Ping Pong Is More Than a Simple Game

When writer Lisa Lucas visited Phoenix, Arizona, she learned about the table tennis player Thelma Thall, who won two world championships in the 1950s. Thall competed in a male-dominated world shaped by rigid gender roles and expectations that dictated how women should dress and behave. She faced sexism and antisemitism, but became a pioneer in the sport; she was also instrumental in ping-pong diplomacy during the 1970s. The game was an unexpected tool that thawed the relationship between the U.S. and China. In effect, this simple game helped reshape the political landscape. These details spurred Lucas and co-author Steven Landsberg to write Ping, a novella that explores numerous themes, including antisemitism, sexism, and generational trauma.

What can we learn about antisemitism in sports from the story of Ping?
Antisemitism has been prevalent in sports since the 1950s and ’60s. A notorious example was the 1972 Olympics in Munich, where 11 Israeli athletes were massacred. Antisemitism is less overt today, but it persists. Jewish athletes are frequently identified in media coverage—something rarely done with Christian athletes. And why is this widely accepted throughout sports? According to a 2023–2024 Kick It Out report, antisemitic incidents in soccer rose by 63 percent in just one year, underscoring the ongoing presence of prejudice in sports culture.

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Have Jewish athletes historically avoided certain sports?
Historically, Jewish life encouraged many competitions; for example, the scholar Shimon ben Lakish was reportedly a gladiator, circa 200 BC. Throughout the 20th century, Jewish athletes entered American prizefighting, professional basketball and baseball, among other sports.

However, after World War II, many Jewish families, shaped by trauma and discrimination, discouraged their children from high-contact sports like football and hockey. Tennis, largely confined to country clubs that often excluded Jews, was also out of reach, prompting Jewish communities to form their own sports and social clubs. Table tennis, by contrast, offered a low-risk, accessible alternative. The book’s character Marty embodies this cautious post-war parenting mindset.

Was this something you experienced?
Steve's mom, a Holocaust survivor, was concerned about aggressive, full-contact sports like American football; instead, she and other parents preferred non-contact options like tennis. More broadly, Jewish families often emphasized academics over athletics, resulting in a generation of highly educated professionals—doctors, lawyers, and dentists.

How does the book explore generational trauma?
Generational trauma never looks or expresses itself in the same way. It seems to morph from one generation to the next. In the story, Miriam (modeled after Thall) pushed back against antisemitism, ageism, and sexism, and managed her anxiety and stress by becoming a world-renowned athlete.

Ronnie, Miriam’s daughter, became an absolute pleaser to her mother. She didn’t have her mother’s fortitude and could not define herself outside her mother’s success; therefore, she let out her frustrations on her husband.

Jenny, Ronnie's daughter, was bullied and humiliated by classmates. She expressed her anxiety by compulsively pulling one hair out at a time and turning her anger toward the sport of ping pong, which was essentially a part of family culture. She, like Miriam, learned to step away from the expectations of others, whether in sports or life, which was key to finding her sense of self.

How does the story of Ping inform modern-day geopolitics and sports competition?
Ping pong is a good example of global competition in sports. But arguably, no other sport was used so effectively as a political tool to open relations between two hostile countries.

For example, Mao Zedong was determined to transform China into a global player in sports and politics through the game of ping pong. During the Cultural Revolution, money was diverted to build huge stadiums that would ensure proper training for their table tennis athletes. The masses desperately tried to rise out of poverty through the game, but only a few made it.

The book also explores the high level of stress and abuse that athletes endured for political gain. Again, the character Marty is a good example. He couldn’t take the pressure of the politics, and he numbed himself with drugs. If the story were to continue, Marty wouldn’t make it, he'd die from an overdose.

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Source: Lisa Lucas, Steve Landsberg / Historium Press