Schools don't come much smaller than mine in Korea, yet we were able to compete on the provincial level in free tennis and win the tournament. Its only the second year that the school has a team. Free tennis is a relatively new sport that I beleive came from Japan. It is not popular in Korea and one of the reasons why the gym teacher decided to bring it to our school. He thought there would be a good chance that the students here could win at least a provincial title. Since it is not that popular, the competition would not be as steep as it is for sports like badminton, table tennis or even volleyball.
It was a great idea on the gym teacher's part to give the students at our school of 100 students a chance to compete with even the biggest schools. At the same time, those school might not even have a team since their time and money probably went to the main Korean sports. With this opportunity, the students have worked extremely hard the last year and a half. They train and practice 3-4 times per week. This is usually after school but on most saturdays as well. I try and train with them as much as possible and help out where I can.
The students skills have drastically risen during this time as have mine. For the free tennis tournament, teams play doubles matches. This means, students play two versus two. The rules are also different than badminton where one player can repeatedly hit the birdie while the other waits around. In free tennis, is is much more engaging for both parties because they must alternate hitting the ball. Therefore, a team with a strong player and a weak player will most likely lose. There are no superstars in this sport because one person cannot carry a team to victory. Each player must hit the ball 50% of the time. That person must work hand in hand with their partner in order to obtain optimal results. At the same time, one team alone cannot win a tournament. They may go undefeated and still lose the tournament. This is because in a free tennis tournament there are five teams that play together as one team. The five teams play matches against other teams. A team has to win at least 3 games in order to win the match.
In the first match we played last weekend, it was again the defending provincial champions that we loss to last year. They beat us 3-2. This year, after so many hours of training and hard work, we manage to beat them 5-0. I think it was a little shock to the coach of the other team since he knew the quality of our team last year. Hard work pays off! In the finals, the other team was not as strong as the team we beat in the first round 5-0 but they still managed to win one game. That means, we won the finals 4-1.
With this results, we will be going to the nationals this November. It should be a strong tournament but we have a really good chance at winning the whole thing. The team that we lost to last year in the provincials and that we beat this year came second last year in the nationals only losing 2-3. Being aware of this and knowing the quality of our team, I am optimistic about our chances to win the tournament and be throned Korea's best middle school free tennis team.
Time will tell if that becomes a reality. I will definetly update if it does. For those looking for a new and exciting sport, free tennis might just be what you are looking for. Check it out and you might be pleasently surprised!
It was a great idea on the gym teacher's part to give the students at our school of 100 students a chance to compete with even the biggest schools. At the same time, those school might not even have a team since their time and money probably went to the main Korean sports. With this opportunity, the students have worked extremely hard the last year and a half. They train and practice 3-4 times per week. This is usually after school but on most saturdays as well. I try and train with them as much as possible and help out where I can.
The students skills have drastically risen during this time as have mine. For the free tennis tournament, teams play doubles matches. This means, students play two versus two. The rules are also different than badminton where one player can repeatedly hit the birdie while the other waits around. In free tennis, is is much more engaging for both parties because they must alternate hitting the ball. Therefore, a team with a strong player and a weak player will most likely lose. There are no superstars in this sport because one person cannot carry a team to victory. Each player must hit the ball 50% of the time. That person must work hand in hand with their partner in order to obtain optimal results. At the same time, one team alone cannot win a tournament. They may go undefeated and still lose the tournament. This is because in a free tennis tournament there are five teams that play together as one team. The five teams play matches against other teams. A team has to win at least 3 games in order to win the match.
In the first match we played last weekend, it was again the defending provincial champions that we loss to last year. They beat us 3-2. This year, after so many hours of training and hard work, we manage to beat them 5-0. I think it was a little shock to the coach of the other team since he knew the quality of our team last year. Hard work pays off! In the finals, the other team was not as strong as the team we beat in the first round 5-0 but they still managed to win one game. That means, we won the finals 4-1.
With this results, we will be going to the nationals this November. It should be a strong tournament but we have a really good chance at winning the whole thing. The team that we lost to last year in the provincials and that we beat this year came second last year in the nationals only losing 2-3. Being aware of this and knowing the quality of our team, I am optimistic about our chances to win the tournament and be throned Korea's best middle school free tennis team.
Time will tell if that becomes a reality. I will definetly update if it does. For those looking for a new and exciting sport, free tennis might just be what you are looking for. Check it out and you might be pleasently surprised!
This is the best blog I have ever read.
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