Why table tennis isnt so popular? Any suggestions?

[Persistence TT]

Well dont have much to say, I thought it would be a good idea to exchange some knowledge and to grasp your opinions

Is it because non playing fans cannot understand TT when they watch it on a high level? Is it too fast for the average TV spectator?

What changes would you make if you were the ITTF president?

p.s. Maybe I drank too many beers and the philosophical side of me emerged!

 

[John_Pish]

i think its practically too late for most people now, I think what needs to be done, is expose more of the new generation to it (especially in the US)
get kids into it now, so that they will grow up with it, and pass it on

 

[BLUE]

p.s. Maybe I drank too many beers and the philosophical side of me emerged!

I love philosophy!

As you already mentioned it is hard to understand what's going on if you're not a table tennis player, because table tennis is a very spin-orientated sport. And spin is something you can't really see (at least not in TV or from further away). But since spin makes a big difference f.e. while receiving serves, it lookes like many TT players make "unforced errors".

I don't really think that it is too fast. I mean look at ice hockey. If you have never seen ice hockey and you watch it for the first time you wont see anything The black puck is very small. The players have black sticks (or whatever you call them) and the puck is passed at very high speeds. Compared to that following a TT ball is quite simple. Nevertheless ice hockey is popular.

Something I always am confronted to, as a coach for our little kids, is the fact, that table tennis is an extremely hard and disappointing sport for beginners. It takes quite a lot of skill to play f.e. a simple serve and 1-2 strokes each. Just invite 2 guys or childs, who have never played TT and you'll seee what I mean.
Little kids (5-6 years old) have a lot of fun playing football although they have no skill, because it's simple. Chase after a ball and try to kick it. You failed? Try again. There are no limits.
But when it comes to playing table tennis it's a very different story. Even if you don't apply the rules the ball has to land and bounce on the other side.

What would I change? That's a tricky question. I like TT the way it is (maybe allow boosting ).
One thing I definitely would change is the camera perspective. I don't like the static camera from behind. This is neither tennis nor snooker. I really like the camera positions and movements from the WTTC in Dortmund (look here:

Every now and then they would show the match from a near perspective slightly to the side and a little more from the top. I really liked that.

O.K. enough written

 

[integration]

i think there are a lot of variables in table tennis. beginners have a hard time understanding spin mechanics and it takes a while to understand the concepts of how to return certain types of spin.

what also baffles me is that i barely ever see HD quality table tennis videos of big tournaments on youtube (maybe becuase ittf always streams with a crappy camera?). i think better quality videos, as long with different camera angles, may also help new players understand how to hit the ball in certain situations.

 

[Svttc]

Many people also don't view it as a sport. They think it is just a game and they wonder why it is in the Olympics. If you can change this view than more people will notice and become interested in table tennis

 

[sumangupa]

Well, there can be a lot of reasons. The most obvious one being, the spin mechanics of the sport. It's really hard to appreciate how much difficult top level TT is unless you are a player at some level. For a non player it's difficult to appreciate the sport on TV, especially from the end to end camera. The service receiving is an example. Top level players make it look so simple, but it's hard for non players to grasp the fact that it takes years of practise to perfect the stroke. The strategy used by pro's is again difficult for general viewers to understand. And then there's the speed issue. The sport is ten times as fast as what we see on TV. A ground level side camera broadcast would help people appreciate it a bit more.

And the primary reason being, TT is an extremely difficult sport to begin with if you want to play at some level. A person can play football for fun, even though he might just know next to nothing, and for a novice table tennis player, feed him backspin and he would spend his lifetime hitting the ball into the net unless someone advises him. It requires a lot of persistence and conditioning of the mind, even if you aren't top notch and most people shy away from all the intricacies of the sport. It's an extremely, extremely technical sport even at lower levels, unlike other games, and this is what encourages people to talk shit about it.

But, I quite like it this way. sure, I'm all for it gaining more popularity. But TT players form a community of their own everywhere, which makes me happy all the time!

 

[royan]

why table tennis ball isn't like soccer ball with polkadot style so the spectator can see the spin or just like tennis with hairy ball? Maybe ITTF would review the ball size, table size etc and make table tennis easy for play.

