Sixteen students from four different Comox Valley elementary schools came to Ecole Puntledge Park to find out who the best elementary school table tennis player is.
They first played round robins in groups of four players, with the first two finishers going into the Championships Group A, and the two lower finishers into the Recreational Group B.
Here they played double knock-out with each player getting three more matches in. There were some great matches played and, in the end it was a brother versus sister match for the final.
And what an exciting fight the spectators were treated with for the Champion’s Trophy. Danielle Bae beat her brother Zech fairly easy in the first game and many spectators expected it to turn out an easy win over her younger brother. But Zech fought back with a vengeance and came up with some amazing shots to win the next three games and the champion’s trophy.
Principal Stephane LeBlanc was there to present Zech with the trophy and for the draw for prizes donated by the school and the Courtenay Evergreen Seniors Table Tennis Club. Every player ended up with prizes like table tennis racquets, TT Balls, flashlights and Booster Juice gift certificates.
All the participating players got a lot of games in and had a great time. The ones ending up near the bottom of the group realized that they had to get more practice in. Most of the players finishing in the top half have been getting coaching and practice in the Cumberland Table Tennis Club. It was also a small group of volunteers from this club who organized and ran this event.
Hopefully, we will get kids to play more Table Tennis in the schools and make this sport and these championships grow over the next few years.
Results in Championships Group A
1) Zech Bae (Puntledge)
2) Danielle Bae (Puntledge)
3) Sam Schum (Puntledge)
4) Boris Petrov (Puntledge)
5) Liam Howe (Puntledge)
6) Xavier Sangris (Puntledge)
7) Jaya o’Brien (NIDES)
8) Kohen Gould (Puntledge)
Results in Recreational Group B
1 Easton Sangris (Lake Trail)
2) Marty Stowe (NIDES)
3) Ty Grundling (NIDES)
4) Mattias O’Brien (NIDES)
5) Oakland Webber (Huband)
6) Jack McPherson (Huband)
7) Owen Pizzey (Huband)
8) Koen Abbot (Huband)
Best players per Grade:
Gr. 3: Koen Abbot - Gr. 4: Zech Bae - Gr. 5: Jack Mc Pherson
Gr. 6: Danielle Bae - Gr. 7: Jaya O’Brien
