JOOLA USA

Hey everyone!

With USOpen a week behind us, its time to relax and reflect upon what we damage we did and how we could have done things differently. Train here, train there..Now we're starting to count down for nationals to show our true colors.  Five months (for anyone wondering)!

Well personally, I had an excellent Open. Sure it was rocky along the way but everyone's islike that (mine always just seems to be a bit rockier. haha!).  I played a total of five events, one a day, and did quite alright. I advanced in most of my groups and I got to semi's for Womens 2100U. Overall, I played much smarter this tournament and I was even able to steal a couple of points here and there. Heeelllo 1824.

And as quite a few people notice, okay maybe everyone who's known me since I was ten, I took up photography. Yes! That's where at least 65% of my time at Vegas was. It was a little intimidating at first because well, I've never taken pictures at such a big tournament but after the first day I got used to it. I figured out that the players dont really mind as long as I dont ruin the point for them..But! It was really cool. And you guys can expect to see me carrying a camera in one hand and a paddle in the other. If you guys want to check some of my pictures, and my dads's, you can go to www.gerrychua.com and take a look. :)

So much going on these days, Im so grateful that its summer.

And Im thankful for JoolaUSA!
You guys, we're so cool. Daaang.

Anyways, Im out! Later!

For the last couple of days I've been thinking and analyzing this quote above, and really just thinking and depicting it and how it comes to play in my life and my game of table tennis. And in the end, it is true. I've come to realize this with Nationals coming up and Baltimore already in the wind. How much effort you put into training and practicing, even just focusing on the strong andweak points of your game really shows through when the pressure is on. Its all about the work you put in, and now that I've realized this, Im just really understanding how my game is put together and what I need to do to fix it up a bit. But just consider this when you're down and out, really. Because it's not only the truth, but its also a great motivator. Keep going guys, even when it gets tough; it'll pay off in the end.

Baltimore was great fun though. Even if my team and I didn't preform to our...lets just say, optimum abilities, we still played quite decently and did good. My team held the great players of Natalie Sun, Ellen Hwang, Jasmine Nguyen, and myself. I'll have to admit that we played kind of badly (or really badly depending on who you are..or who's parent you are..) on Friday we still managed to kick butt on both Saturday and Sunday. Plus I was able to see my old friends from the school in Shanghai that I attended with Ethan this past summer. It was really cool to see an all girls team totally beat down the Canadian men's team. I learned a lot watching them as well.

Besides this, as I mentioned before, Nationals is less than three weeks away now. Its crazy how time goes by, it really is. Just morphs into anything else and flies into the future. But Im excited for Nationals, but who isn't? Its the one time of the year that all of us crazy table tennis folk gather up in Las Vegas in a convention center and prove to others how much we've improved and how much (good) damage we can do now rating wise. Practice at Grace Lin's club is getting more riggorous as the biggest tournament of the year rounds the corner. I have a good feeling though, that "Oh man, Im so in the zone for this" feeling. Which, by the way, is a great one to have.

So, after all of this babbling: Keep practicing, practice hard, and see you at Nationals.

Sup guys?!

I guess Im new to Joola, and really excited to be apart of the team. How great is it to be with Joola, seriously.  Im really thankful and glad. So thanks again Joola.

So of course, like everyone else, Im training like crazy for Teams in Baltimore and Nationals. I'm estatic about going, so is Ethan. Most of our club is going too, it's gonna be incredibly fun. Can't wait. Im looking forward to kicking butt and taking names (and rating points).

Im kind of new at this whole blog thing so hopefully I'll get better at it. Hope everyone did well at Berkeley! See you in Baltimore!