By Nathan Frame, Staff Writer — Clubs are an important part of GlenOak High School, with many different types of clubs operating and providing something for students that peaks their interest. And the new club at school has been a long time coming for students.

This school year, a new club has formed, the Ping Pong Club. This club aims to provide students with the opportunity to meet and compete in ping pong matches, honing their skills and having fun playing a fast paced tabletop game. Ping Pong Club usually meets on Mondays and Wednesdays after school up in the back hall next to the gym balcony. Seven ping pong tables are pulled out and ready to be used each day.

Ping Pong Club is run by physics teacher Nathan Bodenschatz, a new teacher and ping pong enthusiast. He helps to provide materials to play and manages the club. The club has plans to run games within the club and also with other schools who have ping pong clubs, such as Jackson High School.

“I’m excited more so for when we get some tournaments going,” Bodenschatz said.

Along with tournaments, there could be more fun plans, such as a parents night where students bring in their parents to play ping pong with.

Ping Ping Club has been an idea of students for a couple of years, but it has never been able to be established. Conflicting schedules have made it difficult to find a teacher willing to manage the club, but seniors Donald Slomsky and Mackenzie McCartney, the co-presidents of the club, were able to get Bodenschatz to sign on to the idea and get the club started.

So far, students have been showing up to play ping pong consistently, with even more students participating than expected.

“The turnout was way better than expected,” McCartney said.

[Updated Aug. 13, 2017: This article has been reformatted for consistency.]