“Five serving three!” A player yelled out his game’s score through the din of friendly banter and the sharp click-clacking of ping pong balls furiously bouncing from rackets to tables. Every other Wednesday at the beginning of lunch, Table Tennis Club members convert the tiny weight gym in RM’s basement into a far more crowded room with enough courts for 10 simultaneous games. In the span of five minutes, ping pong table tops are taken out of the closet, lain on the foldable tables, and retractable nets are set up. Students then scramble to pick up paddles—though those who play competitively prefer to bring their own of a higher-quality—as matches commence and continue for the next 45 minutes.
The club was founded last year by seniors James Zhang and Andy Deng, who are the president and vice president, respectively. Their goal was to cultivate a welcoming environment for players of all skill levels to enjoy the sport. “This club is supposed to be geared toward a more informal experience,” Deng said. “This is not the national circuit or even the state circuit. We’re just having some fun playing this game.”
Even for complete beginners, the club is popular because of the low barrier to entry and flexible atmosphere. “I think it’s really easy to get into… You could get really good with any kind of equipment,” Zhang said. “I think that’s why we’re so popular. We have almost 130 members on our email list. You don’t have to be good to have fun. It’s very easy to pick up.”
At meetings, you can often find club sponsor and AP US History teacher Nathaniel Mason and even challenge him to a game. “He’s actually quite a good racket sport player. He plays both badminton and ping pong and he’s cracked at both of them. Although I do beat him occasionally,” Deng said.
Zhang is likewise skilled and talented at the sport—he began playing when he was just five and competes at a national level. “I’ve been playing for 12 years now. I haven’t been on the national team, but I was top 12 for three years in high school, for my age group in the country,” he said. “I’ve been to a lot of places in America with table tennis through the US Nationals. Each sport has their nationals—for table tennis, it’s all over the place. I’ve been to Las Vegas. I’ve been to Texas. They even had one in Alabama last year but I didn’t go.”
One aspect Zhang admires about table tennis is the importance of fine-tuning minute details that can completely change a game’s trajectory. “It’s the sport that relies on spin the most. If you spin the ball a little bit differently, then it’ll go completely different directions,” he said. “I think that kind of precision and level of detail is really unique.”
In contrast, Deng doesn’t play competitively. Instead, he picked it up during the free-time he found during the pandemic. “I am actually a tennis player on the varsity team at RM. However, during the pandemic, everything got shut down… I started playing ping pong with my dad and I picked it up pretty quickly,” he said. “My experience definitely differs greatly from James’ because he was raised in extensive training at academies and with the most premier coaches in the region. Our two experiences combined bring an all-encompassing perspective such that we can connect with both people at the higher-end skill level as well as people who just pick up this game just for fun. Table tennis is applicable to everyone no matter their background.”
For their members looking for a more competitive game, the club holds occasional tournaments outside of their more relaxed bi-monthly free-play meetings. “One of the tournaments we hosted at the end of the year was a very competitive event. Everyone had a very, very competitive spirit. and they were all doing whatever they could to win,” Deng said.
In addition, they hold occasional friendly matches with other schools in the area. After school, competing players take a bus to meet up with the other school’s team and then the tournament—usually in a round robin style—begins.
Earlier in the school year, RM held a tournament against Churchill. The two schools were tied until the final game of the afternoon where Zhang played senior Yuzhi Liu, president of his school’s club, Ultimately, Zhang won the set 2-0, and RM walked out of the Churchill’s Gym doors victorious.
Liu joined his club his freshman year and became president in eleventh grade. “Ping pong is definitely a big part of Chinese culture, so I was introduced to this sport pretty early on. I had a lot of fun playing ping pong so when I came into high school, I wanted to share this sport with other people,” he said. “I view it as a way to relieve stress in the high-stress environment of school. It’s good because instead of staying in class all day for 45 minutes just sitting down, we actually get to move around and then stretch our bodies.”
Another player, sophomore Aaron Zhang, has played since he was seven and joined Churchill’s club freshman year. “I think it’s really fun because you get to build a community with the club…You get to slowly improve and also watch other people improve,” he said. “Ping pong is also a solo sport for the most part, and whether you win or lose, it’s on you.”
For Zhang, one of the biggest struggles he has faced for his club is securing funding for better equipment. “We applied to get a grant from the PTSA, which is normally around $250. A few weeks later, they told us that we had to talk to the athletic department to get funding. But when we talked to the athletic department, they told us that that their budget was actually frozen, so they couldn’t give us any money,” he said. “We plan on using that money for new equipment because our current equipment’s very cheap and low quality. So I’m hoping that this year, we can maybe figure something out so that even when I graduate, RM table tennis will have good equipment to use.”
Zhang came up with one potential solution after discussing the problem with Liu, who said he obtained free equipment from Joola, a table tennis and pickleball equipment manufacturer. “Their headquarters is actually in Rockville, so I’m thinking that we can talk to the executives of Joola and see if we can get any good equipment from them,” Zhang said. “I know that Churchill did that as well and they received around $3,000 worth of equipment. Even if we get a quarter of that, it would be really helpful.”
The money the club needs would go a long way in improving students’ experience—for many, such as senior Leon Wang, the club is an invaluable community and opportunity to connect with fellow peers. “I’m pretty anxious to see who I can eat lunch with every day,” Wang said. “But every Wednesday, the fact that there’s a ping pong club meeting really alleviates my stress.”
