WAB Featured Club: Rhode Island Table Tennis Association

(by Steve Hopkins)

The Rhode Island Table Tennis Association is in our 70th year of continuous operation – dating back to the club reopening after World War II.

The club was a regular stop for regional players and pros for a generation with appearances from Dick Miles and Marty Reisman and Bernie Bukiet and later from more recent legends like David Sakai and George Braithwaite.  We were home to USATT Hall of Famer Dick Evans, were host for nearly a decade to USATT Magazine and one of the most interesting features of the club is the League – which has been running using the same basic rules since the 1940s.

Over the years, the club has had three locations (Providence, then Warwick, and now Manville). The Rhode Island Club has seen some updates, we’re now a We Are Butterfly club with great tables and lighting and wood floors. But our rich history continues.  Come visit us and share in that history.

2018 has been a great year with our third sanctioned tournament scheduled next weekend, the RITTA WINTER OPEN, scheduled for November 4th and our State Championship event scheduled for Monday, November 5th.  Other 2018 events have included the Rhode Island Senior Games, the Rhode Island Junior and Rhode Island High School Championships, and a Music Video (for a rap artist that will remain unnamed but you’ll recognize us when that video is released).   

The Rhode Island Table Tennis Hall of Fame has announced our next class of inductees which this year will include: Joe Polselli (who ran the club for many years in the post-War era), Marta Zurowski Lachcik (who is the only female to win the RI State Championship, and she did so twice), and Steve Hopkins (who won five State Titles and continues to be known as a writer and promoter of the sport).  You can learn more about our Hall of Fame here.

For more about the Rhode Island Table Tennis Association and our club hours, visit the RITTA WAB page.