Table tennis for charity

On Nov. 7, Ping-Pong Madness took over the Wilfrid Laurier University Concourse for the second year in a row.

This year, after an all-day, by-donation ping-pong event in the Concourse, a competitive tournament was held, followed by a night at the Turret.

The idea for Ping-Pong Madness came across Daniel Brodie, the event’s founder and organizer, last year when he was brainstorming with a friend.

“We founded this event last year because we were looking to do a table tennis club initially, but after looking into the rules it seemed unlikely to happen, so our idea became to start a 24 hour event … but we decided to change it from 24 hours to a day event,” Brodie explained.

“We both grew up playing ping-pong, so that’s why we chose that, but mostly we wanted to do something cool that’s never been done.”

After contacting a table tennis club in Kitchener and striking a deal to borrow the necessary equipment, the event began to unfold.

The event sponsored KidSport Canada both this year, as well as last year. Brodie allowed the charity to be chosen by the Kitchener table tennis club as an incentive to get them to lend the equipment for the event.

“Last year we raised $500,” Brodie told The Cord. “We’re hoping for a $1500 donation this year.”

While the majority of the money was raised during the Ping-Pong Madness event, Brodie and his team of volunteers had a booth set up in the Concourse during the weeks leading up to the event, where students were able to donate money.

This year, the Turret also agreed to donate half of the money made during the night portion of the event.

Other businesses on the Laurier campus also contributed to the event. Both Wilf’s Pub and the Laurier Bookstore donated prizes for the competitive competition that was held, so students would have an incentive to register.

Michael Bartley, one of the volunteers helping out with the event in the concourse, explained how he was able to help with promotions in order to raise more funds for KidSport.

“This year I’ve been more involved, I’ve really been in people’s faces [and] I put my ego on the line to make people laugh and get them to come out,” he said.