’s a monkey, but I refuse to spread such ignorance. This is a different video than the 13-second video of a chimp playing that I posted on Sept. 14.
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Service Week – Teaching a Beginner to Serve
This past week the focus in both of my beginning table tennis classes was serving. For me, it’s the most fun part to teach, and the part that the kids are most fascinated by. If you show a new kid a backspin serve that bounces back into the net, they won’t stop trying until they can do it. If put a target on the table and smack it with a serve, the kids will spend the next half hour trying to hit it, and keep track of every hit. (I use the latter for the younger kids, who struggle at first with just serving, and aren’t ready to really spin their serves.)
Here’s how I teach serves to beginning kids.
The Fitness and Sport of Table Tennis
Here’s the article, with lots of great table tennis links at the end.
Chinese Technique - How to Serve Short
Here’s the video (8:35).
Multi-Ball Exercise for Table Tennis Players and Coaching Tips
Here’s the article. (Recently there seems to be a lot of articles and videos on multiball – I had two here yesterday.)
LIEBHERR 2016 ITTF Men's World Cup
Here’s the home page for the Men’s World Cup, which finished yesterday in Saarbrücken, Germany, with results, pictures, video, and articles. Here’s the Day Three video review (4:37). Here are video highlights (3:59) of USA’s Feng Yijun against South Korea’s Lee Sangsu with the latter winning in seven.
History of U.S. Table Tennis, Volume 18 (1990-1991)
Here's chapter 2! Or order your own print copies at TimBogganTableTennis.com.
Creative Variations of Table Tennis
Here’s the video (1:18).
Timo Boll vs. Jorgen Persson Exhibition, with Umpire Jan-Ove Waldner
Here’s the video (12:37)! They did this just yesterday at the Men’s World Cup, before the Final. Here’s a shortened highlights version (4:04), but I recommend the full version so you get the full treat, including the crowd singing Happy Birthday to Waldner, who was 51 yesterday.
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Tip of the Week
Returning Smashes: Reacting and Racket Angles.
Clinton Smashes Trump in Debate
Here’s the cartoon! As you can see, I had a little fun last night – and there’s no question now that she got quite a bump in the polls after the debate. (Here’s my 2016 Election Pong Style cartoon, posted previously.)
Eighteen Private Coaching Sessions in a Day
On Friday, I gave 18 private coaching sessions. You heard that right! Okay, that’s a bit misleading as it was 18 ten-minute sessions, plus two 30-minute group sessions. I was hired by a local business that has gone table tennis crazy to spend four hours at their headquarters. It was a wild afternoon!
They have two tables, both pretty nice ones, though one net is a bit ragged. They were mostly using hardbat and sandpaper rackets, stacked in a box by the table, with a few cheap sponge rackets mixed in. They had a huge quantity of orange 2-star celluloid balls.
My plan was to do a 30-minute group session where I’d introduce them to the sport, and teach the grip, stance, forehand, backhand, and perhaps the push. Then we’d finish with 30 minutes on serving and follow-up questions. In between I’d spend ten minutes with each player, working primarily on forehand and backhand. However, the plans at the start were a bit thwarted as it turned out they had lots and Lots and LOTS of questions! Most were about rules and equipment. They had many house rules, from 7-0 skunks to not being able to score the last point of a game on your own serve – when up game point, the other guy always got to serve. We went through 25 minutes of questions before I even got to teaching and demonstrating the forehand. Fortunately, I had no other coaching planned that day, so I decided to simply stay a bit late to get everything in. So the 30-minute opening session became a 45-minute session. And then began the 18 one-on-one sessions.
They had some seriously decent players, including probably 5-6 who could hit forehand-to-forehand and backhand-to-backhand pretty well, all perhaps in the 800-1200 range. Their best player was a hardbat player with very strong strokes from both sides – he was a tennis player – who would probably give stronger players a run for it except that he’d never really played against spin, and serves, loops, and inverted sponge in general would probably give him problems at first. However, before the day was done he had switched to one of their sponge rackets. He and several others plan to attend MDTTC’s Friday night league this week, so we’ll see how they do.
I went through all 18 players, with a ten-minute timer on each, which took three hours. About 12-14 of the 18 were part of their table tennis craze, with the others joining in for the day and perhaps becoming addicted.
In the closing group session, I went over the serving rules, and then taught them how to do spin serves. After going over the basics of grip, wrist and racket acceleration, and grazing contact, I brought out the soccer-colored balls so they could all practice spinning the ball off their rackets, with the colored balls giving them feedback on their spin.
I then called on volunteers to try to return my serves, and they lined up – and of course I did my usual exhibition spin serve tricks, where I’d serve sidespin, put my racket on the table, and step over to the side where the ball was going to go and catch it. Or I’d beg them not to put the ball in the net as I served backspin, and of course the ball would go straight down. After a bit of this I explained how to return the serves, and they picked it up pretty quickly.
