PING PONG CLUB
PING PONG CLUB
The cornerstone of Neumont’s culture resides in our student clubs. As part of our ongoing club series, we’re featuring Neumont’s prominent Ping Pong Club.
Ping Pong Club logo
The club was established in 2018 by Neumont senior, Searjasub Lopez (Sear). After playing for a decade prior, he wanted to bring his favorite sport to our campus. His club then installed a ping pong table in The Commons on campus and began holding club-only and open tournaments to the student body. Over the last couple years, Sear has also secured two additional tables as the club’s membership grew. Today, the Ping Pong Club has 25 members.
Club members hanging out and playing together (2020)
The eclectic club has members from all different skill levels and Sear encourages anyone to join, regardless of prior experience. With 10 years of experience himself, he loves not only leading the club but acting as a teacher for anyone wanting to learn strategy, skill, and the structure of the game.
Spring tournament winner, Kagen Fontenot
Ping Pong Club hosts quarterly tournaments on campus, typically on the weekends as to not interfere with class schedules. The last tournament held in spring of 2020–prior to the COVID-19 pandemic–was open to the student body and played round-robin style, best out of three rounds. The entire tournament was livestreamed on Neumont’s Twitch accompanied by commentary from two students.
In addition to open tournament play, members have their own exclusive on-going tournament they participate in. Members pick up these tournament games whenever they can between classes, weekends, or any free time when they’re on campus.
Ping Pong Club’s mission statement is, “The Neumont Ping Pong Club was established for anyone who enjoys ping pong, wants to play with peers, and better their skills. In addition, the club wants to provide a means to allow the student body to take a break from school and focus on something else for short intervals.”
Ping Pong Club’s game table in The Commons
In the future once the pandemic has passed, Sear says he looks forward to hosting a tournament open to the student body.
If you’re a current student and interested in starting your own club, contact Nine Thorpe in the Student Affairs Department, nthorpe@neumont.edu.