PONGFU
Joe Ching （郑佐）
李佳敏 （Jamie Li）
DECEMBER 2018
CONTENTS
PONGFU DEBUNKING KUNGFU MYTHS
PONGFU STROKES
PONGFU CURRICULUM
PONGFU SENSE
PONGFU TROUBLE SHOOTING
PONGFU VIDEOS
PONGFU DEBUNKING
KUNGFU MYTHS
Kungfu didn't pan out. Would
pongfu suffer the same fate?
To defy this tragic outcome, pongfu
must first debunk many of the
kungfu myths, that history, movies
and kungfu novels have deeply
imprinted into our brains.
The first myth is that kungfu is a
good fighting skill. This myth
become truly a myth is when we
realize that it takes a quarter
second to react from the eyes
seeing to body reacting. So
logically, in any kungfu contest, it's
the guy who deliver the first blow
should win. No amount of good
kungfu skill is really a guarantee.
Pongfu must be very conscientious
of this fact to get out of this pitfall
of kungfu. Luckily, the normal
bounce of a ball over the 6-inch net
and land on the other side of the
table is about quarter a second.
So, in pongfu, if time management
is done right, we have a chance to
come up with some sure-win skills.
Then there is this myth in kungfu
that secret hidden scrolls do exist
that contain knowledge of
unrivalled kungfu skills. Well, for
magics maybe, but not kungfu.
And also pongfu. But in this area,
we have no other choice but
working on the faith that theories
will eventually get us there, since
we are working out from just about
the most theoretical lab there is -
on supercomputing software
automation.
Well, in competitive sports, things
are very unforgiving. So, we
either never give up on theorizing,
or simply drill until we drop dead.
Luckily, at 75, it's about time
anyway.
A social type of myth in kungfu is
that sexual distraction sometimes
helps out. Well, based on my
personal experiences, I would
probably have to admit that:" The
Buddhists have it right all along!"
Our experimenting with pongfu will
answer these myths. Hopefully,
we could debunk the ultimate myth
that pongfu itself is only a figment
of an old fool's imagination.
PONGFU STROKES
The basic mechanics of pongfu
motion consist of "scoop",
"hammer", "flip" and "chop". The
return of serve starts with one
scoop, in which the paddle scoops
from an open position to a closed
position, and then another scoop,
where it scoops from the closed
position back to a right side up one
open position, and then it flips the
blade up and then chop on the ball
to hit it forward with the left or
right corner of the blade depending
whether it's a forehand or
backhand shot, respectively, while
both times, the blade rotates in a
clockwise direction.
The pongfu stroke includes an early
backward recovery and a server
return forward hit. And in serve,
it's a sideway recovery, followed by
fast forward hit. The execution of
the stroke should be done such that
the waist, shoulder and elbow first
get going, letting the hand and
paddle follow suit in their own
natural pace. And the initial
power up against the ball's coming
out the opponent's paddle should
be the biggest downward scoop of
the ball with a closed paddle in the
entire stroke.
In fact, the foot must jump at each
bounce of the ball out of the
opponent's paddle, with the
accompany accelerating sudden
jerk to initiate every stroke.
The energy and time that you attain
should be used to use the upside
down closed blade to quickly draw
an arc around the incoming ball,
then allow the paddle to climb to
the highest point to hammer down,
don't forget to flip the blade up
before chopping the ball sideway.
Concurrent motions of:
Ball Player
In Return of Serve
Being tossed or Scoop downward
bouncing out of backward kick of
playback board forefoot
Contacting blade Scoop up
Kick backfoot
Bouncing on table Hammer down
Kick forefoot
Jumping over net Flip up blade
Kick backfoot
Landing on table Rotate clockwise
Kick forefoot
Bouncing on table Chop on ball
with paddle corner
In Serve
Ball in hand Scoop sideway
Step forefoot forward
Being tossed Scoop forward
Ball in air Calm pause,
then Hammer
Flip up &
Rotate clockwise
Stump forefoot
on floor
Being struck Chop with corner
PONGFU CURRICULUM
Pongfu is really just pingpong but
trained and played like kungfu. So,
naturally, it starts with kungfu
shadow stroke drills.
