Ping Pong, Table Tennis, a.k.a.: Iron Sharpens Iron (I.S.I).
If you ever find yourself walking through the halls after school, you might be able to hear multiple rival paddles battling in intense matches in the cafeteria, otherwise known as “the Bistro.”
Students and staff meet in the Bistro weekly to compete in table tennis matches. Two staff members started this silly yet competitive “unofficial” club, one night last school year. “It began with Mr. Calato and I feverishly playing ping pong until like three a.m.” says Jake Baver.
These two staff members became so invested in this sport that they brought it back into the halls of Oyster River High School (ORHS). “It started at a teacher workshop day last year. Ping tables were out in the gym, it coincided with the ping pong unit, and we had some time to play games. Several of us started playing and realized that there’s a handful of us that can play, and that turned into an after-school thing” says science teacher Jon Bromley.
“Some students caught wind of this and once we realized that there were enough passionate ping pong players trying to play it became more of a fun, silly exercise,” says Baver. As more students and faculty joined in, it became the unofficial club that it is today. They found a permanent place to play this sport after school in the Bistro. The members of this newfound ping pong league gave it a name: Iron Sharpens Iron.
In addition to this, Baver also sends out a weekly newsletter called the Iron Flyer. “It made it more intense to do a weekly update that felt like ‘if you’re in you’re in,’ but anyone can join. It’s a lot of silly word play so it’s fun for me as a writer, but more importantly it’s a highlight reel in the week of pong.”
Each week members of the I.S.I compete to secure a spot in the Iron Ten, a list of the weekly top ten ping pong players.
Because of the competition aspect, some I.S.I matches get intense. “It gets competitive, definitely, and it’s full of people who love to compete, but it’s also a really fun environment to be a part of,” says Corey Handwork (‘25).
Even if you aren’t a skilled ping pong player you can still have fun. Kylin Ayotte (‘25) says, “It’s super positive, but also really competitive, but there’s a good balance. If you’re not good at ping pong you’re still completely welcome to go and play with everyone.”
The I.S.I is more successful than Baver and Calato thought it would be, “Considering we had no preconceived notion of what it was going to become, I’d say it was very successful. We had multiple tournaments… and we had a large group of people playing, staff and student,” says Baver.
To help even the scale from silly to competitive, each member of the I.S.I is given a nickname that reflects their skill. For example, Baver’s nickname is “The Sherif ” while Calato’s nickname is the “Boa”.
The first newsletter of the year was sent out this December addressed from The Sherif, inviting previously involved staff and students to the first meeting of the I.S.I. Since then, there has already been a tournament, The Iron Rust Off. This tournament established The Iron Ten to start the year. Stay tuned for the next newsletter from the Sherif.
-Olivia Andersen
Artwork curtesy od Colleen Keeley
Mouth of the River 
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