Extreme Recreation

Extreme Recreation 1

Ultimate Frisbeeand the NCAAa happy match made in heaven?

Being a teenager and playing paintball... what do you think?

The formula 1 track in Austin Texas, Great for the city’s economy?

extreme recreation

Drink of champions


Paintball

1

Table Of Contents

10

20

30

Letters from the Editor

Paintball

Soccer

Others...

Table Of ContentsI. Every thing you need to know about us

I. The NPPL and PSP merger (10)II. interview with LBJ paintball (14)III. Top 10 Stupid things we hear from newbies(12)

I. The Soccer Player(17)II. For starters(18)

I. Ultimate Frisbee Becoming part of the NCAA(22)II. An Inside look at the Underground world of ping pong with D-Wang(26)III. Building of F1 track in Austin TX(16)


Paintball

Photo of Blake Cooper By: Eddie Plaut


Our promise to you is as follows:We will do our utmost in this magazine to provide you with the best news when it comes to paintball, F1, and sports under the “other” category. We are in High school just like you, provid-ing a unique perspective on these issues. We are determined to get you interested in these sports, that we are passionate about as well. We hope to light a burning passion inside of you.


Paintball

About Photo of Blake C

ooper By: Eddie PPhtot of Sam

my W

. By: Neal P.

Photo of Jose Ramos by: Sam

my W

olfson

Blake is a 15 year old high school student current-ly located in Austin Texas, and his mission with putting his time and effort into this magazine is to expose you to the wondrous world of paintball. We will be explor-ing the two separate profes-sional leagues of paintball, talking to a recreational referee at a local field, and a beginners equipment guide. Anything paintball related is fair game for this author...

Sammy is a 15 year-old and a freshman at LASA high school who is very interested in the active field of the world. He enjoys playing soccer and ulti-mate Frisbee. His favorite T.V. programs are “Sports-center”, “Chuck”, and “the Office”. He can always be found playing soccer with his friends after school. Any sports under the radar is fair game for this author...

Jose is a 15 year old in the class EZINE. He likes everything about cars and bike racing vs. his friends and playing soccer with his friends after school. He wishes to inform you about the F1 track currently be-ing built in Austin TX and why this is a good idea. Any information regarding cars is fair game with this author...

Blake

Sammy

Jose

US

Go Old SpiceOr Go Home


Paintball

What would happen if the NFL and CFL merged, would you have three or four downs? Measure

in yards or meters? Pay in Canadian or American dollars? These questions illustrate that these leagues play the same sport at its core, but also they have fundamental differences within the rules of their own league. This is what would happen if we tried to merge the PSP and NPPL leagues of paintball, true compro-mise is when both parties leave equally dissatisfied. Some say that the merger be-tween the NPPL and PSP is a good thing, they are wrong. Mike Phillips, who I fol-low with a passion, says that the merger would bring both good and bad. He is quoted as saying “Even if they do merge it could take them years to work out the details.” he also said “Whatever happens get rid of ramping.” This just highlights that most people think a compromise is in order, but we will get to that later. He says that a merger won’t necessarily be a good thing or a bad thing. Mike is a very sensible person but has a passion for the sport; he has played for almost 20 years now. He thinks that a merger wouldn’t be good or bad, I can see this point of view but he is leaning towards giving the rules a more NPPL flavor rather than PSP. Most new players (who have their own equipment) would not like this because they would not have ramping which evens the playing field across the board at tournaments.Some say that the merger between the NPPL and PSP is a good thing, they are wrong. Mike Phillips, who I follow with a passion, says that the merger would bring both good and bad. He is quoted as saying “Even if they do merge it could take them years to work out the details.” he also said “Whatever happens get rid of ramping.” This just highlights that most people think a com-promise is in order, but we will get to that later. He says that a merger won’t necessarily be a good thing or a bad thing. Mike is a very sensible person but has a passion for the sport; he has played for almost 20 years now. He thinks that a merger wouldn’t be good or bad, I can see this point of view but he is leaning towards giving the rules a more NPPL flavor rather than PSP. Most new players (who have their own equipment) would not like this because they would not have ramping which evens the playing field across the board at tournaments.

