The Ping Pong 1×1 tournament began October 20 and will last 3 weeks during lunchtime for high school students and teachers at the HS coliseum. 

After noticing the skill many of his students had when playing ping pong, Anibal Betancur, High School P.E. teacher, had the initiative to include a new sport into the lunch intramurals.

“Before I played volleyball, what I used to do was play ping pong. Then, in the racket unit of P.E., I noticed that many students played ping pong very well and were excited about playing the tournament,” Betancur said.

There are a total of 48 participants in the tournament, 45 students, two teachers, and a counselor.

“I wanted to play this tournament because I like connecting with students outside the classroom. Also, I really like to play Ping Pong since when I was a kid I was obsessed with it,” David Murphy, World History teacher and participant, said.

There are 12 draws with 4 participants in each. In the first draws, the participants will play each other to see who classifies first. Then the classification system will be that the first one of draw A plays with the second one of B, the third one of C, and the fourth one of D. From this, the winning two players qualify for the next round. This keeps going until the semifinals when there are only 4 players left.

“I think that the classification system is really good since it gives everyone a chance to participate. Not eliminating in the first round makes the tournament much more engaging to the ones that are not as good at playing ping pong,” Tomas Herrera, Grade 11, said.

This tournament’s purpose is to take advantage of free time at lunch and for students to show their abilities in other sports. The organizers of the tournament want to include a prize for more engagement in the activity.

“We are looking for the prize because we want it to be something new. Also, as it is a new tournament, I think the prize is more symbolic,” Betancur said.

The matches have created an exciting environment in the coliseum where students come to support and enjoy the matches.

“I don’t even play ping pong but I think that the tournament has created a very nice environment. It is a really fun activity for the school and I have seen that everyone interacts with everyone, even teachers,” Geronimo Botero, Grade 11, said.