The sport of table tennis is second only to soccer globally in terms of popular participatory sport. While many people play it for fun, there is a wildly competitive side to it. Ever fancied yourself a pretty mean table tennis player? Well, this year residents of New York willing to travel to Pleasantville will be able to officially settle claims of who the state’s best ping pong player really is. According to Patch.com, the Westchester Table Tennis Center will host this year’s New York State Table Tennis Championships for the first time in May.
The championships will feature 11 different events that will ultimately award more than $4,000 in prizes. Categories include Men’s Open, Women’s Open, four rated events, and five specific age groups (10 and Under, 14 and Under, 18 and Under, 40 and Over, and 60 and Over). The rules will follow professional table tennis-playing standards.
Even for those who aren’t interested in playing table tennis competitively, the sport can offer a great deal of mind and body health benefits. In fact, the owner of the complex hosting the championships is well-known for being a crafty mind assassin of sorts.
“I play table tennis for the same reason people do crosswords,” Will Shortz, crossword puzzle editor at The New York Times and owner of Westchester Table Tennis Center (WTTC) told Mother Nature Network in a piece on the benefits of the activity. “It refreshes me and relaxes me. I get wrapped up in a game, and afterward I feel great and ready to go back to life.”
Ping pong balls themselves are typically made through a process known as rotational molding. This specialized four-stage process utilizes heat instead of pressure, which is somewhat ironic considering the amount of figurative pressure that competing in table tennis at a high level can have.
“There is a lot going on in table tennis,” said Wendy Suzuki, a tenured professor of neuroscience at New York University and author of “Healthy Brain, Happy Life,” a book on the effects physical exercise can have on the human brain. “Attention is increasing, memory is increasing, you have a better mood. And you’re building motor circuits in your brain. A bigger part of your brain is being activated.”
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