Author: Kevin James, Last Updated on: 19/08/2020
Let’s face it. In today’s age of smartphone and social media, it is incredibly hard to persuade the kids to pick up a sport. Consider yourself lucky even to capture their attention at the dinner table, yet much less to convince them into signing up for a team sport.
However, you must know that you’re not alone. Parents everywhere have a common concern of getting the kids off their devices and indulging in a physical sport.
One solution can be to introduce your kids to Ping Pong, also known as Table Tennis or TT. It's a fun game which I'm sure your young one will find interesting. The sport is quite easy to learn, almost injury free and yet at the same time is physically demanding.
Being an indoor sport and also not a costly one, you can actually buy a ping pong table for your home. A decent quality ping pong table costs about $300 to $400, which is quite cheap considering the hours of fun you can have while still being in the comfort of your home. Alternatively, you can get a multigame table which lets you play number of additional games such as air hockey, pool etc.
In this post, we tell you the top five reasons why you should encourage your kid to play Ping Pong.
1. It’s an Inside Job
One of the favorable aspects of Table Tennis is that it is an indoor game. This means that your kids can participate in an energetic and competitive sport while still being at home or at the nearest activity center.
It also means that unsuitable weather conditions can never disrupt your kid's practice. With the benefit of being an indoor game, table tennis stands to become a daily, productive routine in your child’s life.
What’s more, you could also purchase a table tennis table for your home. Having a personal table at home could save you the hassle of driving your kid to practice every day. It also changes the otherwise competitive sport into a cheerful bonding experience between family members.
And who knows, a ping pong table might be just the thing to spruce up your home décor!
2. Save a Fortune
Table Tennis is an incredibly athletic sport that just doesn’t ask that much of you. While sports such as football requires you to invest in uniforms and additional gear, it is surprisingly cheap to play Table Tennis.
A ping pong table, couple of paddles, and a ping pong ball, are all you need. You can play in your PJs, sweatshirt, with or without shoes - There is literally no restriction.
Not just that, table tennis also cuts expenses where it matters. It is a relatively risk-free sport which means you can avoid dishing out the big bucks for the healthcare costs.
Summing up the benefits, you'll find that table tennis is a relatively inexpensive way of getting your child to participate in a healthy exercise while gaining additional skills.
3. Get the Wholesome Experience
Table Tennis is an action-packed, highly-competitive sport that is extremely rewarding when it is played diligently. It is widely known to be one of the few sports that help develop an all-round skill set.
Although it can be played leisurely or competitively, table tennis is a real workout. It can help your young one develop of upper body strength. Additionally, it helps in improving body balance and muscular control.
In terms of mental strength, there are few sports as worthwhile as Table Tennis. Those tight matches, high-pressure games and tactics, will surely improve the mental conditioning of your young one.
Table Tennis players are most commonly known for their quick reaction time and flexibility. Since it is a fast-paced game, it also demands great mental concentration in analyzing and responding to your opponents moves in real time.
This high-yielding game can help your kid develop a whole skill set that they can retain for life.
And the best part? They get to have the most fun while doing it.
4. Play It Safe
Most parents, whose kids play sports, constantly have to worry about the sports injuries. But if you’re a parent of a kid who plays Table Tennis, you can breathe normally. Table Tennis is known to be an injury-free sport with little to no chance of major injuries.
Unlike many contact sports, Table Tennis is a game where injuries are extremely rare. Even if your kid somehow injures his hand on the table, it would mostly be nothing major.
5. The Game of Life
Table Tennis offers several health and mental benefits for your kid. But the most important of them all is the essence of the game itself. Table tennis is a sport which teaches you kids the value of discipline, ethics and responsibilities. These qualities could enhance your kid’s personality and prove to be beneficial off the court as well.
Unlike team sports such as Football or Baseball, Table Tennis is almost entirely dependent on the individual performance. This gives yours kid complete control over the outcome of every match and rapidly build up his self-confidence.
Table tennis is recognized throughout the world as a humbling sport which imparts great life values.
Conclusion
To this day, it is one of the few sports that transcends barriers such as age, gender, and physique. It’s a sport for girls and boys, a sport for young and the old, a sport for the scrawny and the bulky.
As you can see, Table tennis can help your kids overall physiological, mental and physical development. Moreover, there is little to none scope of your young one getting injured in the game.
All these reasons make table tennis, a perfect sport for you kid.
