Ping Pong In NYC
PPinVan checks out the TT scene in Manhattan
For two weeks in September, your’s truly, PPinVan’s editor-in-chief, visited NYC and way up there on my to-do list was checking out the private and public table tennis scene in Manhattan, the borough at the heart of New York city. New York is composed of five boroughs – Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island. The city is home to 8.4 million people who speak more than 200 languages and hail from every corner of the globe. I figured that Manhattan must have a few long established table tennis clubs; and with its numerous parks, the city had to be filled with public table tennis infrastructure. Here’s my report.
Private Table Tennis Clubs in Manhattan
The New York borough of Manhattan is home to some of the highest real estate prices in the world. That explains the dearth of traditional dedicated table tennis clubs. It’s much like Vancouver where astronomical real estate prices mean no full-time, dedicated table tennis clubs. You have to head to Brooklyn, Long Island or Queens before you arrive at a traditional table tennis club hopping with players and open all day. Here’s what I found out about the private table tennis scene in Manhattan.
1. Wang Chen Table Tennis Club
I was hoping to find at least one long-established table tennis club in Manhattan despite what must be prohibitively expensive rents. After a quick Google search, I scored big. Located at 250 West 100th Street in the Upper West Side is the Wang Chen Table Tennis Club. Named after a top-ranked US table tennis star, the building is owned by Jerry Wartski, a successful realtor and table tennis fan. The club was closed when we visited shortly before noon mid-week. But we did find out that the 7-table club had been around for years and the clientele, mostly residents from the Upper West Side, did occasionally include celebrities like Keanu Reeves and John McEnroe. Like most successful table tennis clubs, the Wang Chen TT Club has a strong kids program. Programs for children and youth are essential for building the sport of table tennis in general and a wise investment that produces future club members.
2. SPIN Flatiron NYC
On the other end of the private table tennis club spectrum are the SPIN Bars, hi-end drinking establishments with shuffleboard and darts replaced by table tennis tables. These bars are expensive, trendy and no place for a real game of table tennis, but I ducked in around 9pm at the Spin Flatiron for just a moment to say I visited. The air was stuffy, the music was overwhelming, people were drunk. Good-bye Spin Bar! By the way, you can play for days at Wang Chen’s club for the cost of an hour at Spin Bar. There is a second Spin Bar in mid-town Manhattan as well.
3. PingPod
Somewhere between a traditional table tennis club and a bar with table tennis is the concept of the PingPod. PingPod is a fully automated table tennis space, open 24/7. According to the website: you can reserve tables, take lessons, attend a class, throw a party, join a league, and more. When I visited the location on Allen Street, the doors were locked and there was no one around. This is normal. You do everything online except play. Once you’ve booked, a door code is sent to your email address. Punch in the code and you and friends have a table tennis table and some room to play. The concept works. There are 9 PingPods in the NYC area alone. Table rates range from $20 to $50 per hour depending on time and table type. Tables can be booked in half hour increments and all reservations include high quality paddles and balls.
Public Table Tennis in Manhattan
Manhattan is well known for the myriad parks large and small dotting the city. Check out any map and the borough is filled with green spaces. But how many of these parks have table tennis tables? And how many tables exist outside of parks like on plazas or in front of office buildings? Here’s what I found out.
1. The Tables at Bryant Park
Bryant Park is a 9.6-acre public park with a vast lawn located between Fifth Avenue and Avenue of the Americas and between 40th and 42nd Streets in Midtown Manhattan. The two table tennis tables located along the shady periphery of the park have become the best known public tables in the US following the release in 2017 of the National Geographic documentary on the community that formed around the table tennis tables. A couple of the players cameoed in “The Tables” were there the day I visited. The rules of engagement are simple. An attendant takes your name. When your name is called, you’ve got around 20 minutes to show your stuff. Arriving without a partner, I was assigned to play one of the regulars. Most regular players have their own racquets. I had left my racquet (Butterfly Timo Boll ALC with Dignics 05 Max) back at the hotel and was handed one of the house racquets. At first glance, it looked okay but the rubber was super dead and did not grip the ball at all. I struggled to keep the ball in play for the first few minutes until I got the hang of how to hit with a dead racquet. After that, I had a great 15 minutes of jumping around and occasionally making a mad hit or two. “Table one? change!”, the attendant yelled. My session was over too soon and I had places to go. I hoped to return to the tables at Bryant Park before flying back to Vancouver but that did not happen. Until my next visit, the Tables at Bryant Park will remain the beating heart of public table tennis in NYC.
