YMCA serves up table tennis in Wooster

One person’s kid’s game is another’s serious activity.

Most of us have played ping-pong a time or two. Maybe at a friend’s house growing up, a friend who had a table.

Far fewer of us have ever played table tennis.

Aren’t they the same thing? Yep. But a lot changes with a label.

Ping-pong is a friendly basement game for those looking to have a little fun or maybe kill a little time. Table tennis is for serious players, those who do it for exercise or even competition.

Thanks in large part to Dee Vaidya, a serious player from Wooster who spends winters in Sarasota, Florida — where table tennis clubs like Palms Center Table Tennis are a big thing — the sport has come to the Wooster branch of the YMCA.

“It’s got a little bit of everything,” said Nikki Fehrenbach, CEO of the YMCA of Wayne County. “It's great. It’s obviously a very co-ed sport. It’s kind of like pickleball in that it’s good for everybody. Any age level, male, female. It’s great for hand-eye coordination but also a physical activity.”

And now it’s offered at the Y, which last year with Vaidya’s help added three tables that YMCA members can use for free or nonmembers can use for $5 a session. Currently, the tables are available from 1-3 p.m on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Right now, Fehrenbach said, the tables are first-come, first-served. She said as they get more popular, it may become necessary to take reservations. That’s the hope going forward.

“It’s been kind of slow so far,” Fehrenbach said. “We hope to get some more interest in the first of the year. It’s just trying to get it to the right people. We put it on social media, but not everybody follows that.”

If history says anything, people will catch on. According to research data giant EBSCO.com, table tennis is the world’s most popular sport in terms of participation, with 300 to 400 million people playing. In the US, though, the number is around 15 to 16 million, many of whom Statista.com said are recreational and basement warriors.

Self.com said as many as 14,000 in the US play competitively in a sport that has been an Olympic event since 1988. There is a U.S. Olympic team with about 40 athletes.

Nobody here has to aspire to that. Pick up a racket, or “bat” as they are known in some parts of the world, and just get moving, have some fun or meet some people.

“Especially in the winter months, I think it’s good,” Fehrenbach said. “I see it as something that anyone can do. It’s a good social activity. It’s new up here. If you look online at communities, it’s very big in Florida.”

Vaidya, a YMCA member, assisted in implementing table tennis at the Wooster branch last summer. The Y purchased three used Butterfly tables, and Vaidya donated rackets and other various table tennis equipment to get things going here.

Look for the activity to make its way to the Orrville branch sometime in the future, though branch director Lindsey Baumgartner said there are no immediate plans for adding it at this point.

“Dee reached out to me and was very interested in bringing it here,” Fehrenbach said. “He plays in Florida, and they have a very large community of table tennis players there.”