Young 20 and 30-year old men and women are flocking to Naked Ping Pong to take their turns playing Ping Pong. Is is just a fad? Or is this the beginning of a fitness program that will spread all over the nation? The beautiful as well as the rich need to stay fit. They need to exercise. These tournaments attract a large group of onlookers or potential fans of the game too.
New York Times article on this follows...
"The Naked Ping-Pong tournaments that are held Tuesday and Friday nights in this 4,000-square-foot space on Greenwich Street bring together a compelling mix of the game’s elites and its dilettantes. The admission charge, $20, includes drinks but not playing — that costs another $10.
The events are the creation of three filmmakers: Jonathan Bricklin, 30, son of the automobile entrepreneur Malcolm Bricklin of Yugo fame; Franck Raharinosy, 32, his roommate; and their baby-faced friend Bill Mack, 33, once a child actor whose credits included a stint on “Sesame Street.”
The other night, the supermodel Veronica Webb, wearing a black, V-back cocktail dress, took her turn at the table, missing often, her beaded necklace swinging wildly back and forth. Between volleys, she beamed through perfect teeth.
The tournaments are the beginning of what the three friends hope will be a Ping-Pong empire, starting with plans for an exclusive Ping-Pong club to open in TriBeCa by the end of the year. Their timing is excellent, if accidental: the Ping-Pong comedy “Balls of Fury,” starring Christopher Walken and Dan Fogler, arrives in movie theaters next week.
Among the affluent and ambitious, the three say they can do pretty much anything they set their minds to.
“We all deeply believe that anything is possible,” Mr. Raharinosy said. “You can do whatever you want in life.”
Along with establishing the club, the trio dream of competing in the 2012 Olympics. But Mr. Raharinosy held out an iPhone bearing a photo of an Asian girl of about 8, standing in front of a Ping-Pong table, her hair in pigtails, a smile on her face, and he said, “She beat me.”
The name of the tournaments, Naked Ping-Pong, is a misnomer; the allusion is to a series of unclothed instructional videos the group is producing, with titles like “Naked Yoga.”
Regardless of name, the tournaments attract a diverse bunch, among them Kazuyuki Yokoyama, a k a the Kazmanian Devil, a nimble 37-year-old who as of April was ranked seventh in the nation. Another regular is Wally Green, who grew up in the housing projects of Coney Island and likes to calls himself the Tiger Woods of Ping-Pong.
“Hey, Kaz,” said Mr. Green as he handed Mr. Yokoyama a tiny, doll-like paddle, house-rules handicap for players above a certain level. “I made this for you. Don’t let anyone else touch it......"
