December 2020

BUTTERFLY FAVORITE: Timo Boll’s Champions League Bubble Part 2

December 27, 2020

(by Steve Hopkins) This is a Video Blog post by Timo Boll on his YouTube Channel that was posted last week. It is titled, ” Championsleague Bubble Part 2 – From zero to hero” Timo Boll’s behind the scenes view of the bubble and his team’s preparation as Borussia Dusseldorf defeated Saarbrucken in the tournament […]

THE YEAR IN REVIEW: All the Pong News that’s Fit to rePrint

December 27, 2020

(by Steve Hopkins) In January, we reported that Fan Zhendong won the Marvellous 2020. In February Xu Xin topped the German Open, Timo Boll won the Euro Top 16, and Harimoto won the Hungarian Open. In March, the US Olympic Trials resulted in Zhou and Kumar joining Jha on the Men’s Team, and Liu and […]

Diaz, Zhang Debut with New Team in China

December 23, 2020

(by Steve Hopkins) The Chinese Super League has a new team, the ITTF World Professionals, which includes USA’s Lily Zhang, Puerto Rico’s Adriana Diaz, Jeon Jihee, Doo Hoi Kem, and Cheng I-Ching. They are three matches into a condensed bubble season (to run from December 21 through December 29) and are currently 2-1 after their […]

Table Tennis and Lateral Epicondylitis (Tennis Elbow)

December 23, 2020

What is Lateral Epicondylitis? In table tennis, we develop our speed, accuracy, and skills through repetitive drills for us to improve muscle memory or enhance our engram. However, in any kind of sport, this repetitive movements might also cause strain to specific muscles or any part of our musculoskeletal system that can result to inflammation […]

Borussia Dusseldorf over Liebherr Ochsenhausen in Last TTBL of 2020

December 22, 2020

(by Steve Hopkins, photo by ETTU) Just a week after Borussia Düsseldorf won the Table Tennis Champions League (a club versus club event with participants throughout Europe), Timo Boll’s team sealed the top position in the German Bundesliga. Liebherr Ochsenhausen, the German team where USA’s Kanak Jha plays, had won several matches in a row […]

Butterfly Puerto Rico Open Teams

December 21, 2020

– Update as of May 2, 2021 : Announcement of New Dates – Dates – July 30-Aug 1, 2021 The Butterfly Puerto Rico Open Teams Tournament is a USATT sanctioned 4-star tournament that will be held at the San Juan Convention Center in San Juan, Puerto Rico, during the weekend of July 30th – August 1st , […]

Coaching Tip of the Week: Proper Strokes Are 1-2-3: Don’t Forget the Neutral Position!

December 21, 2020

(By Larry Hodges) One of the most common mistakes I see when players warm up or practice is to hit each shot properly, but then backswing immediately for the next shot with no move to a neutral position. In other words, if they are hitting backhand to backhand, after each shot the player goes directly […]

Boll and Kallberg Leads Borussia Dusseldorf to Champions League Title

December 20, 2020

(by Steve Hopkins, photo by ETTU) Borussia Düsseldorf won the Table Tennis Champions League (TTCL) Final last week. The TTCL is an international competition of European teams. This year, they played the Final in a bubble with the Final Four teams invited. Borussia Düsseldorf and FC Saarbrücken (both German teams) faced off against Fakel Gazprom […]

PongNow: Truong Tu

December 18, 2020

(by Steve Hopkins) The PongNow Interview Series talking table tennis with some of the best players and personalities in the sport. The guest this week is Truong Tu, a former top Vietnamese junior who immigrated to the US 20 years ago. He is now coach at Silicon Valley Table Tennis Club in San Jose California, […]

BUTTERFLY FAVORITE: Timo Boll’s Behind the Scenes at the Champion’s League Bubble

December 17, 2020

(by Steve Hopkins) This is a Video Blog post by Timo Boll on his YouTube Channel that was posted last week. It is titled, ” Championsleague Bubble – Skepticism and worry – behind the scenes” Timo Boll was preparing in isolation for the Euro Champion’s League tournament which began play this week. Timo Boll’s team, […]