USA Table Tennis at it's finest

[cmetsbeltran15]

My friend asked me help spread this video for him since I have a small following of people who watch my videos, I think you'll all enjoy it. It's USA table tennis at its finest and I think it shows that we have a much stronger future than people may think.

 

[Rainer87]

He is gooood!

 

[WiWa]

Awesome!! Great style, not afraid of taking risks, preferring non-standard directions of play, little extrovert. US table tennis should treasure this guy xD How old is he?

 

[phillypong]

This would be about 2nd division in Belgium, internationally these players will most likely represent nothing in the future.

Our sport is a marginal sport in the USA lets just face it.

 

[ttmonster]

he is 17 i guess

Awesome!! Great style, not afraid of taking risks, preferring non-standard directions of play, little extrovert. US table tennis should treasure this guy xD How old is he?

 

[cmetsbeltran15]

Awesome!! Great style, not afraid of taking risks, preferring non-standard directions of play, little extrovert. US table tennis should treasure this guy xD How old is he?

yup, fun to watch. he turns 18 later this year

 

[Alan Williams]

This would be about 2nd division in Belgium, internationally these players will most likely represent nothing in the future.

Our sport is a marginal sport in the USA lets just face it.

The young man is Michael Landers. He will represent something in the future, he will represent the United States. He won his first Men's Singles title at 15. His coach is from the Phillipines, living in NYC. He's very hard-working and extremely bright with a good attitude. He began attending tournaments I helped stage when he was 9.

If you were to be honest, our sport is a second tier sport world-wide. That makes it no less exciting to play or to follow. As to the young man's future results in International competition, we'll have to wait and see, won't we. But he has already reached the National team level, and even in a 'backward continent' like North America, that does represent something. You can only beat the players they send out against you, you know.

Alan

 

[WiWa]

The young man is Michael Landers. He will represent something in the future, he will represent the United States. He won his first Men's Singles title at 15. His coach is from the Phillipines, living in NYC. He's very hard-working and extremely bright with a good attitude. He began attending tournaments I helped stage when he was 9.

If you were to be honest, our sport is a second tier sport world-wide. That makes it no less exciting to play or to follow. As to the young man's future results in International competition, we'll have to wait and see, won't we. But he has already reached the National team level, and even in a 'backward continent' like North America, that does represent something. You can only beat the players they send out against you, you know.

Alan

Agreed. You can place everyone against the standard of the CNT, but that is just not fair. This guy clearly has the basics and some power. The rest is all about dedication, coaching/tactics and mental strength. You can't predict his future yet, and I surely think he can be stronger than the current American Team top players.

 

[TTTT]

This would be about 2nd division in Belgium, internationally these players will most likely represent nothing in the future.

Our sport is a marginal sport in the USA lets just face it.

Belgian table tennis isn't exactly thriving, with Jean-Michel Saive still heads and shoulders above everyone else and the youngsters struggling to break through internationally. Apart from Charleroi, your Superdivision is very weak, and Michael Landers could certainly hold his own there. And he's only 17 and still improving.

In any case, great video with wonderful rallies!

 

[LegendenSBG]

I like the video, some great rallies and i like the music

 

[Polchen2304]

This is really great stuff. How popular is table tennis in the USA?

 

[cmetsbeltran15]

This is really great stuff. How popular is table tennis in the USA?

not very popular at all, but it seems to be growing well.

 

[Polchen2304]

Seems? Got any numbers of players or something like that?

 

[Mr. RicharD]

As of 2011 we had just over 8000 Domestic players and a little less than 3500 foreign players. So total in our tournaments we get about 11,500 players over the year in the USATT Sanctioned events. There are over 20,000,000 rec players that play in their homes and rec centers, but unfortunately we are not at a large growing number. However what is good is that we have some great potential and some great companies willing to help set the standard of play. We will get there it will just take a little time.

Michael is a strong player and someone who really enjoys rallying and spinning the ball. He is very exciting to watch because he always wants the point regardless of what position he's put in. He also has a great service that literally no one in the U.S. is good at attacking. Because of this he's able to maintain a high level of play otherwise he would be a step below many of the players in the Trials. He's still young however and it will be exciting to continue watching him play.

 

[phillypong]

Belgian table tennis isn't exactly thriving, with Jean-Michel Saive still heads and shoulders above everyone else and the youngsters struggling to break through internationally. Apart from Charleroi, your Superdivision is very weak, and Michael Landers could certainly hold his own there. And he's only 17 and still improving.

