Ping-pong turning the tables

Mind game

Wang's patrons vary in age from 3 to 90, with more and more people sold on the sport's safe nature and its beneficial effects for the eyes and brain.

One of Wang's students has done a study to show how ping-pong can help with mental health and cognitive conditions such as depression and Alzheimer's.

Ana Aleksandric, a 19-year-old table tennis champion from Serbia, is coaching at Wang's summer camp during vacation from college in Texas.

While one of Ana's students, an 11-year-old boy, worked on his footwork, Wang explained that a common misconception of the sport is that it doesn't require much movement or brain power.

"That understanding is totally wrong," Wang said. "Ping-pong requires you to move your legs, your feet, your whole body. And you have to concentrate on what you're doing.

"In short, table tennis is both a mind game as well and a sport."

Long way to go

The sport has played an important role in Sino-US affairs, with the Ping-Pong Diplomacy of the early 1970s, when the countries exchanged players, paving the way for the normalization of China-US relations.

And while an American table tennis player has yet to win an Olympic medal, the sport has at least become more professional in the United States, said Alexis Perez, a former US Open champion who hails from the Dominican Republic.

"It is a great sport, and everybody thanks Asia for introducing it," said Perez, who has been a regular at Wang's club since it opened. However, Wang said there is still much to be done to change the mindset that pingpong is "not a real sport".

Football, baseball, basketball and hockey still dominate the American sporting spectrum, with ping-pong considered more a hobby.

Meanwhile, very few colleges in the US offer scholarships for table tennis players.

"My son told me his PE teacher said that table tennis is not a sport," Wang said. "I was extremely upset. This is a very athletic sport and tough competition."

So while ping-pong has made great strides Stateside, Wang said that earning more respect as a professional pursuit will take time.