JOOLA USA

  Hello all. The last month has been pretty exciting for me. I played in three major events across the U.S.: the World Junior Championships at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA, the U.S. Nationals, and the U.S. Olympic Trials. Given the amount of play I have had over the last few weeks, I thought I would give you the rundown on how everything went.

  I played in the WorldJunior Championships (WJC) alongside many of my longtime National teammates (Judy Hugh, Joey Cochran, Steven Chan, and Atha Fong, etc.) as well as our country's up-and-coming Juniors like Justen Yao, A.J. Brewer, and Lily Zhang. This was my last tournament as a Junior and playing the World Championships in my home country was the best way I could have possibly asked to graduate from Juniors. Competition-wise, it was an extremely difficult tournament; after all, most of the kids playing there are planning (or at least hoping) to turn Table Tennis into a profession.  I played in the teams event first along with Joey, Steven, and Justen, all of whom were great to play with. Next we played the doubles and singles events. I played with Justen in Boy's Doubles where we lost a close 5-game match to two players from Herzegovina and with Stephanie Shih in Mixed where we lost to Darius Knight (England) and his partner from Poland. I played well in the singles event, but still didn't manage to come out of my group. Overall I felt pretty satisfied with my performance, which is always a nice feeling to have after playing an international event.

  After I finished my portion of the tournament there were still a couple of days left to finish out the main draw. I spent a lot of the day watching the later matches, but I probably spent almost as much time eating in the cafeteria. Dennis Davis provided us with what was by far the best tournament food I have ever had during a Table Tennis event, international or otherwise. The team spent the evenings playing cards, watching movies, and hanging out in the lobby where we could get free Wi-Fi. University Street's walking district was right next to the hotel, so I also spent a lot of time drinking chai in Starbucks since waking up early was no longer an issue. All in all it was a great tournament: It was a good introduction to the international Junior scene for our Cadets and a fitting ending for our "veteran" players. At least it was for me.

  Next I headed straight to Las Vegas for the Nationals. I was only eligible for three singles events (not including hardbat which, by the way, Trevor won: Congrats, man!) all of which started during the first two days, so it was a pretty short tournament. My best match by far was against Sean Lonergan in the Men's singles where I lost a close six-gamer. I lost to Han in the quarter-finals of the U-22 Men's and had a bit of a disappointing loss in the quarters of U-2400 against Lu Guo Hui after being up 2-0. He played really well though and took me in the fifth, and I consoled myself by spending a pocket-full of tokens at the Hilton's arcade with Adam Hugh.

   I just got back from the third tournament: the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. Only the top 10 qualify automatically into the final group of twelve, where everyone plays against each other. The other two slots were reserved for the two highest finishers in a single-elimination qualification tournament. There were about 30 players, and I was ranked seventh.  My first two matches were against two players I think are both difficult and extremely dangerous: Justen Yao and Samson Dubina. I played very well, at least I think so, and took both matches (with way too much luck in the last game against Samson) at 4-1 and 4-2 respectively. I played against Tahl Leibovitz for the qualification slot and lost at deuce in the seventh game after having several of the greatest points of my life. About an hour or so after the match I found out that Ilija Lupulesku might not show up, and was told that a third qualifier might be able to take his spot. There was a coin toss between me and De Tran, the other semifinalist in the qualifying tournament, and I won the toss. I felt pretty lucky, even though I looked at the quarter to see when it was produced since I have been told that imbalance between the two sides of the older ones causes the percentages to slightly favor tails. I doubt there is much truth to that, but the toss did come up tails so I am happy either way.

    I ended up finishing tenth in the trials, and am really pleased with how I played. There was a spectacular crowd, especially for an American tournament (about 2000 people the whole time), and the venue was the best I have ever played at in this country. I got to compete against the top players in the country, and had some great matches in the process. Hopefully, I learned some things about my game (and theirs) that will help me improve in the future. The chance to gain exposure to so many good players in such a short time was unexpected and I am very grateful to have had it. If World Junior Championships was the perfect ending to my Junior competitions, Olympic Trials was the perfect beginning to my time as an adult player.

Congrats to Han for making #2 in the trials, and good luck in the next stage of the trials in Canada. Thanks to Richard and JOOLA USA for putting on an amazing tournament, and also to all the people at Drexel University for providing us with an outstanding venue and showing us so much hospitality during our stay. Thanks to my buddies and family for supporting me during my play, especially Trev for coaching me during all those matches. He's a regular Chen Zhibin. Also, thanks to whoever reads this for finishing such an arduous write-up.

God Bless and Happy New Year.