There wasn’t enough time or tables for them all to practice their serves, but a number of them began practicing on the two tables. I showed them how you can have four to a table, with a box of balls in the middle on each side, and a player serving from each corner, so eight players could practice serves on two tables.
There were lots of closing questions. And then I showed them a number of table tennis tricks, starting with the blowing the ball trick. I finished by going to the other side of the office, directly to the side of the table, where I couldn’t even see the table due to the intervening cubicles. After some very careful calculations in my head, I did the 50-foot serve that spins about and hits both sides of the table legally (other than the detail that I’m in front of the end-line’s extension, since I’m directly to the side of the table), and got it on the first try. To do this serve requires not only lots of sidespin, but lots of backspin to pull the ball back after the first bounce. It also takes a lot of energy as that’s a long distance to serve!
At the end of the session they asked if I could come in every three months. So it looks like it’s going to be a recurring event.
LIEBHERR 2016 ITTF Men's World Cup
Saarbrücken, GER, Oct. 1-3
Here’s the home page for the Men’s World Cup, which finishes on Monday. As of this writing, China’s Fan Zhendong had just defeated Sweden’s Kristian Karlsson 4-1 in the semifinals, and Xu Xin defeated Wong Chun Ting 4-1 in the other all-Chinese semifinal. So it’s Fan vs. Xu in the final later today. (Breaking news: Fan wins, 4-1.)
ESPN2 to Broadcast Final of Seamaster 2016 Women's World Cup of Table Tennis
Here’s the USATT news item. The event takes place in Philadelphia, Oct. 7-9. Here’s ticket info. (I’ll be there on Sunday.)
Werner Schlager Week at Expert Table Tennis
Last week was “Werner Schlager Week” at Expert Table Tennis, with daily articles from the 2003 World Men’s Singles Champion. Below are all five, including the Friday tip that didn’t make my Friday blog.
Tom's Table Tennis Newsletter
Here’s the new issue, with links to numerous coaching articles, including a new one, “Service tactics to win cheap points.”
Why Every Table Tennis Player Should Use Multi-ball Training
Here’s the coaching article from Pong Universe.
Articles by Samson Dubina
Here are three new ones.
How to Do a Multi Ball Training Session
Here’s the video (2:18).
Table Tennis Limbo: How Low Can You Go?
Here’s the article from Coach Jon.
Zhang to Compete in Table Tennis' Women's World Cup
Here’s the article from Palo Alto Online.
Li Xiaoxia Keen on Being Coach
Here’s the ITTF press release.
Weikert Announces His ITTF Presidential Candidacy
Here’s the ITTF press release. You may remember that Jean-Michel Saive also intends to run for ITTF President – here’s his Facebook posting.
New Father Ovtcharov Aiming to Become Men's World Cup Champion
Here’s the ITTF press release.
San-Ei Continue to Tokyo 2020 after Successful Rio 2016 Table Partnership
Here’s the ITTF press release.
Fan Zhendong - The Rising Dragon (Unstoppable Force)
Here’s the video (5:22).
Great Points by Waldner
Here’s the video (2:36).
Doubles Training on a Robot
Here’s the video (51 sec), with a “big” person and a “small” person!
Zhang Jike Training With...a Dog?
Here’s the video (3:32)!
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Coaching Happenings
Here’s a rundown of some coaching issues that came up this week.
During a junior class yesterday, one 6-year-old beginner was struggling to get his serve on the table. He kept smacking it out toward the net, and it would either go into the net, or way off the end or side. I kept explaining that his target was on his side of the table, just a few feet from him. Finally I put a quarter on the table near his end-line and told him that that was his target. Two amazing things happened. First, he became focused on hitting the quarter, and his serve began to hit both sides! Second, about five minutes later, he became so good at serving that I had him try the same thing with a downward stroke – and within a minute he was serving with backspin! Not heavy backspin, of course, but enough that he was pretty excited.
Another beginning kid was struggling with his forehand pendulum serve. I suggested he try a backhand serve – and within minutes he was serving a pretty nice sidespin.
One kid kept swatting balls all over the place. Later, at the very end of the class we had one of those “Hit the bottle of worm juice and I have to drink it” (well, Gatorade), and this kid became so fixated on hitting it that his stroke straightened out, and three times he made me drink it.
In private coaching, one player said he’d been having trouble with lefties – turns out the problem was he was so used to playing his backhand crosscourt that when he played a lefty he’d mostly go right to the player’s forehand (giving an easy attack). When he did go down the line, he struggled since he wasn’t used to doing it. So we did a bunch of down-the-line practice, my forehand to his backhand. (We’re both righties.)
I blogged on Wednesday about one player who was struggling with his forehand loop until I had him spend a few minutes watching some of our top juniors looping in drills – and then his loop magically straightened out.
