LOS ANGELES — On Oct. 26 at 5 p.m., the sounds of orange and white ping pong balls bouncing across tables and pop music filling the room signal the start of the LMU Ping Pong League. Students with varying levels of experience come together to compete, turning a casual hobby into friendly competition.
The club started in 2022 with a small group of friends and has grown into an array from ping pong enthusiasts since then. “It’s so cool to foster this environment and see the community grow in that way,” Joe Alapat, Ping Pong Club president said. “We never expected it to get big.”
The ping-pong club has grown from a small group of friends into a flourishing array of ping-pong enthusiasts. Similar to how most clubs start out, they struggled with gaining consistent members with only three to four people joining their meetings, but after implementing a tournament system which rewarded consistent playing, the club has grown exponentially.
They started with one off tournaments with thirty people and eventually moved into a league system. “We saw other sports use a league system, so we figured, ‘why not?’” Alapat said. “We had no idea if it would work, but it did.” The league system created healthy competition, with students battling each other for points each week, motivating them to return.
After playing casually until 5:30, the league begins. Each Monday, the points are released and players are moved into a ranking.Currently, the top player is Avi Narang, followed by Joe Alapat in second and Romeo Torresi in third.
“I’ve had a bit of a friendly rivalry with someone else,” Avi Narang, currently in first place, said. “He’s in second right now, so it’s been good fun just playing.”
It has been a way for the members to bond and get to know each other, even sprouting spirited challenges and memories. In addition to playing ping-pong, students are invited to come and do homework, listen to music, play video games, and just hang out with their friends.
“It’s just really fun after a long day of classes,” Vaibhavi Parihar, club photographer, said. “They have good music playing, it’s just good vibes.”
