Wednesday, Jul. 21, 2010

Just don't call it Ping-Pong

Popularity of table tennis growing in Triangle, and beyond

RALEIGH - It's a table tennis free-for-all that feels more like a secret poker game.

Every Friday night, when most community centers all but shut down, Brier Creek's comes alive. Twelve top-of-the-line tables are rolled out onto the gymnasium floor, and about 45 addicts flock from all over the Triangle - many of whom play in a man's basement during the week.

For more than three hours, it's organized chaos. White plastic balls fly across the gym. Grown men and women sprint like they're in the Wimbledon finals.

And you're welcome to join the madness. Just bring your A-game, pay the four bucks, and don't call it "Ping-Pong."

"Serious players call it table tennis," said Min Hsu, a 57-year-old engineer who has played since 1983. "Ping-Pong is more for the basement player, someone who wants to play around. This isn't Ping-Pong."

Sure, upscale Brier Creek, all the way up in Raleigh's extreme northwest corner, might seem an unlikely venue for such an assemblage. But it's conveniently close to two major interstates, which means it's a short drive for most who live in Raleigh, Durham and Cary.

And this sport's appeal is spreading faster than an Olympic serve through the Triangle, and the country.

There are more table tennis venues in Wake County now than ever. Cary hosts the nation's largest round robin tournament every year. Celebrities such as Susan Sarandon are helping make the sport cool by turning night clubs and bars into table tennis palaces, and Christopher Walken recently starred in a slapstick comedy about a Ping-Pong master wanted by the FBI.

Jim McQueen, the Triangle's unofficial table tennis czar, has organized games and lobbied for the sport since the late 1960s. He credits the sport's recent popularity surge with growth and diversity in the area, and table tennis' appeal to those looking for something competitive, but cheap.

Friday night, at least six different countries were represented in the crowd at Brier Creek.

"Internationally it's popular, like badminton and soccer," McQueen said. "In many countries, kids grow up playing the sport. And the world is just getting more international."

McQueen said recent media attention, and even Walken's box office dud "Balls of Fury", also have helped.

"No publicity is bad publicity," he said.

Plywood and saw horses

In 1967, McQueen and one of his N.C. State professors convinced the city of Raleigh to let them host table tennis nights on Fridays at the Pullen Park Armory. They painted sheets of plywood green, set them on saw horses and begged their friends to play to show the city there was interest.

Eventually, McQueen's crew moved to Lions Park on Friday nights, where they met until 2002, when they moved to Middle Creek in Cary because it's air conditioned. Cary's Bond Park also hosts national tournaments, and some play in the Bond Park Senior Center on Monday nights.

Almost immediately after the city broke ground on Brier Creek's community center several years ago, McQueen petitioned for another table tennis night. He provided all the equipment himself.

Now, between venues in Durham, Raleigh and Cary, the regulars have somewhere to play every night of the week - except Thursdays, when many of them meet to play in McQueen's basement.

But McQueen, 62, isn't finished fighting to make the sport more mainstream.

"We constantly dream of having a dedicated, full-time spot for table tennis where you come in, swipe your card and play," he said.

Serious skill

If Hsu is right, and Ping-Pong is merely what hacks in college dorm rooms play, such a sport has no place at Brier Creek or any of the other local spots. These players are serious, almost evangelical about the sport. Many have ranked high in national standings. Some have played for decades. And nearly all can tell you the exact kind of rubber on their paddle, and why they chose that texture over 30 others.

Oscar Galavis, a 20-year veteran who works for a local software company, plays in tournaments every month. Brenda Mun of Raleigh gives lessons and has taught at the Korean Olympic Center.

Some aren't as experienced. Charles Oxrieder, 33, started playing and taking lessons two years ago. But he already has success at Brier Creek, where he tries to play eight or nine games each Friday. Oxrieder took lessons two to three times a week until he could compete with some of the regulars.

"I think it's growing because anyone can do it," said Oxrieder, a software architect. "I've been beaten by an 11-year-old girl. But it's great exercise if you play properly. It's a great sport."