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Friday, March 29, 2024

Port City Ping Pong Throwdown – Story & Photos

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Gregg Robertshaw and Tim Connelly stood facing each other, knees bent and Ping-Pong paddles raised. Spectators gathered near the table, watching the small, lightweight ball whiz back and forth, faster and faster, between the two opponents. Robertshaw, a semi-professional table tennis player from Cary, finally managed to smack the ball just out of Connelly’s reach.

Robertshaw’s run of success continued throughout the night, and he clinched first place in the Fourth Port City Ping-Pong Throwdown at the Brooklyn Arts Center on Friday, Sept. 5.

“This is fun, and it’s different,” Robertshaw said after his game with Connelly, looking around at the eight Pong-Pong matches taking place. Other players rested between games, chatting with friends or picking up dinner from the Poor Piggy’s BBQ food truck parked outside.

Robertshaw added that this event had more of a casual, community feel than the other tournaments he regularly competed in. He took up table tennis at age five and began playing competitively soon after. He said he was immediately drawn to the mental aspect of the game.

“You have to figure out your strategy, how you’re going to beat this guy,” he said. “You don’t have much time out there. It reminds me of chess.”

Robertshaw’s participation in this year’s throwdown was a testament to the growing success of the tournament. The tournament originally had just one division, but this year it included a B group, for casual players of all ability levels, and an A group, which attracted some of the best table tennis players in the region.

The high level of talent in this year’s tournament provided a test for some of the top Wilmington players, such as Connelly and Wilmington Table Tennis Club president Laurence Nadeau, who demonstrated impressive skill but lost two tight matches to Robertshaw.

“I’ve never beaten him before, so it would have been nice to beat him,” Nadeau said. “But the competitiveness of it is great. Everyone is having a blast.”

Perhaps Nadeau’s larger accomplishment of the night was bringing together 78 players of all ages and ability levels to compete in the fourth Ping-Pong throwdown. In a phone interview prior to the event, Connelly described turning over leadership of the Wilmington Table Tennis Club to Nadeau because of Nadeau’s vision for the club and his passion for the sport.

“There were no more than six or eight players [in the club’s beginning],” Connelly said. “I’m in awe of what Laurence has done.”

Gloria Brooks and Jeanne Bua sat along the perimeter of the room, watching Nadeau jotting down scores, calling players to the correct tables and playing his own matches in between.

“He’s just out of college,” Bua said, “but he cares so much about the sport.”

Brooks drove from Cary to join Bua, her senior games table tennis partner, in the B division of the tournament. The two friends sat together, waiting for their next game and taking in the fast-paced action in the ongoing matches. They said they were drawn to Ping-Pong because it didn’t require covering as much ground as tennis but still allowed them to feed their competitive spirit.

As Brooks watched a young boy playing a match nearby, she explained that although they enjoyed meeting and playing against such a wide range of ages and ability levels, competing against the young kids presented a slight moral dilemma.

“It’s difficult playing children because you don’t want to be mean to them and beat them too much,” she said, laughing, “but then the next thing you know they beat you and that’s embarrassing too, so it’s a no-win situation!”
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