June 8, 2016

Can You Beat the Guinness World Record for Fastest Table Tennis Ball Hit?
Here's the video (1:08). The record was set on Monday, in Poland, at 116 kilometers per hour – which, to us non-metric Americans (that includes me), is 71.92 mph, or about 72. But as you can see from the comments, the form used isn't exactly ideal for table tennis. As one person wrote, "Possibly the worse advert for table tennis. Check out his posture. Surely he ain't the fastest or is it a case that no one else can be bothered."

It's commonly said that table tennis balls are hit up to 100mph. This has been pretty much disproven over and over. Jay Turberville wrote extensively on this back in 2003. In the "Fastest Smash Competition" cited there, the record was 69.9mph. Of course it makes a huge difference where you measure the ball's speed, as it slows down quickly due to air resistance. Speeds are normally measured either by radar guns (which should give the speed pretty close to right off the paddle) or by doing frame-by-frame analysis, where you see how far the ball travels between frames. (You can also measure it by measuring the time between the sound of the ball hitting the racket and the sound of it hitting the paddle, as Jay explains.) 

Hitting the ball the fastest possible would seem, in theory, to mean explosively using every muscle in rapid sequence. In reality, it means putting your weight into the ball with a big body rotation, and then explosively smacking the forearm into the ball – which is what appears to happen in the record-setting shot. Note how the player starts sideways, and ends up with about a quarter body rotation. (This also indicates something coaches have argued about for years – does doing even more body rotation add to speed? There's a limit there, and you really don't need that big a backswing to reach maximum power.)

So what is the fastest a ball can be hit? It's unlikely that the fastest hitter in the world just happens to have been at the Polish event. But it does look like he is approaching the limits of human performance – and I would guess that would likely be in the 75-80mph range, at most. But remember, we've only got a nine-foot table between us!

But it's still fun to say the ball travels up to 100mph in what we like to call the "World's Fastest Sport." (Jai-alai at 188mph says hello. Some quick Googling also has golf at 224.9 mph and tennis serves at 163.7mph. Soft, plastic balls just don't jump off a spongey surface as fast as these other sports!) And of course, a table tennis ball can travel up to 900 mph!

MDTTC Disabled Veterans Camp
I wrote about this in my blog yesterday, and now it's a featured USATT news item! The only down side is that despite sending out emails all day yesterday, I haven't been able to identify each of the players. (I'm terrible with names, but know all of them except the two on far left – and I know the two they are, just not which is which.) MDTTC gave each of them free six-month memberships, and USATT is giving any of them who play in tournaments free USATT memberships.

Table Tennis Competitions – Tips for Parents
Here's the article from Expert Table Tennis.

Community Sport Initiation to Table Tennis Learning Facilitator Workshop
Here's the info page on this workshop, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, on June 11, 9AM-4PM, for "Persons aged 16 and up who want to start coaching kids aged 6 and up!"

The Secrets of Success - Reversed Version
Here's the article by Aiman Fazeer Yap. "Ping Pong, or table tennis as it is known worldwide, has 5 crucial aspects. These are Spiritual, Technical, Tactical, Mental and Physical."

ITTF Releases Complete List of Teams and Athletes Competing at Rio 2016 Olympic Games!
Here's the ITTF Press Release.

Nguyen Takes out Big Titles at Meiklejohn Senior Open
Here's the USATT article and results by Matt Hetherington.

11 Questions with Mike Mezyan
Here's the USATT interview.

Adam Bobrow: Planet Pong Sizzle
Here's the video (9:46).

Stefan Feth vs. Michael Maze – 1997!
Here's the video (1:54) of these two playing each other as juniors. (Feth is the righty, is a former member of the German National Team, the USA Men's Coach since 2009, and the primary coach of Kanak Jha and many others. Michael Maze, from Denmark, former world #8, is the 2009 European Men's Singles Champion, 2004 Olympic Men's Doubles Bronze medalist, and 2005 World Men's Singles Semifinalist.)

Do You Remember?
Here's a video (46 sec) that takes us down memory lane for those of us who played in the 1970s and 80s.

Matt Besler Translates His Skills from the Ping Pong Table to the Soccer Pitch
Here's the article and video (1:16).

When a Pongfinity Trick Shot Does Not Go to Plan!
Here's the video (14 sec).

Honda Dream Garage Sales Event
Here's the commercial (30 sec) that features table tennis!

Kids Play Ping Pong on Hoverboards
Here's the video (4:35)!

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