GSIS 10 Year Anniversary Yearbook: Memories | Page 91
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Top Row: Coach Brianna Chu, Eric Shin, Ryan Yi, Brian Lee, Yuki Furukawu, Guang Tseng; Bottom Row: Woo Bin
Cha, Joseph Park, Will Kim, Takahiro Koyama
The
table
tennis team
consisted of all boys
who were committed to
showing up to every practice. Although at times they were not attentive
to the coaches with their energetic personalities, the boys still showed good teamwork and
determination.
The tennis team practiced on Wednesday and Friday in the
school cafeteria. The students set and arranged the tables by themselves along with cleaning them after each practice.
Coach Chu said the students “practice techniques in which involved stim
ulation of the brain and promote quick thinking while improving hand-eye coordination.” The students also had a professional table tennis player come to practice to “increase
students’ agility and flexibility, and most of all their reaction time.”
When asked how it feels to be in a team of all boys Guang Tseng in eighth-grade said, “It
feels nothing too different from a team of mixed gender, the only difference is that boys tend
to be more impatient and it seems that the teacher has a harder time to make us listen. On
the other hand, we’re more comfortable with communicating with each other since we are all
boys.”
He added, “Our team works quite well together and we encourage each
other, overall, I think this is a good team even though we are small in number and don’t have too many good players. I think that the attitude of the
team members is more important than their level of skill.”
Eric Shin a seventh-grader already knew his team mates beforehand and he said,” It’s comfortable and you can easily talk and it is very fun at practice.”
When asked what was his favorite memory was he said, “At the table tennis meet there
were only five people going but there were 20 people going to volleyball. I think it was
more fun because there were less people and we were able to play more.”
Joseph Park in sixth-grade who joined the team for the first said he knew his
1. Yuki Furukawa, Takahiro Koyama, Ryan Yi and Woo Bin Cha practice hitting the ball.
team mates before, but through joining the team he was able to get close
The player can adjust the bounce and velocity of the ball depending on where the ball hits
with them. He also said by being in an all boys team he felt “more comthe paddle. 2. William Kim puts his arm around Eric Shin during practice. Teammates continued
fortable” with them and were more “talkative with each other.”
to encourage and support each other throughout the session. 3. Woo Bin Cha prepares to hit the ball
It was first time for Ms Chu to lead the table tennis team
with his paddle. The player must receive the ball after the first bounce and before the ball goes off the table.
and she said, “ It was unique that it was only boys that
4. Takahiro Koyama tosses the ball for a high toss serve. High toss serves are commonly used by professional
players to serve a quick ball to throw off the opponent player’s timing. 5. Joseph Park practices hitting the ball with the
made up team. They showed a good level of teampadd le. It is important for players to be able to control the ball and also where the ball will land on the paddle for accurate
work because they were already good friends.
shots. 6. Erin Shin and Woo Bin Cha smile during practice. The focus of the table tennis team was to increase their skills but to also
It only took a few times for me to give
have a fun time. 7. Ryan Yi receives the opponent’s serve. The server’s ball must first bounce on the server’s side of the table then cross
out instructions about setting up the
the net in order for it to be a valid serve.
tables before the practice and
putting back the dining
tables after the practice.”
2012
2010
Table Tennis team is
created
2011
Players rally with each
other to increase their skills
GSIS Yearbook-LSS_Part 2.indd 91
First Friendly matches
with SAMS, TCIS, and KIS
2015
Practices from Tuesday to
Friday to increase their
skills
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