#560 Ping Pong vs Table Tennis - Featuring Steve Claflin
Description
Steve Claflin’s life in racket sports is one of resilience, reinvention, and passion. A former nationally-ranked table tennis champion and Port Huron Sports Hall of Fame inductee, Steve’s competitive career was nearly ended by a devastating knee injury and infection in 2002. After years of rehabilitation, he found his way back to the game in 2010 through hardbat ping pong, a slower, strategy-driven version of table tennis that relies less on explosive movement and more on stamina and tactics. What began as a chance substitution at the U.S. Open turned into a second career. In 2022, Steve founded and became Chair of the International Classic Table Tennis Federation (ICTTF), which now organizes world events across Mexico, China, and Brazil. At the 2024 World Cup in Mexico City, he earned a silver medal in the Over 55 Championship. Today, Steve continues to champion ping pong globally, proving that active aging means adapting, competing, and thriving.
United States
