Table Tennis

Mailing List

I maintain a low-traffic table-tennis mailing list for information on tournaments and clubs, focusing on New England. To be added, send an email to from the email address that you want to subscribe.

Ratings

If your club or organization needs ratings for table tennis (or other sports), join Ratings Central, the world’s most accurate rating system.

Clubs and Coaches

In the United States, the best places to play table tennis are clubs. Clubs generally welcome players of all levels. You don’t need to bring a partner; you can just show up and find other people who want to play. Many clubs also have coaches who give group or individual lessons. Here is a list of clubs and coaches that I know about:

• Clubs and Coaches

If you would like your club or coach to be listed on that page, please the particulars. You can also find clubs and leagues on the USA Table Tennis website. You can search for clubs that use Ratings Central on the Ratings Central Clubs page.

Running Tournaments

Items that may be useful for running a tournament:

• Zermelo is the premiere software application for running table tennis tournaments.
• Fraenkel’s purpose is to make it easy to text individual players to get them to come to the control desk at your tournament or other event. This lets texting replace most uses of a public-address system. Fraenkel is designed to work with Zermelo, but can be used without using Zermelo.
• Handicap Charts, one game to 51, 41, 31, 21, or 11 points, revised 2015-08-02.
• Forms
  • Best-of-Five Match Cards
  • Three-Person Team Match Card, best-of-nine matches.
• Comparison of 11-Point and 21-Point Match Formats
• Giving Byes to Top Seeds Is Unfair

Past Tournaments

Some tournaments that I ran:

• Bay State Games (Massachusetts State Games): 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998.
• Boston Table Tennis Club: August 2005, April 2004, March 2004, January 2004, May 2003, March 2003, January 2003, December 2002, November 2002, September 2002, August 2002, June 2002, May 2002, April 2002, March 2002, February 2002, January 2002, December 2001, October 2001, September 2001, June 2001.
• MIT Millennium+1 Spring Fling Open, MIT, April 14, 2001.
• Fall Still Small Ball Open, MIT, October 21, 2000.
• Karen/Aaron Chang/Chung Double Sendoff Open, MIT, April 1, 2000.
• Ben Hull Memorial Open, MIT, November 21, 1999.
• In The Red Open, MIT, April 25, 1999.
• Beantown Pro Duck Tour, MIT, November 22, 1998.
• Ralph Robinson Memorial Open, MIT, April 18, 1998.
• US Open Team Championship, Detroit, Michigan, November 28–30, 1997.
• Tournaments of Champions, Baltimore, Maryland, June 8–17, 1990.

Some tournaments run by others at MIT:

• 2011 MIT Fall Open, MIT, November 6, 2011.
• 2011 CNASA Cup Team Tournament, Chinese North American Sports Association, MIT, October 1, 2011.
• 2011 MIT Spring Open, MIT, April 24, 2011.
• 2010 MIT Spring Open, MIT, April 3, 2010.

Local Players

• Albert Tam
• Nick Gangi
• Peter Wolf

Bay State Games Hall of Fame

The Bay State Games Hall of Fame was created in 2001 to achieve two major goals. The first was to recognize Bay State Games athletic alumni who have gone onto prestigious and successful collegiate, professional, or Olympic careers, while the second was to recognize former coaches, officials, sports organizers, volunteers, venues, and organizations that have made significant contributions to the Bay State Games throughout its history. This unique format of recognizing athletes as well as individuals and organizations that have played a significant role in the success of the Games has led to an impressive list of Hall of Fame inductees. Each year, nominations for the Hall of Fame are reviewed by a committee which makes the final determination on who is inducted. Nominations can be submitted by anyone. Criteria include years of service, role within the Games, and a host of other factors.

The photo shows the 2007 inductees holding the plaques that they received at the Opening Ceremonies, July 12, 2007. Left to right, they are:

• David Marcus. Table Tennis Director since the inception of table tennis in the Games in 1985.
• Joe Cacciatore. Baseball Officials Coordinator since the inception of Bay State Games baseball.
• Nancy Kerrigan. Participant and gold medal winner in the first ever Bay State Games Figure Skating competition in 1985.
• Bruce McAndrews. Member of the Bay State Winter Games Organizing Committee for over 20 years.