BURLINGAME — Eleven years after doctors told his family they weren’t sure if he would survive an inoperable brain tumor, 16-year-old Bosman Botha maneuvers around a ping pong table like an old pro.
His daily practice often includes volleying with four-time Olympian Lily Zhang, among other Olympic stars, while being coached by Park Ji-Hyun, the former head coach of the esteemed South Korean women’s national team.
He glides fluidly from one side to the other. His forehand is overpowering. His backhand is steady and almost unbreakable. His smile is relentless.
“I don’t think many people know about it,” he said of his tumor. “Now is a good time to start telling people.”
Left, Lily Zhang, who grew up in Palo Alto, with Team United States, competes against Yubin Shin of Team Republic of Korea, and Kanak Jha, of Milpitas, with Team United States, competes against Panagiotis Gionis of Team Greece during the Olympic Games in Paris. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
Table tennis is back in the national spotlight after Zhang, who grew up in Palo Alto, and Kanak Jha, from Milpitas, both advanced to the Round of 16 at the Summer Olympics in Paris. It’s the furthest any American has gone in the sport’s Olympic competition, typically dominated by athletes from China, Japan and Korea.
But as researchers learn more about the effects of table tennis on improving neuromotor function, it’s becoming more than a sport — it’s a go-to activity for folks with brain impairments.
“It enhances their motor skills and mental acuity,” said Maureen McComsey, co-founder of non-profit Ping Pong for Good. “It provides cognitive stimulation in a low-impact physical way. It helps maintain mobility and balance. And then there’s the magical ingredients of social interactions, which help boost mental health and overall well-being.”
Ping pong might have saved Botha’s life.
At 5 years old, his motor skills gradually started to decline. After countless doctor’s appointments that went nowhere, his parents requested a brain scan. He was diagnosed with a tumor. Fluid was building up. And because the growth was in his midbrain stem, there was no way to remove the tumor, said his mom, Huifan Chan. Instead, doctors created a pathway to drain the fluid and relieve the pressure.
“Then he lost motor control,” she said. “He basically had to learn how to walk, how to sit, how to hold a pencil, how to eat.”
Once an active child, Botha began retreating to sedentary activities. Instead of climbing at the playground, he’d be standing off to the side, reading a book.
“I said, ‘Why aren’t you playing?’ ” Chan said. “Later I learned he did that because the kids were making fun of him. He didn’t want to move. And that caused him not to have a full recovery.
“It was the most painful thing for a mother to hear.”
Botha’s parents encouraged him to try every sport imaginable, urging him to move his body in hopes he’d regain muscle control.
Finally, one sport stuck: ping pong.
“He realized to get good at it he needed to do more physical training,” Chan said. “It didn’t become this fight for physical therapy. He was just enjoying it.”
Soon his motor skills were back to normal and he stopped retreating socially, instead finding friends in table tennis.
“He loves doubles,” his mom said. “He likes the camaraderie.”
At the time, Botha had no idea about his tumor. His parents and doctors decided it could be traumatic to explain it to a young child, so they chose to keep it hidden.
But when he was 14, the tumor had grown big enough that action needed to be taken. Doctors requested a biopsy. That’s when he found out.
“When they biopsied it, he lost control of his left side,” Chan said. “The doctor said if he wants to regain control fully, he has to within two months. It was the love of the sport that got him through it.”
Asked about what kept him motivated, Botha smiled and said, “I don’t like to lose. Nobody likes losing.”
With the help of table tennis, Botha regained control once again.
The research on the positive effects of playing ping pong has been remarkable for folks with Parkinson’s, dementia, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, autism, ADHD, anyone recovering from a stroke and anyone trying to take care of their brain as they age.
At Ping Pong for Good, McComsey helped put together a team of neuroscientists and physical therapists who created a science-backed program for Parkinson’s patients.
Walter Chang, of Cupertino, is taught technique by Jake Tu, table tennis coach from Burlingame, during a Parkinson’s table tennis class at 888 Table Tennis Center in Burlingame, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)
“A lot of them say it decreases their symptoms,” she said. “We had a guy come in with his walker, and he was leaving without his walker because he was feeling so good.”
A 2020 study completed in Japan showed that Parkinson’s patients made significant improvements in speech, handwriting, getting dressed, getting out of bed and walking after both three and six months of playing ping pong regularly.
Research in the United Kingdom has shown that folks playing the sport were found to have an increase in the thickness of their cortex — part of the brain that deals with complex thinking — that can hold back symptoms of Alzheimer’s.
In Korea, a study of women 60 or older showed that table tennis improved cognitive function more than dancing, walking, gymnastics or resistance training.
At the Paris Olympics, 61-year-old Ni Xia Lian, of Luxembourg, defeated 31-year-old Sibel Altinkaya of Turkey, then blew kisses to the crowd after her victory. She made it to the Round of 32 where she was eliminated by Sun Yingsha, the No. 1 ranked player in the world.
“It’s rare you have a sport you can be 85 or older and come into it and feel like you can actually be competitive in a way that’s serious,” McComsey said.
In Burlingame, the sport has meant so much to Chan that she decided to build a 30,000-square-foot training center, 888 Table Tennis, which opened in 2020.
There, coaches have teamed up with Ping Pong for Good to pilot test anti-aging programs and a lead program specifically designed for people with Parkinson’s.
Leigh Wright, 66, watches as her husband Gregory, a 70-year-old with Parkinson’s, plays ping pong at 888 Table Tennis in Burlingame, Calif., Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024. He says playing ping pong “is magical, it wakes up my nerves.” (Karl Mondon/ Bay Area News Group)
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The other part of the training facility is being used as the official training center for the United States national team.
One team member, Nandan Naresh, moved from Illinois to train at 888. At last year’s U.S. Open, he paired up with Botha in doubles, and they won silver in the U-17 event.
This summer, Botha went to Paris to cheer on his table tennis teammates at the Olympics.
“I hope to qualify for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles,” said Botha, who attends Crystal Springs Upland.
He said he has learned to accept the uncertain nature of living with a brain tumor.
“I can’t change it, so I shouldn’t waste my energy thinking about it,” he said. “All I should think about is what I have to do to win.”
