Competitors meet across table at January Jam
The hard-core players don’t call it ping pong anymore. These days it’s called table tennis and people take it a lot more seriously. In fact, it’s now an Olympic sport with worldwide competitions.
But whatever it’s called, paddles were swinging and balls were flying yesterday as the January Jam Table Tennis Tournament took place at the Civic Center.
The event drew 35 people, 24 in the competitive division and 11 in the recreational division. Participants came from all around the region, according to recreation programmer Jeff Anselmo.
“In our competitive division, we have people from Crossville, Cookeville, Oak Ridge. We have people from Nashville,” Anselmo said.
Players ran the gamut age-wise as well, from 11-year-old Lucas Felton to Wade Odom at age 75, and his wife Jane at 71.
According to enthusiasts, table tennis is enjoying a resurgence with literally thousands of players and leagues around the world, from Sweden to Australia to the U.S. and Britain and almost everywhere in between.
Anselmo said the Civic Center has been holding tournaments for four or five years, but Carrier had sponsored tournaments for many years before that. Plans are to hold some even bigger events in future.
“We’re hoping to build this up,” Anselmo said, noting equipment makes all the difference. “That’s the big draw. If you have better equipment, you’ll draw people from around the state. Table tennis is growing now, and you have a lot more tournaments to choose from. It’s just a growing sport and a lot of people enjoy it.”
Twins Dakota and Salem McGregor, 13, are among the younger players from Warren County. Both say they find the game a lot of fun.
“I like to spike it,” says Dakota. The pair played some when they were younger, around 6 years old, but only picked it up again in sixth grade. They do play each other quite a bit, and not surprisingly, they also keep score.
“So far I’m winning by one or two games,” says Salem, who is all of nine minutes older than his brother. “I think it’s fun playing,” he added. “It takes some skill if you’re going to try to learn spins and tricks and all that. But when you get started all you’ve got to do is put it over.”
Table tennis enthusiast Wade Odom, who, with his wife Jane, travels around the country to compete in seniors tournaments, says the sport appeals to a wide cross-section of players, and is gaining fans.
“A lot of people can play,” Odom said. “And then there’s the exposure. ESPN is promoting tournaments out of Chicago. People have watched that and seen a different brand of ping pong, now table tennis.”
Odom says the sport is a good one for players of any age.
“Table Tennis keeps us in condition without hurting us,” Odom said.
Wife Jane, who is the holder of a gold medal for seniors in her age group, says she enjoys the fellowship the sport affords.
“I guess it’s meeting the people,” Jane said. “We’ve made a lot of good friendships. We travel a lot to different cities just to play table tennis. It’s a good sport,” she added with a grin. “It keeps you young.”