While not well known on campus, the Oregon table tennis club is making a name for itself among colleges in the Pacific Northwest.
The club has been active on Oregon’s campus for over 25 years and participates in the in the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association as a member of the Northwest Division.
“There are generally 20 to 25 students who sign up at the beginning of the year, but we always have around 15 people during practice time on a regular basis (mostly players) and a few students show up from time to time,” table tennis club member Tina Lien said.
Like most student clubs on campus, table tennis has a president and a treasurer to help balance the workload of setting up for practice, scheduling tournaments, transportation and such.
Not only does the club have a practice facility for its twice-a-week slots, but it also has its own coach: Lee Werthamer. Werthamer is entering his 23rd year of being involved with the club and is seen as one of the clubs’ greatest assets, being very vocal and helping each and every member grow.
The Ducks are one of nine colleges in the Northwest who have had an active club for the past few years.
Oregon currently sits in second place in the Division for the 2014-15 school year, with a 2-1 record, trailing only Oregon State and its perfect 3-0 record.
The club is open to people of all skill levels. Anybody can drop by, see what the club is all about and play a few matches, but there are a number of requirements if a student actually wants to join the club.
“Whether students of UO who have played for 10 years or just picking up the game, are all welcomed,” Lien said. “We encourage anyone who is available to incidental fee-paying students of the University of Oregon –faculty and staff can participate in clubs that do not have intercollegiate eligibility requirements.”
There are three teams associated with the club. The top team is known as the Oregon “A” squad and participates in all of the NCTTA tournaments while the next team is known as the Oregon “B”squad and it participates in some tournaments and matches also. The final team for this school year is a women’s team.
“We always have our tryouts during the beginning of school year, based on round robin and NCTTA rules,” Lien said. “We usually end up having two teams for the men’s team (Team A and Team B), and a co-ed (women’s) team for the female players.”
The club also has an annual “Civil War” match with Oregon State twice a year and is currently in the process of working with other student associations at Oregon to set up intramural tournaments for people on campus only.
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Oregon Table Tennis among best in Northwest
Ryan Kostecka
November 30, 2014
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