2. Brooklyn Bridge Park Tables
The waterfront surrounding the Brooklyn side of the Brooklyn Bridge is home to numerous parks and pathways, including vast undercover areas where you’ll find pickleball and tennis courts, circuit weight training equipment, basketball courts, handball courts, picnic tables, and seating. There are three table tennis tables here but sadly, it is the only sport or activity that is NOT undercover. Ouch. In the coolest playground in arguably the most progressive city in the world, table tennis is publicly presented as a past-time and not sport. Park planners here in Brooklyn do not seem to give the sport the attention it deserves. In the words of Fran Lebowitz, pretend it’s a sport. With that in mind, start by placing the table tennis tables undercover with all the other activities. Table tennis is not played in the rain! Likewise, climate change means playing sports outside in the sun in mid-summer is hazardous. Here at Brooklyn Bridge Park, players of all other sports benefit from the shade of the vast undercover area, while table tennis players are left to wilt in the sun. Please change this, Brooklyn!
3. Other outdoor table tennis tables
A true measure of a ping pong-friendly city is its number of public outdoor table tennis courts. Back here in the lower mainland, Burnaby is THE ping pong friendly city with more than one dozen tables in several dedicated courts, and sets the benchmark for a municipality serious about creating safe, dedicated table tennis spaces. Manhattan pales by comparison to Burnaby but is far better than Vancouver, with only one table tennis table located in a park. In Manhattan most of the few public ping pong tables I could find are managed by the borough and located in parks. With the vast number of parks in Manhattan alone, I expect there are more tables but could not find any more in Google searches. In Vancouver most of the public ping pong tables are installed and managed by private agencies like developers, and are not installed in parks by the city.
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TT4Ever for Everyone, Everywhere
Who says kids are self-absorbed with their heads buried in social media? Not the kids who make up TT4Ever, a non-profit dedicated to promoting access to table tennis for everyone, for ever. The Ontario-based table tennis advocacy group led by table tennis star and university student Kevin Guo, sprang into being last year. It’s made up of young people like Kevin who have a strong belief in table tennis as a sport that unites people, helps people heal, and extends the boundaries open to people with physical limitations. TT4EVER and the North Shore Table Tennis Club held an exciting fundraising tournament on September 9 drawing excellent local talent and visiting players from Japan and Ukraine.
Paul’s Table Tennis Academy
Richmond’s Paul Qi is one of Canada’s top table tennis players and he’s recently opened a small venue specializing in one-on-one coaching. At Paul’s Table Tennis Training Academy at the River Club (near No. 5 Road and Steveston Highway) he shares his deep knowledge of the sport with players of all levels eager to improve their game. Equipped with my shoes and racquet, I dropped by on August 17th to meet Paul, check out his new training academy, hit a few balls, and maybe pick up a few pointers.
Coquitlam Municipal Hall Tables
We started out listing and evaluating places to play ping pong in Vancouver but since the city has so few places to play, we’ve moved on to adjacent municipalities like Burnaby, New Westminster and now Coquitlam. Over the Canada Day weekend, we dropped by the lower mainland’s latest outdoor public table tennis court, Coquitlam Municipal Hall Tables. Nice! There are two aggregate stone table tennis tables by Sanderson Concrete, the go-to table when you want the installation to last 50 years, set towards the edge of a large plaza that by design, invites people to stay awhile.