An Account of the Issue

Through a Paintballers eyes, For Paintballers

By: Blake Cooper

Photo Credit: Blake C

ooper

A Paintball Mask with a green thermal lens

The NPPL just implemented a new media policy, the professional players that play the sport like the PSP because of the good media policy and the online live webcast-ing. Combining these two leagues might result in disastrous consequences for the sport’s coverage. Even for the loyal fans going out of their way to see their favorite teams on the internet; this new policy might make it difficult. The PSP is more accessible, it has formed more of a community. The events are better for vendors, photographers, magazines, and

all types of media coverage. Most ven-dors, such as EMPIRE PAINTBALL™, and VALKEN™, both wait until the PSP world cup to reveal new product lines; this event is known worldwide and is one of the most attended paintball events on the planet. All in all I believe the combi-nation of leagues would hurt this effect that PSP has on the sport, because NPPL wants to squeeze every last penny out of paintball now.

The NPPL and PSP have fundamentally different Rules, the issue of “ramping” at the heart of the issues. For those of you that don’t know, ramping is when the number of trigger pulls does not repre-sent the rate of paintballs leaving your barrel, for instance one trigger pull is at least three paintballs leave your barrel, if you keep pulling the trigger fast enough

you will eventually get up to around 12-13 balls per second; this is the maximum rate of fire. So in essence as long as you pull the trigger five times per second (which is not difficult) you will be shoot-ing about two and a half times as fast as you’re pulling the trigger. Many of the professional players do not like this be-cause they can pull the trigger around 17 times per second, and they see that this rule caters to the newer players, but as

Mike Phillips says over and over again in his videos, “…New Players are the lifeblood of our sport…” So maybe a rule that caters to new players is not an awful thing. Another fundamental difference is the scoring structure, in NPPL the scor-ing system is very complicated, 3 points for a kill, 32 points for a flag pull (getting the flag off of the opponents base), 40 points for a flag hang (taking the oppo-nents flag to your own base), and 1 point for every man left on the field on the flag hanging team. The PSP however awards two points to the team that captures the flag, and no points to the team that loses, very simple. If you try to combine these two scoring systems it would be like try-ing to score a touchdown in basketball, score a goal in football, or kick a field goal

in hockey. It just wouldn’t work.

The two leagues play very differently, personal experiences have illustrated this. I have played NPPL style for an hour against the same person always winning, and then when we switch to PSP it levels the playing field. I no longer have an advantage with my faster fingers. We just have athletic ability and strategy. That’s when paintball is really fun, when there is

a challenge involved, it is fun when you don’t win all of the games, and it’s re-ally fun when you can get a new player hooked on paintball with a beautiful stream of paint coming from the barrel of their gun. PSP levels the playing field; you can’t rely on equipment or just waiting with your teammates for the other team to get anxious and run right into your paint stream. PSP is a spectator sport, the big “X” bunker in the middle of the field forces player’s to move up the sidelines putting them closer to the crowd, NPPL is much slower. Sometimes games last 8 min-

utes, where the average PSP games last about 2; which as a player I like because I get to play more, and as a spectator I like because it’s a much faster game.

In conclusion the NPPL and PSP should remain separate. I do think one can learn from the other but frankly I believe that a merger would do more harm than good. Unfortunately I don’t think this will stop the owners from trying to hammer out a deal in the next year. I love this game and I don’t want to see it destroy itself, the differences are too large and the stakes are too high. The leagues are fundamentally different and should not merge, scoring, play style, and the way the leagues conduct themselves are all very different things. My hopes are they will stay separate; I fear that these hopes might be too high to be realistic though. As I stated before, the two leagues are so different that they should stay separate, if they do merge in a worse case scenario the best we can do is damage control…


Even if they domergeit couldtake themyears towork out the details

VS

Photo Credit: Paintball Sports Prom

otersPhoto C

redit: NPPL

“ “


Paintball

Top 10 Facepalms Regulars Hear from Newbies

Newbie - “Man, I’m out of bullets. I need more bullets to shoot at my friends.”Me - “You need more PAINTBALLS, bullets kill people. Paintballs leave a bruise”

Newbie - “Aw man that map was sweet, my K/D ratio was insane that round, I probably had the Juggernaut perk on”Me - “This isn’t Call of Duty, this is a sport”

Newbie - “Your gun is SWEET”Other Guy - “It’s the same as yours”Newbie - “But you own it so it’s better”(Newbie walks up to me)Newbie - “Your gun looks to much like a space gun to be good”Me - “I guess you’re right”

Newbie - “I have my own gun, that automatically makes me good”Me - “You want to play me one on one?”

