From puzzles to paddles: Crossword editor Will Shortz moonlights as ping-pong impresario

PLEASANTVILLE, NEW YORK -- Will Shortz is a puzzle master by day and a table-tennis fanatic by night. He has been the New York Times crossword editor and NPR's puzzle master for over three decades.

However, his real passion lies not in the squares but the paddles. He has been playing table tennis since he was a child, back then in his parents' basement, and at one point played every day for 4,141 days in a row, or 11 years and 4 months.

In 2011, with the encouragement of Shortz's friend Robert Roberts - pals through the club as well as partners in numerous table-tennis road trips across the country -they opened Westchester Table Tennis Center in Pleasantville, New York, a suburb of New York City.

"I think of our club as being sort of a mini-United Nations of sport, as our members were born in 35 different countries. Members' ages range from 8 or 9 up to the 90s. Both men and women compete together. We have one member in a wheelchair who's quite good. And one of our regular tournament players is a five-time paralympian," Shortz said.

Amoolya Menon, 15, of Chappaqua, is one of America's top female players for her age. She started playing at a free clinic at the club, likening it to her second home. Menon hopes to make the 2028 American Olympic Ping Pong team.

The club also founded an innovative program for Parkinson's patients, which now has hundreds of chapters around the world.

"Playing ping-pong has been shown to delay and reduce the effects of Parkinson's disease," Shortz explained.

In 2019, the center held the world's first Ping Pong Parkinson's Tournament. Since then the tournament has moved all over the globe.

On the elite side, WTTC host the largest monthly table-tennis tournament in North America, drawing players from around the world. Since opening in 2011, they've awarded more than $800,000 in prizes -- the most by far of any club.

The club is open seven days a week till 10 p.m. and players of all skill levels and ages are welcome.