I might have some interesting stories next week. This afternoon I’m going to a business where they have hired me to run a clinic for them from 12-4PM for 18 players!
Backspin and No-Spin Serves
Here’s the coaching video (3:15) by Brett Clarke. I can’t find the original, just this one on the Sri Lanka page.
Footwork Training
Here’s the video (90 sec).
Best Serve for Backhand Dominant Player
Here’s the video (13:46).
I Am a Coach Because…
Here’s a good meme for coaches. (Here’s the non-Facebook version.)
Kanak Jha and Other USA Table Tennis Olympians at the White House
Here are four pictures.
Olympic Champion Ding Regains World Number One Spot
Here’s the ITTF press release.
Insane Behind-the-Back Knock Off Bottles Serve
Here’s the video (15 sec)!
Severus Snape’s Forehand vs. Ron Weasley (the Ball)
Here’s the repeating gif!
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No Regular Blog Today - Thank the Problems with USATT's Team Selection Process
There have been serious problems in the USATT’s team selection process, and I’ve been drawn into it – and for the third night in a row I was up all night dealing with this and other issues. At some point I’ll blog about it. For now, I woke up with a massive headache, and I’m a little too tired and disgusted to want to do anything right now. It’s hard to stay idealistic when dealing with this stuff. Anybody want my spot on the USATT Board? Oh, please, please, please! (The stuff below I put together at around 4AM when I couldn’t sleep. I went to bed after 5AM.)
Physical Tips for Table Tennis Players – by Werner Schlager
This is “Werner Schlager Week” at Expert Table Tennis, with daily articles from the 2003 World Men’s Singles Champion!
PongHero
Here’s the page. “PongHero is a site dedicated to providing reviews and information about table tennis equipment. Our goal is to provide unbiased reviews and information to help readers make informed decisions when making a purchase.”
Creative Multiball in Sri Lanka
Here’s the video (2:02).
DHS ITTF Top 10 - 2016 China Open
Here’s the video (4:05).
2016 China National Championships Men's Single Final Highlights, Fan Zhendong vs Zhou Yu
Here’s the video (14:27).
Table Tennis People Are Awesome
Here’s the new highlights video (5:37), set to music.
Teddy Bear Pong
Here’s the video (3:20) and the picture!
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Watch and Learn
I had a student yesterday who couldn’t seem to find his forehand loop. He kept changing it, and roving about, sometimes too close to the table, others times falling back – he was like a leaf blowing in the wind. Finally I had him put his racket down and had him watch two of our top juniors on other tables who were looping against block with other coaches. After about two minutes of this, we started up again, and suddenly it all came back - and he was on fire!
There’s a related Tip of the Week on this: Watch the Top Players Before a Tournament or Big Match. One of the best ways to learn and to get your game together is to watch the top players.
Technical & Tactical Tips for Table Tennis Players – by Werner Schlager
This is “Werner Schlager Week” at Expert Table Tennis, with daily articles from the 2003 World Men’s Singles Champion!
- Wednesday: Technical & Tactical Tips
- Tuesday: Stroke Development Tips
- Monday: Serve & Return Tips
2016 Coaching Rule Guidance
Here’s the article on the ITTF Coaching Rule – rejected (for now) by USATT, but still to be used in ITTF events such as the U.S. Open – by USATT Rules Chair Kagin Lee. Here is the USATT Rules of Table Tennis page, which shows where USATT rules differ from ITTF’s.
Jiaqi Zheng Interview
Here’s the interview by Rahul Acharya.
11 Questions with Amy Wang
Here’s the USATT interview (3:15).
USA Medal Tally Continues in Slovenia
Here’s the USATT article by Matt Hetherington that features USA’s Amy Wang, Victor Liu, and Sharon, Gal, and Adar Alguetti at the Slovenia Junior & Cadet Open.
Top Names Remain Unbeaten but Lower Down Order Testing Times
Here’s the ITTF article that features USA’s Amy Wang at the Slovenia Junior & Cadet Open.
Atlanta Open
Here’s the article.
G. Sathiyan: Dawn of a New Champion from the Indian Subcontinent
Here’s the ITTF article.
2017-2020 USATT Athletes Advisory Council
Here’s the USATT article and listing.
Paddle Palace Club Grand Opening
Here’s the info flyer – another full-time club opening! The new club in Portland, Oregon, has its Grand Opening on Oct. 1.
Karakasevic - The Legendary Backhand (Karas Magic)
Here’s the video (7:12).
2016 September Westchester Open
Here are videos of one of the semifinals and the final, by Ariel Chen.
Allen Wang’s Favorite Shot – Backhand Around-the-Net Loops
Here’s the video (10 sec)!
Beetle Bailey Table Tennis Cartoons
Here’s a new one from 1960, which I’ll call “Ping Ping Ping Ping Pong!” (Initially I couldn't see the year, but Aaron Avery zoomed in and found it in the third panel.) Here are other Beetle Bailey Table Tennis Cartoons, cut & pasted from a previous blog. (NOTE - I'm updating this as new ones are published.)
