Club
of the Month: San Diego TTAClub
of the Month: San Diego TTABy Neil Smyth
This is the club that most visitors refer to as “TABLE TENNIS HEAVEN.” It operates six days a week for a weekly total of 38½ hours. The facility is located at the Balboa Park Activity Center on Park Blvd. in world-famous Balboa Park. It was built in 1999 by the city of San Diego to conform to the Olympic specifications of Table Tennis, Badminton and Volleyball. That means: wood flooring, perfect lighting and a very high ceiling. Twenty Butterfly Nippon Rollaway tables are comfortably accommodated.
The club, known as the SDTTA (San Diego Table Tennis Association) is approaching its 50th Anniversary in 2009 and closed out 2005 with 459 paid members. Member dues are $40 annually, while visitors are charged $3.00 per day. The affairs of the club, a non-profit corporation, are managed by its seven-person Board of Directors.
Besides Table Tennis play, the club offers its members a Web Site (www.sdtta.org), a Quarterly Newsletter, an Annual Luncheon Party, a FREE Round Robin Tournament each Thursday evening (Open to non-members as well), which yields computerized ratings to all players. Every Saturday, we provide FREE Coaching to all Juniors with additional coaching during the week if desired. This program is handled by at least five experienced coaches and is divided into two sections, namely Pee Wees (young beginners approx. five yrs in age) and Intermediate and Elite Junior players. The latter group is also sponsored by the SDTTA (FREE entry and sometimes additional prerequisites) to major 5-Star Tournaments. Through our coaching program, we have developed the following Nationally Ranked Juniors:
Don J. Alto – Under 14 Boys’ Champion (USA Rating 2322)
Earl J. Alto – Under 18 Boys’ Champion (USA Rating 2220)
John J. Alto – Under 12 Boys’ Champion (USA Rating 1540)
Brana Vlasic – Under 16 Girls’ Champion (USA Rating 2065)
Tammy Gu – Under 11 Girls’ Champion (USA Rating 1891)
We are confident that you will see one or more of these young people on future Olympic Teams, hopefully medaling.
For the general membership, it is the club’s policy to hold at least two USATT sanctioned tournaments each year, currently the Southern California Open in the Spring and the San Diego Open in the Fall. Table Tennis tournaments for the California State Games, Senior Olympics, Military and City sponsored Recovery Games are also held at the SDTTA.
The club has a long and proud history and counts among its USA Hall of Fame members such dignitaries as Patty Martinez, U.S. Women’s Champion at the astonishing age of 13, and Mike Dempsey, 8-time World Paralympic Champion and 6-time Paralympic Champion.
We invite all the visit is for our sanctioned tournaments as well as our Thursday Night affairs. We want you to see why so many consider us “Table Tennis Heaven.”