A more serious spin on table tennis

WASHINGTON: On a Wednesday evening at Club Joola in Rockville, Md., Tom Nguyen is giving an introductory table tennis lesson to a new student, a middle-aged man in a wheelchair interested in learning strategies from a sitting position. Nguyen taps orange balls across the table to him and suggests different strokes and hand positions as the man returns the ball.

Like any other American kid whose idea of table tennis involved casual recreation with friends, Nguyen "was just a basement player, pitter-pattering it back and forth," he said. "When I see table tennis now, there's no comparison. The speeds, the spins, the different strokes. That's how I got hooked."

Today he's an assistant manager at Club Joola, a private, table tennis club in suburban Washington, DC. The club is based in a clean, bright gym with several tables, and a few wayward orange balls scattered across the red floor. Three coaches, including former US Olympian Amy Feng, teach several classes of different ability levels throughout the week.