- May 9, 2020 - I Won the Tournament
- March 23, 2020 - Borrowing Points
- May 15, 2016 - Run For Your Life
- May 10, 2015 - Sore Loser
- April 25, 2014 - Beetle Serves Backspin
- May 17, 2012 - Poor Loser and the Cliff
- July 15, 2010 - Philosophical Pong with Plato
- March 21, 2010 - Sit Down Pong and an Acrobatic Sarge
- July 10, 2009 - The Threat!
- June 7, 2009 - How to Do Table Tennis Publicity
- October 11, 2007 - Contact Pong (and Sarge demonstrates forehand technique)
- June 3, 2007 - Sore Winner and Loser
- December 8, 2005 - Sarge Putaway - Now THAT'S a Forehand
- July 28, 2005 - Picnic Meatball Pong
- April 3, 2002 - Injured Winner
- October 1976 (Sarge Snorkel Comic Book Cover) - Big Paddle
- Feb. 26, 1960 – Ping Ping Ping Ping Pong!
- Feb. 2 (can't find year) - I Can't Play Ping-Pong By Myself
- Mar. 25 (can't find year) - Beetle Makes Excuses
- May 29 (can't find year) - Sarge Feels Better Already
- May 30 (can't find year) - Zero Quits Against Beetle
- June 16 (can't find year) - Beetle Gets Hit in Chest by Sarge
- June 28 (can't find year) - Sarge Waits for a Game
- December 16 (can't find year) - Sarge loves a poor loser
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The Debate
I watched the Trump-Clinton Debate (please click on link!) last night. I think it was fairly obvious which of the two prepared, and which one just showed up. (When you go to tournaments, which are you?) I was tempted to comment on the debate, but decided not to, since this is a table tennis blog. But this is a good time to repost my 2016 Presidential Election Table Tennis Cartoon!
Sunday Coaching
Sunday is my busiest coaching day, where I normally have eight hours of almost non-stop coaching. As usual, a lot of crazy coaching stuff happened. Here’s a rundown.
Stroke Development Tips for Table Tennis Players – by Werner Schlager
Here’s the article from Expert Table Tennis. It’s Day Two of their Werner Schlager Week. Yesterday they had Serve & Return Tips.
Revelations of a Table Tennis Champion and History of U.S. Table Tennis
Both are USATT news items this morning. I did the page layouts and photo work on both (I also do their web pages), so I’m glad to see it! USATT always posts the chapters of Tim Boggan’s History of U.S. Table Tennis volumes, and this morning they started on Volume XVIII.
- Revelations of a Table Tennis Champion, the Autobiography of Dan Seemiller (links to the ITTF news item). You can buy this at Amazon, or get more info at danseemiller.com.
- History of USATT - Volume XVIII - Chapter 1. You can also buy these volumes at timboggantabletennis.com.
Dan’s had three reviews so far at Amazon, all five-star. Here they are!
5.0 out of 5 stars; Great Book Full of Entertaining Stories
By J.L. on September 17, 2016
This was an enjoyable read, finished the book in a day. It is an intriguing glimpse into the life of a pro athlete in a little known sport. Danny Seemiller should truly be nominated as the "Most Interesting Man in the World"
5.0 out of 5 stars; Past and Present, Seemiller Still Reigns
By Tom Wintrich on September 25, 2016
Danny Seemiller is America's most important table tennis player. His time as an elite competitor totals 45 years and counting. His years coaching is nearly the same, where he's helped beginner to expert individually, or as a team, whether it be local, national, World or Olympic. Directing tournaments and promoting the sport is another ongoing passion, mostly on the local and regional level but he's jumping to the international stage in 2018 after he and friend Dave Sakai spearheaded the bid to secure the World Veterans Championship for the USA. And for good measure, Seemiller led the USA Table Tennis Association as president from 1990 to 1995. That statement is the only one that requires the past tense.
Now Seemiller has written a book that fulfills his title's promise of revelations. Even with 40 years in the game, there was plenty of new information to glean. He begins with his humble start in the South Hills of Pittsburgh and takes the reader on a national and international odyssey of modern table tennis from his perspective. His style is simple, direct and personal, switching between the third person reporter and first person narrator. He also mixes in published accounts and articles about himself, other players or the sport in general. And he gets in a few deserved digs against some of the bonehead decisions made by Association officials that directly affected his career. There's even a jab or two against opponents and he lands a nice one on a Hollywood celebrity. There are ample photographs to highlight the narrative. A number of them picture the Seemiller family.
Table tennis is a small game literally and figuratively and that aspect of the sport affords its participants a wonderful benefit: we are all on tour together, there is no separate circuit for the elite. From champions like Seemiller all the way down to the unrated, we play the game in the same venue and we share the competitive memories. If you think this is a friend promoting a friend's book, you would be wrong. This is a player just like you, who has been an eye witness to many of the author's accomplishments and many of the events he describes. While his story may transcend ours, it also contains it and that makes it all the more rewarding to read.
