Even Yet Still More Table Tennis Tips

[larrytt]

unfortunately i wont, but my good friend will be there! maybe he could pick up for me?

Sure - I'll need his name and contact info. Perhaps message me privately. Did you want the latest book, or any of the 27? Take your pick! If anyone else here will be at the Nationals and wants a free book, message me!
www.larryhodgesbooks.com
-Larry Hodges, a really bad book peddler

 

[Oliverpool]

The kindle version is up! That was fast. Both the print and kindle versions are there.
-Larry Hodges

Purchased !!!!

I do have one question about returning to neutral after every stroke which you covered in one of your articles.

While it could depend on situations , Some have suggested that you “leave” your blade at or near the end position of your swing while watching the ball and starting your backswing once then opponent has hit the ball and you know where the ball is
Heading. As always returning to neutral slows you down. Are there situations that you should do that and others Where your blade should return to neutral always? In fact i do see some
Players that return to backhand first as if to protect the weaker position or more
Likely position a ball is likely to go to.

 

[larrytt]

Purchased !!!!

I do have one question about returning to neutral after every stroke which you covered in one of your articles.

While it could depend on situations , Some have suggested that you “leave” your blade at or near the end position of your swing while watching the ball and starting your backswing once then opponent has hit the ball and you know where the ball is
Heading. As always returning to neutral slows you down. Are there situations that you should do that and others Where your blade should return to neutral always? In fact i do see some
Players that return to backhand first as if to protect the weaker position or more
Likely position a ball is likely to go to.

There are times when you hit a shot, but as you return to ready position, you see where the opponent is hitting and what shot you'll be doing next, so you go directly to that shot. But in general, as soon as you finish your follow through you should be smoothly moving to your ready position unless and until you see where the opponent is hitting his shot. Good players often ready opponents well and so can essentially anticipate where they will go, and so they may go directly to that position and shot, not needing a ready position. For example, if you attack someone's wide backhand, you can often see immediately that they are going to block to your backhand, and so you go directly to that. Even at 66, one of my favorite combos is when I loop a forehand from the forehand side down the line to the opponent's backhand, and then I move all the way over to my backhand side and rip another forehand - not because I was super fast, but because I saw early where the opponent would put the ball. (Occasionally I get burned.)

Not everyone has the same ready position. Somewhere in those 750 tips I wrote there's one where I wrote about that. Players should start out with the standard ready position where you point your racket where your opponent's contact will be, and go from there. But as players advance, it sometimes changes. My ready position has evolved to where I hold my racket in a slight backhand position so I can be quicker on that side, but my feet in a slight forehand position so I can play more forehand. (I mostly block on the backhand, and so can play it with a forehand stance.)
-Larry Hodges

 

[Tyce]

You should consider coming to the meeting in Germany with a stand of books

 

[larrytt]

His criticism wasn't entirely baseless, it is something we screen people for all the time. Ultimately, it's a judgment call. We try to be as laissez-faire as reasonable while affirming that it isn't a free speech web forum. But if he pushes it too far beyond his main point, we can revisit. I suspect someone found his statement funny, even if more people appreciated your works (including himself, I might add).

I would argue there was no point to his argument except superficially. Consider this. There are literally thousands of table tennis rackets, sponges, and other equipment. But table tennis books only come out a few times a year. Suppose Ma Long, a national coach, or some other knowledgeable table tennis person who doesn’t normally post on this forum writes a new table tennis book. People come to this forum to get their table tennis news and discuss it. The key question is: Are they better off knowing about this new TT book, or kept ignorant? If they are better off knowing, then there really is no point to the idea that this person shouldn’t post about it because he hasn’t been posting here regularly.

I think it ultimately comes down to what’s more important: knowing about the new TT book from someone who’s contributed a lot to the TT community for decades and who’s put in a huge amount of time and effort on a TT project that many will benefit from . . . or punishing that author because he doesn’t post here regularly. (Keep in mind that out of all the many people who reacted or commented, all but one were positive, and the only one who objected did so with insults and dripping sarcasm.)

