Anyone for table tennis?

A co-worker of Mary Ellen's invited me out to a weekly Ping Pong session in Oneonta. I didn't think much of it at first - just an opportunity to meet some folks, maybe have a beer or two, and smack a ball around a bit. I figured it was in some dude's basement or game room. It was in an industrial garage beneath a dentist's office.

Turns out, these guys are pros (seriously, one is the coach for RPI). They all show up in warm-ups or shorts, have their own paddles w/ covers, and paddle bags to carry said paddles w/ said covers. They even have a bucket of 'practice' balls for warming up.

Let's just say I was very outmatched. My reflexes are good enough that I didn't completely humiliate myself, but I gotta say I'm not used to being the worst guy there, and they definitely took it easy on me. That hurt the ole ego. Warming up and hitting around was great and I did OK, but once the actual games started I got taught a lesson (or several). Can't those guys hit two consecutive balls with the same spin and velocity? And what the hell is a push or a loop? Sadly I did far better returning the smashes (loops) then the routine pushes (short, low velocity set up shots). I need to learn how to deal with back spin a lot better.

Anyway, I hope they invite me back because it was cool to get schooled and learning the game as it really is meant to be played from a real coach is a pretty sweet opportunity.