Adam Bobrow

Last updated

Adam Bobrow
Personal information
Full nameAdam Michael Bobrow
Born (1981-02-14) February 14, 1981 (age 43) [1]
Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California
Alma mater University of Southern California (BA)
Occupation(s)YouTuber, voice actor, actor, sports commentator, athlete
Sport
SportTable tennis

Adam Bobrow (born February 14, 1981), [2] also known as Snakeman [3] and The Voice of Table Tennis, [4] is an American sports commentator, YouTuber, actor, and table tennis player. He operates a YouTube channel dedicated to table tennis enthusiasts and fans, providing them with content to promote the sport. [5] [6] Bobrow's YouTube channel features him challenging individuals to friendly matches, supporting young athletes, and traveling to different countries to interact and play with locals while serving as an ambassador for the sport. [3]

Contents

Early life

Bobrow was born in the United States, and grew up near Los Angeles. [3] [7] He has lived in Taiwan since 2016. [5] [3] [7] He grew up playing table tennis with his father. [5] [7] He learned to spin the ball and perform various trick shots including his signature shot and the source of his nickname, the snake. [5] [3] By 15, he was on a local team and began winning tournaments throughout the United States. [5] He played in college at the University of Southern California, where he earned a BA in Theater. [7] [2] After college he taught table tennis at SPiN while auditioning for acting roles. [7]

Table tennis commentator

In 2014, Bobrow won a competition to become the "voice of table tennis", and has been the official commentator for the International Table Tennis Federation ever since. [3] [5] He comments for the main matches in World Table Tennis, along with Fraser Riley. [8] He travels with the tour full time, and believes himself to be the only full-time table tennis commentator in the world. [7]

Bobrow's commentary is known for its excited style, his deep knowledge of the sport, and his emphasis on the positive aspects of the play. [7] He is also known for his flamboyant style of dress. [7] He has been criticized for focusing on the excitement of the game rather than on critical analysis. [7] However, Bobrow's style is credited with bringing the sport to new fans who otherwise would not watch table tennis. [5]

Acting career

As an actor, he has had voice roles in TV shows and video games including Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion , Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 as Iceman, Scooby-Doo! Who's Watching Who? , and Samurai Warriors 3 . [9] He also had a role in the table tennis movie Balls of Fury. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Table tennis</span> Racket sport

Table tennis is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of two, players take alternating turns returning a light, hollow ball over the table's net onto the opposing half of the court using small rackets until they fail to do so, which results in a point for the opponent. Play is fast, requiring quick reaction and constant attention, and is characterized by an emphasis on spin, which can affect the ball's trajectory more than in other ball sports.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beer pong</span> Drinking game involving ping pong balls

Beer pong, also known as Beirut, is a drinking game in which players throw a ping pong ball across a table with the intent of landing the ball in a cup of beer on the other end. The game typically consists of opposing teams of two or more players per side with 6 or 10 cups set up in a triangle formation on each side. Each team then takes turns attempting to throw ping-pong balls into the opponent's cups. If the team "makes" a cup - that is, the ball lands in it, and stays in it - the contents of the cup are consumed by the other team and the cup is removed from the table. The first team to eliminate all of the opponent's cups is the winner.

Ping-pong diplomacy refers to the exchange of table tennis (ping-pong) players between the United States and the People's Republic of China in the early 1970s. Considered a turning point in relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China, it began during the 1971 World Table Tennis Championships in Nagoya, Japan, as a result of an encounter between players Glenn Cowan and Zhuang Zedong. These interactions sparked diplomatic breakthrough, by signaling that both sides were willing to interact and engage in dialogue. The exchange and its promotion helped people in each country to recognize the humanity in the people of the other country, and it paved the way for President Richard Nixon's visit to Beijing in 1972 and the Shanghai Communiqué. The Shanghai Communiqué was a pivotal diplomatic document issued on February 28, 1972, during President Richard Nixon's visit to China. It marked a significant shift in U.S.-China relations, as both countries acknowledged their differences while committing to improving their relationship, ultimately setting the stage for détente between the two nations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zhuang Zedong</span> Chinese table tennis player

Zhuang Zedong was a Chinese table tennis player, three-time world men's singles champion and champion at numerous other table tennis events and a well-known political personality during the tumult of the Cultural Revolution. His chance meeting with American table tennis player, Glenn Cowan, during the 31st World Table Tennis Championship, later referred to as ping-pong diplomacy, triggered the first thawing of the ice in Sino-American relations since 1949. Zhuang was once married to the pianist Bao Huiqiao, and his second wife was the Chinese-born Japanese Atsuko Sasaki (佐々木敦子).

<i>Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis</i> 2006 table tennis simulation video game

Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis is a 2006 table tennis simulation video game developed by Rockstar San Diego and published by Rockstar Games. The game is a realistic simulation of the sport table tennis, with the main objective to make the opponent fail to hit the ball.

<i>Ping Pong</i> (2002 film) 2002 Japanese film

Ping Pong is a 2002 Japanese sports film directed by Fumihiko Sori. It is based on Taiyō Matsumoto's manga series of the same name and is about the friendship between two high school table tennis players. The film concentrates on these two friends, their two mentors, and three players who they encounter at high school table tennis tournaments. It explores the different motivations and philosophies that they have towards table tennis and tries to portray the excitement and subtlety of the sport.

