What is the best age to start playing ping pong? – for kids

Playing ping pong is useful for children. They can develop their attentiveness, speed, and agility. But before introducing your child with this sport you need to know the ideal timing. So, what is the best age to start playing ping pong?

The ideal age for starting in ping pong is 6-7 years. Sometimes parents encourage their kids to start a little earlier, but experts do not recommend starting earlier than 5 years: this sport requires a quick reaction, certain intellectual abilities, and good coordination, which the kids do not acquire before a certain age.

Table tennis is quite popular entertainment among many people. Interestingly, when playing it, a person spends a lot of energy. Despite the fact that from the outside it seems athletes do nothing.

Best age to start playing ping pong

age-for-learning-ping-pong

It’s recommended to start at six to seven years of age. Some parents bring their child to the game earlier, at five years old. But experts think it’s ineffective. To play and win, a child needs some skills.

Among them the ability to concentrate, quickly react to what is happening, and have a developed system of thinking. Five-year-old children do not yet have such skills.

But now we are only talking about professional ping-pong. If you just want to teach your child to play, you can do it even at five years old.

Most parents do this for some time, they tell their child the technique of the game, train them, and let them play the sport. As a result, children come to the game much later. Around ten to twelve years old.

The technique has its advantages, but it is still not effective enough. It’s the reason teenagers get in trouble at competitions. They lose to their rivals because they haven’t gained enough experience.

And kids who started earlier, on the contrary, are more likely to win. Because at a younger age, they went through the difficulties that twelve-year-olds are having at the competition now.

If you want the child to practice this sport professionally and succeed, we recommend that you start to train them at six or seven years old. This age is the best.

Who is not allowed to play table tennis?

This sport is also interesting because almost everyone can pick up without much training. There are almost no hurdles to training.

But if your child has the following diseases, then we do not advise to give him to sports:

  • Scoliosis.
  • Problems with the retina.
  • Hypertension.
  • A high degree of myopia;

For whom would ping pong be more suitable – boys or girls?

This sport is universal. It is played by both boys and girls. Not just teenagers. The sport is popular even with older people.

In addition, there are no strict restrictions on physical parameters: both high and low, full and thin children with any sports background can play table tennis. 

It is also not necessary to initially have sharp vision and excellent reaction – all this will develop in the process of training with an experienced trainer.

It is noteworthy that table tennis can be played by any child of any height and shape. It is both high and low. It doesn’t matter. What matters is the child’s diligence, and the ability to play.

What kind of child would this sport be suitable for?

You can give children to ping-pong:

  • Always active. Always moving, always spurting out energy.
  • Knows how to analyze the environment. Calculates a few steps ahead. You’ll need this when the baby’s playing. He can figure out which part of the table his opponent wants to hit. And reflect his pitch.
  • He tries, sets goals, and goes to them. You can learn to play tennis once and for life, but it is ineffective. To become a professional, you must always improve your skills. Learn something new. This is the only way to start winning from strong opponents.

It is interesting that you can practice this sport as a preparation for boxing fights. Boxers, however strange it may be, often come and play ping-pong.

It helps them to develop their reaction, concentration, and ability to throw punches back in a matter of seconds. That’s a pretty useful skill in the ring.

So, if you are going to give your child to boxing in the future, we recommend you enroll him in a ping-pong section. He’ll be pretty well prepared for future classes.

The benefits of ping-pong

Your city must have sports fields with table tennis tables. They can be played by anyone, and, at the same time, absolutely free.

The child can also use the tables located at his school. They are usually placed in the hallways and gyms.

Even if the child does not play this sport professionally, table tennis will still be useful for him. That’s where the baby will have the opportunity to have fun.

Also, he can get rid of stress. When he strikes, the energy will spurt out. It will have a positive effect on the child’s psychological state.

Also, ping-pong is useful because it allows hyperactive children to get a little calmer. The baby will splash out all the extra energy here. And at home, he will be more passive.

But those aren’t the only advantages of ping-pong. It has a number of other advantages. By playing this sport, the child can:

Develop his vision, and strengthen it. During games, the baby will focus on the ball, which flies from one side to the other. This will help him strengthen his eyesight.

This will be especially good for a child who has problems with his eyes. He will be able to partially muffle his farsightedness or short-sightedness.

Develop his reaction. The baby should learn to make quick decisions by analyzing what’s going on around him in milliseconds. If he learns this skill in tennis, he can apply it in his future life.

For example, in conflict situations, he will be able to quickly find out what to say to his opponent. Or, he can apply these skills in school. If suddenly he is called to the board and he has not done his homework, he can get away with it.

Strengthen the immune system. Ping-pong, like other sports, makes an athlete’s body stronger. With it, the baby will strengthen his immunity, his hands will become more muscular, and fine motor skills – will develop. Baby will be able to “feel” his actions better.

And he will be able to “use” his hands more effectively when working with small details. For example, when he will collect the lego, or do handicrafts for school.

Become more intellectually developed. Interestingly, most ping-pong players are very smart people. Their IQ is high. This was announced by scientists from Korea, who conducted the relevant research.

During the games, the child needs to keep an eye on the opponent. He must learn how to calculate in which direction the next pitch will fly. If the child can not do this, he is unlikely to be able to win.

Intuition alone will not be able to win. Even though it’s important.

He’ll develop his character. He’ll become a strong person. With this sport, the kid will become more persistent, more determined. Also, he will learn to accept losses with dignity. And they come from all the athletes.

He’ll improve his handwriting. Many people don’t even think that ping-pong can affect calligraphy in any way. With this sport, a child will strengthen his arm muscles. And with it, he’ll start writing beautifully.

Negative points of ping pong to consider.

This sport has its downsides. But there are only three.

  • The main thing is that it can be difficult for a child to go to training sessions in parallel with the school. Because of that, he may start to fall behind the training program.
  • Also, keep in mind that sometimes injuries occur during the games. The child may hurt both arms and legs (if he or she jumps from one side of the table to the other to reflect an enemy pitch).
  • Also, a child may get a curved spine. This happens even in professionals.
  • Among the risks inherent precisely in table tennis, close attention and control deserve the danger of curvature of the spine.
  • If you constantly play a lot of table tennis, the muscles of the back, arms, and shoulder girdle – especially in children – develop more strongly from the side of the playing arm, which creates all the conditions for problems with the spine. There are two ways to solve this problem:
  1. Teach a child to play with both hands;
  2. Regularly perform exercises that load a “non-working” arm: lifting dumbbells, swinging, hitting, dribbling a basketball, and so on.

Conclusion

Table tennis is one of the rare sports that includes a whole range of positive characteristics. It is available financially, has virtually no contraindications, can improve both vision and overall health, and children also like it due to their playful form. 

In addition, everyone can learn to play table tennis – no preliminary sports training is required. Being an Olympic discipline, this sport opens up great professional prospects for talented players, but it will also be an excellent option for children.

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