5.0 out of 5 stars; By Mark H on September 19, 2016
Incredible stories of an incredible athlete and coach! A must read for any and all table tennis enthusiasts
Jean-Michel Saive Intends to Run for ITTF President
Here’s his Facebook posting, where the former world #1 says:
“I am very proud and honoured that my federation today officially supported my INTENTION to run for the position of ITTF president. I am very encouraged by this decision and even more motivated to serve my sport in a new capacity. I will make my final decision in the near future after checking the level of support I could get.”
Yijun Feng Set to Make Men’s World Cup Debut
Here’s the article. Most of us better know him as Tom Feng, the 2015 Men’s Singles Champion and 2016 Finalist, and the 2016 North American Cup Champion (which qualified him for the World Cup).
Samson’s Student of the Month
Here’s the article and video (45 sec) – and Sarah Jalli wins because of hustle, as explained in the article.
Knowledge the Foundation for Growth, Thailand Increases Educational Opportunities
Here’s the ITTF article on USA’s Richard McAfee’s ITTF coaching courses in Thailand.
Le Tour De France Ping-Pong
Here’s the video (2:49). Lots of great blue mini-table play, set to music!
Stop War. Play More Table Tennis
Here’s the picture! (Here’s the non-Facebook version.)
Drabble Table Tennis Cartoons
Marv Anderson alerted me to recent Drabble cartoons on table tennis. Here they are! The ones from Sept. 12-16 go together, while the April 7 (which I previously linked to) and Sept. 24 ones are stand alone.
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Tip of the Week
How to Play Against a Player with a Coach.
ITTF’s New Coaching Rule – Rejected (for now)
At 9:30AM Saturday the USATT Board of Directors had a teleconference. (I’m one of the nine members of the Board.) There were only two items on the agenda. (We meet again in two weeks on Monday, Oct. 10 in Philadelphia, just after the Women’s World Cup, where we’ll have a lengthier agenda.) The first item was “Agreement for Broadcast Services with Triode Media Group.” This was a tricky one as a member of the Board is involved with this group. Nothing was hidden, however, and there was a lot of discussion. I will blog about this when the minutes come out. (The motions and votes for the meeting should come out soon, probably this week; the minutes have to be approved by the Board, and will likely come out sometime in the next month.)
The second item was the more important issue for many of us – the ITTF’s new coaching rule, which allows coaching between points starting Oct. 1, 2016. Here is the rule (with English spellings and that silly “and and” typo they seem unable to correct):
3.5.1.3: Players may receive advice at any time except during rallies and and between the end of practice and the start of a match; if any authorised person gives advice illegally the umpire shall hold up a yellow card to warn him or her that any further such offence will result in his or her dismissal from the playing area (in effect as of 1st October 2016).
I have blogged about the issue three times. On August 19 I blogged about why it's a bad rule, and gave 14 reasons; on August 26 I blogged about whether USATT should adopt the rule; and on September 21 I blogged about my email to the Board on the rule.
Going into the meeting I was still not 100% set on what to do. My thinking was we needed a compromise, and so I suggested the following, though I did not actually make this motion, which had some rather legalish-sounding contortions:
MOVED that USATT temporarily adopt the new ITTF Coaching Rule for the time period of October 1, 2016 through December 31, 2016, but only for the following singles, doubles, and team events: Open, Men’s, Women’s, Paralympic, and age events. In December, the Board will evaluate the Rule’s implementation and decide how to move forward. Notwithstanding the temporary adoption, tournaments conducted under USATT Rules may opt out of this rule - for entire tournament or for specific events - if it is clearly indicated on the entry form, or if the players are notified in advance through Oct. 31.
However, this was quickly rejected as Board members found it too complicated. However, it also became obvious early on that the Board wasn’t going to accept the rule. It was pointed out that what was needed was not just a motion to reject the rule, but a motion to adopt the current coaching rule as a USATT rule. And so the following was the actual motion voted on, which mirrors the actual current rule (again with English spellings), which passed 7-1:
“Players may receive advice only during the intervals between games or during authorised suspension of play, and not between the end of practice and the start of a match; if any authorised person gives advice illegally the umpire shall hold up a yellow card to warn him or her that any further such offence will result in his or her dismissal from the playing area.”
However, I believe that tournaments should be allowed to operate under the new coaching rule if they chose – which would also give us some feedback on how it worked. Initially I thought I could simply move that tournaments may opt to play under ITTF rules if noted on the entry form, but the problem with that is that there are other differences between ITTF and USATT rules – for example, ITTF rules require full-sized courts (14x7 meters, about 46 feet by 23 feet), while USATT rules allow 30 feet by 15 feet. So I made the following motion:
“Move that tournaments may opt to operate under the new ITTF coaching rule 3.5.1.3 if noted on the entry form.”
