Back in August 2008, we had a visit from Khoa Nguyen, currently the number 21 rated player (2554) in the US, as well as two friends, Truong Manh Tu (2333) and Trieu-Tien Nguyen (2281), who is Thuy-Tien Goodwin’s brother. Click any image on this page to see it larger.

Truong Manh Tu, David Rudesill, Trieu-Tien Nguyen, Thuy-Tien Goodwin, Richard Williams,
Khoa’s friend Julie, and Khoa Nguyen. Partially hidden at right: Stephen Alfred

Truong delivering a wicked serve to Khoa

David Rudesill, one of our best players, in 2004 spent six months in southern China teaching English, and of course playing table tennis as well. Here he is holding up, in addition to his forefinger, a trophy he won for being the best player of the week in the “A” division (highest of four) at the Shenzhen club:

Here’s a nice stamp from the German Democratic Republic;
click on the image to see it much larger.

The text, translated: “Eighth Gymnastics and Sports Festival
and Eleventh Children and Youth National Games — Leipzig 1987”

We’re on the Butterfly page! They’re sponsors of Stefan Feth, and put up an article (written by Jim Langley) about our recent clinic.

Sadly, we have lost one of our longtime members, Mike Hite.

Read the Santa Cruz Sentinel obituary:

Santa Cruz Sentinel
July 13, 2008

Michael William Hite passed away on July 7 after a courageous battle with lung disease. He was 63. He was a native of southern California but lived his last twenty years in Santa Cruz, a town he loved. He served in the US Navy during the Vietnam war and was a member of the USS Saint Paul Association.

Among his many interests were table tennis – he belonged to the US Table Tennis Association – body surfing, reading, movies and music, music, music. He was a big supporter of Public Radio and was known to many programmers at the local stations in Santa Cruz.

He is survived by his mother, Mary Hite, brother Bill Hite, sister Cathey Hite, sister and brother-in-law Heidi and Ron Ulm, longtime companion Suzi Klein, and his dearly loved canine companion, Moose, along with friends and family members around the world too numerous to list here. Mike will be remembered by all whose lives he touched, and especially by the many many lifelong friends with whom he remained close to the very end. He will be missed beyond words. A celebration of his life will take place in Santa Cruz on a date to be announced later. Contributions in honor of Michael should be made to the Santa Cruz SPCA.

Lyrics from a 1901 song (“What A Funny Game.”),
vividly illustrated by this detail from the cover;
click on it to see it all.

“I’ve played at marbles when a boy,
I’ve played at cricket too,
Last night I saw a ‘ping-pong’ game,
which I’ll describe to you.
They had a ball, two little bats,
a net about so long.

At first the girl went ping
and then the gentleman went pong!
What a funny game –
’twas really most amusing,
til presently they dropped the ball,
tho’ neither was to blame;
and then the lady and the gent –
both underneath the table went,
and stayed there nearly half-an-hour,

What a funny game!”