It’s Table Tennis!

The Des Moines Table Tennis Club was formed in 1991, a little over a century after the sport began. Its members came to the game at different points in their lives, some learning in basements with family members, and some never playing until joining the club.

“When I wanted to take a break from school, programming, I would go to the recreation room. In the recreation room they had a pool table, and they had ping pong,” said Noi Sackpraseuth, one of the club’s founders. “It’s easy to learn but hard to master.” only use equipment bought from the company.

DMTTC members have their own explanation of why there is a difference between table tennis and ping pong, but mostly agree that ping pong is a casual game with lighter strokes, while table tennis is the more competitive game, with rubber-coated paddles that allow for more spin.

But for Sackpraseuth, the main difference is a matter of style.

BY LILY WASSERMAN

Every week, the Fourmile Community Center echoes with the sound of hollow plastic balls smacking against wood, signalling match time for the Des Moines Table Tennis Club. For over three decades, the club has introduced new players to the game, building a community around rubber-coated paddles.

Table tennis evolved from an informal, indoor version of lawn tennis in the 1890s, to a competitive Olympic sport today. Originally, it was a popular recreational activity for middle-class Victorians, usually played without formalized equipment.

As the game grew in popularity, new names for it emerged. In 1901, Parker Brothers, the game manufacturer, trademarked “PingPong,” and attempted to enforce that trademark, insisting any organizations that used “Ping-Pong” as the name of their game must

“Table tennis, it sounds better,” Sackpraseuth said. “It’s more professional. While ping pong has that name, like it’s not really a sport. It’s something that you play in the basement with your friends.”

The club’s founders opted for “table tennis” instead of “ping pong” partly for that professional reputation.

The term “table tennis” entered the vernacular two decades after Ping-Pong was trademarked. In 1922, Ivor Montagu, an English writer and filmmaker, founded the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) which still regulates the sport worldwide. Montagu, a dedicated socialist, specifically designed table tennis to be egalitarian, accessible to anyone, as opposed to sports for the wealthy elite like polo.

In 1926, the ITTF adopted a constitution, a standardized set of rules and hosted the first table tennis world championship. Formal matches are played to 11 points and a team must win by two points, similar to regular tennis. The Des Moines club follows the traditional ITTF rules but added a replay system for tough calls.

“Everyone’s generally pretty nice,” said DMTTC President Kevin Ripp. “We don’t generally need to establish rules.”

The ITTF has a ranking system for players.

Upcoming Events in the Racquet Realm

Thursday, June 1, 7 a.m., Wellmark YMCA, Tennis, Des Moines, $15

Wednesday, June 14, 6 p.m., Adaptive Sports Iowa Wheelchair Tennis Lessons, Crossroads Park Tennis Courts, West Des Moines, Free

June 16-18, TBA, QCA Adaptive Sports Association Annual Adult Wheelchair Tennis Tournament, Quad City Tennis Club, Moline, Illinois, Fee & registration required to participate (free to attend)

June 16-18, TBA, QCA Adaptive Sports Association Annual Junior Wheelchair Tennis Tournament, Quad City Tennis Club, Moline, Illinois, Fee & registration required to participate (free to attend)

Wednesday, June 21, 6 p.m., Adaptive Sports Iowa Wheelchair Tennis Lessons, Crossroads Park Tennis Courts, West Des Moines, Free

Wednesday, June 18, 6 p.m., Adaptive Sports Iowa Wheelchair Tennis Lessons, Crossroads Park Tennis Courts, West Des Moines, Free

Wednesday, July 12, 6 p.m., Adaptive Sports Iowa Wheelchair Tennis Lessons, Crossroads Park Tennis Courts, West Des Moines, Free

Friday, July 14-16, TBD., Summer Iowa Games Adult Tennis, Ames High School Tennis Court, Iowa State University’s Forker Courts and Emma McCarthy Lee Park, Ames, $35 (by July 3)

Friday, July 14-16, TBD, Summer Iowa Games Youth Tennis, Ames High School Tennis Court, Iowa State University’s Forker Courts and Emma McCarthy Lee Park, Ames, $35 (by July 3)

Saturday, July 15, 8 a.m. Summer Iowa Games Badminton, Iowa State University’s Forker Building, Ames, $35 (by July 3)

