By: Sharon Han
“Ai! Ai!,” a table tennis player grunts as he narrowly makes the pass back to his opponent. The ball whirs into the net and the losing player collapses to the ground in a frenzy of frustration as his opponent fist pumps the air. Onlookers, with crossed arms, nod in agreement enjoyment, and discuss in Cantonese perhaps the reason for the win.
This scene played out recently at the New York International Table Tennis Center, one of three places to play table tennis in Flushing, making this diverse Queens neighborhood a center for this sport, whose roots begin in England but currently has the strongest following in China and East Asia.
You can see the transition of the popularity in table tennis, also called ping pong, on the evolution of players inducted into the International Table Tennis Hall of Fame. The early 1990s was dominated by inductees from Eastern Europe such as Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Romania. However, as the sport became widely played in East Asia, especially in the late 1990’s the Hall of Fame inductees were from countries such as China, Japan, and Korea, with the majority of Olympic winners from China.
Founded by Coach Yuxiang Li, New York International Table Tennis Center is nestled inconspicuously in between a deli and hotel, with a ping pong paddle drawn on a metal sign. Coach Li, according to his website, started Table Tennis at age six and became a member of the Chinese National Team. Coach Li’s page on the Butterfly Table Tennis website states that he started his international career training Erik Lindh, who was Swedish bronze champion in the 1988 Seoul Olympics. He was also coach for Ryu Seungmin, 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist for South Korea, and longtime European Champion Vladimir Samsonov.
AACCT (Asian American Cultural Center of Tribeca) was founded by Robert Chen.Originally started in Tribeca, Coach Chen eventually moved to Chinatown and expanded to Flushing, but kept the name. Though originally a professional photographer and director, he realized he wanted to make an impact on his community after September 11th. According to an interview with Coach Chen, September 11th was an event that prompted him to wonder, “How come innocent lives have to die?” He began to wonder about the meaning in his own life, and realized that he wanted to have more of a positive impact on others. Although September 11th “brought me down, my soul, my spirit, was up”. Through this cultural center, Coach Chen not only was able to teach table tennis, a sport he had been playing for ten years, but also serve the community through it. His experience includes teaching as a coach for NYU for four years, a “stressful” but “good experience”. Now he is focusing on growing his cultural center, which features two levels of over ten tables for singles and doubles play. He has even created a meetup group for his center, which says, “Come alone or with your friends. We meet at the 8,000 square foot American Asian Cultural Center AACCT that has 12 new professional ping pong tables. AACT is located at 133-25 37th Ave, Flushing, NY 11354 and is 4 blocks from the Main Street Flushing #7 Train.”
Xiaolin Li, a member of AACT, around 50 years oldsays that for her AACT is a convenient place to play, as she lives in Bayside, with players that she knows well. She had been playing for over 45 years and talked extensively of the benefits of ping pong as a sport, saying, “It builds you physically and mentally, and secondly, you can make many friends. And number three, it builds good character.”
For those located further down Northern Boulevard, New York Table Tennis may also be a convenient option. Lee Chun Sook, owner of New York Table Tennis, located on 162nd street, who was only able to do our interview in Korean, was eager to advocate for the sport itself, but a potential player’s ability to meet all kinds of people. His table tennis center, a place for recreation and fun, was well lit and relatively quiet, with a small lounging area and new equipment. The lounging area was stocked with a cooler for drink and sold chips, candy and ice cream. He had been playing an intense game of mah jong with a friend before his interview. According to Lee, “Members are usually people who have played in Korea and decided they want to play here once they had immigrated. However, though we mainly speak Korean here, we have players from Russia, Nigeria, and even Sweden. There is a great opportunity for friendship in ping pong, since it’s a partner sport! Also, the morning to afternoon is usually filled with senior citizens, we have an afternoon program for kids, and professionals usually come at night. We encourage all people to play table tennis!”