March 3, 2025

Tip of the Week
Contact the Bottom of the Ball When Serving Backspin.

Weekend Coaching
I coached in three junior group sessions over the weekend, each 1.5 hours. One issue that came up a few times was balance. Many really don’t understand how important it is – but many top players and coaches consider it one of the most important things. If you are even slightly off balance, then before you can move the other way, you have to recover your balance, which is time you don’t have in many rallies. It’s especially important after you move to the wide corners, which is also when most players do go off balance – which is why they don’t recover in time, and then call out, “I’m too slow!” No – they weren’t too slow, they were off-balance. Here are eight Tips of the Week I’ve written over the years on balance and recovery.

Before one of the sessions started I brought out a new “ping-pong ball” – a miniature superball! I rallied with the kids using it, then let them hit with it among themselves. It was incredibly bouncy, hard to keep on the table. When it hit the floor, it inevitably bounced over the barriers, so I ended up acting as ballboy just to keep the ball from bouncing away.

Top Ten Ways to Become the Best Table Tennis Player in the World
So, which of these will launch you toward world table tennis domination?

  1. Practice really hard with a really good coach.
  2. Be born in China with table tennis-playing parents who start you off early and then send you to the best coaches in the country.
  3. Kill everyone in the world who is better than you. Since it’s difficult to find them all, just kill everyone. (Time to make use of your kill shot!)
  4. Become immortal and outlast all those who are better than you. 
  5. Travel in time to the 1880s or earlier, before table tennis was invented.
  6. Travel in time with your fancy sponge racket to the hardbat age, and if you are a 2200 or better looper with spinny serves, you’ll be the best in the world - at least until the best hardbat players get used to your loops and spinny serves. If you are less than 2200, then see #1 above.
  7. Find an uninhabited world.
  8. Dig a hole and go into it. If everyone better than you is ON the world, then you are the best player IN the world.
  9. Find all the players who are better than you. Synchronize watches. Then, at an established time, have them all jump in the air so they are no longer in or on the world.
  10. Add to the ITTF rulebook 2.5.15: “A player is defined as only [your name].”

Illegal Chair of the USATT Board: Week 108
It’s now been 756 days (108 weeks) since USATT elected Richard Char to an illegal third term as chair of the USATT board on Feb. 6, 2023 – such a stain on their legacy. Here’s my July 1 blog about it. Normally the USATT board meets in Jan or Feb, but this year they haven’t had a meeting yet, and so Char continues as chair until the next board meeting, where they are required to vote for a new chair (assuming they follow the USATT bylaws this time). They have finally scheduled a board meeting on Zoom for this Thursday, Mar. 6 at 11AM eastern time. (Here’s the USATT BOD Agendas and Notices page. The notice of the meeting doesn’t include an agenda, which they usually do.) I don’t know who they’ll elect, but I do know that many of us will not forget this blatant disregard for USATT bylaws.

Major League Table Tennis
Follow the action!

Butterfly Training Tips and Highlights

New from PongSpace

What to Prepare For After a Long Backspin Serve
Here’s the video (4:30) from Ti Long.

New from Table Tennis Daily

New from PingSkills

New from TT11TV

New from Steve Hopkins/Butterfly

NCTTA Supports High School Table Tennis in the USA
Here’s the article.

New from USATT
I’ve included all of the articles on the ITTF Pan Am Cup.

New from ITTF

Big Serve Table Tennis - Demo video by Peter Luxton
Here’s the video (7:36) – make sure to read the text under the video.

I May Start Talking About Table Tennis At Any Time
Here’s where you can buy the shirt!

New Table Tennis Technique!
Here’s the video (8 sec), “This should be illegal in table tennis.”

Floor Pong Challenge
Here’s the video (18 sec)!

How to Destroy a Kid’s Weekend
Here’s the video (16 sec)

Making History at Pongfinity Cup
Here’s the video (19:32)! “We hosted the first ever Pongfinity Cup and competed in the men's singles class!”

***
Send us your own coaching news!