This is not your childhood basement ping-pong, but a fast-paced, tricky and challenging game that is the world's number one sport.
Local table tennis enthusiasts gathered Sunday afternoon to showcase the sport and spar for top placement in a tournament that drew approximately 35 people to the Grand Traverse Bay YMCA. Hosted by the Traverse City Table Tennis Club, the tournament offered three categories of play: under 18, the most popular, open and doubles.
While the 11-point games were hard fought and intense — each match-up boasting a best-of-five series — players also enjoyed themselves and the competition.
"This is all for fun," said David Zaiss of Green Lake Township, co-organizer of the event. "Table tennis is the most popular sport in the world, more people play it than soccer — you can play table tennis at any age."
Zaiss and Paul Everts of Blair Township organized the event, which featured a half dozen tables, round robin play and trophies for winners. Zaiss and Everts are members of an informal group that meets Wednesday evenings at the YMCA to perfect their skills and play against each other.
Competition every week is keen but friendly.
"These guys are tricky, you try to deceive your opponent, lull them and them get them with a corkscrew underspin or switch it over and do a high toss on a serve," said Zaiss.
With younger players attending regularly, the long-time players are pleased to pass on their love of the game to a new generation. Zaiss also teaches table tennis to students at West High School during the school's lunchtime NAP program. He hopes that younger players will work to improve their play by participating in tournaments, lessons and clinics as well as the weekly gatherings.
"We had a table when I was a kid and I'm 66," said Zaiss of his lifelong love of the sport. "Our under-18 is the most popular category today."
Playing table tennis requires conditioning like any other aerobic sport as well as upper body strength, speed and concentration. Mental toughness is key to outlast opponents during long, high-speed volleys or extended matches.
"You have to train, there's not too many potbellies here," noted Zaiss.
Chris Franks, a 2003 Traverse City Central High School graduate and self-proclaimed basketball freak, took up table tennis a year ago. A regular at the YMCA to play his favorite game, he spied the weekly gathering of table tennis aficionados and asked to join in.
"Table tennis is a mental game and aerobic, depending on how hard you're playing," said Franks, a welder by trade. "Your movements have to be deliberate."
Intense and focused, Jacob White, 14, churned up his competitors during his games in both the under-18 and the open category. Participating in the tournament with his father and grandfather, White, who lives in Muskegon, has been playing table tennis for four years. His speed, drive and instinct for the game made him one of the top players on Sunday afternoon.
"I play in a big club down in Muskegon, an eight-table club," said White. "It's a good fast-paced game."
Between matches, White closely watched his next opponent's play, devising strategies that would exploit any weaknesses.
"I just study them before I play them and look for a weak backhand or what serves I need to do to set myself up," he said.
The sport's Olympic and professional status help boost table tennis' growing popularity in the United States; the rest of the world is already hooked.
"There are people making a living playing table tennis, here and around the world," said Zaiss.
For more information on the Traverse City Table Tennis Club and their weekly Wednesday evening sessions, call David Zaiss at 276-7949 or Paul Everts at 499-1654.