Charleston, WV Table Tennis

After a recent visit...

From: Will Shortz
Sent: Tuesday, December 21, 2010 8:35 AM
Subject: Re: Rivertowns TTC

"Thanks for your email and stats ... and your wonderful hospitality last night. Your club was one of the friendliest, most welcoming clubs I've ever been to. And I've now played at 116 U.S. clubs!
The competition was great fun, too. Hope to be back sometime. And please look up my club if you're ever in New York.

Appreciatively,
Will (in Morgantown, heading home in a few minutes)"

CTTC  was were visited by Will Shortz, the puzzle editor of the New York Times. He is an avid table tennis player who holds the record for playing at the most table tennis clubs in the country. In 2009 he had an article about this quest in the USATT magazine which is copied below. Just thought you would like to know who this "unknown" visiting player was. 

Chuck Frostick (12/20/2010) 

Going for a Record by Will Shortz [USATT Magazine, July/August 2009] For several years now I’ve been telling friends and acquaintances my modest table tennis goal — to play at more U.S. table tennis clubs than anyone else in history. People always ask, “What is the record number of clubs you are trying to beat?” I have no idea, since as far as I know no one else has been keeping track. My count, as I write this, is 60 U.S. clubs in 19 states, with 24 additional clubs in foreign countries. If anyone can beat my number of U.S. clubs, I’d like to hear. This all started inadvertently in December 2001, when I was planning an after-Christmas car trip from Indiana, where I was visiting family, back home to Pleasantville, N.Y. I was newly fired with enthusiasm for the game. Wouldn’t it be fun, I thought, to play at a couple of table tennis clubs along the way? Using the handy club locator map on the USATT website, I found the Table Tennis Club of Indianapolis, where I played on the evening of Dec. 27, and the Allentown/Lehigh Valley (Pa.) TTC, where I played on Dec. 28. Both clubs have many tables, good playing conditions, and some excellent players. The atmosphere was friendly. I had a terrific time … and have returned to both sites several times since. As the crossword editor of the New York Times, I travel frequently around the country for speaking engagements and puzzlers’ conventions. Soon after the above trip, wherever I went, I started trying to find a local club to play at. Whenever I traveled long-distance by car, I tried to find a club (or two) along the way. And living near New York City, I had a large number of clubs within easy driving distance from home. At first my goal wasn’t to set a record. I just wanted to see how different clubs operated, to meet other players, to practice against different styles of play, and to stay in shape while I was on the road. By the end of 2004 I’d played at 10 different U.S. clubs. By the end of 2006 the number had grown to 20. Then I got serious. In 2007 I played at 13 new clubs, bringing my total to 33. In 2008 I played at 21 more, for a total of 54. So far this year I’ve played at an additional six clubs. One of my favorite table tennis experiences occurred in September 2007 in Cleveland, Ohio, where I had a speaking engagement. Fortunately, the Cleveland TT Association was open on the one night I was in Cleveland. Unfortunately, my talk was scheduled to go past the club’s closing time. The director, Vincent Turner, whom I called in advance, couldn’t have been nicer. He held the club open for me until 1 am and even invited some top local players to arrive late to play me. Another favorite experience happened last fall in New Albany, Ind., where the Southern Indiana TT Association plays. This club, by the way, holds the record for playing at the same facility (a recreation center) longer than any other U.S. table tennis club — since at least 1935. I took part in a friendly intraclub tournament held on the evening I visited. Afterward, as per custom, a dozen or so members went to a local brewpub for beer and pizza, which was a great way to round out the evening. I’d like to think that my home club, the Rivertowns TTC, in Westchester County, N.Y., is the friendliest table tennis club in the country. But after the hospitality I experienced with the Kokomo (Ind.) TTC, where I played in 2007, I might have to give the laurel to them. I was invited to participate in an intraclub tournament and party, everyone present was friendly, food and drink were plentiful, and Don McCreary, the director, refused to accept any payment. Then when I won a small prize in the tournament, they offered me money! It was over-the-top