It’s springtime. The flowers are blooming and the temperature is rising. This can only mean one thing— pingpong is in full swing. Some may recall a column I wrote on Pepperdine’s table tennis team last semester. And as the year is beginning to wind down I thought it would be an appropriate time for a reunion with the group of short-wearing wiff-wafers. So I decided to check up with the players to review the year and gain a peak at what is to come next year. And the moment I set my foot into their practice room (the Howard A. White Center) I was barraged with the stench of unadulterated machismo.
But rampant masculinity wasn’t the only thing pervading the room. If you walk in the HAWC between the hours of 2 and 4 p.m. on a Saturday you’ll get a big whiff of improvement. Yes coach C.J. Terral has cultivated the team from just a tiny handful of seeds into a hearty field of bean crops. The team has drastically improved their strokes rallying consistently for 15 to 17 seconds at a time. Footwork and endurance seemed to be significantly enhanced since the fall allowing the players to play a whole game without respite.
Another profound change is the attitude of the team. Whether it be Terral’s tyrannical approach to leadership or simply a genuine fervor for the sport the team morale is soaring through the proverbial roof. The bunch practices with high energy and an intensity that keeps them ready to drop and pump out 10 push-ups on Terral’s command.
The team has even reached outside of the undergraduate demographic by signing a staff member at the Pepperdine School of Law. Did someone say ringer? I think so.
But Terral’s hopes and dreams for the team may have to be thrown on the backburner. Unfortunately the team has not gained any progress in attaining an athletic collegiate status. Despite this setback the team has held a constant flow of members since the buzz at the beginning of the year.
Perhaps most disappointing to me was Terral’s concession that the team would not be joined by a pingpong robot. When I spoke with Terral last semester purchasing a table tennis playing robot was at the top of the priority list. This dream of Terral’s (and I think everyone’s really) will go unrealized. Though the admission was disappointing the fact of the matter is that we can’t just go around buying robots for an intramural pingpong team in this economy. I however hold out hope for a brighter future in which our team can afford to purchase a completely unnecessary table tennis android.
And I’m not the only one— the team says there is still hope. In the years to come the pingpongers still hope to compete with schools in California and beyond. As for now the team’s best competition is itself. The squad made some racket (pun count— one) around campus earlier this year with its all-school tournament. Since then the team has gone underground training for a day when Pepperdine will be synonymous with pingpong excellence.
It came to my attention in my conversation with coach Terral that there is one major fear for next year’s team: He will be spending the year in Shanghai China with Pepperdine International Programs polishing his skills as a pingpong legend. I don’t mean to paint a doomsday picture for the future of Pepperdine table tennis but how can I not? Coach Terral is the heart and soul of the team. My biggest fear is that Terral leaves and the team folds. For a team of stellar athletes to perform day in and day out there must be a dedicated leader. And coach Terral is just that.
In fact though he assured me that the team would be left in good hands continuing to grow into a pingpong powerhouse. And so with the reassuring news that the team would live to see another year I was able to rest my head for a good night sleep.
