Pingpong table in the middle of Dolphins' locker room takes competition to next level

MIAMI GARDENS — Raheem Mostert and Jason Sanders are standing at the center of the Dolphins' locker room, about 5 feet apart, appearing intense. Aside from a bit of trash-talking, there’s not much breaking their concentration.

The only thing separating them is a pingpong table.

The two are laser-focused as the game becomes more frenzied, more eyes fall on them and the tiny white ball goes back and forth. Even reporters, who often have tunnel vision when walking into the locker room, are drawn in.

At times, the room can feel like a table-sized version of the Miami Open — hosted just a few hundred yards away in the spring at Hard Rock Stadium — as the sport has become a teamwide sensation.

“I would say the first thing that the pingpong table has brought is competition, more competition into the locker room,” quarterback Tua Tagovailoa said this week. “Another thing that it’s brought is guys are trying new things. There are guys that don’t normally play pin pong or haven’t grown up playing pingpong. They’ve just been watching and now they want to get into the action. Now, guys think they’re professionals.

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“Guys are going and getting their own paddles. I mean, that’s crazy. Guys are watching YouTube. They’re doing some weird serves now. They’re doing some professional serves.”

Sanders, who’s considered among the best on the team, comes out with the win over Mostert and things eventually die down before the next pair of teammates steps up for their turn and it all gets going again.

“It brings a little crowd,” Mostert said with a chuckle. “So you gotta show out of course when the crowd’s around, but it’s just fun to play, man, honestly.”

There are times when a couple of the unlikeliest pairs of teammates can be seen at the table playing a game of doubles. Safety Eric Rowe and center Connor Williams challenged Sanders and defensive back Elijah Campbell. Often, loud yells and outbursts of laughter reverberate throughout the spacious and decadent space.

This type of bonding shared over a fairly simple yet competitive game is exactly what the players enjoy most. Bringing in the table was a brainchild of the Mike McDaniel regime. The affable, emotionally intelligent coach has gone to great lengths to make the locker room a more enjoyable space for his players.

“Honestly, if it weren’t for that pingpong table, I’d already feel like I hit the rookie wall this year,” linebacker Sam Eguavoen said. “Seriously, with long practices, things like that, I think that pingpong table really saved a lot of players on this team. I really appreciate coach Mike for getting it into the locker room because I’m joking, laughing with offensive players, offensive linemen. It’s just great and I’m happy that it’s here.”

The notion of having a pingpong table in the middle of the locker room would have been inconceivable under head coach Brian Flores, who was all business. Flores had a very different layout in the room, with lockers separated by position group, something McDaniel did away with early in his tenure, mixing everyone together to increase camaraderie.

For newcomers such as Mostert and Tyreek Hill, having games in the locker room isn’t a foreign or new concept. At both of their previous organizations, they had a pingpong table and are familiar with the impact that it has.

“It brings a unique characteristic to the locker room,” Mostert said. “It’s always about being competitive and what better way than being on the pingpong table? It’s something I know the guys didn’t have last year or the year before, but you just see the camaraderie that is being built and that just carries over onto the field, trusting each other and everything like that.”

In addition to helping forge relationships, pingpong has also helped bring the best side out of a lot of players, allowing them to unearth some hidden qualities that otherwise may have been invisible to media members who were held out of locker rooms the past two seasons due to COVID-19.

Tagovailoa, often seen as relatively reserved and mellow, has demonstrated an extreme amount of confidence in himself when it comes to his abilities at the table, claiming that he’s the best on the team. That confidence partially comes from matches that he’s had against Hill, who has been working to help the third-year signal-caller become more extroverted and get out of his shell.

When informed of Tagovailoa’s declaration about his skills, others were quick to laugh and roll their eyes.

“No, Tua is not [the best],” Eguavoen said. “Tua is learning, he’s growing, he’s becoming a better player. He’s been watching me, Raheem Mostert, Cedrick Wilson, he’s been watching our games. I could tell that he’s growing as a player but he’s nowhere near the top.”

From practice squad players to stars like Hill and Tagovailoa, the players have all bought into the new wave. And in the case of Hill, he’s invested.

Hill, who Sanders said was a big proponent of bringing pingpong into the locker room, purchased Olympic-level paddles for his new teammates that are engraved with their names and jersey numbers on the handle. As one of the newcomers to the team, it was a gesture that everyone appreciated.

“It’s the small things,” Mostert said. “You can just see guys are using those paddles and are trying their best to perform on the table. Unfortunately, they know that they’re not as good as some of the other guys, but hey, it’s all about being competitive and having fun at the end of the day.”

While it’s one of the many ways that the team unwinds after practice, the matches between teammates have become highly competitive. With a few guys creating a teamwide tournament. Eguavoen created a 32-person bracket that is taped up near the table, where he’s suspiciously installed himself as the No. 1 seed.

The consensus among those participating, however, is that Mostert, Sanders and linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel have shown themselves to be the favorites through the first couple of rounds.

“That was a collective group [idea],” Mostert said of the tournament. “A lot of guys, we were all playing back and forth and then we decided to just get this thing going, ‘Let’s start a tournament and see who’s the best in the locker room.’ ”

Tournament aside, the pingpong table has already gone above and beyond in serving its purpose. It’s become one of the true unifiers for the team, with different position groups, rookies and vets all interacting. In its own way, it has contributed to the successful start to the season.

“We’re just more happy for each other,” Eguavoen said. “We’re just more involved watching certain plays happening. … We’re just so much closer as a team. Special teams wise, people are watching. Defense watching offense, offense is watching defense. Everybody's just more in tune now.”

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Tua, Tyreek Hill , Miami Dolphins play pingpong in locker room