What is the Ping Pong Project?

The Ping Pong Project started as a way to raise awareness for the need of public ping pong tables. We decided to put together a film showing just how much a community can benefit from having public tables. The video is intended to be shared with your local government and community to show just how great public ping pong tables can be.

What can ping pong do for you?

Ping pong has numerous benefits for the mind, body and soul.

Here are just a few of them as described by Health Fitness Revolution.

• Playing improves hand-eye coordination and it stimulates mental alertness, concentration and tactical strategy. This makes it the perfect game for young people to sharpen reflexes, and for older people to refine tactics.
• Develops mental acuity. The speed, spin and placement of the ball are crucial in table tennis, and practiced players are highly skilled in both creating and solving puzzles involving these three attributes.
• Improves reflexes. Due to the fast-paced, short-distance nature of the sport, both gross and fine muscle movements are improved. The game is distinguished by bursts of exertion and recovery, leading to fast-twitch muscle development.
• It’s easy on the joints. Have you had knee surgery, back problems, tired of twisting your ankles? Try table tennis. It’s a great way to improve your leg, arm and core strength without overtaxing your joints.
• Burns calories. A 150-pound person can burn 272 calories by playing table tennis for an hour. Considering the fact that the sport is entertaining and addictive, it can be a fun and easy way to burn calories.
• Offers a social outlet. Whether you play in the community center or at home with friends, table tennis offers a great way to bond with other people while you lose weight. Because young and old people can play the game, it can help improve communication and build relationships, irrespective of age. Playing at home with siblings or parents can bring family members closer and enable them to spend more quality time with each other.
• Keeps your brain sharp. Alzheimer’s Weekly reports a clear increase in motor skills and cognitive awareness from playing table tennis, after a series of preliminary clinical studies in Japan found that table tennis markedly increases the flow of blood to the brain, and could possibly even prevent dementia.
• Improves coordination. Following the ping pong ball as it moves quickly toward you, and following its trajectory as your opponent hits it helps improve hand-eye coordination.
• Improves balance. Staying balanced and being able to quickly change direction are key to being successful in a ping pong rally. This is especially important for the elderly.
• Stimulates various different parts of the brain. By anticipating an opponent’s shot, a player uses the prefrontal cortex for strategic planning. The aerobic exercise from the physical activity of the game stimulates the hippocampus, the part of the brain that is responsible for allowing us to form and retain long-term facts and events.

BERLIN

Berlin has over 1,500 public ping pong tables. On any given day it can be hard to find an open table. People of all kinds use the tables to meet, exercise and have fun. Our hope is that every community will follow Berlin's lead and begin building more public tables. Find a local table to play on here - www.pingpongmap.net

Here are links to international ping pong organizations.

Please email us to add your organization to the list.

Ping Out - http://pingout.net/

Ping Out is all about combining aesthetics with social activities in the public space. Like so many other good things, this project was born by sheer coincidence, and now Anders Find and Troels Øder Hansen’s baby blue tennis tables dot the Copenhagen map.

POPP - http://popp.world/

POPP is Public Outdoor Ping Pong, a 100% Australian owned company that supports local businesses, local communities and local artists. We make free-to-use, permanent, weather-proof ping pong tables for parks and open spaces. By teaming up with artists who adorn our tables with brush strokes, spray paint sweeps and layers of creativity, POPP brings spaces to life with ping pong and art.

PingPoint - http://pingpoint.com.br/

PingPoint is a project which aims to promote the use of public space, social interaction, health, art and leisure through installation of permanent ping-pong tables in public spaces.

Pinksiklubi - http://pinksiklubi.tumblr.com/

Pinksiklubi is an urban project dedicated to social ping-pong and music. Its conception is to create activity, sustainability, design and art in public urban space. The event can take place in the park, in the club, or out in public urban space.

SPiN - http://wearespin.com/

SPiN is the original ping pong social club that combines a mixture of ping pong, art, music and entertainment to inspire connection and celebrate play. All venues are equipped with Olympic ping pong tables, private lounge spaces and a full restaurant and bar. SPiN currently has venues in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Toronto.

SMACK Table Tennis - https://www.facebook.com/smacktabletennis/

Anything and Everything in the world of TABLE TENNIS and Ping Pong. Visit daily for your fix!

Best Outdoor Ping Pong Tables - http://bestoutdoorpingpongtables.com/

We research and review outdoor ping pong tables from brands like Kettler, Cornilleau, Stiga, Killerspin, Butterfly, and Prince. With videos and photos we are able to show our website visitors all the advantages and disadvantages of each model. Ping pong is our passion and we provide our website for those that want to learn more about outdoor table tennis tables.

International Table Tennis Federation - http://www.ittf.com/

The International Table Tennis Federation is the governing body for all international table tennis associations. The role of the ITTF includes overseeing rules and regulations and seeking technological improvement for the sport of table tennis. The ITTF is responsible for the organization of numerous international competitions, including the World Table Tennis Championships that has continued since 1926.

Contact us!

Please contact us with any questions about The Ping Pong Project or how we can help you make a public ping pong table.