by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager
The event is one of several being promoted by the club to mark the first anniversary of Ping Pong Parkinson’s Night, a cencept unveiled last year on Thursday 1st March; it is the brainchild of Nenad Bach.
Born in 1954 in the Croatian capital city of Zagreb, Nenad Bach is highly renowned recording artist and composer, as well as being a promoter of peace and understanding. He moved to New York in 1984 where he recorded “Greatest Hits”, the album topped the charts in Europe.
Amongst a host of successes; most pertinently, he performed “Can We Go Higher?” written in an effort to promote peace during the war in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He performed the song at Woodstock in 1994 in the United States and in Modena, Italy with late Luciano Pavarotti at the 1995 concert “Pavarotti & Friends”.
Six years ago Nenad Bach was diagnosed with Parkinson’s; notably he has discovered that playing table tennis two or three times a week has lessened the symptoms considerably, even by as much as 50 per cent.
“I simply love the game. It’s challenging, free floating ball in the air, no contact sport. Before I started to play table tennis, as a professional musician I stopped playing guitar in public, which was pretty devastating, because for example, I couldn’t do syncopation. Fine motoric skills were gone. Then after I started to play table tennis more than once a week, like twice or three times I noticed a difference and I started to play guitar again.” Nenad Bach
An improvement in physical well-being; it is not just Nenad Bach who believes that table tennis is beneficial; professional judgement from the medical profession is of the same opinion.
“My two doctors were surprised but didn’t say much until I started to perform publicly, two months ago. My opinion is that by playing the game I developed other routs or even neurons, known as neuroplasticity.” Nenad Bach
Not only has Nenad Bach recently performed publicly, he is even planning to record a new album live on Saturday 14th April with the King Street Big Band.
Entry fee for the 2018 Winter Championships for Players with Parkinson’s is US$30.00, cash prizes including US$100.00 for first place and US$50.00 for second place will be awarded.
“Our aim is to promote the concept of Ping Pong Parkinson, so that other people with Parkinson diagnose can benefit.” Nenad Bach
Registration may be made on arrival.
The whole initiative is supported by Croatian legend Zoran Primorac, the seven times Olympian and twice winner of the Men’s World Cup was a recent visitor to the Westchester Club.
2018 Winter Championships for Players with Parkinson’s: Events, Regulations, Schedule, Fees and Prizes
2018 Winter Championships for Players with Parkinson’s: Registration Form