Man about town: OSU hosts table tennis tournament

The Lantern sent Jason Kustron to the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association Ohio Regional Team Competition Saturday at the Recreation and Physical Activity Center. Here are his observations.

Eight teams were invited to the event hosted by the Ohio State table tennis club: Michigan State, Kentucky, Shawnee State, Marshall, Case Western Reserve, Oberlin College, and Akron.

The mood was somber, quiet, and ultra-competitive by 11 a.m. With eight tables set up in multi-purpose room 4 of the RPAC, the poor lighting and somewhat inadequate amount of spacing of the tables did not deter some of the players from finding their comfort zones and playing some spectacular table tennis.

As someone who was not familiar with competitive table tennis, I entered this environment without a strong frame of reference. I was not sure exactly what I should watch with all of the action going on around me. Once I heard the rumbles of Akron's John McDonald, it was clear to me who I should follow.

A member of the "A" squad for Akron's club, McDonald is a hulking man of probably 250 pounds. Probably 6-foot-2 or so, he was a real mountain of ping-pong pounding muscle.

Watching him play a couple of matches was indeed a treat to the senses. While other players quietly competed and laughed enjoyably, the "Akron Pong Assaulter" (as I've cleverly dubbed him) would scold himself out loud when he misplayed the ball. When he made a big play McDonald would psyche himself up by yelling such utterances as "Let's go" and "It doesn't matter what you do."

Some other interesting visuals included a doubles match between a pair of Kentucky's best players taking on the top two OSU competitors.

Our own Michael Yao and Francois Charvet were able to defeat the visiting team handily.

These guys can play, and I would recommend watching them if you ever get the chance. I know very little about the game but I was mesmerized by the finesse, concentration and control displayed by all of the players, especially these two.

With squads from other schools coming and going throughout the day, the multi-purpose room was host to players from many varying ethnicities, ages, and physical stature.

The only way to tell who was from where was by the shirts and shorts donned by the players because there is no type of uniform. The players just wore their own school gear.

I was able to sit and watch a few matches between OSU, Akron, Kentucky, and Shawnee State. I sat and watched the games with the Buckeye's club "C" team. I asked freshman Jay Treuhaft about his experience on the team. Being a new member of the club, Treuhaft said that he had to play his way to the "C" team within a ranking system used by the club for it's members. The top four or five make up the "A" team, the next group is "B," and then there is the "C" team with alternates.

I mentioned to Treuhaft that there seemed to be a type of footwork that is implicit for the players, especially when working in small space within a doubles match.

"The footwork is something that you don't really get to practice," Treuhaft said. "You just get to know how to move through experience in playing."

We both sat and watched Michael Yao and Francois Charvet play their doubles match. I described it to my friends as a "dance between the partners," only they are standing side-by-side and facing their opponents. There was a marked difference in how these two partners played and how the aforementioned Akron partners played. While the Akron players were more intense and confronting, the OSU players were cool and collected. The styles were equally effective as both teams were successful in their respective matches.