Let’s play!
Dianne Moore wants all kids to have access to sports. Table tennis, anyone?
Dianne Moore grew up playing PingPong with her dad on their basement table. “It was great fun and a wonderful bonding time,” says Moore. When she and her husband, Jim, moved to Toronto from Windsor, Moore noticed that most sports like swimming and hockey were too expensive for many families. She had a brainwave: Outdoor Ping-Pong. “Four Ping-Pong bats and balls are only about $20 at Canadian Tire,” she says, “and PingPong is a game that anyone can play.”
In 2012, Moore shared her idea with the city’s parks and recreation department and was told to “Go for it!” Moore worked with a Brampton-based concrete manufacturer and the first table — with signature concrete ball-shaped legs — was installed the following spring in Mel Lastman Square. Now, there are more than 120 tables in parks across the city. Some tables are donated; most are financed through community development funds controlled by city councillors.
“One of my proudest moments was when an outdoor table was installed in the courtyard at Ronald McDonald House,” says Moore. “One of the kids who was attached to a portable oxygen tank had the biggest smile and said, ‘This is a game I can play!’ Even though he had the oxygen tube in his nose, we played a wonderful game.”
The tables are now bouncing beyond the city and around the world. During a recent visit to Toronto, Faiza Arshad Alevi, the president of the Rotary Club of Lahore Crescent, saw the tables and brought the idea home to Pakistan. Moore sent Alevi the specifications for the tables and Alevi worked with a local company build one. “There are now four outdoor tables in Lahore,” says Moore. “They’re installed in courtyards and provide the students — girls in particular — the opportunity for physical activity in a safe environment.”
Moore isn’t putting down her paddles just yet. “As our city becomes denser in population, there is more need for recreational facilities, especially in areas where condos are being built,” she says. “My original goal was to see an outdoor Ping- Pong table in every park in Toronto. Since there are more than 540 of them, we still have a long way to go!”