Table Tennis, or "ping-pong" is the second most popular sport in the world, behind soccer. Many Americans consider it as just a fun, "basement" sport to play at parties or any time. To them, it is known as ping-pong. But, there is a whole other side to the sport. In America, about 1% of the people who play table tennis, play it competitively. To this minority, Table Tennis is just like basketball, football, or soccer. These people don't call it ping-pong.

The game is played by two or four players using paddles, batting a ball back and forth over a net dividing a table.

Table Tennis is played competitively by men and women aged 7-75+. Playing the sport provides exercise for the "legs, arms, and brain" as stated by Bing Li, #2 in Rhode Island. Most Table Tennis Professionals are Asians, notably Chinese. But, Table Tennis is becoming increasingly popular in Europe as well. Timo Boll, a German, is currently the #1 player in the world.

Table Tennis is not played competively by just batting a ball back and forth. Professionals exert many different kinds of spins on the table tennis ball, the most common being topspin.