Sponsored by Mecano Sports, presented by Caliente.mx, sanctioned by ICTTF

(by Larry Hodges)

Mike loves playing sandpaper table tennis. In fact, he’s off to the Philippines in two weeks to play in a “Liha” sandpaper tournament, just for fun. But it’s as an administrator that he would have a world-class rating. He was on the board of directors for USA Table Tennis for eight years, including two as chair. He was also on the ITTF board of directors and on the advisory board for the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association. He’s also the founder of the Cary Cup TTA and Cary Cup tournament in North Carolina, his home state. Outside of table tennis, he’s got a PhD in Environmental Engineering.

But now his focus is on classic table tennis – hardbat, sandpaper (his favorite), and plain wood. And so his latest title is the USA Representative on the International Classic Table Tennis Federation (ICTTF). He attended the inaugural meeting of ICTTF the day before the Ping Pong World Cup here in Mexico City and is also competing in the tournament. (“If only I hadn’t started so slowly I might have won that match!” he said after his first sandpaper match, the same type of lament you hear in all forms of table tennis/ping pong.)

He is the Founder and Chair of the US Classic Association (USCA). Unlike others in classic ping pong or table tennis, Mike never uses the terms “ping pong” or “table tennis.” Ping Pong is a trademark and doesn’t want to get into hassles over that. And by not using the term table tennis, he avoids conflicts with USA Table Tennis over governance issues.

USCA will have two divisions:

• Elite Division – roughly over 1100 level in US ratings. Yes, a low threshold. This division will play by the rules of ICTTF.
• Classic Division – recreational players, or as he calls them, classic players. This is the division that Mike is most excited about.

The primary goal for the Classic Division is to reach the 20 million recreational players in the US, i.e. the huge number of “basement” players – who play not only in basements, but in recreation centers, schools, churches, and anywhere else there’s a table. These are the players that USA Table Tennis has never really gone after with any success. They are not sponge players looping back and forth; instead, huge numbers of them use hardbat or sandpaper, the cheap paddles you can buy in any sports store. Mike has plans for going after these players and will go public with them soon with a PowerPoint presentation. There will be differences in the rules, such as games to 21 and each serving five times in a row, as it used to be in “regular” table tennis. He also plans to use every racket color except black and red! “I want to ensure there is no conflict with USA Table Tennis,” he said, and so is making sure there are distinct differences. However, the key issue is getting at those 20 million players – and if Mike is 1% successful at that, that’s 200,000. Not a bad start.

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