So you had a ping pong table in your basement in high school, and you spent hours playing every night. You got so amazing, you could beat the next best guy you knew 21-7.Now you're wondering if you can retroactively be called an athlete.
Not quite.
Why Table Tennis might be considered a sport
Table tennis is certainly a very competitive game, as evidenced by the large number of balls that are dented or broken altogether by ferocious swings taken out of anger. There is strategy, and you can even work up a sweat doing it.
At the Olympic level, the table tennis players stand five or even ten feet behind the table swinging away as if they were playing tennis. They run up and back, side to side. I'm willing to bet they even do aerobic conditioning in order to stay on top.
Why Table Tennis might not be considered a sport
It's debatable whether physical fitness is required for excellence. After all, you didn't have to cut the Cheetos from your diet to beat all your friends left-handed, did you?
Also, except for the Olympics, where does organized table tennis take place? I haven't heard of many tournaments, leagues, etc., where the best of the best go to duke it out.
Final Ruling: Not a sport
Certainty: If you're one of those dudes that plays in the Olympics, you could probably change my mind. Otherwise, grab a ball, a couple of paddles, and a bag of cheetos, and go enjoy an evening in the basement.
12 comments:
My dad tore his ACL playing table tennis. Does that count for anything?
I'd tend to call it a sport. No, you don't necessarily have to be physically fit to play it, but is it really that much different than tennis, except you don't have to run as much?
It takes a different level of "skill" than does, say, poker. All poker takes is intelligence, while ping pong requires the ability to hit the ball where you want it and how you want it.
i once wrote a paper for a fitness class on table tennis and got an A...does that help its cause?
There are two different things here. One is the recreational game (ping pong) and the sport (table tennis). You have to know the technique and learn it from a qualified trainner.
I have TRAINNED table tennis for more than 5 years, and i can say that to be competitive, not even for the olimpics level, you have to train hard fisically and be in good shape.
Of course table-tennis is a sport. Bit it may be, that it´s for rookies not as hard as for professional players...
Pleas check this out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISQtcneOyAQ&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Escbaldham%2Ede%2Ftischtennis%2Faktuell2%2Ehtm
Table tennis is definately a sport
to be good u must be skilled and be mentally fit too
Table tennis is a sport, it's like saying you can just kick the ball around and you're still practicing for soccer, or just shoot the ball around.
Ping Pong is a game, Table tennis is a sport.
Yeah... but like half of the time or at least half of the time I play it's just reflexive movement....
but yeah u do have to have mental strength to be able to determine where the ball goes and stuff
(lol doing a speech on ping pong ^^)
First point: Just because you play table tennis for recreation does not mean that physical fitness is not required to play. Try playing with people who know how to play rather than your buddies and you will find out...
Second point: Just because people don't play table tennis everywhere does not mean it is not a sport. Football(American) is played only in the U.S. but that is no reason to say that American football is not a sport. Also if you search, you will find lots of organized tournaments where "the" best do duke it out.
Why is it a sport?
It all comes down to the definition of a sport. If you go by the general definition ( sport as an acitivity governed by rules with people engaged competitively blah blah), I would consider it a sport. If you think sport is what you consider as a sport, then I guess table tennis is not a sport.
Table Tennis Table Reviews
of course yes..
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