Outdoor Table Tennis: Vancouver Vs. Burnaby
We are two years into our mandate to promote and support the development of outdoor table tennis courts in Vancouver parks so it’s time to briefly report on what has NOT happened in the past 24 months. We’ve concluded that Vancouver is really not into providing safe, standardized table tennis courts in parks around the city and things are not likely to change anytime soon. While adjacent municipalities are blazing ahead with outdoor table tennis courts, Vancouver park planners don’t seem to get it at all.
Cosports Table Tennis Club
When Raymond Li’s Cosports multi-sport complex opened its doors for the first time in 2022, it instantly became the best table tennis venue in the province, and for good reasons. In addition to badminton courts, Cosports boasts 10+ table tennis courts under bright lights in a large gym with IFFT-approved flooring designed specifically for table tennis. The equipment is top-notch, the courts are spacious, and there are changing rooms and showers. It’s open from 10am to 10pm every day. Sure, it’s not in Vancouver but we sure do wish it was. It’s absolutely worth a visit!
Cameron Park Tables (Burnaby)
What can we say? Here is another quality table tennis court located in a Burnaby park! It seems Burnaby is treating table tennis like a real sport by building courts in parks, just like tennis but at a fraction of the cost. Surrounded by trees, the Cameron Park Tables may be the best outdoor table tennis court in Burnaby.
401 Georgia Table
The lone ping pong table at 401 West Georgia seems like it would be a favourite for office workers at noon hour. This second table tennis court associated with a downtown office building is not the oasis like the Oxford Place Tables, but it is completely sheltered from rain positioned under the overhang of the office tower. Tucked in close to the building, the table is also likely shielded from some of the winds that often plague outdoor ping pong on plazas.
GVPPS – Greater Vancouver Ping Pong Society
Meet head coach Helen Wu and the Greater Vancouver Ping Pong Society, the latest table tennis club to open up in Burnaby. We haven’t visited yet to play but Helen kindly submitted a description of the club and programs, and we like what we see.
Quayside Park Tables (New Westminster)
The Quayside Park Tables are easy to miss. They’re hidden away in a small green playground next to the Fraser River. Surrounded by trees and set one a concrete slab adjacent to the children’s playground, you could ride by without noticing the beautiful steel tables. The tables are the same as those at Empire Fields and make wonderful sounds when the table top is percussed by hand on when the ball strikes the net.
Confederation Park Tables (Burnaby)
The Confederation Park Table Tennis Court is our latest “discovery” of great places to play free, outdoor public ping pong in Burnaby. Adjacent to the tennis courts, this new, spacious court sports three beautiful Cornilleau table tennis tables set on an isolated asphalt pad complete with a seating area along the eastern edge. Good job once again, Burnaby Parks & Rec!
Willingdon Heights Park Tables (Burnaby)
Vancouver zero, Burnaby three, if you’re keeping score. The municipality of Burnaby is in the lead when it comes to outdoor table tennis courts in city parks, and the new Willingdon Heights Park table tennis court is yet another example of a safe, standardized place to enjoy your fave sport in your local park. Way to go, Burnaby! Pay attention, Vancouver park planners!
Public Ping Pong Survey Results
It’s no secret: Vancouver isn’t big on ping pong in parks. To help advocate for safe public ping pong tables in parks, Ping Pong In Vancouver has been asking for your input on where you’d like to see table tennis tables in a park near you. If you live in Burnaby or New Westminster, you can head down to your local park to play table tennis on tables set on an asphalt pad surrounded by grass and shade trees. Why can’t it be the same for citizens of Vancouver? Tell us where you’d like to see a safe place to play ping pong near you!
World Table Tennis Day: Meet & Greet!
