2018 Hopes Regional Hopes Camp and Trials at MDTTC

May 1, 2018

(By Larry Hodges) 2018 Hopes Regional Hopes Camp and Trials at MDTTC The camp had 37 players, ages 7 to 14, including many of the best 12 and under players in the northeast and other regions – including the California invasion that snagged both golds. Most were here for the Regional Hopes Trials on Sunday, […]

Tip of the week: Weaknesses Can Be Strengths

April 30, 2018

(By Larry Hodges) Tip of the week: Weaknesses Can Be Strengths If you have a weakness, you try to avoid using it, correct? That’s the normal thinking. However, sometimes a “weakness” can be a strength, plus (perhaps more importantly), if you use a weakness over and over, it might become a strength, or at least […]

Tip of the week: Are You a 10-8 or an 8-10 Player?

April 23, 2018

(By Larry Hodges) Tip of the week: Are You a 10-8 or an 8-10 Player? Some players play best when their back is to the wall – when they are down 8-10, they come alive and play like champions. Others are best when they are ahead and have more confidence in going for their shots […]

$2700 3-Star Butterfly MDTTC April Open

April 20, 2018

$2700 3-Star Butterfly MDTTC April Open April 14-15, 2018 • Maryland Table Tennis Center • Gaithersburg, MD By Larry Hodges, tournament director Lots of five-game matches this time, with an epic seven-gamer in the Open final! What a tournament it was. Alas, I missed much of it because I was at the control desk running […]

WAB Club Feature: Maryland Table Tennis Center

April 12, 2018

WAB Club Feature: Maryland Table Tennis Center (By Larry Hodges) The Maryland Table Tennis Center, founded in 1992, has been a successful full-time table tennis training center in the United States for almost 30 years. The club dominated play in the U.S. in the 1990s and much of the 2000s, winning over half of the gold medals […]

Tip of the week: Sound and Feet

February 26, 2018

(By Larry Hodges) Tip of the week: Sound and Feet The Chinese know something about table tennis, and there’s a stereotype about Chinese coaches that we can learn from. The stereotype is that in a group training session, they often walk around with their heads down as they do two things – listen to the […]

Focus on Performance and Fun to Maximize Your Chances of Winning

February 13, 2018

(By Larry Hodges) Focus on Performance – Fun; Maximizing Your Winning Chances Do you think you have a better chance of winning if you focus on winning, thereby putting pressure on yourself for results, or by focusing on playing well, which maximizes your chances of actually winning? The question answers itself. You’ll always play better and […]

Tip of the week: Playing the Crafty Veteran

January 29, 2018

(By Larry Hodges) Tip of the week: Playing the Crafty Veteran Suppose you have your opponent outgunned – you simply are the better player, shot for shot. And yet, somehow he’s rated about the same as you. How is this possible and how do you beat him? Most likely he’s a lot more experienced than […]

Istvan Jonyer, Others at 2018 World Veterans Championships in Las Vegas

January 24, 2018

(By Larry Hodges) Istvan Jonyer at 2018 World Veterans Championships in Las Vegas If you started playing in the 1970s, like me, then Istvan Jonyer of Hungary was a God. There’s no other way of describing the 1975 World Men’s Singles Champion, the big two-winged looper from a time when two-winged looping was still relatively […]

Doubles Signals and Why You Should Use Them

January 22, 2018

(by Larry Hodges) Doubles Signals and Why You Should Use Them When you serve in singles, you know what serve you are about to do, and so can be ready for the possible returns off that serve. Imagine playing where you had no idea what serve you did, and so couldn’t prepare for the follow-up. […]