Table-Tennis Players Anonymous

My work place too has a few people engagement activities and one of it happens to be a sports war spread across an year.

The 300+ people in the team have been grouped into 7 groups and................... I am one of the captains!!!!

How did that happen?

Frankly, I dont know!

When I got to know of this, over the initial shocked phase, I had spent a few hours wondering how in the world could anyone at all get the idea that I had something to with sport. I remember uttering words to a similar effect, when someone near me grinned and said he was one of the culprits who had suggested my name. The reason being that I am a people-person and I could easily pick the stronger women players. As for the men, they already knew who were good. Ok.. a part of it made sense. But did they have to make me a CAPTAIN for this? They could have just asked me.. for heavensake!!!

And the funniest thing was, at the time of the team selection I was forced to be on leave and so I came back and found we had missed some of the women players I knew were good.

Anyways, the sports event started.. and one after the other, different matches and games rolled out...chess, carroms, Table Tennis....

Wait a minute, no women in the team were ready to play TT.. younger, slimmer, smarter girls.. none of them!!! I tried to boost them into participating and said there was no pressure for them to win.. naaah! Didnt work. None of them budged! 

This meant it would be a no-show for our team.. and ofcourse the captain couldnt let that happen.

So she picked up the TT bat for the first time in her life, 5 days before the 1st game.

Armed with only enthusiasm and a thick-skin, I began playing with a new work-teammate who had been playing TT since she was a kid ( sigh..! I had her in mind when thinking of forming our team, but we missed her). 

The game was uproarious.. I didnt know where the ball was headed, I had no aim.. I didnt even know how to hold the bat! I was holding the bat like the way you would hold a bat to swat a fly :D 

And my whole bay people purposely filed out into the TT-playing space and began to cheer and attract a bigger crowd and do everything that was possible to embarrass me.. loud cheers, commentary, claps. And they succeeded big time! But I held firm and played on... and though I lost every one of the matches, I began to love the game.

On the day of the match, I was butchered :D There is no other way to put it! 

But, every time I defended myself or by fluke won a point, there was a thundering applause.. and well, the support made me feel a little better ;)

Ahem.. next we have the Badminton series coming up...

We need 2 players.. and we are 1 player short.

So the short and stout captain comes to the... errr.. rescue.. is it??

(Psst.. she has now converted into a TT-addict and Badminton-enthusiast-soon-to-be-addict, with symptoms like the withdrawal syndrome. Probably may have join the TT/Badminton players-anonymous soon.)