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With five dollars, Grand Rapids passer bys were able to stop and play a quick game of table tennis (or ping pong) and local business, CPPR, was on its way to helping raise awareness about table tennis and raising funds for Boys & Girls Clubs of Grand Rapids Youth Commonwealth. “Battle for the Paddle” took place in downtown Grand Rapids near Rosa Parks Circle from 5:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. and during the lunch hour from 11:00 a.m. - 1 p.m. on June 24th.
Many people were surprised to see a ping pong table set up on the sidewalk of Monroe Center. “We thought it would be fun to have a ping pong table on the streets of downtown Grand Rapids so people could learn about it” said CPPR employee Michael Zileski.
“Battle for the Paddle” was an event organized in order to create awareness about the U.S. Open Table Tennis Event that took place at the DeVos Place on June 29 through July 3. The winner of the U.S. Open was Achanta Sharath Kamal, from India, who received $10,000 for his efforts.
All proceeds from “Battle for the Paddle” went towards Boys & Girls Clubs Grand Rapids Youth Commonwealth. “When we talked about raising money we thought what would be a good group, and we work with the Police Department on a lot of things, so we thought Youth Commonwealth,” said Zileski. “The Police Department is always looking for ways to raise funds, and we thought we would help them out on this one.”
The cost was a minimum $5 donation to play. In the morning, two Olympian table tennis players stopped by to brush up on their skills. They entertained the crowd by playing with two balls at once along with other demonstrations. Even Laura Pascua of WZZM 13 came out to test her table tennis skills and do a story on this event, read more here.
Article Written by Phil Bunce.
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Comments
oh man, i am bummed i missed this! I need to get downtown in the middle of the day more often.