Welcome to the Phoenixville Table Tennis Club Monthly Update April 2025.

The Greatest of Ches-Mont Championships for 2025 are complete! The champions are:

• Singles: 1st Jasen, 2nd: Abhishek
• Juniors: 1st Aiden, 2nd: Aarav
• Women's: 1st Janel, 2nd Liying, 3rd Carol, 4th Nancy
• Doubles: 1st Tim/Abhishek, 2nd Girish/Jasen

Check out photos here. Records of local and state champions can be found here also.

Upcoming Events:

• USATT League Night is 4/8. (Open play also available)
• Limited space/Code Red days this month: 4/15, 4/16
• Saturday 4/19 - Interclub Tournament VS GPCCC (Rosters are currently set. Open play also available.)
• Saturday 5/3 - Mental Health Day & Kids Tournament (We play in the gym!)
• Battle of the Counties, Minor League Table Tennis, or both are coming soon.

USATT Pennsylvania State Open Championships

USA Table Tennis has expanded their State Championship Series to include open championships as well as closed. Closed means only PA residents may participate. That is held at Manor in Lancaster this year 4/11 and 4/12. 

Phoenixville has the privilege of  holding the open this year July 12th. You can join through Omnipong.com. Space is limited due to time constraints at the recreation center. We MUST be done by 5pm. Therefore, we have opted to hold one spot in each event as a "wildcard". If the event you want to play in is full at Omnipong, you can email me to get on the waiting list. We will hold a separate event for waiting list players with the winner getting that final wildcard spot in the Open. Here is a direct link to the printable registration form.

The USATT State Championship Series awards USATT Ranking points as well as rating points, something new this year to mimic the International Table Tennis Federations World Ranking system.

Outside News & Events

Where do Olympians play after the Olympics? Philadelphia! Come see Major League Table Tennis wrap up their season at Saint Joe's, April 12th and 13th! I know, I know, "Nick, the States are that Saturday!" Fine, but you can go Sunday! The MLTT is a BLAST! And this is the CHAMPIONSHIP! Get your tickets here and use code PHILLYCLUBS to save some money. If you haven't seen MLTT in action, check them out on Youtube. The whole season is on there. You can also catch them on cable via CBS Sportsnet.

• Pottstown has open play at Fit Life Fitness from 6pm-9pm Mondays.
• Royersford has open play from 7pm-9pm at Infinite Loop Table Tennis Club
• Major League Table Tennis is holding their 2025 Championship at St. Joe's 4/12 and 4/13 (USED CODE PHILLYCLUBS to save)
• The Pennsylvania State Closed Championships are 4/11 and 4/12. The events are mostly full, but you can contact them to join a waiting list.

Follow the bouncing ball! We are rolling in events every week from here until mid April! 

• Monday 2/24 - Group coaching for kids 6pm, adults 7:15pm
• Wednesday 2/26 - CLOSED
• Saturday 3/1 - Kids tournament. (No additional charge, starts at 9:30 Sharp!) - Normal open play as well.
• Tuesday 3/4 - USATT League Night. Normal open play as well. (added 2/27)
• Monday 3/10 - NO GROUP COACHING (added 2/27)
• Tuesday 3/11 - Greatest of Ches-Mont Doubles Tournament - Normal open play as well
• Saturday 3/15 - CLOSED
• Tue/Wed 3/18, 3/19 - downsized CODE RED play.
• Sat/Sun 3/22,3/23- Live MLTT action in Lawrenceville, NJ.
• Tuesday 3/25 - Greatest of Ches-Mont Singles Championship 6:30p- Normal open play as well
• Saturday 3/29 - Greatest of Ches-Mont Juniors Championship 9:30a- Normal open play as well
• Tuesday 4/1 - Pick the Hand Tournament! - Normal open play as well. 
• Saturday 4/5 - Greatest of Ches-Mont Ladies Championship 9:30a- Normal open play as well
• Fri/Sat 4/11,4/12 - Pennsylvania Closed State Championships in Lancaster. Register online at Omnipong.com
• Sat/Sun 4/12,4/13 - MLTT Championship Finals in Philadelphia

All this in addition to our regular:

• Group coaching Mondays
• One on one coaching Wednesdays
• Open Play Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays.

February brought us Subodh as our Groundhog Trophy Champion! Girish, Brendan, and James qualified for the Greatest of Ches-Mont Singles Championship. You still have time to report your matches and qualify, but not much! The Doubles, Juniors, and Women's events do not require match wins, you need only satisfy the geographical restrictions.

Our daily, Greatest Ever Doubles Champions and Champ Challenge, contests will soon be joined by the Speedrunners challenge for the fastest doubles team. First to three for a flag photo!

