New York, New York

So I think I’ll just talk about ping pong stuff first, so if you aren’t interested in anything else, you don’t have to read the rest.  I visited a club in Chinatown (it’s in the basement of some building… it took a bit of work to find) called NYTTF I believe.  Clubs in NY are so expensive!  It was $12 for a day pass, and most places are much more than that.  They even charge by the half hour.  That’s crazy.  Anyway, I have to say that I was disappointed by the level of players there!  I guess all the higher level players go to more expensive clubs.  Actually, I went to that club twice.  The first day, there was really nobody there who could play at a decent level.  The second time, I played this penholder (Wang Hao style) that was quite good.  Had good basics, better footwork than me (not hard to do at all), and was almost always able to get the ball back fairly aggressively.  I somehow managed to win in straight games, but my friend thought I was going to lose, and it is a little surprising that I won.  Maybe I’m better than I thought!  I’ve found that almost everyone tends to have difficulty with my slow, spinny loops.  It’s very hard to passive block it, which is what people tend to do.  But still, there was nobody there that could’ve owned me.  I thought that the average level would be higher there than here in Portland, but I found the opposite to be true.  Also, the H3 Neo definitely felt a little harder over there, or slicker.  More like TG3 Neo.  And it’s starting to look a little ugly.  I’m tempted to get a new sheet just because the blemishes annoy me.  Whatever, I’ll live.

The rest of this post will be entirely devoid of table tennis.  Read on if you’re interested in other stuff.  Particularly Broadway musicals.

Grace Lin Table Tennis Club

James Shi, Mark Wei, Derek Wu, and I went to Grace Lin’s new table tennis club in El Monte (California) on Saturday.  It’s in a small warehouse area converted to table tennis gym, but nonetheless I think I’m a fan. The tables are awfully close together though, so that’s a downside. The upside is they have the official red flooring installed. There are either 9 or 10 tables available (I forgot exactly how many). For high-level players, I’d say it’d be pretty tough to have serious games here due to the space, but for practice, it’s perfect/good enough.

Here are a few photos I took so you can all have a glimpse at the place.

Mark and his infamous face.

Mark looping against a little kid. :p

Grace Lin TTC banner – with contact info, for your information.

Derek

James

James looping against Derek

The NEW Los Angeles Teams League

So people down here in Southern California, specifically the greater Los Angeles area, are closing in on organizing a teams league with the table tennis clubs in the area.

Here is the email Adam Bobrow (who is part of the LATTF committee) sent out, in case any of you are interested in participating.

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Hello table tennis enthusiast!

Many of you have already heard the exciting news. Los Angeles is going to have a teams league for table tennis and the league starts January 1st of 2010. There are almost 3 weeks left to sign up a team (deadline is Nov. 30th). I have been to see the teams league in the bay area and have watched several league matches on youtube and I will tell you… it looks AWESOME! I have played in many teams tournaments before and it is a REALLY fun way to play. The only thing more fun than a teams tournament, is a teams league. Like the pros do in Germany, a teams league allows players to not only to actually compete weekly, but to also play new opponents all the time with more on the line than just personal pride… now, you’re fighting for a reason, for your team… and making friends in the process. Many of us played teams sports growing up and it’s FAR more fun than just showing up to the same club with no commitment every week. Since the bay area has been successfully running the BATTF for 3 years, we feel very lucky to have the help and guidance of Bruce Liu… the coordinator for the BATTF.

Adam, how does this work? Good question.

Each team consists of 3-6 players. Each team will be entered into a division based on the average rating of their players. Each division will consist of approximately 6 teams, so that competition is close and people are getting to play players at a good level for themselves. Each team will play every other team in their division twice (once at their home club and once at their opponents’ home club). Any team that enters, must have a club owner that signs their entry form to approve of the team playing for the club.

Every player in the league must have either a USATT rating or a league rating. If you or a person you are wanted to play with does not have a rating, please talk to ME or your local club owner and we will help you or that person get a rating quickly and simply. The highest rated player on a team must be no more than 300 points higher than the lowest rated player on a team. League play will not affect your USATT rating.

Each team contest will be played as follows: 2 singles, 1 doubles, 2 singles. As many as 6 players can play in one team contest and if only two players can show up to play, that is fine as well… but a minimum of 3 players are still needed to form a team. Each team must come ready to play in a team uniform (that can be simply the same t-shirts OR as fancy of a club jersey as you’d like… they just must match your teammates). The cost of entry is $150 per team. A team can expect to have a team contest just about every week. Schedulers will do their best to make a season schedule that works best for your team and your home club. The majority of matches will be on weekends and at night during the week. The season should last approximately 4 months (January – April) and it should be approximately 10 team contests… depending on the size of your division.

The entry form is right here:

http://www.lattf.com/2009_Entry_Formv2.pdf

Make sure you mail it in so that it arrives by November 30th. If you have any questions, please read the entry form because it has the rules written there. If you still have questions, please ask me.

LA is a hot spot for table tennis having more high level players and more players PERIOD than maybe anywhere in the country. I know NorCal is waiting for us to bring them some competition soon enough. So get talking to your friends and your practice partners and start asking your favorite club if you can play for them. I already have my team and am PUMPED to start the season. 8>)

TT you soon,
Adam 8>)
www.adambobrow.com

P.S. Feel free to pass this on to anyone. I am sure there are LOTS of table tennis players around the LA area whose emails I don’t have.