Defending US Champions Overcome in Spectacular Fashion
(Courtesy of USATT) Spectators filled out the seats surrounding the brightly lit feature court at the Brooklyn Bowl, Las Vegas as the Open Singles Finals for the 2016 Supermicro US National Championships were staged. Four Rio Olympians nervously prepared, set to face each other in order to claim glory. For two of them Jiaqi Zheng and Yijun Feng the pressure mounted to defend their 2015 victories. To face them, two time US National Champion Lily Zhang and the youngest Olympic Table Tennis player in history at 16, Kanak Jha, fighting for his first Men's Singles title.

Staff and organizers were pivotal and making the event a huge success, streamed live on One World Sports TV. Inside the Brooklyn Bowl, giant screens showed Olympic profiles, sponsors and footage from the Olympic Team Media Shoot at Triode Media Group just weeks before.

The Women's Singles was played first with Jiaqi Zheng.... Results and Daily Reports
First USATT Super Camp Kicks off In New Jersey
(Courtesy of USATT/Larry Hodges) The camp started yesterday (Monday), with 27 players at the Lily Yip TTC in New Jersey, July 11-24. I volunteered to be the resident manager and one of the coaches. USATT High Performance Director Cory Eider is in overall charge. For the first week, the other coaches are Richard McAfee, Han Xiao, Wang Qing Liang, and Samson Dubina. For the second week it will be Sean O'Neill, Dan Seemiller, and Lily Yip. Matt Hetherington is also here doing video. (When you see some of the younger ones, remember - that little kid you see is probably over 2000. And note the nice camp shirts - everyone got six of them, three blue, three orange.)
Most of us arrived on Sunday. I flew home from the Nationals in Las Vegas on a red-eye flight Saturday night, arriving in Maryland at 7AM. After spending much of the day taking care of miscellaneous business and repacking, I drove the four hours to New Jersey, arriving around 7PM. Most of the kids were already...Read Day 1  Read Day 2
SPiN San Fransisco to Host 2016 US Olympic Table Tennis Team
(Courtesy of USATT) June 16, 2016 (San Francisco, CA) - SPiN San Francisco, the new ping pong social club, will host the 2016 US Olympic Table Tennis Team for the first-ever "Friends with Paddles" fundraiser on Thursday, July 21st, just days before the team is set to leave for Rio to compete in the 2016 Olympic Games. 
The evening will feature exhibitions from both the Men's and Women's teams, along with opportunities for attendees to play some pong and interact with the Olympians. 2016 marks the first time that the US has qualified both Men's and Women's teams for an Olympic Games. 2016 marks the first time in the history of USATT that both a men's and women's team have qualified for the Olympics in the same year. 
"I am very excited that SPiN San Francisco will be hosting our 2016 Olympic table tennis team for this great event," commented SPiN owner and founder Susan Sarandon. "I am sure that everyone will be amazed by these great athletes that will...More Information
World's First Smart Table Tennis Robot is Here - The Trainerbot
(Courtesy of Trainerbot) 
Using your smartphone to control it, you'll be able to create your own drills after watching a competition or training videos and then have the robot feed you the balls exactly as required to practice that skill. 


The Trainerbot started out as a way for creators Alex and Harrison to develop their own table tennis game. They soon realised how beneficial it could be to anyone wanting to improve. They have started a Kickstarter campaign to bring the Trainerbot to the World. The campaign is proving to be very popular. It was published in more than 90 publications and raised more than $200K in a matter of weeks.


Interview with 2 Time Olympian, Timothy Wang 
(Courtesy of Rahul Acharya) Timothy Wang, a 25 year old native of Houston, Texas, is a "veteran" on the U.S. Olympic Team. Lily Zhang and Tim are the only two members to already know what it is like to represent their country in the Olympics. Tim played singles at the 2012 London Olympics and is now ready to take on Rio.


Now, after knowing about Tim's long list of accomplishments, it is hard to believe that he had to be bribed by his parents to play table tennis when he first started. However, with the support of family, friends, and coaches, personal commitment, and a lot of hard work, Tim has become a highly respected player in the table tennis community. I sat down to ask Timothy Wang a few questions. I hope you enjoy getting to know him!

