Bryan Brothers Play Ping Pong For Charity

Written by: Staff on 25th August 2012

Bryan Brothers Play Ping Pong For Charity |

By: Gina Doost

The Bryan brothers can add one more success story to their list of accomplishments. The Olympic doubles gold medalists competed at ping pong with members of New York City’s Fire Department at Susan Sarandon’s Spin Club on August 23, 2012. Nesquik sponsored the first annual charity ping pong tournament to help raise $25,000 for training and public education purposes, explained Executive Director of FDNY Jean O’shea.

The atmosphere was welcoming, fun and filled with drinks and variety of snacks all over. There was also a lesson to be learned. “[The] best way to fight fires is to prevent them,” says Anthony Mancuso, Lieutenant and Executive Director of Fire Safety education.

Mike Bryan said the best part of this tournament is interacting with the firemen, “these guys are heroes in our minds.” Both brothers love competition and take pride in their ping pong skills, said Mike.

It would not be complete unless we got some ping pong pointers from the duo. Mike and Bob explained that compared to tennis it’s all about the forearms with more wrist movement involved and the art of bending your knees to react to the different spins.

Mike and Bob weren’t the only highlight of the event. Sixteen teams from the FDNY battled each other for the right to play the champs. The talented pair Tom Spade and Glenn Brown emerged as the top team and put pressure on the twins in the finals hitting their shots with authority and utilizing “nasty spin.” Bob and Mike fended off their assault while trying to entertain the onlookers with their well known antics. The game ended with chest bumps all around and even the kids joined in on the fun.

Look for the Bryans to make another deep run at the US Open as they get to play their favorite slam in front of friends and family.