ST. CHARLES, Mo. -- More than 140 universities in the U.S. and Puerto Rico have table tennis teams, but only three offer scholarships for a sport that enthusiasts say is far different than the pingpong you play in the basement.
One of the three schools is Lindenwood University in the St. Louis suburb of St. Charles, whose 18-player team -- most of them international students -- recently ranked third in the nation, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Lindenwood will host the Midwest division National Collegiate Table Tennis Association regional championship on Sunday.
"It's a real sport, and it's an Olympic sport," freshman player Esther Gusov said. Gusov, whose parents are from Ukraine, has been playing since she was 7. The 18-year-old from Creve Coeur admits people sometimes laugh after she tells them she has a partial scholarship to play table tennis at Lindenwood.
Coaches Randy and Kelly Kendle started the team in 2008, hoping to provide competition for Texas Wesleyan, the table tennis powerhouse which, along with the University of Puerto Rico, also offers table tennis scholarships.
"You always want to see more competition, and Wesleyan is kind of like the New York Yankees of college table tennis," NCTTA President Willy Leparulo said.
Lindenwood has a history of unusual and rare scholarship programs -- the university has covered most of the tuition to winners of the Miss and Miss Teen state competitions in Missouri and elsewhere. It also has allowed farm families to give the school livestock or crops in exchange for tuition.
The table tennis scholarships help bring diversity to the campus and has helped it recruit globally, officials said.
University spokesman Scott Queen said the average scholarship for a table tennis player at Lindenwood is about $7,900, or two-thirds of the tuition.
The NCTTA hopes that other schools will see Lindenwood's success and decide to offer scholarships, Leparulo said.
The coaches run the practice like any other athletic team; they have warm-ups, drills and even require the player to run laps if they show up late.
Table tennis was a shared interest of Randy and Kelly Kendle when they met in an online support group for widows and widowers several years ago. They played pingpong on their second date. After getting married and blending their families (eight kids total), they started the St. Peters Table Tennis Club in 2005, which has about 50 members. St. Charles and St. Louis County also have table tennis clubs.
Many of the Lindenwood players are from Brazil, including 23-year-old Andre Irigoyen. He started playing when he was 10 after he quit basketball.
"The dynamics of the game is what really attracted me to it," he said. "It takes a lot of different skills to win a single point."
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