Table tennis backspins its way around OHCHS by Riley Chickering

If you walked past the OHCHS gym on Friday, Nov. 15, the sights and sounds were different than that of a normal afternoon. Oxford Hills senior Ty Martin worked for more than a week setting up a ping pong tournament that resulted in more than 25 students and two teachers competing for the "Golden Paddle" on Friday afternoon.

It was a very intense atmosphere. There was a lot of competition, but there was also a lot of fun and every match ended in smiles. The tournament was capped off by two great matches between runner-up Cam Letourneau and victor Matt Beauchesne. 

Over the past couple weeks, ping pong has quickly become a very popular activity at the school. Students are grabbing every chance to play - before school, skipping lunch and signing out of study halls to go play a quick pick-up game.

When physical education teacher Cindy Goddard was asked about the new trend she said, “I found it quite remarkable that students would ask to come play ping pong and do it without interrupting the PE class. The students were able to be active in the game and did not need direct supervision,” Goddard said.

The impressive part of Friday's event was that it was organized and run entirely by students. Putting on an event at the high school is no easy task but they did a great job as evidenced by the turnout. After the tournament, Ty Martin said, “I had a lot of fun, and I think everybody involved had a lot of fun. I can’t wait to do it again sometime."

Photo by Brewster Burns
READY TO RETURN - Crystal West competes in a match against Luke Davidson.

Photo by Brewster Burns
EYES ON BALL - Nick Bowie gets ready to return a ball during a game of table tennis at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School. Students have taken a sudden interest in the game recently.

Photo by Brewster Burns