Brand New TT Club in Sacramento USA Forum Meetups?

[Der_Echte]

A new club opened in Sacramento, huge place. Maybe owner could thin out the tables some.

Lighting is no glare (my eyes are real prone to glare) and 500+ lux everywhere. $50 USD a month for membership.

Who want make historic Goon Squad meetups over there?

 

[chuckjordan2]

Wow, I'm counting 27 tables. 31 hours straight drive time (2.781 miles). Why can't something like this happen in my backyard?

Envious!
Wow!!

 

[Dan]

Now that's a setup!

 

[Der_Echte]

They had way too many tables in the main room in the pics. I went there tonite and they thinned out a few tables, but 4 rows of tables arranged like the pics leaves a playcourt of 9x16 feet with a generous measurement... that is 7-8 feet too short on each end with tables quite tight. Owner is gunna realize he will lose serious amature players right away if he keeps 4 rows that way.

Minimum USATT specs for playcourt is 15x30 feet court... (4.6m x 9.2m) If rows, then minimum of 10 feet between tables is required.

On the left of the walkway into the big TT room, there is 16+ meters or 52 feet of room and the length of the big room is around 70 feet. If owner intends to keep the same orientation of tables, he would need to make it 3 rows instead of 4, and have 4 tables per row instead of 6. The back area of 20x48 feet could be netted off for three coaching areas of 16x20 feet with a table. That makes 15 tables in big room and the small room should hold only 4-5 tables instead of the 6 that are there now.

So, for any reasonable amature play there, the club ought to be a 20 table max instead of the 35-40 table club it is now.

There are many other basic things the owner could do, but this place has big potential if done right.

I found out the owner bought the building and paid for renovations himself with own money, a LOT of his own money, he has enough of it, so why not try a real TT club with other business inside, like restaurant, sauna, music room, general game room, and a few living quarters for imported coaches.

 

[Der_Echte]

Der_Echte is enlisting the help of Gothom City mayor in activating the official city spotlight that has been dormant since 1962 to flash the BAT-SIGN on the clouds tonite to announce a planned multi-forum TT meetup at the Sacramento SITTA TT club for forumers and local non-forumers.

Looking to arrange Sat PM or Sunday PM.

Anyone wanna meetup and have a hit in the new gym? They thinned out some tables already. Middle row is playable now.

I also got Coach Nam to be a little silly, he might have some Der_Echte in him.

 

[Nam Tran]

I really hate on Der_Echte for posting the silly pic of me. I'm gunna get some sweet revenge on him soon.

 

[ttmonster]

Welcome to the forum , congratulations on the new club , hear that you are Truong's friend ... small world isn't it ?

I really hate on Der_Echte for posting the silly pic of me. I'm gunna get some sweet revenge on him soon.

 

[Der_Echte]

Nam knows some players... his Uncle/Aunt is/are the club owner(s).

They have a teams tourney (unsanctioned-no ratings point gain/loss) (ratings used for seeding) this April 12. Div 2 top 3 players on team max 5500 rating means Rocketman22 (1920s), me (upper 1700s) and David M (upper 1700s since he has no rating would near max out that number... Rocketman22's 1700 student and ttmonster would make a fearsome 5 player squad for the $180 entry and $1000 first prize. I am providing the team jerseys if no one has one (sorry ttmonster ...)

Who is up to join the squad? Rocketman is practically crawling outta my phone to get on the squad I didn't yet form.

 

[t95mwp]

This club purposely opened in the same business locations where little Chinese CALTT club was already existing to take them out of the business. For that fact many people wont go due to dirty practices. They had entire Sacramento area to choose the location and they choose it next to them.

 

[Nam Tran]

Thank you ttmonster, i know Truong. Nice to meet you.

 

[Nam Tran]

Sound good Der_Echte. See you Thursday. hehe

 

[Der_Echte]

I made a lengthy post about the ethics of opening a larger better club in close proximity to the existing smaller club that just opened on the same thread on MyTT forum.

There may or may not be info we do or do not know, like the larger club offering to make a collaboration with existing tt leaders in Sac.

A similar argument could be made against the same lady you are defending. When she opened a full time club last year, her club was 10x better than the operations the other two local tt leaders did in school or sports gyms 2x a week.

One of those leaders makes a living only from coaching and running part time 2x a week club and tourneys. He would have been impacted the most... and probably still will be with this new tt gym, as well as the Chinese lady.

I supported the Chinee lady's club with monthly membership, even if the last 6 months I only played 1 to 2 times a week. It was by far the best club... even with its space and lighting issues. I got to meet great people like you my friend. Sacramento needed a full time club and she opened one.

The other leaders individually or collectively did not open a full time facility and they were here for decades. They had their reasons and I will not further criticize.

This new club is taking a big chance, the fixed costs will be tough to meet the early months.



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[t95mwp]

We know each other very well and I have to disagree with you. First of all these clubs only operates on one day per base in different locations such schools or community centers and yes she opened but far of way of both clubs. Where this your favorite club opens next to existing business for the year already and to give you answer I talked to lady last night where she expressed that club already made step to either buy out them or destroy her business. I have spoken with number of people that expressed the same feelings like I have.

