Sasha Erfanian, Centretown News
Steven Lambruschini of Table Tennis Canada prepares for the Paddles Up amateur table tennis tournament at the Gladstone Health and Sports Centre in April.Ottawa ping pong fanatics will pick up their paddles to battle it out on the Table Tennis Canada courts April 18 at the Gladstone Health and Sports Centre on Louisa Street.
The Paddles Up ping pong tournament is organized by the Ottawa Sports and Social Club and was first held in 2013. The OSSC organizes similar events throughout the year at locations across the city.
The OSSC is about to start its spring/summer season of events, nicknamed Sprummer.
The season runs from May to September and incorporates 21 sports and fitness classes for people over the age of 19. New to this year’s program is a softball league available for residents in the Gatineau region.
The Paddles Up tournament is a 19-plus event and is open to players of all different skill levels.
There will be recreational, intermediate and advanced classes.
Steven Lambruschini, a ping pong “guru” according to the OSSC website, will be on site to provide players with tips on both equipment and technique.
Lambruschini works for Table Tennis Canada and also runs an Ottawa-based online store called PongShop.ca, which specializes in high-quality table tennis equipment.
Even though he has no formal training in the sport, Lambruschini has acquired many skills and techniques from playing for most of his life.
He first started playing table tennis as a boy and it quickly became a huge pastime for him and his brother.
“A very vivid memory” for him is discovering a ping pong table in his childhood basement and asking his father to explain the game. He quickly fell in love with the sport.
“As soon as my dad showed me what it was, I was like ‘Wow, how did I not know about this before?’ ” says Lambruschini.
Lambruschini also runs the weekly ping pong league.
He says it’s a very social atmosphere.
He says that “everyone just wants to have a good time playing ping pong, they want to meet new people and basically just relax, have fun and step out of their everyday routine.”
Even though there is no official winner of the tournament, he says that some of the intermediate and advanced divisions are still pretty competitive.
Those who participate in the recreational classes are mostly there to have fun and practise their game.
There will be an after party hosted at the Royal Oak’s Kent Street location once the tournament is finished.
Jill Magnussen, marketing and promotions manager at the sports club, says that the social aspect of these events is very important and players are always encouraged to get together after their games to “talk about the tournament, how they played, get a drink and socialize.”
The official winner of the tournament will be drawn at random at the after party and the winning team will be awarded some championship t-shirts, according to Magnussen.