Table tennis, also known as ping
pong, is the second most played sport in the world as well as the
newest of the world's major sports. Ping pong ball is the official
name for the sport in China.
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Equipment and gameplay
It is played with a light, 40 millimeter diameter high-bouncing
hollow celluloid ball, on a table 9 feet long, 5 feet wide, and
30 inches high with a masonite or similarly manufactured timber,
coated with a low-friction, smooth coating. The table or playing
surface is divided into two halves by a 6 inch high net. Players
are equipped with a wooden racket (or paddle) covered with rubber.
One side must be black, the other side red.
A point is commenced by the player serving the ball by releasing
the ball ( behind the edge of the table) palm up and tossing
it at least six inches and then hitting it such that it bounces
in the half of the court closest to him, then in the opponent's
half. The opponent must then hit it back so that it bounces in
the servers half (not bouncing in his own half), and then the
players alternate playing the ball and having it bounce on the
opponent's side of the table until one makes an error.
Errors can be:
* allowing the ball to bounce on one's own side twice
* not hitting the ball after it has bounced on one's own side
* having the ball bounce on one's own side after hitting it
* having the ball not bounce on the opponent's side after hitting
it (unless the opponent hit the ball before it bounced)
* failing to allow the ball to bounce once in one's own side--you
are not allowed to hit the ball in mid-air over the playing surface
before it hits your side of the table.The other player is awarded
one point. A player (chosen by a coin toss or other means) serves
for two points (regardless of who wins them) and then the serve
passes to his opponent for two serves. Typically, games are played
to 11 points and a player must win by at least a two point difference.
In competition play, matches are typically best of five or seven
games. Before 2001, players alternated serves every 5 points and
games would be played to 21 points and must be won by at least 2
points.
Competition
While popular around the world at a recreational level, most of
the world's best competitive players are from China, but several
world champion titles have also gone to Sweden. The game is also
popular in Croatia and Hungary with some extraordinary players.
Skilled players exhibit extraordinarily swift reaction times, but
racquet construction (elite players typically select and attach
the rubber to their own rackets) contributes significantly to the
amount of deviation from the expected ball flight path players can
achieve by putting spin on the ball, and the fairly recent development
of special glue speeds up the departure of the ball from the rubber,
though at the cost of some ball control.
Ping Pong Facts
- Table tennis was introduced at the Olympics in 1988
- Table tennis inspired the first commercially successful video
game, Pong
- In the 1970s the Chinese invited American table tennis players
to a tournament in China. This marked a thawing in relations with
the United States that was followed up by a visit by U.S. president
Richard Nixon. The popular media therefore dubbed this visit "Ping
Pong Diplomacy".
Ping Pong Shadow Practicing
Violin isn't the only instrument that Shadow Practicing can be used
for. According to the USA Table Tennis website, you should "spend
a few minutes each day shadow practicing. Using a regular racket,
a weighted racket, or just an imaginary one, shadow practice your
drives, loops and footwork especially. Yes, you may look silly (close
your office door!), but your opponent will look even sillier that
night when you show up with looser muscles and in better shape,
with grooved strokes."
Source: www.usatt.org/tip_photo/121602.shtml
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