• Saturday 3/1 - Kids tournament. (No additional charge, starts at 9:30 Sharp!) - Normal open play as well.
• Tuesday 3/4 - USATT League Night. Normal open play as well. 
• Monday 3/10 - NO GROUP COACHING 
• Tuesday 3/11 - Greatest of Ches-Mont Doubles Tournament - Normal open play as well
• Saturday 3/15 - CLOSED
• Tue/Wed 3/18, 3/19 - downsized CODE RED play.
• Sat/Sun 3/22,3/23- Live MLTT action in Lawrenceville, NJ.
• Tuesday 3/25 - Greatest of Ches-Mont Singles Championship 6:30p- Normal open play as well
• Saturday 3/29 - Greatest of Ches-Mont Juniors Championship 9:30a- Normal open play as well
• Tuesday 4/1 - Pick the Hand Tournament! - Normal open play as well. 
• Saturday 4/5 - Greatest of Ches-Mont Ladies Championship 9:30a- Normal open play as well
• Fri/Sat 4/11,4/12 - Pennsylvania Closed State Championships in Lancaster. Register online at Omnipong.com
• Sat/Sun 4/12,4/13 - MLTT Championship Finals in Philadelphia
• April TBD - Rahul Kapoor NO PIPS tournament 

If you are looking for coaching take a look here!

Yes! December is over and the daylight begins to grow again!

Looking ahead:

• Mondays are for group coaching! Kids 6pm-7:15 and Adults 7:15pm-8:30. Details.
• Wednesdays are for individual coaching and the open play is by appointment only! There will only be 3 available tables for open play Wednesdays, so we decided to try a booking system so we make sure we don't get too many players out. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and he will send you the link to the weekly booking spreadsheet. UPDATE: no appointment needed for Wed. Open play! Every 3rd Wed, meet in stage room only.
• The Greatest Ever Doubles Table Tennis Tournament U3000 event will be Sat. 1/18/2025!  It's probably full by the time you read this. But you can This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to get on the waiting list.
• The Greatest of Ches-Mont Championships will be held in March! You may begin qualifying in January. Details here and match reporting form here!
• The Groundhog Trophy is back for a fourth time! This year compete for the coveted Groundhog flag in our single elimination tournament 31 point handicap tournament on Tuesday February 4th! Past photos here.

Looking back:

• "Jasen" went to the US Open in Las Vegas and took 3rd place in the U1700 and 2nd place in the U1600! Way to represent!
• At Princeton Pong's monthly tournament, Abi took 2nd place in the U1500 and Nick took 1st place in the U1000, Janel was just 1 game away from facing him in the final, but it was not to be. This time.
• Millersville Bible Church (MBC) Table Tennis Club held their Lob Palace December Open 12/14. Ravi was 1st and Karun 2nd in the U1400. Jameson was 1st in the U2200 and 2nd in the Open. You can watch the videos here!
• The Greatest Ever Doubles Tournament "The Open" was held 12/28. 1st place went to: Jameson & Shata, 2nd place to Steve L and John R (These guys are GOOD! But we only see them once a year!), 3rd place our very famous pairing of Girish and Jasen! Photos here.
• The recurring Greatest Ever Doubles Champions Challenge wrapped up with Girish getting the flag 59 times in 2024, the next closest player was last year's winner Karun with 34. Girish gets to take the 2024 flag home! Photos here.
  

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February Monthly Update time! 

Looking ahead:

• Mondays are for group coaching! Kids 6pm-7:15 and Adults 7:15pm-8:30. Details.
• Wednesdays are for individual coaching and the open play! Every 3rd Wed, meet in stage room only.
• The Greatest of Ches-Mont Championships will be held in March! You may begin qualifying in January. Details here and match reporting form here!
• The Groundhog Trophy is back for a fourth time! This year compete for the coveted Groundhog flag in our single elimination tournament 31 point handicap tournament on Tuesday February 4th! Past photos here.
• We have a new daily challenge. The Champ Challenge. Someone must claim the Champion Sash, then battle to keep it. King of the hill style like the GEDC. You can find the Champ Gallery here!
• You have two chances to catch Major League Table Tennis action in person! March 21st-23rd in New Jersey and the Championship Weekend April 12-13 in Philadelphia. You can also now catch matches on CBS Sports Network as well as their YouTube Channel.
• Fit Life Fitness in Pottstown is working with us to bring some table tennis programs into their facility. We want to try and get a play and pay system similar to Phoenixville going there as well as tournaments and coaching. If you are interested go to the BCM Table Tennis website and join the email list and Facebook group!
• We are planning on holding a kids tournament on Saturday March 8th at 9:30am. 3/1 9:30am.No additional fee to enter. 

Looking back:

• Our Greatest Ever Doubles Champions Tournament U3000 winners are: 1st Place Shata and Jasen, 2nd Place Abi and Karun, 3rd Place Bradley and Jonah. Photos.
• Congrats to Jameson for taking 2nd Place in the Open at the February Howard County Table Tennis Circuit in Maryland!
  

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Winter is here and so is the monthly update!

The month ahead:

• You have only NINE chances to play this month! We have a plethora of closings!
  • CLOSED: WED 12/18, TUES 12/24, WED 12/25, TUE 12/31, WED 1/1.
    
