(by Steve Hopkins)

Rhode Island Table Tennis is running three school-focused events this Winter.  The organization sent out invitations to schools and school systems in our area, and tapped youth players that have participated in clinics and other club events over the last year.  In February, they scheduled two “Invitationals” bringing schools together from Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, and then their annual Rhode Island High School Team Championships is planned for March 9.

These events are designed to encourage more participation from each school.  These are team events – though only 3-person teams, so that the whole team can easily fit in a car (with a parent or teacher).   Schools are allowed to enter more than one team, and there is no requirement that the school official endorse the team (so if there are a few players from a school that wish to play, they can compete as individuals without jumping through institutional rules or hoops).  In the end, there was one school system that sent out our fliers to all schools in the District, and there were two schools where a school official met students and drove them in, and there were a mix of other results from the area that matched individual players who needed to seek out friends to fill a team, others who pulled players from a club on campus, and still others who don’t even have a table at their school  but who each enjoy the game.

At the first event, there were 10 schools represented – and 32 players.  About two thirds of these students were in the club for the first time.  Having these players in the room creates opportunities – the club’s juniors coach was present to talk to parents, there were flyers that described the club’s juniors programs, AYTTO programs, and NCTTA programs.  And when the event finished, results were posted to the ritta.org website, sent to three local newspapers, (and were submitted to Butterfly to be posted here).  These two phases will provide most competing schools with 8 matches – enough to constitute a regular season.  In fact, using “meets” as a mechanism for interscholastic competitions is already something used in established sports like track and field, gymnastics, and swimming.  Schools in this region will have had a regular season along with two half season champions, and Rhode Island schools will also have a separate State Championship event.

See the results below.

Southern New England Scholastic Invitational (Phase 1)

Phase 2 will be played next Saturday.

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