Table Tennis

The Wang Chen Table Tennis Club

is a winner

By Tara Ryazansky

Photos Courtesy of Wang Chen

Balls hit the table in a fast rhythm at Wang Chen Table Tennis Club. They bounce back and forth between players so quickly that it’s hard to keep an eye on the ball. For me, that is, not for head coach and club owner Wang Chen. And not for her students, who are the ones paddling with swift ease under Chen’s guidance.

“We play the fast way, and very close to the table,” Chen says. “A lot of European players play far from the table and more like a game of tennis. A lot of Asian players play the fast way. We use speed to win the game.”

Chen has earned a lot of wins throughout her long table tennis career. “When I turned 11, I became professional,” she says. “I was on the China National Team from 1987 to 1997. I won the 1997 World Championships.” American Dream

She came to the United States in the early 2000s to help her sister with a family business. She went to a Manhattan table tennis club to practice and met the owner, Jerry Wartski.

Wartski is a real estate developer and an avid fan of the sport. He persuaded Chen to play seriously for the U.S. He became her sponsor, giving her a room in one of his apartment buildings so she could live near the club.

Wartski is also a Holocaust survivor. “He told me just two days ago that he is the last survivor from his hometown in Poland,” Chen says. “He is 91.”

Chen trained and worked as a coach in Wartski’s club.

In 2008, she was one of only two American table tennis players to automatically qualify for the Olympics in Beijing. There she placed fifth in women’s singles, which Chen says is the highest placement in American table tennis history.

Table Tennis Boosters

After that, Chen shifted her focus to promoting table tennis in the U.S. She and Wartski continued to collaborate. They co-own the Manhattan club.

Wang Chen

Wang Chen | Photo by Michael Macor | The Chronicles

“In China, table tennis is the national sport,” Chen says. “In America, people play in a bar. They think it’s a game, not a sport.” But she says that the perception is shifting. “Now, in California people are playing more seriously.”

The East Coast might not be far behind.

After opening clubs in Manhattan, Chen decided to promote the sport here in Jersey City. She found a place in the Newport Waterfront area nestled among large condo buildings.

“This location has a lot of Chinese residents and a lot of Indian people,” she says. “Those countries from Asia understand table tennis as a sport. A lot of times the parent is a table tennis fan, so they want their children to learn their favorite sport so that they can play together as a family.”

Club Culture

Wang Chen Table Tennis Club offers one-on-one lessons for children and adults, afterschool programs, camps, and birthday parties.

“Our Jersey City Junior Team has grown very fast,” Chen says, adding that this team is for children ages 6-10. “They have dominated Jersey City and then the North Jersey area. We just started last year, but I think in two years these kids will have a very good rating.

“You can be a good player and get a scholarship for college or sports awards,” Chen says. “For a lot of parents, that’s the target of this sport.”

She wants to share her sport with the world outside of her club. ”I will donate 100 table tennis tables, probably 50 tables in New Jersey and 50 tables in New York,” Chen says. They will go to public schools for gym classes.

Landlord Onboard

Here in the Jersey City club, a chalkboard wall is painted with a huge tournament bracket so that Chen can rank her team. The room is lit with a series of circular neon lights. Murals decorate the walls and the floors.

“I think this is the most beautiful club I’ve ever seen,” Chen says. She says that she’s grateful to her landlords, Lefrak Property Management. “They renovated the club to be very modern. When I opened the club, it looked fantastic. It’s like my dream club, so I’m very appreciative of them doing a great job for me.”

Chen stands in front of a mural of a player serving the ball.

“Table Tennis is not a hundred percent physical,” she says. “It’s half physical and half strategy. Some people are not that physical, but they have a smart mind and can play very well. It’s a very gentle sport, physically.” But that doesn’t mean it isn’t hard work. “It takes persistence,” Chen says. “You have to do the same thing each day. You can have talent, but you also have to give hours to doing the same thing.”—JCM