Thanks to the Internet, things are changing. You can find a club close to home, or anywhere you travel, with a couple of clicks on your browser. You can reacquaint yourself with the rules and purchase gear online too, so you'll have a competitive edge on your friends and look cool and snappy. Yes, there is specialized gear for table tennis beyond a plain T-shirt and shorts. If you haven't played in years, you'll be surprised to learn that a glued-on layer of spongy rubber has replaced the pimpled hard rubber or sandpaper of your youth.
Bright orange is today's hot color.
As of last year, by a nearly unanimous vote of the International Table Tennis Federation, the standard ball is 40 millimeters in diameter and weighs 2.7 grams. That makes it 2 millimeters larger and .2 grams heavier than the old ball. Spin is easier to read on the big ball, too, an important plus for me because I wear glasses. After a year of lessons in my hometown, I drummed up the nerve to join a women's league that plays on Sundays. I was expecting a bunch of jocks who'd destroy me.