niceness. Perhaps the most unusual club I’ve played at is the East Northport TTC on Long Island, about 45 minutes east of Manhattan. Steve Camas, a restaurant owner and table tennis enthusiast, has built a club under his house, smack in the middle of a suburban neighborhood. The club room is about 40 feet long by 25 feet wide -- enough space for three tables, comfortably. A three-minute video on the club’s website (www.entt.org) shows the place being built, starting with earthmovers digging a giant hole under Steve’s house. How Steve’s wife agreed to this I have no idea. She must be a saint. The craziest table tennis-related thing I’ve done is a road trip to Toronto last December with Robert Roberts (USATT-rated 2574), a friend from my home club. We played at the Greater Buffalo TTC on the way up and then nine more clubs in five days in and around Toronto. The Buffalo club’s website (www.gbttc.com) has a five-second video clip running continuously on its home page of Robert making an amazing shot behind his back. On second thought, that’s only the second craziest table tennis-related thing I’ve done. The very craziest was in Kingston, Jamaica, in January last year, when I was the best man at Robert’s wedding. During my four days in Jamaica we played table tennis three times, missing only his actual wedding day — and we almost played then. The largest U.S. club where I’ve played is the Atlanta Georgia TT Association, which has 14 tables spread out in a gym. Even larger, though (much larger), is the Canadian Chinese TT Association in Markham, Ont., with 38 tables — which were all in use when I was there. The smallest U.S. club I’ve played at is the Ossining (N.Y.) TTC, whch has just two tables. Expect to wait if you ever visit. Even smaller is the club in Goa, India, with just one table. The hottest club? That would be a tie between the Allentown/Lehigh Valley TTC in June 2008 and the Princeton University TTC in July, both in un-air-conditioned gyms. Brutal. Still, Goa was much, much worse. I probably lost five pounds in sweat during my hour and a half there. Most cramped? That would be a tie between the New York TTC (the rear area) and Wang Chen’s TTC (downstairs), both in New York City. Hardly room enough to play. But we all know space is at a premium in New York. And the highest-altitude club where I’ve played is the Aurora (CO) TTC, at 5,470 feet above sea level. For a while all the balls I hit flew off the table, until I realized why and adjusted. You know how every club seems to have places where balls disappear — under sofas, behind bleachers and soda machines, etc.? It’s a rule, I think, that clubs must have hard-to-reach spots like this. My worst experience with losing balls was in Epernay, France, where the man who ran the club was also a used book dealer. Around the complete perimeter of the club were stacked boxes of books, providing countless places for balls to vanish. If, like me, you decide to visit other table tennis clubs, here are some tips and advice: First, go to the USATT website (www.usatt.org), select “Clubs” from the menu bar at the top, then “Locations.” On the map of the U.S. that appears, click a state. Currently about 270 clubs are affiliated with the USATT. With luck, one or more of them will be in or near a place you’re interested in. Another good source of clubs is the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association website. For a list of the NCTTA members, see www.nctta.org/teams.html. Bear in mind that many active table tennis clubs have not, for whatever reason, become members of the USATT. You can find some of these by doing a Google search on “table tennis + club + [name of city or area].” Before visiting, always call or write ahead. Information on the USATT or club website may be out of date, or the club may have a change in schedule you should know about. In case you’d like to challenge my record, here are my rules as to what constitutes a table tennis club that may be counted:   It must be a club that has a name, whose members play regularly, and that is open to the public. Playing informally at a school, church, recreation center, company, or private home doesn’t count. A tournament sponsored by a club counts only if the event is held at the club’s usual place of play. If a club has multiple locations, or if it moves, it counts only once. A full list of the clubs where I’ve played, with dates, appears here. If your club isn’t listed yet, it’s probably only a matter of time before you see me! ---- Will Shortz is the crossword editor of the New York Times and puzzlemaster for NPR’s “Weekend Edition Sunday.”