Do you know? (the ping-pong song)

Table tennis improves motor skills, balance, posture and co-ordination for people with Parkinson’s. You can play it virtually, but I prefer to play it in the real world.

Up to now, ping-pong has been purely a spectator sport in our house. We have several little white bouncy balls in our house, but most of them are lurking under the furniture, chased there by LouLou the cat. Our previous cat Tiggi was the real athlete, rivalling the Schmeichels’ goalie skills, chasing the ball up and down stairs and using the bath as a squash court.

I belong to a number of groups on Facebook devoted to sport and exercise for Parkinson’s. We are like-minded people all accountable to each other. We spur each other on, make each other laugh and raise spirits in hard times. One of these groups is Parkinson’s Exercise in Action.

Leona Braund from Ayr is the resourceful, energetic and eccentric founder of this group, which is now more than 600 strong. Some very strong. We take part in a huge variety of activities, this showreel is just the tip of the iceberg.

Leona was diagnosed with young onset Parkinson’s in 2012 when she was just 38. A keen cyclist and open water swimmer, she’s always willing to give something new a go. So when she added virtual reality table tennis to her exercise portfolio, I thought – I’ve got to try this.  Especially as there is promising evidence (Olsson, 2019; Inoue et al, 2021) that playing table tennis can improve motor skills, balance, posture and co-ordination for people with Parkinson’s.

Another world

I appealed online for somebody who could lend me the kit, and a family in my brass band kindly lent me an Oculus Quest virtual reality headset loaded with the game Eleven.

This was my first venture into virtual reality – and it was very disorienting, a bit like the parallel universes of Philip Pullman’s Subtle Knife. I had no idea how you didn’t bump into furniture out there in the real world. But once I had worked out how to set my ‘guardian boundary’ I was ready.

Sadly, VR and my semicircular canals are not ideal companions. After only a few games, I was overtaken by such a wave of nausea that I had to lie down in a darkened room for the rest of the afternoon. So it’s not for me – but you can’t say I didn’t try! For people with stronger stomachs I can see the potential benefits – an interactive exercise you can do at home and set your own targets.

The real thing

I couldn’t hack it in a parallel universe, but it did set me thinking – maybe I should take up table tennis in the real world? So I’m delighted to find my local branch of the University of the Third Age (U3A) runs two sessions a week. Their numbers are restricted by social distancing at the moment, but as soon as they’re not, I’m on the waiting list.

In his blog ParkyBoy, Rob from Leeds writes:

“I’ve been delighted to learn that table tennis is one of the best activities for someone with Parkinson’s. It doesn’t surprise me. I used to be a half-decent player, half a lifetime ago. I sometimes marvelled at how we were able to make such fine adjustments, so quickly, not realising how important that might become one day. So I need to seek out a way to play regularly after lockdown.”

“I’ve seen the ads for the Ping-pong Parkinson’s UK table tennis championship in August, and intend to take part. I’m likely to be way out of my depth in various ways. I find it difficult socially to go into a space where I don’t know people. Then once in that space I’ll be hoping not to find that I’m the only player who hasn’t played in the Olympics! But I’m determined to give it a go.”

Andrew Cassy from East Suffolk was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson’s at the age of 44 in 2010. Andrew has played table tennis for more than 30 years and credits the sport with slowing the progress of his Parkinson’s. He’s keen to spread the word across the spectrum from grassroots to elite.

Taking on the world

The UK championship event takes place in St Neots, Cambs, on 21 August.* It is being run by Parkinson’s Disease Table Tennis UK (PDTTUK) supported by Table Tennis England.

Leona and Andrew are also training for the 2021 ITTF Parkinson’s World Table Tennis Championships in Berlin in September*. To paraphrase Leonard Cohen, first, we take St Neots, then we take Berlin.

Play > Do you know? (the Ping-pong song) > Enrique Iglesias

That’s cool. I’d never thought of using a ping-pong ball as a percussion instrument.

Photo by Magda Ehlers from Pexels

*Depending how far along the COVID roadmap we are by then.