Category Archives: Table Tennis

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Random Post on a Thursday

November 20, 2008 – 10:24 am

I am compelled to write this morning, about anything and everything.  But I’ll spare you the usual crazy ramblings that rattle around in my head and just stick to the important stuff.  The reason I have to say something is because Mayor Sanders and the City Council are moving to drastically reduce the hours at the Balboa Park Activity Center.  This affects me, and so many of my friends, in a huge way.

If you don’t already know, Jojo and I are HUGE table tennis junkies, and the BPAC is our hangout of choice.  Actually, it’s one of the top table tennis facilities in the nation with a bunch of nationally ranked players and world famous coaches!  Not so long ago, we used to haunt this place 5 or 6 days a week…playing weekly tournaments, grudge matches with friends, and hard core training for big competitions like the US Open or US Nationals.  This reduction in hours will leave us all on the street, we have to stop them from cutting hours!

I admit, I haven’t even played pong since this past July because we’ve been non-stop busy with wedding season.  But now that wedding season is coming to a close for the year, I might be lucky enough to return to the sport I am so passionate about.  We’ll see if our petitions and letters can make a difference.

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In other news, I went to a concert at the Belly Up last night with my friends Stellan and Angie Bengtsson.  I’m not a huge country fan, but Rodney Crowell and friends were just some dang good music!  Joined on the fiddle by Jenny Scheinman and on the acoustic guitar by Jed Huges, Rodney tore it up last night and played for 3 hours!  Beautiful harmonies, sweet melodies, rich voices, and hilarious lyrics.  I loved every minute of this show!

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Just found out, Jojo got me the Family Guy Collection for Christmas, every episode ever!!!

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Congratulations to Daryl for winning first place in the Under 1400 event and second place in Under 1500 at the Power Pong tournament!

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Lastly, we are getting ready for Thanksgiving in New Jersey.  That means flying 3,000 miles to freezing weather, and I don’t have a single warm sweater or jacket!  We’ll be visiting Jojo’s parents and his twin brother’s brand new baby boy!

By Marissa | Also posted in Personal | Tagged , | Comments (2)

Rachel & Jared ~ Engaged

November 17, 2008 – 7:28 pm

We are cuckoo for these two crazy kids!  Rachel’s boundless energy and Jared’s spontaneity had us gasping for breath trying to keep up.  They are so perfect for each other.  I see it in the way they feed off each other’s playfulness, the subtle hilarious looks they give each other, and the warmth that emanates whenever Jared takes Rachel in his arms.

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US Open 2008 - Table Tennis

July 9, 2008 – 9:45 am

Many people don’t know this about table tennis…but it is an addiction!  Table tennis, or ping pong, can invade your life if you don’t watch out.  Once you get a taste of how that ball can spin, or the first time you make a sweet smash on your opponent, you may never get away from this sport.

Four years ago, Jojo suggested I pick up a paddle and that he’d teach me to play.  I thought this would just be my next fad, just a phase that I’d tire of in a few months.  Before I knew it, I was playing 3 hours a day, sometimes 5 days a week.  And I’m still playing today, except now I use an old Stiga all-around classic blade with Bryce on my forehand and Sriver on my backhand.

This past weekend was another testament to my love for table tennis (aka addiction).  We drove 5 hours to Las Vegas to spend 4 days and nights in 111 degree heat, just to watch table tennis.  I didn’t even play!!! (Although I wish I did enter the tournament.)  This was our first time at the US Open and our first time watching international professional players compete.  We loved it!!!  And of course, we took a million pictures.  You can view a selection of photos from this weekend by clicking here or on the US Open link at the bottom of this page.

Josiah Framo with coaches Stellan and Angie Bengtsson after winning the Under 800 event.

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John Alto making faces at me after winning the Boys Under 13 event.

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The lovely Vlasic family.

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Jojo and I at the finals.

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The Nadal of table tennis.

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One of many super cute kids playing in the Open.

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vamos rafa!!!

July 6, 2008 – 10:27 pm

Just a quick post to congratulate Rafael Nadal on winning his first Wimbledon!  This match is being called one of the greatest matches in the history of tennis.  Unfortunately, we were only able to watch the first half this morning.  As soon as the rain started (in England), we decided to hit the road and head home from Vegas.  We wanted to avoid any possibility of a 10-hour drive from Vegas to San Diego on July 4th weekend.

We managed to skip traffic, but missed this epic battle between Nadal and Federer.  At only age 22, Nadal now has 5 titles, this one being his only non-French Open title.  This is just the beginning of Nadal’s reign as the new king of tennis!

By the way, Vegas was so much fun and we took a million pictures.  I’ll post some as soon as I get through them all!  On second thought, here’s one of my favorites…Jojo angry…Jojo SMASH!!!!!

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vegas here we come! (again)

July 2, 2008 – 8:39 am

Just to make things clear, I think we go to Las Vegas WAY too much.  Twice a year or more is more than enough to enjoy the sweltering and smothering heat of the Entertainement Capital of the World (according to Vegas).  What brings us to Vegas (again) this year?  Nothing more than the US Open for Table Tennis!

This is going to be both our first times at the US Open and we are really excited.  We’ve been to the Table Tennis Nationals in Vegas a few times (usually in December), but this tournament promises to deliver more international top players.  I’m not playing, I’m a little too intimidated.  But Jojo is entered in 3 events (Under 1450, 1600, and 1750).  I’m mostly excited to be shooting the tournament, I have a few requisitioned images for a client as well as getting action shots of all our friends.  We’ll also be passing through Red Rocks Canyon, stay tuned for those images as well.

One more note, Breakfast at Wimbledon!!!  Sunday is the Wimbledon final, and I’m making my picks now.  Rafael Nadal will have no trouble getting past Andy Murray to reach the semis, where he’ll definitely beat Clement or Schuettler.  Federer will beat Ancic and will have trouble against Marat Safin.  I’m hoping Safin can stay cool to reach Nadal in the final.  But of course, Nadal to emerge victorious!

By Marissa | Also posted in Personal | Tagged , | Comments (2)

jojo wins 2nd place at the california state open!

June 30, 2008 – 11:09 pm

Yihoo!  Jojo took home the second place trophy in the Under 1400 event this weekend at the California State Open.  But only after a long, long day waiting around in the Santa Monica College gym.  Limited number of tables meant Jojo played his first round at 11:30, then played his second round at about 4:00, then played in the final around 6.  And to make matters more interesting, guess who he met in the semi-finals…Daryl!  Our good friend, also from SDTTA, was hoping to face Jojo in the finals for U1400.  Oh well!  Here are some images from the long day in Santa Monica.  Luckily we had the Kahng boys around to keep things fun.

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Here is Jojo in the finals with a referee.  This was his first time with a ref, and he got called on his serve a few times because he did not have the ball exactly in the middle of his open palm.  The ref even gave his opponent a point when Jojo did it again in the 3rd game!

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we’re going to kentucky…we’re going to the fair!!!

June 27, 2008 – 4:01 pm

Just kidding, we’re not really going to Kentucky.  But we did go to the San Diego County Fair this past Wednesday, and it was so much fun!  Our primary reason for being there was to photograph the San Diego Table Tennis Junior Team, but we had so many more bonus reasons to be there: deep-fried snickers, deep-fried oreos, deep-fried twinkies, deep-fried spam, funnel cake, giant turkey legs, flat bread, and frozen lemonade.  Of course, it was impossible to fit into any of my jeans the next day, but whatevs!

Here are a few images from the good ole Del Mar Fair.  And you can click here to see all the images, or you can view the slideshow on the SDTTA website.

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Deep-fried OREOS!

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