Celebrate World Table Tennis Day with us a few days late! Due to predicted wet weather, our Meet & Greet originally scheduled for WTTD on April 23 has been postponed until Saturday, April 29. We Invite all ping pong players to drop by, say hello, meet other players, play some matches, win some prizes, watch a demo by some skilled players, learn about skills and the technical side of the sport, and exchange ideas on how to make Vancouver into Ping Pong City. Eveyone welcome!
North Shore Table Tennis Club
Where other private table tennis clubs we’ve visited cater to members, the North Shore Table Tennis (NSTTC) is the most integrated into the community through affiliations, outreach programs, classes for beginner and intermediate players of all ages, classes and programs for players with Parkinson’s and other disabilities. This an organized table tennis club and operated like a well-conceived business, and the online accolades from many sources are the proof. We’ve awarded the NSTTC twin laurels: Best Organized Club, and Most Inclusive Club
Approved: Vancouver’s First Dedicated Table Tennis Court
Great news for local outdoor table tennis enthusiasts! Word is out that Health Minister Adrian Dix granted $45,000 last week towards the Vancouver School Board’s proposed table tennis court at Windermere Community Fitness Park. The dedicated table tennis court on VSB property is a first for Vancouver, a municipality with no dedicated table tennis courts on city land or parks.
Killarney Table Tennis Club
If you are looking for the very best table tennis program Vancouver community centres have to offer, then you have found the right place. Celebrating its 30th year of operating within Killarney Community Centre, the Killarney Table Tennis Club welcomes all ping pong players from beginners to advanced. Killarney’s TT Club is unique among clubs in Vancouver by offering one-on-one coaching sessions with a nationally-certified table tennis coach for beginners to intermediate players.
Moody Park Tables (New Westminster)
It’s great to see examples outside of Vancouver of table tennis tables safely located within the leafy green confines of parks. This latest discovery is located in Moody Park in New Westminster, and this past September when the Ping Pong In Vancouver crew checked out the two tables nestled under the canopy of big trees, we found a small community of players who meet to play nearly every day.
Lonsdale Table
Someone recently contacted PingPongInVancouver.com to tell us about a public outdoor table tennis table in North Vancouver near First and Lonsdale. We don’t normally include tables in municipalities other than Vancouver unless the installation is an example of what was done right (i.e. Edmonds Tables in Burnaby) or what was done wrong. An initial glance of this installation (via Google street view) showed what appeared to be an example of where NOT to put in a public ping pong table. We hopped on our bikes on a fine summer afternoon to see for ourselves what a dangerously placed table looks like…
Edmonds Park Tables (Burnaby)
While this table tennis table installation is in Burnaby, it’s worth mentioning because, 1) it is a table tennis installation in a park; and 2) it’s a table tennis installation added next to existing tennis courts in a recent park redevelopment. The Edmonds Park Tables are the closest local example of a municipality adding table tennis infrastructure to an existing park. We ask: we can’t this be done in Vancouver?
K8 Strings for Ping Pong Gear!
Since the launch of Ping Pong In Vancouver, we’ve searched for a local table tennis gear store we could promote and send readers to who want to buy brand name entry-level ping pong gear at a good price. We contacted all the big players nationally as well as a few local stores, all of whom ignored our offer for free advertising. Too good to be true, we suppose. But we found a tiny gem of a shop at Renfrew Street and First Avenue, and to make things even more auspicious, the shop’s about one mile from the best outdoor ping pong tables in town, Empire Fields.
The Players Directory
Ping Pong In Vancouver has finally created a players directory, one of the three main goals we set out to accomplish when we launched the website. We list places to play table tennis and we advocate for ping pong infrastructure in Vancouver parks (although all of our efforts so far to connect with Vancouver Parks planners has been completely ignored). Now we connect ping pong players with partners!
VTTC – Vancouver Table Tennis Club
The Vancouver Table Tennis Club (VTTC) bills itself as “one of the best table tennis clubs in the Greater Vancouver area”. This is true with respect to the quality of play. There are some very good players here. The VTTC has 8 tables, a wood floor, adequate lighting, the club owners are really nice, but because this club is so busy, playing sessions are limited to 20 minutes. Wait times are often lengthy. A good but very crowded club.
