April 22, 2024 Tip of the Week Serve or Receive First in Doubles? (Excerpt from Table Tennis Doubles for Champions by Larry Hodges. April is Doubles Month!) Support Kanak Jha Make History at the Paris 2024 Olympics Kanak is trying to raise funds on his GoFundMe page for his training for the 2024 Olympics. Can you help? Here’s a note from Kanak: “I am Kanak Jha and I am USA’s top professional Table Tennis player. I started playing in California when I was 5 years old and my love and passion for the sport grew over the years and to pursue my dream of being a world class table tennis player I mo ..read more

April 15, 2024 Tip of the Week How to Play Doubles with a Much Stronger or Weaker Player. (Excerpt from Table Tennis Doubles for Champions by Larry Hodges. April is Doubles Month!) Weekend Coaching Had an interesting experience with two of our junior players, both about ten and still relative beginners. They were struggling to even hit three forehands in a row together – their shots just flew all over the table. So I hit with them, taking turns. Immediately they both were able to hit 50 or more in a row, mostly keeping the ball to my forehand corner, no problem. After a time I put them togeth ..read more

April 1, 2024 Tip of the Week What Makes a Great Doubles Partnership? (Excerpt from Table Tennis Doubles for Champions by Larry Hodges. April is Doubles Month!) =>BREAKING NEWS - I’ve Been Hired as Head Tactical Coach for the Chinese National Team After 48 years coaching in the US, next week I start my new job coaching the top Chinese professional players as the new Head Tactical Coach for the Chinese National Team. I’ve reviewed videos of their players for months, and after weeks of emailing back and forth, I wrote up a detailed report with my tactical analysis last week to China’s head c ..read more

March 18, 2024 Next Blog on April 1 Not an April Fool’s Joke! I’ll be out of town, March 24-31, coaching at the US Junior Team Trials. See segment below. So no blog on March 25, but there will be a Tip of the Week. Tip of the Week Let’s Talk About Shoes. Table Tennis Doubles for Champions It has come to my attention that you - yes, YOU, the one reading these words - has not yet bought a copy of my new book, Table Tennis Doubles for Champions. I know who you are. I have a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long table tennis career. If you buy the book now th ..read more

March 11, 2024 NOTE – due to a neck injury (see “Weekend Coaching”) I can barely hold my head up straight. So, I’m doing a shortened version of my blog this week, where I’m skipping all the usual links. (I’ll catch up with them next week.) Much of the below was written in advance. The rest I painstakingly typed this morning. Tip of the Week The Four Types of Defense. Table Tennis Doubles for Champions - NOW ON SALE!!! My new book is out at Amazon!!! It’s 133 pages, with 109 pictures and illustrations. There have been many instructional books on singles, but rarely more than perhaps a few page ..read more

March 4, 2024 Tip of the Week The Definition of Insanity and Its Table Tennis Implications. 2024 US Table Tennis Hall of Fame Inductions Here’s the announcement! Inducted this year are Glenn Cowan as a player, Stellan Bengtsson and Dennis Taylor as contributors, and Patty Martinez-Wasserman the Lifetime Achievement Award. The Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Dinner will be held on Oct. 10 at the Houston International TT Academy, in conjunction with the Si and Patty Wasserman Jr. & Open Championships on Oct. 11-13. (I expect to be there, both for the HoF Inductions & dinner and to c ..read more

February 26, 2024 Tip of the Week Be the Lawnmower. Table Tennis Doubles for Champions Last Wednesday I sent the draft of the book to the Editorial Board. They are supposed to get back to me by next Monday (Mar. 4) with any edits, suggestions. They bring a wide range of talents to the job, from table tennis to editorial expertise. Who is this Super Seven? Stellan & Angie Bengtsson, Mark Dekeyser, Sean O'Neill, John Olsen, Dan Seemiller, and Dennis Taylor. That’s a pretty nice group. The book is 133 pages (9x6 inch pages), with 108 photos or graphics. If all goes well, it’ll be on sale &nb ..read more

February 19, 2024 Tip of the Week The Laziness of Simple Serves. USATT’s Illegal Chair, USATT Assemblies, and Those Pesky Bylaws I sent another email to the USATT Board regarding this. (I blogged about the issue last week, including a link to my previous email.) Just to be clear, I have zero expectation that anything will come of this – too many enablers on the Board. The point is they can no longer deny knowing about it. This abuse of power, as well as policy issues, will be among the big issues in the Fall USATT elections. The facts speak for themselves. The primary “defense” against this i ..read more

February 12, 2024 Tip of the Week Learn From Your Easy Wins and Bad Losses. USATT’s Illegal Chair of the Board [Skip this segment if you have no interest in USATT politics. And sorry about the length!] I’ve blogged about this issue multiple times. This past week I sent an email about it to the USATT Board of Directors. Here is the email. The key issue is simple. The bylaws say a chair cannot serve more than two consecutive full terms. It defines a full term as any term over one year. The current chair became chair of the board on June 1, 2020, and continued as chair until the next election, o ..read more

February 5, 2024 Tip of the Week Types of Topspin Contact. Weekend Coaching, Doubles Book, and USATT, Oh My!!! I split my coaching weekend between feeding multiball (yes, lots and Lots and LOTS of footwork drills), and as a practice partner at the end. I used to be in charge of running these group sessions, but now that I’m semi-retired others have taken over, and I get to just coach. My primary function in most sessions is feeding multiball, where I put them through a series of drills while working on their technique. Different players are rotated to me (the multiball station) throughout the ..read more