The table tennis team placed third at the state final four championship tournament on Feb. 28. They played against Whitney Young High School, Illinois Math and Science Academy (IMSA) and Stevenson High School. The team was the third seed in the Interscholastic Table Tennis of Illinois League (ITTI).
The ITTI features players who are nationally ranked. In order to prepare for the championship game, coach Jerry Pope emphasized consistent play.
“I think we probably practice more than any other team,” Pope said. “We have more tournaments than any other team … Most of our high schools that we compete with probably had five tournaments this year. We had 12 and we were 10-2, so I think the fact that we play a lot, we practice a lot really helped.”
Table tennis also placed third in the state last year. Despite the similar conclusions of the season, there were significant improvements.
“Compared to last year’s state championship game against Whitney Young, this year we went 6-6 in singles,” senior Andrew Ustenko said. “Although we lost doubles with an overall score of 7-8, our team played much stronger and my strategy was to focus on the next point and to not think about the last one.”
The team has placed in the top three in the state for the past five years. The athletes, aware of this feat, reflected on another strong season as a success.
“I’d like to think it was a good season overall—winning third in state felt like a nice achievement, especially since it solidified the idea that our team is very consistent in terms of how we play,” senior Zach Ella said. “It’s definitely a different feeling from last year, primarily because we have six less players and the competition felt a lot more intense than I remembered it, but it was fun nonetheless.”
Table Tennis is currently categorized as an emerging IHSA sport, and it was West that got the sport recognized by the state association. Among the other teams, West is known as a “table tennis powerhouse,” and the athletes show off their dedication and commitment to the sport by supporting their competitors who may not be as knowledgeable about the sport as they are.
“The thing that impresses me most about our guys is that they’re such good individuals,” Pope said. “They’re always greeting their opponents, win or lose, they are always shaking hands and they make everybody feel welcome. A lot of other teams don’t know the rules as well as we do, and my guys are coaching through, especially when you do double play … Then after they’re done playing, my guys are giving them pointers on how they can serve better and all that stuff.”
Congratulations to the table tennis team for earning third place in the state championship tournament. For those interested in the sport, the ping-pong club invites players of all levels to meetings every Monday and Wednesday from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
