Ping Pong: The Handle-less BrodmannBlade Paddle
An Austrian former watch designer wants your table-tennis paddle to become an extension of your arm, and the ITTF is listening.
As Asians, we’re pretty much required to know how to play (if not love) ping pong. Even if you can’t swerve the ball against the laws of physics, you should at least like watching it. It’s a genuinely fun sport to watch, even if the Chinese end up winning everything. But ping pong is about to get a helluva lot more interesting if Robert Brodmann has his way.
Called BrodmannBlades, these handles-less ping pong paddles promise to become an extension of your arm. As such, forehand smashes, backhand drop-shots and running saves will come more naturally – even if you’re not Forrest Gump. Hailing from Vienna, Austria, Robert Brodmann came up with idea after playing a game of Velcro ball game by the beach with his son. Robert had to catch the ball with a plate strapped to his hand. Soon, he designed the BrodmannBlade and campaigned for its use with no less than the International Table Tennis Federation. Unlike FIFA, the ITTF is open to new ideas, and Robert says the BrodmannBlade are in the process of being sanctioned. “I like to redefine traditional icons,” says the former watch designer. “Hopefully, I’ll see them used by the new generation at least. I also think they can help build bridges between adverse cultures, like in 1971 with USA and China. Become One is our campaign – to become one with the paddle and to become one as a planet. ” Whether or not you have the power to beat the Chinese national team with a BrodmannBlade is another question altogether.
www.brodmannblades.com
From the April 2011 issue of FHM India.
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