March 2, 2017 marked the kickoff of MVHS’s very first Ping-Pong Tournament hosted by Asia Club. MV’s first Mandarin Chinese teacher, Ms. Lin, leads Asia Club and hosted the Ping-Pong Tournament in hopes of collecting donations for Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI) Adoption Services and extending a glimpse of Chinese culture to the student body beyond Asia Club at MV.

With 35 teams, 70 players,and a total of over 200 attendees between the two-day event, in addition to the $335 that was presented to CCAI during spring break, both of these goals were exceeded.

Wilken Baldwin and Drew Thompson were crowned the winning team and in the words of Ms. Lin, “won all of the matches and attracted lots of audience for every one of their games. Besides, they are both in Chinese I class now. So I feel proud of them.”

Peyton Meadors and Sam McCarty also put on a show worth watching full of fast-paced trick shots and skilled maneuvering of the ball. The duo had Ms. Lin herself on the edge of her seat.

This was in part because Ms. Lin is a self-proclaimed amateur claiming, “I personally don’t have any special strategy playing ping pong. The stereotype that Asians are good at playing ping pong doesn’t really describe me. And that’s because I’m the youngest one in my family, and nobody had the patience to practice with me. My family is all really good at ping pong. But I feel motivated to practice it this summer when I go back home.”

As for next year’s tournament, Ms. Lin and Asia Club members are considering ways of spicing things up with a possible Costume Contest, after players decided to make a grand entrance in festive attire this year.

The teacher participation was particularly impressive to Ms. Lin, who said, “All the teachers won at least one game, so it seems like teachers at Mt. Vernon are good at ping pong.”

Ms. Lin would like to leave students and staff with a message of gratitude saying shortly after the tourney completion, “I want to thank all the people that supported and helped the tournament. Also special thanks to volunteers from Asia club. Without them, the activity would not have gone well.”