by Alex Coopersmith, staff reporter
Everyone loves Fridays; whether it is because there is time to relax until Monday, a full weekend of fun or a football game in the evening, Fridays seem the best days of the week. But there is a certain group of people that prefer Friday afternoons to Friday night lights. They are the members of the AMCHS Ping-Pong and Chess Club.
After the final bell of the school day rings, while most students are rushing to leave for the weekend, Ping-Pong and Chess Club president senior Zeke Hsieh and a few intrepid others retrieve the ping-pong tables from the closet by the art hallway and roll them to the center upstairs hallway, where they set them up. On special occasions, the tables are put onto the elevator (three at a time) and rolled to the center downstairs hallway.
Once properly set up, ping-pong time commences. Around 20 to 50 people show up every Friday and play. But ping-pong isn’t the only activity that attracts students.
“You can also play chess, and some people bring card games and play them,” club vice-president junior Lily Xiao said.
This club isn’t a new phenomenon on campus.
“The ping-pong club was started about five years ago by a girl who liked playing ping-pong,” junior Pablo Leon said. “She liked playing ping-pong and wanted to do it at school because all her friends were at school.”
According to Xiao, one of the best aspects of ping-pong club is its relaxed atmosphere.
“It provides a good reliever from the stressful work at school. You can play ping-pong and talk with your friends,” Xiao said.
Both serious ping-pong players and people who never play enjoy coming to ping-pong club.
“It’s intense,” Leon said. “The hardcore players play each other well, and bring their own super great paddles.”
Another facet of ping-pong club is that anyone and everyone can show up. Freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors all show up and are well represented.
“You make friends with people you don’t normally interact with,” Leon said.
Though ping-pong club is known for having a chill atmosphere, it is not all fun and games.
“The tables are very easy to break if you don’t know what you’re doing,” Hsieh said. “Additionally, I sometimes have to run around and yell at people to pay their dues, which pay for the food at ping-pong club.”
Though Friday night lights hold a special place in high school, Friday afternoon Ping-Pong has a niche every Friday of the school year. All who attend have fun, and as Leon says, “You should come and have fun!”
