December 4, 2015

Christmas Table Tennis Shopping
It's that time of year again, where you have to decide what to get for that table tennis player in your life – which could be yourself! Here are some suggestions. (And here's Santa playing table tennis with a reindeer.)

Table Tennis Instructional Books
I'm a writer so inevitably I'm going to start with this rather long section. There are a lot of good ones out there – including mine! You can read for free the first two chapters of my fantasy table tennis novel "The Spirit of Pong." But my best-selling book is "Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers." Here are many more. Skip this section if you're not the reader type – videos, equipment, and coaching comes next.

Table Tennis History Books

Table Tennis Novels

Other Table Tennis Books

Table Tennis Instructional Videos
It's tough selling table tennis videos these days since there's so much free stuff online. But there are some really good ones out there. Here's a sampling.

Table Tennis Equipment
I'm sponsored by Butterfly, so of course I'm biased here. (Here's their holiday sale.) Pick your favorite distributor, and go on a shopping spree! Or buy a gift certificate for someone. For Christmas I even asked for some TT equipment – ball amigos for picking up balls, since I use them constantly and go through them faster than I get them from Butterfly.

Table Tennis Lessons
The ultimate table tennis gift for yourself or others! If you are reading this, you likely know the local coaches. If not, here's the USATT coaching list. You can go for private lessons or a training camp – take your pick! Here's a listing of training camps maintained by Butterfly. (Before I get barraged, I'm way overbooked, and can't take on any new students.)

Thursday Night Pong at MDTTC
Last night I looked around the club and was just in awe of the number of top players and coaches there for regular play and practice. (It'll be even stronger tonight – Friday is our busiest night, with both advanced junior training and league night.) Players included last night (junior ages in parenthesis):

  • Chen Ruichao, 2677 (recently over 2700)
  • Yang XinYang, 2661
  • Cheng Yinghua, 2614 at age 57 and a USATT Hall of Famer (former Chinese national team member, previously over 2850)
  • Jeffrey Xeng Xun, 2557
  • Bowen Chen, 2546 (previously over 2600)
  • Jack Huang, 2526 at age 59 and getting inducted into the USATT Hall of Fame in two weeks (former Chinese national team member, previously over 2700)
  • Han Xiao, 2478 (previously over 2600)
  • Wang Qing Liang ("Leon"), 2476 (previously over 2600)
  • Nathan Hsu, 2440 (previously over 2500)
  • Derek Nie, 2369 (14)
  • Roy Ke, 2359 (16)
  • Stefano Ratti, 2313
  • Toby Kutler, 2308
  • Raghu Nadmichettu, 2287 (previously over 2500)
  • Stephen Yeh, 2201 (previously over 2350)
  • Ryan Dabbs, 2175 (12)
  • Larry Hodges, down to 2145….was once ranked 18th in country!!! (Citizens only)
  • John Hsu, 2141 (previously over 2250)
  • Tiffany Ke, 2018 (11)
  • Amy Lu, 2013 (14)
  • Spencer Chen, 1980 (13)
  • Jessica Lin, 1907 (11)
  • Ronald Chen, 1834 (11)
  • Lisa Lin, 1814 (11)

World Junior Championships
They are taking place right now in Vendée, FRA, Nov. 29 - Dec. 6. Here are some links – see the first item, where the ITTF ran a feature on USA.

College Table Tennis

Podcast with Brian Pace: Shadow Training for Table Tennis
Here's the podcast (1:02:28).

  • Why the loop is the ultimate trump card in table tennis.
  • How to incorporate shadow play into your practice.
  • Brian’s story: from late-starter to US national team.
  • What exactly is table tennis talent?
  • The importance of table tennis-specific fitness training.
  • Why shadow training is the perfect cardio.
  • How to get over the fear of looking stupid.
  • TOP TIP: Why hand speed is > power in the modern game.
  • Where to buy your copy of Brian latest training video.

Loop Fundamentals Shadow Table Tennis Training Video
Here's the promotional video (4:07) for Brian Pace's new coaching video, Loop Fundamentals Shadow Training Video. You can learn a lot just by watching this – and then decide whether to get the video. "The Loop Fundamentals Shadow Training Video is the most extensive video created that covers how to improve the Loop by taking you through a non-stop training routine the covers every possible way that you will ever us the Loop in competition. Learn to develop a higher aerobic ceiling, increase handspeed, improve stroke mechanics, develop more stroke awareness, as well as improving production."

Ask the Coach Show
Episode #199 (27:45) - Adapting to New Opponents (and other segments).

Male & Female Para Table Tennis Star Nominees Announced
Here's the ITTF Press Release.

Fang Bo Forehand Training
Here's video (68 sec) of Fang Bo (far side) in training. He's world #10, but made the final of Men's Singles at the 2015 Worlds.

Samson Dubina in Training
Here's video (2:53) of former USA team member Samson in training.

Dimitrij Ovtcharov's Posting on the Retirement of Jean-Michel Saive
Here's the Facebook posting. Here's the ITTF article on his retirement that I linked to yesterday.

International Table Tennis
Here's my periodic note (usually every Friday) that you can great international coverage at TableTennista (which especially covers the elite players well) and at the ITTF home page (which does great regional coverage). Butterfly also has a great news page.

Catcher in the Pong
No wonder table tennis is huge – it's mentioned twice in Catcher in the Rye, which is assigned reading in many high schools.

  • "Guys that get sore and childish as hell if you beat them at golf, or even just some stupid game like ping-pong."
  • "He put my [bleep] paper down then and looked at me like he'd just beaten hell out of me in ping-pong or something."

Presidential Candidates and Table Tennis
It's important for a president to play table tennis, of course, because it teaches them to kill and smash (our enemies), block (incoming terrorists), push (America's interests worldwide), drive (unemployment down), to (throw for a) loop enemy intelligence, and to serve (as great leaders) and receive (honors after their presidency). So which of the many candidates running for president has these skills? You decide! (If we could only get Delaware Governor Jack Markell to run - he's rated 1223, and I've coached him at our MDTTC camps before he went into politics.)

Of course, many of our recent presidents have played table tennis.

Celebrity and Epic Fail Table Tennis
Here's a GREAT new video (3:21), created by Jimmy Butler, and set to rousing music that has various celebrities playing table tennis and epic fails – great one to watch! Clayton Kershaw, Jay Leno, Daryl Morey, Byron Davis, Jeremy Lin, Dirk Nowitski, Rich Cho, Frank Caliendo, Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, Kathy Vegh, Matthew Perry, Brian Pace, Jimmy Butler, Biba Golic, Soo Yeon Lee, Ariel Hsing, and the all-time great crashing point of Nathan Hsu – he'd have gotten that ball if not for the barrier!

HOWEVER - the title "Epic Fail Table Tennis" is a serous misnomer. It should say, "Epic Effort" for the effort Nathan put into going after that ball. Plus - he was down 2-1 in games and 4-3 in points at the time he ran into the barriers (and so was down 5-3 afterwards), but he came back to win the match! (Disclaimer - Nathan is from my club, and I've coached him many times in tournaments.) 

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