Do you know....Do you know

So if thoughts of Enrique Iglesias came into your mind and you started humming the tune to his extremely popular hit from about 4 years ago then congrats, you’re on the right track! Well, Kind of…

I actually don’t want to dive into the history of his music or any music for that matter, instead I’m rather anxious to feature the sport that this very same song performed by Enrique later was also known as…can you guess it? Yup, The “Ping Pong Song”.

Some families go on hikes together, some like to play music or sing, but as for me and my house, We play Ping pong.

I’ll get back to that part a little bit later on though. As a lover of Ping pong and even for those that don’t enjoy it, there is a common idea or stereotype that I would say nearly goes world wide. The idea is that those who are of asian ethnicity are naturally better at ping pong.

You might be interested to know that this isn’t how it always used to be, in the early stages of the game (Late 19th century) the powerhouse players were coming from countries such as Britain (where the game originated), Sweden, France, and Hungary as well as surrounding countries. Ping Pong was introduced to the Asian countries through British officers who had posts in these places. It later became China’s national sport and it’s popularity never looked back.

As the game continued to develop, which if you looked at today’s racquets and balls compared to those of the primitive time, you would agree that it has developed quite substantially. This development is attributed, in large, to China’s interest to the game. They improved many aspects of the game including but not limited to the nets, paddles, and tables.

Early edition of the table tennis equipment

So back to the initial idea of wondering why Asians typically are better at Ping Pong...the answers come from various aspects, i'll try to explain a few of them. When one Chinese man by the name of Li Chang Jiang age 56 was asked about why Ping Pong was so ingrained into the lives of his people he attributed it to the hard times that China had gone through. Jiang said that in the early 60's which was a extremely tough time and many struggled to have food to eat or a place to live, table tennis was the one of the only sports anyone could afford to play.  Not long after that there was an exchange of table tennis games between players from the United States and China. This event was the beginning and led to "warming relations" between the two countries. Can you believe that? International relations with China were improved through this game?! I love it.

Some day you may be lucky enough to stay in this hotel if you visit China...

It also has a lot to do with the Magnitude of players and popularity of the sport. It is said to be “China’s Past time”. I talked to a Returned Missionary who served over in  Asia and he said he never went anywhere without his paddle. He assured that he was busy about the Lords work but it is needless to say there were many opportunities to play and he confirmed that they really do take ownership of the game and winning.

This is a public park in China :) This isn't a rare sight by any means over there.

Here are some numbers to drive the point home. This is a comparison between specifically China and the USA as far as players go. China has an estimated 4 million (4,000,000) tournament players, comparable to the United States' 4 thousand (4,000).

A small doubles game at my most recent family reunion in Aug 2011.

Ping Pong was something I grew up learning, it was apart of my family and we played together often.It started as i was a younger kid and the knowledge of the rules and norms came via my Mom as we played together. Competetions are always bound to happen in my home and if I can say so humbly, I’ll just throw it in here that right now I sit at the top of my family :). However, our level of skill is no where near that of the dedicated players of Asia. If you don’t believe, go ahead and watch the clip below :)

So not only is a casual game of ping pong a folk knowledge of sorts, but I also wanted to put focus on the general idea that many of us have grown up thinking about when it came to those that are of Asian ethnicity and play table tennis. It seems that the words "good", "ping pong" and "player" cannot be used with out some tie to Asia. It definitely has some validity and I hope you enjoyed learning about why as much as I did! We can see that the sport really is everywhere over there. From the parks, to the schools, the the work offices, it truly is a part of their lifestyle. Table Tennis is only one of the never ending amounts of hobbies and sports that we can have a knowledge of and learn proficiently without realizing how much we do actually know. I love this game.

Sources:
World Blog - China's ode to pingpong
Table Tennis History
Ping Pong Diplomacy