The Humble Beginnings of Table Tennis and Table Tennis Sporting Goods

Table tennis is one of the most popular of sports in the world today, and stands to be more popular in the Eastern portions of Asia, which is known for producing some of the world's finest table tennis players.

As a sport, table tennis, along with the many classes of table tennis sporting goods, owes its birth to 1880 England, when Victorians of the era would play table tennis as a form of after dinner recreational activity, playing a tennis game in a small scale, indoor setting. Back then, in absence days of table tennis sporting goods, a number of typical home items were utilized in successfully facilitating the course of a table tennis game.

Items like corks from Champagne bottles, or knotted pieces of string were utilized as table tennis balls, while the lids or covers of cigar boxes were used as the rackets for a table tennis game. Books were used as the nets, while regular tables represented the playing court in a table tennis game. Because of the prevailing popularity of table tennis, manufacturers geared out in developing table tennis sporting goods, which eventually led to the development of table tennis as a sport.

The first generation of table tennis sporting goods were rather much different from the table tennis sporting goods which we now recognize, as different materials were used in the production of table tennis sporting goods then. When the discovery of utilizing celluloid gas-filled balls as table tennis balls came, the more definitive of table tennis sporting goods came to be, and has become the status quo in which table tennis sporting goods are being produced today. Before the utilization of celluloid gas-filled balls, table tennis rackets were composed of parchment stretched over a frame, which was then in turn connected to a handle. When the celluloid variety of table tennis balls were being used, the more "solid" variety of table tennis rackets came to be.

The variety of table tennis sporting goods includes table tennis rackets, table tennis balls, table tennis tables, table tennis nets, as well as table tennis inclined apparel and footwear. The specific use of the best of table tennis sporting goods isn't known to result to better table tennis performance, but, just as with any other sporting event, the use or rather poor quality table tennis sporting goods is known to negatively affect a table tennis player's game.

Getting the most ideal of table tennis sporting goods would then not mean getting the best, but getting ones which best suits a table tennis player's gaming performance.