SPiN Takes Pingpong by Storm
March 5, 2010

Erin Kornfeld for ESPN.com

Courtesy of ESPN / By Nina Mandell

NEW YORK -- The scene looked like something out of a Judd Apatow movie.

On a recent Friday night at SPiN New York, a pingpong facility/nightclub, a floppy-haired 15-year-old known as Mike "The Kid" Landers was schooling his opponent, another floppy-haired teenager.

The two flicked the ball back and forth as beads of sweat began to form across their sweatband-framed faces, but Landers, the reigning American table tennis champion, easily prevailed.

When the match was over, he milked the crowd before the emcee grabbed Landers and asked, "What happened since the last time you played?"

"I quit smoking," the 15-year-old quipped.

SPiN New York, backed by actress Susan Sarandon and often visited by celebrities such as Judah Friedlander, is on a mission to bring pingpong to the forefront of New York social life.

"Pingpong is the great equalizer -- age, build and gender don't weigh in as in other competitive sports," Sarandon said. "It's fast and funny and sometimes magical."

SPiN New York was the brainchild of filmmakers Franck Raharinosy and Jonathan Bricklin, who hosted notorious table-tennis-centered loft parties known as "naked pingpong" (note: there was no actual nudity), which Sarandon attended.

When after three years the parties became too big for their Greenwich Village loft, the two decided to go pro in the pingpong party business. It was easy to convince investors, like Sarandon, because of the sport's growing popularity.

"When you're doing something fun and new, people take notice," Raharinosy said.

Spin New York's pingpong tables and instruction are advertised as its main draw, but the club also has a fully stocked bar that rivals any nightclub's and serves burgers and other bar food to a clientele of pretty and wealthy Manhattanites, thanks to its Gramercy Park location.

If attendees don't want to settle for watching the competitions between top-ranked players on the center table, there are a dozen tables available for half-hour rentals on one side of the room. There are locker rooms for showering.

While they want everyone to have fun at the party, the founders also try to build up some table tennis street cred by bringing in who they say are the top dozen players across the East Coast to play for a $500 prize in "The Dirty Dozen."

"This is nothing like the table tennis world has ever seen," said Matt Simon, a 29-year-old doctor who had just lost a killer match to bow out of the week's Dirty Dozen.

As a result of its mixed mission, the club attracts everyone from expert competitors who practice four to five days a week to confused patrons who wandered in for a birthday party expecting something far different, but just stayed.

"I thought it was beer pong and I was very disappointed," said Gregg Erspamer, a 28-year-old who had come to the club for a friend's birthday party and settled for sipping a beer instead as he watched the competition.

If people are having fun, and playing table tennis, that's all the owners want.

"Look, those people are on a first date or whatever, and they're just having a blast. It's a great game to break the ice," Raharinosy said. "If you and I were doing a date and we go to a bar or a club, and there's no chemistry there, we're just going to be like staring at each other and be like 'OK.' Now if you come here, you can just play."