SPORT INQUIRY TASK
Alexia Fassetta
Ping pong / Table Tennis Diffusion
1. Diffusion of sport
a) Describe how your sport diffused from its place of origin around the world over time. Include local, regional, national and global scales.
Time line for competitions
1921
The Table Tennis Association created
1926
International Table Tennis Associations established worldwide.
1927.
World’s first international competition is held in London.
1931
set standardized rules and regulations and was being spread out of Asia to the Americas.
1933
US table tennis association was formed
1936
World championships in Prague
1971
The first Commonwealth Championships in Singapore
1988
Table tennis becomes an Olympic games featured in Seoul.
In the 1880s, Ping pong, or as it was originally called, table tennis was originated in England. It began when Elite Victorians during the winter turned their indoor dining room into miniature versions of traditional lawn tennis. The nets were stacks of books, the paddles were cigar box lids, and the ball was either made of rubber, string, or cork. Furthermore, Table Tennis had begun to distribute outside the apparent ‘upper class’ in London. The game spread nationally and reached small towns such as Sunderland and Plymouth.
In 1901 James Gibb brought it to the United State after his England vacation. He is responsible for the creation of the celluloid ball. The sound produced from the ball was completely different and hence the nickname of Ping Pong was derived.
In 1902, the game was brought to Japan by a Japanese University professor who was visiting.
In Japan the game was introduced it to privilege university students, who continued to master the sport.
In 1905, Edward Shires, a British salesperson introduced it to Central Europe. Most prominent in Budapest and Vienna, the game from here dispersed to all over the world.
Asian countries like Korea, Japan and China, were introduced to the games through British army officials who exchange tips and games with the people. Soldiers “held post” and were stationed in places so they could teach the Asian countries.
Popularity spread ping pong throughout the world
b) Describe the spatial distribution of your sport at a local, regional, national and global scale. Use at least two maps to demonstrate the spatial distribution.
Ping pong originated in England and from there spread extensively nationally and dispersed to other countries.
c) Explain the factors that have contributed to the diffusion of your sport.
Diffusion
Is the process of the spread of technologies, products and ideas from their points of origin to other areas of lower concentration?
Globalisation
Is the development of global economic and political systems and world views. This process is aided, if not caused by factors like improvement in geographical knowledge and developments in communication and transport technologies.
Advancements in transport
In the 1880’s, when Table tennis was first invented, everybody was locally fixated and predominately immobile. Improvements of transport played a vital role in diffusing of Table tennis. This allowed more mobile players and supports, increasing the spread and diffusion.
Transport accelerates diffusion
– invention of stem engines
– Air travel / planes / train
– Viable cost effective
– Allows transport to other states
– Spatial distribution changes
Improvement in telecommunications
• – improvements in media
Other emerging technologies
The role played by transnational institutions and/or corporations
The role played by media and emerging technologies to generate and disperse sport
2. Embracing, resisting and adapting to sport
a) Describe the ways in which people and places have embraced the integration of sport into culture using an Australian (national scale) and an international (global scale) example.
Australian (national scale)
Australia as a country has heavily embraced Ping-Pong. Brisbane has embraced ping pong since 1940’s. Since peaking in 1952, having a ranking of 12th. Australia has unfortunately slide down the World ladder. However, the involvement from Australia has always been consistent as Australia is a regular participant of Tournament and competitions. The major association for Ping pong in Australia is Table Tennis Australia which was formed in 1936. Australia generally views Ping Pong as both an important leisure and competitive activity. In 2017, Table tennis association was pleased to partner with the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) to deliver this $200 million Australian Government initiative to get more children playing more sport. Australia supports the development of Ping-Pong and hence, the sport is enforced as part of school programs and even more prominent in Universities such as University of Western Australia which has its own club. Furthermore, Table Tennis Australia shows its support for embracing the sport through proclaiming it is responsible for: ‘Implementing a best practice governance model to suit the sport, Increasing the membership of Table Tennis, producing internationally competitive athletes and producing international level coaches and technical officials’
China (global scale)
In the early 1950s, Mao annouced table tennis as the national sport of China. Table tennis is considered the ‘sport of the nation’ in China. For a very long time, Table Tennis was the only sport available in China. As an opportunity to prove to the world that China could excel at an activity and to develop pride for the Chinese after the humiliations of the past century. To ensure success, scouts were sent around China to recruit young children who had excellent coordination between hands and eyes and quick reflexes. Though systematic training of young kids, China collectively produced the best players and absolutely dominated the game through 1960s. At both the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, China won all of the gold medals in the sport. Hence, China has controlled the world championship competitions for almost half a century now.
