Where to Find a List of Local Ping Pong Tournaments

If you live in the U.S., you can find details of each year's sanctioned tournaments on the USATT website, the national governing body for table tennis/ping pong.

Events are classified into the following categories:

•  0 Star: $0-$400 in prize money
•  1 Star: $401-$1000 in prize money
•  2 Star: $1001-$3000 in prize money
•  3 Star: $3001-$6000 in prize money
•  4 Star: $6001+ in prize money
•  5 Star: Reserved for the U.S. Open and the USATT Nationals

You can also find a list of USA clubs on the USATT website where you can choose your geographic area to discover the clubs in your area. The tournaments have been sorted by region, so it's easy to find a competition near you.

• East Region: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia
• Midwest Region: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio
• Mountain Region: Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming
• North Region: Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin
• Northwest Region: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington
• Pacific Region: Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada
• South Central Region: Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas
• Southeast Region: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee

If you live in another country, check the ITTF website for the ITTF Country Directory which has a list of the contact details for each country affiliated with the ITTF. The administrators for your country can help you obtain details of the tournaments in your area.

Playing in Your First Table Tennis Event

In order to be eligible to play, you have to purchase a USATT membership or tournament pass. Each tournament will also charge its own fees for each event you decide to enter.

You can enter a tournament according to your age: Under 10, under 13, under 16, under 18 and under 22 for boys and girls; over 40, 50 and 60 for senior players. There is also a Women’s Singles category. You can also enter the Open​ if you are very good or courageous!

USATT has a national rating system and all matches in USATT tournaments are rated. A good option for a newbie is to enter a tournament by rating rather than by age. For example, in an Under 1400 event, you must be rated 1399 or lower to be eligible.

The best players in the country rate around 2700. An average tournament player falls in the 1400-1800 range. A beginner is typically in the 200-1000 range.

The USA Table Tennis Ratings System

According to the USATT, here's how a player's rating is determined in tournaments:

Rating points are gained and lost by winning and losing matches in the overall tournament results. If a player defeats many opponents with a higher rating, their rating may be adjusted upwards and the tournament reprocessed with this higher rating. This is done to protect the ratings of players who have lost matches to a player who began the competition severely underrated and who demonstrates a consistent playing level far above the rating with which that player entered the competition. Each new member is assigned a rating based on results from their first tournament. The more matches that are reported, the more accurate the initial rating will be.