Playing in the usa

All great things start in a garage

rhonis, if you are an average club player, in USA, you would be 1400-1600. I would think an average club player in Europe would be just a little better.

Whatever, if you are average club player level, you are more than skilled enough to cross blades with players in a club and have a blast doing it. You would really love the garage experience, because I do not think there are players in Europe playing an attacking style using OX LP to attack all spins.

Whatever you decide, make a series of pics and posts, your trip shapes up to be an opportunity of a lifetime. Hope you have a blast, a lot of them actually.

Hey Rhonis there are a bunch of tournaments scheduled each weekend I think in the Bay area. You would need to either pay for a usatt membership or if you have an international federation approved membership you may be able to use that one. A tournament pass could also be purchased for that tournament day/weekend. Here's a link to the tournament events page at usatt.org in the region you'll be in.

http://vukeoqx.usoc.com/USA-Table-Tennis/Events?from=04/01/2014&r=Pacific (AZ, CA, HI, NV)

rhonis said:

Dear members, during the month may I will go on a roadtrip through the usa. I will go to the west side of america and visit all the familiar places (san Francisco, la, san diego, flagstaf las vegas etc). Since I will be on the road for 25 days I am interested whether there are possibilities to play some pong pong or whether I should leave my paddle at home. Looking forward to your thoughts.

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pong pong?

# of stars is the classification of the tourney, things like playing conditions, prize money offered, etc.

There are some 1 star tourneys that will really challenge you and still have a blast and take a ton of pics.

As an unrated player, you would not be allowed to advance from group stage of a rated event, like say U1600 or U1800.

What would be a good first USA tourney would be a giant round robin tourney. That kind of tourney places you in a group of 5-8 players, you all play vs each other, then the top ones all go into a division, all #2's go into a division, etc, then have single elimination or another group stage then single elimination.

Such a tourney would allow you to play a lot of matches and have a little more fun.

You do that for your first tourney, then you could (if ratings get processed or if you can convince tourney director) then advance in rated events if you make it past the group stage in U1600 or whatever event you entered.

Typical tourney has rated events where it is a group stage with top 2 advancing followed by a knockout stage.

At a tournament I was just at there were a ton of kids from Canada that swept all the U2000 sections They were unrated but were allowed to be in U1000 U1400 and U1800 etc as well as wining the U14. I checked, and their ratings are all in the 1700s now. My point is that maybe u can be in tournaments even if you have another rating system.

rhonis, for some reason, I would think you shape up to be 1700-1800 minimum. Once you play in a club in USA vs enough players, you will a very good idea of your USA level very fast. The average club player in USA is not significantly different than the average Korean Amature club player. On the upper end of the Amature range, USA has WAY stronger upper end. USATT 2200 would make you a top div 1 city player and a low end div 1 natl level player. (they got two more levels before the pro levels, so div 1 natl is not a super elite level)

Having said that, I mean to say you could encounter a very wide variety of playing levels, some much higher than you would expect.

I have no idea what date range you plan to travel. Some California clubs have toruneys every month or two, some are in the giant round robin format I recommend for your first tourney.

Giant round robin tourney description copy/paste...

...with an opening singles round-robin to determine placement in classes A, B, and C. That determines who gets into what division, then there are 4 player groups formed to play round robin vs each other with the top two players in each group advancing to the knockout stage.

Giant Round Robin tourneys are very fun. You get a lot of matches in a short time vs a variety of players at first, then vs those somewhat near your level, plus the chance to advance and win it all. (within your qualified division) Plus, you get to advance all the way as long as you win. In your first tourney as an un-rated player, you do not get to advance past the group stage, even if you go undefeated! That is why I recommend a giant round robin for your first tourney.

Here is a club in Santa Ana, a little south of LA. They run giant round robin tourneys every few months with a larger tourney in May.
http://www.powerpong.org/Tournments.html

Here is a club in LA area with a few tourneys. They got one early May.
http://www.mypingpongclub.com/

This is the San Diego one...
http://vukeoqx.usoc.com/USA-Table-Tennis/Events/2014/May/24/Neil-Smyth-Memorial-Open

Some clubs run sanctioned tourneys every so often, and some run a tourney for whoever comes to their club every week like this one...
http://www.latabletennis.com/tournaments/

This is giving you a small idea of the TT scene in LA area, expect the SF area to be even MORE robust.

