How to make table tennis more popular?

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Hi guys, what do you suggest would make table tennis more popular and become the best sport in the world??

In my opinion:

1. Hawk Eye Technology

hawk-eye.jpg

2. Spectator closer to the field

close-to-field.jpg

rugby-spectator.jpg

What are your thoughts and opinions?
 
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This is a nice thread. With money there could be many improvements, but there are also other methods to promote the sport, our trick videos is a great example of it :)

-With bigger tournament prizes I think table tennis could get a lot more publicity (golf and tennis are examples of this), but of course it's really hard to get prizes even close to those amounts.. The Grand Tour Final with 1 million dollar prize money was an awesome competition I think, if there would be more of these huge tournaments, I think people would be more interested to follow them. Sport TV channels would probably also be more willing to show table tennis if there were huge prizes..

But if we think about this subject in a certain nation, I think there is some things that can be done without money too. Here in Finland table tennis is really quite an underrated sport and for example I had never really (during the last 10-15 years) seen newspapers or other big media sharing and promoting table tennis. But now that we have made these trick videos they have started to continually publish our videos on their sites. Making videos is a modern way to promote things and that has really worked for us too. Showing people entertaining stuff of something that they don't really know anything about is great way to make the sport more popular.

Another thing that would make table tennis much more popular here in Finland would be to have a high-ranked player who would compete well in World Tours etc. I think this is the most important thing for a sport to get publicity. If there is nobody who can win big international matches and tournaments then the sport doesn't get much publicity. But when somebody, even from a quite small sport, starts to win tournaments and play well internationally then the newspapers writes about it for sure. A world-class player is the most important thing that we would need here in Finland to make tt more popular.

But in a country like China or Germany (there are the best players in the world) it would require something new to the game probably, just like @royan stated. Hawk-eye could be interesting and maybe giving some facts about the match to the (tv)spectators during the breaks could be nice. Like this picture:

tennis facts.jpg
 
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We need Psy to make a new vid go viral with a lot of TT in the background... He could do the horse dance, and hit a Backhand, a good looking female player could counter for a winner and they all smile and do the horse dance...

Haha, that sounds like the stuff of a new trick vid hehe.
 
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I think Hawkeye would be great for the statistics but we don't need it for edge rulings I don't think, it's not the same as tennis where the playing area and the area outside it are on the same level and there aren't so many disputes over top and side rulings to warrant it internationally especially not with 2 players and 2 umpires in every match.

I think before anything else we need more media and more sponsorship. Table Tennis has a low profile in most nations around the world. It needs to be seen more on TV, in commercials for a start. And not commercials of Arnold swinging round like a dork, I mean professional table tennis in commercials. Table Tennis is almost ridiculed in commercials as a fool around game. Really we need some athletes with outstanding image to get mainstream sponsorships and to be in the spotlight promoting the sport.
 
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I don't see how that would raise the sport's popularity, but it IS a good idea none the less. Remember the 2007 WTTC in Zagreb? They did it, and it was great. Atmosphere was phenomenal.
All people see on TV now is an empty hall with 2 players on an immense field, and some photographers and camera's around it. That's not very exciting, also because the players often are focused and don't show much emotion. If you could see spectators' reaction in the same shot as the rally it would probably be more exciting.
 

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All people see on TV now is an empty hall with 2 players on an immense field, and some photographers and camera's around it. That's not very exciting, also because the players often are focused and don't show much emotion. If you could see spectators' reaction in the same shot as the rally it would probably be more exciting.
Good point. Also, I must say I don't like the camera angle that's become standard in the last decade or so. The camera is centered and in line with the middle line, so the player on the near side obstructs the ball way to often. Also, the depth perception is reduced too, and the arc that ball makes is much less perceptible. I prefer the camera being positioned diagonally like in the old days.

Like this:

 
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I just love table tennis. But I see that it isn´t so well-known.
Firstly I think that must change the thinking of people about this sport - when I say somebody that I am playing table tennis as a sport, they usually say: It is sport? It can be hard?! and things like that :) . So it isn´t so known as the fastest sport.

