August 10, 2020
20 HRS AGO - Tip of the Week
Two Tips to Increase Forehand Looping Power.
Larry Hodges Interview
Here's my Expand
20 HRS AGO - Tip of the Week
Two Tips to Increase Forehand Looping Power.
Larry Hodges Interview
Here's my interview (40:53) at Kevin Table Tennis! You may know Kevin Nguyen (from Portland, OR) for his table tennis trick shots that I often link to, and he's also among the best of his age in the country, rated 2062 at age 12. Hope you enjoy some of the funny stories I tell! (Take it in two sittings, perhaps, but once you get started, I bet you won't stop!)
Off to the Ohio Mega Camp!
I've basically been sitting at home for five months now, coaching only one hour a week. I've been getting more and more out of shape, and I'm bored to death. So a few days ago I made the decision to do something about it. The camps at my club are canceled due to the pandemic - and if they weren't, I'd probably be coaching at them rather than playing.
So I'm off to spend a week at Samson Dubina's August 10-14 Mega Camp! I'm going as half player, half practice partner - half Collapse
Best Youth Baseball Gloves
20/07/2020 - Best Youth Baseball Gloves to Buy in 2020 Whether your kid is just starting with baseball or has Expand
20/07/2020 - Best Youth Baseball Gloves to Buy in 2020 Whether your kid is just starting with baseball or has played a …
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July 20, 2020
20/07/2020 - As noted in my blog below, I'm away this week, but here is this week's Tip of the Week, Expand
20/07/2020 - As noted in my blog below, I'm away this week, but here is this week's Tip of the Week, The Importance of Lobbing. See you next Monday! Collapse
June 29, 2020
29/06/2020 - Tip of the Week
Training Down the Line.
USATT Coaching Excellence Program
As a member of the USATT Expand
29/06/2020 - Tip of the Week
Training Down the Line.
USATT Coaching Excellence Program
As a member of the USATT Coaching Committee, I'm helping USATT put together their upcoming Coaching Excellence Program. (Others on the committee are Pieke Franssen, Gao Jun, and Dave Fullen. USATT CEO Virginia Sung and High Performance Director Sean O'Neill are also involved.) Right now they are working on the Club Coaching Certification Program. (There are four levels - club, state, regional, national.) The biggest question is what should be taught at the Club level, which is for coaches for beginners to about 1500. It's easy to say, "They should know this, and this, and this,..." and pretty soon everything is taught at the club coach level, and there's nothing left for the State, Regional, or National level!
Here was my recommendation on what should be taught at this level. In a regular training camp, I figured you could teach all this in a barebones minimum of 12 hours, but really Collapse
Best Engine Building Board Games
22/06/2020 - The 10 Best Engine Building Board Games of 2020 Best High End Wingspan Check Price on Amazon Best Expand
22/06/2020 - The 10 Best Engine Building Board Games of 2020 Best High End Wingspan Check Price on Amazon Best Mid Range …
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June 15, 2020
15/06/2020 - This week's blog will be up by 2PM Eastern Time, unless I see myself shadow-practice, in which Expand
15/06/2020 - This week's blog will be up by 2PM Eastern Time, unless I see myself shadow-practice, in which case table tennis clubs will be closed for six more weeks because of coronavirus. Meanwhile, the Tip of the Week is up: Practice Partner Collaboration - the PPC of TT. And to help tide you over, here's Pongfinity's Hole in the Racket Challenge (4:42)! Collapse
May 26, 2020
26/05/2020 - Tip of the Week
Three Types of Anticipation.
Cartoon of the Week:
Help Wanted: Table Tennis Expand
26/05/2020 - Tip of the Week
Three Types of Anticipation.
Cartoon of the Week:
Help Wanted: Table Tennis Coronavirus Smacker. I had some free time.
