Coaching Tip of the Week: Should You Stick With Your Best Shot If It Is Missing?

December 7, 2020

(By Larry Hodges) The situation: Your best shot is missing, and you are losing because of this. Should you keep using it, or abandon it? It takes years of tournament experience and hard thinking before a player can consistently make a sound judgment in a situation like this as to whether to change his strategy, […]

Impartial XS and XB: A Non-Pro Review

December 6, 2020

(by Steve Hopkins) I recently had opportunity to try sheets of Impartial XB and Impartial XS. These are two of Butterfly’s most popular short pips out rubber sheets designed to provide control with spin possible as well. As a 2000-level player, my analysis and comparison of equipment has limits. I don’t have the arm speed […]

WAB CLUB FEATURE: Fremont Table Tennis Academy

December 6, 2020

(by Steve Hopkins) From their locations in Fremont and San Ramon on the Southeastern side of San Francisco Bay, the Fremont Table Tennis Academy (FTTA) is easily accessible to San Jose as well as the other major cities that surround the Bay. The main Fremont location is located on Warm Springs Blvd., sandwiched between the […]

OxNation Update: Kanak’s win helps fuel Ochsenhausen

December 6, 2020

(by Steve Hopkins) With the German Budesliga (TTBL) season underway, many Americans have been following USA’s top player, Kanak Jha, who is joined one of that league’s top teams, TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen. Ochsenhausen has finished near the top in Germany for several years – a strong team where Kanak by ranking is third behind Hugo Calderano […]

PongNow: Bowie and Melba Martin

December 4, 2020

(by Steve Hopkins) PongNow is an interview series talking table tennis with some of the best players and personalities in the sport. This week, we have Bowie and Melba Martin – who turned their love of table tennis (and a $60 investment) into one of the most important table tennis companies in North America. Bowie […]

How To Footwork & Body Transition by Coach Jishan Liang

December 4, 2020

Coach Jishan Liang and his student Zelin Ye demonstrate Footwork & Body Transition. Learn more about Jishan Liang here Don’t have anyone to practice this drill with? Learn more about our Amicus and Practice Partner Robots Stay “In The Loop” with Butterfly professional table tennis equipment, table tennis news, table tennis technology, tournament results, and […]

“How I Glue” – Timo Boll

December 3, 2020

(by Steve Hopkins) Here are some tips from fan favorite Timo Boll on how to attach rubber sheets to your blade. In regard to glue usage, he applies glue to the middle of the rubber sheet and then applies it in two directions spreading it evenly. He then does the same thing to the blade and […]

Tenergy 05 Hard review by Truong Tu

December 3, 2020

(By Truong Tu) Recently, I had a chance to try Tenergy 05 Hard. I have previously used Tenergy 05 for a long time on both my backhand and forehand. There are some differences that I am able to notice that I will describe based on my game. I am an all-out attacker and I rely a lot […]

Is it time to Restock: Merry Butterfly Christmas

December 2, 2020

(by Steve Hopkins) We’ve struggled through closures and lock downs – but now we have sports back on TV (including some ITTF events and USATT’s Thursday Night Live Challenge events) and it looks like most US clubs will be back in action in 2021. Very soon we are all going to have opportunities to return […]

World Rankings are Back: Fan, Xu, Ma Finish 2020 on Top

December 2, 2020

World Rankings for March: Largely Stable at the Top (by Steve Hopkins/Photo by ITTF) After an eight month hiatus, the ITTF World Rankings are back. Fan Zhendong tops the final rankings of a very strange year. He overtakes Xu Xin on the strength of his World Cup title. Ma Long finishes third, and Harimoto is fourth. […]