After three years of lockdown due to the pandemic, in the past six months, the “CCTTA” of the Chinese Canadian Table Tennis Association has restarted its nationwide club internal league scoring system. Many inspiring and moving stories of players have been discovered and written in Chinese and English versions, respectively, and published on the OTTA Ontario Table Tennis Association website and the Chinese Canadian Ping Pong Newsletter group.
Each story tells the journey of each player, a fellow player who once underestimated themselves, and through continuous effort and persistence, has achieved their dreams.
I am Jill Jiang, who came to Canada in 1988. I studied at the University of Alberta in Edmonton and the University of Western Ontario in London. I have worked in the insurance and banking ‘industries and now work in the investment department of an insurance company, where I enjoy and choose to work in information technology. Jill resumed playing table tennis for fun in 2008/09. Although she has been playing for over ten years, during these stop-and-go days, she has never participated in the Chinese Canadian table tennis internal league before. In the past, she only played with a few fellow players to sweat and rarely participated in competitions.
Her friend Nancy Lan has been encouraging her to participate in the House League competition. In 2022, Jill finally decided to register and play in three different levels of groups, including the D3 group, where she took the initiative to find teammates and organize the team. The team won almost all of the matches in the six-month-long, 12-team double round-robin competition, and they won the championship in the D3 group.
For Jill, participating in the competition for the first time naturally faced many controversial challenges. She was unfamiliar with the playing styles, serving, and receiving of her fellow players, and had poor practical experience and insufficient psychological strength. She often lost, but the Chinese Canadian association is a very human internal league, and in every match, her teammates encouraged and guided each other and cared for each other, allowing Jill to truly enjoy the spirit of teamwork and the incredible friendship and power. Through multiple matches, Jill also made many friends of different playing styles, cultures, and races, gradually becoming good friends.
In the marathon-like event lasting half a year, they not only exchanged their table tennis skills but also exchanged their cultures. From strangers to fellow players, and then to good friends, Jill felt very happy. If you also want to make friends and maintain a healthy and happy life through playing table tennis, take action like Jill and enjoy the joy of table tennis together!
Stanleyn, Manager of House League & Tournaments of CCTTA