  • 1/4 we are down to 2 rooms, expect CODE RED playing rules.
• Group Coaching with Jameson is BACK! Mondays 12/9 through 1/6!
• Our Greatest Ever Doubles Table Tennis Tournament has been split in two! An eight team open will be on 12/28 during open play on 4 tables. An eight team Under 3000 tournament will be held 1/18/2025.
• There will be no more Wednesday open play after 12/11. Two of our regular spaces are being used by other programs, so we are down to a single room.  We have coaching still on Wednesdays and are looking into a way to have scheduled play/practice/or training on Wednesdays because space will be very limited. More on that when we get closer to January.

The month behind:

The Greatest of Phoenixville have been crowned! Jasen wins in West Chester. Thanks for the birthday cake and gift card! I bought a new Ping Pong Buddy and some balls for the club!

Greetings table tennis fans.

Let's talk about November and December!

• CLUB CLOSED TUESDAY 11/5
• Wednesday coaching openings can be found here. Sign up for coaching here.
• Parking warning Saturday 11/30. The yearly marathon starts at the center.
• Greatest of Phoenixville Championships are Tuesday 11/26 at 7pm. Qualification restrictions apply. Hurry and earn your spot!
• Frank is running an unsanctioned tournament at Infinite Loop Monday December 9th. Details here and Sign up here.
• Third annual Greatest Every Doubles Tournament will be Saturday 12/28. Grab a partner and sign up at Omnipong.com.(No open play that day.) 

Now, let's talk about October! (And a little November.)

• Battle of the Ages wrapped up with Legacy beating Nexgen 35-27! Check out the photo records here.
• Nick and Janel took their travel tables to King of Prussia to supplement their outdoor table for the Grand Opening Celebration for the First Ave Linear Park.
• Princeton Pong has a tournament the first weekend of every month. At October's tournament Suvas took first place winning 6-0 in his giant round robin group and Shata took second place in his.  Abi S. took first place in the U1250. Full October results can be found here. At November's tournament Shata took second in the giant round robin with a 6-1 record. Abi S. went 6-0, losing only 2 games overall to win the U1500 event. James and Suvas tore through the U1250 event to faceoff in the final. James taking 1st and Suvas 2nd. You can check out all the full November results here. Jasen keeps chipping away in Princeton, but no trophies in October or November. However he did pick up some $ at the Glenn Fisher Double Extravaganza at Manor!
• Hong left to return home. Collecting his final GEDC flag photo on 10/29 before departing. Thanks for visiting Hong! Hope to see you again!

That's all I can remember for now. Look for updates in the "This week in table tennis" emails I send out now.

Welcome to fall my friends!

• • Congratulations to Hongzhan and Suvas for their tournament performances in September!
  • Battle of the Ages kicks off in October. But since I seem to be getting sick, it may be delayed. Face off against fellow club members! Team Legacy (born before 1984) vs Team Nexgen (born 1984 and after). Last year Nexgen won the battle!
  • The Greatest of Phoenixville Table Tennis Championship will be held in November. But you must meet the qualification requirements first!
  • Coaching continues Wednesdays. Now with TWO coaches! Details and sign up here. Wednesdays are also open play.  Since this is new, numbers are low, lots of playing time!
  • Fit Life is a new pickleball and fitness club in the Coventry Mall in Pottstown. They have two ping pong tables. Space is tight, but I bet they would let you move the tables a little if the court behind is isn't in use. I took some photos of the tables, flooring, and membership costs. They say 24/7 access, however the courts and ping pong tables are only available during staffed hours. The Check out the photos here.
  • Pong in the Park is on hold for now. Hopefully we can restart it in the Spring.
  • Club is Closed Wed. Oct 16th. We are in the gym Saturday Oct. 19th. Down to two rooms only Oct. 15th.
  • I am sure I am forgetting a thing or two. Keep up with events on our Facebook page and group. The Greatest Ever Doubles Champions are posted there after each session.
    

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September 2024 - New business

• Club is now open WEDNESDAY 6pm-9pm. This is a group effort! Please assist the volunteers to make things move smoothly! Please be safe in working with the tables. If you aren't sure what to do, ask someone!
• Battle of the Ages - I am thinking this will start in October, but we still need to determine the year we use to divide club members. Here is a link to last year's program's details.
• Ping Pong in the Park - We would like permanent outdoor tables installed in Phoenixville. To kick off fundraising and to determine the best locations, Ping Pong in the Park will see us setting up a couple of tables for fun and tournaments around town. Places, dates and times will be announced through social media. Are target audience are the locals. But everyone is welcome to join us!
• Greatest of Phoenixville - The annual Greatest of Phoenixville table tennis championships will be held in November! To qualify for this tournament you need to live, work, or go to school in Phoenixville AND win 6 matches against 6 different individuals at the club from now until the event.  Report you wins here!
• Coaching with state champion Jameson Bernard - Various coaching sessions are available. If interested click here. We are working on opening up more opportunities.

