The Return of Ping Pong

Ping Pong in action. Photos by Michael Sunderland. Copyright Red Cloud Indian School.

 The Return of Ping Pong

By Jin Yup Jung '14

Tomo is gone. Everyone knew it. Last Tuesday, many students had a dream to become a new ping pong champion this year when they came to school in the morning. Right after school, challengers for ping pong champion rushed to Michael Sunderland’s classroom, known as a hot humid cave. They set up the table and began to seek out the great ping pong paddle. More than 16 players and some onlookers from other clubs were in the class room; they were excited and looking for a menacing ping pong partner for the double play. They kind of looked disappointed because they all wanted to play with Tomoaki Shirataki, who was Red Cloud’s greatest ever ping pong champion from last year, as a partner. Before the first game started, all players breathed the hot air that was like a hot humid breath. Suddenly, the class was with hot humid air, but only the table was cold as ice.

A new exchange student from Japan, named Yoshiki Ueda, came to the club and featured some ferocious hits.  He was a good player but not quite as dominant as Tomo. Two brothers from Puerto Rico, Pedro and Leonardo, challenged for the double plays as soon as other players gave a sigh of relief from Yoshiki.

Amazingly, the two brothers began to dominate one team after another. They were ready to win game after game. Raising their paddles, the two brothers hit the ping pong as hard as they could. While they continued winning, Mike Sunderland and Christian McGhee organized a team themselves to stand against the brothers. Christian was the player who lost against King Tomo in the championship match last year and Sunderland was the Christian’s best partner ever. They looked nervous, but they tried to pretend to be calm. The game started, surrounded by the burning air in the class. No one could expect where the ping pong would go, but also they couldn’t even see the ping pong because it was as fast as a bullet.   

Before taking about half an hour, the game was over and the victory of the game went to the new challengers, Mike Sunderland and Christian, who sweated like a bull after the game. 

The Ping Pong Club will be on every Tuesday and Thursday. If you want to join this Ping Pong Club, you can come anytime. Guess what? The next champion could be you. Do not miss it.