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| Announcing the next three PingPongParkinson® World Championships!
PPP World Championship Italy 2025 will be held from October 20-27 in Lignano Sabbiadoro, Italy (close to Venice).
PPP World Championship Germany 2026 will be held from September 24–October 1 in Hanover, Germany
PPP World Championship Switzerland 2027 will be held from October 12–17 in Magglingen, Swizterland.
More information to come. |
| | Hop to Hope!
My dear Snowflakes,
I am in the exotic land, country and continent of Australia. Authentic culture, dry original no-nonsense humor, relaxed lifestyle, clean maintained streets and facades. Exotic animals abound. Ibis walking around you while you eat lunch, cockatoos watching you in coffee shops, python by the roadside, not less traveled, mobs of 16 kangaroos hopping over a school sports field. Light of different colors, morning sun so bright and warm that it heats a room in less than a minute.
Driving through the rain forest, the weather changes every 20 minutes, from pouring rain to the brightest sun I ever experienced. Distances are vast, something like one day you are in Rome the next day in Sarajevo, then London, then Istanbul. Quite often 4–7 hours in the car in a day.
I tried several times during the last few years but nothing happened until Helen Halford started a first chapter in Hervey Bay on September 2nd, 2024; from the idea to realization it took her 3 days and one can think it is beginner's luck, but now after a month of traveling on a tour organized by Helen I see the context and the concept.
I will modestly predict 10 new chapters by the end of the year, but let's wait till everything is realized. We have been supported by Australian Table Tennis, by our friends at Dance for PD Australia and a number of connections that were made during the last few months and sometimes just on the spot. Land of 26 million people and almost twice as many kangaroos opening their hearts and having no-nonsense conversations whilst quickly embracing PPP on this magical, well-organized tour still unfolding as I am writing these words.
In a year or two, Down Under may become Up 'n Above if we count PPP chapters per capita. New Zealand and Australia are happening places—fertile ground for sport and health.
We welcome two new PPP board members: Dr. Ivo Bach and Juan Carlos Ortiz. Two brilliant people. Ivo did the original classifications for the first PPP World Championship 2019 and is now working as an interventional neurologist. Juan Carlos is a world-renowned creative force in the advertising industry. Both will be profiled more comprehensively in a future newsletter. We are very grateful to have them on board.
Moving the focus to Europe: groundbreaking attendance at the German Open at the end of May, plus a major announcement about World Championships starting with Italy October 20-27th.
And to finish with PPP USA, the birthplace of this magical global family movement that is outgrowing our wildest expectations and that needs to stay as intimate as it grows larger, which seems impossible now, but I’ve heard that word many times. Many good news coming at the end of May and onwards. Keep your minds and hearts open whenever you hear the word "impossible".
World Peace,
Your Snowman aka Nenad
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| | | | | Glimpses of the Australia Tour |
| April—Parkinson Awareness Month—kicked off with Nenad touring Australia on a mission to bring awareness of PingPongParkinson to new cities in Australia, accompanied by Helen Halford, the coordinator for PingPongParkinson in Australia. This journey has been packed with activities and outreach expanding across Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria. Some highlights from their journey so far: On Day 3 of Nenad’s tour of Australia, he was welcomed by the Hervey Bay chapter (the first in Australia). Hervey Bay Mayor, George Seymour, participated in the PPP session (his third visit to the chapter) with Nenad, participants and volunteers.
Media interest has grown, with the national free-to-air broadcaster, ABC, covering PPP in an online article, a radio segment, and a live evening interview with Helen and Nenad. PPP chapters and events have been covered by local radio and print media throughout South East Queensland, including an interview with Helen and Nenad (and performance of “I Love Ping Pong”) on Sea FM Hervey Bay and a newspaper article in Bundaberg.
As a result of the interview on ABC Radio Brisbane, a site at an upcoming Brisbane Expo was offered for free for PingPongParkinson to reach people interested in activities and services for people with disabilities or aged care needs (these sites usually cost thousands of dollars).
Three ‘Come and Try’ PingPongParkinson sessions were held in Melbourne, including a World Parkinson’s Awareness Day event at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre, home of Table Tennis Australia.
On 11 April, Nenad and Helen met with the CEOs of Table Tennis Australia (TTA) and Table Tennis Victoria to acknowledge the value of the collaborative agreement recently formalized between TTA and PPP and to make plans to progress a number of projects identified in this document, including working together with universities to produce research of value to both organizations' missions.
YMCA Boroondara (Melbourne) hosted two pilot PingPongParkinson sessions with a total attendance of 14 people with PD and 8 volunteers. The YMCA is purchasing more table tennis tables and establishing two chapters in May.
New chapters in Queensland include the following: Gold Coast Table Tennis Association from April 24, Bundaberg and Districts Table Tennis Association from May 1 and Brisbane Table Tennis Association from May 3. An allied health practice on the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast Table Tennis Association, the Clem Jones Centre in Brisbane and two aged care facilities in Hervey Bay plan to open chapters later in May.
Whilst touring Victoria and Queensland, Nenad and Helen participated in three Dance for PD classes and many students later participated in PingPongParkinson sessions.
Relationships are being built with Griffith University in Queensland and Monash University in Victoria with a view to collaborative research projects. Relationships are also established with numerous private neurology practices and Parkinson-specific allied health clinics and hospitals in Melbourne and South-East Queensland to increase patient referrals to PPP, to identify volunteers and advance the establishment of new chapters where interest and need are highest.