China is a very crowded country, the small table required for table tennis makes the game very preferable as it is easy to begin and not space consuming. It is played by millions of all ages at different places like work, skill and parks. Generally, all schools, factories and office building have a few tables in their land to support their desire to play table tennis.
Table tennis can be enjoyed by all classes, the poor and elite can both play the game happily. This makes the game so accepted by all of China as it doesn't require many resources to begin the game and it is accessible to all.
Table tennis is also spectated by approximately 300 million people in the Olympic games. Professional players are considered as major celebrities.
a) Describe the ways in which people have resisted and/or adapted to (ie changed the sport) or resisted your sport. Give specific examples.
Adaptions
Table Tennis Bat
Equipment has progress immensely racquets are now lightweight and the ball is now made from celluloid and is more hollow celluloid ball. balls are much more lighter
In the 1880’s the Racquets originally were made from cigar box lids and the ball was a wine cork. In 1902 Englishman E.C.Goode from USA adapted the racquet to Pebbled rubber on his wooden blade, known as the original rubber racquet. The 1920’s to 1950’s was the ‘hard bat’ era, this included a wooden bat with pips, rubber and no sponge. This bat slowed the game down, however, it was easy to produce and was easily accessible.
The Japanese adapted to the game through, Horoi Satoh introducing the Foam / sponge rubber paddle in 1952. This allowed the game to be faster and spinning the ball to became an even greater factor. He was the first Asian to win the World championship. This encourage the domination of Japanese who were able to move the ball in very skilled way. They were able to have extreme spin and power on the ball. As a result, Japan became the main winner in the world competitions through the 1960’s. In the early 1980’s China took over the reigns. Other, mainly European countries resisted this development of the foam bat as they viewed it as an unfair advantage. However, these countries adapted to foam, changing the nature to a more modern, spin style game
In the 1970’s The Hungarians adapted the game by creating ‘speed glue’ which enabled the bat to dramatically increase its speed and spin.
In 1980 ‘the 2 colour rule’ is enforced, this adaption was used to prevent people from using colours to confuse the opponents and to reduce the effectiveness of combination rackets.
Adaptions have lead to high-tech rackets which can allow the ball to travel at around 150km/hr
Net lowered and Table is harder
During the world championships in Prague in 1936, there was a 2 hour contest for 1 point. This inspired the Table Tennis committee to lower the height of the net from 6¾ inches to 6 inches and make the table tougher, through not repainting the tables. This made the game pace quicker and reduced the time of a game.
International Table Tennis Federation
In 2000: the balls diameter was increased to 40mm. In 2001 the scoring system is changed to have 11 point games, and to utilise the best of 7 games match or best of 5 games.
Resisted
No places or countries have resisted the sport as globally, no harm is enforced to any participants and it is generally credited a very fair and reliable sport. It is ranked the sixth most popular In todays society, around 40 million people play table tennis competitively. In addition, it is estimated around 850millon of people play recreationally, making it the most popular sport with the most participants worldwide.
3. Impacts and the future
a. Discuss the economic and social implications of the changes in the i) nature and ii) spatial distribution of your sport for people and places at a range of scales.
Nature
Spatial distribution
The change of table tennis to diffuse to China allowed social implications as China and USA engaged in diplomatic exchange.
After the ‘cold war’ Ping pong was used by the Chinese to gain peace with America after the ‘cold war’ In 1971. On April 6th, 1971, the US Table Tennis Team was invited to an all-expense paid trip to play in China. They were the first group of American’s to be allowed into the country since the communist take-over in 1949. The trip was a world first effort to use sport to establish and improve social and political relations. Time magazine called it “the pong
heard throughout the world.”
b. Predict the likely future changes in the i) nature and ii) spatial distribution of your sport. Justify (give reasons) your comments.
Nature
Table tennis will be much more electrical in the future through improvements of technology changing the nature of ping pong to be more technical. Development of technology has allowed Thomas Mayer, a German designer to create a futuristic videogame/app. The app involves a genius trainer, real-time game analytics, step-by-step routines and multiplayer games to develop skill progression and create a challenging competitive environment.
Spatial distribution