HHS Students Create Ping Pong Club
It may lack official status, but a student created “club” at Huntington High School has attracted plenty of interest for teenagers interested in playing ping pong.
It has no faculty advisor or funding, but students say their new group has paved the way for after school fun. Even teachers and administrators have tried their hand at the sport.
“The club has kind of a complicated origin,” junior Jacob Strieb explained. “Some current seniors tried to start the club, but it was never officially recognized and as far as I know there wasn’t room in the budget for them to be granted an advisor so the ‘club’ is much more of a group. My friends and I went to the first meeting all prepared to play, but it turned out to be just an interest meeting. So we found the tables that had been stored in the basement for years, fixed them in the wood shop, built some makeshift nets and started playing anyway.”
Some of the original group members have disappeared, but other members still meet regularly, although no fixed schedule is followed. There is some degree of confusion as to who gets credit for founding the club since most of the original folks weren’t able to actually pull it off, although they had the idea and many good intentions. Matthew McBride, Brian Weigold, Cody Bograd, Sam Prizzi and Mr. Strieb are given a large share of the credit for getting the initiative off the ground and they consider themselves to be the ping pong club’s founders. (Mr. McBride and Jack Blakley and some of their fellow seniors helped organize the original interest meeting.)
“We’ve played games against almost all of the building administration and many, many teachers and with two tables in the hallway outside of Mr. [Robert] Gilmor’s office, we usually attract a crowd,” Mr. Strieb said. “Security guard Walter Wilson is also a frequent visitor and makes sure to show us how it’s done.”
Freshmen Teddy Holly and Christiana DeLuca, sophomore Chris Chang and juniors Magenta Lopez and Kelsey Miller also played key roles in the formation of the club as a viable group. “That being said, there are a lot more people who regularly attend and whoever brings a paddle is welcome to a pickup game or challenge match,” Mr. Strieb said.
The club tends to meet on Mondays, although it has set up tables on Thursdays and Fridays, too, if group availability and sentiment demands it. “We basically aren’t really a club, but just a group of people who love the game and want to enjoy it with friends, teachers and anyone who passes by,” Mr. Strieb said.
The club has rolled with the punches along the way. “There were originally supposed to be more tables sent over from Jack Abrams STEM Magnet School, but we were never able to make that happen,” Mr. Strieb said.
On the days the club meets, members wait for the hallways to clear and then wheel the tables out from near the gym area. If the gym itself is available, the tables are set-up there.
“The ping pong club is an exciting after school activity where anyone can grab a paddle and play,” junior Charles Ehrman said. The group is always welcoming to new members.
Despite its unofficial status, students come “simply because of the allure of ping pong,” Mr. Strieb said. Students have shown a healthy degree of initiative in pursuit of making the group a functioning entity and one with staying power.
There are about 30 regular ping pong players. “Everyone always has a great time when we meet and we plan to keep it going in the future,” Mr. Weigold said.