Bx Science dominates table tennis season

You may think of it as a game you play in your basement or garage. You may view it as a hobby rather than a sport. Watching it may conjure up memories of Forrest Gump playing against the Chinese.

Whatever you think about this fast-paced game with the paddle and hollow plastic ball, just don’t call it ping-pong.

“You’re not supposed to call it that, even though everyone does,” said Bronx Science boys table tennis coach Stuart Symons.

To serious players, table tennis is the name of the game. Since adopting it as a varsity sport last year, it has been serious business in the PSAL, although Bronx Science’s coach keeps things in perspective.

“We are not a varsity football, or baseball or soccer team,” said Symons, a social studies teacher. “Those are much more intense than this.”

Still, the Bronx Science boys are one of the best of the city’s 12 teams, as they have never lost a regular-season match. The Wolverines were 10-0 and the top seed in last year’s playoffs before losing in the semifinal round to Brooklyn Tech, and this year they improved to 4-0 with a 5-0 win over Cardozo on Dec. 11.

Meets are broken down into five individual matches — three singles and two doubles. Each individual match is best-of-five games, with each game going to 11 points. The games use rally scoring, meaning both players can score regardless of who serves, and each must be won by at least two points. 

Bronx Science has not lost an individual match all season.

Three seniors comprise the Wolverines’ singles spots — Andrew Min (first), Justin Yim (second) and Jae Woo Seo (third). Freshman Andrew Wong and senior Glen Price (a star left-handed pitcher on the school’s baseball team) are the first doubles pair and senior Remi Kumar and junior Roger Arrieux play at second doubles.

“The first three singles, we all started together,” said Yim, who was introduced to table tennis by Min in middle school. “Maybe it’s luck, or fate, that we’re all in the lineup together. Since we all played before it was a PSAL sport, we were all prepared, so we have an advantage over other teams.”