The Tao of Table Tennis

Yesterday my buddy Newline invited me to play table tennis (aka ping pong) at a local league. I have a really nice table at home (probably $400+ new but I got it for $175 on craigslist) and we have a table at work that we play on at lunch.

Over the past year and a half I've gotten pretty decent at the sport but my skill has leveled off somewhat. Most of the people that I play with at work are roughly the same skill level as myself. We all slowly improve and we all win some and lose some. But to really excel you have to play people that are better than you. So, I rescheduled the guitar lesson I was supposed to teach and, after a few warm up games at my house, Newline and I went over to the club to play.

I really had no idea what to expect. A friend of Newline invited him and he invited me so I didn't know anyone at the club. We were greeted by a fit, older man (hereby referred to as Runner) that I would have put at about 61yoa. He was very enthused that we were there and told us all about the club (it's been around since the 70s) and membership. He mentioned that he is in his 70s and runs 10k every weekday! He said he's been in the local ping pong (I think pro players are slightly offended at the term "ping pong." People play ping pong in their basement. Pros play table tennis) club since the 70s. I thought to myself, this is going to be good.

Other members began arriving, which included a (several time?) Wyoming state champion, a cute little Korean lady that I later found out was 76, and Newline's friend. There were six of us and two tables and we took turns warming up (a concept that I had never applied to pong before). Champion would serve a whole ice cream bucket of balls to my forehand and I would practice slamming every one. Then the same for backhand. Then, instead of slamming he would have me chop (backspin) the ball. Every once in awhile, when I did a particularly fast return (i.e. one of the best returns of my life) he would casually return it even faster. The whole time we were warming up he was coaching me on how to improve my shots. My slams immediately improved in both speed and consistency by probably 20%.

After everyone had warmed up we drew ping pong balls to find an opponent and played a lot of matches. It was just as fun to set out as to play because we Champion and Runner faced off. Every return was a wicked slam that I thought was a kill shot for sure. Somehow, though, the opposing player would slam it back just as fast or chop it so it went sailing into the air with gallons of backspin (yes, spin is measured in gallons) and manage to find it's way back to the table.

Anyway, to make a long story...less long, we arrived at 6:30 and didn't leave until 8. It's been a long time since I enjoyed myself that much. I was also impressed at how easily a 70 year old could have me running all around the table to return their shots.

I'm not sure if I will join the club or not. The price ($50/year) is extremely reasonable. Especially given the fact that they have a lady that was once on the US Team give free coaching on Saturdays and Champion is there every Mon and Thur. However, I workout at the gym, teach guitar lessons and need to keep some wifey time.