Sacred Hearts School second-grader Tona Sanchez-Udave, 8, puts away a shot earlier this month at 808 Ping Pong, a table tennis club located at the Outlets of Maui in Lahaina. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photos

A longtime passion is rounding into reality for Lahaina table tennis player Noah Clark.

With hopes of evolving the sport of ping-pong on Maui, the 25-year-old opened 808 Ping Pong in Lahaina on Feb. 1, the first and only USATT-certified club on the island and among just a few in the state.

“The first time I opened it, I don’t know what I was really thinking,” Clark said earlier this month. “It didn’t hit me until maybe a few weeks later, and I was in there and I was playing this visitor from Oahu, who’s originally from Tokyo, and it was at that point where I was like ‘Wow, I really have my own club.’ “

For Clark, a 2015 U.S. Open champion, it was the technicality and speed of table tennis that got him hooked early on. But it’s the universal connections, opportunities and inclusivity that kept him in the game, which are experiences he wants to share with the Valley Isle.

Since the 808 Ping Pong club’s doors opened at the Outlets of Maui, Clark said that people of all ages from all over the world with varying talent levels have walked in to play.