The ready position is the standard
fencer's stance, with forefoot in the
front, kicking backward and paddle
twist to closed position to start a
downward swing. The initial
power is generated from the
ensuing backfoot's back kick,
immediately followed with a
forefoot touchdown.
The emphases should be on
scooping the closed paddle from
the backhand side up to maximum
height. While the paddle is still on
the way up, get ready to hammer
the ball down, with a last moment
back flip, to chop the ball.
The virtual shot should be a ball hit
to you from the backhand side
diagonally across the table. So
you need to use the forehand scoop
and backhand return, using as full a
figure 8 as possible.
Also you should train to do shadow
strokes in backhand, with some
weights in both hands to make a
figure 8, too. Once fluent, you
should sense the effective delay of
the paddle as if it's at the end of a
whip, which your arm should
emulate by staying perfectly loose,
letting the body generate all the
power.
The main features are the making
of a diagonal number 8 figure, in
which the key focuses are on the
scooping rising with a closed blade
and the hammering chopping of the
scooping down on the ball, all the
time bracing back and keeping
snappiness of the of the blade's
last-moment twisting and turning.
The scooping motion should really
be thought as a wrapping up of the
ball. The closed paddle at the
lowest point of the scoop is the
starting of this wrapping up motion.
It escorts the oncoming ball back in
to be scooped back out.
The basic aerobatic warmup is a lap
by the river after a simple meal and
doing 300 8-figured shadow strokes.
And all the pongfu drill should be 3
sets of 100 each of continued
successful serve returns and blocks,
and 100 for serve practices for
forehand, backhand and crossovers.
Sometimes the left hand should be
holding a 4-pound weight. In
actual stroke, the left arm must be
lifted up to get out of the way of a
backhand stroke and be held
forward for a forehand stroke.
Also the whole shadow stroke
should be "powered" from the belly,
and energy is transferred in step to
the paddle, with sudden
acceleration to exaggerate the
delay during twisting of the wrist
and paddle. This could be only
achieved with a fully relaxed arm
and body.
The first item in a pongfu class is
the flipping of a rolling ball from
the top rubber surface to the back
wood surface and back. This is to
train the student in adjusting mood
swings during a stroke, as well as
the concept of "time constant" -
the shorter "time constant" entity
will dominate a longer time
constant entity by being able to see
the longer time constant entity,
such as the ball, as if it's in slower
motion than one's self.
The second item to be trained is the
catching a ball bounced back from a
board laid against the wall and then
throwing the ball out for the next
catch. This is a practice to squeeze
out as much time as possible to do
the pre-stroke movements, such as
arc'ing the backside of the paddle in
a scooping loop against the
oncoming ball. The objective is to
be able to return the ball so riskily
after a student got used to the
"almost not making it" feeling.
Catching a flying ball bouncing off a
board familiarizes a student to sync
with the bouncing of balls and the
passive way of the paddle in
lending control to the paddle itself
in the handling of a fast incoming
ball.
The third item is blocking against a
playback board placed on the side
of the table. The chief aim of the
practice is to force oneself into a
delayed rebound of a flipping
motion and become convinced that
it not only can be done, but
resulting in a much more powerful
stroke, with added deception.
It must start with the twisting of
the paddle to a closed position
before coming down with it to
make an 8 shape with the scooping
at the lowest point. The backfoot
should initiate the power to the
paddle, to swing upwards.
First, familiarize with the wrapping
up of every ball with the scoop,
then worry about the other half of
the figure 8, also from high to wide
and then hammer the ball with a
flip then followed by a sideway
chop. Without the hammering,
the ball tends to fly high and out,
and without the chop, there won't
be enough time and potential
energy on the blade for control.
