Get Hot With Scott

Recently upgraded to an Olympic medal sport, table tennis is a perennially popular pastime, with an estimated 20 million tables in use in homes nationwide. U.S. Coach Scott Preiss, who trained with both Chinese and Swedish teams, offers his expertise in this excellent guide to the sport. After a brief introduction from writer/host Julius Creel concerning proper equipment (no specific brands), the correct grip, positioning, and footwork, Preiss demonstrates 12 basic strokes, including the forehand and backhand pushes, chops, topspins, blocks, and smashes. With his playing partner Huang Tong Sheng, Preiss performs each stroke several times, while the camera covers it from many different angles, and at regular and slow speeds. Computer animation is used to show the point of contact for each stroke, and often the rotation and path of the ball when using various spin strokes. Finally, viewers see the stroke in action with videotaped clips from actual competition play (which appear to be shot with a home video camera, and are not as crisp and clear as the rest of the program). Equal attention is also paid to serves. The final part of the program highlights the Newgy Table Tennis Robot (a versatile and challenging partner), and demonstrates a few fun "trick shots," closing with suggestions for practicing. Get Hot With Scott is a very good, and well detailed, guide to the sport of table tennis, featuring excellent close-up camera work and informative graphics. Highly recommended. (Available from: Olymco, P.O. Box 2324, Santa Cruz, CA 95063; 1-800-637-7226.)