Old business

• Congratulations to Girish and Hwang for their tournament wins at West Chester and Princeton!
• Hwang took first and Varun took second in our first annual Rahul Kapoor NO PIPs Challenge tournament. Rahul gave a very moving speech that ruffled the feathers of some pipsters. Interesting enough, none of the pipsters were willing to pick up different racket to participate. The interventions will continue. If we can save just one pipster that will be a win!
• Girish now leads in Greatest Ever Doubles Champions challenge with 37 wins. Karun is 2nd with 21 and Abi is third with 11. The Infinite Loop club has their own flag and tally system. Remember that the player with the most wins at the end of the year gets to keep the flag. 

Greetings table tennis fans!

• The Olympics have started! I bought a Peacocktv.com membership so I can watch all the action live. Because live really is the best way.  But you can also watch the replays there too. There have been some fantastic matches and it is exciting to see the crowd get so involved. 
• Saturday 8/3 - We have to clear out the stage room at 11:15am. Expect some interruptions in play as we move things around. Also one table will be dedicated to kids coaching from 10:30am - 11:45.
• Tuesday 8/6 - There is a National Night Out event in the parking lot. We still play that night, but parking will be on the street or over at the Franklin Commons.
• Thursdays thru 8/15 - Group coaching with Jameson continues. Jameson is interested in opening Thursdays to open play and one on one coaching. Making this happen is a step by step process. First step, I need to know who is interested. Is that you? Let me know so we can get a group discussion going for step two.
• Tuesday 8/20 - Stage area in use, down to 6-7 tables. (We may no longer use the exercise room. The tables leave marks on the flooring.)
• USATT League - If you already are, or you want to become a member of USA Table Tennis, you can join our league play. Players are divided into groups and play for club rating points. Here are the details. Next league sessions are 8/17 and 8/27.
• Congratulations to Bobby Helm for winning the Greatest of Ches-Mont Junior Championship, to Tiancheng Wang for winning the Blob Trophy Hardbat tournament, to Girish for his trophies at Princeton Pong and West Chester, to Jasen for his wins at West Chester and the National Championships, to Shata and Karun for their wins at the Rec. Room. I am sure I forgot something, it was a very busy July!!!
• Greatest Ever Doubles Champions is now at Infinite Loop on Mondays! Head out there, win some doubles and send me the photos. Remember, the player with the most wins at the end of the year gets to keep the flag!

Hello ping-pongers! It's time for another monthly update!

Here we go with the new business first!

• Coaching Classes for kids and adults with state champion Jameson Bernard continue Mondays 7/8, and 7/15. Details here.
• You have one more chances to qualify, 7/6, for our Blob Trophy Hardbat Tournament on 7/13. Details here.
• Rahul Kapoor's NO Pips Challenge will be announced soon! One tournament, inverted rubber only!
• Sunday July 28th is the FINAL Rec. Room by Conshy Brewing Co. Sign up here!
• There is a push to draw more players out to the Infinite Loop Club that meets Monday nights. I am getting them an Infinite Loop Greatest Doubles Champions flag for you to fight over at that club as well!
• USATT rated league. I want to get this up and running in a couple weeks. You must be a USATT member to participate. I am going to steal West Jersey's website's info for ours, but for now, it is going to look something like this.
• Greatest Ever Doubles Challenge continues! Links here to the rules and the photo gallery.

The old business!

• The USATT Cruzin' Classic tournament went very well. We were able to expand some of the event with the addition of two more tables. We had six events and 33 competitors. You can find photos in our main gallery.
  Results:
  • Open - 1st Jameson Bernard, 2nd Samarth Chythanya
  • U2200 - 1st Samarth Chythanya, 2nd Jameson Bernard
  • U1800 - 1st James Good, 2nd Frank Draves
  • U1500 - 1st Frank Draves, 2nd Varun Khanna
  • U1250 - 1st Varun Khanna, 2nd Girish Chawla
  • U1000 - 1st Janel Flor, 2nd Kishore Raju Sivaramakr
• Battle of the Counties 2024 ended with the Montgomery County Monarchs pulling ahead of the Chester County Cheetahs in the very last matchup! Winning it 162 to 156 overall. The scores and individual stats can be found here. Photos of our champions and matches can be found here. Congratulations. Battle of the Counties returns in 2025 but the Battle of the Ages will begin this fall. 
• Congratulations to James Roth for taking 2nd place in the U1250 at Princeton.
• Congratulations to Abi Stanley and Tim Weaver, members the Dragon Warriors. The Dragon Warriors won the inaugural Minor League Table Tennis championship sponsored by Major League Table Tennis. MiLTT is gearing up for the next season now. While we will not be MiLTT events, you can join Princeton Pong for theirs

• SIGN IN WHEN YOU ARRIVE!
• ADULT AND KID CLASS WITH JAMESON
• CODE RED - READ THE SIGN
• CLUB IS CLOSED SATURDAY 6/22 
• LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERS FOR possible Summer THURSDAYS 
  
• Battle of the Counties continues thru June.
• Lost and Found: ALAN FOUND HIS RACKET 

May in review - VIDEO

Greetings table tennis fans!