I thought this would pass easily, but it only squeaked by, 4-3. Anyway, the result is that USATT will stick with the rule of coaching only between games and a timeout, except in tournaments that state otherwise on their entry form, or that are run under ITTF rules (such as the U.S. Open in December).
Here is the ITTF handbook which includes the ITTF rules, and here is the section that includes 3.5.1.3. Here is the USATT Rules of Table Tennis Update, where differences between ITTF and USATT Rules are highlighted.
Serve & Return Tips for Table Tennis Players – by Werner Schlager
Here’s the article from the 2003 World Men’s Singles Champion from Austria. Here’s a quote that jumps out at you right at the start, one that I’ve been stressing for years, often without success from players who prefer working on flashy loops rather than boring serves: “The service is without a doubt the most important stroke in table tennis.” There are a lot of other golden nuggets in this article.
Choosing the Best Ping-Pong Table
Coincidentally, two major table tennis sites both came out with articles or video on this.
- How to Choose the Best Table (article and video 10:33) from Ping Pong Ruler. For low-end tables, they seem to favor JOOLA and Stiga. For high-end tables, they favor Butterfly.
- Choosing a Table Tennis Table (video 5:33) from PingSkills.
The Conservative Server and the Liberal Looper
Here’s the new article from Coach Jon.
Best of 2016 World Table Tennis Day
Here’s the ITTF video (3:03). It has been selected into "Sports Movies & TV 2016 – 34th Milano International Ficts Festival.
Joo Se Hyuk: A Tribute
Here’s the new video (7:02) honoring the South Korean star, the best defensive player in the world and Men’s Singles Finalist in 2003.
This Guy is a Master at Ping Pong
Here’s the trick-shot video (76 sec)!
Game Show Target Practice
Here’s the video (1:54) – for a moment I thought it was Kanak Jha!
Pool of Ping-Pong Balls and Colorful Lights
Here’s the video (38 sec). “Dawn Of Man filled a pool with 250,000 ping pong balls for one wild party.”
Robot Playing Table Tennis
Here’s the video (75 sec). I have linked to similar videos of actual rallying robots, but I think this one is new. Now if it could only learn to read spin!
Table Tennis Memes
This is what you get when you google “Table tennis memes.”
Non-Table Tennis - Baltimore Book Festival and Why the Police Came for Me!
I spent Friday at the Baltimore Book Festival, which was held in the Inner Harbor, about an hour’s drive away. The two panels I was on (for Science Fiction Writers of America) went really well – here’s a picture of one of them (that’s me, second from the left, looking to the side). I especially enjoyed the “How to Come Across as a Professional Writer When You're Just Starting Out” panel, where I gave my “Ten Commandments for Acting Professional,” and was encouraged to publish the list. (I’ll do so sometime soon in my science fiction blog which doesn’t get updated nearly as often as this one.) I also did a book signing. I also learned the futility of bringing a box of chocolates for fans on a day where the temperatures were approaching 90 degrees.
There was some excitement just before one of my panels. Two police officers showed up at the SFWA site, where we were doing the panels, and asked for me. This was the first time in my life that police have come for me! I debated whether to raise my hands and say, “Hands up, don’t shoot!” However, they explained that they had found my cell phone. Somehow, while lugging a suitcase full of my books, and large retractable banner (for my Campaign 2100: Game of Scorpions novel), and a carry bag, my cell phone had fallen off its holder on my belt. It had been opened to my Facebook page, and so they had posted a note there asking if anyone knew where I was:
“This is the Baltimore City Police Department if anyone can get in touch with Larry and tell him we found his cellphone at the inner harbor and to please call us at [number deleted] so we can return it thank you.”
There were a lot of funny responses to that! Anyway, either from that, or my own Facebook postings, they figured out I was at the SFWA area. Thank you, Baltimore city police!
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No Blog on Friday
See “Non-Table Tennis” item at end on the Baltimore Book Festival.
New ITTF Coaching Rule
On Wednesday I blogged about this, and about the USATT Board – which I’m on – will vote on this issue this Saturday morning. If you have any comments or thoughts on this, this is your last chance – I DON’T want to hear from you after the fact if you haven’t commented before. There’s a discussion at Mytabletennis.net which I’m following and participating in, so you can post there, and I’ll see it. (Alas, I will hear from people after the fact because not everyone keeps track of the major happenings in our sport until they are directly affected, and they show up at a tournament and play a match against some kid whose coach is coaching every point.)
Here are my blogs on the topic, on August 19 (on why it’s a bad rule, with 14 reasons) and August 26 (on whether USATT should adopt it, despite it being a bad rule). Two things I plan to make sure of: 1) no matter what we do, tournament directors can opt in or out of the rule (by stating this on the entry form); and 2) we re-evaluated in December. The latter means we may adopt it, and then reconsider in December, or it could mean we postpone adopting, and reconsider in December.
