Table tennis.

I was doing my daily routine of opening Google when I saw this picture:

(c) Google July 27, 2012

Today is the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games (18 hours to go in Philippine time, to be exact).

I suddenly remembered my elementary days up to secondary. I was an athlete also. Just like them. Though I've spent my sporty days only in school and up to the Congressional meet only. I play table tennis.

My first coach was my father, tatay Dani. He was a very skilled table tennis player. I was amazed that time, well, until now, or the last time I saw him play. How he plays his games before, including semi-trash talks (ha ha!), his stunts, all of them inspired me to play well.

As I said earlier, though I only reached Congressional meet, I very much enjoyed playing table tennis. The adrenaline rush during competition was overwhelming. Nervousness and excitement, the will to win, the feeling of defeat and handshakes from your opponent makes the game more fun. I've got to meet other people from different places. I went to different towns in our province to play. The farthest was in Tagkawayan, Quezon.

Back in college at UPLB, my first PE was table tennis. I did everything (prerog and all) just to have a slot on this course. Yeah, I missed playing. And I enjoyed it, as usual. Felt good to still enjoy your favorite sport even during college. When I joined PAFT Beta (my academic organization when I was still a BS Food Technology stud which stands for Philippine Association of Food Technologists, Inc. Beta Chapter), we have this inter-organization meet in our College (the College of Agriculture) where different organizations compete in various sports like basketball, volleyball and of course, table tennis included. It was pretty fun. I got to face my classmates and play with them. I'm pleased to achieve some colorful gold and silvers and bronzes during my stay as an undergrad.

Once in a while, if I have the chance and when friends invite me to play, I play.

The good news is, my younger sister happens to play also. Guess it runs in the family. :)