Ping Pong Club speaks out against complaints

Sophia Jamil
Staff Writer

Hudson Valley students have had various complaints regarding the ping pong club this semester.

From female students complaining about being catcalled in the area to students complaining about the odor by the ping pong tables, the ping pong club has decided to speak out about the complaints brought against them.

Josh Bedell, the president of the ping pong club, is passionate about the game and his club, so he takes these allegations and complaints against his club seriously.

“It was one guy who whistled at a girl walking by. It was stupid and we all let him know that it was unacceptable,” said Bedell about catcalling in the area.

Since having a discussion with the men who catcall in that area, Bedell says that the catcalling to women in that area has stopped. Besides this discussion, Bedell feels there is a general rule of no tolerance for that type of behavior from his players, and that most of the ping pong club members are there to play the sport.

“We come here to just play ping pong. A lot of people walk through those doors, but our eye is on the game.”

Aside from female students complaints about catcalls, Hudson Valley students are also open about their distaste for the smell that comes from the ping pong area of the campus center. Bedell acknowledges the odor, but has plans for the future to make it not as impactful towards students.

“It is a sport. We move around a lot which causes us to sweat. Sweat doesn’t usually smell nice, but that is something we cannot control,“ said Bedell.

Bedell feels that eliminating this problem would be easiest by the ping pong club having their own room or designated area to play ping pong as opposed to their current club area which is downstairs in the Campus Center by the Center for Access and Technology.

“It doesn’t smell all that nice when you walk past sweaty men playing any sport, be it ping pong or football,” he said.

Bedell feels that sweat from players is natural for any sport, and if the school wants to reduce the odor from their area, they could simply turn on the air vents in their area.

To be considerate of others, the club are discussing and looking into invested in an air diffuser so the smell from their players could not be too overpowering for the students passing by.