This is not an easy decision. There are a few who think it’s a slam-dunk one way or the other, and when I read that, I honestly lose interest in their opinions, though I’ll listen to their arguments and make the counter-arguments myself. I prefer listening to people who can look at the arguments for both sides, and argue for why one side’s arguments are stronger than the other, and address the counter-arguments. Alas, many simply argue “their side,” ignoring counter-arguments either because they don’t know them or don’t understand them, or perhaps just hoping nobody notices. This may work for many people, but I prefer a somewhat more intellectual approach.
Here is the actual rule, with English spelling and one silly typo I pointed out previously but no one seems to be able to fix ("and and"):
3.5.1.3: Players may receive advice at any time except during rallies and and between the end of practice and the start of a match; if any authorised person gives advice illegally the umpire shall hold up a yellow card to warn him or her that any further such offence will result in his or her dismissal from the playing area (in effect as of 1st October 2016).
Tentatively, I plan on making one of the following two motions:
"I move that USATT temporarily adopt the new ITTF Coaching Rule, and re-evaluate and vote on it again in December, but tournaments may opt out of this rule if they state so on the entry form."
Or
"I move that USATT not adopt the new ITTF Coaching Rule at this time, and re-evaluate and vote on it again in December, but tournaments may opt to follow this rule if they state so on the entry form."
Things I Said While Coaching This Week
Revelations of a Table Tennis Champion, autobiography of Danny Seemiller now available
Here’s the ITTF News Release on Dan Seemiller’s autobiography.
Most Expensive Coach in the World Revisited
In my blog yesterday, I joked about being the most expensive coach, with a student paying $266 for a 90-minute lesson, or $177/hour. (Arguably more, because that doesn’t include transportation from NY to MD, and hotel – but he was down for a business trip, so we didn’t include that.) But Len Winkler, a professional coach from Hawaii (that’s not fair!) wrote me the following:
Aloha Larry,
I beat you in cost of coaching. Although I only charge a mere $30.00 per hour, I had a guy fly here on Saturday mornings every other week from Honolulu. He flew Hawaiian Airlines ($150.00 round trip), rented a car ($38.00), drove the 70 minutes in each direction (gas, $30.00), took his lessons, took me to lunch ($30.00), drove back to airport and home ($15.00 Honolulu parking). He did this for about 6 months. Then his wife had a baby and sadly hasn’t played since. LOLOLOL
Len Winkler
Len later emailed me that this was for a four-hour lesson, so that's $120 in coaching fees. All told, it comes to $353. But $353/4 = "only" $88.25/hour. So I'm still the most expensive coach in the world!
How to Return Spin Serves in Table Tennis
Here’s the new coaching article from Expert Table Tennis.
Why the Right Shoes Are Important When Playing Table Tennis
Here’s the article from Table Tennis Spot.
Women’s World Cup
Interested in attending this international event, which takes place in Philadelphia, Oct. 7-9? MDTTC has a special group rate discount. Here’s info! The best women in the world will be there, including the top two women in the world, Liu Shiwen and Ding Ning of China, and USA’s own Lily Zhang. (I’m reposting this item from Wednesday for those who missed it. I’ll be there on Sunday – hope to see you there!)
Zhang Jike Declines 2016 Chinese Super League
Here’s the article.
Best of Timo Boll - Zhang Jike
Here’s the video (8:55).
Ping Pong Brain Boost
Here’s the newest video (34 sec) on how table tennis is being used to treat Alzheimer’s.
Frogs Playing Table Tennis
Here they are!
Boater vs. Surfer Table Tennis
Here’s the video (10 sec) as they really do this!
Non-Table Tennis - Baltimore Book Festival
Tomorrow I’ll be at the Baltimore Book Festival all day, leaving early in the morning, so no blog tomorrow. I’m on two science fiction writing panels, a book signing (at 4PM for Campaign 2100: Game of Scorpions), plus a few other activities. Here’s their bio of me. My two panels (at 2PM and 3PM) are “How to Come Across as a Professional Writer When You're Just Starting Out” and “The Future of Science Fiction & Fantasy.” During my signing for Campaign 2100, I’ll also have on hand for sale my other novels, including the fantasy table tennis novel “The Spirit of Pong.” What, you, a table tennis player, hasn’t read that yet? What’s wrong with you?!!!
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I'm kind of with you on the coaching rule: I think it's bad for the game, in that it will slow it down and make it even less spectator-friendly than it already is, but if we (the USA) don't adopt it, we'll be put at a disadvantage.
Is there any way to lobby to have the international rule changed?
In reply to Re: September 22, 2016 by katterfelto
I expect that once the rule has been out for a time, there will be lots of lobbying to get it changed. We'll see.
