Tension runs high as the game-winning point lays on the line. Team members cheer for their top players, hoping to gain victory over the opponent. Sweatbands are soaked as the ball is aggressively backhanded across the net. Ping pong season has commenced. Generally, Ping pong is known as a simple, after-school activity, but for the players, it is taken as seriously as any other sport.
Coached by Mr. Casey Hansen, ping pong incorporates over 60 students into the club. Coach Hansen separates the players into different groups based on their skill level. “[We separate] groups for each grade based on their skill [in order to make] it fair and fun for all players,” said junior captain Jimmy Borin.
A tournament is held within the club to determine the top 12 players who will compose the varsity team. “There are three or four different 45 minutes long sessions; one of the sessions is for beginners, one is for kids that are average, one is for girls, and one is for the varsity members,” said senior Dan Lundell.
These varsity players must obtain tenacious footwork and athletic skill in order to excel in ping pong. “Although most people take ping pong as a joke, the varsity members take it as seriously as they would any other sport,” said junior captain Tara Fan.
The 12 members of the varsity team participate in tournaments with different schools and are expecting to face bigger challenges than in years past. “We will have more of a rivalry from Holy Angels seeing as both girls and boys teams won last year in state,” said Borin.
Following last years success, the varsity team has begun to train daily, and plans to remain as strong of a contender this year as they were last year. “Regardless of the amount of seniors that graduated, we are expecting our underclassmen to rise up this year,” said Borin.
The varsity upperclassmen Dan Lundell, Ben Rosengren, Chris Sather, Tara Fan, and Jimmy Borin plan to excel and make it further into the state tournament than last year. “[We] have all been training in our off season and we hope to make it to the final round in the state tournament,” said Fan.