Saturday, July 15-16, 8 a.m. Summer Iowa Games Racquetball, Iowa State University’s Lied Recreation Athletic Center, Ames, $35 (by July 3)

Saturday, July 15, 9 a.m., Summer Iowa Games Table Tennis, Iowa State University’s Lied Recreation Athletic Center, Ames, $30 (by July 10)

Saturday, July 15-16, TBA, Summer Iowa Games Pickleball, Iowa State University’s State Gym, Ames, Ames, $40 (by July 3)

Wednesday, July 19, 6 p.m., Adaptive Sports Iowa Wheelchair Tennis Lessons, Crossroads Park Tennis Courts, West Des Moines, Free

Wednesday, July 26, 6 p.m., Adaptive Sports Iowa Wheelchair Tennis Lessons, Crossroads Park Tennis Courts, West Des Moines, Free

Based on performances in tournaments, players will gain points that establish their overall rank, with bigger point totals means a higher rank. The best players will have a rank of approximately 3,000 points, while a beginner starts at zero.

Sackpraseuth is the highest-ranking player at the DMTTC, with a current rank of 2,045. Aiden Sharpe, another member, describes him as “almost like a celebrity” in the group.

As the sport spread and evolved, different styles of play evolved. Member Scott Yates said DMTTC’s diverse membership has helped him learn about different interactional styles of play.

“It’s interesting to see how everybody approaches it differently,” he said.

Despite its European origins, table tennis proved popular internationally, developing a particularly strong following in China. Montagu had hopes that the game could help the People’s Republic of China reconnect globally, following the disruption of interna- tional relations in the wake of the Communist Party’s victory in the country’s post-World War II revolution. He invited the People’s Republic to join the ITTF and enter the world championships. Montagu’s efforts caught the attention of Mao Zedong, who played the game himself and gave official sanction to table tennis—commonly known as “ping pang qiu”— as a worthy pastime in the early 1950s.

In 1971, the United States used so-called “ping-pong diplomacy” as part of its efforts to establish formal relations with the People’s Republic, after 22 years of refusing to recognize the legitimacy of the government in Beijing. The initiative took off when the American team, competing in the World Table Tennis Championship in Japan, received a formal invitation to visit China, an event Time magazine dubbed “The ping heard round the world.”

Team members were the first Americans invited by the government to visit the country since the 1949 revolution. On their tour of the nation, the players met Chinese students and workers, and of course, played matches. It was an act of public diplomacy that helped improve the image each nation had of the others.

While their matches have never borne the weight of high-stakes international diplomacy, most DMTTC members have games that stick out in their minds. Kazek IsraniWinger remembers a match where his team at the University of Northern Iowa beat the University of Iowa in a double-decider game, which is played when teams are tied with two wins each. The win sent UNI to the regional, and the UI players home.

“It was our first year as a college team, and we were all pretty nervous going against all these bigger public schools and public universities,” Israni-Winger said. “We didn’t want people to think we were a bad team that just wanted to play. We wanted to show that we could play competitively.”

The Summer Olympic Games added table tennis to its official roster in 1988, and added team tournaments in 2008 followed by mixed men’s and women’s tournaments in 2020.

Some DMTTC members have competed at the Winter Iowa Games, a weekend competition for various sports. The table tennis division features tournaments based on expertise, age and gender. The tournament performance in the Winter Iowa Games impacts a player’s overall rank.

Two of the club’s members, Sackpraseuth and Randy Hyunh, have won their age divisions at the games.

“Bringing home medals has always been something I want to do for my family,” said Hyunh, who won the 18-and-under division. “They’re always proud when I bring home a medal myself.”

Club members also play at the CelebrAsian matches in Des Moines. A few years ago, they held their own tournament, attracting players from around the Midwest. Some members joined the club looking for a workout, but for most, the main draw was meeting new people.

The matching system at the club allows any member to challenge any other member. Players can set their paddles against the foot of any table to indicate they’d like to play the winner of a match.

Although the club has a website, most members first became aware of it by attending Fourmile Community Center for other reasons, or by hearing about it from friends.

“I’m very guarded of our culture here,” Yates said. “I’ve been to different clubs, and some of them are very nasty and competitive and almost angry. Our club is more about inclusivity. Anybody can come here and play, even if you’ve never held a racket before.”

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