Having only just taken up table tennis in September, I never envisioned myself playing competitively for at least another year. However, as the months passed by, the Intervarsities drew closer and come February, the club was trying to get together their women’s and men’s teams for entry. In a rather last-minute, spontaneous decision, I signed up! The week before the tournament, we had a special training session for everyone on the various teams – there was 2 men’s teams and 1 woman’s team. Our team captain went through all the game rules with us and outlined the schedule for the two days. I was surprised to learn that there were still some rules that I hadn’t heard about- such as having to throw the ball up a certain height for a serve – and I was getting more and more nervous as the weekend approached. Having never played competitively before, I was expecting to come dead last and be annihilated by all the more experienced players! What was I thinking when I signed up?!
The men’s team were playing on Friday and so I spent a good bit of time in the hall in between lectures watching the U.C.D. guys in action. There was a mixture of social players I had befriended through the Monday evening training sessions and some serious players, whom I hadn’t met before, but who had played competitively for years. It was great to see them, and there were some impressive performances all round. There were representatives from colleges across the country – N.U.I.G., Trinity College Dublin, I.T. Tallaght and particularly big presences from R.S.C.I. and U.C.C. I was intrigued to find very few female players; I would have previously imagined table tennis not to have any major gender imbalance, but apparently it did! U.C.D. were in fact, the only university in Ireland who could make up a full woman’s team for the tournament!
The following morning I was in the hall bright and early, warming up for my first match! I had a gear bag packed full of food and gear in anticipation for the day ahead. The tournament began about 10:00, and I was put in my first group. Unfortunately, I didn’t play so well and ended up at the bottom of the rankings. It was a disappointing day, but I learned an awful lot about the game; I hadn’t ever thought about the mental strength that was needed and the incredible effort it took to be so highly focussed and concentrated for each and every shot.
The finals were played that afternoon, after which, there was the prize-giving ceremony. It was a hugely successful tournament for U.C.D. Table Tennis, winning both the men’s and women’s singles titles and the men’s and women’s team titles. In celebration, the entire team went out for a meal to T.G.I. Friday’s that night!
Although my own performance was poor, it was a fantastic experience to play the game at a competitive level. I finished that day with a new appreciation for the game, but also with many new friends and many laughs along the way.
