Longtime player, promoter honored at Keystone Games table tennis competition

NANTICOKE — Before play could officially begin on Saturday in this year’s Keystone State Games and Pennsylvania Senior Games table tennis tournament, some business had to be attended to first.

Fred Kistler, a lifelong player, coach, promoter and club founder from the Lehigh Valley, was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pennsylvania Table Tennis Association to open the action at the Nanticoke Table Tennis Club.

“I never expected anything like that … I never expected anything, period,” Kistler said. “I just do it because I’ve learned to love the game.”

Kistler was one of about 30 players testing their skills as part of the Senior Games competition on Saturday, all competitors keeping an eye on next year’s National Senior Games in Des Moines, Iowa.

The field included several travelers from Kistler’s Lehigh Valley Area Table Tennis Club along with a handful of locals (including Swoyersville Borough councilman Joe Olejnick) and even a few players from neighboring states, eligible to do so because this year’s Senior Games serve as a qualifier for the National games next year.

The action was divvied up into singles, doubles and mixed doubles fields based on age, and all up and down the tables were fierce competitors defying age — and seemingly gravity, at times — to play incredibly high-level table tennis.

“I’ve seen it referred to as ‘high-speed chess’,” said Frank Roth, a participant in the Games for, in his estimation, as long as they’ve been around. “Strategy plays an enormous part of it. … It’s a brain-healthy sport.”

Roth praised Kistler for his contributions to the sport, and even acknowledged that Kistler got him started on his own journey in table tennis.

Kistler said that he picked up the game from his father and his uncle, and would take his lunch hour while in college to get a few games in.

The sport has taken him to many different places, and introduced him to many different people that he likely wouldn’t have gotten the chance to meet otherwise.

“One of the cool things about the sport is that you get to meet people from all over the world,” Kistler said, and added that “my Spanish has improved dramatically.”

He joked that, when he was brought into the center of the room before the start of the competition Saturday morning, that he might be in trouble.

“I’m more amazed than anything,” Kistler said. “It’s very heartwarming.”

Like many of the other Keystone State/PA Senior events found around the area this weekend, the table tennis field is made up predominantly of returning competitors, players who have been a part of the Games for several years and will be returning for several years more.

Anita Fazakas was one such returnee, a longtime veteran of the competition who came to town from Bethlehem to play. Fazakas competed in the female singles part of the tournament, and was also slated for mixed doubles action later in the day on Saturday.

“I like the level of competition,” she said. “I have fun, even if I lose. … You always pick something new up.”