How To Manage Bats And Balls At A Public Outdoor Ping Pong Table
| “How do we encourage spontaneous play and manage racquets and balls?” – a frequently asked question we receive from councils, landscape architects and community members alike. Well for starters, each and every POPP table is delivered with a starter pack of racquets and balls to ensure that the table is 'ready to play' as soon as it is installed. This equipment can be also stored in the welded equipment holder - so that as the community is getting familiar with the new placement, there is always some equipment on hand for them to use. We have seen great success in past installations where this initial equipment can last for months to years at a time which is a testament to local communities and the sense of pride and ownership they take in their shared spaces. In addition to this, we have strategies to help councils manage bats and balls – one of the most popular being the addition of a small sign or artwork placed on the table that directs people to a local business, cafe, library or community center who can be engaged to store equipment for the community's use. (a great way of also connecting local businesses to the space too!) Image Credits: Nude Design Studio "Spontaneous play, social interaction and community engagement are central to outdoor ping pong"
Over time, as people come to know about the table, they will start to bring their own equipment to the game, and ultimately the goal would be to achieve a culture of B.Y.O.B.B. (bring your own bats and balls!)
This logic extends to other shared public spaces (e.g. we don’t think twice about bringing our own basketball or skateboard when we go out to the local hoop or skatepark) and so our hope is it will likewise become second nature to bring our own ping pong equipment. Over in Berlin (the home of outdoor ping pong) it is commonplace to bring your own bats and balls. The very reason POPP exists is because our founders stayed in an Airbnb in Berlin that provided ping pong bats for guests. As avid players of the game, they made sure to keep them in their bags and on hand as they spent most of their days wandering around the city finding tables and playing ping pong… the rest is history as they say. For us, spontaneous play, social interaction and community engagement are central to outdoor ping pong. They help foster a sense of belonging and 'togetherness' in public spaces.
Through public outdoor ping pong, a self sufficient and permanent structure with minimal maintenance can serve as both a community meeting place (much like a basketball court) and also a vibrant and colourful addition to the landscape. Whilst many urban design and revitalisation projects focus on either children or adults, POPP tables bridge age, skill and cultural 'gaps' in spaces by providing an activity that appeals to a diverse cross section of communities. Ping pong, after all, is a universal social language! |