GVTTC – Greater Vancouver Table Tennis Club
The GVTTC or Greater Vancouver Table Tennis Club is technically in Burnaby but since there are so few clubs in Vancouver, we felt this venue at Hastings Street and Sperling Avenue should be included. The club, founded in 2019 by Wilson Peng Zhang who is also the head coach, bills itself as “Neighbourhood Table Tennis Club” and it seems to be an accurate claim.
Kits Beach Table
The Vancouver Rotary Club recently unveiled a ping pong table at Kits Beach. Situated behind the buildings along the main promenade of the beach, surrounded by trees and grass, the ping pong table itself is great. It’s got a beautifully finished aggregate concrete top yielding a superb bounce, a fine art-quality metal net, a sturdy, immovable concrete base…but there’s real danger underfoot, literally.
Orchard Commons Tables, UBC
The Orchard Commons Tables are excellent aggregate stone tables with a surface more like 400 grit sandpaper than polished marble. Does it affect the ball? You be the judge when you visit. The ping pong tables are centred in a playing area that is… well, a pit, basically. This pit consists of a playing surface of undulating gravel that has a deepish hole at each end of both tables, a testament to the grinding duels that must have occurred here…
Save On Table
The Save On Table is a really lively and generally awesome stone aggregate table but… it’s right in front of the busy entrance of a large grocery store! The Foosball table and nearby benches suggests that this set-up is someone’s vision of an outdoor rec room…
Oxford Place Tables
In the heart of downtown, the Oxford Place Tables is a peaceful ping pong oasis. Two tables are positioned on a small shady plaza just far enough away from busy Hastings Street. Pedestrian traffic is minimal, and the playing area is ample and without any significant objective hazards. Ball containment is pretty good with walls and low barriers in most directions. This is a very nice place to play!
Building An Awareness Of Our Goal
Ping Pong In Vancouver advocates for public table tennis. Our goal is to bring safe, permanent public ping pong installations to Vancouver’s many parks. There are a lot of ping pong players out there who’d love to play their fave sport outside within the safety of a park. Our main problem so far has been trying to get the attention of city officials and bureaucrats. The people who make decisions. We have pursued the recommended routes of communication over the past 4 weeks, since the launch of this website, but so far our efforts have been unsuccessful…
Table Tennis Players Need Room
Ping pong is actually a sport. The sport is table tennis. It is the second most popular sport on earth. Players begin by playing ping pong, but as skills sharpen, ping pong players grow into table tennis players, and table tennis players need room to play the sport safely.
Back and Forth Bar
From Google: Cocktails, craft draft beer & snacks offered in a hip, upbeat space with Ping-Pong tables & games. The Back And Forth Bar has 6 ping pong tables for recreational and serious players, board games (Cards of Humanity, Jenga, Checkers, What the Meme), a TV dedicated to Nintendo Classic, beer and wine on tap, a small selection of spirits, snacks and friendly staff who want to make you feel at home in comfortable surroundings. Play and hang out!
Let’s Take Ping Pong Player Safety Seriously
Ping pong players playing on any of the public ping pong installations we’ve reviewed on this website face objective hazards. Public ping pong tables are currently offered as “afterthoughts”, haphazardly placed, without much regard to a player’s safety, in busy pedestrian areas around the city. In Vancouver, there are no ping pong tables situated in safely within the grassy regions of a park as in the standard in the UK and Germany. Ping pong players deserve for no less than the safety considerations afforded our sister sport, tennis.