Quick facts about Timothy Wang:

Highest USATT rating 2648
...Read More
Interview with North American Cup Champ Yijun (Tom) Feng
(Courtesy of Rahul Acharya) 19 year-old Yijun (Tom) Feng has recently created a buzz in the table tennis community. From beating Africa's #1 and world top 50 player Aruna Quadri at the 2015 Joola Teams tournament, winning the Men's Singles title at the 2015 U.S. Nationals, qualifying for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team, and to most recently, winning the 2016 North American Cup, Yijun leaves everyone wondering as to what is yet to come.
Born in Nanjing, China, Yijun moved to the U.S. at the age of 8 to make Texas his new home. After calling the lone star state his home for many years, Yijun moved to Georgia during his sophomore year of high school. While the transition wasn't easy as far as school and making new friends, it definitely helped his game. Tom began training at the Atlanta International Table Tennis Academy. Fast forward two years and Yijun is now ready to represent the USA at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio...Read More
Starting Out in Table Tennis
(Courtesy of Pingskills)
The Pingskills team of Alois Rosario and Jeff Plumb have become somewhat of a permanent and popular fixture in the online learning of beginning and developing players. Their special 'Ask the Coach' Show has well over 200 episodes where players can ask any question and Jeff and Alois create a video response to give a detailed response to the question being asked. 
In this episode (Episode #269) the Pingskills crew focus on the most important things when starting out in table tennis. Starting out they talk about how they both got involved in table tennis and then move into which important skills you should concentrate on developing first when setting out into the wide world of table tennis. From techniques to equipment and robots, even choosing out a table. They answer all the tough questions for anyone new to the sport of table tennis, check it out...Watch Now
The 7 Best Table Tennis Blogs in the World
(Courtesy of Kevin Finn/TableTennis11) If you're anything like me, the time you spend thinking about table tennis and wishing you could play more far exceeds the time you have available to actually play! Perhaps the only club in your area has limited hours, or maybe you've taken on a new project at work that is eating away at your training time. Regardless, most amateur players are stuck in the unfortunate situation of having limited amounts of time to train and improve their game.So how then do we get our table tennis fix?
Unlike other sports, you can't just flip on the TV and have your pick of matches to watch-along with detailed commentary and analysis by sports analysts. Nor can you strike up a conversation at the water cooler at work..."Hey, you hear about Tomokazu Harimoto winning the under 21 at the Japanese Open at only 12 years old? Crazy, right? What do you think about his 'choing,' too excessive?"...Read More! 
7 Step Plan to Improve Your Forehand Topspin
(Courtesy of Tom Lodziak) A lot of players at the intermediate level struggle to attack backspin balls. It's one of the key skills which prevent them from playing at a higher level.
I've faced many opponents who are great at attacking a topspin or a blocked ball, but give them some backspin and their attacking game falls apart. If only they could learn to attack these backspin balls too, they would be quite formidable.
In this blog post, I share my seven step plan for getting much better at attacking backspin balls. The focus will be on forehand topspin, as this is easier to do in my opinion, but much of my seven step plan is relevant forbackhand topspin vs. backspin too.
Step 1 - Get your technique right
The biggest mistake I see players make when trying to attack backspin balls is playing too flat. They try to hit through the ball, with the bat finishing quite low. Sometimes they are able to force the ball over the net, but more often the ball goes...Read More
History of USATT - Volume XVII - Chapter 17
(Courtesy of Tim Boggan) 1990: Writer's Interests
A Table Tennis Appraisal - After having given so much to the sport for so many years and having experienced countless uplifting successes as well as debilitating failures, Charlie is left with mixed emotions about the sport. Although he continues to love table tennis, by his own admission Charlie has been burnt out as a promoter for a number of years. So many elements must come together successfully and so much conspire against success. He feels frustrated that the sport has not grown at the national level , and closer to home, he has seen many good friends and promising promoters leave the sport. Yet he remains proud of the 20-(plus) year history of table tennis in Minnesota. He continues to operate the club for fear that table tennis would otherwise slip once again into oblivion in Minnesota. 
The club today is no longer what it used to be when it was full of enthusiastic...Read More
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USA Table Tennis | 4065 Sinton Rd. Suite 120 | Colorado Springs | CO | 80907