There’s tennis, there’s table tennis, and then there’s off-table tennis.
The hybrid of the two games has its players maneuvering the tennis court as if it were their very own oversized pingpong table as they dash back and forth like true tennis players. The players use pingpong paddles and practice golf balls, which are about the same size as a pingpong ball but heavier.
The players, who nicknamed their sport Ding Dang, can do it all. And they’ve even made it an official club sport at UF, “because a table just isn’t big enough,” its slogan explains.
Brothers Phillip and Steven Tenzel, along with their former roommate Robert W. Bressler, created off-table tennis about three years ago.
“We started playing in the pingpong tables at the residence halls, but none of us lived there so we weren’t allowed for very long,” Steven Tenzel said. “Then we went to the Raquet Club, but those tables were reserved for the table tennis team. We had all the stuff we needed, so we just started playing on the Broward tennis courts.”
With its help of their faculty sponsor, organic chemistry professor Ronald Castellano, the group of about 10 players made their sport official in 2008.
“We played in the living room for a while,” Steven Tenzel said, “but that didn’t work out too well, so we moved out here.”
With their unconventional playing methods, the team often comes off as not being serious.
“A few times when the courts were full, rather than asking anyone else to leave, people pretty much told us we shouldn’t be playing on the courts, and that we should take our game somewhere else,” Phillip Tenzel said. “A lot of times, though, people playing tennis nearby just become curious and put down their rackets to play with us.”
The game can be played like tennis, as singles or doubles, but the points are racked up like table tennis until someone reaches 21 points.
The UF team only plays among themselves, but Phillip Tenzel hopes to start a separate chapter at the University of Miami after he transfers to medical school in the fall so the two schools can compete.
The team is currently recruiting more players through its Facebook group, UF Off-Table Tennis, and plans to raise money with car washes or bake sales.
