There are Little League dads. Hockey dads. Football dads. Then there’s Scott Preiss. He’s a pingpong papa, a table tennis terror, a prophet of the paddle. He’s got a mission. And he’s got frenetic ambition. He wants his 12-year-old son, Austin, the No. 1 ranked table tennis player in the country in the 12-and under category, to be among the best in the world. And he wants to bring rock ’em, sock ’em table tennis — not the basement pastime of pingpong — to the masses. He dreams of a better world, where a paddle is in every kid’s paw, where a man is judged not by the color of his skin but the quality of his top-spin. But Preiss isn’t your typical sports fanatic. He doesn’t scream. He doesn’t berate. He doesn’t bully. He simply oozes 70-mph enthusiasm. Austin plays dutiful sidekick to his mad dad during the table tennis exhibitions they put on across the country. In a few weeks, the two will earn some serious cash performing for 400 gerontologists attending a conference on how families hand down traditions and passions. After that, they’ll travel to Germany to perform for U.S. military families. During a warm-up Wednesday, the two had the gym at Manitou Middle School rocking. Dad — jumping, running, sweating — played to the young crowd and did the comedy. Aus- tin did the smashing. Older son Adam, almost 15, a good player himself back in the day before he discovered golf, ran the video camera. Four months ago, he started a table tennis club at Cheyenne Mountain High School, and 25 kids now play twice a week.
Wife and mom, Hong Yu, watched from the sidelines. She grew up in China, the hotbed of the sport, and she isn’t a pushover when she faces off with the men in their table tennis room at home. Table tennis is life, philosophy, even metaphor in the Preiss household. Dad, who took up the sport “too late” at age 14, coached at the Olympic Training Center for a decade and has demonstrated the sport to 2,200 audiences. The family bought a home in China three years ago and is considering moving there so Austin can practice and play against the best. Austin has spent the past three summers in China, practicing five to six hours a day, six days a week. At home, that grueling training drops off a bit — to about four hours a day. The younger Preiss has a goal. He’ll be competing in the junior world championships in a few weeks and hopes to land a spot on the National Team. From there, he hopes to compete for the United States in the 2012 Olympics. Austin, a straight-A student tempered by competition and world travel, is polite and wellspoken. But he is a kid, after all, and when he and his big brother play against each other, the little dog has his day. “I pretty much beat him,” Austin said. “And sometimes we get in fights and start hitting balls at each other.” CONTACT THE WRITER: 719-636-0197 or
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