1. Battle of the Counties
2. Blob Trophy Hardbat Qualifiers
3. Cruzin' Classic USATT Tournament
4. Ladies Group
5. Anniversary Recap
6. MLTT Finals
7. Moore Park Tournament

1. The Battle of the Counties begins this month and continues each session until the end of June.  This year the Chester County Cheetahs and Montgomery County Monarchs are running a draft style roster. Here is a link to the current roster selections. If you weren't drafted you can still participate.
The teams will play MLTT format, five players per session, four singles matches, one doubles, and one "golden game". More details on the format here.
Arrive by 6:30 pm Tuesdays, and 9:30 am Saturdays to be considered for that session's lineup.  

2. The Blob Trophy Hardbat Tournament is now sanctioned by the International Classic Table Tennis Federation. In May there will be two mini tournaments, May 7th, and May 18th. These are open hardbat events. You can register at Omnipong.com. The winners of each mini tournament qualify to compete in our July Blob Trophy final event. We have hardbats at the club for you to use if you don't already have one. In addition, you will get a rating/ranking from ICTTF and the winner of the Blob Trophy qualifies to play at the ICTTF World Championships! Here is some video of last year's Worlds.

3. The Cruzin' Classic USATT sanctioned tournament will be held at the recreation center on Saturday June 22nd. Most events are full, but people do drop out, so if you want to be on an event's wait list, contact me. There are a couple spots open in the U1000 event as of this time. Sign up at Omnipong.com. 

4. Ladies Group. Janel is organizing the women folk! For detail talk to her at the club or send us an This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.on how you can get into the sorority!

5. Thank you to everyone who was a part of our last 15 years! It has been a pleasure to serve you and bond over such a great sport! Aleem was last man standing on the king of the hill table and was crowned Intercontinental Table Tennis Champion of the World!  

6. The first season of Major League Table Tennis is in the books. 1st Place: Texas Smash, 2nd Place: Princeton Revolution, 3rd Place: Carolina Gold Rush. You can catch every season match and the finals on the MLTT Youtube channel.

7. The third annual Ping Pong in the Park tournament is coming up Tuesday May 14th, 4pm-7pm at the outdoor table in King of Prussia.  You can sign up here. I brought a couple of small tables last year and offered them again. So I am looking for volunteers to keep things going at the club until I can get there!  

Yeee haw! What a month!
Greatest of Ches-Mont championships, virtual karaoke contest, Major League Table Tennis! It's like a whirlwind!

Okay, new business first!

• Group coaching classes continue Mondays through 4/8. $20 a session. Sign up here.
• State Championships are April 5-6th in Lancaster. Go get them club members!
• Blob Trophy Hardbat Championship on July 13th now requires pre-qualification! Monthly trail details are here.
• Sat. 4/13 we are probably in 3 rooms until 11am, then we have to clear out to only one!
• Tue. 4/16 we are only in the back two rooms. Seven tables.
• Tue. 4/23 we are CLOSED because the center is a voting location.
• Sat. 4/27 we will be in the Gym
• Greatest of Ches-Mont Junior Championships have been postponed to the summer. Sign up here.
• USATT tournament in the works for June 22nd.
• Battle of the Counties begins May 4th! Here are last year's results.
• Major League Table Tennis Championships are April 27th & 28th. Watch live on the MLTT Youtube channel.
• Happy 2nd Anniversary at the Rec Center! It is our 15th anniversary as a club! Come out an celebrate with us on April 30th! Details to come!

Old business:

Your 2024 Greatest of Ches-Mont Champions! Singles: 1st Subodh, 2nd Varun. Ladies: 1st Naomi, 2nd Janel, 3rd Lilly, 4th Karen.
Doubles: 1st Nick F/Subodh 2nd: Karun and Abi. Junior event is postponed until the Summer. Our champions page is now updated!

We came in second place in the Health Care Access of Phoenixville's Virtual Karaoke Fundraiser Contest! It was a crazy event. They had a goal of $2500 but they raised over $4200! The final 48 hours was a true battle between first, second, and third. First placed knocked us out with only one minute left on the clock! You can watch all the contestants' videos here.

Ladies Group
Janel is organizing the women folk! For detail talk to her at the club or send us an This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.on how you can get into the sorority!

40?!!
Yes, we had a week there where we had 40 on Tuesday and 39 on Saturday. With tournament announcements and a room being taken away from us a couple of times, that may have calmed things down so we are in the 20s and 30s. Just remember the CODE RED rules when we announce them. You will find wait times are significantly reduced when we go red. Pay attention to who is next! Listen out for "Who wants to play" and jump on it!

It's time for the Greatest of Ches-Mont Championships!

• Tuesday March 5th - Ladies Championship Invitational (Message us if you didn't get an invite!)
• Tuesday March 12th - Singles Championship (must prequalify, see below for details)
• Saturday March 16th - Doubles Championship (Soft date, we may need to reschedule.)
• Saturday March 23rd - Juniors Championship POSTPONED TO SUMMER 

All Greatest of Ches-Mont events are at no additional charge, are single elimination and require the participants to either live, work, or go to school in Chester or Montgomery Counties. In addition, the Singles Championship requires pre-qualification by winning six matches against six different individuals during our normal meetings. Report your matches here. Gallery of participants and past winners can be found here.