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Public Ping Pong Survey
Besides becoming a go-to listing for places to play ping pong in Vancouver, we want to be a voice for promoting public ping pong in Vancouver. Specifically, we would like to see ping pong installations in Vancouver parks consisting of a slab of asphalt or concrete with a table in the middle, surrounded by a safety barrier of lawn, a recreational installation very common in European parks from Derbyshire to Berlin
Bryant Park Tables, New York City
From the film’s description: “In the middle of New York City, tucked away in the corner of Bryant Park, sit two outdoor ping pong tables where anyone is free to play. Young or old, rich or homeless, it doesn’t matter. During the day, the park provides paddles and balls, but after 7pm the regulars show up, armed with their own. Every night they come together to play each other and battle the elements, playing in the wind, rain and even snow. And out of this shared love of the game, a bond was formed between an unlikely group of people. Filmmaker Jon Bunning profiles the many lives these tables have touched, including the former gangbanger who helped put them there.”
City Hall Tables
All things considered, this is a nice spot for playing ping pong. And a nice gesture by the city to place public ping pong tables this close to the corridors of power. It gives a ping pong fanatic hope that public ping pong is within the purview of city officials who need only to look out their north windows and gaze down onto the plaza, where two tables, one great, the other so-so, become a momentary focal point for joy, exercise and friendship…
Cambie Bridge South Tables
Two of the four weather-sheltered public ping pong tables in Vancouver are located under the south end of the Cambie Street Bridge. The other two are under the north end of the bridge. The Cambie Bridge South Tables, like the tables under the north end of the bridge, are the German-made Tiger Ping Pong Plaza model: a great design and a lively bounce. Situated among picnic tables in the middle of a slightly cambered pedestrian plaza, there’s enough room to play safely. Keep in mind the several objective hazards like the boulder field about 15 feet behind the east side of the table, and the roadway and bike lane just a few feet from the tables. Some may call this unsafe; we call it multi-tasking.
Cambie Bridge North Tables
There are two excellent table tennis tables sheltered from the weather under the Cambie Street Bridge on the north side. Like the pair on the south side of the bridge, these tables are the Tiger Ping Pong “Plaza” model, and they are positioned on the brick plaza under the infrastructure of the bridge in an east to west orientation. One ping pong table is a bit better positioned; that is, sheltered better from the rain, but both tables are club-quality outdoor tables and on a fine day this location, with all of the recreational activity going on around, is inspirational and will bring out your best game.
Adanac Bike Route Table
This funky ping pong table is located at the Vernon-Adanac Plaza, a blocked-off section of Vernon Drive, right where the Adanac-Union bike route takes a wee jog north one block from Union Street onto Adanac Street. It’s an interesting location for a ping pong table to say the least, and it’s easy to see the hipster connotation in locating the table on a bike route…
A Call For Public Table Tennis In Vancouver Parks
Unlike parks in other western countries like Germany, parks in Vancouver, despite the vast unused lawns available, do not contain table tennis playing areas by default. In fact, not a single ping pong table installation exists within a Vancouver park. We are late to the game when compared to our European friends. But what potential we have given our numerous parks for ping pong installations within the safety of a public lawned area. Ping Pong In Vancouver has written this post to help define a standard for a table tennis playing area within any public park.
Empire Fields Tables
The three steel tables at Empire Fields, in the shadow of Vancouver’s beloved wooden roller coaster offer the ultimate outdoor table tennis – ping pong – experience in Vancouver. For the breathtaking setting alone, this is the #1 place for free outdoor ping pong. Big open sky, breathtaking mountain views, an historic setting where the tables are nestled between the one of north America’s last remaining vintage roller coasters and the track where the first sub-four minute mile was won. The Beatles played mere metres from where today, right now, you can play on melodious metal tables…
Stonehenge Tables
Stonehenge Tables, are three tables in the Concord Pacific play area in the expanse of asphalt north of Science World. Named for the large arranged stones embedded in the grassy knoll immediately east of the tables, Stonehenge Tables offer the best of outdoor table tennis in Vancouver. These are stone tables with a great bounce. The area behind both sides of the tables is bounded by a low continuous concrete wall serving as a long bench, providing a stopper for most balls that pass your opponent.
