Even though these days Silicon Valley is probably better known for sports that involve corporate take-overs and tech wars, there’s another boom that start-up central is responsible for — Ping Pong. Sons and daughters of software engineers, it seems largely, are fostering their kids’ ping pong dreams, hoping to take on dominant China’s teams in 2012. Who knew the sport could lead to so many possible paths of greatness. Check it, one kid even made it to a face-off with some silicon giants, who wanted to peep the technique:

Named for Disney’s “Little Mermaid,” Ariel juggles school and international tournaments in Tokyo, Chile and elsewhere. Her ferocious close-to-the-table backhand, honed from age 6, has generated so much buzz that two years ago she was invited to play with “Mr. Bill” — as in Bill Gates, the chairman of Microsoft — and “Mr. Warren” — Warren E. Buffett, the investor. She overwhelmed the billionaire Ping-Pongers at Mr. Buffett’s 75th birthday party in San Francisco. “They’re very humble and down to earth,” she said.

The future as a “real sport” is probably solely reliant on the Milpitas Indian Community Center, as “last week, at the United States table tennis national championships in Las Vegas, 21 players from Milpitas competed against 653 athletes from around the country, garnering 15 awards — the most of any club.” That constitutes a dynasty in any other sport. Regardless, we’re big fans.

Watch for much KSPACE ping pong action in the new year and in the meantime here’s some recent coverage on the Hardbat Classic and our Partners & Spade Limited Edition ping pong classic shoe collab.

For more on Ping Pong Boom: New York Times