Blazing Paddles The Lane County Table Tennis Club

"The First Game" - Courtesy Larry Hodges

* * Click HERE for "The Origins of Ping Pong" * *

Recent Club History - by Robert "Bj" Jacobucci

It was a most fortunate time for me when I discovered the group in May of 2005. At that time there were about 6 regular players... and I immediately made 7!

We were playing at the old Memorial Bldg in Springfield right across from the Post Office. We had a single table which was sufficient for that size group. The players that were there when I arrived were Harry Ehrmantrout, Tom Mitchell, Dave Combs, Bob Foster, Jean Rubel, and Larry Arnold. Since then, only Jean has dropped out.

After a year of fun, we were informed in the spring of '06 that the Memorial Building was being taken over by the Springfield School District... and that we could no longer play there! We immediately began to search for where else we might play. The Willamalane Adult Center learned of our plight and offered us some limited time. We started out with 2 days a week but shortly thereafter our relationship grew and our playing times built up to where they are now.

Willamalane has a big room that we now get to use most of the time. Since this room accommodates 4 tables, it did not take us long to acquire 3 additional tables to fill the room. In addition, Willamalane has 2 small rooms each big enough for a single table that we can sometimes use. We have now acquired extra tables for these rooms too! Now, with 6 tables and a membership of over 80, we have become the bustling vortex of energy that enlivens the adult center.

To add to the excitement, we have recently added a new location, the Regional Sports Center at 32nd and Main in Springfield. This location offers practically unlimited amounts of the crucial ingredient... SPACE! We have quickly gone from 1 to 8 tables (plus a robot) here and are looking to add more!

Even we are amazed at what we have become. And, it only keeps getting better!

So come join us and you too can become part of the excitement!

The Clubs Origins

As our oldest and longest term member, Harry Ehrmantrout, has related to me, the club originated in 1992. He recalls that the Willamalane Center had posted a flyer for anyone interested in a night of ping pong. Harry said that about 6 people showed up that night and that the group kept meeting. Some came and some went. Only Harry remained as the steady fixture! It wasn't until 1994 that Tom Mitchell, our 2nd longest term member, joined that group.

Eventually, the group moved to the Memorial Building at 8th and "A" St in Springfield. It was there that Dave Combs, Larry Arnold, Bob Foster along with Jean Rubel would join. These current members were the core group that were still there when I came on the scene in 2005. That was when the earlier section marked "Recent History" (top of this page) began.

The Origin and History of Ping Pong

The game originated as a sport in Britain during the 1800s, where it was played among the upper-class as an after dinner entertainment activity, commonly known then as "wiff-waff". A row of books were to be stood up along the center of the table as a net, two more books served as rackets and were used to continuously hit a golf-ball from one end of the table to the other. Later, table tennis was played with paddles made of cigar box lids and balls made of champagne corks.

Eventually, table tennis evolved into the modern game in Europe and the United States. The popularity of the game led game manufacturers to sell the equipment commercially. Early rackets were often pieces of parchment stretched upon a frame, and the sound generated in play gave the game its first nicknames of "wiff-waff" and "Ping-pong". A number of sources indicate that the game was first brought to the attention of Hamley's of Regent Street under the name "Gossima". The name "ping-pong" was in wide use before British manufacturer J. Jaques & Son Ltd trademarked it in 1901. The name "Ping-Pong" then came to be used for the game played by the rather expensive Jaquesses equipment, with other manufacturers calling theirs table tennis. A similar situation arose in the United States, where Jaques sold the rights to the "Ping-Pong" name to Parker Brothers.

The next major innovation was by James Gibb, a British enthusiast of table tennis, who discovered novelty celluloid balls on a trip to the US in 1901 and found them to be ideal for the game. This was followed by E. C. Goode who in 1901 invented the modern version of the racket by fixing a sheet of pimpled, or stippled, rubber to the wooden blade. Table tennis was growing in popularity by 1901 when table tennis tournaments were being organized, books on table tennis were being written, and an unofficial world championship was held in 1902. During the early 20th century the game was banned in Russia due to a belief that was held by the rulers at the time that playing the game had an adverse effect on players' eyesight. In 1921, the Table Tennis Association was founded in Britain, and the International Table Tennis Federation followed in 1926. London hosted the first official World Championships in 1926. Table tennis was introduced as an Olympic sport at the Olympics in 1988.

In the 1950s rackets that used a rubber sheet combined with an underlying sponge layer changed the game dramatically, introducing greater spin and speed. These were introduced to Britain by the sports goods manufacturers S.W. Hancock Ltd. The use of speed glue increased the spin and speed even further, resulting in changes to the equipment to "slow the game down".

Toward the end of 2000, the International Table Tennis Federation instituted several rules changes aimed at making table tennis more viable as a televised spectator sport. First, the older 38 mm balls were officially replaced by 40 mm balls. This increased the ball's air resistance and effectively slowed down the game. By that time, players had begun increasing the thickness of the fast sponge layer on their rackets, which made the game excessively fast, and difficult to watch on television. Secondly, the ITTF changed from a 21-point to an 11-point scoring system. This was intended to make games more fast-paced and exciting. The ITTF also changed the rules on service to prevent a player from hiding the ball during service, in order to increase the average length of rallies and to reduce the server's advantage.

Variants of the sport have recently emerged. "Large-ball" table tennis uses a 44 mm ball which slows down the game significantly. This has seen some acceptance by players who have a hard time with the extreme spins and speeds of the 40 mm game.

There is a move towards reviving the table tennis game that existed prior to the introduction of sponge rubber. Classic table tennis like Liha or "hardbat" table tennis players reject the speed and spin of reversed sponge rubber, preferring the 1940 - 60s play style, with no-sponge, short-pimpled rubber equipment, when defense is less difficult by decreasing the speed and eliminating any meaningful magnus effect of spin. Because hardbat killer shots are almost impossible to hit against a skilled player, hardbat matches focus on the strategic side of table tennis, requiring skillful maneuvering of the opponent before an attack can be successful.