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| Nenad and Helen with Bundaberg & Districts Table Tennis Association staff, 4 April 2025 |
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| Nenad and Helen at Radio SeaFM studio
31 March 2025 |
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| Table Tennis Australia CEO Nicole Adamson, Helen Halford, and Table Tennis Victoria CEO Gen Dohrmann, 11 April 2025 |
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| Nenad and Sir Bob Geldof, 1 April 2025 |
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| Come and Try PPP session at YMCA, Boroondara Recreation Centre, 13 April 2025 |
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| Nenad performing during a break at the Hervey Bay Citizens Centre table tennis day, 4 April 2025 |
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| Dance for PD Come and Try session 11 April 2025 |
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| Victor McConvey, Fight Parkinson's Director of Health Services, Table Tennis Australia CEO Nicole Adamson, Nenad and Helen, 11 April 2025 |
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| | | Why “Parkinson” Doesn’t Need an Apostrophe |
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You might be wondering why every mention of “Parkinson” in our communications is without the apostrophe (Parkinson, not Parkinson’s). In honor of Parkinson Awareness Month we’d like to share an excerpt, written by Paul Schmidt, which illustrates the “why” behind this.
Why Parkinson Doesn’t Need an Apostrophe Excerpt by Paul Schmidt |
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He called it PingPongParkinson. No apostrophe or “’s” at the end of the word Parkinson. Also, he prefers the term “Parkinson diagnosis,” not “disease,” because the first connotes sickness, and the latter drives hope.
As a copywriter who recently worked on a newly approved treatment for the disease, I asked him, shouldn’t it be called PingPongParkinson’s? I just wanted to make sure we were being grammatically correct.
Bach’s answer was an absolute “no.” He pointed out that adding an apostrophe makes the diagnosis possessive, as if it owns you.
His words—along with the deletion of that apostrophe and the added “s”—changed my perspective on life. And those very words, along with the game of Ping Pong is now changing—and improving thousands of lives as well. Not just socially, but also scientifically.
We need more than neurologic science to discover a cure for this diagnosis. We also need the vital elements of community, love, and let’s not forget, having fun!
That’s what makes playing Ping Pong so powerful to “Parkies,” as many players and people living with the diagnosis call themselves.
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| The full text can be read in our book It Started with a Tremor and It’s Shaking Up the World, available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. |
| | | | TogetherForSharon and PingPongParkinson® |
| | New York City chapter leader Jan Rose was interviewed in a podcast with Dr. George Ackerman, the founder of TogetherForSharon, a Parkinson’s Awareness non-profit organization based in Florida. Jan answered questions about her personal story and about the global PingPongParkinson organization. Following the podcast, Jan was among 25 people invited to submit a chapter in a book edited by Dr. Ackerman named Sports, Exercise, and Slowing the Progression of Parkinson’s Disease: A Collection of Personal Stories & Research.
The podcast and book will be available in July. |
| | | | Michael J. Fox Foundation Unity Walk |
| | On Saturday April 26th, an informal team of 12 New York City chapter pongers participated in a rainy annual Michael J. Fox Foundation Unity Walk. The team proudly wore their new PPP NYC Chapter t-shirts, which drew attention to our organization and helped them meet new and old friends scattered throughout Central park. |
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| | | “Alone I cannot win, but together we cannot lose” by Bill Easterly |
| | Dear Parkinson’s, You will not beat me. Admittedly you have won a few of the early rounds since you arrived six years ago. Under your regime, I walk like I am stuck in a tar pit. I choke on Doritos. I haven’t slept since 2019. I am even more inaudibly soft-spoken than other men from Ohio. You assaulted my dignity, getting some nurses and social workers to treat me like a cute but very needy child. Well, maybe I was too full of myself anyway. You really are pretty terrible. You are not called an incurable neurodegenerative disease for nothing. But against these odds, I found a resource that you did not see coming – other people with Parkinson’s. We discovered each other in New York City doing the kind of exercises that research shows will slow your progression. First, we did boxing for Parkinson’s, then we added Ping Pong for Parkinson’s – both exercise programs started by other people with Parkinson’s (Scott Newman and Nenad Bach, respectively). These exercise groups turned into unplanned and unsupervised support groups, moving us out of our lonely one on one battles against you. We shared tips, complaints, and priceless emotional support with each other. Through Ping Pong especially, we gave each other something that no doctor, no nurse, no social worker had prescribed – we had fun. Nice try, Parkinson’s, but I am having more fun than I did before you came along. When I hit that backhand smash across the table and my friend Joan smokes the ball back down the line, some of my long-lost dignity finally comes back. I am inspired to reach for the uttermost clichés, which only people with incurable diseases are allowed. Alone I cannot win, but together we cannot lose. Ping Pong paddles in hand, we will never give up, we will never give in, we will never stop fighting you. You may keep getting more and more serious, but we will never stop having fun. Parkinson’s Month |
| | Photography by Helen Cory |
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| Photography by PPP Australia Volunteer Helen Cory of a Sacred Kingfisher on a local Australian beach. When she re-watched Nenad's TEDxZagreb talk recently, the concept of conquering the fear of Parkinson resonated with her and she was inspired to create the graphic above, which we’re happy to share with you. |
| | | | | | | | Donate to PingPongParkinson® |
| With your generosity, you can help us take our mission to the next level. Your donations will help: Provide free or low-cost ping pong sessions for individuals living with Parkinson, to delay the progression of symptoms and provide much needed social opportunities in the PD community. Host more tournaments to bring people with Parkinson together, and raise community awareness of the benefits of ping pong for PD. Expand PingPongParkinson® chapters worldwide to transform more lives through ping pong and connect us with our global family.
Please click on the donate button below and share this email with your friends and family. |
| | | | And if you haven’t already, be sure to watch our campaign video “Game of Hope” made in collaboration with SPIN. |
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