Table tennis anyone?

NEA Today, Jan 2003 by Fischer, Lauren

Rhoda Samkoff is familiar with the phrase ping pong," a term coined by the Milton Bradley Company back when the leisure activity was confined to the parlor. But what Samkoff plays is table tennis, the highly competitive worldwide sport that has become her passion during the past eight years.

Samkoff, a social studies teacher at Glenwood Elementary School in Millburn, New Jersey, turned to a local table tennis club after an ankle injury forced her to quit ice dancing. Table tennis, which is an Olympic sport in almost every country except the United States, has enabled Samkoff and her team to meet people from all comers of the world. Her training partner, Anani Lawson, hails from Togo, Africa, and Samkoff has traveled to Manchester, England, to face opponents. Last year, Samkoff placed fourth in the women's event at the New Jersey State Championships.

Each school year at Glenwood begins with a table tennis exhibition, where Samkoff and a guest player entertain and impress teachers and students with trick shots set to music. But Samkoff also enjoys "infusing the sport with a new generation of eager players" through her after-school table tennis club, the only one in the Millburn school district. As a certified instructor, she wants to "lend credibility" to the sport and offer students the chance to learn skills in a casual environment, where gender, strength, and skill level do not matter. The school maintains a lengthy waiting list of students eager to join the club.

Samkoff ends each school year with a student tournament. Winners receive trophies from Samkoff's private collection, ones she's collected from her own competitions through the years.

-Lauren Fischer