This is an important question for me. Around June 15 I have a rather different TT book coming out, “Ping-Pong Paddles Can’t Talk!” It’s a children’s picture book that features a nervous boy and his talking paddle in their first tournament, where he meets and plays a girl who is really good, and they have an adventurous match. Along the way, kids learn about the sport, with themes of facing your fears, working toward a goal, honesty, and friendship. It’s all told in humorous Seussian rhyme. Now, if there is reticence from even the forum moderators over whether it’s appropriate for me to let the forum know about it, then I simply won’t post about it here. Would the forum be better off that way? (Here’s the cover!)
-Larry Hodges

 

[Archosaurus]

To play devil's advocate, Larry, your frequent advertising interjections and extremely defensive nature can be seen as obnoxious. It's probably why NetProphet poked fun at you, and he even told you why he doesn't respect it.

I wouldn't take it terribly personally and I don't think there's a requirement to produce a very comprehensive defense against it, or to offer refunds for the book he has bought, or to suggest he disposes of it. I don't think anyone is trying to seriously discredit your contributions or drive people away from buying the books. It's just an opinion delivered in an abrasive manner.

 

[larrytt]

To play devil's advocate, Larry, your frequent advertising interjections and extremely defensive nature can be seen as obnoxious. It's probably why NetProphet poked fun at you, and he even told you why he doesn't respect it.

I wouldn't take it terribly personally and I don't think there's a requirement to produce a very comprehensive defense against it, or to offer refunds for the book he has bought, or to suggest he disposes of it. I don't think anyone is trying to seriously discredit your contributions or drive people away from buying the books. It's just an opinion delivered in an abrasive manner.

Just one note, regarding my "frequent advertising interjections." Since I first posted here eight years ago in 2018, I've only posted five times about my books, and the last time was almost two years ago. It's not that frequent. I have 27 books, 15 of them on table tennis (13 currently in print) but I don't spam the forum with postings about them. I only post about each TT book when it first comes out. I've sold over 40,000 copies of Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers, yet I don't think I've ever posted about it here.

• Apr. 25, 2026 Even Yet Still More Table Tennis Tips
• June 16, 2024 First Galactic Table Tennis Championships
• Mar. 11, 2024 Table Tennis Doubles for Champions
• June 25, 2023 Yet Still More Table Tennis Tips
• July 7, 2020 The Spirit of Pong

-Larry Hodges

 

[Archosaurus]

Just one note, regarding my "frequent advertising interjections." Since I first posted here eight years ago in 2018, I've only posted five times about my books, and the last time was almost two years ago. It's not that frequent. I have 27 books, 15 of them on table tennis (13 currently in print) but I don't spam the forum with postings about them. I only post about each TT book when it first comes out. I've sold over 40,000 copies of Table Tennis Tactics for Thinkers, yet I don't think I've ever posted about it here.

• Apr. 25, 2026 Even Yet Still More Table Tennis Tips
• June 16, 2024 First Galactic Table Tennis Championships
• Mar. 11, 2024 Table Tennis Doubles for Champions
• June 25, 2023 Yet Still More Table Tennis Tips
• July 7, 2020 The Spirit of Pong

-Larry Hodges

Frequent, as in frequency in this thread specifically. Your first reply to NetProphet included some too. It will certainly not calm people down.

 

[NextLevel]

I would argue there was no point to his argument except superficially. Consider this. There are literally thousands of table tennis rackets, sponges, and other equipment. But table tennis books only come out a few times a year. Suppose Ma Long, a national coach, or some other knowledgeable table tennis person who doesn’t normally post on this forum writes a new table tennis book. People come to this forum to get their table tennis news and discuss it. The key question is: Are they better off knowing about this new TT book, or kept ignorant? If they are better off knowing, then there really is no point to the idea that this person shouldn’t post about it because he hasn’t been posting here regularly.

I think it ultimately comes down to what’s more important: knowing about the new TT book from someone who’s contributed a lot to the TT community for decades and who’s put in a huge amount of time and effort on a TT project that many will benefit from . . . or punishing that author because he doesn’t post here regularly. (Keep in mind that out of all the many people who reacted or commented, all but one were positive, and the only one who objected did so with insults and dripping sarcasm.)

