2015 Butterfly Canadian Junior and Cadet Open: Can Kanak and Prachi Jha Prove the Adage in Markham?

May 10, 2015

2015 Butterfly Canadian Junior and Cadet Open: Can Kanak and Prachi Jha Prove the Adage in Markham? Courtesy of ITTF Unique, but perhaps it was not unexpected; one year ago at the Butterfly 2014 Canadian Junior and Cadet Open, Kanak Jha and Prachi Jha won the respective Junior Boys’ Singles and Junior Girls’ Singles titles. […]

Watching the Ball

May 3, 2015

Watching the Ball by Han Xiao Today we’re going to discuss something extremely basic: watching the ball. It’s so basic, in fact, that it sounds like it should be obvious that everyone who plays table tennis already knows how to do it. Yet, almost every player I’ve coached from beginners all the way up to […]

Playing Against Penholders

April 28, 2015

Playing Against Penholders by Han Xiao Last week, we examined some basic strengths and weaknesses of players who play with unorthodox rubber and went over some of the common tactics used against these players. This week, we’re going to take a look at penhold players. Most people have some idea of the strengths and weaknesses […]

Playing Against Pips/Anti

April 19, 2015

Playing Against Pips/Anti by Han Xiao Many players have a lot of trouble playing against “junk rubber,” which usually includes short pips, long pips, and anti. At lower levels of play, using pips or anti is often seen as an advantage that can give a lot of free wins. As players improve, using these types […]

2015 AITTA Hope Camp and Tournament

April 13, 2015

2015 Atlanta International Table Tennis Academy Hope Camp and Tournament

JTTF Team Tournament

April 13, 2015

On March 28th, the Junior Table Tennis Federation, JTTF, held the JTTF Team Tournament. First place went to the team consisting of David Wang, Greg Zhang and Sabrina Zhu. Second place was Team G2M2 with Teddy Zhang, Michael Fu, Daniel Ng and Ethan Ruan. Third place was tie between teams R.A.G. (Alex Yu, Randi Bai and […]

Don’t Make Changes For Sake of Change

April 12, 2015

Don’t Make Changes For Sake of Change by Han Xiao A lot of players have a lot of variety in their game. They can hit a lot of different shots, have different speeds and spins, and are consistent players. However, some of these players still lose to players with objectively worse technique and less variety […]

DTTA’s 7th QUINCENAL Tourney

April 11, 2015

Hello Table Tennis players and friends! We have awesome news to share with you all! Not only did we have a great 7th QUINCENAL Tourney at DTTA last Saturday, April 4th…! But on Easter Sunday, April 5th, the Denver TT Alliance Team won -4 to 1- over the CU Boulder TT Team (CUTT) in a […]

Backhand Banana Flip

March 29, 2015

Backhand Banana Flip by Han Xiao In the last few years, the backhand banana flip has become a staple shot thanks to each new generation of players. Players such as Wang Hao and Dmitrij Ovtcharov were among the first players to use this shot as a primary method of returning serve in order to immediately […]

Open Ended Drills

March 22, 2015

Open Ended Drills by Han Xiao Over the last ten years or so, I’ve noticed that the overall level of table tennis coaching in the United States has improved drastically. This is reflected in the playing styles and technique of our players, from intermediate levels all the way up to National Team members. However, one […]