Still More Table Tennis Tips
As noted in my blog last week, my book "Still More Table Tennis Tips" came out last Monday! It's in both print and kindle. It's 150 Tips from 2017 to the present, organized in logical order and progression, with much of the wording updated and cleaned up. It's the third in the series, after Table Tennis Tips and More Table Tennis Tips. I've dropped the price on all three - they cost $12 each, or $7 for kindle. It's 187 pages with seven chapters:
Serve and Receive (15 tips)
Strokes (23 tips)
Footwork (10 tips)
Tactics (45 tips)
Improving (37 tips)
Sports Psychology (17 tips)
Doubles (3 tips)
Why not buy the complete set of three? You've got lots of free time to read now, right? A special thanks to Mark Dekeyser, John Olsen, and Dennis Taylor, who (as they did for the Collapse
May 4, 2020
04/05/2020 - This week's blog will go up sometime this afternoon - by 3PM or I have to sprint through a Expand
04/05/2020 - This week's blog will go up sometime this afternoon - by 3PM or I have to sprint through a local hospital without a mask, hand-in-hand with the vice president. Recently, due to the pandemic, I've taken to staying up late and getting up late, and so I got a late start this morning. (Actually, while by day I'm a table tennis coach and writer, by night I'm a vigilante superhero, Pongman, and I walk the dark alleys, looking for bad guys to smack with ping-pong balls.) The Tip of the Week is up: Don't Practice Hesitation. And while you are waiting, here's the King of Attack vs. King of Defense (15:39) - Ma Long vs. Joo Se Hyuk! And for some laughs, here's:
Legos Pong!
Here are two hilarious videos as the "Legos" version of the stars battle it out, with play-by-play by ITTF commentator Adam Bobrow!!!
Timo Boll VS Ma Long • Lego Table Tennis Animation (2:36)
Ma Long VS Fan Zhendong • Lego Table Tennis Animation (2:52) Collapse
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August 3, 2020
7 DAYS AGO - Tip of the Week
How to Vary Your Receive Against Short Backspin Serves.
Coaches Who Do Online Expand
7 DAYS AGO - Tip of the Week
How to Vary Your Receive Against Short Backspin Serves.
Coaches Who Do Online Coaching
Especially during these pandemic days, an alternative to private or group coaching is online coaching. There are several ways of doing this. Often a coach simply studies a video of a player and writes up an analysis with coaching suggestions. (I used to do this.) Sometimes it's an ongoing thing as the player perhaps sends in weekly videos for the coach. It can also be done live, with a coach watching via video as the player trains. I've compiled an alphabetized list of top US coaches who do such online coaching. Take your pick! (Coaches - email me if I should put you on the list.)
Samson Dubina (OH), USATT Certified National Coach and multiple Coach-of-the-Year awards, and 2009 US Men's Singles Finalist. See also his web page (scroll to the bottom of the products page).
Cory Eider (NJ), former USATT High Performance Director and 2013 US Men's Singles finalist, Collapse
Best Batting Gloves
20/07/2020 - Best Batting Gloves (Youth/Adult) to Buy in 2020 Batting gloves are an essential piece of Expand
20/07/2020 - Best Batting Gloves (Youth/Adult) to Buy in 2020 Batting gloves are an essential piece of equipment for any baseball or …
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July 13, 2020
13/07/2020 - Tip of the Week
Fast, Quick Motions Disguise a No-Spin Serve.
Vacation - No Blog Next Week
Every Expand
13/07/2020 - Tip of the Week
Fast, Quick Motions Disguise a No-Spin Serve.
Vacation - No Blog Next Week
Every year in July I drive up to Manchester, New Hampshire for my annual nine-day science fiction writing workshop "vacation." Alas, due to the pandemic, this year's it's all online, so I not only won't be leaving Maryland, I won't even be leaving my house. But I'll be in various workshop meetings every day from morning until night. It doesn't actually start until this Friday (July 17-25), but I'm spending the rest of this week preparing for it, plus getting some writing done.
There will be a Tip of the Week next Monday, however, so stop by for that!!! Next blog will be July 27.
