Rich’s Corner of the Table: Anthropological Musings of a Ping Pong Pop (blog)

Advance Praise for The Ping Pong Player and the Professor

This often humorous, yet always perceptive account of US table tennis brings to life the culture, communities, and competition of an Olympic sport better known to most Americans as “ping pong.” Through the author’s personal journey—first as a competitive player himself, and then as the parent-coach of his youngest son—the reader is transported into a world replete with camaraderie, competition, and drama relatable to any sports parent who has cheered a child’s victory or consoled a defeat. Throughout this journey US table tennis transforms from an essentially egalitarian enterprise into an increasingly elite experience as a beloved son grows up and departs from the family nest. It is a sports ethnography rich in history and human insight that will engage table tennis enthusiasts and sports fans alike. It is also a love story of father and son that speaks eloquently to parents everywhere.

—Candace Alcorta, University of Connecticut

The Ping Pong Player and the Professor is a captivating and heartwarming memoir that chronicles the personal story of an accomplished anthropology professor raising his gifted table tennis-playing son, and the unexpected ways in which both parent and child experience personal growth along the way.

Written from the perspective of a loving father, the book explores the challenges and rewards of parenting, the pursuit of excellence, and the transformative power of competitive sport to foster human connections. Written in an engaging and accessible style, Professor Sosis’s memoir also provides readers with a fascinating glimpse into the diverse and dynamic table tennis communities in the United States, showcasing their history and the colorful personalities that make them so captivating. By interweaving the story of a father raising his son within the fiercely competitive world of elite table tennis, the book provides insight into how excellence in improvisation within rule-bound traditions can lead to the creation of meaning and purpose.

Overall, The Ping Pong Player and the Professor is a memoir that is both entertaining and inspiring. It prompts readers to contemplate the significance of family, sports, community, and personal development. I found the book thoroughly enjoyable and strongly recommend it to parents, sports aficionados, or anyone interested in the ways in which meaning emerges through the interplay of tradition, improvisation, and loving relationships.

—Joseph Bulbulia, University of Victoria, Wellington

With the objectivity of an anthropologist and the passionate engagement of a father, Professor Sosis guides us on a multifaceted journey through parenthood, table tennis, and Jewish life and practice with humor, contagious curiosity, deep insight, and broad knowledge. This book is a gift to both head and heart, especially for anyone who struggles with life across multiple worlds.

—Ariel Burger, The Witness Institute

Richard Sosis knows anthropology, he knows table tennis (ping pong), and he is a father. In this book he weaves these realities together in an intricate, engaging, and thoughtful narrative about a journey into the world of competitive table tennis in the USA. Taking us on an intellectual, emotional, and parental ride into a sport many of us did not know existed, Sosis weaves identities of scholar, father, coach, and genuinely fascinated participant-observer into a seamless whole. Rarely, as his children warn, does Sosis fall into “Professor Daddy lecture” mode in this book. Rather, the reader is invited into the family life, the sports ethnography, and the anthropological analyses via a distinctive mode of care and compassion for all that is being experienced and analyzed. This is a rich and nuanced anthropology of USA table tennis, a personal and care-full story of family, and a damn good read. 

—Agustin Fuentes, Princeton University

A truly remarkable book chock-full of insight, laughter and revelation—both personal and professional. Richard Sosis is not only entertaining company with an insatiable curiosity and inquiring mind, but I have come to realize that he is one of the geniuses of our generation, who has already gifted the world a veritable library of important and groundbreaking research on the evolution and behavior of ritual, signaling, and religion. In this book, we get an insight into the world behind his work—his life and loves, his triumphs and disasters—and see how his oeuvre is all the more amazing given the improbable fact that he did it while not only raising four kids, but also playing thousands of hours of table tennis! And what a story that sport makes for his life and work. I must admit I never thought ping pong could be so interesting, but Professor Sosis has enlightened me once again. I would happily read about anything through the eyes and words of this master observer and storyteller, but this book has somehow crowned it all.

—Dominic Johnson, University of Oxford

The structures of love from kashrut to ping-pong–fathers and sons, games and their players, religion and their adherents–a warm and wonky thick description of the game and those it brings together. A cult classic in the making.

