The Coach Report
March 12, 2010

By Coach Francisco Mendez, Top Spin Table Tennis Training Center


Re: February Round Robin
As I’ve been doing every month, here is my report of the February Round Robin. I try to give each one of you my opinion about the good things you are doing and also of the weak areas you need to work on. I want to mention again that the intention of doing this report is to inform you about our monthly Round Robin, to make an individual analysis of each one of you so you can improve and with the purpose of lifting you all up, encourage you and motivate you to continue practicing our sport.

It covers general information, technique, tactics and mental aspects. It’s my belief that the more you improve, the more you will enjoy this beautiful sport.

Kids
One of the most significant things of the Round Robin was the fact that we had a group of 9 kids competing. All of them between the ages of 8 and 15. All of them are students of the TSTTC!

I have mentioned that the greatest value is to teach table tennis to kids; they are the future of our sport.

Group 1
-Yahao Zhang
-Francisco Mendez
-Phong Pham
-Eric Prusewicz
-Nobuyuki Shiogai
-Hai Xue
-Angelo Gandullia
-Judd Disch
-Dennis Driggs

Group 2
-Mark Sisselman
-Bryon Kippschull
-Lee Shapiro
-Tom Myer
-Ken Dehaan
-Kenneth Reynard
-Casey Turnbaugh
-Tan Loi
-Patrick Fieldman

Group 3
-Melissa Myer
-Jose Cespedes
-Tammy Smith
-Tommy Reigns
-Jael Alarcon
-John Dexter
-Samuel Alarcon
-Brandon Loi

Group 3 The Kids Group
-Melissa Myer, 12 1st place
Melissa is an extraordinary girl; she plays soccer, is well coordinated and intelligent. She won the 1st place by beating everybody easily, except Jose Cespedes, who took one game from her. Melissa comes every Saturday for a private lesson and hopefully will join the TSTTC as a full time student. Rated 915, I am sure in a short period of time she’ll be better.
Good: Passion, aggressive, determined, FH smash
Need work on: Selecting shots better, attack back spin, control in general. Regular and continuous training. She is a diamond in the rough.

-Jose Cespedes, 12 2nd Place
Mi amigo Jose is a native of Bolivia, an awesome kid; he also plays soccer and does snowboarding. He has been with me for four months. He is part of our ‘new generation of kids’. He had a great match with Tammy Smith and Jael Alarcon (beat them both 3-1 and 3-2)
Good: FH attack, consistent, enthusiasm, emotional balance
Need to work on: footwork, BH counter, attack backspin, pushes

-Tammy Smith 3rd place
Tammy is an athletic friend who used to play Volley Ball. She has been with us for 9 months, but she practices only a few times a month due to her work. She finished 3rd, losing only to Melissa and Jose (this was a great match).

She learns very fast. Hopefully she’ll find the time to practice more. Her husband, Angelo Gandullia, spends time to help her during practice.
Good: footwork, FH counter, block, serve, fast learner
Needs to work on: Backhand counter, reception, attack backspin

-Tommy Reigns, 15 4th place
Tommy is my newest student, from Regis High School. He is a wonderful kid, obedient, good manners, coordinated and has a big desire to become a serious Table Tennis player. He is part of what I call ‘our 1st generation of new players’. Tommy beat everyone but Tammy, Jose and Melissa. Tommy is a full time student. Soon we’ll hear from him winning some important matches.
Good: FH attack, smart, natural strategy, BH push
Need to work on: BH counter, serves, reception

-Jael Alarcon, 16 5th place
Jael is an American kid with Hispanic roots. Very athletic, very strong, very fast to learn. He has played maybe less than anyone else and he is already playing close matches with the other kids.
Good: great physical shape, FH attack, determined, learns and adapts fast
Need to work on: BH counter, backspin push, reception, reading spin

-John Dexter, 13 6th place
John is a nice kid who comes only on Saturdays to take private lessons. He plays at home a little. He is improving gradually. At first he was not very sure he wanted to compete, but now he is just waiting for the next Round Robin. He had a good match with Jael and Samuel and got a set from Tammy.
Good: BH push, consistent, FH counter
Need to work on: movement, speed, reading spin early, BH counter

-Samuel Alarcon, 8 7th place
Only 8 years old, little Samuel is the cutest kid around, always smiling, watching everyone. He had a great victory over Brandon Loi 3 games to 2 and a loss to John Dexter 1 to 3. Together with Samantha Schechterman --7 years old-- they are the two youngest students Good: FH attack, movement, enthusiasm, charisma
Need to work on: BH counter, backspin push, serves, reception

-Brandon Loi 8th place
Mi amigo Brandon, always comes with his grandpa, Tan, always carries a video game in his hands, always enjoys playing at the TSTTC. We will wait for him to reach the time when he wants to develop his table tennis game seriously. I want to comment about how important it is for a coach to identify and understand the different ages, different personalities, levels of commitment, and especially the stage at which a certain player may be because of these factors. Brandon is recreational 100%. I am waiting for him to start systematic training and a little bit of discipline. If we do not identify these things, players, especially kids, may not come back.
Good: has fun at all times, decent FH smash
Need to work on: be more serious about competing, about training, start working on discipline, physical work, all basic strokes.

