Table tennis transforms lives and communities through connecting people, forging friendships and improving physical and mental wellbeing.

Whether that’s playing on an outdoor table at your local park with a friend, or attending Bat & Chat sessions at a Ping Pong Parlour in a shopping centre, our Ping! initiatives contribute to tackling loneliness among people in the community.

This year’s Mental Health Awareness Week’s theme is loneliness, so we thought we’d highlight some of our Power of Ping videos to show how table tennis can help different people in different ways, form friendships and tackle social isolation.

This video focuses on how a Ping Pong Parlour in Mansfield has brought the community together and provided people like Gordon who has had two brain operations “a reason to get up in the morning and a reason to go out and do something.”

The next video looks at women in Bradford and how table tennis sessions at a community centre have helped them to gain confidence, get physically active and combat social isolation.

The last video looks at how an Age-UK project in Barnsley is tackling social isolation and inactivity in a group of over 50 men.

Have you been inspired? If you’d like to play table tennis click here to find your nearest table, or contact us at ping@tabletennisengland to see how you can get involved in your community.