Learning Teamwork from Table Tennis

Standing alone facing your opponent with only a single paddle in your hand awaiting the serve that’ll begin the tournament. While table tennis is an individual sport, Smile and Peco didn’t arrive at their high skill level on their own. Just as in every aspect of life, ping pong or otherwise, great heights cannot be reached without help.
Smile began playing table tennis with the help from his friend Peco when they were both young. Peco taught him the basics like how to properly serve. As the two grew older, their skill set increased at both became excellent players learning from each other as they went. After a crushing loss and blow to his ego, Peco was so upset he didn’t pick up a paddle for several months. It was only through the encouragement from fellow ping pong players and friends that he began to play again. Before his absence, his pompous attitude kept him from pushing himself too hard remaining mediocre. Once he put aside his pride, he buckled down and worked hard again because of other’s encouragement.
One person who helped Peco come back to the sport was fellow table tennis player from the rival school. Playing competitors from other schools motivated the boys to work harder. They also got support from their team. Their team always had their backs whether it was someone to hit the ball back and forth with or order them good balls to practice with. In the final match when the two were up against each other, the boys cheered for both of them.
Neither Smile nor Peco could have made it to that final match of the tournament had it not been for the support of their coaches. Smile quit on his coach several times, but Coach Joe never gave up on him. He pushed Smile to play and train hard. The woman who owned the table tennis house worked Peco out of his slump and pushed him to work harder than he had ever worked in his life. If not for her training, Peco would not have worked his way up to the top. Both coaches worked their players to the limits, but both truly cared for their boys. After Smile runs off from his coach, he returns to the gym hours late and sees Coach Joe waiting for him. It is a tender moment when Joe calls Smile “his boy.” Peco also has a special bond with his coach; this is evident when Peco throws his arms around her and in a more comical display of affection, but meaningful none the less. If that friendship factor didn’t exist, the boys would have played very differently and probably not as well in the tournament.
Life is not a path meant to be walked alone. Just as evidenced by the stories of Peco and Smile, the people who we cross paths will influence and shape our lives.