How to Organize a Ping-Pong Tournament

Made famous by the likes of Forrest Gump and Ming Soy Ling, Ping-Pong is a fantastic, fast-paced game that can be played one-on-one or in teams of two. With a silly looking paddle and a little plastic ball, this is a game that gets you moving and laughing. Spread your love of table tennis, and organize a Ping-Pong tournament today.

Instructions

1. Choose whether you will have a singles or doubles tournament and how many players or teams should participate. Create a tournament bracket with a match schedule and use it as your player sign-up sheet. Players can sign up by fitting a match into their schedule.

2. Decide whether you will charge an entry fee or not. Entry fees can boost incentive to participate, as the winning team wins all or part of the pot. You may also use all or part the entry fees to purchase prizes for first, second and third place.

3. Ask for prize donations from local sport supply stores. If you are holding the tournament at a school or club you might ask the board of directors to help support the event with a gift certificate, cash donation or the purchase of paddles and balls.

4. Modify the game a bit to accommodate multiple matches. The traditional Ping-Pong match is a 21-point game, but depending on the level of the players, these matches can last a long time. To speed up the game and keep the tournament on schedule, organize 12-minute games where teams or players play 2 out of 3 to win.

5. Organize multiple matches occurring at the same time if you have more than one Ping-Pong table. This not only helps to hold the interest of the spectators, but can speed up the tournament and keep teams from waiting long periods of time between matches.

6. Have fun, and remember to keep plenty of paddles and balls available for players.