Intro

As many of y’all know, racket sports are my life passion, and after some deep rumination regarding which sport I wanted to pursue at a higher level, I decided to begin my quest toward the 2028 Paralympics in Table Tennis. After some delays related to various new health issues as well as Covid, I was able to begin my journey earlier this year. The following has been my story so far:

March 2022

In March, I traveled to Girona, Spain representing Team USA at the Costa Brava Para Open. It was truly a remarkable experience, and was ultimately quite humbling and motivating! This was a big tournament with a lot of the world’s top players, with around 25 countries being represented. The first few days were all about training and unifying as a team. I was well coached and made some minor adjustments in preparation for my upcoming matches. I didn’t end up winning any of my matches, but wasn’t discouraged, as I showed many flashes and understood that I was up against some of the world’s toughest competition. All in all, I improved my game, bonded with my teammates, met some incredible players from other teams, and just generally had an incredible time.

June 2022

In June, I traveled to Cancun, Mexico for another tournament representing Team USA. The first day of training went great, but on the second day (the day before the tournament commenced), I started to feel sick. Turned out I had Covid, and so instead of playing in this tournament, which was a smaller tournament than Spain where I was due to have more progressive success, I had to quarantine in my hotel room for a week.

July 2022

After the disappointment of Cancun, I looked ahead to Nationals in Fort Worth, Texas a few weeks later. However, very unfortunately, I was still heavily affected by Covid and was too fatigued to make it to Nationals.

November 2022

After a few months of recovery from various health issues, I started training again with my new coach Chico, a brilliant coach from Brazil who has already improved my game after only a few sessions. I look forward to continuing with Chico on a consistent basis to improve my game little by little both in general, and more specifically for my upcoming tournament in Costa Rica in December.

December 2022

In mid December, I will be representing Team USA in Costa Rica for my 3rd International Tournament with the team. I am really hoping to show serious improvement at this tournament as I continue to work hard toward my ultimate dream of making the Paralympic Team in 2028 (hosted in Los Angeles).

Summary

I would not be where I am in my journey without the dozens and dozens of y’all who have supported me these past few years, and more broadly throughout my entire life. It is very expensive traveling the world on this quest, especially because I can’t physically fly coach more than 2 hours due to my scoliosis, lack of core, low blood pressure, and risk of skin breakdown, and so flights that accommodate my health needs are particularly expensive. Thank you to everyone who has been and will continue to be part of making my dreams come true. I am eternally grateful. ❤️