Furman University in South Carolina is building a table tennis program this fall and that's just peachy with its players.
 
While the school lacks a decent practice table - it belongs to the Department of Chemistry in the basement of Furman's Science Building - there are positive signs for table tennis growth on the Greenville campus. Furman players took part in tournaments and recently discovered the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association. That's a good start. 
 
"We found NCTTA which is a great platform for college students who are interested in table tennis,” says Furman student and avid player Weilun Xu. This semester, the newly formed table tennis club at Furman signed up six players. More applications poured in, but they could only admit so many students due to the lone table. "It is impossible for us to let a bunch of people enjoy table tennis with one table,'' he says.
 
Part of the Southern Conference, Furman is home to great facilities like the Pepsi Softball Stadium with its Bemuda grass the playing turf for the Lady Paladins since 2001. And its men's basketball team this season is taking on the likes of bigger in-state rivals like Clemson and South Carolina and playing in the Golden Bear Classic in California.
 
Folks in NCTTA circles will checking back with the new Furman Table Tennis Club down the road to see how much they grow in the Piedmont area in 2009-2010. In its first year, the Furman club is determined to welcome more players, garner more support and get more involved in their favorite sport at the national level. "We really love table tennis,'' says Weilun Xu, one of the club's leaders at Furman.
 
To offer encouragement to the Furman club or share a similiar story about the challenges of getting a college table tennis club club started, send emails to xu_weilun@yahoo.com
 
Or email me your recipe for your new club's success.
Andy Kanengiser, at publicrelations@nctta.org