School table tennis rivalry heats up

A few years ago, I wrote a column I entitled “Some kids would rather play ping pong,” about the growth of table tennis as a competitive school sport.

Since then, it’s been interesting to see how school programs have improved and regional and provincial rivalries have developed. It’s also been fun to see first one, then two, local schools take their place among the provincial “elite.”

I still run across people who don’t consider table tennis a “real sport,” - at least, not in comparison with “heavyweights” like hockey, soccer and basketball. All I can say to that is, they must not have ever seen a regional or provincial competition in person.

Like badminton, a similar sport that often attracts some of the same competitors, table tennis, played at its highest level by serious and competitive players, is a fairly intense sport with lots of skill and strategy involved.

I didn’t get to see this year’s table tennis provincials, played May 10 at NKEC in Canning, but I have attended both regional and provincial competitions in the past.

A look at the final results from this year’s event would certainly suggest the competition is heating up as more schools begin to take the sport seriously.

The first couple of years table tennis was an NSSAF sport, Antigonish East Academy looked to be mounting a dynasty. Then, schools like NKEC, Pugwash, Musquodoboit and South Queens stepped up and closed the gap, with NKEC winning its fair share of regional and provincial titles.

Wolfville, which, as a P-9 school, only competes at the junior and intermediate levels (and in intermediate, is at a bit of a disadvantage as it has no Grade 10); broke into the “big time” in 2005, when one of its junior girls’ teams won provincials in their division. Since then, Wolfville has continued to have its share of table tennis success, including winning the provincial junior boys’ banner in 2007. This year, Wolfville stepped up another notch, sweeping the junior and intermediate divisions at regionals, then winning the junior boys’ banner at provincials and placing second in junior boys’ and third in junior girls’.

Part of this success is probably due to the presence of what my friend Bev Greenlaw would call a group of “era players” but, at the same time, I feel the seeds have certainly been sown for future success in Wolfville.

NKEC was certainly still competitive this year, winning both the senior boys’ and senior girls’ at regionals (and placing second in the other four divisions) and winning the senior girls’ at provincials. The junior boys’ team and senior boys’ were both third at provincials.

With many of the younger NKEC players also members of the Northeast Kings Table Tennis Club, offering them more chances to practice and play against top competition, the Canning school should continue to be competitive.

With all the Wolfville players eventually feeding into Horton - some as soon as this fall, and with a number of current Horton students having also joined the NKTTC, it would appear the ingredients are in place for a great interschool rivalry.

I would expect East Antigonish, Musquodoboit and the emerging program at Cape Breton Highlands Academy to remain strong, and Pugwash to rebound from an off-year that saw the school shut out at provincials.

All in all, it should make for an interesting next few years in a sport that, while still not really one of the NSSAF “heavyweights,” has nonetheless established a solid niche and a dedicated following.