Championing the Power of Table Tennis for Alzheimer’s with SWAN Partner – Alzheimer León

Today marks World Alzheimer's Day, a day to recognise and stand with the millions of people impacted by dementia. One week ago, the ITTF Foundation, represented by the Health Impact Manager, Ramón Ortega Montes, joined an event organised by one of our SWAN project partners, Alzheimer Leon, to promote the positive health effect table tennis can bring for people with Alzheimer's.

On 13 September, with the support of León City Council and the Table Tennis Federation of Castilla y León, Alzheimer León converted the bustling Ordoño II Avenue into an outdoor table tennis court to kick-off Alzheimer’s Week – which ran from 13 – 21 September.

The urban-centric initiative, “Dale un golpe al olvido” (Strike against Dementia), was designed to captivate citizens in their daily routine and raise awareness around Alzheimer’s disease and the use of table tennis as a tool for physical, social and cognitive transformative change, and slowing down some symptoms of Alzheimer’s.

Urban Transformation to Accommodate Sport and Learning

From 11:30 to 14:00 on the 13th, central León transformed into a classroom, engaging local shoppers and community members about the power of table tennis to enhance the lives of people living with Alzheimer’s.

Accompanied by live music, around 500 interested adults, children and elderly participated in table tennis competitions, neuro-cognitive exercises and even watched a professional exhibition, creating a fun and joyful environment to showcase the impact of sport as an inclusive intervention tool. A combination of activities tailored towards education, as well as physical exercise, helped to collectively demonstrate the benefits of table tennis for individuals living with neurodegenerative diseases, especially as it relates to improving balance and increasing focus and use of short and long-term memories.

SWAN – Erasmus+ Sport Project Collaboration

Alzheimer León hosted the event on behalf of the SWAN project, a 26-month EU-funded Erasmus+ Sport initiative aimed at developing and implementing structured table tennis interventions that foster collaboration, generate knowledge and awareness and increase access to physical activity. The research efforts of the consortium centered on the benefits of table tennis are fundamental to advance the production of training programmes, as well as an accessible handbook, which will be available to anyone seeking to implement table tennis training sessions.

As part of the project consortium, ITTF Foundation was represented on-site in León by Ramon Ortega-Montes, the Foundation’s Health Impact Manager. Ramon provided programmatic support, helping deliver warm-up sessions, facilitating cognitive exercises and even sharing knowledge about the benefits of table tennis for people with neurodegenerative diseases. Additionally, he took the time to spotlight ITTF Foundation’s TT4Health programme and the role of the Foundation in advancing the objectives of the SWAN project with Alzheimer Leon and the five other participating partners across Europe.

Moving forward, we will continue promoting and advancing the health benefits of table tennis for people affected by Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases through our World Table Tennis for Health Festival, SWAN project, and other TT4Health initiatives.

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