Mr. Richard D or some others can prolly fill you in on some better tourneys, I just listed some to get you a small idea of the TT scene and what to expect.

In the LA and SF area, you can drive to a lot of clubs and find some kind of action daily and a tourney of some sort in a club in those cities every week.

You will not be disappointed visiting the LA or SF area, and you will not be disappointed in SD either, whether it is at the SDTTA or the "garage" that is more like a well-equipped one table TT club for forum members!

I had one chance a few months ago to break away from my Army training in teh California desert to visit a few friends in SD and on the way up stop by a few clubs.

I met Tat and played the "garage" venue in SD and I was able to play in the LATTA club (Nice place and LOTS of players) (Don't go there on a Sunday, not any above average players there Sunday) and also in the Korean TT club downtown LA. I played in that club until 2AM. Koreans are crazy crazy about their TT. Ate at a Korean resturant with a club memebr and drove back up. Had me several blasts haha.

I really wish I had more time to be around such a "hot" place for TT as it is freezing as all let-out where I live.

Hmmm 2-7 May... LA/SD area... Allen & Sons... nice club... got a 1 start sanctioned toruney on 4 May... but it is rated events, no giant round robin. You would be placed in a 3-4 player round robin group, play each other to see who advances... but since you do not have a rating yet, you would NOT be allowed to advance... unless the Tourney Director allows it. Maybe you could register for the tourney, have the club manager, the tourney director himself, or someone he trusts look at you play vs some of the club players there to get a good idea of your level. maybe then, he would be satisfied that your level is such and such, so to be fair to the other players. MANY players try to "sandbag" their level, which means keep it artificially low. They enter an event where there is a cash prize for winning. Their level is significantly higher than other players in that event, because they purposely lost matches earlier tourneys to drop their rating, even if their TRUE level is much higher. This is a big problem in USA Table Tennis, so TDs do not allow someone without an established rating to advance in rated events to keep things fair. That is why I would recommend trying to visit the club the day or two before and try to work something out. Since you are foreign and visiting and will likely not be back there... maybe you can work out something. Trying is free.

Every Friday and Saturday at LATTA they got a round robin tourney, (non-sanctioned) you ought to check it out, you will not be disappointed. It can be difficult at first to get to that club as you do not see it from the street. The club is behind the car wash in a big conglomerate of industrial park buildings. Basically, you get off the big avenue (Valley BLVD)south of the blvd and east of the car wash, go 30 meters or so past and behind the car was, look to the right and you see a parking lot next to a wide building. Turn right into that parking lot and go all the way to the right (the back) of the parking lot and park your car. You should see a sign above a door for the club. You can get into the club there. Bring the phone number to the club just in case. (626) 452-1228 PM me when you get in USA and I'll cough up my cell number. I could call any joker who doesn't want to work with you and give them a hint of Mafia to help them be friendlier to you. Nah, that won't be necessary. TT players and club people in USA will fall over themselves trying to be friendly and helpful to you. As terrible a nation we USA people are at ridiculing foreigners whose English is not exactly perfect, the Table Tennis Community is not like that at all. You will be very impressed for sure and remember your experiences positively... forever.

Link to LATTA... round robin tourneys... http://www.latabletennis.com/tournaments/ link to where club is... http://www.latabletennis.com/contact/

12-14 May... Las Vegas... Try Lee's TTC in Chinatown. Here is a link for Youtube.
They run a club toruney (not sanctioned) every Wednesday, so you get a club toruney experience. Here is alink to their website with a map. http://lasvegastabletennis.com/?page_id=9

San Fransisco 20-23 May... Uhh, dude, just jump blindfolded out of an airplane flying over the city on any of those days and you will land within 15 minutes walking distance of a club with action.