Category: Happyness

Mental Health Benefits of Table Tennis

  • August 27, 2021


It’s funny because I got into table tennis by watching the award winning film Forrest Gump. The main actor is portrayed as “dump” but it’s clear he has some sort of autism. I quickly related to the character, personally suffering from Dyslexia and I was also labelled as the “boy who can’t read or write, the stupid one”.

Magic of Table Tennis

We can all play table tennis and aside from being a fun activity and sport which can be played almost anywhere and with anyone, table tennis also offers many health benefits. Of course like all sports it provides great mind-body stimulation, and social interaction.

But what sets table tennis apart?

  • Improving hand-eye coordination.
  • Very low risk of injury
  • Improve focus and concentration
  • Improving reflexes
  • Improve decision making
  • Improve strategy
  • Develops your vision and eye movement
  • Increases synovial fluid in the joints
  • Scientifically proven to be the worlds best brain sport. This is because you have to make decisions physically and
  • mentally with minimal time.
  • Table tennis is used in hospitals and care homes as treatment for dementia.
  • It improves balance.

Unbeknown to me at the time, (when I first began playing, aged 14) these health benefits started to reshape my brain and body! My focus in school started to enhance, my understanding of things began to make sense and I began to strategically develop my reading and writing skills (still working on it lol). My life had changed and spun 180 degrees from the boy who was never going to mount into anything…

Into, ‘today’ a man who does what he loves for a living (I was told it’s not possible to be a full time TT coach) and now I use the sport that changed my life, to help and inspire thousands; locally, nationally and internationally.

I’m not saying table tennis can cure and heal with a flick of a finger. But it will provide you with so many hidden benefits that you won’t fully understand, know or feel until one day… You will wake up and realise that you have implemented a compound effect which all of a sudden has materialised into something special, Who you have become!

Table Tennis whether done in small or large quantities will benefit your body and mind.

All you need to do is pick up a bat and let the magic begin…

I share my journey, coaching, inspiration and TT updates on my social media platform. I hope to see you all soon and if not then please join me on the journey of table tennis at eBaTT 🙌🏓

Table Tennis Ups and Downs

  • November 23, 2018

We all go through table tennis ups and downs but what are the lessons?
Ups:

Table Tennis has a special hypnotic effect and the game often is played in a trance-like mode. This is when you feel like you’re flying or hovering above the ground when moving, you see the ball like a football and time slows down. This feeling is experienced by most table tennis players and that high feeling is like a drug which leads to addictive thrive for more play.


Downs:

Table Tennis can also be one of the most frustrating things on the planet. Forced and unforced errors consistently occur in every play. What seems easy can feel impossible and development is only done through vigorous training.
A sport that gives in many ways but also likes to take in abundance.

Fun Table Tennis
Fun Table Tennis


How to increase the good times:


First and foremost we must remember good times are subjective. We manipulate reality via our thoughts. Someone may play a forehand and to one person it’s incredible but to someone else, it may seem average.

We must define our reality in a positive and productive way. This allows you to enjoy more positive feelings and outcomes, furthermore, it can enable a faster development process.

The game can be lost or won, this is subject to our personal game play which dictates the outcome. Meaning, some play to win and others play not to lose and some do both depending on the situation. If we play not to lose often you will beat yourself up, if and when you do lose. If you play to win, often you will look at losing via the question of why? And how the outcome was not what you wanted it to be.

You see our mindset is the key component here. When you have the will to enforce positive actions your brain will seek ways to deliver your desired outcome.


Three elements to keep the good times in Table tennis
  1. Remember why you play, because you love the game
  2. Mindset: Every event or circumstance is subjective therefore you can make it a positive or negative scenario.
  3. Table tennis is a sport that gives through life’s lessons. Use your losses, and wins as life learning experiences. Develop yourself through the sport that enables in so many ways.
Life has its ups and downs, and our character is built via the way we deal with those experiences.

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Written by Eli Baraty 

eBaTT (Eli Baraty Academy of Table Tennis)
Coach Me Table Tennis
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