June 24, 2024
Tip of the Week
Leave Your Comfort Zone to Develop Strategically.
First Galactic Table Tennis Championships
If you didn’t read it last week, you can still read First Galactic Table Tennis Championships – it’s FREE!!! Aliens from around the galaxy come to Earth for the championship. I had a LOT of fun creating all those aliens, plus there’s lots of intrigue – bribery and blackmail! I also worked in a number of my own experiences into the story, including my infamous quarter-pounders with cheese debacle when I won the 1980 North Carolina Open. Here’s the review at PingSunday.
I have another story that came out on Friday, “Don’t Look!” at the Sci-Phi Journal. And just this morning I sold “Life and Death and Bongo Drums” to the “Ruth and Ann’s Guide to Time Travel” Anthology. (Alas, no table tennis in these latter two.)
Illegal USATT Chair
It’s now been 505 days (72 weeks) since USATT elected Richard Char to an illegal third term as chair of the USATT board on Feb. 6, 2023. I’ve twice emailed the board on this. I blogged about it on Feb. 12, 2024 and Feb. 19, 2024. History will not look fondly on this chair and a majority of the current board that has gone along with it, nor the CEO who wrote an email supporting this. Neither will voters in the USATT elections this Fall. (Plus, of course, the CEO shouldn’t be involved in decisions about who chairs the very group she reports to.) I’ve blogged about various USATT issues quite a bit, and will do so again as the elections approach.
Sandbagging in Utah – Part 3
I wrote about this in my last two blogs, with links to the petition on Change.org and to the Facebook Discussion. Mario has posted an apology on Facebook and says he’s returned the money.
Major League Table Tennis
Follow the action!
- Major League Table Tennis Announces the Formation of Minor League Table Tennis
- Major Pong Head (blog coverage)
- Home Page
Butterfly Training Tips
- Multi ball Speed Play (57 sec) with Arantxa Cossio Aceves
- Backhand, Middle, Backhand, Wide Forehand (62 sec) with Kef Noorani
- FETHOMANIA 10: Drill 2 (50 sec) with Stefan Feth and Larry Thoman
- FETHOMANIA 10: Drill 3 (43 sec) with Stefan Feth and Larry Thoman
Yang Xiaoxin's Serve Analysis
Here’s the video (1:4) from PongSpace.
New from Performance Biomechanics Academy Table Tennis
- Champion Ryu Seung Min. Footwork training (1:19)
- Kong Linghui. China's first classic world and Olympic champion (4:27)
- Ma long 15 years. First Junior World Cup Chile 2003 (7:37)
What is the Difference Between ‘Topspin’ and ‘Loop’ in Table Tennis?
Here’s the article by Tom Lodziak.
Illegal Serve - the Biggest Problem in Table Tennis
Here’s the video (10:21) from PingSunday/EmRatThich. (The illegal serve issue doesn’t come up until 1:50.)
Penhold Grip: How To Learn and Practice with the Penhold Grip
Here’s the video (6:15) from Pingispågarna.
Ask the Coach
Here are the latest questions and answers from PingSkills.
New from Steve Hopkins/Butterfly
ITTF News
- Table Tennis' Smashing Debut at Seoul 1988
- Preparations in Good Order as Paris Qualifiers Prevail in Ostrava
- Olympic Day 2024: Celebrate Movement with Table Tennis
- Rome Ready to Host the Largest Table Tennis Event in History
- Leading Names on Duty in Ostrava Aiming to Repeat Tokyo Success in Paris
- Table Tennis Serves Up a Historic 10th Olympic Edition in Paris
- ITTF-Oceania Annual General Meeting: Moore Re-Elected President, Houston Appointed CEO
- ITTF World Rankings Deliver Tickets to Paris 2024
Old Ping-Pong Comic Covers
Here are three that I saw recently.
- King’s Comics #34, January, 1939 - Popeye and the Hatching Ping-Pong Ball
- The Barker #9, Autumn, 1948 – Not sure what’s going on here
- Little Dot #106, 1966 – She gets hit by lots of balls
It’s Only Ping Pong Said the Loser
Here’s where you can buy the shirt or mug at Amazon.
Level 1-10 (India)
Here’s the video (15 min) from Adam Bobrow!
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