—Eugene F. Rogers, Jr., University of North Carolina, Greensboro

As a mom of two table tennis players, The Ping Pong Player and the Professor resonated deeply with me. Professor Sosis’s unwavering love for the sport, coupled with his anthropological expertise and deep knowledge of table tennis history, has culminated in a truly captivating and delightful book.  

I have had the pleasure of watching the Sosis duo in action, as both a father and son, as well as coach and player. Their bond is exceptionally strong and shines through brilliantly in the book. Professor Sosis is a witty and gifted storyteller, and his candid portrayal of his journey with Eliel offers readers an intimate view into the colorful life of the table tennis community. The Ping Pong Player and the Professor deftly shines a light on table tennis’s remarkable elite athletes as they navigate and compete in one of the more underrated sports in the US.   

—Sangita Santhanam, ping pong parent of the Naresh brothers  

The Ping Pong Player and the Professor is a sheer delight. An inspiring yet all-too-rare intertwining of learned analysis and love—a parent’s love of a child and a sport they both share.  Professor Sosis explores the way sport is far more than a mere pastime, and contributes meaning by provoking personal growth and fostering social connection.  And he transparently shares the joys and challenges of a parent seeking to support his child’s passion for excellence on a national stage. In so doing he invites readers to appreciate the way anthropology helps us understand how others seek to understand. And earnest though this focus is, literally every page is laden with subtle irony, insightful wit, and self-effacing humor. It cherishes learning without pretentiously brandishing intellect; it reflects the desire and capacity to sympathetically enter into the personal experience of others and their collective worlds; it honors lifelong professional commitment while also viewing “mere sport” as not mere at all, but central to our meaning. The book’s sympathetic insights stand to reduce the chasms that divide us, and expand the absorptions that fulfill us.

—Jeffrey Schloss, Westmont College

A very engrossing read, full of humor, fun, and the love between a father and son. A fascinating exploration of the table tennis world from a unique perspective. I give this book five stars.

—Danny Seemiller, 5-time US National Men’s Table Tennis Champion

The Tao of Table Tennis as related by a very wise anthropologist and very loving father.

—Adam Seligman, Boston University

An intimate window into the quirky world of table tennis, full of poignant insights reaching well beyond the sporting world.

—Will Shortz, New York Times Crossword Puzzle Editor

Every sport deserves a loving literary homage—offered by a devotee acclaiming the virtues of a beloved game. Think Plimpton’s Paper Lion or Hornby’s Fever Pitch. Among the best tributes are those told through a father-son relationship—Kinsella’s Shoeless Joe for instance. Now table tennis has its own amorous treatment thanks to anthropologist Richard Sosis. The Ping Pong Player and the Professor weaves together the absorbing history of table tennis with the story of the bond it forged between the professor/author and his champion son. With the eye of an anthropologist, Sosis unpacks the “sports community” surrounding table tennis—the grips, the equipment, the summer camps, tournaments, and eccentric table tennis centers. Then through the eyes of a father, we watch his talented son rise through the ping pong ranks almost to the Olympics. It might be “a strange marginal sport,” as Sosis jokingly suggests, but it well deserves this charming deep dive. 

—Edmund F. Wehrle, Eastern Illinois Univesrity

In The Ping Pong Player and the Professor, Richard Sosis weaves together the passion and expertise of a high-level player, the keen insights of a professional anthropologist, and the fierce love of a father ready to sacrifice and (quite literally) sweat to support the athletic career of his talented son in an often underestimated sport: the world of table tennis. With wit and no small measure of humor, we meet a formidable father-son duo who take on the table tennis world, from the local level to the national, all without losing their rootedness in the world of Jewish culture and religious observance. This marvelous book defies genres. It is a brilliant anthropological analysis of sport, a rousing athletic career retrospective, a poignant ode to fatherhood, and a wonderful tale full of humor, drama, suspense, even deep questions of community, sanctity, and the human pursuit of meaning.

—Sarah Willen, University of Connecticut

Richard Sosis—anthropology professor and “ping pong pop”—has written a love story…love for four children in a story focused on one, love as a coach and player with ping pong lineage, love for details that carry meaning. In this tale of table tennis and tradition, parenting and play, Sosis invites readers into culture and community. His good humor and humility help us, too, pursue dreams with determination and the wisdom to discern what matters.

—Charlotte Witvliet, Hope College