It was the upset of the tournament.
CVHS seniors Sid Dasari and Eva Marsden took home first place in the “consolation” bracket for the Open Doubles division at the third annual Bellaire Open Ping Pong Tournament on March 20-21 at Bellaire High School.
Organized by the Bellaire High School Ping Pong Club, the tournament hosted divisions for singles and doubles matches, with a “main” elimination bracket and a “consolation” bracket for the previously eliminated players.
“Nobody expected Sid and I to win anything at this tournament,” Marsden said. “To be completely honest, Sid and I only wanted to do this competition to have fun and meet some other ping pong players.”
Things didn’t look good after they lost their first match and were eliminated from the main bracket.
“We rarely ever practice with each other, so it seemed as though all the odds were stacked against us,” Marsden said.
So they started playing matches in the eliminated bracket, starting each match by shaking hands with their opponents. Spirits were still high, despite the early loss.
“This tournament takes place at the very back of the competition, and they’re usually the loudest,” Marsden said of the eliminated players. “We had so much fun.”
But then, they won the first match in their new bracket. And then another. And another.
“After every match, me and Sid were completely shocked. How are we moving on in this competition?” Marsden said. “Of course, every match that we played was almost neck-and-neck, but Sid and I always came up on top by the end.”
Even CVHS Ping Pong Club President Ben Tinkham was surprised.
“We’d meet back with Ben, and he would be like, ‘Oh, did you lose this one?’” Marsden said. “Me and Sid were practically glowing in between every match.”
After a few more matches, Dasari and Marsden had taken home the gold in the “consolation” bracket — all while the “main” competition continued at the other side of the room.
“Sid and I didn’t need an audience,” Marsden said. “After collecting our trophies, we both huddled up for a picture. It was golden hour, so [the picture] was perfect. Sid and I had the widest smiles.”
The win was also special for the club — it was the first time CVHS had won an award at the annual Bellaire ping pong tournament, the only competition that the club currently competes in.
“We’ve been thinking about expanding the scope to other tournaments that take place at sporting goods places, but it’s still in the works at the moment,” Marsden said.
The club usually meets afterschool on Wednesdays at the English hallway lockers to practice and play casual matches.
“Honestly, there’s no real preparation that we do skill-wise,” Marsden said. “We’re just here to have a good time.”
After all the practice leading up to the tournament, Marsden says she doesn’t really have a pregame ritual — at least, not formally. Marsden and Tinkham take advantage of their off periods to buy some snacks from a nearby Target.
“Then, we would run into Joann’s Fabric store to pick up some pink T-shirts for the team,” Marsden said. “As Carnegie’s [Ping Pong] Club color is pink, it’s important that we find the cheapest pink shirts in our general vicinity.”
The competitors would then head off to Bellaire High School to compete, clad in pink shirts. Ultimately, Marsden thinks that she and Dasari won the tournament because of their connection with each other. In fact, the duo had never even practiced together as a team before the tournament.
“I think that me and Sid won because of how great of a match we were together,” Marsden said. “You may think that me and Sid are completely different people, but we actually get along great.”
Marsden said that Dasari helped with making plans and strategies to beat the other teams while giving constructive feedback for their own plays. They were sometimes even able to communicate with only their body language.
“We were able to carry each other and understand how to support each other,” Marsden said. “It turns out the only thing that you need to win a ping pong tournament is friendship.”
Although the duo is graduating this year and doesn’t anticipate participating in the Bellaire tournament again, they were open to reuniting over breaks to play the occasional game. Additionally, they both plan on joining ping pong clubs in college — Dasari at the University of Texas at Austin and Marsden at Texas A&M University.
“I [don’t] expect to compete in any national competitions. I just want to continue my joy for ping pong,” Marsden said.
When asked if she would be willing to start over with ping pong from scratch, she said that she would “100%” take that chance.
“Part of the joy in ping pong is being able to learn something new and learn from someone else,” Marsden said.
She encourages anyone on the fence about joining Ping Pong Club to just “take the chance” at trying something new.
“I may not be the best [at it], but it sure is fun,” Marsden said of ping pong. “Its art is in its simplicity.”
