Sixth Grade
Worksheets
Is It Table Tennis or Ping Pong?
People are always searching for a sport that will fit their needs and their surroundings. For instance, if people like running, they need to find some way to continue their running when the weather makes it hard to be outdoors. People who like to play tennis also need to come up with an alternate plan for foul weather. Also, some people are not able to exert as much energy as is needed to participate in a sport calling for a lot of physical movement.
About 1880, British soldiers stationed in India decided that they needed some sort of diversion. When they were in uniform, it was very difficult to have a rousing game of lawn tennis. They came up with a gentler substitute. They cut the lids from cigar boxes and fashioned them into paddles. They took the corks from wine bottles and rounded them off. They set up a row of books across the center of a table to form a boundary. Using this make-shift equipment, they batted the cork back and forth across the books. They dubbed their new game "table tennis."
The soldiers brought their new game back home to England with them. By 1890, several versions of the game had been created. Two of these versions were known as "whiff whaff" and "gossima." A game company, Parker Brothers, even put out a kit containing the equipment needed to set up a quick game anywhere the player was. This kit contained a net that could be attached to a table, a small ball covered with netting, and small paddles.