State Championships

Will be held April 5th-6th at Manor Church, 530 Central Manor Road, Lancaster, PA 17603. Hosted by the Manor Table Tennis Club.
Enter online at Omnipong.com.

Major League Table Tennis

? Take me out to the ball game! ? I don't know if there will be peanuts or Cracker Jacks, but there will be lively action when MLTT comes to Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. March 15,16,17th. Get you tickets here. Not familiar with MLTT? It's where the "Golden Game" originated from for our Battle of the Ages and Battle of the Counties.  Check out there past events on their Youtube page. Use Promo Code: PRINCETON25 for 25% Off!!

Kids and Adult Coaching 

This form will give you details and let you sign up. The form changes in real time, so keep visiting it for updates. We plan on restarting this month.

Karaoke Charity Fundraiser

If you missed the PongFather singing in person at the club, you are in luck! Here is the video. This video is an entry for Phoenixvilles's Health Care Access Contest. Vote for our video with dollars. Each dollar is a vote for us! Your money goes to helps provide health care services to those in need in the Phoenixville area. If we win, the prize money will go to the club!
Voting begins March 8th!

Groundhog Trophy Champion

Nick Cassell is our Groundhog Trophy Champion for 2024, showing us his is the king of handicap tournaments after winning this and our National Rubber Duck Day event. Check out more his winning smile and more photos here.

Good morning and welcome to the monthly update. 

NEW BUSINESS:

This Saturday: Our third annual Groundhog Trophy Tournament is 2/3 at 9:30am.  There is no extra entry fee, anyone may participate. It will be a handicap rules tournament and single elimination with a trophy and flag awarded to the winner. The handicap rules award starting points to the lower rated players giving them a chance against better players. And it makes every match a challenge for the higher rated players. If you don't have a rating, we will give you an estimated one. Here is our photo album of the past events.

The third Tuesday of each month: The stage area room will be used for monthly meetings for another group. Therefore we will be using only two rooms. That means only 6 tables set up. If the kitchen is free, we can put one in there.  And I was told that if the exercise room is available we can use it for the final two tables. 

The Greatest of Ches-Mont: Are you the best of Chester and Montgomery County area? Our Ches-Mont Championship tournament will be held in March. The open requires you to pre-qualify by winning six matches against six different players at the club between now and the event. You can report your wins here. Follow who has qualified here. Currently up to six players, their digital trading cards are showcased on Facebook and in this gallery.

Local tournaments: Princeton Pong holds a tournament the first weekend every month, you can sign up through Omnipong.com.  The Trolley Car Table Tennis Club and PingPod will be holding a joint tournament Saturday February 10th. You can sign up through events tab, then community, then drop down Philadlephia.... Okay it's complicated. See if you can find it at Pingpod.com. Sorry, I can't provide a direct link.

MLTT: Major League Table Tennis is to table tennis what the NFL and MLB are to football and baseball. We have joined up with their partner program. Their next matches will be Chicago VS Carolina Feb 9th @4pm, Princeton VS Florida @ 7pm. Chicago VS Princeton Feb 10th @4pm, Carolina VS Florida @ 7pm. Princeton VS Carolina Feb 11th @11am, Chicago VS Florida @2pm. These matches are streamed live on the MLTT Youtube channel.  You can also watch previous meetings there as well. Subscribe and add notifications to get pinged whenever they are streaming.
The MLTT is coming to New Jersey March 15th-17th. You can get tickets here.  I have mine already. 

When it rains, it rains money: Our rubber duck handicap system will be used for the Groundhog tournament, but also whenever it is raining, we will pull the ducks out and have a $1 to enter, winner takes all, handicap tournament. 

Time to buy more balls: The balls are starting to run thin again. If you can, donate a dollar or two so we can purchase some more! Please and thank you!

Facebook: If you shy away from the social media but still want to see what is happening with the club. Our Facebook feed is now directly viewable on our website.  So you get all our smiling faces, Greatest Ever Doubles Champion Photos, Monthly Review Videos and Lost and Shame shenanigans, 100% drama free!

Group Coaching: Our final session of group coaching will be Monday 2/5.  There are 2 spots open for the kids program from 6pm - 7pm, and 4 spots for the adult program 7pm-8:30pm. If you want to join, sign up here. The cost will be $20.

OLD BUSINESS:

Nick C. won our National Rubber Duck Day Tournament! Yes that's a real day. This was an impromptu event to test out our duck system rules. See, it pays to pay attention to our emails and Facebook to know when I have a surprise event for you!

Details and match reporting form.

Welcome to the January 2024 Monthly update!

The new business: 

• Jameson Bernard's group coaching will be held Mondays, January 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th, and Feb. 5th.  The kids session is now full, but you can have your child's name placed on the waiting list.  There are now single session spaces in the adult sessions. Sing up at: http://level2199.com/short/single
• The Greatest of Ches-Mont qualifiers begin now! The Ches-Mont singles championship tournament will be held March 12th. To participate you must reside, work, or go to school in Chester or Montgomery Counites and win six matches against six different individuals at the club between now and the tournament. Report your wins here: http://level2199.com/short/matches
• The Groundhog Trophy tournament returns for it's third year in a row. This year it will be held Saturday Feb. 3rd at 9:30am.  This will also be a handicap tournament. Details to follow. Sing up here!
• National Rubber Duck Day is Saturday January 13th.  So to warm up for the Groundhog Trophy, we will hold a test handicap mini tournament that day.  No sign up necessary.

The old business:

• The second annual Greatest Ever Doubles Tournament was held 12/30. Twelve teams competed across three divisions after an initial seeding round. Here are the results:
  • Diamonds Division: 1st Zhongqi Zhang & Ray Wang, 2nd Place Mark Vrabel & Steve Lowry, 3rd Steve & Jimmy Good, 4th John Richards & Frank Roth
  • Hearts Division: 1st Alan Watt & Alex Tse, 2nd Mohammed Rajput & Randy Stoddard
  • Spades Division: 1st Karun Harikrishnan & Abishek Stanley, 2nd Santosh & Keshav Kurup
• Karun won the Greatest Ever Doubles Challenge, which is held every club meeting, 29 times in 2023. He therefore gets to keep the flag! But do not fear, we have a new one that you can fight for over the next 100 some club meetings! Girish is already training, so watch out!
• In Princeton Pong's December tournament, Karun took 1st place in the U1250 and Shata took 2nd in the U1000! Princeton holds a tournament on the first weekend of every month.

Time for the Phoenixville Table Tennis Club Monthly Update!

Schedule notes:
I had announced to the players last Saturday that we would be closed for the next two, that was INCORRECT! 
Sat. 12/2 - Closing early at 11:30 - We are unsure if we will have 9 or 7 tables in play this day. Kids mult-iball will be 11-11:30.
Sat. 12/9 - Only two rooms, 6 or 7 tables.
Sat. 12/30 - Doubles Tournament. No open play this day.
Going forward, kids multi-ball practice will be from 11am to 11:30am Saturdays.

Saturdays are always in flux for us. We are allowed to used the space if nothing else is going on. It is more profitable for the recreation center to rent the rooms for events and if that happens we have to accommodate them.  I appreciate your cooperation with this. I know it can be annoying sometimes!

Our Greatest Ever Doubles Tournament will be held Saturday 12/30 at 9am. Sign up at here or send me a message and I will add you manually.
Details link.

Details: http://level2199.com/short/gedc2023

Greatest of Phoenixville
Congratulations to Subodh for winning the Greatest of Phoenixville Championship, and to Brady and Nick for winning the doubles championship!
Here is a link to the photo album which includes the pre-tournament introduction video. Our Facebook page has a video of the live feed, and it was not a very good video. But it paves the way for our future improvement!


Greatest of Ches-Mont qualification matches will begin January 2nd.  To qualify 1 - Live, work, or go to school in Chester or Montgomery Counties. 2 - Win six matches against six different individuals at the club from January to March. We plan to have an open, women's event, under 18 event and doubles on different days in March.
Report wins here: http://level2199.com/short/gocmmatches

Jameson's group coaching programs will be held Mondays in January, 1/8, 1/15, 1/22, and 1/29.
6pm - 7pm is the kids program.
7pm - 8:30pm is the adult program.
Cost will be $75 for the full four weeks.
Sign up: http://level2199.com/short/jb

Are you ready to volunteer? I have had warning I may need to pick up overtime from mid December thru early January. Should this happen during a club session, you will get the call to help setup and breakdown in my absence!  Everyone is really good at helping out. I appreciate you all!

Nick here with your November 2023 Monthly update!

Some scheduling changes coming up this month: Tuesday November 7th is election day, so we have moved that meeting to Monday November 6th.
Saturday November 18th, we have to close off the stage room after 10:45am, and will be down to 6 tables after that.

Battle of the Ages

We switched from our A,B,C vs X,Y,Z format in September to the MLTT format in October.  Team Legacy was leading up until the second week of October and then Nexgen took the lead and never looked back! Congratulations to the youngsters! Final standings: Nexgen 179, Legacy 144. Photo gallery here!

USATT Innovation and Growth Challenge

I had entered a video for the USATT's 90th Anniversary Innovation and Growth Challenge and WON! With the win I received a plaque, one year pro-membership, and free entry to the US Open.  Since I work at a small business and two of my co-workers are expecting newborns the same weekend as the Open, that is a fine excuse for my not flying out to California. And totally NOT that I dislike flying! But I am grateful for the opportunity! Don't know why Brady got his photo front and center there, maybe it is because I inspire him!

