Of course every kid dreams of growing up to be a ping pong Star, because being a table tennis player totally ROCKS! There are many great things about this sport that are worth considering when choosing your path in life.
Table Tennis or Ping Pong?
Some call it table tennis others call it pin pong, but it’s all the same game. First, let’s review the rules. Table tennis is just that; a tennis type game using similar rules played on a tabletop. The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) rules state the table is 8 feet 11 inches long and 5 feet wide. There is a six-inch net stretching across the middle of the table, dividing into two equal halves.
There is a white stripe down the middle similar to the service line on a tennis court. Novice players often refer to table tennis by its original name, Ping-Pong. The story behind the name Ping-Pong itself, is one of ten reasons why it rocks to be a table tennis player.
- See Related: Top 10 Table Tennis Rackets Buying Guide
- See Related: Top 10 Ping Pong Tables Buying Guide
Reasons to be a Table Tennis Player
1. Helps you Stay Fit
Fitfulness is a mouthful, but playing table tennis, if even a casual game, is an excellent way to add a little activity to your life. Now, consider that the official tournament room size for a match is 45 feet; you can easily appreciate how taking your game to the next level could provide some serious exercise. People who enjoy table tennis can rock their health and fitness.
2. Build up Brain Power
If you play table tennis, you not only burn up some physical energy, but science says you exercise your brain. Wendy Suzuki, PhD a Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology at New York University has studied the mental benefits of playing Ping-Pong.
Suzuki refers to it as the ‘brain sport’. The study indicated that when participating in table tennis games you engage the prefrontal cortex in your brain; the area responsible for strategic planning and deductive thinking. By playing a little casual table tennis, you rock your brain – in a good way.
Table Tennis is a Sport
The difference between the actual game of Ping-Pong, and what the international governing body refers to as table tennis, is negligible. However, in the world of table tennis, one considered a game that’s played for fun in your basement or garage, while the other is a worldwide recognized sport.
Sure, Ping-Pong players enjoy the recreation of the game, but table tennis players are full-fledged athletes, competing in a globally recognized sport.
3. You Could Win Olympic Gold
Since 1988, table tennis has rocked the world as an Olympic event. Although China has done the most rocking, the rest of the world has steadily improved over the last few Olympic games.
China has won over half the total 100 medals awarded, but Japan closed the gap in 2016 winning silver and a pair of bronze medals. China is still the dominant table tennis playing nation, but the rest of the world still strives to rock for gold.
4. So Cool it’s a Registered Trademark
Many people raise an eyebrow when they hear the word, ‘table tennis’. “You mean, Ping-Pong, right?” Well table tennis, or Ping-Pong if you must, generated so much early enthusiasm when it first originated as an alternative to lawn tennis in England in the late 19th century.
Not too long after the idea drifted to America, just after the Ping-Pong craze of the 1920s, Parker Brothers grabbed a registered trademark for the name ‘Ping-Pong’ in 1931. Any sport that generates such enthusiasm, barely 2 decades after being invented, to warrant a federal trademark, certainly does rock.
5. You Could Become Wildly Famous
The Windy City is known for legendary cuisine and spectacular nightlife, but now Chicago is one of the coolest scenes in the world for table tennis. Mega movie star Susan Sarandon has opened a 16,000 square foot table tennis emporium on State Street in the North River region of Chicago. With an allure of graffiti décor and lively music augmenting 20 tables, it rocks to be part of the Ping-Pong crowd in Chicago.
6. Help Bring World Peace
It was referred to as Ping-Pong Diplomacy, when it 1971 China invited table tennis teams from England, Columbia, Canada and the United States. Staged during a time in the world when cultural differences were embroiled in a war in Southeast Asia, the event showed how it could be cool to play table tennis. In 1971, table tennis rocked the world for a time.
7. Geek Out on the Latest Table Tennis Tech
If you really want to throw in an extreme techno side to table tennis, look for a way to test out the new AR Ping-Pong table. A student at Germany’s University of Design Schwäbisch Gmünd, created a table with a built in system to track every shot. This state-of-the-art tabletop allows players to perfect their training with every shot. Table tennis even rocks technology.
8. Be on the Cutting Edge
Jumping straight from the techno-table, designed to track every shot, a new diversion of the game has recently materialized. Called ‘Inclusion’, it is table tennis blended with racquetball. Plexiglas sides are added to the table to truly challenge the table tennis player’s skill and strategy. Table tennis even rocks the world of innovation.
9. Making a Fashion Statement
The world of table tennis has sought to enhance the spectator appeal of the sport. Once known for players wearing baggy pants and tee-shirts, there is a fashion trend drifting into the table tennis world. Spurred by an initiative by the ITTF, the uniforms are gradually starting to make a stylish, sometimes sexy fashion statement.
10. Rock it Like a Ping Pong Star
Table tennis can be a fun activity, but it is also a sport taken very serious by the athletes who compete in world-class competitions. There is even gold to be won at the Olympics. It’s innovative with wild technological changes. You can make a fashion statement and play like the stars. Table tennis has been rejuvenated and if you play you rock!
Top 10 Best Table Tennis Players of All Time
On a more serious note, the Chinese are by far the world’s best table tennis players. Here is a list of some of the most famous Table Tennis Players no one has ever heard about:
10. Yoo Nam-Kyu, male ping pong player from S.Korea.
9. Chen Jing, Chinese female player.
8. Wang Liqin, Chinese male table tennis player.
7. Guo Yue, female player from China.
6. Qiao Hong, Chinese female player.
5. Liu Guoliang, Chinese male player.
4. Zhang Yining, Chinese female
3. Deng Yaping, female Chinese
2. Wang Hao, male Chinese player
1. Wang Nan, Chinese female player.
