UW-Madison students bring pingpong back to the table

Growing up in China meant University of Wisconsin–Madison sophomore Richard Qian didn’t rush to play four-square or trade pogs during recess, but instead dashed to the blacktop to play the world’s second most popular sport: table tennis.

"Table tennis in China is like kickball in the U.S.," Qian explains. "During class breaks, students would rush out to the tables outside and play challenge matches with their friends to stay on the table."

When Qian moved at age 12 to Brookfield, Wis., he took his two years of professional training and passion for table tennis to his new city. In high school, he started Brookfield Central High’s first table tennis club with friend Brian Hibler.

Last year, as a freshmen at UW–Madison, the high school friends found a third table-tennis enthusiast, Andrew Knips, and turned their small group of table tennis fans into a student organization.

Now, on Saturday, Feb. 16, the team will travel to Milwaukee to defend its Midwest regional division champion title. The overall winning team in the combined fall and spring regional tournaments will then go to a national tournament in spring. Last year, the UW–Madison team dominated the Midwest in the regional tournaments, and took sixth place at nationals in Columbus, Ohio. There are currently 108 schools in the nation, in 16 divisions affiliated with the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association (NCTTA).

"We were the only team in our first year as an NCTTA member that was ranked in the top 25," says UW–Madison junior and team co-founder Knips. "We beat the number three team in the country, which was a pretty big deal for us because the top two teams have been around for awhile and they recruit players from all over."

In the past year and a half, the UW-Madison Table Tennis Club has gone from being a 20-member student organization to a top-ranked almost 100-member official club sport. The team has also added a women’s team that won the Midwest regional tournament last semester.

Recently, the UW–Madison club sport has also been signed by Killerspin — a professional table tennis and ping-pong company. Killerspin sponsors table tennis events and teams around the country. The sponsorship is huge for a team that previously tried to scrap together money to rent a few tables in the basement of Union South.

The team practices Monday and Wednesday night from 8-10 p.m. at Union South. The first hour and a half is training, which is done by the club leaders, and the last half an hour is time for play.