The newest club to come to Niles North is the highly anticipated ping pong club.

Ping pong club was founded by sophomores Vaughn Celdrán, Kyle Mikota and Chris Chin and is sponsored by English teachers Jessica Ralfs and Amanda Hussein.

“I used to play ping pong all the time with my brothers when I was younger,” Hussein said. “I sponsored the ping pong club at my previous school, and I’m really excited to see it take off here.”

Celdrán, Mikota and Chin play the game competitively outside of school as a team. Celdrán is sponsored by a professional ping pong company.

At the club’s first meeting last Thursday, about 25 students showed up to play. “We were not expecting that many people,” Celdrán said.

“It looks like this club is going to be pretty successful,” Chin added.

“I wish they had this in the previous years,” Colton Kaplan, graduate from the class of 2014, said.

Right now, the club has three ping pong tables – two are planned to be used for competitive playing and one is going to be for more recreational games.

One thing the club is looking to do is fundraise in order to make money to purchase another ping pong table. Selling chocolate and a bake sale are in the club’s near future.

Also in the club’s near future is talk of playing in tournaments. Both Evanston and Niles West have ping pong teams, and right now, a match-up is set for December.

“I’ve never played ping pong that competitively before, but I’m looking forward to getting better and hopefully winning,” sophomore Alec Bader said.

Whether you want to sharpen your skills before the big tournament or just have some fun, ping pong club meets every Thursday after school from 3:30 to 5:00 in the Student Commons. Paddles and balls are provided and no extreme skill is necessary.

Hope to see you there!