Club Update January 2023

My apologies for not updating sooner. Had technical difficulties accessing the site. Since we lost our contract with St. Johns school, we moved to Peninsula Club in Burlingame. If you are interested in more detail info about the program, contact me at 415 800-9502 or email masaakitajima2@ gmail.com.

Monday, December 25, 2017

2017 Senior Dinner


Short history of STTC senior dinner

We just concluded our 2017 Senior Dinner on Saturday, December 23. This was I think, our 24th year. I don't remember exactly when we started it. Many of our club members or regulars are new and don't know about the history of sunset table tennis club, senior dinner, why, how and when it started.  So this is for your info.

Seniors, in this context, are defined as kids who were juniors-under 17, stayed with the program, graduated from high school, went on to college or in their field of work, became Seniors.

The club started informally with three 13 year olds, Kevin Zhang, Henry Ng and Mark Liu at Sunset Recreation Center in the Sunset District of San Francisco in 1986 just a few blocks from my house. The club officially became affiliated with USATT in 1988. Within the two years, other kids from around the Bay Area joined so we moved to more spacious center in Glen Park District (just a block away from our current location).  In 2005, we moved to our current location at St. John School.

Back then, most of the players were kids, and as time passed, some moved on and some stayed with the club. The ones who stayed and progressed in table tennis and academics, went on to college in the Bay area or around the country, and when they came back for Christmas and New Year, we decided to get together and catch-up on things.

We started with just a few, I think in 1993, informally at a local restaurant. But as  the numbers grew each year, new batch of kids becoming college age, we decided to have it at my house or at one of the student's (my house became too small) so that we won't be constrained by restaurant business hours.  We started informally, then became more formal with some requirements, and now, back to informal because the elder seniors have kids of their own to bring.

"Times, they are a-changing" (Bob Dylan).

Merry Christmas,

Masaaki

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