Ping Pong, or table tennis, is a fairly simple game that most people have tried at least once. The game is perfect for spending a sunny afternoon playing against friends, trying to see who is the most agile and accurate. Although many people have played table tennis before, most people probably don’t play regularly. However, this doesn’t have to be the case. The CWU Table Tennis Club has recently been created and is looking for new members.

The Table Tennis Club was created at the beginning of spring quarter this year. Adam Sahrblom a senior in the information technology and administrative management (ITAM) program, is the club president. Sahrblom used to play for a table tennis club in Yakima and created the Table Tennis Club at CWU out of necessity.

“We didn’t have anything here, so we thought we should start something up,” Sahrblom said.

The club has access to six tables, as well as an entire gym. This means that 12 people can play singles or 24 people can play doubles. Currently, there are about five members in the club, so there is plenty of room for newcomers.

The Table Tennis Club is open to all students who wish to try out the sport, regardless of skill or experience. New members are encouraged to join and learn how to play or to simply have fun. The game can either be played casually while chatting with a friend, or intense fast paced and competitive.

“It’s a fun little game to play and it’s not that hard to pick up, honestly,” said Francisco Graciani, a sophomore clinical physiology major and the vice president of the Table Tennis Club.

The long term goal of the club is to eventually compete in the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association (NCTTA). The NCTTA has a northwest regional division where teams play against other table tennis teams from different schools in their region. Right now, there are not many schools from the northwest region that compete in the NCTTA.

“I think from Washington, typically UW shows up, Seattle University and that’s about it,” said Sooie-Hoe Loke, a mathematics professor and faculty advisor for the Table Tennis Club. “Two schools from Washington and only a few from Oregon.”

Loke competed in the NCTTA for four years while he was attending Oregon State University (OSU). While at OSU, Loke’s team won the northwest championship for both 2013 and 2014. Loke recognizes that table tennis is not a very popular sport, but he hopes that in the future, more schools from the northwest region, CWU included, will compete in the NCTTA.

Students who are interested in the Table Tennis Club can stop by any practice to sign up or find the club’s posters around campus. According to Sahrblom, the club has been advertising on the Central Today page on the CWU website.

“[Table tennis] is fun, come play,” said Graciani. “Nothing bad can come from it, you won’t get injured.”