Table Tennis News: Players, tournaments, products, tips & more

Dusseldorf Still Perfect in 2021 (TTBL)

February 1, 2021

(by Steve Hopkins) The Butterfly-sponsored Borussia Dusseldorf team continues to cruise in the Tischtennis Bundesliga, Germany’s professional table tennis league. Over the weekend, Dusseldorf blanked TTC RhonSprudel Fulda-Maberzell 3-0 and last week they topped TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt 3-0 as well. The Dusseldorf squad’s run over the last two months places them securely atop the standings […]

Coaching Tip of the Week: Play the Middle Against Tall Players, Wide Angles Against Short Players

February 1, 2021

(By Larry Hodges) A tall player’s forehand and backhand shots are farther apart than a short player’s. So he is usually weaker in the middle area, where he has to decide whether to hit a forehand or backhand. So against a tall player, play aggressively toward his elbow, which is roughly the midpoint between his […]

BUTTERFLY FAVORITE: Michael Maze – Never Give Up

January 31, 2021

(by Steve Hopkins) When Maze was in his prime, he was one of the most exciting players in the world. His personal motto appears to be Never Give Up – fighting to prolong points and as you can see from this video, often hanging around long enough to change the result. Michael Maze continues to […]

WAB CLUB FEATURE: Canadian Elite Table Tennis Centre

January 30, 2021

(by Steve Hopkins) The Canadian Elite Table Tennis Training Centre (“the Centre” or “Elite”) is a table tennis club and training center in Mississauga, Ontario. Mississauga is just to the West of Toronto, about 30 kilometers from the city center. The facility is just off the Ontario 401 Express, easily accessible to the greater Toronto area. The […]

PongNow: Angela Guan

January 29, 2021

(by Steve Hopkins) The PongNow Interview Series – talking table tennis with some of the best players and personalities in the sport. The guest this week is Angela Guan, one of the strongest juniors in the US in recent years who represented the US on Cadet, Juniors, and Women’s National Teams. _________________________ PongNOW Interview […]

Not a Good Week for Ochsenhausen

January 28, 2021

(by Steve Hopkins, photo from ITTFWorld), This final week of January has not been a good week for Liebherr Ochsenhausen. On Wednesday, the team lost its match with SV Werder Bremen and fell to third place in the Bundesliga (behind Borussia Dusseldorf and TTC Neu-Ulm). Today, their top player, Hugo Calderano, has announced he is […]

PINGPOD LEAGUE SEASON 3 SIGN-UP

January 26, 2021

Dear Pod Lover- Find below our latest league announcement. JOIN PINGPOD LEAGUE SEASON 3! Season 3 registration is now open and will be played in 5 or 6 divisions based on skill level. Details can be found here. The tentative starting date is February 15th. Note that, if you are currently playing in Season […]

Ask The Experts: Sungsoo Jung, No. 376

January 25, 2021

Butterfly Table Tennis Question and Answer Question: Hi , I’m looking to choose between the butterfly viscaria and the butterfly Mizutani ZLC. Please compare the playing qualities of the viscaria and the Mizutani ZLC. Which of these blades will have more dwell time, speed , spin , control and flex. I’m someone who relies on […]

Coaching Tip of the Week: Finding Simple Tactics That Work

January 25, 2021

(By Larry Hodges) The opening lines to my book, Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers, is, “Tactics isn’t about finding complex strategies to defeat an opponent. Tactics is about sifting through all the zillions of possible tactics and finding a few simple ones that work.” But how do you find these simple tactics that work? Simple – […]

OxNation: Ochsenhausen Takes Over Second

January 25, 2021

(by Steve Hopkins) With the Bundesliga in full swing in Germany, Liebherr Ochsenhausen has regained sole possession of second place with their third win in a row. *It will take a much longer streak to catch Timo Boll’s Dusseldorf Team (which remains undefeated in 2021 thus far), but all that the Ochsenhausen team needs to […]