4-1, 5-1, 5-2…what was going on? I couldn't figure out why I was losing so badly to my table tennis opponent, an elderly Chinese gentleman. He wasn't a phenomenal player. He wasn't even a mediocre player. The rating book listed his rating as 987. In fact, I should have been trouncing him quite easily. However, there I was, down 5-2 in the third game, and I had already lost the first two games. Since we were playing a best 3-out-of-5 match series, this would be the deciding game if he won.

All of the sudden, it hit me. Duh. His backhand. Amidst the excitement of playing him,I had totally forgotten that it was his backhand that was weak. In fact, I had determined this a long time ago while I "scouted" him while he played against another opponent. But that thought totally slipped my mind as I settled in to play against him. That moment of forgetfulness could possibly have cost me the match and ended my chance to move on to the next round of the U-1300 event.

Playing like a man possessed, I clawed my way back focusing the majority of the shots at his backhand, only to come up short at 10-7. Since last year, the USATT changed the scoring of table tennis to 11-point games rather than 21-point games. If he won another point I was done for. He served, and I managed to win another point. The score was now 10-8, and I had the serve. Serving a backspin ball to his backhand side, he returned the ball into the net. Yes! One more point and I would be tied. Another serve which he hit long off the table. I couldn't believe it. I had come back from 10-7. I managed to win the next two points and "stole" the match from him. I was still alive.

In the fourth game, I seemed to have an easier time of it, leading the entire way up to 7-5. Another rally in which he hit the ball long. My point. As I came back to the table from retrieving the ball which rolled to the barriers a good 15 feet from the table, I stated the score "8 to 5." "Noh, noh, noh," he remarked with his broken English accent, "scoh is seven-six." Maybe he didn't hear me right. "No, you had 5 points and I had 7 points, the score is 8 to 5," I corrected him. "Noh, seven-six" he stated flatly, refusing to budge. "Fine, cheater," I thought, I could see there was no way this could be decided as we didn't have a referee or witnesses. I gave him the point, and he managed to take a 10-9 lead. Match point once again. All I could think of was, "cheaters never prosper, cheaters never prosper," hoping that due to some karmaic miracle I would be able to pull this one off. And I did, winning it 12-10 once again. The third game was just as close, with us trading points back and forth, and for the third time, I won 12-10. Finally. I was vindicated. And somehow I hoped that this stress-ladened match would prepare me for the rest of the day.

I had already lost my first match and event of the day - my U-1500 event. I had gone up against an older gentleman that played with short pips on one side. Having not warmed up and not used to playing players with that type of rubber, he beat me pretty handily. However, unlike Mr. Cheater, he was a great sportsman and I wished him luck in the rest of the tournament.

Even though I made it to the second round of the U-1300 event, I cannot for the life of me remember who I played in that round. I remember we played almost immediately after my match with Mr. Cheater. I even remember playing at the same table. But I cannot remember who I played, nor even how well I did against this particular person. It's like that portion of the tournament never existed in my mind. Probably due to suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome from playing Mr. Cheater. After losing in this mystery match, I was done for the morning until the Open event which was scheduled to start at 1:30 later that afternoon.

Jen had been there as Braden permitted most of the morning. We went & grabbed some lunch at Subway and then she left to take Braden home for his daily nap. They announced the draws for the Open event. In this event, they broke down the entire list of competitors into groups of five players, each group with phenomenal players to beginners. I turned out to be the #4 seed in my group. We would play everyone in our group, and then depending on how we did, we would be put into the open event (for the 1st place finisher in the group), open A event (2nd place finisher), open B event (3rd place), open C event (4th place), or open D event (5th place).

In that particular round robin, I thought I played quite well even though I only beat the lowest seeded player in our group. I lost to the higher seeded players, but I felt like I was playing well for a change. After the tournament was over, I noticed that with players close to or below my skill level, I played very tentatively and conservatively. Because of that, I barely won or lost those games which I should probably have won quite easily. Against the higher rated players, I played aggressively with the mindset that I had nothing to lose. In those cases, even though I lost, the games were a lot closer and I felt like I was playing closer to my potential. Chalk it up to what not to do next tournament or what better to do next tournament. I figure this tournament was just one big, huge learning experience.

I ended up getting put into the open C event after the qualifiers, and in that first match, lost in 5 games to a gentleman (rated 1161, I later found out) from Shreveport, Louisiana. Had I won, I was slated to play the gentleman I had played first that day in the U-1500 event, and I wondered if I learned anything from the first time I played him. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective), the gentleman I previously played had left and thereby forfeited the match, so Mr. Louisiana got a bye for the 2nd round. I think he eventually ended up losing to the guy who would win the class C event.

Jen arrived just as my last match ended, Kiddos in tow. Poor Ariel was all worn out from a sleepover the night before and spending the entire day with another one of her friends. And Braden never got in his daily nap but feel asleep on the way to the tournament. So here comes my wife with two very sleepy Kiddos. We watched the semifinals of the open event, pitting the top four players of the tournament against one another. Up first was a Chinese guy from Memphis who was playing this very tall, very young looking "kid" (both of whom were rated around 2200). It was simply amazing to watch them play - returning slams from 15 feet behind the table and enduring tense rallies with both players hitting the ball as hard as they could. The most miraculous incident of that match was the Chinese guy coming back in the 3rd game (already down 2 games to none) from match point. He managed to score three points in a row to win the game, and ultimately won the entire match. However, he was severely undermatched in the finals, where he played against this Eastern European gentleman (rated 2500+) from Dallas, TX. He managed to win one game off of him, but not before his opponent came back from 10-4 to tie it at 10-10. The lesson to be learned in watching these top players play? Never *ever* give up, even when down 10-4 or down 2-games-to-none at match point. Proof positive that anything is possible.

I became somewhat acquainted with another Chinese gentleman from the Dallas area while waiting for the afternoon matches to begin. He was there with his son, and like myself, had taken a long hiatus from playing, and had only recently started to play a couple of years ago. Coincidentally, I ended up having to play him during my round robin. He was quite good, eventually placing first in our group.

The most interesting player of the day to watch was this young boy (about 10 years old) named Shelby Lane. Not one to keep his emotions bottled up inside, he wore them proudly on his sleeve and then some. Every single point that he played was either followed by a loud scream of "yesyesyes!!" if he won the point, or a moan of anguish if he lost. No matter where you were in the room, you always knew when Shelby Lane was playing. I caught his dad shaking his head often from the sidelines, reminding his son to be a good sport and not get so emotional. Rated almost 1700, he will definitely be one of the upcoming players to keep an eye on.

Near the end of the day, while waiting for the finals start, the director of the club where I play at came up to me and asked me how I did. I told him who I had beaten and how I felt I could have played better. He chided me by saying if I wanted to stay in the B-league, I would have some serious rating points to make up in the spring tournament. The way I figure it, everyone has to start somewhere, and if I practice hard, I could make a good showing at the next tournament. So be it if I end up getting demoted to the C-league. At least I'm having fun. After all, it's just a game isn't it? Or is it a sport? Regardless, table tennis is definitely an activity where there is more than meets the eye.