Blazing Paddles The Lane County Table Tennis Club

Etiquette

To help preserve the excellent atmosphere we have surrounding our games, it helps immensely if everyone remains friendly and cordial and abides by the rules.

Ronald Reagan & Jane Wyman - Courtesy Larry Hodges

Some subtle tips to remember are these:

1. It is an honor to play with an accomplished player who has dedicated many years to perfecting his skills.
2. Good players enjoy playing against other good players who can test their skills.
3. It is always best for all when players join up with players of skills comparable to their own.
4. Unless there is only one table, it is best if novice players only attempt to join the better players when invited.
5. We are fortunate that we have multiple tables and the different skill levels can easily find a suitable place to play.
6. Players that have sat out a game are given precedence when forming a new game.
7. When novice and accomplished players do play together in doubles, it is better to have 2 novice players than only one. This way each accomplished player can team up with a novice player and a somewhat fair game can take place.
   
   If, on the other hand, one novice player attempts to play with 3 accomplished players, the game will be an unfair situation and not very competitive. This situation will lack any sense of challenge for the accomplished players and will place undue pressure on the novice player. Therefore, this is the one situation that should be avoided if at all possible.

Some Club Etiquette

Now that the club is expanding, it is good etiquette for each member to consider pitching in and lending a hand wherever possible and not leave the running of the club to an overworked few. Ask how you can help.

A place where everyone can help is the setup and takedown segments of each session.

During setup, the proper etiquette is to:

1. Arrive early enough so that you could help.
2. If you don't know how you can help, ask one of the veterans who will be happy to show you.
3. Do not begin play until all the tables and partitions are in place. It is discourteous to begin play while others are still setting up.

Takedown and put away etiquette is a bit different. When you leave, it is discourteous to leave empty tables for the remaining players to have to put away all by themselves. Look around and see if there is any unused equipment that you could help to put away. If you fold up even one table, it will be a big help to the few tired players who remain.

The club has no paid leaders. It belongs to all of us and its success depends on each of us putting in at least what we are taking out. That is both common sense... and good etiquette.