Newbie - “I’ll just get my mommy to buy me that”Me - (My head just hits the table I’m sitting at)

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VS

Congrats kid, you convinced your mommy to buy a paintball gun from Wal-Mart


Newbie - “My gun has a red-dot sight, a flashlight, and a foregrip, It’s so realistic that I win every game”Me - “Anyone has the exact same chance of winning, even the rentals”

Newbie - (While in the middle of a game) “cover me while I text my girlfriend”Me - “No” (and run up the field actually trying to win the game)

Newbie - (Screaming) “I hit you why didn’t you get out, I hit you, I hit you, I know I did”Me - “No you hit my teammate, he’s wearing the same thing as me”Newbie - “Why?”Me - “We are a team, we play in tournaments, we are teammates”Newbie - “I still think I hit you”

Newbie - “Want to buy my gun, I want to get a better one than yours, you can buy this one for only 400$”Me - “............ It’s worth 100 max”

Newbie - “I’ll freeze my paintballs, make them better”Me - “That would actually make them worse, they would become very brittle and break inside your gun, and even if you managed to get one out of your barrel it would be dimpled so badly that it would curve in crazy directions.”

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Only 460$? I mean really this gun new is 170-180...

You’re Just seeing double

Get Your Meat

After a Long Day

Throw It on the Grill

Of Recreation...

Paintball

Get up, move up!” Eddie is screaming at his teammates, shooting projectiles filled with a colorful gel moving at around 150 mph. His

gun shooting in almost the exact same spot every time, he pins his opponents down and moves up the field, crawling on his stomach. “Hey Blake watch back left” as paint splatters off of the front of his bunker.

His teammate pops up and headshots the newbie who had a bead on Eddie. “Flag clear, flag clear?” He yells across the field. That same teammate replies a resound yes and Eddie takes off at a dead sprint towards the flag he slides on his chest to avoid paint being shot at him and yanks the flag down ending the game and win-ning the round for his team. A serious paintball player with his own

equipment and high level paintball experience Eddie has shared some of his knowledge with the newer paintball community. His advice is geared toward newer players and has very detailed tips and instructions. He has a burning pas-sion for the sport, and he wants you to feel the same way.“The first time I played was in 5th grade, so four years ago” Eddie said. He contin-ued on “The first time I started getting se-rious with my own equipment was prob-ably three years ago, but I only consider myself a real player for about a year, year and a half.” Now he is clearly ready for battle, his team uniform and his electro-pneumatic Invert Mini. He is decked out in high end paintball equipment; just

from what he shows he has already invested 750

dollars worth of his hard earned cash to play

this sport.“But yea I’d say

I’ve been playing as a serious player for a year

now”Eddie goes on to share some ex-

periences from when he first started out in paintball, he bought his own

equipment when he was in 7th grade. His Spyder Victor and his Spyder Fasta hop-per didn’t do him any justice.

“Those first few years were hell, my gun fell into disrepair over and over again, I didn’t even, never thought I could get a better gun and I never just tried. I just had crap equipment that didn’t work out, and I just wasn’t playing as well as I could have, and wasn’t having as much fun as I could have.”

He says he made a lot of bad decisions when it comes to equipment purchases due to his inexperience. Here is the ad-vice he gives to new players.

“Well a lot of times the common miscon-ception new players will make is that first they will buy a gun, and a lot of times that’s not what you want to do because there are a lot of guns and a lot of them are good.”

