Essay Sample on Table Tennis: My Journey from Teenager to National Player

Playing table tennis has been one of my passions over the years. Not only do I play it for fun but also competitively for my country, the UAE, at international tournaments. For me, being part of the national team is one of my greatest achievements so far. Nonetheless, this achievement has been a result of my continuous development in the sport as a player and a captain since I began playing as a teenager. At this age, my parents were very strict with regards to my education. They always ensured that nothing would distract me from my studies. Since I am the eldest in the family, my parents were determined to mold my life largely around academics since they believed that I would consequently set the pace for my three younger siblings to work hard in school. As such, they were not entirely convinced at first that playing table tennis was right for me while studying.

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It was not until my first tournament in high school that they fully embraced the idea that I could develop this passion not only into an activity that complements my studies but also develops my ability to motivate others through the sport. Since our school was hosting the tournament, I invited my family to come and watch me play. I had been selected by the school coach to captain a team of six to compete against players from other schools within our zone. The thought of playing my first competitive matches made me anxious. Moreover, the thoughts of competing in this tournament while my family watched me only put me under more pressure to perform exemplary.

Inviting my parents was a hard decision for me since I was afraid that they would be skeptical about supporting me morally and financially in sports if my team lost. Therefore, winning was the only option. On the tournament day, I woke up and went to school earlier than my parents. The plan was to acclimatize myself with the indoor arena together with my teammates, play some warm-up matches with them, and psych ourselves up for the match..

For us to win this tournament, we had to ensure that at least four of our players will occupy the topmost positions based on the quota ranking system used by the organizers. As such, we needed to maintain a spirit of teamwork throughout the matches. I told my fellow players to believe in themselves, relax and have fun while playing each game. The tournament was organized into seven matches. During the first match, four of our players, including me, lost. Following this dismal start, I talked to my players as we prepared for the second match to keep their morale high despite the loss and asked them to continue having fun while playing. I kept talking to players after each game to boost their confidence regardless of whether they won or lost. Perhaps unsurprisingly, either four or five of our players won the second, third and fourth matches. Additionally, at least five of our players won the remaining four matches.

At the end of the tournament, our top four players were in the top eight individual positions while the second closest team only managed two positions in the top eight. I was ranked second overall, while our team emerged champions. My motivational talks to the team throughout the tournament inspired this victory. I believed that a good leader always motivates his colleagues to keep focused on achieving preset goals. Following this performance, the team coach retained me as the captain for the next two years.

My parents were also happy about this performance and committed themselves to support me in both my studies and sporting activities. This was my best experience as a leader since I was able to overcome the anxiety of captaining a table tennis team for the first time and the disbelief of my parents in my sporting abilities to inspire my team to success. I learned the importance of enhancing teamwork to motivate every player to believe in themselves and improve their performance.