I woke up around 9 a.m. that morning feeling perfectly fine after drinking a bit last night. Some people in the group commented me on my dancing skills (ha...ha...ha) and the "fanny pack" that I wore to conceal my wallet (it's a necessary evil, I'm afraid). I ate some breakfast and proceeded to catch up on my blogs for the past couple of days. I went out for a long run around 11 or so and despite my arm being a little sore from basketball yesterday, I was still able to do some push-ups. I cam back, showered up, and then went back to Steak + with James to see my friend Eniko and eat some more delicious food. I got a lightly breaded chicken breast with some house wine and asparagus. James was a big fan of the place as well. Eniko could not talk to me as much this time because the place was busier than it was a week ago. She gave me her full name, however, so I could add her as a friend on Facebook.
I returned to the hostel and proceeded to post up in the basement for the next couple of hours with Darci, James, Zack, and Chris. We watched Olympic tennis and some other events while I continued to blog. Around 5 or so, I gathered my things and prepared for my last Olympic event of this trip:
Table Tennis
I ventured toward the metro station and found out where to go to get to the Excel center, where my matches would be. I took a couple of trains to get to a DLR station. The DLR was some sort of overground rail service that took people to the outskirts of London. I boarded the train and traveled toward the Excel arena, eagerly anticipating the high-octane action I was about to see. I got off at the correct station and walked toward Excel, which was like a huge convention center (think IX center near Cleveland). I grabbed some fish and chips at a nearby food vendor before entering the center to increase my energy level. I also took lots of pictures of the surroundings along the way.
The Excel center featured some of the more obscure Olympic sports. These included weightlifting, boxing, table tennis, judo, fencing, and others. I found the correct area where my match would be and made it to my seat. The arena featured three different platforms with blue table tennis tables and virtual scoreboards for each court. The announcer got everybody excited for the upcoming matches and then introduced the teams. The matches that I watched were called team matches. This involved teams of three female players and a coach. The matches were set up in a best 3 out of 5 format. The first two parts of the match would be singles matches that featured each team's best two singles players. The third part would be a doubles match. If necessary, the last two parts (or just one) would be two (or one) more singles match. The two matches that were going on at this time (the same time) were Hong Kong-China (this was a nation, I guess because China is just too big) vs. Korea Republic and Democratic People's Republic of Korea vs. Singapore. Before I entered the arena, I looked at the brackets for team matches and for singles and saw that the VAST majority of teams still alive hailed from Southeast Asia. Can't say I was too surprised...
As I expected, the matches that I saw were extremely entertaining. The high-speed rallies and the type of strategy employed in these showdowns were truly something to behold. The players were so skilled at keeping the ball on the table, no matter how far it drifted away from the table. The serves had a ton of spin and a lot less velocity than I would have predicted. I just kept imagining myself out there playing against these super-human females. I would probably find a way to lose every single point. Doubles was also very interesting. I originally thought that each player would just stay on one side of the table and hit the ball back if it came to their side. Instead, one player would play behind another for a while as if she was delivering a surprise attack. The players would separate if they needed to track down a wide shot to put the ball back in play. They moved with so much coordination and timing, it was almost like they were executing some complicated dance routine.
I also found it a little funny how serious all the players took this sport. There were timeouts for each team, which gave the players a chance to talk to their coaches about strategy. There were towels available in nearby bins for the players to wipe their sweat-glazed foreheads. I honestly can't remember the last time I broke out into a sweat from playing table tennis. There was also a ton of emotion involved. The players would yell in triumph after just about every point. I vividly remember the second singles match between Hong Kong and South Korea. The woman from South Korea had won two of the first three games (the winner of each individual match must win three out of five in games to eleven (win by two)), with the games she won being in convincing fashion (11-4 11-3). She was CRUISING in the fourth game, up 6-1, and it looked like this match was about to be over. However, as the great Lee Corso would say:
"Not so fast, my friend!"