“The first thing you want to get is a hop-per that will last you a long time, because if you get yourself a good hopper and then get yourself a good gun, that hopper can make the gun better.”

“Like Blake here got an Invert TOO for 40$ which is a great hopper at a great price, which getting it uses is really use-ful, and really a good for a start up tour-nament or newer player.” He said this as he pointed to his teammate who prompt-ly ran through about 100 paintballs to show off how fast he could shoot his gun when the two pieces of his ensemble are used in concert.Being a teenager and not having his own car yet he reveals his pick for best paintball place within reasonable driving distance from central Austin.

“Well having played at the 4 biggest paintball places in Austin, I can already rule out hill13 and Texas as my favorite,

Long time player speaks to newer paintball enthusiasts


because hill13 is very disorganized and a lot of times you can just show up with your own paint and do basically whatever you want, and Texas is REALLY REALLY expensive, they have a pro shop and great refs, but it’s just really expensive”“Now that leaves outlaw and Xtreme they’re two completely different paintball places outlaw is very fast paced lots of speedball courses all of it close together but it’s a little disorganized and a lot of their equip has fallen in disrepair, but if I want to play a lot of paintball I can pretty much play at my own pace and if I want to play a lot of paintball I can it is also the cheapest option. Now Xtreme is the most organized and it’s probably the best for new players, because the head ref there cares so much about safety and their equipment is cleaned and maintained so you won’t have any problems with that. But for what I am doing right now, and the style of play that I have gotten into, I would have to say that OUTLAW is my favorite field right now.”

And he loves us with some sound advice that even experienced players should follow.

“Actually look for advice, a lot of times players think they know everything about the sport and make bad decision after bad decision, that’s exactly what I did, I made one bad decision after another and it led to something that didn’t work, so the biggest thing you can do is either ask a friend who plays paintball, or just go on the forums go on the forums and ask people, because if there is something the paintball community loves to do is tell other people what to do, and a great place to do that is TECHPB, TECHPB is a great website where if the guy mike is very smart can talk to you about equipment and a lot about strategy, so best thing you can do is research on forums researching what kind of player you want to be and what you want to buy.”

--Blake Cooper

Invert Too Hopper, a “great hopper at a great price” can be found on ANSgear.com new for 70$ or used for around 40 on TECHPB

Invert Mini, the tournament ready gun that Eddie and Blake use, great gun for 300$--Buy this last, that is the advice that most long time players give, including Eddie

Start with a steel tank, because for the average player that is really all you need, Eddie uses a carbon fiber setup but that is a tournament luxury that is not necessary 30$

Proto Switch El, best mask for under 70$. Eddie has used this same mask for over a year and loves it. Only costs 30$

Eddie’s Starter Equipment Guide

Photo by Dye inc.

Photo by Empire inc.

Photo by Empire inc.

Photo by Ninjapaintball inc.



Formula 1

Race To The Finish

R ace to the finish is that was it a good idea to build the track or was

it a bad idea to do the track or should we help schools instead I think it was a good idea not just for us Austin but for Hous-ton to they are going to get people to visit the Alamo and Austin people visiting the capital before the race stars. People are starting to reserve rooms in hotels to stay after the race and have fun two or more days to enjoy Austin or Houston and the

hotels are going to get more money and restaurants are going to get more money to the track is going to bring more people from different places and it’s going to bring something new and important to some people it’s going to bring a new auto sport to the city of Austin and Houston and it might bring Moto GP to the track. Moto GP is motorcycle racing that is going to bring more people to Austin and to Houston and more work to the city and also its going to bring some money to the cities this might make people stay because they liked the city

and the population might grow and there is going to be more tourist and they are going to stay if they like the city and the population is going to increase because of the tourist staying in Austin or Houston. Houston is going to get some tourist and Austin is going to get some tourism two the hotels are going to get a lot of work on the days theirs is races in 2012 they might need to make a hotel before the race’s star because they might not be available rooms because they are starting to book the hotels now so if you’re plan-

ning to come and see the formula one race’s star booking the rooms don’t wait in to the last minute because you might have to sleep in your car if you’re driving to the race

