By Kalle Oakes,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – Let’s play a word association game. Upon hearing “table tennis,” your first impression is:

A) Did Forrest Gump win his gold medal in ping-pong before or after he showed President Lyndon Johnson his war wound?

B) Last time I played, my college roommate and I were cutting a calculus class.

C) Am I still reading the sports page?

These reactions reveal how you weren’t spending your rain-soaked Saturday, when players of all ages and abilities paddled in from four New England states for the Maine Fall Table Tennis Open at the Multi-Purpose Center.

The tournament was sponsored by the Maine Table Tennis League, a group that emerged from the basement of retired Lewiston pharmacist Guy Boisse’s home on McNamara Street back in 1994.

“When we started the league, we didn’t have tables. A couple of guys brought in tables from their basement that were all warped and everything, but it was a start, you know?” Boisse said over the hollow din of a half-dozen tournament matches in progress.

Out of the cellar

From its musty, cobweb-covered roots, the league has evolved into a club of 60 that meets up to four times weekly from September to April.

Eleven professional tables, at a cost of about $900 each, blanket the gymnasium floor for the open tournaments in October and May. Players are paired by rank for league competition every Monday night, and tables are available for practice and instruction every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 5 to 9 p.m.

The cost for an entire season is a flat fee of $40, or $30 for players 12-and-under. Last year, the league’s membership ranged in age from 9 to 73.

“You can’t go to a health club for that price,” said Al Landry, a neighbor of Boisse and a multi-time league champion. “You can start with a $6 or $7 paddle and work your way up.”

Players hear their hobby disparaged as everything from a lounge pastime to an arcade game. At best, it is usually grouped with billiards and darts as a sedentary activity.

Funny, but you won’t see many overweight players.

“I played basketball in college, and I’ve also been a very competitive water skier,” said tournament director Jim Amfilo of Augusta. “People who don’t think this is a tough sport should come try it.”

Patty Prescott of Readfield discovered that exertion four years ago, when she joined the league after 20 years as a recreational player.

“People think, Oh, it’s just ping-pong.’ But when you play the game at this level, it’s an amazing workout,” said Prescott.

L/A: Maine’s table tennis capital

The Maine Table Tennis League is the only thriving group in the state. Boisse said that there are clusters of “6 to 10 players” who occasionally get together in Bangor and Portland, but that many of those players now commute to Lewiston because of the consistent location and weekly competition.

Word-of-mouth has attracted everyone from attorneys to journalists to mill workers to educators.

Rick Shea, a fifth-grade teacher, is the only USA Table Tennis certified referee in Maine and has been instrumental in starting an after-school league for students at Sherwood Heights School in Auburn.

“A lot of people come into the league the way I did when I started it,” Boisse said. “They buy a ping-pong table for $90 at Sears Roebuck, they mess around in their basement and they get hooked. Then they get tired of playing their wife or their same friend over and over and say, Jeez, there must be somebody else out there I can play.'”

As the league’s participation level has exploded, so has the level of competition.

“I’m out of shape right now. It’s just like any other sport, like basketball. When you practice the skills, you get better,” Landry said. “I’m at a point where I’m just trying to maintain what I have.”

Boisse invites anyone with questions about the league to call him at 754-5379 or e-mail [email protected].

The league also has a detailed web site, www.mainetabletennisleague.com.

“It’s one of the nicest sites in the country. And if you look at Maine’s population, our league probably is one of the largest, per capita, in the country,” Boisse said. “Sometimes I stop and think that this all started with me playing in my cellar. It’s quite a thing.”