The minute I put this blog online, the "vacation" begins!!! If you need a favor, or something quick, or table tennis advice - NO!!!!! I get a dozen or more such emails every day, and I dutifully get back to everyone the day they email me (and spend way, Way, WAY too much Collapse
June 22, 2020
22/06/2020 - Today's blog will be up by 2PM or I have to fly to Tulsa and put on a table tennis Expand
22/06/2020 - Today's blog will be up by 2PM or I have to fly to Tulsa and put on a table tennis demonstration for the huge mass of spectators at a political rally. Meanwhile, the Tip of the Week is up, Do You Really Have Control of Your Shots? And to help tide you over, here's Through the Scoreboard Practice (45 sec) with Samson Dubina - and see the kid's reaction the three times he makes it! Collapse
Best War Board Games
21/06/2020 - The 10 Best War Board Games of 2020 Best High End Star Wars Rebellion Check Price on Amazon Expand
21/06/2020 - The 10 Best War Board Games of 2020 Best High End Star Wars Rebellion Check Price on Amazon Best Mid Range …
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June 8, 2020
08/06/2020 - This week's blog will be up by 2PM (eastern time) or I will be eaten by marauding carnivorous Expand
08/06/2020 - This week's blog will be up by 2PM (eastern time) or I will be eaten by marauding carnivorous dinosaurs, which is what 2020 has planned for us next. But the Tip of the Week is up, How to Never Miss an Easy Smash, and to help tide you over, here's Pool Pong Lobbing and a Diving Counter-Smash (31 sec)! Collapse
May 25, 2020
25/05/2020 - Happy Memorial Day! Like many others, I'm taking today off, and so this week's blog will Expand
25/05/2020 - Happy Memorial Day! Like many others, I'm taking today off, and so this week's blog will go up tomorrow (Tuesday). However, the Tip of the Week is up: Three Types of Anticipation. To help tide you over, here's Weird Ping Pong (3:35) from Pongfinity! Plus, since I had some free time, here's a cartoon I created: Help Wanted: Table Tennis Coronavirus Smacker. Enjoy, and see you tomorrow!
How am I spending my day, you ask? I've spent part of this past weekend as a panelist at the online Balticon Science Fiction Convention, but my panels are done, so I may attend a few panels as a spectator. But I plan to spend most of today moving toward a new goal of mine - to see all 92 movies that have won best Best Picture at the Academy Awards, from "Wings" in 1928 to the present. I've seen 79 of them, including every one from 1947 to the present, so 13 to go! From the link above, from 1928 to 1946 the ones I have seen are Casablanca, Gone with the Wind, Mutiny on Collapse
May 18, 2020
18/05/2020 - This week's blog will be up by 2PM or I have to hold this pose for a week. Meanwhile, the Tip Expand
18/05/2020 - This week's blog will be up by 2PM or I have to hold this pose for a week. Meanwhile, the Tip of the Week is up: Mind Games: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. And while you're waiting, here's a guy setting the world record for hitting ping-pong balls with nunchucks (40 sec). Collapse
Best Porch Swings
04/05/2020 - Best Porch Swings (Reviewed)Morning coffee and lazy Sundays are best spent relaxing and rocking on Expand
04/05/2020 - Best Porch Swings (Reviewed)Morning coffee and lazy Sundays are best spent relaxing and rocking on a porch swing. And with summer just around the corner, buying yourself a porch swing is a wise investment.To help you choose the very best porch swing, we tested 24 swings, installed them, and ran them through our battery of […]
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July 27, 2020
27/07/2020 - This week's blog will be up by 3:00 PM or I have to stop hacking Trump's twitter Expand
27/07/2020 - This week's blog will be up by 3:00 PM or I have to stop hacking Trump's twitter account and posting all those controversial messages I've been putting up for three and a half years. I got a late start today - I blame Graham Frankel's "Ping! A Personal Perspective on Table Tennis," which I started reading last night and ended up reading cover-to-cover in one sitting, finishing early this morning. (Here's the American Amazon page, though it has far less info for some reason.) Meanwhile, here's the Tip of the Week, When Playing an Unfamiliar Player, Focus on Serve & Receive. And to tide you over, here's the video My BEST Ping Pong Trickshots (3:25). (No, it's not me!) Collapse