This here is the best place to
squeeze every bit of delay in the
stroke when switching one segment
of stroke to another. The blocking
stroke should consist of two major
segments. First is the scooping of
the ball in its coming off the board,
then the hammering down and
last-minute chopping during the
downward fall to its first bounce
and before the rise of the ball after
the bounce. See, there is no
spare time between the two
segments.
The fourth item is the mainstay of
pongfu -- the serve return. The
concentration should be placed on
the initial preparation swing of
catching the bouncing back of the
ball from the playback board with a
hard and fast turn of paddle from
open to closed position and scoop
up the paddle with an arc to the
highest point that time allows.
The stroke then start a downward
hammering, as always starting
power from the body, with a slight
delay to the paddle from the body,
arm and wrist motions. The
hitting of the ball should be a
chopping motion with a back
bounce of the blade from a flipping
paddle, in order to sidespin the ball
clockwise from forehand to
backhand positions.
Like in previous shadow stroke, a
player should learn to lead with the
backhand, and use both hands to
stroke, letting the backhand lead
and the forehand should just doing
its own thing of making the figure 8.
The figure 8 seems to have the
magic power of causing the blade to
wobble to automatically flipping
itself up before chopping down on
the ball, if done right.
The fifth and final item is the serve.
You are all alone here. But all the
skills you learned in the first four
items are here to escort you to
make the delivery of your life. The
difference here is that the ball must
be hit as close to the table as
possible, as well as off the table's
sides as close to the net as possible.
The major emphases here is to
always get a moment of pause of
calmness, right about the time the
tossed ball reach its maximum
height, before initiating the actual
downward hitting of the ball and to
let go of the fingers to allow the
blade itself to spin the ball as much
as possible to gain control on the
ball. Try to make the movement
before the pause identical all the
time in order to train to put some
deception into the serve with the
latter part of the stroke.
All the above trainings, plus an
added shadow stroke, is to get
ourselves a feeling of what's like to
be "one with the ball".
The added shadow stroke is to be
one with the paddle. Here you need
to be fully relaxed, except paying
special attention to you abdomen
muscle, which should be the center
of you power source.
In the three rebounding points, the
paddle should be reversely turned
as much as possible, followed by
the delay of turning back to lend
maximum force to the paddle, the
three rebounding points being the
recovery from finishing the stroke
and starting the paddle to the
backhand and then downward,
from the highest upward swing
position of the closed paddle and
the forehand upward flip of the
paddle before strike.
One important thing to remember,
especially once getting on the table
and playing the real ball is the focus
should always be on the preparing
of the downward arcing of the
paddle in sync with the out bounce
of the ball out the playback board.
PONGFU SENSE
The drillings in the PONGFU
CURRICULUM writeup is to initiate
a player into familiarizing with the
basic skills of pongfu. But the
most important thing to win in
pongfu is the level of pongfu sense
a player somehow mastered.
This is a grey area in any sport, if
not everything we do. How to you
acquire the pongfu sense?
Theories have it that all the
theories might just go counter to
achieve the pongfu sense. Well in
our case of pongfu, we have put all
our bets in one basket, which call
"theory". So let's push on, from
where we left off with the five
items that supposedly would one
day get us there - to the pongfu
sense.
The first item of rolling the ball
around the blade is to be one with
the ball. The idea is to develop a
closed-ness with the ball. This
needs to be achieved from first
letting you be the boss, then finally
delegating the pivot center of
everything to the ball.
The second item of catching a ball
bouncing back from a board lying
against the wall and then throwing
the ball out for the next catch is to
be one with the board. Here the
student is to learn that the ball is
still a nice little ball when it is flying
in the air and never lands.
Another good mechanics to try out
here is to chop on the ball and send
it out with a clockwise sidespin to
see if the additional control could
overwhelm the ball.
