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The Ping Pong Club worked with Leadership to host the school’s 1st Ping Pong Tournament February 16-19 in the big gym during lunch. The tournament was set up in a single-elimination format, meaning winners of the matches would advance to the next round while losers were eliminated. Participants hailed from all 4 grade levels, including freshman Bianca Chao and senior Sterling Strother.

Strother and his partner Jonathan Hughes won the championship match on February 19 against freshmen Garrett Dunn and Billy Woolsey.

Chao and her partner Kayla Coane advanced to the 2nd round before they were eliminated. “We chose to participate because we played together in PE and had a lot of fun and a school-wide competition sounded like a really awesome thing to try!” said Chao.

Leadership officer Ethan Sauerberg coordinated the event. “I’m in the ping pong club and we’d done an in-club tournament before, so I just thought it’d be fun for the whole school to be able to participate,” said Sauerberg.

According to Ping Pong Club president Maria Wong, the purpose of the tournament was “for people to have fun playing the sport we [the club] love.” Leadership contacted Wong and helped plan and solicit sign ups, while Wong helped to determine how the matches would be scored. “I’ve always wanted to host a ping pong tournament, as I’ve participated in some at summer camps I attend and thought it would be fun,” added Wong.

“Sterling and I go up to Oregon every summer and play ping pong,” said Hughes when asked about his prior ping pong experience. “Winning was the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me without a doubt,” he added sarcastically. “We were just happy to be there.”