tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post374174937884658013..comments2024-03-19T21:14:01.007-07:00Comments on The Compass Rose: My Ping-Pong YearsCurtis Favillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06213075853354387634noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-40926704584433212932011-10-14T09:15:27.748-07:002011-10-14T09:15:27.748-07:00http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8IVASo0umU&fea...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8IVASo0umU&feature=relatedCraighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05061304265345986242noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-56092365750420041872011-10-14T08:32:41.527-07:002011-10-14T08:32:41.527-07:00I thought I knew how to play ping pong until I sta...I thought I knew how to play ping pong until I started school at U of Houston. The student union had a hall with about twenty tables. I was in the Honors Program and the office secretary was a recent graduate. She also played table tennis and had narrowly missed out on a slot on the Ping Pong Diplomacy team that went to China with Nixon. <br /><br />I'd never seen a sponge paddle before or played anyone who used a pen grip. Consequently I had never seen a loop forehand. She could stand ten feet back from the table and return a slam with so much topspin that the bounce would go over your head. The only conceivable way to return it was in the first foot or two after the bounce. <br /><br />I learned to play from my dad who taught me to return heavy topspin with a chop, maintaining the direction of the spin instead of trying to overcome it. Sponge paddles changed all of that, allowing players to counter a topspin roll with a topspin roll, reversing the direction of the spin instead of going with it.Craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05061304265345986242noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-14434014914277058832011-10-13T17:20:27.828-07:002011-10-13T17:20:27.828-07:00My dad was a sports instructor at the local colleg...My dad was a sports instructor at the local college so I was born throwing baseballs, kicking soccer balls, playing badminton, etc. I was naturally good at all of these and always lettered in every sport I tried. They came easily, but I would have preferred to read and play board games. I did play ping pong with Asians at the U. of Washington but they weren't very good for some reason. These kids were from Macau. They invited me to play, and just couldn't play. It was like being with Jewish people who couldn't argue or hadn't read much. <br /><br />Much more amazing was the badminton I played with Asians and Scandinavians. My dad was big on badminton and wrote a book on it. You can still find it but you have to dig. It's for kinesiology majors and has stuff about how to align your biceps and quadroceps when preparing to smash. I learned nothing from it. <br /><br />At the U. of Washington I did play top Olympic athletes from Norway and China in Badminton and I know what you mean about getting better. At first I was lucky to get 15-1 (I had to try unbelievable dinks to try to get a point) but after two years I actually beat a German player. <br /><br />However, I bragged about it, and no one liked me after that. I was still allowed to play, but only one Ethiopian guy ever liked me. This was because we played for five dollar bills and he'd spot me thirteen points and usually still win.<br /><br />In Finland I was in a lot of tournaments. This is in my novel, Temping. I love badminton.<br /><br />Racquet sports aren't taken as seriously here as they ought to be.<br /><br />If I could delete one sport, it would be American football. Totally overrated. I do like the long bomb (I love the arc and the twirl of the ball as it goes 60 yrds. down the field) and don't mind the military aspects (we have to be fit to fight off the Chinese who are getting ready to invade).<br /><br />It's just that I was always too small to play football. I weighed 90 pounds in ninth grade. I culd catch, but then I'd get hit by a 250 lb. goon and I'd be semi-conscious for minutes.<br /><br />Now that women and men can play intercollegiate sports we are developing a new breed of hirmen.Kirby Olsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05952289700191142943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-88154022282897550462011-10-12T13:33:49.838-07:002011-10-12T13:33:49.838-07:001952 or 3 I won a doubles ping-pong tournament
at ...1952 or 3 I won a doubles ping-pong tournament<br />at The Merrick Boys' Club... my partner was a young nun from the other side of the building which was for the girls and was called The Christ Child House<br /><br /><br />so<br />about a week or so after this tournament this priest<br />comes to visit my parents at the store and wanted to know <br /> "which church do y'all attend?"<br /><br />"we don't go doc church, we go to a synagogue"<br /><br />"your'e Jewish ?" "yeah."<br /><br />"I never met any Jews before. My lord was Jewish!""<br /><br />then he wanted to know why I went to the Boys Club..<br /><br />I replied: "because all my friends do".... and <br /><br />"I have a crush on Sister XXXXX"<br /><br />team sports is not much more than a tool for teaching warfare .... and how to "murder 'them' !<br /><br />ping-pong, swimming, running, biking .... the way to stay<br />away from the Herd !Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com