Table Tennis For A Good Cause

Remember ping pong? For many, the sport consists of high school memories in the garage or backyard. The attire was shorts and your favorite band tee. Update your visuals- we just attended a very grown-up version of a table tennis event, complete with open bar, a silent auction, a ping pong tournament, celebrity DJs and a great charity cause. TopspinNYC took over 82 Mercer for a glamorous evening Thursday, December 8th.

100% of the net proceeds from the event go to three local non-profit organizations: A Better Chance (providing ambitious young high-school women an opportunity to attend Fayetteville-Manlius High School); Groundwork (supporting powerful youth, families and communities); and Prep for Prep (finding promising children of color in NYC and preparing them for success at leading independent day and boarding schools). Topspin also does fundraising events in Chicago and San Francisco, should you happen to be in those vicinities.

Two-time NBA All-Star Baron Davis created an amusing promo video on YouTube. Tickets to the event ranged from $100 to $250, resulting in a total fundraising of almost $94,000. The atmosphere in the rooms reflected the ticket price- very few T-shirts, and no shorts in evidence. As we sipped cocktails from the open bar (blue agave tequila from Jose and a Ketel One Vodka Fizz, thank you), we slammed a ball back and forth on one of the open tables. With the orange tennis balls and the red mood lighting, sometimes it was a bit hard to see the ball. At least, that's the excuse we used every time we missed it. That, or the loud club music (Though we definitely enjoyed victory dances to it.). In between rounds we snacked on a fantastic frozen fruit dessert (Healthy, too!) provided by The Soft Seve Fruit. We tried the Strawberry, and look forward to sampling the Pear flavor in the future.

We weren't a part of the official tournament, but we stopped playing to watch the semi-finals and the finals. They were pretty riveting, and inspired us to train a bit for next year. It turns out that there's the perfect place in NYC to do that- Spin NYC- a combination of bar/club and table tennis parlor on E. 23rd. Next year, we'll be ready...