It’s not rare to see students congregating in the media center during lunch or even trying to get out of class to challenge their classmates, all in favor of playing table tennis. As of February, the new Table Tennis club has been the IT club.
What started as a passion project for Senior Kymani Cunningham, and a way for club sponsor Dennis Russo to divert traffic into the media center. The club has become a lot more than playing ping pong during lunch.
Two years ago when Media Specialst Dennis Russo took over the library, he added the addition of a ping pong table. It had become very popular among students.
“The part that I love about it the most is that I see kids from every walk of life,” Russo said.
The table tennis clubs have brought all sorts of students into the library, from athletes to students in the CAT program. There is no certain type of student who is drawn to the club; it’s just for those who enjoy a little friendly competition.
Senior Ryan Sandoval agrees with this sentiment, “we have a lot of fun on these tables, we laugh a lot, we joke around, you know,” he said.
Another thing that Russo pointed out is that the club brings students together in a screen-free way. Ever since COVID-19, most things have transitioned to being online. But as Sandoval mentioned, to play ping pong, you’re just passing a ball to each other on a table.
In the future, the club looks to possibly host tournaments and maybe have other schools participate.
“Ping pong has very easy onboarding,” Russo said.
With a club size of around 15 and counting, it truly is a sport for everyone and isn’t very difficult to get into. It is also very inexpensive to start. Russo found both of the ping pong tables for free on Facebook Marketplace.
The club meets every day in the media center during lunch and is a great way to make some new friends!
Dennis • Apr 1, 2026 at 12:41 pm
I love this story and ping pong!