Great Balls of Fire

Sweat drips down my face as the open palm of my left hand elevates the 40mm orange ball near vertically before striking it with my paddle. A good service, followed by a good return; the sound of the hollow filament impacting the playing surface echoes in my ears as I try to increase the speed and intensity of my returns.

Despite my best efforts, I still lose. Beaten. By a thirteen year old boy. That’s ok, because my weekly ping pong tournament has turned into quite the event, with more and more attendees each week. A $2 buy-in keeps the cost of attendance low enough that people feel good about losing their money each time, and we recently changed the format to include double elimination, three game matches, meaning even if you lose both your matches, you’ll still play at least four games during the course of the night. That’s pretty affordable, if you ask me.

Last night’s championship round was between 28-year-old T. Ross from Springville, UT, and 13-year-old C. Davis from Alpine, UT, and both are freaking amazing at ping pong. Thom defeated me second round, and Caden destroyed me in the fourth round of the loser’s bracket. Thom ultimately came away victorious, bringing home the $48.53 prize from all the buy-ins. I hope that more and more people start coming, and we plan to, eventually, invest in a second table using donations from attendees. We’d like for this tournament to transition into something that a lot of people from various walks of life can come together and share in the joy of Table Tennis. If ping pong is your thing, and you’re stoked on attending the weekly tournament, please visit our Contact page and send me an email and I’ll make sure you get on the email/text list. Also check out the USATT rules page, and make sure you tighten up your game, because we play by USATT tournament scoring and service rules.