Greatest of Phoenixville

Our 2023 Greatest of Phoenixville Championship will be held Tuesday November 28th. You must qualify for this single elimination event.  To do so, you must live, work, or go to school in Phoenixville and you must report winning six matches against six different individuals at our club meetings during the months of October and November.

Greatest Ever Doubles Tournament

The Greatest Ever Doubles Champions tournament will be held Saturday December 30th at 9:30am. Registration is open through Omnipong.com.

Juniors: Kid and teen players

We have an unofficial program going. On Saturdays,11:30 to 12 Noon, I take any young players and cycle through multi-ball drills with them.  The goal is to give kids attention and drills to help them improve their play. Jameson would like to conduct group training with the more dedicated kids, please contact me if you have a kid interested. Once we have enough kids we can arrange the days, times, and price.

-We have a robot for rent for our regular players.

The long version:
Let's start with upcoming events.

Bye guys! 

Bo and Jimmy are off to college. Study hard fellas! See you soon!

BATTLE OF THE AGES

GREATEST OF PHOENIXVILLE

GREATEST EVER DOUBLES TOURNAMENT

Now for the month of August in review.

USATT 90th ANNIVERSARY TOURNAMENT

The all the time stuff:

GREATEST EVER DOUBLES CHAMPIONS

WATCH OUT FOR SLICK FLOORS! 
When the dew point is high, our floors and tables begin to sweat.  This begins in the furthest most room and so far has been contained there.  Please let everyone know if you feel things getting slippery.  We reconfigure the playing area to avoid that room if it occurs.

ROBOT FOR RENT
We now offer rental of a Newgy Robo-Pong 1040 to our regular members. You can take this robot home with you for $10 per week or $30 per month. You have to supply your own balls.

Blob Trophy 2023 - Our Blobfest inspired hardbat tournament saw 13 players compete. Tim H. was our winner beating Jimmy S. in the final!

Battle of the Counties has come to a close.  Our two month long event saw the Montgomery County Monarchs pulling ahead of the Chester County Cheetahs in the last two weeks and they never looked back. The Berks Bears took third over the Lehigh Lobsters.  Both those teams could only compete sporadically but I appreciate them joining in the fun!

Watch out for slick floors!  The DEW POINT is the bane of our club.  When it gets hot and humid the AC cools down the floors and table tops to the point that a thin layer of water forms over them. Please be careful, and notify others if you notice it starting up.

We will hold a USA Table Tennis sanctioned tournament on Saturday August 19th.
If you have not already signed up please contact me to be placed on the waiting list.  The events have been full for a while but people do drop out. There is no open play that day but you are welcome to spectate or volunteer!  I could use some scorekeepers for the final matches.
Here is our local area guide for those coming from out of town. 

New places to play
Recently I found out about two new places opening. 
Club 28 - 3559 Edgemont St, Philadelphia, PA 19134.  Plays Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. They also offer coaching, which you can book through their website.
Wise Game Club - 1045 Bustleton Pike Unit 7A, Feasterville-Trevose, PA 19053.  Billiards, table tennis, computer gaming.  All the Facebook videos they put out are in Russian. 
Here is a google maps list I have created with all the places to play in our area.

Princeton Pong Tournament Winners 
Jimmy and James took home some hardware in the monthly Princeton Pong tournament.

Tim-nitiative!
Tim W. has some items he would like to discuss. He is keeping a club ratings record, you will find it posted at the club. All you need to do to keep it up to date is send him your wins and losses.
Tim also would like to see about opening the club on Thursday nights.  We wanted to see if a team can be put together to share the responsibilities of setting up, breaking down, turning the money in, etc.  Nick cannot help because he works Thursday nights.  Once we have a group of volunteers, then we will approach the Rec Center with the idea. Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Greetings and Salutations my table tennis friends!

Club Calendar:
Special opening Monday July 3rd, 6pm - 9pm. 
The Rec. Center is CLOSED Tuesday July 4th.
Saturday July 15th 9:30am: Hardbat Mini-tournament

It has been an interesting month! The player count ebbs and flows as the Summer vacation period begins. Our Battle of the Counties event continues on however.  We are at the halfway point and the Chester Cheetahs and Montco Monarchs are in a tight race to win the title. You can still join up here. The event runs through the end of July. Standings can be found here. 

Looking for some tournaments?
Princeton Pong has a monthly event that is usually the first Saturday and Sunday of every month.
There is an Upside Down Giant RR in Middletown on July 15th and 16th.
Go to Omnipong.com to enter or download the event entry forms.

The Colonial Theater hosts the annual BLOBFEST July 15th-16th.  So we decided to hold a 1950s themed event, the Unofficial Blobfest Hardbat Mini-tournament on Saturday July 15th at 9:30am. $3 entry fee (in addition to the regular $5 session fee). We have old school pips out, no sponge rackets that you can use for the event. Best of 3, games to 21, serve switches every 5 points, single elimination.  

Our USATT 90th Anniversary Open is full, but people do drop out from time to time. Contact me if you want to be put on the waiting list.

Congratulations to our players for their finishes at the Princeton Pong June Open!