Plastic toy loaner rackets ??

Please read the disclaimer page first if you can.

Giving out plastic rackets is also another huge issue which I find extremely humiliating & insulting to table tennis as a sport, especially given that it is not like Plano Rec. cannot afford decent table tennis rackets for loaners (or lots of members would be more than happy to donate their old rackets which are probably still insanely high quality). Giving out plastic rackets not only gives the sport of table tennis a horrible image but the same for Plano Rec. as the highest quality rec. Center there is.

It only looks like Plano Rec. is deliberately downgrading an Olympic sport with 227 National Associations of the IOC also members of ITTF (more than any other sport including football, volleyball etc) sport to a game of basement hacking even if table tennis is supposed to be only "recreational" as a policy at Plano Rec. as compared to say pickleball or tennis.

I am not all complaining about other sports having the right resources. I played basketball for both high school & college. And I never reached a level in table tennis that I reached in tennis in my playing peak. So I have zero bias towards one sport over another. I also understand the difficulty of allocating competing resources.

But the issues I have with table tennis are so minor and it puzzles me why Plano Rec won't address them.

I offered to donate ITTF approved table tennis rackets in exchange for plastic rackets (And I am sure many players will donate if I asked). The reason I was given is that children break good rackets.

To me it is a really crazy excuse because to me children playing with decent rackets and getting introduced to the sport of table tennis is far more important than a few broken rackets. The soul & essence of table tennis as compared to other racket sport is spins & children need to "feel" the spins.

Even more important to me is the fact that it seems to me Plano Rec. is deliberately trying to downgrade a sport to a basement game for absolutely no reason.

I even offered to replace broken rackets with more good ones but I guess they do not want it either.

It really blows my mind when I see a bunch of people want to come into the gym and want to use plastic rackets while most players are using like $500 rackets. Even more crazy is that some of these newcomers actually even wonder why a competitive player may not want to play against them LOL given that it may take the most talented athlete a year or more to remotely get a clue as to what the sport of table tennis is.

Should any recreational hacker even be allowed to play even in the Rec. Rooms? Or for that matter should there even be any rec rooms in Plano Rec? I say NO.

Would Plano Rec. allow hackers like this in other racket sports?

I completely understand why a person who grew up in North America think what I am saying is completely crazy. It is not just the fault of Plano Rec. It is just the environment.

Ideally I would like to see only training & coaching for table tennis in high level facility like Plano Rec. for those newbies who are not already involved in competitive table tennis. It can be a combination free group coaching / orientation, paid group coaching, paid individual coaching etc. which can be incorporated into both gym hours & rec rooms & actually generate revenue for Plano Rec.

In fact this aspect of Revenue Generation is one of the biggest puzzles for me. Some sports such as pickleball & tennis are considered revenue generation worthy but table tennis is not. And all I see are so many programs for room rentals for non sport activities like parties. I would tend to think sports would have a higher priority than such activities if they can generate revenue.

If you think children or others would break rackets you could still hand out decent rackets for some sort of loaner fee and or additionally sell basic rackets like for $10, like you sell soda & junk food.