2 074 Primary-school pupils of the third and fourth grade from Düsseldorf had an extraordinary day at the Merkur Spiel-Arena on Wednesday. They sang danced and played table tennis all together and broke the world record for the most people playing merry-go-round at the same time within Borussia Düsseldorf’s new project “Sing Pong”.
The kick-off event started at 10 o’clock with the song from Andreas Bourani “Auf uns (to us)”. There would have been no better song for the start as it is about big moments in life that will be remembered
The stop-dance to warm up the great choir of the participants who sang six songs rehearsed during the “SingPause” in the last weeks the communal table tennis dance or the choreographed Walk to the ping-pong tables – every single part was amazing. But the highlight of the “SingPong”-premiere were still pending. At 10:55 the time had come for the 2 074 girls and boys to get ready to play 15 minutes of table tennis merry-go-round at 105 tables on the same location where the world record has been broken last year. It was 11:10 when Borussia manager Andreas Preuss announced: “Düsseldorf has the world record!” The kids burst into cheers. The picture on the grass showed a clef a table tennis racket and a table tennis ball. The sign of “SingPong” with the combination of singing and table tennis.
Then it went on the appearance of the Düsseldorf singer-songwriter `enkelson.’ followed. The likeable 32-year-old sang his “Düsseldorf” song as a homage to his hometown. The kids danced with him and went with the singer through the arena to see the grand finale. While over 2000 children sang the “Ping Pong song” Borussia head coach Danny Hester played with city director Hintzsche and numerous kids’ table tennis on a self-made concert grand piano which was built by the “Graf Recke Stiftung” a foundation for people with mental problems.
“This arena stands for sports and music so our event fitted in very well ” said Andreas Preuss. “And with this event we have beaten our fantastic world record from 2018. I’m totally overwhelmed. Many thanks to all our partners who support our social commitment!”