LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — The Seaton Center at the University of Kentucky has recreational activities for a variety of sports that students can experience. One new addition in the gym is table tennis.
Less than two years ago, Cruz Cardona began helping out with the Wildcat Ping Pong Club. With few members and inconsistent meetings, Cruz volunteered to help out.
“I started hosting practices,” Cruz said. “We have two tables, a leaky ceiling, and a dream. That's about it.”
Fast forward to today, the UK Table Tennis Club has a place to store its tables and meet consistently. Membership has grown, and the group was officially registered as a club sport going into last summer.
“Having that status as a club sport,” Cruz said, “I feel like it really elevated our status and also allowed us to play here and have practices.”
“It is very serious and it's very inclusive,” Cruz’s wife Hannah Cardona added. “Anybody can play.”
Another advisor for the club is Felipe Gonzalez. He was a competitive player in Chile, and he became the club’s first member to make it to a national championship tournament.
Cruz said, “Felipe really led the charge with that saying, ‘hey, we need to do drills. We need to do practice. This is serious. We're not out here playing ping pong. This is table tennis.’”
“I didn't play for 10 years so now I came back,” Gonzalez said. “I want to try to teach my experience and spread my experience in this new club.”
In just its first year, the club has grown into a place where students can come to play competitive, or just join for some fun
“It is a sport and we all take it very seriously,” Hannah said. “There's a lot of support, there's a lot of training, there's a lot of growth that you see within the club, especially for newer players.”
“It's intense. It's competitive,” Cruz added. “People are here to train, but they're also here to have fun and we try to nurture that environment as much as we can.”
At the end of its first year, Cruz shared that the club has nearly 60 students on its roster.
“Thank you so much to Noah Shofner,” he said. “Thank you to Stephon Reid and Han Htoo Zaw for helping us out with the club and stepping up when we needed it most.”
The club is still hoping to grow through having more events, getting more equipment, and sending more people to the regional and national tournaments. You can learn more about the table tennis club here.
