Steven Sand WDYDWYD

My grandpa bought me a ping-pong table when I was 8 years old and it is by far the best gift I have ever received. Countless games in the backyard have welded a tight relationship between my dad and I as we battle for “Ping Pong Champion.” Although the yelling and arguing about points did not necessarily help our relationship, what are two competitive men supposed to do in a heated match?
Ping pong, however, is not a very popular sport and can often be regarded as boring. Long monotonous rallies very often lull spectators to sleep. But true ping-pong fanatics, like me, know that every shot is unique and requires great skill and concentration to execute. Losing to my dad thousands of times in a row was definitely not enjoyable but it does, however, symbolize my life. Although it is quite a far stretch of the imagination, I like to think of ping-pong as a correlation with spontaneity of life. The idea that no two ping-pong shots are the same reflects on the unique challenges that I have had to overcome in my “match” I call life. The moment I feel comfortable and ready to “win” is the moment a new obstacle is put in front of me, most recently being my assimilation into college. Nevertheless, I work hard to “stay in the point”(overcome the obstacle) in hopes that my goals of “winning the match”(succeeding) are still within reach.
I can beat my dad on a regular basis now, but to hide his frustration and disappointment he likes to take credit for teaching me everything I know about ping-pong. Underneath all of his jokes is a sense of pride not just in the ping-pong player that I have become but also in the son he has raised. My connections to ping-pong may sound abstract, but the sport has improved the way I handle life’s tough situations. What I do is work hard to overcome obstacles that hinder my goals in life and why I do it is to make my parents and myself proud.