Olympics or Shabbat? Orthodox Ping Pong Player, Estee Ackerman, Forced To Choose

When Orthodox Jewish All Star Estee Ackerman was an 11-years-old, she sat out her final match at the 2012 U.S. National Table Tennis Championships because the game was scheduled for Shabbos, and they wouldn’t accommodate her. She made international news from that decision. Throughout her career, including missing out on Olympics trials, Estee has always put Shabbos first. The sacrifices were ones that she was making for Hashem and she believed that she would be rewarded for making the right choices. Ackerman has been a competitive ping pong player practically her entire life. Her initial encounter with Jew in the City was as one of our Orthodox Jewish All Stars over 10 years ago. At an event, we set up a ping pong table and offered people to play 13-year-old Ackerman for $50 a game. She won every round! 

In 2016, when Ackerman was 14, she was the first Orthodox Jew to try out of the US Olympics when she joined the Olympic trials in table tennis. She only missed it by 11 spots and was ranked the 14th best female player in the country. She did however make it to the next best stage at the Junior Olympics in Houston where she won the gold! 

In 2020 and 2024, she was prepared to try out for the Olympics again, but the qualifiers were on Shabbos and US Table Tennis refused to accommodate her again. Ackerman is currently 22 years old and a 2028 Olympic hopeful, as long as Shabbos can be accommodated. During her seminary year, she joined a club in Jerusalem with a partner, and competed in doubles across Israel, representing the Jewish people leading up to the COVID. “My partner and I did very well…and we did make it to the finals,” but right before the finals, young people in their seminary years fled back to America. 

In our age of diversity, equity, and inclusion, Jews are typically excluded. Observant Jews aren’t accommodated. But Ackerman’s perspective is more nuanced. She recognizes that her Judaism and Torah observance have resulted in her getting more media coverage, interviews, and attention than her teammates and peers. She also optimistically expresses that, “If you’re working hard and you’re dreaming big, you will succeed,” of course not without a bump in the road but this is “what makes Jewish people really strong.”

Recently Ackerman was approached by a long time family friend who had the idea to make her the subject of a children’s book. One day she got a call that the book was picked up by little bee books, a publisher (non-Jewish!), which she’s extremely excited about “to hopefully get inspired by…and see that anyone is capable of anything.” Ping-Pong Shabbat: The True Story of Champion Estee Ackerman, which came ou this week is a story is about pursuing your dreams even when something is in the way, and the book illustrates Ackerman’s choice of an abundant Shabbos table opposed to a Friday night ping pong qualifying tournament. She epitomizes the universal value of conviction. “Because I made the opposite decision and I was disappointed, I hope someone understands when you give something up, you see Hashem more in your life,” she views this as her “gold medal,” knowing that because of her inspirational story, people grew more careful with their choices to be more committed Jews.

Today Ackerman is a sports coach and Navi teacher in a middle school in Long Island. She is passionate about bringing ping pong tables to a broad array of Yeshiva day schools, and the 2028 Olympics are top of mind, after the coming of Moschiah of course!

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