Fabrice Grinda

Musings of an Entrepreneur

My table tennis coach is going to the Olympics!

New York is amazing this way: you can really find amazing things! A friend of mine was looking for tennis clubs in New York on Yelp and came across Wang Chen’s Table Tennis Club
(http://www.yelp.com/biz/wang-chens-table-tennis-club-new-york).

This amazing little club is in Harlem on 100th and Broadway. The place does not look like much, but the players are first rate. You can get an hour’s lesson for $40 with up and coming junior players and sometimes with Wang herself. Keanu Reeves and John McEnroe both play there.

Wang never made the Olympics for the Chinese team – she was ranked 4th in the world in 2000 and the Chinese team sent the top three players. Now a US citizen, she will finally go to the Olympics.

You can view a video interview of Wang at:
http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=7ac695ac0e11dd35b64c9a57542a5c8bb3b3fdda

February 26th 2008 Posted to New York

* Comments (7)

Comments

  1. mike
    February 27th, 2008 | 1:15 am

    Fabrice,

    Are you a TT player as well? Wow, model helis, Tennis, table tennis, and mobile startups, we have a lot of things in common :-) Would love to play you sometime at Wangs, when are you usually there ?

  2. Fabrice Grinda
    February 27th, 2008 | 3:19 am

    Mike: I usually play relatively late at night – after 8 pm. How good are you at tennis? I am away for a week, but why don’t we play in Port Washington on March 8?

  3. mike
    February 27th, 2008 | 10:44 pm

    Hi Fabrice,

    Would love to play you in tennis when it gets a little warmer, I will bring my helicopter and show you some 3D as well :-)

  4. rob
    February 28th, 2008 | 12:51 pm

    Hey Fabrice – I didn’t know you were into ping pong as well. I’ve been out of hardcore tennis for about 2-3 years due to shoulder injuries, but have been playing at http://www.nakedpingpong.com for several months. It’s a fun, cool group of people – Wally and Kaz who train with Wang Chen play down there. Unfortunately, they are moving from their cool Tribeca loft next week and finding a new venue to play in, so it won’t be quite the same…. Maybe we’ll meet there some night. Regards,

    rob

  5. Fabrice Grinda
    March 1st, 2008 | 4:56 pm

    Rob: I have played at Naked Ping Pong a few times as well. It’s fun, if hectic!

  6. Tim
    March 2nd, 2008 | 12:34 am

    Let me know when you are practiced up and ready to play again.. 8)

  7. Fabrice Grinda
    March 2nd, 2008 | 6:31 am

    I will have my racquet next time :)

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