揭秘：拯救乒乓球的TTX项目

I almost never watch table tennis. But when I sat down to watch the Rio Olympics women's finals happen in front of me, I was drawn in. Swoosh, spin, smash, and swing. Oh, you thought she was going to hit it this way? Nope, it's a smash to the other side. What is she thinking of next?
我几乎从来不观看乒乓球。但当我在决赛现场坐下观看里约奥运会女子乒乓球决赛，比赛就发生在我眼前的时候，我立刻被吸引住了。嗖地一拉！旋球，扣球，弧旋球，让人眼花缭乱。亲，你以为她要往桌这边打么？那你上当了！她一下就把球扣到了另一边。她下一招又是什么呢？

While I was captivated by the fast-paced match, I couldn't help but notice the age of my fellow audience members. A look around the arena told me they ranged from mid-30s to graying hair. Where are the young people?
我完全被快节奏的比赛迷住了，不禁注意到我周围观众的年龄分布。一眼望去，观众的年龄层基本都是35岁向上到头发花白的老人。我们这群年轻人在哪儿呢？

Organizations from across the spectrum are trying hard to appeal to the younger generation. The International Table Tennis Federation is no exception. To find out more about the lack of youth interest, I talked to the ITTF marketing director Steve Dainton.
其实，各行各业的公司都在为吸引年轻的人群而努力。国际乒联也不例外。为了弄明白为什么年轻人缺乏兴趣，我和国际乒联市场总监史蒂夫丹顿聊了起来。

I wonder why millennials like me don't keep up with table tennis. He thinks it's because professional table tennis is too complicated. The format is too formal and the technicalities aren't exactly easy to understand.
我想知道为什么像我这样的青少年对乒乓球不感冒。他觉得是因为专业乒乓球技术层面上太复杂，比赛形式太正式，技术性的细节也不太容易让人理解。

"The IOC was telling us we need to appeal to the youth," Dainton said, "But we can't just expect young people to like what we're doing. We have to do what young people like."
"国际奥委会叫我们吸引更多的年轻人，"丹顿说，"但我们不能坐等年轻人们喜欢我们的东西。我们必须用年轻人喜欢的东西去吸引他们"。

The ITTF are planning on something quite different to lure young people in. It's called Table Tennis X or just TTX. With DJs and maybe alcohol, TTX plans to host lively social events. It can be a night out with your squad on the beach or in a downtown bar. People will basically play amateur table tennis with fewer rules, easier equipment, and more color. You get a bigger ball and a personalized paddle, so no more just black or red.
国际乒联正计划尝试一些从未有过的做法去吸引年轻人。该计划被称为乒乓球X项目或简称TTX。TTX计划举办热闹的社区活动，比如邀请DJ，把年轻人聚在一起把酒言欢，相邀小伙伴们一起在海滩或市中心酒吧里共度浪漫一夜。大家聚在一起可以打业余的乒乓球，较少的限制、更随意的装备，会添加更多色彩。你将使用一个稍大的乒乓球和你的个性球拍，再也不用为是红色还是黑色而困扰啦。

I must say, traditional table tennis does not have the most pleasing aesthetics. Even though I suck at table tennis and would never make it to the top in TTX, I'll just design a paddle prettier than my opponents and beat their sense of style. Plus, participation is key.
我不得不承认，传统的乒乓球对于美感上赏心悦目的追求真的太少了。虽然我乒乓球打的一塌糊涂绝对没可能在这个TTX中打出名次，但我绝对会设计一个比我对手更漂亮的球拍，在时尚感上面击败他们。另外，参与才是关键。

"This is not for the table tennis people," Dainton added, "This is for the outsiders—people who are playing in the basement, the champion of the street, or people who think they are the best."
丹顿补充说:"这不是面向乒乓球选手的"，"是面向那些圈子外面的人！像是地下室球手，街头冠军和那些自认为他们是最棒的人。"

I could think of a few people off the top of my head that think they're on fire at table tennis. Are they really? I know they would love the challenge to prove themselves.
这让我立刻想起几个自认乒乓球技高超的人。他们是真厉害吗？我知道他们一定喜欢这样的挑战来证明自己。

To be honest, when I first heard Dainton talking about it, it sounded to me like some middle-aged people trying to sound hip and cool. Now I'm starting to picture TTX and I can see it as a something my friends and I would give a shot at. Maybe even an activity we look forward to.
老实说，我一开始听到丹顿谈论此事，听起来就像是一个中年人试图表现得很潮很酷。现在我开始想象TTX的样子，我把它看作是我和我们朋友会去尝试一下的东西，甚至是一个我们期盼的活动。

The TTX project is still in its initial stages. The website and the idea are up, but not much more. The next step is for ITTF is to come up with the event structure.
TTX项目目前仍处于起步阶段，网站和设想已经出来，暂时没更多的了。国际乒联的下一步就是弄出活动框架。

But something tells me that there needs to be more to it than just changing the format of table tennis if you want to appeal to millennials. There actually is interest in table tennis among us, but for some reason, it isn't carrying through beyond game rooms and basements. A lot of my friends love playing table tennis and watching other people play, but we've never followed the professional games. Furthermore, now fewer millennials are hoping to participate in table tennis, professionally or not. The decrease is especially noticeable in youth from China, the country that currently dominates table tennis. Why is that?
但是有些东西告诉我，如果你想要吸引青少年，只是改变兵乓球的推广形式还远远不够。其实在我们之中是有对乒乓球的兴趣的，但出于某种原因，兴趣无法带到游戏室和地下室之外。我很多的朋友爱打乒乓球，也爱看其他人打，但我们从来没有关注过专业比赛。此外，现在越来越少的青少年希望参与乒乓球，无论是不是专业。这种减少的现象在中国青少年中体现尤为明显，中国是目前称霸乒乓球的国家。这是为什么呢？

I also have a feeling the complexity of professional table tennis isn't the only problem. After watching the women's finals, I went to watch fencing, another one-on-one sport. Fencing is by no means easy to understand, and the technicalities are much more complicated than I have space here to explain. But fencing has been growing in popularity significantly, especially among young people. At fencing events, I often sit in the crowd among other young people, many of who don't really understand the rules but love to watch. We have heated discussions and it's always a blast.
我也有一种感觉，专业乒乓球的复杂性并不是唯一的问题。看完女子决赛后，我去观看击剑比赛，另一种一对一运动。击剑无论用什么表达方式都不容易理解，并且技术性细节比我用这里所有篇幅来解释还要更加复杂。但击剑的受欢迎程度已经明显地不断增长，尤其是在年轻人当中。在击剑赛事中，我常常坐在观赛的年轻人群之中，许多人不是很明白规则但是喜欢观看，我们有过激烈的讨论，争得让人心跳。

But this increase in popularity isn't happening with table tennis and some other sports that young people really should be interested in. How can you successfully appeal to my generation? I don't know, but a good place to start is keeping an open mind to new ideas and change.
但这一向上的流行趋势并没有发生在乒乓球和其它年轻人应该感兴趣的一些体育运动上。你们该如何成功地吸引我们这一代呢？我不知道，但对新意和变革保持开放心态，是个好的起点。

To sustain the flame of the Olympic Movement, we will have to hand the torch on to the future generation. We can begin by kindling their passion for sports.
为了支撑住奥林匹克运动的火焰，我们将不得不把火炬传递给下一代，点燃他们炙热的体育激情，来迈出我们的第一步！