Club of the Month: The Dallas-Fort Worth Table Tennis Club

Donna Chen and James Rautis founded the Dallas-Fort Worth TT Club in 1996 with 20 members. Donna has been U.S. Over 40 Women’s Champion several times, a USATT certified coach and a Dallas city contract instructor at Campbell Green Recreation Center. James has been coaching for twenty years and has been a national finalist four times in singles and doubles. Starting in 1998, more coaches joined Donna and James: Robert Bryant Jr. and Le Thay Thio. Coach Francis Guidace joined in 1999 and Nelson Ramos in 2002.

The club puts on at least three tournaments a year: the Summer Round Robin and Teams in May, the Fall Round Robin and Teams in November and the Chinese Double Ten in September. These tournaments are noted for their slick organization and excellent playing conditions.

The DFW TTC week begins with a Monday evening session at Cimarron Recreation Center in Irving (NW Dallas County). Tuesday and Wednesday evenings feature sessions at Fretz Recreation Center in north Dallas. The club puts up five tables at Fretz. The Dallas Chinese Times, also in north Dallas, provides their auditorium for five-table sessions on Wednesday and Thursday nights. Tarrant County College, SE Campus hosts play on nine tables Friday evening and Saturday afternoon.

Perhaps the greatest attendance is seen at the Saturday morning session at Cimarron Recreation Center. The club puts up eleven tables. As many as three of these are devoted to instruction.

So Donna Chen and her co-workers afford us the opportunity to play Monday thru Friday evenings and twice on Saturday.

The club has about 150 active members aged 8-81. The Dallas Chinese Times is sponsoring a visit by Zhongan Wang, a coach from Mainland China. Coach Wang has over 25 years experience at the national and international level.  The DFW TTC will organize his visits, clinics, etc.