New ITTF Coaching Rule and Board Discussion on Saturday
This Saturday at 9:30AM the USATT Board will have a teleconference on whether to adopt the new ITTF Coaching Rule that allows coaching between points. I think it’s a horrible rule, and yet we’d be handicapping ourselves if we don’t adopt it, so it’s not an easy decision, and I’m still undecided – though I’m leaning slightly toward adopting it, with a note in the minutes that we should take this up again at the December Board meeting so we can evaluate it. This is your chance to chime in.
Here’s what Samson Dubina wrote me about it:
It is a terrible rule and should never have been passed by ITTF. However, as you mentioned in the blog, we need to follow the ruling if we want to have any chance to have success at the international level. USATT really needs to have a conference call about this asap. Myself, as well as the other US Coaches, need to be developing a system of communication with our players and have a few months to adjust and perfect the system.
Here’s my letter yesterday to the USATT Board, which includes links to my two blogs on the topic. (Some people have text-only email, so I put the links in explicitly.)
Dear Board,
The decision on the new ITTF coaching rule is not going to be an easy one, and could be the most consequential vote we make this year as it will have a major impact on the sport. I think it's a horrible rule, but at the same time I'm struggling with whether we should adopt it, since if we don't, our players will not be prepared when they play at the U.S. Open, the North American Teams, and in the various Olympic, Pan Am, and Paralympic continental trials. (Those are all run under ITTF rules.)
I have blogged about the issue twice. On August 19 I blogged about why it's a bad rule, and gave 14 reasons:
http://tabletenniscoaching.com/node/2470On August 26 I blogged about whether USATT should adopt the rule:
http://tabletenniscoaching.com/node/2476On July 7, the USATT Umpires and Referees Committee voted 4-0 (see Motion 2) that USATT not adopt the rule:
http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Table-Tennis/Features/2016/July/25/Umpires-and-Referees-Committee-Motions-and-Actions"MOVED that the URC make the recommendation to the USATT Rules Committee and USATT Board that ITTF's new rule permitting coaching at times other than between games not be applicable for United States tournaments that are neither ITTF sponsored nor sanctioned."
Strangely, though they voted on July 7 to make this recommendation to the USATT Board, I do not believe they ever notified the Board of their recommendation to us. (I don't know if they notified the Rules Committee.) On Aug. 30 I asked the Rules Committee Chair (Kagin) for their recommendation on this, but was told they had no recommendation at that time.
As a professional coach who will have to coach under these new rules, I am disgusted, and am not looking forward to this. I'm fairly certain that the rule will be overturned within a few years, but we'll see.
-Larry Hodges
Women’s World Cup
Interested in attending this international event, which takes place in Philadelphia, Oct. 7-9? MDTTC has a special group rate discount. Here’s info! The best women in the world will be there, including the top two women in the world, Liu Shiwen and Ding Ning of China, and USA’s own Lily Zhang.
Looping Flips
Here’s the new coaching article by Samson Dubina.
MH Table Tennis Coaching Blog
Here are the coaching article archives of Matt Hetherington, with 31 different articles. (I think I’ve linked to them all over the last few years as they went up, one by one, but now you can browse them all at once!)
USATT League Software Ready to Launch
Here’s the USATT news item.
Full Youth National Teams for 2016-2017
Here’s the USATT Announcement of the final selections.
Most Expensive Coach in the World?
I am the most expensive coach in the world. Well, sort of! This past Sunday I had a 90-minute session with a player from out of town come in on business in DC, which is about 20 miles south of my club, MDTTC. The actual cost of the lesson was $90. However, he also spent $176 using Uber to get back and forth, so it was $266 total, or about $177/hour. That’s my new coaching rate. Any takers?
34th World Table Tennis Championships and Sportacus ‘77
This is my newest table tennis book – the 204-page program for the 1977 World Championships, which John Olsen gave to me over the weekend. It’s now the latest addition to my collection of 239 table tennis books.
Ping Pong Partyz in the DC Area
Here’s the new business – “We provide young and fun professional level ping pong players to provide entertainment for events and parties.”
Table Tennis Camp for Veterans with Disabilities in Phoenix, AZ
Here’s the USATT article.
A Museum Devoted to Table Tennis
Here’s the article in the Shanghai Daily (in English).
Quadri Aruna Hopes to Surpass Quarter-finals Record at World Cup
Here’s the article on the Nigerian star from the Nigerian Daily Post.
Japan’s Table Tennis Star Fukuhara Announces Marriage
Here’s the article. She’s marrying Taiwan's table tennis Olympian Chiang Hung-chieh.
Chinese Fans go Crazy for Fang Bo
Here’s the video (37 sec), with Adam Bobrow doing the commentary. Now imagine if that were Ma Long or Zhang Jike!
Nurse Pong, 1942
Here’s the picture from a 1942 issue of Shorpy.
Classical Music + Ping Pong =
Here’s the video (1:22)!
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