Sure, sure, maybe basketball’s been getting all the attention lately.  But I bet you didn’t know Princeton has another team on a winning streak – one that’s finished in the top 4 in the nation for each of the past 5 years and counts multiple individual national champs among it members.

That would be the Princeton University Table Tennis Club, and you can watch them in action at the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships today in Dillon Gym. The tournament runs until 6pm, so there’s really no excuse not to drop in and see what ping pong done right looks like.  Unless you have the reflexes of a cheetah, prepare to be impressed.

Maryland vs. Penn State at Princeton's NCTTA Regionals, photo by Giri Nathan

The club’s success is all the more noteworthy since many of the schools they compete against consider table tennis a varsity sport. Princeton doesn’t seem to need the recruiting, though, as several current members met through the high school elite table tennis tournament circuit (who knew, right?) and even trained with the same coach.

If you do decide to drop by to cheer them on, a word of advice: it’s not ping pong, a name that is uncomfortably close to that of another, somewhat less athletic game. However much you enjoy a game of beer pong, I doubt it’s ever been played a role in national diplomacy (although I’d love to know if you have evidence otherwise), nor will you ever see skillz like this in your club’s taproom on a Saturday night: