Mike Brown is living and breathing pingpong these days.

He practices nearly every day and competes in table tennis leagues at the Rochester Sports Garden Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights. But his goal is to someday compete on a world stage as a member of U.S. National Table Tennis Team in a future Paralympic Games.

"Even if you beat him and beat him soundly, he will say 'I've got you figured out and will get you next time,'" said Ray Mack, Coach of the Genesee Valley Table Tennis Club. "So he never backs down from a challenge and he always wants to play the best players."

Brown, 49, of Rochester, was 13 when started playing pingpong. His first love was basketball, but he was born with cerebral palsy and wanted to find a new way to compete.

"I played basketball all the way through high school and all that," he said. "Then I just started playing pingpong and I would never stop playing and I'm still here playing now."

His goal is to win a place on the U.S. Paralympics Team and to compete in the Paralympics Games, an international event for athletes with physical disabilities. The next summer games are in London in 2012.

To make the team, Brown will have to compete in three national competitions for athletes with disabilities. In June, he is scheduled to play in the Empire State Games, and in July he will travel to Grand Rapids, Mich., to play in the U.S. Open table tennis tournament.

He will also need to increase his rating classification in the sport. Players earn points for tournament play. Brown now stands at 1,626 and needs to have more than 1,700 to qualify for a tryout for the national team.

"I wish I would have done this when I was 20 because it's getting me places and getting me recognised," Brown said. "It's all fun, man, it's a beautiful game."

Brown is a member of the Genesee Valley Table Tennis Club and competes three days a week against able-bodied players.

He placed first in one of the leagues this year, fifth in the second and 18th in the "Classic League" made of the club's best players.

Mack said Brown has quick reflexes despite his lack of leg movement.

"He's a very talented player and he has a great blocking game," he said.

What Brown is trying to improve upon is his ability to react to different styles of play, to players who hit hard and place different spins on the ball. Many think Brown just needs time to master the new aspects of tournament play.

Mary Beth McClaren, the Club Secretary, is one of those supporters. She helped raise money from club members last year to send Brown to the U.S. Open.

This year she helped him get a $750 grant and sponsorship from the Challenged Athletes Foundation to finance his trip to the U.S. Open, June 29 to July 3.

He will compete in the tournament's Standing Open, an event for disabled athletes.

"We think he is in the top three in the country for standing disabled at his level," McClaren said. "But this is only the second time he has played with Paralympic players. And he has to get used to these players and their experience and the strategy they use to play."(The End)