The woman from Hong Kong came alive, winning eleven of the next fifteen points to win the fourth game and tie the overall count at two. Time for game five. The woman from Hong Kong carried her momentum from the previous game to take a 7-1 lead. Dating back to the last game, she had won eighteen of the last twenty three points against the woman from South Korea (I couldn't pronounce any of their names correctly). The woman from South Korea looked frustrated, anguished, defeated. It did not help that the vast majority of the crowd was pulling for Hong Kong. At 7-1, the next rally lasted for a long time, but the woman from South Korea finally got a break by returning a shot that just clipped the net and threw off the woman from Hong Kong's timing, causing her to miss the shot. Following this fortuitous bounce, the woman from South Korea seized back all of her momentum by winning ten of the next thirteen points to win the fifth game 12-10. The sports concept of momentum was on full display throughout this entire match. After hitting the winning point, the woman from South Korea, who had looked so upset just ten minutes ago, collapsed on the floor in extreme jubilation. She managed to swing the match at exactly the right time, outsmarting and outhitting the woman from Hong Kong while fighting off the crowd in the process. Even though it is table tennis, these are still moments that any true Olympic fan lives for.
I managed to see Singapore defeat North Korea three matches to zero. South Korea was leading Hong Kong two matches to zero as their doubles match was getting underway. This was about the time that I decided to leave. I had seen plenty in the hour and a half that I spent at this arena. I couldn't wait until the next time I would play table tennis. Perhaps I could use some of what I learned to help improve my game!
I left the Excel center and (slowly) made my way back toward the DLR. The volunteers had to direct a lot of crowd traffic along the way. I switched to the Northern Line after about twenty minute of DLR travel to re-route me toward King's Cross. Back in the hostel, I met up with Chris, who told me last night that we would be going out for the night with Laura and Leslie. According to Chris, they were at the Irish Olympic House at that time. We went to the house and stood in line for a bit until we were admitted inside. It was absolutely PACKED with people. Everyone was drinking, talking, watching the Olympics, and dancing to the music of a U2 cover band that was playing live. Chris and I each ordered a beer (I tried Heineken for the first time; much better than I thought it would be), and we searched the place for the girls. No luck. After finishing our beers and watching a little bit of boxing, we left toward the hostel to see if they were there. We ran into them on the way, and I got a chance to meet Laura's high school friend, Jared. He seemed like a very nice person. We decided to go to House of Nations again to spend our evening. I grabbed some money from the ATM across the street and reconvened with the gang just as Jared was leaving.
It was an extremely fun night. Chris and I each bought the girls a round of drinks and we were all in a great mood. We talked about our experiences during the trip and played some "around the world" ping pong (we had to hit the ball once and keep rotating around the table to get another chance to hit it). I got to play Leslie one-on-one, and my inspiration after seeing the woman play earlier helped push me over the top. We ordered another round of drinks and then played a couple rounds of foosball before I decided to take off. I planned on going to church the next day, so I wanted to make sure that I would be rested and alcohol-free. I made it back to the hostel just fine, did my usual pre-bed
I returned to the hostel and proceeded to post up in the basement for the next couple of hours with Darci, James, Zack, and Chris. We watched Olympic tennis and some other events while I continued to blog. Around 5 or so, I gathered my things and prepared for my last Olympic event of this trip:
Table Tennis
I ventured toward the metro station and found out where to go to get to the Excel center, where my matches would be. I took a couple of trains to get to a DLR station. The DLR was some sort of overground rail service that took people to the outskirts of London. I boarded the train and traveled toward the Excel arena, eagerly anticipating the high-octane action I was about to see. I got off at the correct station and walked toward Excel, which was like a huge convention center (think IX center near Cleveland). I grabbed some fish and chips at a nearby food vendor before entering the center to increase my energy level. I also took lots of pictures of the surroundings along the way.
The Excel center featured some of the more obscure Olympic sports. These included weightlifting, boxing, table tennis, judo, fencing, and others. I found the correct area where my match would be and made it to my seat. The arena featured three different platforms with blue table tennis tables and virtual scoreboards for each court. The announcer got everybody excited for the upcoming matches and then introduced the teams. The matches that I watched were called team matches. This involved teams of three female players and a coach. The matches were set up in a best 3 out of 5 format. The first two parts of the match would be singles matches that featured each team's best two singles players. The third part would be a doubles match. If necessary, the last two parts (or just one) would be two (or one) more singles match. The two matches that were going on at this time (the same time) were Hong Kong-China (this was a nation, I guess because China is just too big) vs. Korea Republic and Democratic People's Republic of Korea vs. Singapore. Before I entered the arena, I looked at the brackets for team matches and for singles and saw that the VAST majority of teams still alive hailed from Southeast Asia. Can't say I was too surprised...
