Balls of fury!

A few sundays ago, the withering streak of my love for table tennis was suddenly rejuvenated and so the family organised a badminton cum table tennis Family Day at Changkat CC. Well, in a way, it was also a competition to find out who plays the meanest game of ping pong among the 3 brothers.

When I was young, my elder brother had a big influence in whatever I did.
Table tennis, soccer - the 2 sports that he was actively involved in, I picked up both as well, and got better too! =)

Maybe that was why my parents were so worried about me when my bro graduated from pri school and I would be left alone there. You see, I was very shy as a kid. Shy enough to buy nasi lemak from the same stall for a year just to avoid talking to the hawkers from other food stalls!

Needless to say, that became a HUGE family joke.
Every now and then it would still be brought up, much to the delight of everyone of course. Haha.

Anyway, the sporting gene was carried over to my younger bro, though he isn't as passionate about it. All three of us were in the table tennis school team at one stage, and I say it with a lot of pride that I was groomed in Anglican High School!

So back to the day of our showdown, when I actually saw my table tennis coach (Yan Jiao Lian). He was coaching a small kid in the same room where we were gonna play. Small world eh? Had a chat with him and he told me that our beloved Mr Choo Hua Hua (sorry I just had to include the full name) has retired and is enjoying life, travelling around the world.

I didnt know he is in his 60s already. He looked like he is in his early 50s to me! Hmmm, the wonders of a cushy job, and teacher in charge. Haha.

To be fair, he did bring us a lot of laughter and fond memories. The times when he endeavoured to draw the perfect circle on the whiteboard, shouting out almost everyone's name on the class list for those who did not hand up homework, wearing his tight shorts for table tennis training with us... Actually with a name like his, he didnt have to do much else. Haha.

The guys always looked out for the times when he attended table tennis training sessions in shorts or pants. If its the former, it means the coach has to arrange for some unfortunate poor soul to train with him.

Train basically means being sent into the room and have a one to one sparring session. I always reckon its something that he takes immense joy in, when he retreats and hits high balls for the lower sec kids to smash back at him. And no matter how hard the kid tries, he returns every ball with much ease. All the while, he would grin from ear to ear, indulging in this paedophilic pleasure.

I say that because I have been there, done that too. Haha. Everyone in the table tennis team goes through that ritual, until we become too good for him. Ahhhh, the liberation that comes when you officially graduate and smash the living daylights out of him! Haha..

Okay I'm getting too carried away talking about him. Back to our family day. So my elder bro and I won a game each, and the last game had to be stopped because time had run out. My younger bro was not quite in the same league, but he must have been honoured to witness such an epic battle anyway. Haha.

It was weird while playing with my bro, with my former coach in the same room as well. Brought back memories of the time I used to train under him. Maybe it was stress, if not I really should have won the two games. Haha alright not finding any excuses here.

In all, it was good family fun on a Sunday morning. Everyone should do that, does wonders for family bonding!