October 2, 2023

Next Blog October 16
I’ll be out of town next week at the Huntsman World Senior Games (see segment below), so no blog next week. However, the Tip of the Week will go up on Monday, Oct. 9, as always.

Tip of the Week
Four Short Serve Scenarios.

MDTTC Open and Weekend Coaching
Here are the results of the MDTTC Open this past weekend. Because of the tournament, we only had one junior group session, the novice group. You probably know what the focus was – FUNDAMENTALS! But we also had fun toward the end, where I put targets on the table and had them do various footwork drills while aiming for the targets.

During break, I taught them how to play “Bounce.” Each player stands to the side of the table, both on one side of the net. (So you can have two games going on, one on each side of the net.) One player throws the ball so it bounces exactly one time on the table before crossing the other side. Other player catches it and has to throw it so it bounces exactly two times. Then three, four, and so on, alternating until one of them misses. One bounce is of course easy, and the kids quickly get pretty good at getting two or three bounces, but it gets progressively harder – rarely does it get past five or six.

One problem – Ty Hoff was in town this past week and we played some hardbat, but I had to stop early as my left knee is still somewhat injured. I had to default out of the Hardbat Nationals in August; hopefully I’ll be able to hobble my way through at the World Senior Games.

Huntsman World Senior Games
I’ll be competing next week at the Huntsman World Senior Games in St. George, Utah. There are 44 sports altogether. Here’s a listing of the 232 table tennis players. (You can sort by rating, name, state, club, or event.) Alas, I’m the only one from Maryland or my club, MDTTC. I’m competing in four events – Over 50 Men’s Doubles (with Joe Ryan – we’re top seed); Over 60 Mixed Doubles (with Wendy Guo); Over 60 Hardbat (I’m top seed); and Hardbat Doubles (with Lily Yip, we’re top seed). While I’m bringing my sponge racket, I think I’m going to play all hardbat this time, even in the two age doubles events. These days my level is about the same with sponge or hardbat, but my hardbat receive and hitting dominates doubles more than my sponge game. I’m actually flying into Las Vegas on Sunday afternoon, then renting a car to drive the two hours to St. Paul. I return on Thursday night.

Ping Pong Parkinson’s World Championships
The were held this past week in Wels, Austria. Here are complete results. Here’s a promotional video (3:04). It’s mostly in German, but USA’s Navin Kumar (who I coach, though I wasn’t in Austria) speaks three times, from 0.53-1:03, 2:02-2:12, and 2:37-3:00. Navin also got a bronze medal for Consolation Mixed Doubles, Class 1.

Major League Table Tennis
Here’s their upcoming schedule. Next up is Oct. 13-15 in Myrtle Beach Sports Center in South Carolina.

New from USATT

Butterfly Training Tips

Sports Psychology Blogs by Dora Kurimay
Here they are!

Explosive Strength in Table Tennis - Improve Your Footwork
Here’s the video (5:02) from Pingispågarna.

New from PongSpace

New from Ti Long

New from PingSunday/EmRatThich

New from Performance Biomechanics Academy Table Tennis

New from Steve Hopkins/Butterfly

Bowmar Sports Tournament Highlights

Jenson Van Emburgh: From Lima Silver to Pursuing Gold in 2023
Here’s the article by Vlad Farcas

Short Pips Legend Wins the Battle of the Swedes
Here’s the video (69 sec) of Mattias Falck (in green, with short pips on forehand, world #20) vs. Anton Kallberg (in red, world #22), from Taco Backhand. Falck won Silver in Men’s Singles at the 2019 Worlds in Budapest, and Gold in Men’s Doubles at the 2021 Worlds in Houston.

New from TT11TV

New from ITTF

Ping Pong Is My Therapy
Here’s where you can buy the shirt at Amazon!

French Table Tennis Cartoons
Here’s a whole page of them. Alas, they are in French, so I can’t read them, but they are funny-looking – and you can make up your own captions!

Lad's Amazing Circus Tricks
Here’s the video (3:09) of these ping-pong oriented tricks!

How People Serve in Ping Pong
Here’s the video (28 sec)!

Serving for the Head
Here’s the video (15 sec)!

Many Rackets Father and Son Pong
Here’s the video (48 sec)!

1 Day VS 10 Years Playing Ping Pong
Here’s the video (11 sec)!

***
Send us your own coaching news!