Cheese vs Topspin

A friendly warm up between team 'Rad' and team 'Smells Like Team Spirit.'

Final count down style...

A ping-pong death match at Gaffa?? Really?? I love the strangeness of the whole idea. Normally when you think of art galleries you think of places that are reserved for quiet and reflective times, where subconsciously people’s conversations turn to whispers.

Surely it’s the last place you would think to find an indoor sport tournament complete with flying balls, and a cheering crowd… but then again, we’re not your average gallery. The arcade spaces on the bottom floor have recently become home to a family of ping pong tables, a much loved addition to the Gaffa space and so it was really only a matter of time before we organised such an event.

Costumes and beer would play an essential role.

As a last minute thought I threw on some tie-dye. Tie-dye is always my go-to when I forget about a dress up event, and I kind of liked the play on words, ‘Die’ in a death match. Surely people would know we meant business.

Team Tie Die

After a beer, and a friendly hit in the warm up room it became very clear to me that I was surrounded by two types of competitors. There were those who were there for the laughs and the beverages, and those who were there for the glory, or as I like to call, the ‘serious heads.’ People who refrained from any alcohol as to focus solely on their game plan, perhaps because they thought booze would be a distraction. Personally I had always felt that the consumption of alcohol enhanced my performance and made me an ultimate sporting champion.

Mini Pong!(so much harder than regular pong)

Round One: 'Team Tie Die' Vs 'The Hot Wok Pros'

These two ladies were no such serious heads; constantly fighting back giggles and squeals of excitement with every point, regardless of who won… Tie Die was looking good.

Final result 11-4 Team Tie Die

Word on the street was that Topspin were the favourite to win. I approached the two men cautiously, game face on in the hope of discovering their strategy. The two explained how they worked at a firm around the corner, and had since discovering the pong tables, practiced daily on their lunch break in preparation for the tournament. Indeed, we were in trouble. Perhaps another beer would help.

Team Strong looking worriedly on...

Round Two: Team 'Tie Die' Vs 'Team Tastic'

I was a little bit more concerned about these guys, two tall, slightly shy men with glasses, both wearing friendly grins on their faces. You should always be weary of the quiet ones, I told myself. Surely those smiles are just a game strategy to fool us into thinking they aren’t a threat.

Sneaky bastards.

Just as I had suspected Team Tastic proved quite the challenge for team Tie Die, but there was still hope for us hippies yet.

Steve (the other member in my fantastic duo) and I decided early on that the power of the mind could, if we got into trouble, be our secret weapon. In an effort to ‘physc our opponents out’ we applied our ‘game faces’ and crouched into ready positions, swaying our hips from side to side like professional tennis players. Big high fives and the occasional ‘come on!’ also helped promote our universal dominance.

Final score 11-8

Another win for team Tie Die.

Chopper.

It was around this time when I began to hear talk of a team ‘Eddie Murphy’. With long straight hair, and tight floral pants matched with bow ties, these two boys were more reminiscent of 18^th century vampires than dynamite ping-pong players. However their match against team ‘Topspin’ proved to be one of the most exciting and thrilling of the night!

The trendy vampires were unexpected masters on the court, focused and determined against the smartly dressed ‘Topspin’ team. Each and every point seemed like life and death as the crowd cheered, gasped, and applauded accordingly

The final result was the closest yet

9-11

Topspin victorious.

View from the grandstands

Round three (Semi finals)

Tie Dye Vs Cheese

We were definitely in trouble, and something told me that our attempts to phsyc out our opponents would inevitably fail. Team Cheese were like the terminator, a strong superior force that would be unaffected by such trivial mind games.

Time for another beer.

There were certainly highlights for team Tie Die throughout the match. Steve even earned the ‘point of the day’ with a sneaky through the middle shot, but when it cam down to it, the Cheese was far too strong. (I never thought I’d say that)

Cheese went on to win the entire tournament against Topspin, who I later found out were work colleges at the same firm. I can only imagine the jokes that would be made at that office the following day.

The award ceremony was short and sweet. Cheese were given a kid sized ping-pong game and roman wreaths made of ping-pong balls to wear. 

Cheese Champion

The rest of the night was spent, laughing over friendly games, and answering trivia questions from the multitude of Carlton Draught bottle caps. All in all a delightful night, which was really just what I expected.

A politician pose... Zoe awards Team Cheese with the champion's trophy