A longtime table tennis coach plans to open a club for that sport in Milwaukee’s Memononee Valley area.
Elev8 Table Tennis would provide 10 tables, including three equipped with robotic equipment to train table tennis skills.
Elev8 Table Tennis would lease space at 3600 W. Pierce St., according to plans filed with the Board of Zoning Appeals. The business needs a use variance from the board to operate an indoor recreational facility at that location.
The club would be operated by Francisco “Coach Chico” Brito Jr. and his wife, Kathleen End.
Brito began playing and coaching table tennis in Brazil before being recruited in 2015 to coach for the Milwaukee Table Tennis Club, End told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
In 2020, Brito moved to California where he coached at San Francisco Bay Area clubs, including 888 Table Tennis Center – the U.S. National Training Center. Brito and End met in Milwaukee in 2018 and they married in 2021, living in California before returning to Milwaukee about a year ago.
While table tennis, aka ping-pong, is popular throughout the world, it’s “primarily a basement/bar game” in the United States, End said.
Brito in 2024 started a YouTube channel, Chico Table Tennis, to help grow U.S. interest in the sport. It has 114,000 subscribers.
“Opening Elev8 feels like a natural next step in that journey,” End said, “and gives us the opportunity to build a permanent table tennis community here in Milwaukee.”
Elev8 plans call for 10 tables for both open play and individual rentals, End said. Elev8 also will offer private and group coaching, league play, and programs for youth and older adults.
Three of those tables will feature equipment from Pongbot, a table tennis robot company.
Those tables allow players to sharpen their skills by returning serves delivered by a robot. One Pingbot table will serve as a recording studio for Chico Table Tennis YouTube videos and Elev8 Online Academy lessons, End said.
Table tennis is a lifetime sport, she said.
“It can be enjoyed by children, older adults, beginners, recreational players, elite competitors and people with disabilities,” End said. “Our goal with Elev8 is to create a place where people can experience the sport at whatever level is right for them.”
The zoning board is to review the club plan at its Oct. 1 meeting, End said. She and Brito hope to open the business by late November.
“We love the fact that our club will be centrally located and accessible to Milwaukee residents and table tennis players from neighboring communities as well,” End said.
Elev8 would open more than a decade after another high-profile table tennis business closed in Milwaukee.
Table tennis and social club SPin Milwaukee opened in 2010 at 233 E. Chicago St. It later left the SPiN Galactic franchise, and operated independently as Evolution Milwaukee Gastro Pong, before closing in 2015.
Meanwhile, another racket sport club, Epic Padel Inc., will open its first Milwaukee padel club soon at 12320 W. Brown Deer Road.
(This story was updated to add new information and correct the location where Brito and End met.)
Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, Bluesky, X and Facebook.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Table tennis club planned for Menomonee Valley. It’s to include robots
Reporting by Tom Daykin, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Tom Daykin, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
