Table tennis club makes its first serve

By Santana Bellantoni

Ping pong is not just a game you play in your grandparent’s dusty old basement. A popular new Centretown venue for the venerable game — the Ottawa Table Tennis Club — will be having an official grand opening on Feb. 18.

Steven Lamburschini and Michel Legault are co-owners of the club, located on Louisa Street just off Gladstone Avenue in Chinatown, where the national table tennis facility was located before it moved to Markham, Ont., in 2015.

“We’re making table tennis more accessible to people in Ottawa,” Lamburschini said.

Unlike other clubs in Ottawa, it’s open seven days a week, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays, and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekends.

“We have a professional set up, so we have professional table tennis non-slip flooring. We have very high ceilings, professional level lighting as well as professional tables,” he said, noting these features are what sets the club apart from others in Ottawa.

There are some misconceptions about the sport, one of them being what to call it.

“Do you call it ping pong or table tennis? Some people think, ‘Oh, am I rude by calling it ping pong? I’m sorry.’ Actually you’re not. You can call it ping pong or table tennis,” Lamburshini said.

The club has attracted about 80 members since it opened for business on Jan. 9.

Professional players such as Filip Ilijevski, the 2016 Canadian champion, frequent the club.

Ilijevski, a first-year university student at the University of Ottawa, said when he’s not studying biomedical sciences, he tries to play as much as he can. adding that he has taken a step back to focus on school.

He said he would like to see more kids getting into the sport because it isn’t as popular here in Canada as it is in Europe or Asia.

“Pick up a racket, play, not just in the basement but make the effort to show up to a club. Just try it out. It might not be for you, but you might also like it and find something you can really get into,” he said.

Ilijevski is coaching Ottawa firefighter Eric Marshall, the 2016 North American Police and Fire Games table tennis champion.

“The social aspect is pretty good. Most people who play table tennis are pretty friendly and they get along and you can play with different ages. Whether men play with women, old people play with young people. It’s all integrated,” Marshall said. “I’ve lost to some young girls — 11- and 12-year-olds, they beat me,” he chuckled.

Julia Charbonneau, a Canada Border Services Agency officer and veteran table tennis player, said she is happy this club has opened up because the hours can accommodate her work schedule.

“There’s definitely a lot more men that play than females. I don’t know why that is because it is an individual sport. It’s no contact so it’s ideal actually for females to be playing as well,” Charbonneau said.

As a female player she is used to being one of the few women at tournaments — sometimes the only one there- though she said she can understand why this may be

“If you were an adult female and liked the sport and wanted to get involved, I could see how you could be intimidated coming into a club and it’s only men,” she said.

“What’s important from this is that this is a great sport and it needs to be (better) recognized as a sport in Canada as opposed to just a recreational activity.”