From the first time I saw stories about Ping Pong Parkinson, I was sold. I’ve always enjoyed ping pong, even though I’m horrible at the game, and I spend 90+% of the time chasing the ball around the room. So, come to think of, I’m not really sure that I do like ping pong. I like the idea of it, but chasing the little ball around the room, and especially when the ball rolls under a piece of furniture…that is not so much fun.
But I do have fond memories of ping pong in my youth, playing in my friend Jimmy’s basement when I was nine years old. So, I think I could learn to love ping pong again. It would be great to find a group of people with Parkinson’s locally where we could get together once a week to play. But more importantly, we’d need to find a facility with room for tables.
In Pleasantville New York, Nenad Bach leads a group called Ping Pong Parkinson, which meets once a week to play ping pong to challenge and improve their coordination and fine motor skills. If you have a local table tennis facility, you might want to talk to Nenad for advice on starting a ping pong program for Parkinson’s: https://pingpongparkinson.com