In any case, great video with wonderful rallies!

Well, Belgian youngsters like Jean Lauric (ittf world rank 251), Benjamin Rogiers (ittf world rank 311), Cedrick Nuytinck (ittf world rank 317) do have rankings that are just a little higher (ahem) than Michael Landers (ittf world rank 739), and they play (or played) in the Belgian Superdivision , winning like 50% of their matches , you can understand that at this moment Michael would not really be impressive in our superdivision.
But with a coach from the Fillipines he will be in the top 50 in no time !! LOL

 

[Alan Williams]

not very popular at all, but it seems to be growing well.

True. A couple of years ago the Sporting Goods Manufacturer's Association noted it as one of the fastest growing US sports, but that's based solely on sales of rackets and tables and such in department and sporting goods stores. For the most part, Americans are unaware that 'organized play' exists.

 

[Alan Williams]

Michael is a strong player and someone who really enjoys rallying and spinning the ball. He is very exciting to watch because he always wants the point regardless of what position he's put in. He also has a great service that literally no one in the U.S. is good at attacking. Because of this he's able to maintain a high level of play otherwise he would be a step below many of the players in the Trials. He's still young however and it will be exciting to continue watching him play.

Sometimes I think I must miss your meaning entirely. Landers finished in first place in the Trials. In what way do you think that puts him a step below 'many of the players'? Should he have finished higher than first? or did you want him to win in some way other than he did?

 

[Alan Williams]

Well, Belgian youngsters like Jean Lauric (ittf world rank 251), Benjamin Rogiers (ittf world rank 311), Cedrick Nuytinck (ittf world rank 317) do have rankings that are just a little higher (ahem) than Michael Landers (ittf world rank 739), and they play (or played) in the Belgian Superdivision , winning like 50% of their matches , you can understand that at this moment Michael would not really be impressive in our superdivision.
But with a coach from the Fillipines he will be in the top 50 in no time !! LOL

I admire you for your patriotism and the belief you show in your young players. You know that this summer's US Open is an International tournament, yes? and that the ITTF has scheduled a Junior Circuit event to be run in junction with it, yes? It would be great if they would come to Grand Rapids and play! Here's the entry blank, from the USATT website. http://www.usatt.org/events/2012_usopen/12usopeneventsInternational.pdf

 

[phillypong]

Well the rankings are the facts , nothing to do with patriotism (USA citizens are generally way more patriotic than Belgians BTW).
As for the US Open tournament : there are probably enough higher rated tournaments in Europe for our young players, would you fly to the states to play players with ranking about 400 places beneath you ?

What would that be good for ?

Fact is internationally and as a whole , table tennis in the USA is very small (11500 competition players only i read in this post) and will most likely stay that way for a long time.

Oh and just to illustrate where Michael Landers is on world level :

 

[ttmonster]

@phillypong : You are completely missing the point, this video was posted by michael himself in his facebook page , titled "owned" . I asked him personally and he said , dude there was nothing I did wrong on that point, and if you look carefully it was actually a great shot from Fang Bo, and like Wiwa was saying if you compare against CNT everybody other than Timo Boll or Ovtcharov at their peaks will fall short.
This is not a fair comparison, then most of us Indians should start saying sharath kamal and somyajit ghosh are better than Ma Lin and Zhang Jike in doubles .... would not that be silly !!! just because they won against them 3-0 i guess 11-3, 11-8,11-5 or something ....
Yes it is true that TT is an up and coming sport in US but then you have not seen the kids in the age group 10-14 play like we have. Otherwise somebody like Lily Zhang would not rank 125 in women's and Ariel Hsing 115 in ittf women's ranking.
Point is Michael is damn good considering the competition he has had and considering he is only 17. Who can say if he gets decent sponsor and decides to play in European leagues with the "2nd best" ( taking cue from your philosophy of ranking everybody against CNT ) how much good he can become...

Well the rankings are the facts , nothing to do with patriotism (USA citizens are generally way more patriotic than Belgians BTW).
As for the US Open tournament : there are probably enough higher rated tournaments in Europe for our young players, would you fly to the states to play players with ranking about 400 places beneath you ?

What would that be good for ?

Fact is internationally and as a whole , table tennis in the USA is very small (11500 competition players only i read in this post) and will most likely stay that way for a long time.

Oh and just to illustrate where Michael Landers is on world level :