 

[jawien]

@Der, just btw - on average how much is a tt club membership that would allow you i.e. to play 2x a week for 2 hours in Sacramento?

 

[Der_Echte]

The "Clubs" in Sacramento and many places in USA are 1-2 times a weeks someone rents out a school gym and you setup tables and play matches for a couple hours. Lighting is usually bad, but you get a lot of people.

Such a place charges $5 -$8 USD each time you show up.

A full time club in USA charges anywhere from $40 to $70 USD for the entire month. Usually play conditions way better in a dedicated facility and there is community. The Chinese lady did that (started a full time club) and it was the best thing to happen to Sacramento TT in years. She charged $60 USD a month and it was a bargain. She could have done a LOT of different things to make her club better, but did not. One reason could be that she didn't want to take away too much TT business from the other two leaders running 2x a week clubs. She could have run sanctioned tourneys but did not, maybe for the same reason - being nice and not to take away business.

It is not so good that we, as a TT Community could not collectively make a real full time club. It took a foreigner (The nice Chinese lady) taking a personal risk to do that. She made the best facility in the city that is 10x better than the 1-2 times a week school gyms. I do not know why we collectively were OK with playing in such a condition more than just temporary until we organize. I has issues with the lighting in the Chinese club, I could have organized a way to invest for better lights. I failed like everyone else.

The new club could be 10 miles away from its location and it would still take away current business, it has the best room and lighting by far. A case could be made the new club is trying to take away business from nearby fitness gyms... but these places are big boys and no one is worried about that - the market for that business operation is much larger.

The Sacramento area COULD have 10 of such large TT gyms if we can get even 10% of schools to have a TT program, but it isn't gunna happen this year or 2019.

I know t95wmp and will not name his name or talk bad about his opinion. He has a freedom to express his views and doesn't require my concurrence or permission, he is a free man like anyone. Even if t95wmp was 100x time stronger in his opinion, I will not disrespect his view on things. Anyone want to get on t95wmp's case is gunna hafta deal with me, but believe me, t95wmp is strong enough to handle things without my assistance well before I am even aware of it.

 

[jawien]

Thanks for the info Der.

Just to reference a little your same area clubs situation. There is also a tradition and a sense of community which, I think, is quite a factor in table tennis. We probably have the best facility in town and yet, when we organized some cyclic tournaments, we were not able to draw as much people as this other smaller club does. They have 4 tables, not the best conditions (there is enough space - true) and yet every Monday there is more or less 30 people (sometimes much more) willing to wait patiently for their turn. Those tournaments were held as long as I remember and somehow the tt community without telling anybody has elected to gather there. I like to participate to, because it's nice to meet those people (friends) and play some 'chess' with'em ...


@I've found it few days ago, a nice proof how tt can grow a community ...

 

[t95mwp]

Dear Der_Echte,

I value and appreciate your opinions as well. What I am saying is this, I love table tennis and I love an idea where now we have nice clubs that is opened 7 days and we can play any time not like Monday at Sac TT and Tuesday at Folsom TT at Rush Park and etc. If this club have choose any other location rather then next to already existing club I personally and lot of other fox wouldn`t have any issue. As far as your comment about me being capable of defending myself, we live in so called civilized world we do not need any violence just violent table tennis play. Have great day.

 

[NDH]

I know this discussion has happened before - But I have no idea why a whole load of you don't set up a local league to run 7-8 months of the year like we have in the UK.

You could then utilise each location, and it would generate more interest!

I feel Der_Echte would be the man to lead this......

 

[tropical]

Not sure why t95mwp said the new club intended to crush the old one by deliberately setting it up close to it? There are many reasons why the new club's owner wanted it to be where it is now, for examples; good location, cheap rent, ease of commute, nearby (already existing) customers, etc. just purely from business point of view.

 

[Der_Echte]

NDH,

To implement that the style you suggest, it is gunna require some serious culture adjustment. I am not too hopeful it will be better by the end of this month or this year.

Where you are at, people tend to be motivated by to possibility of individual or team championships or standings or promotion.

In USA, players are motivated by ratings point levels... to an irrational obsessive protective degree. If you demote a player or team, they do not come back.

The USA clubs that offer "Leagues" are basically a round robin that gives the players a chance to gain or lose points for FREE, meaning no expensive tourney fee. This is attractive to players... so much that here, players bar hop their way 3 to 4 times a week to play in the club's that run 2x a week in schools.

A few have a "season" and give awards, but the ratings point thing is central to everyone.

Players do not show up because of a league, but for points. Often, such a club is the only place to play tt locally.

Money is another thing that will attract players like flies to cow ding, but you gotta ask players to pay a proper proportionate amount up front... but players in USA do not yet like this idea to pay money this way... many want money without paying for it.

Yet... players will pay a tooth and pocket change (think $100 +) to play a tourney and gain official ratings points.

Somehow, we will find a way harness the greed and frugleness to get players to play in a real team league in our area and nation.

Not sure if Der_Echte will be the natural leader for this... but I do have opinions. However, we know the saying about having opinions...

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