This is an important question for me. Around June 15 I have a rather different TT book coming out, “Ping-Pong Paddles Can’t Talk!” It’s a children’s picture book that features a nervous boy and his talking paddle in their first tournament, where he meets and plays a girl who is really good, and they have an adventurous match. Along the way, kids learn about the sport, with themes of facing your fears, working toward a goal, honesty, and friendship. It’s all told in humorous Seussian rhyme. Now, if there is reticence from even the forum moderators over whether it’s appropriate for me to let the forum know about it, then I simply won’t post about it here. Would the forum be better off that way? (Here’s the cover!)
-Larry Hodges

Okay. I don't agree his argument is a superficial as you do. We can agree to disagree on that. What would make his point moot was more examples of you posting and interacting when you were plugging no products of yours. And there is no need for this IMHO, but I know and can accept that people have different opinions about what is right and wrong when it comes to supporting groups that they gain value from.

Usually, someone like Ma Long coming to post here would consider working with TTD to promote his work. In fact, it wouldn't be a bad idea for you to work with @Dan to get a podcast, I know you did so in the past with another podcaster? Probably on their invite, but I am sure @Dan if he hasn't already could do a podcast with you.

You can have the final word, thank you.

 

[larrytt]

Okay. I don't agree his argument is a superficial as you do. We can agree to disagree on that. What would make his point moot was more examples of you posting and interacting when you were plugging no products of yours. And there is no need for this IMHO, but I know and can accept that people have different opinions about what is right and wrong when it comes to supporting groups that they gain value from.

Usually, someone like Ma Long coming to post here would consider working with TTD to promote his work. In fact, it wouldn't be a bad idea for you to work with @Dan to get a podcast, I know you did so in the past with another podcaster? Probably on their invite, but I am sure @Dan if he hasn't already could do a podcast with you.

You can have the final word, thank you.

I don't need a final word, I've had my say. I'm fine with a podcast. I've posted to a number of videos/podcasts from Table Tennis Daily in my weekly blog.
-Larry Hodges

 

[andymagata]

To play devil's advocate, Larry, your frequent advertising interjections and extremely defensive nature can be seen as obnoxious. It's probably why NetProphet poked fun at you, and he even told you why he doesn't respect it.

I wouldn't take it terribly personally and I don't think there's a requirement to produce a very comprehensive defense against it, or to offer refunds for the book he has bought, or to suggest he disposes of it. I don't think anyone is trying to seriously discredit your contributions or drive people away from buying the books. It's just an opinion delivered in an abrasive manner.

In general, posting short messages in a forum is a double edged sword, you know yourself what you are thinking and what you want to express, but the written word can not be treated like a conversation eye to eye or even over the phone. For example, I myself chose the wrong words in my first comment in this thread, and of course it stirred up emotions.

Other pitfalls is that we assume a lot, we guess alot. We should have handled it different ourselves, but the problem is that we cannot force our way onto others, and maybe we could just be gracious and allow others to do what they do without expressing our feelings about it?

 

[NetProphet]

While I don't post much anymore, I've been a lurker here and on other TT forums for years. I will go to the link above and put NetProphet on ignore. And then I can go back to my next table tennis project in peace. I'm tempted to just give copies of my books away to people here to show how much I like to "peddle" my books. (Peddle means to sell, and these days I give away many of my books.)
-Larry Hodges
ADDENDUM: NetProphet is on ignore. I won't see anymore of his obnoxious postings. He will no doubt post more willfully ignorant comments. He can't help himself. I think readers can judge for themselves whether his continued attacks add to the TT community.

Oh Larry, Larry, Larry.
If you can't see the point in my post that's your own wilful blindness and nothing else.
There is nothing ignorant in my posts and yes, I can help myself, no problem there.
I honestly didn't see expect you to be so immature about all of this.
You have dragged just about every possible alternative angle into this to avoid saying "yeah, I don't contribute here but I am here to sell another book" and then just move on.
So be it.
I have nothing against you but I did personally find that a bit on the "cheeky" side of posting.
My first post was a bit of fun at the surprise of seeing you were actually a member here but it seems you are far to serious and self important to converse on that side of things and clearly you are above any form of criticism whatsoever!
I know you won't read this so this is obviously just for the record.

 

[ShakehandJpenCpenEnjoyer]

I dont get it why netprophet thinks Larry cannot "sell" his books here. If someone is contributing positively in TT world in any form, we should welcome it. I'll even wait for your own book, netpro 😄