By Dan Murphy
Congratulations to the Westchester Table Tennis Center, located in Pleasantville, NY in Westchester County, for recently celebrating its 10th anniversary and for surviving the COVID pandemic. The owner of the Westchester Table Tennis Center, (WTTC) is Pleasantville resident Will Shortz, who is better known as the legendary crossword puzzle editor for the NY Times.
Shortz and this reporter share a love for crosswords and for ping pong. Shortz has played table tennis, or ping pong, every day for the past 10 years, not only at the Pleasantville club, which has recently expanded to 19 tables and is open to the public, westchestertabletennis.com
In a column he wrote about his consecutive streak, Shortz writes, “How long do you have to play for it to count? My rule is — 10 minutes. I probably average an hour or more of table tennis a day, but 10 minutes is the minimum. Also, it has to be on a regular table with an opponent.”
“I do this because I love the game. I love the people I meet by playing. And I feel that daily table tennis helps keep me in good health. In the eight-plus years I’ve been doing this, I’ve never been seriously sick (knock on wood),” wrote Shortz.
The recent 10-year celebration at the WTTC included a ping pong tournament, “we celebrated the 10th Anniversary Westchester Open. As it turned out, it was our sixth-largest tournament ever, with 182 players — just 10 shy of tying the record. While the pandemic isn’t over, as we’re well aware, this is an encouraging sign.
Every month, Shortz and the WTTC hold a tournament for “Pongers,” some of which include top ranked, world players. “For the second month in a row, one of the top players in the world will be competing — Nigeria’s Olajide Omotayo, world-ranked #92 by the ITTF and #4 in Africa. Jide competed here before, in August 2016, when he lost in the final to Jian Li,” posted WTTC.
The club adheres to all masking and COVID health guidelines. “Please note: Mask Policy. We will strictly follow New York State masking rules. A mask must be worn at all times at the club unless you can show proof of vaccination. The proof can be the vaccination card itself, a photo of the card, or other digital verification. This rule applies to spectators and players alike. For anyone who’s vaccinated, a mask is optional. Thanks. Stay safe. Hope to see you soon.–Will,” writes Shortz.
Like many pongers, Shortz started playing ping pong as a kid in the basement or family rec-room. Shortz won several table tennis trophies in high school but then turned to crossword puzzles and dropped his paddle for 15 years.
After taking up the sport again in 2001, Shortz began playing locally here in Westchester at small clubs or tournaments, before deciding to open up the WTTC in 2011, with his fellow ponger and table tennis champ Robert Roberts. Roberts manages the club today.
Shortz, 68, still works as the crossword editor for The New York Times, where he has worked since 1993. Over the past four decades, Shortz has become the dean of crosswords. While I love taking a look at the puzzle every day, (I used to enjoy buying the paper and filling out the puzzle with a pen, but the $4 daily cost has made that difficult) but I was never able to complete a puzzle after Monday’s edition. The puzzles get more difficult with every day in the NYT, but it’s always fun to try and get a couple of boxes filled.
Shortz still authors more than 150 NYT puzzles every year, and with the help of his assistants, reviews more than a hundred submissions every week. He also hosts a yearly Westchester Crossword Puzzle Tournament at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Pleasantville, which raises funds for the Pleasantville Fund for Learning. The tournament was COVID cancelled in 2021. Shortz also hosts a larger crossword tournament in Stamford, Ct every year for master puzzle solvers.
Is there any connection between Shortz’s two passions? “They are both brain games–you are continuously adjusting your play to exploit your opponent’s weaknesses, and they completely focus you on what you are doing. When you are solving a tough crossword clue, you forget everything else in the world. Your focus is solving the puzzle It’s the same thing with table tennis, when you are playing a tough match, you forget everything else in the world, and with both activities, when you are done, you are relaxed, and refreshed, and you are ready to go back in everything else in life,” said Shortz, in an interview at the WTTC.
Westchester Table Tennis Center is the premier table tennis club in the Northeast, and offers a lounge, lockers, shower facilities for men and women, over 100 parking spaces, group training, and one-on-one lessons available for kids and adults. The club is reasonably priced for beginners and families. Paddles and balls are provided.
Shortz said that COVID hasn’t stopped his love for table tennis. “I am playing more than ever and haven’t missed a day,” he said. “These days, with concerns about the virus, table tennis is about the safest sport you can play because you are naturally spaced from the other player and because the tables are spaced out from other players and tables. You get great exercise and improve your stamina as well.”
331 CommentLikeCommentShare
