Table Tennis Club

Return to Articles

Table tennis team paddles competition; ranks 13th
Nolan Snoap
Central Florida Future
9/28/2007

For years, the game of table tennis has mystified sports fans the world over.

From the darkly runic days of Pong to this summer's far less entertaining Balls of Fury, American fascination with the tiny white plastic ball has ranged from reverence to confusion.

But the table tennis club at UCF has made it a point to make the sport accessible to all.

Alumni John McInerney founded the table tennis club in 2003, when UCF was one of the last Division I universities in Florida to add a competitive table tennis team.

In 2005, the team beat the University of Florida in an away game, propelling them to 33rd in the nation. And after a successful 2006-2007 season, the team climbed into the top 25.

Now, the team enters this season ranked at No. 13 out of more than 140 university teams in the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association.

"This year we're hoping to win state, and we're hoping to qualify for nationals," McInerney said.

As the team climbs the rankings, it also continues to grow.

"We will continue to recruit a lot of top players from around the state, whether they be table tennis-trained players or tennis players who have developed a table tennis stroke," McInerney said.

The club is not all about competition.

"We're mainly just looking for guys with experience and enthusiasm. You don't have to be a table tennis-trained player to join our club. Anybody who is a UCF student can try out for the team," McInerney said.

Not only is the club welcoming to anyone who is interested in the sport, it comes with a low price of admission.

"We'd like people to come out and see what we're all about," treasurer Kyle Brown said. "It's not an expensive club compared to some others. It's just $25 for the whole year."

Though table tennis is popular in other countries, the sport has yet to latch on in the U.S.

"If we could just figure out the trick to getting it to take off here beyond the social level, it should grow even more," McInerney said.

Respect may be hard to come by if table tennis continues to be viewed as more a game than a sport.

McInerney held out hope that the movie Balls of Fury would build up interest in the sport. The film, a Mortal Kombat-style spoof of table tennis, received poor reviews and is far from an enlightening view of the sport. Nevertheless, McInerney said the film would benefit his organization.

"I think that even though the movie is a spoof and makes table tennis look comical, bad PR is PR," McInerney said. "Exposure is exactly what the sport needs here in the states."

Club members aren't restricted to one playing field. Travel opportunities present themselves for club and team members alike.

"We don't just play here on campus, we play all around," said John Junco, table tennis club vice president. "Whether you're looking to play for fun or to actually play on the team, you can come with us to Florida State or even maybe to nationals in Las Vegas. We play pretty much everywhere now that people are learning about the sport a little more."

There is a wealth of information regarding the sport that can be learned from joining the club. For example, one might learn the difference between pingpong and table tennis. As club members attest, the two familiar terms are not synonymous.

The game of pingpong can be played by anyone with a table, a net, two paddles and a ball. Rules can be determined by the players, and it is generally played for fun by anyone with room for a table and a few minutes to kill.

Table tennis, however, is the competitive evolution of pingpong. There is a set standard for rules of play, and is recognized as a sport.

Club members claim that true table tennis players can beat pingpong fans in competition every time.

"What a lot of people don't realize is that this sport is basement," McInerney said. "And there are a lot of people who love to play pingpong but not a lot of people who love to play table tennis."

For more information about the table tennis club, visit www.knightstabletennis.com.