Group 2
-Lee Shapiro 1st place
Lee Shapiro is an athlete, in his 40’s, yet he can train intensely for two to three hours. Excellent physical shape, good footwork, serious about becoming a very good player, looper, with a good FH loop, starting to use his BH loop vs back spin more often. Decent, controlled serves. I believe he is improving very much due to the last 5 months of training. He practices hard. Lee comes twice a week to the TSTTC. He beat everyone easily but Mark Sisselman, who he beat three games to two (at the time I of this writing, Lee beat an 1800 hundred player at the Aurora Winter Tournament). Rated 1519, he’ll be much higher very soon. Congratulations, Lee!
Good: great footwork, good reading of spin, good FH loop, starting to develop his BH loop, decent serves
Need to work on: Not to train in a robotic mode, not to rush, wait more for the highest point to hit, play middle distance, play games applying what he practices.

-Mark Sisselman 2nd place (tied with Tom Myer) *
Mark is a mentally strong player, I enjoy so much his passion for Table Tennis. He uses psychology ‘to work his opponents’, makes jokes all the time, has one of the best and strongest smashes of the TSTTC, lefty. Mark plays and coaches baseball. He is a difficult player to play against, short well angled blocks, side spinny lefty FH loop, again, his weak area is hitting the ball too soon, right off the bounce. He needs to select each shot properly. He went to five games with Champion Lee. Beat everyone else.
Good: good serves, good blocks, low and angled, great smash, competitive.
Need to work on: hitting the ball in the apex (highest point of ascending period), step around to hit FH from his BH side, develop a BH counter and BH loop against backspin

-Tom Myer 2nd place *
Tom is the father of Melissa, plays with her at home, Music professor, a good player who just needs good practice and systematic training to improve. He beat everyone but Lee. He had a very tough and close match with Ken Dehaan (beat Ken 3-2)

Good: good physical shape, good understanding of the sport, good footwork, decent FH
need to work on: FH loop, BH counter, reception, attacking backspin

-Bryon Kippschull 4th place *
Bryon comes all the way down from Fort Collins, 80 miles from Littleton. He has improved a lot in the last four months. Bryon is a relatively new player; he won 8 months ago the C category at a Longmont tournament.
Good: FH loop, footwork
Need to work on: BH push, serves, reception

-Ken Dehaan 4th place *
Ken is part of the TSTTC staff, a very nice friend who’s always looking for ways to help our sport. He also has the potential to become a strong player if he dedicates time to practice. Continuity is very important in Table Tennis, and Ken practices only intermittently due to his work. His level of game in practice is pretty high, but he has difficulty maintaining it and applying it in competition. His off the bounce FH loop has good quality, good serves, but the lack of training makes him susceptible to playing tight at competitions. However, he can be very good vs high-level players. He lost in 5 games to Tom Myer and got games from Mark and Bryon
Good: Off the bounce FH loop, great physical shape, serves, BH loop vs backspin
Need to work on: BH counter, attack long serves, confidence
The building of confidence may be the greatest and most important work to do on players besides Technique and Strategy. Motivation, involvement, reinforcement and conversations during and after training are very important work from the Coach towards the player. This work belongs to the Psychological & Emotional field.

-Tan Loi 6th *
Tan comes from Thornton, he loves Table Tennis and always brings his grandson Brandon. Tan has figured out pretty much everything in the game by himself. I have not had the chance to teach him,just give him some tips. He is strong mentally, can return lots of balls and lately he is learning how to attack back spin. He took a game from Mark Sisselman, beat Casey Turnbaugh (the student that has improved the most) 3 to 2, and finished 5th in the final positions. In his 60’s, Tan is in great physical shape
Good: Attitude, backspin push, consistent
Need to work on: BH counter, serves, reception

-Casey Turnbaugh 7th
Casey is a baseball player and coach, has the greatest passion I have seen in years--he loves Table Tennis so much, he sleeps with his paddle in bed. Casey watches all kinds of Table Tennis competitions through google to learn. No doubt he has improved so much, but unfortunately, as I am writing this report he has to start the baseball season, so he’ll stop playing for the next 5 months. ‘I’ll run every day and do my shadows, Francisco, I’ll lose weight’ he said almost with tears in his eyes. We’ll be waiting for you, Casey!
Good: Attitude, passion, never gives up, FH loop, serves, footwork
Need to work on: BH loop against back spin, reception, lose weight

-Kenneth Reynard 8th place
Dr. Kenneth Reynard is a very enthusiastic player; he has attended more Olympic Games, US Open Golf tournaments and International sport events than any other person I know. He is very passionate about Table Tennis. Kenneth needs lots of practice, with controlled repetitions on basic strokes.
Good: attitude, BH side spin push, serves
Need to work on: Basic strokes, lots of training

-Patrick Fieldman 9th place
Patrick come from a recreational Table Tennis background. As every beginner player that I have the opportunity to help, we have to change the whole form of his strokes. Patrick decided to go for hard bat for a time which helped him to realize that this sport is about SPIN and SPEED, so he plays now with smooth rubbers. Patrick has improved but still he has a long way to go. He had some good matches against Casey and Kenneth.
Good: Tough, competitive, FH counter, BH backspin push
Need to work on: BH counter, serves, reception, footwork

GROUP 1
-Yahao Zhang
Yahao left early due to a project he had to be part on, so that’s why I do not comment about him. Currently world ranked #77 in Juniors.