As I expected, the matches that I saw were extremely entertaining. The high-speed rallies and the type of strategy employed in these showdowns were truly something to behold. The players were so skilled at keeping the ball on the table, no matter how far it drifted away from the table. The serves had a ton of spin and a lot less velocity than I would have predicted. I just kept imagining myself out there playing against these super-human females. I would probably find a way to lose every single point. Doubles was also very interesting. I originally thought that each player would just stay on one side of the table and hit the ball back if it came to their side. Instead, one player would play behind another for a while as if she was delivering a surprise attack. The players would separate if they needed to track down a wide shot to put the ball back in play. They moved with so much coordination and timing, it was almost like they were executing some complicated dance routine.
I also found it a little funny how serious all the players took this sport. There were timeouts for each team, which gave the players a chance to talk to their coaches about strategy. There were towels available in nearby bins for the players to wipe their sweat-glazed foreheads. I honestly can't remember the last time I broke out into a sweat from playing table tennis. There was also a ton of emotion involved. The players would yell in triumph after just about every point. I vividly remember the second singles match between Hong Kong and South Korea. The woman from South Korea had won two of the first three games (the winner of each individual match must win three out of five in games to eleven (win by two)), with the games she won being in convincing fashion (11-4 11-3). She was CRUISING in the fourth game, up 6-1, and it looked like this match was about to be over. However, as the great Lee Corso would say:
"Not so fast, my friend!"
The woman from Hong Kong came alive, winning eleven of the next fifteen points to win the fourth game and tie the overall count at two. Time for game five. The woman from Hong Kong carried her momentum from the previous game to take a 7-1 lead. Dating back to the last game, she had won eighteen of the last twenty three points against the woman from South Korea (I couldn't pronounce any of their names correctly). The woman from South Korea looked frustrated, anguished, defeated. It did not help that the vast majority of the crowd was pulling for Hong Kong. At 7-1, the next rally lasted for a long time, but the woman from South Korea finally got a break by returning a shot that just clipped the net and threw off the woman from Hong Kong's timing, causing her to miss the shot. Following this fortuitous bounce, the woman from South Korea seized back all of her momentum by winning ten of the next thirteen points to win the fifth game 12-10. The sports concept of momentum was on full display throughout this entire match. After hitting the winning point, the woman from South Korea, who had looked so upset just ten minutes ago, collapsed on the floor in extreme jubilation. She managed to swing the match at exactly the right time, outsmarting and outhitting the woman from Hong Kong while fighting off the crowd in the process. Even though it is table tennis, these are still moments that any true Olympic fan lives for.
I managed to see Singapore defeat North Korea three matches to zero. South Korea was leading Hong Kong two matches to zero as their doubles match was getting underway. This was about the time that I decided to leave. I had seen plenty in the hour and a half that I spent at this arena. I couldn't wait until the next time I would play table tennis. Perhaps I could use some of what I learned to help improve my game!
I left the Excel center and (slowly) made my way back toward the DLR. The volunteers had to direct a lot of crowd traffic along the way. I switched to the Northern Line after about twenty minute of DLR travel to re-route me toward King's Cross. Back in the hostel, I met up with Chris, who told me last night that we would be going out for the night with Laura and Leslie. According to Chris, they were at the Irish Olympic House at that time. We went to the house and stood in line for a bit until we were admitted inside. It was absolutely PACKED with people. Everyone was drinking, talking, watching the Olympics, and dancing to the music of a U2 cover band that was playing live. Chris and I each ordered a beer (I tried Heineken for the first time; much better than I thought it would be), and we searched the place for the girls. No luck. After finishing our beers and watching a little bit of boxing, we left toward the hostel to see if they were there. We ran into them on the way, and I got a chance to meet Laura's high school friend, Jared. He seemed like a very nice person. We decided to go to House of Nations again to spend our evening. I grabbed some money from the ATM across the street and reconvened with the gang just as Jared was leaving.
It was an extremely fun night. Chris and I each bought the girls a round of drinks and we were all in a great mood. We talked about our experiences during the trip and played some "around the world" ping pong (we had to hit the ball once and keep rotating around the table to get another chance to hit it). I got to play Leslie one-on-one, and my inspiration after seeing the woman play earlier helped push me over the top. We ordered another round of drinks and then played a couple rounds of foosball before I decided to take off. I planned on going to church the next day, so I wanted to make sure that I would be rested and alcohol-free. I made it back to the hostel just fine, did my usual pre-bed
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