| Show year old year 12 old prodigy paddles toward US U.S. Olympic mole team Eli v The Washington Post Before she left her San Jose home last week Ariel Hsing t tried to explain to her seventh-grade seventh friends why she needed to leave school again She had a tournament Hsing explained just like the ones earlier in South Africa Florida and Serbia Shed She'd miss a few days of class bringing her absence total this year to more than a month On the red-eye red flight home she would cram in homework Wait her friends said still not quite understanding All this for Pong Ping-Pong They dont don't get it Hsing said They think its it's very silly like maybe were we're just meeting to play playa a little game for fun in somebody's basement Oh and one more thing Dont Don't call it Ping Its It's table tennis and its it's th the sport that might make the 12 year-old year Hsing the youngest athlete in the United States' States 2008 Olympic delegation The No 1 junior player in the United States Hsing who competed this weekend against eight women at the US U.S. Olympic trials has enjoyed an athletic career that already seems stuck in fast In between her commitments as a seventh- seventh grader at Chaboya Middle School in San Jose Hsing practices for three hours each day with a cadre of coaches and spends her summers training in China Her parents invited a professional Chinese player to liv live with them in San Jose where he functions as Hsing's practice partner They plan to replace him with another professional player soon assuming they can find one capable of challenging Hsing Here at Drexel University on Thursday night Hsing arrived for her practice session before the Olympic trials dressed in fit dry-fit gym shorts and a collared tennis shirt She stood next to a practice table whirling her arms in circles les and stretching the fatigued shoulders and back that force her to visit a chiropractor each Monday afternoon After jogging a afew afew afew few laps around the table she selected a paddle from the four stacked in her small shoulder bag Then she lined up across the net from her father Michael as he started to serve her forehands The table tennis Hsing prepared to play here this weekend and elite players are adamant this sport is called table tennis bears little resemblance tb to variety basement-variety Ping- Ping P Pong mg Drexel athletic officials covered the floor of the schools school's basketball gym with red rubber for solid footing and set up six tables across center court Water stands were placed next to each table Two trainers waited in a corner comer of the gym with bandages gauze and muscle relaxants A good rally between two bNo professional players sometimes includes 35 hits in 10 seconds a hurried succession of mph 80 shots that sounds like hail hammering against a roof On other points players stand 20 feet back from the table and dive on the rubber floor to keep the ball in play breaking after each rally to towel sweat off their faces This is a physically demanding sport but America just doesn't know it said Bob Fox vice president of USA Table Tennis Everybody thinks they can show up pick up upa a paddle and play They say Hey that table sure is small That balls ball's small too How complicated can this be In the event that an opponent actually manages to return her serve Hsing earns her reputation as one of the most aggressive players in the United States She bounces on her toes during a point and pumps her fists if she wins it Her forehand mirrors a tennis stroke hips twirled sideways arm extended behind her and a full swing that ends with a high follow Her backhand is short powerful and ruthless a stab Sometimes I believe she has found her destiny doing this her father said She makes these very hard things look easy Hsing's parents both played table tennis while growing up in China and they introduced their daughter to the game at a club in Palo Alto Calif shortly after her seventh birthday During the car carride carride carride ride home that day after an hour of impressive hitting Hsing's parents talked about whether they would pay for relatives to stay in hotels when Hsing eventually played in the Olympics Her career remarkably has exceeded even those initial expectations convincing some in the table tennis community that Hsing is the most talented US U.S. junior in decades She won her first national title at 8 and accepted sponsorship from Butterfly a major table tennis J w i 1 II I If p. p I I I II I I 1 WI i I. I j 14 I i z J JI I i n n 1 Washington Post photo by Jonathan Newton Ariel Hsing 12 is the No 1 junior table tennis player in the United States manufacturer at 9 Bill Gates and Warren Buffett sent a private jet for Hsing in 2007 so she could play against investors during an annual meeting She held court for three hours never losing a game I want to go to the Olympics and maybe one one day win a gold medal medal- she said But then I want to help the sport grow here hereby hereby hereby by spreading it around so everybody understands how hard it is |
