Westchester Table Tennis?

[TensorBackhand]

Just saw this video. Who is that chopper in green and his background? He is insanely good. I can't imagine having to play him.

And what is this Westchester club? Why are they so good?

 

[thomas.pong]

It's one of the biggest clubs in the country and they often throw big tournaments with big cash prizes, they even invite foreign players from time to time.

A few USA national team members train there as well as ex-provincial players from China...

All DHS rainbow tables, the very best!

 

[TensorBackhand]

Why is it so strong when it kinda seems to be in the middle of nowhere? I mean, I might expect LA or Bay Area or NYC to be strong.

Wikipedia says Pleasantville's population is under 8000 people.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

It's one of the biggest clubs in the country and they often throw big tournaments with big cash prizes, they even invite foreign players from time to time.

A few USA national team members train there as well as ex-provincial players from China...

All DHS rainbow tables, the very best!

They also hosted a WTT Feeder last year.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Why is it so strong when it kinda seems to be in the middle of nowhere? I mean, I might expect LA or Bay Area or NYC to be strong.

Wikipedia says Pleasantville's population is under 8000 people.

There are over 100 full time centres in USA (criteria was min, open 5 days a week, have a junior program, have a full time coach).

Many are in the Bay Area.
There are also other successful ones, like Samson Dubina, where the current US junior champ boys and girls are based.
In Akron, Ohio.

I would say Lily Yip in New Jersey has also produce great talents, with the like of Amy Wang (not mention all the former national players from the same club)

Maryland is also pretty good too.

Overall, many clubs "in the middle of nowhere" as you put it, have high level trainers/coaches. This is good for the sport.

 

[TensorBackhand]

There are over 100 full time centres in USA (criteria was min, open 5 days a week, have a junior program, have a full time coach).

Many are in the Bay Area.
There are also other successful ones, like Samson Dubina, where the current US junior champ boys and girls are based.
In Akron, Ohio.

I would say Lily Yip in New Jersey has also produce great talents, with the like of Amy Wang (not mention all the former national players from the same club)

Maryland is also pretty good too.

Overall, many clubs "in the middle of nowhere" as you put it, have high level trainers/coaches. This is good for the sport.

No come on, there has to be something else to the story that I am not getting. (i.e All the NYC residents somehow choose Pleasantville for their training?)

The Bay Area table tennis club has literally 8 million residents in the bay area. There is also a high percentile of Asians. There are a lot more people who want to play table tennis, and far more conducive to building a competitive club.

Pleasantville has 8000 people. That is 0.1% the population of the Bay Area. How could they possibly have a club that is stronger or as strong as a Bay Area club? That's like saying Singapore can build a better basketball team than USA.

 

[thomas.pong]

It’s still the burbs of NYC and rents are crazy in the city.

All it takes is some people with enough money to make a real investment in the sports. Most clubs in Europe including professional ones are « in the middle of nowhere ».

 

[dingyibvs]

It’s still the burbs of NYC and rents are crazy in the city.

All it takes is some people with enough money to make a real investment in the sports. Most clubs in Europe including professional ones are « in the middle of nowhere ».

But getting from Asian heavy areas of NYC like Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan all the way up there is a real PITA. The distance really belies how long it can take. I used to live in North Central Bronx, and my then fiancee lived in Manhattan. Traveling between those places is a real pain. Once you get to the Bronx though getting further up to Pleasantville isn't too bad.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

No come on, there has to be something else to the story that I am not getting. (i.e All the NYC residents somehow choose Pleasantville for their training?)

The Bay Area table tennis club has literally 8 million residents in the bay area. There is also a high percentile of Asians. There are a lot more people who want to play table tennis, and far more conducive to building a competitive club.

Pleasantville has 8000 people. That is 0.1% the population of the Bay Area. How could they possibly have a club that is stronger or as strong as a Bay Area club? That's like saying Singapore can build a better basketball team than USA.

Don't forget, you need a big venue. Its very expensive in those expensive places.
I remember someone told me, its easy to be a coach in SF. But its difficult to keep start a club and keep the lights on.
Sadly, that club didn't last 2 years.

And how serious is it, when there are over 100 full time center, and not all of them are in your NYC or Bays?
This is a fact, not just a thumb suck amount.

here is the list. current count is 110 (I recall it was higher, so this number maybe went backwards)

Full-time Professional Table Tennis Clubs in the USA | TableTennisCoaching.com

To me, a full-time center (roughly speaking) has a website, at least five or more tables, is open at least six days a week, has professional coaches (preferably at least one full-time), a junior program, and a league. If it's missing one of these but has the others, it might make the cut. For...

www.tabletenniscoaching.com

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Most clubs in Europe including professional ones are « in the middle of nowhere ».

True

This applies in China too. All those "centers" are in the middle of nowhere. Takes 1 hour car journey to do some real shopping.