<i>Balls of Fury</i> 2007 American film

Balls of Fury is a 2007 American sports comedy film directed by Robert Ben Garant, who also wrote the screenplay with Thomas Lennon, who also co-starred and produced with Roger Birnbaum, Gary Barber and Jonathan Glickman. The film stars Dan Fogler in his first lead role, with a supporting cast of George Lopez, Christopher Walken, Maggie Q, Terry Crews, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, James Hong and Jason Scott Lee. It was released in the United States on August 29, 2007, to generally negative reviews.

Snake Man, Snake Men or snake people may refer to:

Matthew Philip Syed is a British journalist, author, broadcaster and former table tennis player. He competed as an English table tennis international, and was the English number one for many years.

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Killerspin, LLC is an American company that focuses on the table tennis market. Killerspin manufactures tables, rackets, and balls. It is a part of sponsoring and hosting several competitions, as well as table tennis related special events. Killerspin equipment and products are distributed in fourteen countries on five separate continents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Baggaley</span> British table tennis player (born 1983)

Andrew Baggaley is a professional table tennis player from Milton Keynes. He is England's leading table tennis medal winner of all time in the Commonwealth Games, winning two gold medals in Manchester, England (2002), 1 silver medal in Melbourne, Australia (2006), 1 silver and 1 bronze medal in Delhi, India (2010) and 1 silver in Glasgow, Great Britain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ichiro Ogimura</span> Japanese table tennis player

Ichiro Ogimura was a Japanese table tennis player, coach, president of the ITTF and former World No. 1 who won 12 World Championship titles during his career. Ogimura was also a key figure in the Ping Pong Diplomacy events of the early 1970s, as well as being instrumental in Korea playing as a unified team at the 1991 World Table Tennis Championships.

<i>Ping Pong</i> (manga) Japanese manga series

Ping Pong is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Taiyō Matsumoto about table tennis. It was serialized in Shogakukan's seinen manga magazine Big Comic Spirits from 1996 to 1997 and collected in five tankōbon volumes. The story follows high schoolers and childhood friends Peco and Smile, as they compete in the national table tennis tournament where they face talented players from all over the country.

<i>Scorching Ping Pong Girls</i> Japanese manga series

Scorching Ping Pong Girls is a Japanese manga series by Yagura Asano about table tennis. The original run began serialization in Shueisha's shōnen manga magazine Jump SQ.19 in 2013. After Jump SQ.19 ended publication in February 2015, the manga moved to Shueisha's online platform Tonari no Young Jump in May 2015, and finished in February 2019. It has been collected in seven tankōbon volumes. A continuation, titled Scorching Ping Pong Girls Reburn!!, began serialization on Takeshobo's Storia Dash website from April 2023. An anime television series adaptation by Kinema Citrus aired in Japan between October and December 2016.

Derek Tawiah Abrefa is a Ghanaian born table tennis player. He started playing table tennis when he was in Presbyterian Senior High School, Osu as a student and junior national champion. Derek being a junior ping pong player represented Ghana at the Africa Junior Championship in Alexandria, Egypt and the All African Games in Algiers, Algeria in 2007.

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<i>Eleven Table Tennis</i> Virtual reality table tennis game

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Ping Pong: The Triumph is a 2023 Chinese sports drama film co-directed by Deng Chao with Yu Baimei. The film starring Deng Chao with Sun Li and Xu Weizhou is set in 1992 to 1995, and follows a table tennis coach based on Cai Zhenhua, who comes back from abroad to serve as the coach with a resolve to make a difference. Under his leadership, five players, Ding Song, Ma Wenge, Wang Tao, Liu Guoliang, and Kong Linghui, played in Tianjin. The story of a desperate counterattack in the World Championships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pongfinity</span> Finnish sports comedy group

Pongfinity is a Finnish sports and comedy group focused around table tennis composed of Emil Rantatulkkila, Otto Tennilä, and Miikka O'Connor. Their YouTube channel, which mainly displays trick shots related to the sport, is the 7th most-subscribed channel in Finland and the most-subscribed channel about table tennis. Both Otto and Miikka are semi-professional players, earning medals in Finnish, Swedish, and Estonian championships.

References

  1. "Profiles". ITTF.
  2. 1 2 Tripple Zero Billionaires, ed. (April 7, 2022). "Adam Bobrow's Net Worth" . Retrieved April 26, 2023.[ unreliable source? ]
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Klug, Foster (August 6, 2021). "'Snakeman' looks to spread joys of table tennis beyond Games". Associated Press. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  4. Pope, Shelby (April 25, 2019). "The 'extreme extrovert' on a mission to make you love ping pong". The Guardian. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Blennerhassett, Patrick (August 1, 2021). "Tokyo Olympics: 'voice of table tennis' Adam Bobrow brings the splash, colour and pizazz to spice up the Games". South China Morning Post. Retrieved April 27, 2023.
  6. "Adam Bobrow - YouTube". YouTube.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Pope, Shelby (April 25, 2019). "The 'extreme extrovert' on a mission to make you love ping pong". The Guardian. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  8. "#WTTChampions Macao Men's Singles Finals – Commentator's Cam Behind-the-Scenes". YouTube . December 25, 2022. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  9. Behind the Voice Actors: Adam Bobrow, behindthevoiceactors.com
  10. Balls of Fury (2007) - IMDb . Retrieved November 30, 2024 via www.imdb.com.