October 27, 2016

No Blog on Friday and Monday
I leave early Friday morning for the World Fantasy Convention in Columbus, OH, where I'm a panelist, will do a reading, and will join other authors for a three-hour book signing on Friday night. See, I have a life outside table tennis! I return late on Sunday night. Here are two recent pictures of me at book signings, at the Lunacon SF Convention in NY and at the Capclave SF Convention in MD. (I'm toying with showing up at the full-time Columbus TTC on Saturday night, but am not sure yet if I'll be free.) Monday is Halloween, where kids everywhere dress up as little ping-pong players and go door to door singing, "Pong or Heat!", and if you don't play them a quick ping-pong match, they burn your house down. 

U.S. Open in Las Vegas
Here's the home page for the tournament, held Dec. 12-17. You can enter online or print out a paper entry form. Here's where you can see the growing list of entries, with the deadline Nov. 20. Want to know who's registered from your club or state? Click on the appropriate heading. You can list the players by name, by rating, or by event. So . . . why should you go to the U.S. Open? Here are 100 reasons.

• #1-94: 94 Events to Play. Yes, you read that right, there are 94. They range from the Championship events (Men's and Women's Singles, Doubles, and Mixed Doubles, plus a new "U.S. Citizens Open Singles") to Senior events (from Over 30 to Over 80, men and women, singles and doubles), to Junior events (from Under 10 to Under 21, boys and girls) to Rating Singles events (from Under 800 to Under 2700, some of them for adults or juniors only) to Rating Doubles events (from Under 2700 to Under 4200) to Hardbat events (ten of them) to Sandpaper events (four of them).
• #95: Vendors. Lots of vendors selling equipment. If you are an EJ (Equipment Junkie), it's heaven. If you are a table tennis player, it's heaven. If you are looking for a pleasant way to spend a few hours, just choose one of the booths, browse over their rubbers and rackets, and call out the name of each one – that should take an afternoon.
• #96: Spectating. When the level of play is so strong you have to have an Under 2700 rating event, you know there's going to be some really good rallies. And if you are tired of counterlooping, check out the hardbat and sandpaper rallies.
• #97: Las Vegas. There are silly Internet rumors that there are exciting things to do in Las Vegas. Me, I'm a skeptic, and in over 50 U.S. Nationals and Opens I've attended in Las Vegas, I've only seen the hotel and playing site. But I'll keep an open mind, and of course you should investigate this wild rumor on your own.
• #98: 1000 Table Tennis People. Come say "hi!" to us!
• #99: Host Hotels - The Linq and Flamingo. Stay there and get 1) one free event; 2) free monorail pass; 3) $25 food credit; 4) one free shirt customization (i.e. have your name put on the back of your shirt); 5) 50% the cost of the Players' Lounge; and 6) A free USATT Ratings Pin! (But I'm going there for the hot tub.)
• #100: My Table Tennis Books will be on sale, and I'll be there to autograph them! (Plus other table tennis books by Dan Seemiller, Richard McAfee, Tahl Leibovitz, Samson Dubina, and others.) Yeah, I had to put this in here – I'm a bookhead.

Have You Practiced Your Serves This Week?
Just asking. Here's my article Practicing Serves the Productive Way.

How to Win Crucial Points in Table Tennis Matches
Here's the new coaching article from Matt Hetherington.

The Science Behind How We Learn New Skills
Here's the article.

Table Tennis Exercises
Here's the video (3:20), care of the Sri Lanka TTA.

USATT Insider
Here's the most recent issue, which came out yesterday (Wednesday).

Vladimir Samsonov: The Evergreen Tree
Here's the highlights video (4:57).

Michael Maze vs Jon Persson (Champions League 2016/2017)
Here's the video (4:27). It turns out Maze only retired from international play, not from the Champions League. (Maze is the lefty.)

Ping Pong FM Turns Table Tennis Into a Jam Session
Here's the video (1:19) of this new game!

Pong Trick or Treat
Here's the picture. (Here's the non-Facebook version.)

Rallying with Five Balls!
Here's the video (20 sec). And you struggle to keep a single ball in play???

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