Pan Am Championships: TeamUSA has Gold in Women’s Doubles, 5 Silvers, and 1 Bronze

November 7, 2022

(by Steve Hopkins, photo USATT) TeamUSA finished the 2022 ITTF Pan American Championships with solid results – leaving Santiago, Chile with seven medals. Americans were not the top seeds in any of the events – those honors went to Team Brazil in Men’s and Women’s Teams, and to Brazil’s Hugo Calderano in Men’s Singles, and […]

Coaching Tips of the Week: Increase Forearm Snap to Increase Smashing Speed

November 5, 2022

(By Larry Hodges) Many players have difficulty generating great speed on their smashes. Against lobbers and fishers, they often have to smash over and over and still they can’t win the point. Often the problem is lack of forearm snap. To generate great force on the smash, your body has to work together – the […]

Sally Moyland Wins in Hungary

November 5, 2022

(by Steve Hopkins) We don’t often follow WTT Youth Contender Series events abroad – but a few Americans traveled to Szombathely Hungary to play in this tournament and Sally Moyland has already logged an event win. Moyland, a 15 year old up and coming American, entered in the U17 and U19 events. In the U19, […]

Pan Am Championships: Top Seeds Advance to Finals

November 5, 2022

(by Steve Hopkins) The top seeds rolled through the later rounds as the 2022 ITTF Pan American Championships continued Saturday in Santiago, Chile. Brazil has already scored a pair of golds in the Men’s and Women’s Team events – today, the tournaments top seed, Hugo Calderano advanced to the Final to try to score another […]

Pan Am Championships: Silvers for USA, Big Win for Jha

November 2, 2022

(by Steve Hopkins) The 2022 ITTF Pan American Championships is being played this week in Santiago, Chile. The first events were Men’s and Women’s Teams. In the Men’s Teams event, Brazil (anchored by World No. 6 Hugo Calderano and World No. 68 Vitor Ishiy) was a strong favorite and they cruised pretty easily into the […]

Two in a Row for “Mr. October”: Chuqin Wins WTT Finals

October 30, 2022

(by Steve Hopkins) The WTT Cup Finals concluded today in Xinxiang, China. It was a tournament featuring the World’s Top 16, the second week in a row with an Asian event that featured the best players in the world. Last week, in Macao, it was World No. 11 Wang Chuqin with an historic run through […]

WTT Cup Finals: Ovtcharov Upset and Chuqin is “Mr. October”

October 28, 2022

(by Steve Hopkins) The WTT Cup Finals has advanced to the Final 4 in Xinxiang, China. In the Cup Finals, the World’s Top 16 are invited, so every match-up is between the world’s best. The headline of Day 2 was Dimitrij Ovtcharov eliminating World No. 1 Fan Zhendong. The Final Four will be Dimitrij Ovtcharov […]

WTT Cup Finals: Boll Logs Early Upset Win

October 27, 2022

(by Steve Hopkins) Xinxiang China is the host to this year’s WTT Cup Finals. In the Cup Finals, the World’s Top 16 are invited. For the Men, a late scratch left a Bye in the draw – but 15 of the World’s Top 16 are playing. For the Women, No. 6 and No. 11 have […]

Coaching Tips of the Week: Treat Opponents Who Are Not Threats as Threats so They Do Not Become Threats

October 25, 2022

(By Larry Hodges) A player isn’t a threat to you if, at their best, they can’t beat you at your worst. But there’s an underlying assumption here that your “worst” is when you are taking the opponent serious and playing your normal game. Often, when playing a weaker player, one is overconfident and so doesn’t […]

PingPod: How Far They’ve Come

October 24, 2022

(by Steve Hopkins) When PingPod first opened its doors at its first location in 2020, the leadership had big plans. There was already talk of expanding to other locations in the City, of attracting the best players, of creating a community. Soon thereafter, COVID hit and some players discovered that the concept of autonomous table […]