Stratford High School Table Tennis Club

(From Nov/Dec 2000 USA Table Tennis Magazine)

Dick Jeffers (middle) with Yoshiki and Naoki Ishii, winner and runner-up of Stratford's first tournament.

In September of 1999, four sophomores at Stratford High School in Spring Branch Independent School District in Houston, Texas, decided they wanted to start a ping-pong club. The leader of the group, Michael Shanks, who had come up with the idea, approached a teacher, Dick Jeffers, to see if he would help them start a club and serve as the sponsor. It turned out even better than he had hoped. It seems that Jeffers had recently started playing table tennis again after a 25-year layoff and was very interested in helping them. The rest is history, and a very successful history at that.

First, Jeffers got approval from the principal to form the club. Then, posters and flyers announcing the formation of the club were put up all over school. Information about the new club was included in the school’s morning announcements. The four founding members started recruiting from among their friends. They also became the club’s officers with Michael Shanks as the president.

Jeffers immediately began the search for tables and a place to play. As luck would have it, the school’s athletic director and head football coach, Oscar Cripps, a pretty fair ping-pong player himself, came to the rescue. He offered to let them use a section of the weight room. It was nearly perfect since it had a smooth, hard rubber floor, excellent lighting and sufficient space for two tables.

As for the tables, the parents of one of the founding members donated one. A second table was purchased by the school from its activities fund. The decision was made to charge club members dues of $3.00 for the school year to help pay for paddles, balls, nets, trophies and any other expenses the new club might incur.

Within two weeks, there were more than 40 students signed up. Jeffers decided to hold a tournament. 32 signed up, plus another 20 students joined the club. By the time the first tournament was over there were 75 members, by far the largest club in the school. To help build even more interest in the club, the semifinals and finals of the tournament were held in the small gym, and students, faculty and parents were invited to attend.

During the first year, the club met once a week for about an hour and a half after school. The format was to give each member a number for either table they wanted when they signed in and let them play in numerical sequence, i.e., 1 and 2, 3 and 4, etc. It worked very well and allowed everyone a chance to play. The last half hour was usually devoted to challenge play where a player could keep the table until he won no more than three games. This proved to a particularly popular format.

There were several members who wanted to play more often than once a week. They were allowed to play after school on other days provided they put the tables away and locked up the paddles, balls and nets. They accepted the responsibility and there was never a problem.

When asked about the phenomenal success of the club, Jeffers said that one reason was the simple fact that there were many ping-pong players in the student body. He added that there were also many students from other countries where table tennis is a popular sport such as Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Puerto Rico and Brazil.

"In fact, we have students from more than a dozen countries in the club," he said.

In addition, Jeffers said "Our table tennis club offers an opportunity for those students who aren’t participating in the major sports to be competitive and have fun at the same time in an after-school activity." He also commented that many of the coaches were very supportive of the club, especially the tennis coach, and encouraged their kids to join.

In its first year, the Stratford Table Tennis Club grew to a total of 83 members. There were four tournaments, including one for the school championship. Interestingly enough, the first tournament in the fall was won by a freshman, Yoshiki Ishii, who beat his older brother Naoki in the finals. However, in the spring tournament for the championship, Naoki walked off with the crown as his younger brother was beaten in the semifinals.

Now in its second year, the club already has close to 100 members, three tables, and a fourth one coming. Jeffers is also planning to offer members T-shirts with Stratford Table Tennis emblazoned on the front below the Olympic symbol for table tennis. The club also has a new place to play having outgrown the original location. Four tables will also allow the club to handle the crowds that are showing up already this year.

Six tournaments are planned, including mixed doubles with student/faculty teams competing, a grade level tournament, a boy/girl mixed doubles, and three singles tournaments. Jeffers would also like to have intramural tournaments with other high schools in the greater Houston area, but has been unable to find a school that has a club like Stratford’s. He has been in contact with the other schools in his district, and hopes to be successful in getting other clubs started. Those interested in getting more specific information about how to establish a club in their school may contact Dick Jeffers by e-mail at rljeffers@teacher.esc4.com.