Smash! Moments, Memories, and Tips (black & white)
This is my 50+-year journey in this greatest of Olympic
sports – in pictures!
● The
controversial decision by the referee that changed the match with World #2
Cai Zhenhua from China
● The 15-day trip to North Korea for the 1979 World
Championships. Very strange indeed
● Defeating the #1 Chinese team 3-0 in doubles at the
1977 World Championships
● Reeling off eight consecutive U.S. Men’s Doubles titles
with brother Rick
● The disappointment of losing in two U.S. Open Men’s
Singles Finals
● The miracle comeback to capture U.S. Men’s title #4
● Dan’s incredible 66-1 record in World Team 2nd division
play
● The thrill of signing a 5-year exclusive racket contract
with K-Mart
● The arrest in Yugoslavia for trespassing
● Training and competing all over the world
● Winning five Western Japan Open Men’s Singles titles
● CBS Challenge of the Sexes and World Racquets Championships
● And so much more - join me on this tour of a lifetime!
Winning Table Tennis:
Skills, Drills, and Strategies
Learn from Dan Seemiller
How
to Be a Champion
Whether you're a competitive tournament player or a serious recreational player, Winning Table Tennis: Skills, Drills, and Strategies will help you improve your game. Dan Seemiller, 5-time U.S. singles and 12-time doubles champion, shows you all the shots and strategies for top level play. This book features 19 drills for better shot-making, plus Seemiller's own grip and shot innovations that will give you an edge over the competition. Featuring the most effective table tennis techniques and strategies Winning Table Tennis: shows you how
to
● choose the right equipment,
● serve and return serves,
● use proper footwork and get into position,
● practice more efficiently,
● prepare for competitions
● make effective strategy decisions in singles and
● doubles play, and
● condition your body for optimal performance.
Revelations
of a Ping-Pong Champion
The Autobiography of Dan Seemiller
Dedication,
Determination,
Heartbreak,
and Achievement
If you are in the Olympic sport of table tennis, then you know Danny Seemiller, USA’s greatest modern champion. In “Revelations of a Table Tennis Champion,” the five-time U.S. Men’s Singles Champion takes you through his 50 years in the sport, from the early days of training, the breakthroughs, the agonizing defeats and the great triumphs. You’ll learn why the three-sport star – baseball, basketball, and football – changed his focus to table tennis. You’ll experience his trips around the world, from being marched at gunpoint to achieving his boyhood dream of defeating the Chinese.
But playing is only half his story. Danny, a long-time coach first in Pittsburgh and then in South Bend, Indiana, was the U.S. Olympic and World Team Coach for ten years, and was named the USOC Coach of the Year for Table Tennis three times. He served five years as president of USA Table Tennis, ran dozens of major tournaments through the years, and was instrumental in bringing the 2018 World Veterans Games to the United States. He is a member of the USA Table Tennis Hall of Fame, and in 2012 became the youngest recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award.
This is his story.
218 pages, 96 pictures
Available at Amazon in paperback, $24.95, or ebook, $9.99.
Who is
Dan Seemiller?
by Larry Hodges
I
first met Dan Seemiller at one of his Pittsburgh camps in 1977, my second year
of play. Let’s just say that I was in awe as he and his brothers (Ricky and
Randy, plus Perry Schwartzberg) demonstrated and explained the various
techniques. I went to another of his camps in 1978. The day before he badly
sprained his ankle, and he showed up with the leg in a full cast so he could
still move about to coach – and in a challenge match, hobbling about mostly on
one leg, he still managed to win a challenge match against the U.S. #1 junior
player, Rutledge Barry! Those Seemiller camps formed the basis both for my own
game, and for my future professional coaching career. Little did I know that,
one day, I’d be assisting Dan at his Pittsburgh camps in the early 1990s, and
learning how to run my own camps. I’d also be his coaching chair during his
USATT presidency. (And now I’m editing and doing the photo work and page
layouts for his autobiography – wow!)
Dan is considered by most the greatest modern U.S. player, going back to the 1950s. He’s done it all at the highest levels – player, coach, tournament director, club president, and president of USA Table Tennis. He even has a grip named after him – the “Seemiller grip.” There’s a reason he was the youngest person ever awarded the USATT Lifetime Achievement Award, in 2012 at the age of 58. Even now, as I write this, he’s still actively playing – easily the best over 60 player in the U.S. – while coaching at South Bend and helping USA Table Tennis run training camps for their top juniors. Plus, he was instrumental to bringing the World Veteran Games to the U.S. in 2018, something he’s very excited about – setting it up, running it, and playing in it.
Dan’s Record
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Dan Seemiller's USATT Hall of Fame Profile (by Tim Boggan)
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5-time U.S. Men’s Singles Champion: 1976, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1983
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12-time U.S. Men’s Doubles Champion: 1976-1983, 1990-1991, 1994, 2009
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7-time U.S. Mixed Doubles Champion: 1976-1978, 1981-1983, 1988
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U.S. Men’s National Team Coach, 1999-2009
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U.S. Men’s Olympic Coach, 2000 Sydney, 2004 Athens
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3-time USOC Coach of the Year for Table Tennis
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South Bend Table Tennis Club Head Coach 1996-present
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President of USA Table Tennis, 1990-1995
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Hall of Fame Inductee, 1995, Lifetime Achievement Award 2008