ping pong table: Kaczka: Table Tennis bouncing back in Knoxville

By LISETTE KACZKE, kaczka@knews.com
April 30, 2006

The temperatures this past week - along with a phone call from John Rose of Knoxville Table Tennis Club - really brought back some cool memories from my childhood in southeast Virginia.
You see spring was the time of year when we neighborhood kids would gravitate toward Debbi and Denny's house. Actually, it was their garage because that's where the ping-pong table was set up. We'd throw open the garage door and hold ping pong tournaments. We played singles, we played doubles and we played alldaylong. And we'd get into trouble for ignoring our calls to dinner.

During my conversation with Rose, I discovered there's an organization here in Knoxville that caters to ping pong players. I also learned that it's not cool to call it ping pong anymore. Apparently, table tennis is the preferred term.

Whatever.

I just think it's fascinating that "grown ups" get together each Tuesday and Thursday evening at the Phyllis Wheatley YWCA on Cruze Street to play the game I loved so much as a youngster.

The KTTC really stepped it up last Saturday when its members conducted a nationally sanctioned table tennis tournament. The event, held in conjunction with the Dogwood Arts Festival, attracted 45 players from Georgia, Kansas, New York and Tennessee. The tournament committee distributed 15 trophies over five divisions of play, and handed checks to the top three places in the championship division.

Didi DeSouza of Atlanta defeated Knoxville's Meng Lien to claim the championship division. In the third place match, Richard Sanders of the Newgy Table Tennis Club in Gallatin defeated Jude Lam of Knoxville.

Other KTTC players turning in worthy performances were Kathy McMillin, who won the "D" division; Alan Ola, who finished second in the "C" division; and Jay Sirasankaran, who won his way into the championship division.

During the inaugural tournament, a recognition plaque was presented to Joseph Newgarden, player and owner of the Newgy Table Tennis Company in Gallatin. According to Rose, Newgarden's contributions include many years as a player, tournament sponsor and supporter of promising table tennis players. He's also promoted the sport in schools, and improved player skills through distribution of his invention, the Robo-Pong, which is similar in function to a baseball batting machine. Newgarden also was awarded a KTTC lifetime membership and the Dogwood Arts Tournament will be renamed the Joseph Newgarden Dogwood Arts Festival Tournament.

For information about KTTC, contact Dwain Kitchel at 865-584-5395, 865-584-5235, dwainkitchel@tvp1.com or Bill Neely at 865-577-8668 and ntexasred@cs.com.


Taco Toppings: Knoxville Disc Golf club president, Kevin Young announced the organization plans to host its first Professional Disc Golf Association sanctioned tournament May 27 at Victor Ashe Park. Prior to the event, some Home Depot employees plan to pitch in a little volunteer work at the course. On May 21, they'll put in some plants and install trashcans around the course. Check out the club's Web site at www.knoxvillediscgolf.org for tournament updates.

or those of you who aren't familiar with disc golf, let me clarify the bold note reference to "taco" - it's a term used to describe a warped disc that has hit a tree or other solid object at high velocity.


Flip-Flop: Eight gymnasts, representing three area training centers, have competed through regional championship meets and are national championship qualifiers.

Jessica Martin, a Level 9 gymnast and the only female of the group, competed in the USA Gymnastics Eastern National Championships in Hendersonville last weekend. She received a silver medal on vault and finished 23rd in the all-around. Aleskandr and Natasha Gridnev of the Premier West facility are Jessica's coaches.

The following gymnasts will compete in the USA Men's Junior Olympic National Championships in Battle Creek, Mich., starting Thursday:


From Premier North and coached by Phil Savage - Level 10s Brandt Gomez, Ryan McGranaghan, Timothy Michaels, Jacob Swift; Level 9s Justin Reynolds and Cale Robinson.

Level 10 gymnast Riley Kerr coached by Vlad and Elena Koloskov of Tataru's.

In The Scrum: The University of Tennessee Men's Rugby Club traveled to West Point, N.Y., last weekend to play in the USA Rugby National Championship Tournament at the United States Military Academy.

In the first round of the tournament's Sweet Sixteen, UT was upended by Utah, 40-19. In the second half, the Utes scored three tries in a span of 10 minutes to clinch the win. The loss sent UT to the consolation bracket where the Vols rebounded to defeat Colorado, 21-10.

Complete lineups and scoring summaries are available at www.tennesseerugby.org.


Between The Posts: After winning their division championship at the adidas Women's Invitational in Brentwood, the Knoxville Football Club's under-10 girls Outlaws Blue team received No. 1 spring rankings across the board in the state, region and nation by the Soccer in College Internet ranking service. The team is coached by Fil Leander, and assisted by Walt Zibas, Kelly Webb and Scott Wall.

Other KFC teams receiving a No. 1 ranking in the state were the U13 girls Velocity Premier, U17 girls Force and U15 boys Liverpool team. Overall, 14 KFC teams were ranked in top-10 spots in their respective age groups within the state.

KFC, the largest competitive soccer club in East Tennessee, has 39 competitive teams for boys and girls, ages 9-17, as well as an academy program for ages 5-8.

Lisette Kaczka covers recreation sports. She may be reached at kaczka@knews.com or 865-342-6275.

Copyright 2006, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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