 

[Benduo]

People just cant appreciate the fine delicate touch, the lightning speed & agility and raw power that is involved in table tennis.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

I play at a place where a lot of recreational players play. I play at Spin NYC. When the pros are not there, my hitting partners and I are usually, by far, the best players there. Some people will watch and think, "those guys are amazing" and ask us if we are pros. I will tell them that the pros are so much better than us that it is not even funny. Some people will watch us and think, "they aren't that good. I can do that." And they will ask us to play them and they think they have a chance in a match against one of us. When they cannot get the ball on the table, they do not fully understand why.

If people cannot understand what they are looking at, how could they understand and appreciate the sport.

Regular people seem to like those Killer Spin promotional matches where one guy will play defense and lobbing and the other guy will be smashing it, and then one guy will jump over a barrier. They think that is the real stuff. If they see the real thing where the points are usually over by the 3rd-5th ball because of how strong the attacks are, they won't even know it is a higher level of play.

 

[WiWa]

Maybe it would help if there were more doubles matches on big events, or at least that the doubles matches get more attention. They are often much more spectacular and straightforward than most singles matches.

Or show more Japanese players... They always make long rallies haha.

 

[Persistence TT]

Hmmm Timo Boll in an interview suggested color balls so that everybody can read the spin.

Either as a player or a spectator...It would be the first thing to induce if I was president. With color balls spectators can understand better what is going on and why the ball popped really high after the serve or went straight to the net.

 

[desmondfun]

The biggest problem why table tennis isn't popular is because it lacks of "main characters and statistics".

Any layman (people who don't watch sport) will know...
Golf = Tiger Wood
Basketball = Jordan
Tennis = Federer/Sharapova/Nadal
Boxing = Mike Tyson
Formula 1 = Schumacher

Ping Pong = even people who play (not serious play) ping pong wouldn't know who is Ma Long.

If I am ITTF president, I will start by character building. Make the player popular, more interviews, more magazine, more focus on their emotions and stories.
So far, I don't even know Ma Long life, whether she got a girlfriend. But we all know Federer has a wife with 2 beautiful twin daughter. We also know how much money Federer make in every year. Basically, they are more information accessible to tennis player and other sports people.

In Tennis, they are machine that can measure the speed of the serve, and how fast is the rotation of the ball. It also provides us with a lot of statistic in every match. Very much like football. So, in ping pong, we need a machine that can measure the spin and speed of the ball. We also want to know the statistic of successful forearm, smashes, number of hit in a rally, and other "unnecessary" figures.

Even us, the hardcore fans, are not 100% sure what blade/rubber Ma Long/Jike/Shiwen. The information we get are not even official too. Pro Ping Pong information are too little and very disparate.

And ping pong website sucks too.
Take a look at this http://www.ittfranking.com/ COMPARES to this http://www.atpworldtour.com/
Can't they just hire a proper web designer to make the ping pong website looks more professional?
Shit I say.

 

[Persistence TT]

I think that in chinese super league when the ball goes away from the table and the players need to go fetch it to continue (wasting time and playing with the spectators nerves...specs wanna see action not players chasing a ball) , the umpires provide them with a new one.

What do you think about that?

 

[Kevzar]

One of my friends told me it isn't manly enough I have to agree with him

 

[TurboZ]

The inherit problem is the size of action. It is simply too small to attract spectators to pay for tickets to enter a stadium and watch a game 100 yards away. TT can never compare to popular sports like soccer and basketball or any other of the sort. Ticket selling is a major source of income. Without the money the sport is going nowhere and hard to attract the younger generation. It is common to see an empty hall in many tt matches. And people always laugh at the small cheque a winner can get. Money builds image. Not to offend anyone but there are overweight, underweight and any shapes in between even in the pro circuit and that certainly has a negative impact to the image.

 

[Michal_Z]

Well .. I think pingpong needs more propaganda..
To include pingpong into some humor shows would be great!
As lately they did this in Czech rep. in the tv show something like Good morning people - they included Petr Korbel to show some table tennis, explain a little what is it about and showed a little exhibition.
But most I like the Japanese, they can call girls and boys and try some tricks, to hit something on the table, or to play warm up without the table - just 2 pieces of table like 20x30 cm on the place, where usually bounces the ball during the warmup and they played..
Just to show it to people more and more, nothing else would get table tennis popular..
They just need to know there is much fun playing and watching it..
People dont know this.
That is the problem..

 

[Persistence TT]

Another question! Where was the first time you played table tennis? Did you have a table in your school to play between lessons?