Surely it isn´t so popular for europeans because of big asian dominance in this sport. When is in top ten only two or three europeans and seven or eight chinese it cannot be popular here... When CNT was defeat only two or three times in history it isnt popular here.

And how make it more popular? If I could make any changes in TT I will make it just a little bit slower - I think will be more interesting for specators and I thing it will be better for europeans players - new polyball make the game faster, but I dont think that the fastest sport need to making faster... :D
I'll try to make each point longer, because it is what people like - no 3rd ball strategy!
 
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Just broadcast it on TV, more spectators, more people interested, if never is broadcasted on Tv nobody ever knows about it.

I'm telling this because even now that Portugal have very nice players capable of great games, not even a miserable Game was broadcasted in national Tv, SIC, TVI, RTP etc etc etc...
 
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I have this conversation quite often with a mate of mine. We coach TT twice a week at my sons school and we try to feed these kids to our city club so they can progress further and hopefully one day become pros. (or at least that's the idea!!!)

However one problem we have found from our city club and some others is that they 'latch on' to the ones with natural talent and push them as far as they can and when that player has done their bit and finished their is no-one to take their place because those that don't have a natural talent for the game are left out and forgotten about and because they haven't had the training and coaching that could make them great players they get bored and don't bother.

Although very important parts, it's not just about getting bigger prize funds and more TV coverage. We need to make the sport more accessible to kids by getting coaches into schools to teach the kids about the sport, setting up more community clubs, and making sure that everyone that is serious about it gets the coaching they need and don't get left behind.

As with anything in life, it's all about creating a strong foundation. The only way you are going to do that is to get kids interested in the sport.
 

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I'm telling this because even now that Portugal have very nice players capable of great games, not even a miserable Game was broadcasted in national Tv, SIC, TVI, RTP etc etc etc...
The last time I've watched TT on TV was London 2012. I don't think Croatian TV had any table tennis broadcasts since then, not even when Tan Ruiwu made it to ETTC finale.

And to think our national network used to do live braodcasts of the European Top 12 (back in the nineties, when Zoran Primorac was big)...
 
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1.The first thing ITTF should do (and every single TT federation in each country) is to organize school tournaments and camps. Kids are the future in everything!

2.Camera angle! Table tennis needs to be understood by viewers who havent ever played it. To achieve that we need more close ups and slow motion highlights that reveal with detail the techniques used, and of course spin and speed of the ball.

Angles like the videos below




Especially in the 1st and 3rd video you can clearly see the spin and depth of the ball, even if you havent ever played TT

3.In order to make it a TV "friendly" sport, the definition of the image must be of high quality, and this fact creates great requirements on lighting the table space effectively, which needs professional design in sporting facilities. All of these necessities require tons of money but they are achievable with the right plan

4. Chinese Veterans like Chen Qi WLQ and Ma Lin should be given the motivation needed (money again lol!) to compete in european clubs and championships whenever possible
 
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We have a lot of suggestion to promote table tennis. Compare with football/soccer or lawn tennis for example, emotions, excitements, fans, tv's coverage, camera angel, skill and tricks, stars can give a great impact on promotions. In my opinion, we can decrease china's domination with a lot of team events with big participation. Maybe 1 team consist of 10 or 8 player, 4/5 men and 4/5 women with additional match i.e mixed double. There are changes of rules like flexible time out, player change. With this change, i think will make a lot of match, strategy, emotions and participation.
 

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better camera quality from ittf. it's an absolute joke at the moment
ITTF is streaming the 2013 Global Circuit finals on YouTube, and the quality is pretty great. I wish they streamed the World Tour like that.

Also, streaming the matches on YouTube, instead of on their website makes it much more accessible to general audiences.
 
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ITTF is streaming the 2013 Global Circuit finals on YouTube, and the quality is pretty great. I wish they streamed the World Tour like that.

Also, streaming the matches on YouTube, instead of on their website makes it much more accessible to general audiences.

I am watching the game now, and the quality is not good. They should have hd cameras.
 
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