Best Wood Bats
20/07/2020 - Best Wood Baseball Bats to Buy in 2020 While composite baseball bats are a popular choice, Expand
20/07/2020 - Best Wood Baseball Bats to Buy in 2020 While composite baseball bats are a popular choice, swinging with a wood …
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July 6, 2020
06/07/2020 - This week's blog will be up by 3:30 PM or the plans for my head to be added to Mount Rushmore Expand
06/07/2020 - This week's blog will be up by 3:30 PM or the plans for my head to be added to Mount Rushmore will be cancelled, and Trump's head will go up instead. (I got a very late start today.) Meanwhile, the Tip of the Week is up, Side-to-Side Training for Improvement and Health. And to help tide you over, here's Pongfinity's Ping Pong Battleship 2 (5:18)! Collapse
Best Harry Potter Board Games
22/06/2020 - The 10 Best Harry Potter Board Games of 2020 Best High End Trivial Pursuit: World of Harry Expand
22/06/2020 - The 10 Best Harry Potter Board Games of 2020 Best High End Trivial Pursuit: World of Harry Potter Ultimate Edition Check …
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Best Dungeon Crawl Board Games
21/06/2020 - The 9 Best Dungeon Crawl Board Games of 2020 Best High End Gloomhaven Check Price on Amazon Expand
21/06/2020 - The 9 Best Dungeon Crawl Board Games of 2020 Best High End Gloomhaven Check Price on Amazon Best Mid Range Descent: …
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June 1, 2020
01/06/2020 - Tip of the Week
Do You Have a Quadruple Threat Receive?
Franchise-Based Professional US Table Expand
01/06/2020 - Tip of the Week
Do You Have a Quadruple Threat Receive?
Franchise-Based Professional US Table Tennis League
If you want to be a world-class player in the US, then the first thing you have to do after high school (after years of training!) is to get out of the US. It's almost impossible to reach a world-class level unless, at that stage, you spend a few years training and competing against the best in the world, and that means going overseas to play on a team. Most top US players who do this do so in the German leagues, where they both compete regularly against other top players (and gain experience against different styles), and train daily, usually two sessions per day, with the members of their team, along with extensive physical training and serve practice. Most top US players, from past champions Dan Seemiller, Eric Boggan, Sean O'Neill, and Jim Butler, to current US #1 Kanak Jha and other current US players, all developed extensive in European leagues. (The complication, Collapse
Joola Table Tennis - An Interview with Richard Lee
24/05/2020 - Joola are one of the world's top table tennis equipment manufacturers. Find out more about them in Expand
24/05/2020 - Joola are one of the world's top table tennis equipment manufacturers. Find out more about them in this exclusive interview. Collapse
May 11, 2020
11/05/2020 -
Tip of the Week
Five Ways to Take Away an Opponent's Big Shot.
This is the 450th Tip of Expand
11/05/2020 -
Tip of the Week
Five Ways to Take Away an Opponent's Big Shot.
This is the 450th Tip of the Week I've posted since I started putting them up every Monday starting Jan. 11, 2011, except for a few times when I was out of town. (This is in addition to 177 I did for USA Table Tennis before that, which were published as part of Table Tennis Tales & Techniques.) The first 150 went into my book Table Tennis Tips; the next 150 went into More Table Tennis Tips; these last 150 (ending with today's) make up Still More Table Tennis Tips, which comes out on June 1. The advantage of getting them in book form? I put them in logical progression, by topic, rather than in a random fashion as a weekly tip, plus you get them all right in front of you, making it easy to browse, refer to, and even make notes in the margins. Or you can download them onto a kindle, and also have instant access in logical progression . . . though no margins to scribble in!
Ping Pong Collapse
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