Special Olympics Table Tennis is a singles or doubles competition where all competitors have physical or mental disabilities.

Special Olympics table tennis is a form of table tennis for physically and mentally disabled athletes. It is a fast-paced sport that requires excellent hand and eye coordination. Special Olympics athletes demonstrated the necessary elements of power and fitness in order to play table tennis. In addition to offering traditional singles, doubles and mixed doubles events, Special Olympics table tennis offers individual skills competition. As in all Special Olympics sports, athletes are grouped in competition divisions according to ability level, age and gender.

The goal of table tennis is to be the first individual or team to reach a designated score.

In game play, the player serving the ball commences a point. Standing so that the ball is held behind the endline of the table, with the ball in the palm of the free hand - over the table's height - and the racket in the other, the server tosses the ball without spin, upward. In casual (non-tournament) games, many players do not toss the ball upward, however this is technically illegal and can give the player serving an unfair advantage. The player then must hit the ball such that it bounces once on his or her half of the table, and then bounces at least one time on the opponent's half. Any hitting of the ball must be done such that the ball passes over or around the net. If the opponent cannot return it over (or around) the net and make it bounce on your side, then you win the point. Points are awarded to the opponent for any of several errors in play.

First introduced at the 1987 Special Olympics World Games where 12 athletes comprised the sport, table tennis has grown tremendously. By 2003, 231 athletes participated in table tennis at the Special Olympics World Summer Games. By 2005, more than 130,000 athletes competed in table tennis.

Paddles
Ping Pong Balls
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Special Olympics table tennis offers individual skills competition to allow athletes to train and compete in basic table tennis skills. The development of these key skills is necessary prior to advancing to match play. These skills include racket bounce, forehand and backhand volley and serving.

Backhand - shot done with the racquet to the left of the elbow for a right-handed player, and the reverse for a left-handed player

Backspin - type of spin used mostly on defensive shots where the bottom of the ball moves away from the player

Dead - a ball with no spin

Forehand - any shot done with the racquet to the right of the elbow for right-handed players, and the reverse for left-handed

players

Lob - a high defensive return of a smash

Rally - the hitting of the ball back and forth, commencing with the serve and ending with a point

Serve - first shot taken by the server to commence play

Smash - a put away shot

Topspin - type of spin used on most aggressive shots, with the top of the ball moving away from the player

Volley - hitting the ball before it bounces on either side of the table

http://www.specialolympics.org/Special+Olympics+Public+Website/English/Coach/Sports_Offered/Table+Tennis.htm
http://www.usatt.org/organization/glossary_tt.shtml