Do you think you will be traveling the world, competing in an athletic competition at a world class level when you are over 80 years old? In this film we get to meet 8 individuals who have accomplished just that.
These 8 athletes, ranging in age from 81 to 100, travel to China where the World Senior Table Tennis Championships are being held to win it all, but that is the final step in their journey as they train and battle to overcome the obstacles put in their way. Right from the onset you can see that the competitive spirit does not dull with age.
Each of the competitors has their own stories and each is given a share of the screen time to tell an abridged version of it. They all have their stories of triumph and loss as any person of that age would, yet you find inspiration that later into life they are still searching to collect new ones. Some have used Ping Pong as a form of therapy to get over both physical and mental ailments, while others are just looking to keep active. Yet what they all have in common is that ping pong has given them something to work at, to pride themselves in, and to look forward to.
Stories involving the elderly in any context tend to feel very personal, as you become attached so quickly to the subjects on the screen. This film is no different. You feel for each of the athletes as they struggle, worry when they fall ill and celebrate their triumphs when they succeed. It is hard while watching a film like this not to think of your own mortality and those of your loved ones. Inspiration is found in the hope that you can live life as vibrantly and as fearlessly as these folks and accomplish as much.
Ping Pong
Directed and Produced by: Hugh & Anson Hartford
http://www.hotdocs.ca//film/title/ping_pong