The third item of blocking across
the table is to be "one-bounce"
with the table. Here the best
training is to prepare for the
blocking by twisting the blade hard
to make an upward arc and then
come down on the ball with as
much delay as possible, and also in
the flipping up of the paddle before
contact.
The fourth item of returning along
the table is to be "two-bounce"
with the table. This is the pure
kungfu part of pongfu. The
student must make this stroke
second nature.
Here, the key skill to be learned is
to divorce the stroke from oneself.
The stroke must tract the ball as if
the paddle and the ball are the real
couple, and you are the odd party.
Unlike what all the fake kungfu
showed us and movies that are
made with special effects, the real
kungfu stroke is executed totally
independent of external influences.
The best is even executed with eyes
closed.
For consistency, you should always
try to stretch arms, spin the ball
and wrap the ball more. Also
besides the spinning of the ball, the
the degree of control on the ball
depends greatly on the length of
following out of the ball with the
paddle.
However, paying attention to all
these details would distract you
from doing some other important
features. Therefore, the only way
is the kungfu way - make it second
nature and fully automatic.
Anyway, one important trick is to
rediscover yourself in the midst of
an intense exchange. Yes, this
seems to be contradictory to
normal logic. But that's the
abnormal individual, the champion,
is made of.
Now here come the true innovation
from this world's most advanced
computing laboratory, the birth
place of world's destined ultimate
brain, ROBACUS.
1. The initial downward scooping
of the paddle should be at as
fast as the small time constant
associated with the rebound of
the ball out of the board, or
the opponent's blade.
2. The motion of turning and
whirling should be as
vigorously as possible to twist
back the body as a spring.
Here is the only chance in the
stroke to store up as much
potential energy as possible.
3. The stroke should continue on
but the release of energy must
be restrained and to be
synchronized with the
hammering and chopping of
the ball.
This new skill allows you to turn
your stroke into a naturally paced
swing. Now you can comfortably
adjust the breathing rhythm of each
stroke. You breathe in when
scooping the paddle and you
breathe out when hitting the ball.
In due time, you should start just
automatically reacting to the sound
of the ball being hit by the
opponent's paddle to sync it with
your scooping.
The fifth item of serving out into
the table is to be the "three-bounce"
drill. The first two are inside the
table and the last one against the
opponent's paddle. The ball
should obvious go to wherever it
would be least expected. Take
chance to hit the ball low and
sudden, and pack in as much
deception and unexpectedness as
possible.
Pongfu might turned out to be just
a twisting and whirling game of the
body, legs, arms, wrists, hands and
paddle. It's kind like dancing
yoga.
The movement should display an
air of grandeur. Use your left foot
to drive the whole body. The left
hand is also a step ahead of the
right hand. Explosive power must
originate from the impact of
rebound. Both arms are straight
and the paddle should hammer
from the top. The action should be
so free moving as to be automatic.
PONGFU TROUBLE SHOOTING
We simply need to collect more
data on this as we let pongfu be
played out. Well, here are some
of the basic obvious
troubles-remedies pairs:
TROUBLES REMEDIES
Hit too far Hammer down
Lost concentration Breathing
in and out
Shots too weak Scoop snappier
and higher
Keep arms extended
Lack of control Wrap up ball
Spin the ball more
Follow out with the ball
Paddle lacks bouncy Relax the hand
PONGFU VIDEOS
PONGFU TRAINING -- THE FIRST
MONTH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=BgE5WR8NqhM&feature=youtu.
be
Pongfu backhand comparison -
Jamie and joe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=YXs4fp7qh7s&feature=youtu.be
PONGFU TECHNIQUES IN ENGLISH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=tzE9Z248-pU
PONGFU MOTTOS - Chinese
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=0996u7XChsA
PONGFU VS WERNER SCHLAGER,
THE FORMER WORLD CHAMPION IN
TABLE TENNIS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=ztkInZTKKqw
kungfu pingpong, previewing the
real pingpong kungfu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=_NFadci5SnU