May 1st! That’s the date I’m shooting for. I was willing to drive one hundred miles to get my first vaccine; and I’m more than willing to drive another hundred for the second. By the first of May I will feel like I have done everything in my power to stop the spread. I actually should be good to go a couple of weeks before that; but I’ll need a few days to get used to the idea of returning to polite society. Jon’s Table Tennis Training has survived the pandemic. While 2020 earnings were cut in half from 2019, people are starting to ease back into training. As COVID cases have gone down, interest in table tennis has gone up.
If you are fortunate enough to live in a place that has multiple clubs, there’s a good chance that you have some level of affiliation with all of them. There’s the club that you write down on tournament forms. Perhaps there’s another club that runs more tournaments or is open when your home club is closed. Some clubs have remained open through 2020, while some are still closed. Clubs in the Atlanta area are extremely accommodating. I’ve never been turned away from a club because I wasn’t officially a member. You might not get such a warm reception at some clubs in Europe, or so I’ve been told. I may have underestimated just how much people are ready to get back to regular life. My neighborhood’s HOA recently had a meeting that may have set a record for attendance. If people are this excited about a neighborhood meeting, imagine how table tennis players will respond when everything opens up. I’ve got at least two other clubs that I look forward to getting back to. I don’t terribly mind being a lone wolf, but most of us need a group, a family, an affiliation, the ITTF, USATT, or a club of some kind. You may not have to be a member, but it might help.