 

[Der_Echte]

Yes, getting to Westchester if you live in Queens or Flushing is not quick.
The founder of Westchester, along with the 2500+ manager I believed lived in that direction Near Westchester's location)... and one of the founders had enough funds or could get enough funds to build the place... and they built it right.

 

[dingyibvs]

True

This applies in China too. All those "centers" are in the middle of nowhere. Takes 1 hour car journey to do some real shopping.

1 hour is no big deal. It takes 45 or 55 mins to get from Queens and Brooklyn, respectively, to Pleasantville with no traffic. This would mean 2 hours with moderate traffic and probably 3 in rush hour.

Just as an example, going from my previous work place in NCB to where my wife (and later also I) lived in Midtown West would take just over 20 mins without traffic. When I'm coming home in rush hour it was about 1.5 hours. We lived right near West side highway so I hardly needed to deal with any Manhattan traffic. The housing was subsidized by her work so we could afford such a convenient location, I'm assuming most TT players don't have that advantage.

 

[Der_Echte]

Upsidedowncarl lives in NYC and can give you a lot better run down of NYC TT action.
BTW, owner(s) of Ping Pod have been opening up location after location in NYC.

 

[thomas.pong]

Enough players can get to Westchester, it's as simple as that. Of course it’s harder if you live further out. Clubs in the burbs of large cities tend to do well, you get enough people and the international crowd.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

1 hour is no big deal. It takes 45 or 55 mins to get from Queens and Brooklyn, respectively, to Pleasantville with no traffic. This would mean 2 hours with moderate traffic and probably 3 in rush hour.

1 hour is at max speed allowed.
if you want to say traffic...hm.. every where is the same when you get moderate to rush/peak hours.

end of the day, further away from the city centre, the chances of a bigger hall is more likely.

They been open for a long time, so, I'm sure, its okay.

 

[Brs]

Driving two or three hours in America is considered no big deal by many people. In the country distances are long. Near the cities distances are short but the traffic is horrible so you drive 1/3rd the speed at best. Everyone is used to it. Westchester County literally borders NYC. It is a close suburb and people commute to work in the city from there (or they did before Covid).

The owner and founder of Westchester TT club is a crossword puzzle writing genius. He wrote all the puzzles for the NY Times newspaper for years (maybe decades), and many other logic-type puzzles besides. So he got rich, and he loves TT, and he made a big, nice club for all the other people around NYC who love TT but are not so rich. Respect for that.

 

[brokenball]

I watched that match the OP posted. It is good. The chopper has been around for a while so I am familiar with his play. I don't know the looper. The looper does a good job of getting the chopped ball back. You can see he starts with the paddle back behind his right knee and is swinging mostly up to match the spin tangential paddle speed with the tangential speed on the ball. You can see his looped ball seem to "break" like a curve ball but downwards due to the Magnus effect. The point where the ball seems to "break" is the point where the radius of the arc seem to get tighter due to an optimal ratio of spin to spin. Watch closely.

Travel to the "local" club here also can take an hour or more during rush time. I play at my own place. Many just go to the local community center rather than go into the Portland madness.

When I was in China, the Yuanshen sports center was 1 mile away on the same road as the hotel. It was about 20 minute walk.

Yuanshen Sports Centre Stadium - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

There were all sorts of sports played there. There were at least two places to play TT.
Very convenient for playing on week ends or down days.

 

[NextLevel]

1 hour is no big deal. It takes 45 or 55 mins to get from Queens and Brooklyn, respectively, to Pleasantville with no traffic. This would mean 2 hours with moderate traffic and probably 3 in rush hour.

Just as an example, going from my previous work place in NCB to where my wife (and later also I) lived in Midtown West would take just over 20 mins without traffic. When I'm coming home in rush hour it was about 1.5 hours. We lived right near West side highway so I hardly needed to deal with any Manhattan traffic. The housing was subsidized by her work so we could afford such a convenient location, I'm assuming most TT players don't have that advantage.

There is a train station there.

 

[NextLevel]

Driving two or three hours in America is considered no big deal by many people. In the country distances are long. Near the cities distances are short but the traffic is horrible so you drive 1/3rd the speed at best. Everyone is used to it. Westchester County literally borders NYC. It is a close suburb and people commute to work in the city from there (or they did before Covid).

The owner and founder of Westchester TT club is a crossword puzzle writing genius. He wrote all the puzzles for the NY Times newspaper for years (maybe decades), and many other logic-type puzzles besides. So he got rich, and he loves TT, and he made a big, nice club for all the other people around NYC who love TT but are not so rich. Respect for that.

Will is a great guy. They rent the top floor to a real business and I am sure they could make more money if they did something other than TT. But TT is Will's passion and he plays everyday.

 

[TensorBackhand]

What I gather is that the members of the club are not of the 8000 residents of the town, but of the greater NYC region.

Personally I would not be driving 1 or 2 hours just to play Table Tennis, but I guess those guys are really passionate.

I don't even want to drive 30 minutes.