New to the sport of Table Tennis? 

Never been to a Table Tennis Club before?

What to Expect...

Welcome to the sport of competitive Table Tennis.  You've been playing ping pong for awhile, maybe even for years.  You've been routinely beating your friends at the local bar, or your brothers in the family basement.  In high school, you are undefeated.  Now you are looking for some competition, and decided to visit our club.  

Congratulations!  We will welcome you here with a smile and a hand shake, and then.... you'll probably go home with zero wins.  What just happened... you ask yourself.  I was missing everything.  The ball was flying everywhere.  Off the end of the table, in the net.  None of my trick serves seemed to bother anyone.  They were smashing the ball past me like crazy.

Please allow me to explain.... What you just experienced is a whole different game than what you were used to when playing with friends and family.  You've been playing ping pong.  At the club, our players play competitive Table Tennis.  So what's the difference you ask?

Ping Pong Players

• Usually stand straight up in the middle of the table.

• No footwork - don't move the feet to the ball.  Lots of leaning and reaching.

• The ball is just simply hit back and forth with little spin and speed.

• Serves are usually long and bounce high with little spin and easy to attack.

• Use low quality store bought paddles, or an old racquet with worn out rubber.

• No strategy or training.

Competitive Table Tennis Players

• Have a low stance, leaning forward and knees bent for good balance.

• Develop good footwork, which increases consistency and ball quality.

• The ball is hit with proper technique to generate very high spin and speed.

• Serves are used to setup attacks.  Can be long or short, very spiny or no spin, and sometimes well disguised so is hard to tell.

• Use high quality racquet/rubber combo.

• Look for opponent weaknesses and develop a strategy to win points.

• Train and refine their technique every week with each other, a table tennis robot or personalized coaching.

So there you go.  Come on over and try to beat us, but please don't be too hard on yourself if you can't.  

We have ALL been there on our day one.  We ALL lost to that old guy, or that other guy with one too many pounds, or that little 12 year old little girl with pony tails and innocent smile.  But those of us who didn't let our ego stand in the way, and stuck with the sport, came back and started on our journey to gradually improve our understanding of the game.  

You may choose to either quit and not come back, or choose to train, take coaching lessons, learn proper technique, learn how to serve and deal with spin.  With determination and hard work, one day you will discover that you can not only compete with the better players, but in fact you just became one of those players.  Most importantly you will have fun while embarking on your journey, and may just discover your new life long passion :)