Will Shortz - 50 States, 1348 Consecutive Days
(Courtesy of Larry Hodges) On Monday, Will Shortz did something we're pretty sure no one else has ever done before - he's now played table tennis in all 50 U.S. states! The final state was Hawaii, where Will played at the Aloha club. But it wasn't just 50 states - it also marked his 1,348 consecutive days playing table tennis! (That's every day for about 3.7 years.)
He's not through. Over the next three days during his Hawaii adventure he'll be playing in the Kona TTC, the North Kohala TTC, and the Waimea TTC. Accompanying him on this journey is Westchester TTC coach Robert Roberts.
There are pictures at the Aloha TTC Facebook page, including a nice one of Will with a cake commemorating both the 50 states and 1,348 streak. What, you don't know who Will Shortz is? Yes, you, the one staring at the page in befuddlement?... Read Full Article
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Vegas Adds the Heat for US National Championships 2016!
Entries have closed and now it turns to events organizers to make the US National Championships an event for the players and spectators to remember. We hope you are all doing well with your preparations and training and are as ambitious as ever to work towards claiming some titles in Las Vegas! Check out what's on offer:
Customize Your Player Shirts On-Site at Nationals - Learn More
Give a "Shout-out" in the 2016 Nationals Program! - Learn More
National Championships Host Hotel Information - Learn More
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United Nations Win the Tai Shan Cup Team Event
(Courtesy of Matt Hetherington) In the depths of the sub-basement of New York's Fashion Institute of Technology tables and nets were set and ready to go. With the aid of Lily Yip and in conjunction with LYTTC's FIT Open, the Tai Shan Chinese Community Team Event took place all in the name of Ping Pong Diplomacy.
A mob of spectators swamped the courts with phones, video cameras and photography equipment as New York State Senator Martin J. Holden and Chinese Consular General Zhang Qi Yue took to the table with their specially designed USA and China flag paddles in a friendly doubles performance.
A number of educational and administrative institutes took part in the event, including the hosts F.I.T who had a team present. Some teams were taking matters very seriously and had employed the help of some US stars. One team hosted one of the top US Junior players Jack Wang along with his training partner... Read More
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 11 Questions with US Para Star Eric Pattison
(Courtesy of USATT)
Want to be featured in the USATT Member Spotlight? Respond to this email indicating your interest and we'll be in touch!
A: Table tennis is like a blank tile in Scrabble. It's customizable, exciting, and once you get it, you begin to realize it symbolizes various endless possibilities.
Q: Which is your favorite tournament?
A: I like Nationals. It's great to see so many familiar faces - sans blistering summer heat in Vegas.
Q: Who is your primary nemesis?
A: Myself.
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 Eau Claire Wisconsin Selected to Host 2017 National Collegiate Championships! (Courtesy of Andy Kanengiser/NCTTA Media Chairman/Photo by Grant Bergmann) More than 250 of the best collegiate table tennis players in North America will return to Eau Claire, Wisconsin for the 2017 national championships.
In early June, leaders of the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association selected Eau Claire to host the three-day tournament. The site will again be the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire.
Eau Claire competed for the bid against a proposal offered to bring the games to Biloxi, Mississippi along the Gulf Coast.
"We were happy with the way that Eau Claire leaders embraced us at the 2015 TMS College Table Tennis Championships,'' NCTTA President Willy Leparulo. "We look forward to being back in Wisconsin in the Spring of 2017.'' Read More! |
Len Yang Selected in 2016 World Hopes Team!
(Courtesy of USATT/Image from ITTF) USATT would like to congratulate Len Yang who was successfully selected as a member of the World Hopes Team (11/12 year old) after his results at the Trial which was held in Doha, Qatar. Len follows in the footsteps of other Hopes players who have developed into highly competitive senior players in the US National Team the likes of Amy Wang, Victor Liu and Nikhil Kumar among others.
Len advanced to the finals stage of the trial with a narrow 12-10 in the 5th win over a Hungarian opponent before falling 3-0 in the final to Navid Shams from Iran.
Rachel Sung who competed in the girls singles lost a tight 11-9 in the 5th in the semifinal but succeeded in winning 3-0 to secure 3rd place. A great effort and finish!
The USA continues to have a great playing record in the Hopes program which has proven successful in recognizing and developing talent... Read More
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What is the Difference Between a 2200 and a 2600 Player?
(Courtesy of Samson Dubina) What is the main difference between 2200 players and 2600 players? I haven't read the table tennis forums for many years. However, one of my friends recently told me about a popular topic where many players were trying to figure out the main characteristic or main difference between a 2200 rated player and 2600 rated player.
This same question can be asked of 1800 vs 2200 players or 2300 vs 2700 players. Is the main difference fitness? Anticipation? Reflexes? Talent? Number of hours on the table? Equipment? Muscle mass? Training routine? Game tactics?
According to my friend, the most popular assumption was anticipation. Most players thought that 2600 players anticipate better than 2200 players... Find Out The Difference!
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USA Boys Invited to Japan for Youth Friendship Championships
(By Courtesy of Duke Stogner/Photo Courtesy of Ben Hartwiger)
As part of the ongoing "Ping Pong Diplomacy" program, which started in 1971, Amy Feng, 1996 US Olympic Team member, escorted three USA junior boys, Ben Hartwiger (AL), Jonathan Bao (GA) and Tony Qu (MD), to Nagoya, Japan to take part in the 1st USA, China, Japan Youth Friendship Championships.
The tournament was held the weekend of April 2nd at the same place the 1971 (31st) World Table Tennis Championships was held.
Ben, Jonathan and Tony teamed up with three other boys from both China and Japan and took 1st in their division.
You can check out more pictures from the boy's trip to Japan including the airport and the banquet at the end of the Junior Team event...Read More
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Three Umpires Pass IU Exams!
(Courtesy of ITTF) USATT would like to congratulate the successful candidates John Peng, Jamey Hall and Peter Chung who passed the 2016 International Umpires exam set by the ITTF and have been added to the official registry.
Here is the message from the ITTF:
"Dear Colleagues,
In the attached document you will find the names of the candidates who have successfully passed the 2016 IU exams. The same list is published on ITTF website www.ittf.com and available for all candidates who have attended the IU exams.
Our congratulations to your association and the successful candidates!"... Read More
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Sportfirst Online Table Tennis Tournament Software
(Courtesy of Tej Pratap Singh) We strive to make table tennis a more fascinating sport by generating interesting data points which really engages everybody associated with the sport - be it players, directors, referees, coaches & club owners among other officials.
Tournament Directors and Referees have to put in so much work to run a tournament and sportfist.com just makes all that work more fruitful by automatically creating public pages for Tournament Details, Results, RR Draws and SE Draws in a very modern way. Sharing PDF documents for scores and draws is now passé, this is 2016 and people need social media shareable links for draws, scores, stats and that too right after tournament... More Info
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History of USATT - Volume XVII - Chapter 13
(Courtesy of Tim Boggan) 1989: December Happenings
We'll start Chapter Thirteen with Californian J. Johnson's Dec.2 criticism (TTT, Dec., 1989, 2) of the October Palo Alto, CA tournaments he'd attended (no results of this tournament ever appeared in a USTTA publication.
"On October 15, 1989, I went to the Palo Alto tournament expecting great things after reading their club's glowing newsletter proclaiming a 'showcase' of their new facilities and programs to come. I was very disappointed and disturbed at the lack of planning. Actually there wasn't any. For a 2-star event with 16 tables and all initial events round robin, there was only ONE person at the control desk registering players lined up halfway around the gymnasium and trying to assign matches, register results, and answer complaints about players not in the draws they entered...Read More
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