“Think you’re good?” is the unofficial saying of Major League Table Tennis.

It’s the question aimed at every person who’s ever smacked a plastic ball across a rickety table in a basement or a garage. This weekend, the Portland Paddlers and their opponents are on the court to answer that question, proving that professional table tennis is a major league sport.

This weekend, Portland hosts some of the best players in the country at the Oregon Convention Center with the Portland Paddlers aiming to make an early push in the West Division standings. Competition started Friday as the Paddlers won 15-6 against the Los Angeles Spinners.

“We just want more people. Especially we want people in Oregon to be excited about table tennis,” said Matt Parker, vice president of Marketing for Major League Table Tennis. “It’s so important that people who see it as a game realize it’s a sport.”

The tournament continues through Sunday and also marks the season debut for three teams: the Spinners, Carolina Gold Rush and Chicago Wind. Portland’s team is led by coach Christian Lillieroos andincludes athletes from the United States as well as South Korea, Japan and Sweden.

The league’s season is structured around intensive weekend events. Four of the league’s 10 teams converge on a host city for three days of competition, running from Friday through Sunday. For each event, the coach selects a six-player roster. The league maintains a co-ed format by mandating that at least one of those six players be female. Over the weekend, each selected player generally plays in one match per day.

The Major League Table Tennis team match is basically a race for 21 points. A standard match features five total bouts: two singles, one doubles and two more singles. Teams earn one point for every individual game won across these matches.

That action culminates in the Golden Game — a winner-take-all race to 21 points where all five team members rotate in every four points. The winning team claims an additional 6 points, which can sometimes change the outcome of the entire night.

“It’s very fast and it takes more physical strength than most people think,” said Portland Paddler player Hampus Nordberg, who was drafted from Sweden. “I think the first time you see real table tennis, you notice that it’s not what you think it is.”

The game itself is intense. The action is so fast that most audience members on Friday kept their phones pocketed, only grabbing them to record matches that seem to end in the blink of an eye.

The game takes a lot of practice and technique, Nordberg explained. It’s different from the basementor garage “ping pong” it’s often associated with.With an estimated 850 million fans globally, table tennis is one of the world’s most-watched sports, especially across Asia.

“It’s one of the most popular sports in the world,” Parker said. “But of course in America, we haven’t seen anything yet.”

That’s the gap Major League Table Tennis founder Flint Lane set out to fill when he launched the league in 2023. Now in its third season, the league has grown to 10 teams and the hope is that more people will pay attention to the competition.

Players are familiar with misperceptions about their sport.

“Even my wife, the first time I met her, I told her that I’m a professional table tennis player, she said, ‘Ah, you can make a living outta table tennis?’ So, I’m used to it,”Nordberg said and laughed.

But those who do follow the league are dedicated. Many fans watching from the stands show the same intense loyalty and respect for the athletes as supporters of any major professional sport.

That included Isaac Zuckerman on Friday night, a longtime Portland table tennis player and fan. A painted Portland Paddlers Simpsons-themed sign sat next to his seat.

“We’re just inspired by them and respect them for sure,” Zuckerman said, nodding to the players on the court. “You can see me and my friends, we’re all just geeking out about how incredible what they’re doing is. You have to play from a very young age very seriously to be this good.”

There’s still time to catch the competition in Portland.

The Major League Table Tennis tournament runs through Sunday at the Oregon Convention Center. The hometown Portland Paddlers are back on the court at 7:30 p.m. Saturday against the Chicago Wind, followed by a 2:30 p.m. Sunday finale against the defending champion Carolina Gold Rush.

Fans can purchase a weekend pass for $55 or a single-day pass for $24. Tickets for individual team match-ups range from $7 to $12. Activities, merchandise and other table tennis demonstrations are also available at the convention center.