-Hai Xue 1st place
Hai Xue is the name of this 54-year-old Penholder Chinese player who just joined our TSTTC. He beat everyone in group #1, although Hai did not play Yahao because he had to leave early. Hai uses Long Pips rubber (Dawei 555) similar to Dr. Neubauer long pips. His style is blocking, and pushing a deep push-hit that comes very weird, the ball moves.
He is very concentrated when he plays, he almost never uses his smooth rubber which tells me he still can improve more when he begins to use both BH and FH loop with the smooth rubber, since one of the advantages of his style is all the opportunities he can have for a winner when the opponent only passes the ball due to the difficulty of his game. He beat Phong Pham, a 2190 Vietnamese player 3 to 2. He beat Angelo Gandullia, a Peruvian 2000 player 3 to 1, Nobuyuki Shiogai, a Japanese 2000 player 3 to 1, and everyone else 3-0.
Congratulations, Hai!
Good: attitude, style, usage of long pips, mentally strong
Need to work on: Learn to use the smooth rubber in matches, FH attack, serves

-Phong Pham 2nd place
Phong is a fine 2200 player from Vietnam, with a strong FH loop, good serves, and good concentration for the game. He is starting to develop an opening BH loop. He also blocks with control. Phong suffers from an old injury in his arm, but desires to practice hard again. Interestingly, he has some difficulties playing against some long pips styles. This time he lost to Hai 3 games to 2. If Phong finds the time and a good partner to practice regularly, he’ll be in the 2300 level. Back in October 2008, he almost got Samson Dubina.
Good: FH loop, footwork, serves, steady(but passive) blocking
Need to work on: Develop a BH loop, which he is starting to do, try to win the first attack.

-Nobuyuki Shiogai 3rd place
Nobu (as everyone caalls him) is a fine 2000 rated Japanese player, with short, fast strokes, not powerful but consistent. He uses well his BH serve to set up his game. He used to hit, now he loops more, blocks and controls his game by being consistent. Nobu is another player who could improve more if he had the time to train more.
Good: consistent, emotionally balanced, usage of BH serve, FH smash
Need to work on: Looping more than pushing, more variation of serves, develop more power in his loops/shots

-Eric Prusewicz 4th place
Eric used to play in France in the 90’s. His rating is 2150 (highest ever). Eric stopped playing for 15 years and just returned to play and practice again. He practices twice a week and is recovering his game. Eric’s style is chopper, with a very good FH loop, long pips in the BH. However he can loop very well with his BH, too. He had the best match against Yahao Zhang, taking one game from him. They played the best point of the tournament, in which Eric returned a series of killer loops; Eric’s returns were high after the third return, then he counter attacked Yahao’s smash above his head for a spectacular winner.
Eric has a lot of quality, elegance playing. I am sure he’ll soon be around the 2200’s.
Good: Very good FH loop, good serves, counter attack from mid distance, regular usage of long pips
Need to work on: too many pushes with long pips, sometimes they are too high, learn to use his BH loop (which is great) during the games, lose weight.

-Angelo Gandulia
Beto (nickname) is a good friend, very passionate about Table Tennis, he supports the TSTTC all the time, helping kids in the table, helping others to have good training, setting up, taking down. He is intense when he competes and for some players is difficult to deal with.
With a great BH loop, strong spinny deceiving serves, very good FH loop (which he does not use often). He can beat a 2200 player and then lose to a 1900 player. Angelo needs to move, he tends to stay in the same position, without using his legs, especially those little adjustment steps that make every good player accurate and consistent.
Because of this and trying to look for winners all the time, there is a lack of consistency; however, his ball has a lot of quality.
Good: strong, deceiving serves, great BH loop but not very consistent, FH loop which he needs to use more, competitive
Need to work on: Footwork, consistency, sometimes he gives up early, losing to lower players

-Judd Disch
Judd is an excellent blocker, Seemiller style, and without serves and attack, has figured out how to become an 1800-rated player. We have talked about adding some things to his style.
Good: Consistent blocking game
Need to work on: Develop a FH attack, FH loop against back spin, develop a variety of serves, transition from blocking to attack.

-Dennis Driggs, Jr.
Dennis is the person who’s always helping at the center, cleaning, setting up tables, nets. His heart is to help players, especially kids. Dennis used to go to Japan to practice in the 70’s. He knows about discipline, respect, honor. Sometimes he is frustrated with today’s concept of Table Tennis training. Currently 1850, his strokes are pretty good, his limitation is lack of mobility.

I want to close thanking each of the players. Table Tennis is growing and improving here in Colorado, thanks to Butterfly, the best Table Tennis Company in the world.

'Til next time...

Francisco Mendez