By Linda Badger

Two years ago, in its effort to make JFK Drive attractive as a car-free “promenade” in Golden Gate Park, the City put a cement ping pong table in the middle of the street near Eighth Avenue. The table became quite popular, attracting crowds on the weekends.

Longtime Richmond District resident Raymond Tracy was not surprised. A ping pong instructor, he pointed out that San Francisco is one of the nation’s epicenters of the sport.

At the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, three out of four of the American athletes who qualified to compete in table tennis competitions were from the Bay Area.

Tracy is passionate about ping pong. The “coffee table” in his Inner Richmond studio is a full-sized ping pong table. He was thrilled when the table arrived on JFK Promenade. He was even more thrilled when it caught on. Everyone loved playing – kids, seniors and tourists from around the world. Then, the balls and paddles started disappearing.

Fortunately, Tracy is a natural caretaker. Born in Boston, Tracy began his career working with children with autism. He spent five years helping runaway and unhoused kids in New York City. When he moved to San Francisco, he worked more than 20 years with juvenile offenders in the Richmond District. When JFK Promenade’s ping pong area started to falter, Tracy stepped in to help.

Tracy began cleaning the ping pong area and took it upon himself to replenish the disappearing balls and paddles. When the area became so crowded that his friend, a senior citizen, could not play anymore, Tracy decided to pay a visit to Phil Ginsberg, San Francisco Recreation and Park Department’s general manager.

Tracy never spoke to Ginsberg, but after months of trying was told the City did not have the funds to supply additional cement tables, which would cost nearly $10,000 a piece to build and transport. Nevertheless, the City became aware of how popular ping pong is to park visitors and promised new equipment and a safer space in the future.

In the meantime, Tracy said, two new tables “magically appeared” one day, cobbled out of plywood and old ping pong equipment. Tracy helps to maintain these as well, although he said additional cement tables from the City would be preferable and more likely to hold up over the years.

All three ping pong tables are often occupied on weekends and sunny days. Maleina Aguinaldo, a University of San Francisco student, commented on their popularity while playing ping pong with her family one Sunday morning.

“On my daily runs I see people of different ages using the tables,” Aguinaldo said. “It is so beautiful to see our elderly community, especially, stay active – all for free! It definitely turns heads and makes people pause on their runs.”

Tracy has safety concerns resulting from the growing popularity of ping pong on JFK Promenade.

“It is a miracle” that someone chasing a ball hasn’t been run over “by an e-bike going 30 miles an hour,” Tracy said.

To address the problem, Tracy rearranged the area, placing cones, netting and signs to prevent accidents. He also brought his concerns to the attention of Rec. and Park.

According to Tracy, the City also expressed concern that the tables are being taken over by ping pong players who stay for hours while others wait on the sidelines. As part of the Golden Mile, the ping pong and bean bag toss games were meant to provide a fun place for all levels of proficiency – not just serious players. Not one to wait, he wrote “Newcomers and kids first” in Sharpie on one of the privately supplied tables.

In fact, the City says it has plans to improve JFK Promenade’s popular ping pong area. Tamara Barak Aparton, deputy director of communications and public affairs for Rec. and Park, confirmed that the City has purchased another cement table. Barak Aparton said construction for a fence was scheduled to begin as of mid-March.

Prioritizing safety, Tracy is grateful the fence is on its way and hopes the City will install it quickly. He is worried, however, that when the City installs the new cement table, it will remove both privately donated tables, leaving only two tables.

“We need three,” he said.

Table tennis is the national sport of China, whose athletes have won nearly every gold medal since the sport was included in the Olympics in 1988. It is, therefore, not surprising that the Richmond and Sunset districts, with large Chinese communities, are home to so many ping pong pros and enthusiasts.

The sport did not originate in China, but rather in Victorian England in the 1880s. According to historians, table tennis was originated by aristocrats who wanted to bring the game of lawn tennis inside to their parlors. Lore has it that British soldiers living in India first invented the concept, playing the game using a golf ball, a line of books stacked in the middle of a dining table for the “net,” and two more books for “paddles.”

Whether one harkens back to China, England or beyond, there are plenty of places to play in San Francisco. The Richmond Community Center, located at 251 18th Ave., has several public ping pong tables, and the Sunset Playground at 2201 Lawton St. boasts, “one of the most popular ping pong rooms in the City.”

The Goldman Tennis Center in Golden Gate Park, where Tracy is an instructor, offers table tennis classes every Saturday for people of all ages and has ping pong camps for kids. Tracy also gives private lessons in locations such as the Free Gold Watch arcade located in the Haight at 1767 Waller St.

While ping pong is fantastic exercise, Tracy loves it for the joy it gives him and others.

“When you are walking, you think about things,” he said. With ping pong, “all you can think about is the game.”

He thinks the only people who might not like ping pong in the park are all of the therapists losing business because everyone who plays is so happy.

To join the fun, Tracy offers private lessons. He can be contacted at 415-946-9217. To sign up for Saturday classes or kids’ camps at the Goldman Tennis Center, visit lifetimeactivities.com/wp-content/uploads/SF-SPRING-2025-TABLE-TENNIS.pdf.