Rick, Table Tennis King (for now)

For a year and a half, I have been going to the South Bend Table Tennis club on Thursday nights where they have a round robin tournament. I played for years and years growing up but took about a 20 year hiatus from playing regularly and have now gotten back into the swing of things.

This is really a fun club. Only for the serious player. It is run by Dan Seemiller, a former U.S. champion and coach of the 2000 U.S. Olympic team. There are some really, really good players that come out. One of them is Mark Hazinski, who was on our Olympic team in Athens in 2004. Another is AJ Brewer, who is one of the top junior players in the nation (he is I think, 10 or 11). Dan Seemiller has a son (Dan, Jr.) who is also very good.

You play against other guys within your own ranking. So no, I'll never play Mark. For a year, I've always basically stayed on the lowest table. I'll sometimes win and get to move up, but then quickly move back down. I've been doing this up and down thing for well over a year. Just can't seem to take it to the next level. So, I was getting kind of discouraged and hadn't been to the club for a couple months.

Well, something clicked last night. I was placed in a higher group this time because there were a lot of first timers there. I went up against guys that all had higher rankings than me. The first guy I played I had no business beating, but did, 3-0. The next one went down, 3-0. Then another one 3-2. Then another, 3-0. I am not sure what happened. One of the guys I beat commented that I must have been playing a lot lately since I was doing so well. Truth is, I hadn't been. I just got in the groove and was suddenly unstoppable.

What this means is the next time the club meets, I'll get to move up to Table 2, which is one step away from where the Olympic players compete. I'll get massacred, but it'll be fun. The unfortunate thing is, it'll be 2 or 3 months before this happens because the club takes a break during the summer.

So, I'll have to wait to continue my quest for glory. Although, maybe this is a good time to hang it up and go out on a high note. So, yes, maybe I'll announce my retirement. Look on ESPN 2 or maybe your local public access channel and see if they cover the live press conference.