“I was at Costco and I got a pack of organic strawberries for making a smoothie, and the package said, ‘cut above the dotted line’, and I thought, ‘that’s how I would describe Ma Long and Fan Zhendong.’”
Bobrow’s father got him into the sport growing up as they set up a table in the driveway, first picking up a paddle at the age of seven. At 14, he got a high-end paddle after saving up some allowance money, and the spark of table tennis was ignited after Bobrow’s father showed him how to spin a ball.
“That got me really excited and it sort of took the lid off the possibilities. There was no ceiling any more. So for my next birthday I got a proper professional racket which was about US$100, which is still on the low end for a professional racket.”
It was here Bobrow learned there were endless possibilities when it came to spinning a tiny white ball back and forth on a green (or blue) table.
“When I first started hitting with that racket, it was crazy. It was like, how do you control this thing, it was like a catapult combined with a trampoline. It spins like crazy, it bounces like crazy. So I started slowing it down to control it, and after about 15 minutes I never wanted to stop playing.”
By 15 he had made a local team and nabbed some medals in tournaments across the US, then found himself travelling to competitions and events around the world after one of his YouTube videos went viral. Bobrow, who also works as an actor, saw everything change for him in 2014.
He auditioned for “The Voice of Table Tennis” and got the chance to head to Japan and do colour commentary for the World Table Tennis Championships, quickly realising the ITTF was holding impromptu auditions.
“I think I realised they were looking for a new commentator and this was kind of a short term internship, and if it goes poorly they will say, ‘we hope you enjoyed your free trip to Japan’, and if it goes well, they will say, ‘hey, would you like to do more of this?’”
Bobrow does about 17 tournaments a year on average (pre-pandemic) plus additional international events and still posts regular videos via his YouTube channel, of which he has more than half a million subscribers.
His most popular video, “A Year of Ping Pong”, has 17 million views and features him playing all over the world and performing some trick shots.
He moved to Taiwan at the end of 2016 and has quickly helped reach new fans who normally wouldn’t watch the game, thanks to his eclectic and infectious style, where he splashes colour between educational nuggets on the game.
“The majority of people who see it on TV are sort of sports tourists who just stumble across it, and table tennis is kind of like where the Olympics are, it’s time to shine every four years – give or take,” Bobrow said.
China regularly dominates professional events across the world, along with the Olympics, and the sport is the most practised in the world, according to the International Olympic Committee, given its popularity in the country and all over Asia.
The game’s roots actually date back to the 19th century and after-dinner parties played by upper-class English families, and Bobrow thinks the sport is about to hit a tipping point with new players and emerging markets.
“Sports is entertainment. Some people get mad when they hear that and it’s no disrespect to the skills that it takes, and the skills it takes for table tennis are un-freakin’-believable,” he said.
“It’s just amazing, it’s like wizards battling in magical, physics-defying crazy athleticism. And it’s also an all-inclusive game, all people can play, short or tall, big or small, young, old, seated or standing, one leg, no legs or two, everyone can play table tennis.”
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