By Jose R

The s ccer pl yer

H is heart pumping it was the fi nal minute in till the end of the game. He had no rivals in front

of him he had a chance to score he saw his partner he passed it to him he said to him shot. Th e goalie was about to jump he shot the ball so hard that the goalie could not see the ball pass right beside him. Th ey had won the game they went

to the team was celebrating in the side line but he is not a profes-sional soccer player he is a thirteen year old kid playing in his aft er school program soccer team he started playing with this group just a couple of weeks ago the team has lost and won but they never give up they go to practice on the week-ends and they have their games on Wednesday and the coach is happy with the team if they win and if they lose they get more laps to run they try their best to win the games but sometimes their rivals are taller than them they have a hard

time trying to pass the ball to their partner but they have never given they only have lost twice but almost lost three times they were losing by two goals but they one by one goal the couch was sad that they that they were losing but then when he saw that they were tied he go very happy but he got even more happy when they won.. Um quas platem faccusanit dolor mil esedi ommo-luptus, quis sam seque nisi optur sectin cus re voles sapelent et fugit,

omniet pla nis eos volorecatur, sapis soluptae nonessimus.el est quidele nimodis cipsun-tem rendus, est, ut ipsunti ilitatur moluptat utessust aut dolupta-tiunt aborerum sed eum lam ea nobisciatet faccaturiam eos none post, occus rentur aliquament quis audio blam seque nim sit, nonsend elliqui delique rectem exeri om-niam endae sed unt fugia si conet verum evel ipis cone laceptate vero testios vendaes ciissim elignia pre nis dolupta temquis autempor-rum qui con excea velis eaquam hiciis moluptaspis aut accaborum

reperero odioreptia dio quassinis deni dundus expedis peri doluptam et que quatet volor simaior sequi-bus doluptatur simin res prestem poriame venditat fugiae qui oc-cus sequid ut ereriti nctiandio blabo. Nequias persperciis delia non porehen testrunt laut voluptat arum ut porest, apeliqui quas delit eos minctur ioritatia sitions endunt ullab is el il is estotatis aut volest, sunt vendem aut ea imil eatur ra essi te evel in res maximil ipiendiae nonserat.Rit qui dolesenihil id qui illorec ta-tur? Qui invenditium quia cum qui aut labo. Orionet fugitassit hilleni mporesciatur aut ex eos dendaecto dolupta tiusam que vent dem ulpa comniae nonsed eum quis sequam dolut quaturia qui voluptat aut vo-luptas sus, eum conecto consequam cusam qui voluptas veruptur au-tempos et, quis aut omnis reprepe pernam, abore as dent ma alique vent lat lique nihic tem hit int la-bore debitibusant omnimol enimi, con rem quos maximustrum eratur, utatur asim fuga. Nam am, quiber-spiet acea volore con ne sit rem quas dis estorep repelib usaesto repudi omnihic illant quas autem re, consequi quia vit ulpa volorro berferat aceprae doluptam dolorem que cum ratis enditatibus.Nam facerfe rferumq uiateculla destia dolupicid et ma si dolorro quibus molorrum alis ere prerum des magnat ut ut voluptatio. Lab ipic-turi que volupta quatusc ipidunt iisciunte eataspienis mos apiendis parumque everibusam eatectiam rem quodit faci doluptum duciis as dollandam quiae voluptate

BY: Jose R.



Paintball

For Starters...The best way to improve your touch and control is wall passing. Get a ball and find a wall, then just start pass-ing over and over again to yourself. Change up the speed and switch from both left to right. This technique will also greatly improve your passing mechanics. The other activity you can do to im-prove your control with the ball is to start juggling. Start by dropping the ball to your feet and then kicking it up. Then do it again but with 2 kicks, than with 3 and so on.

Before you even touch a ball, you must first get fit. Soccer is a game of constant running and if you can’t do that, than soccer is not the right sport for you. I great way to train during pre-season is running. I would recommend two miles every day and as you get stronger, bump it up to three. In addition to running core exercise is also very helpful because a stronger core equals a faster body.

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Article and photos By: Sammy W.


Do not by 400 dollar cleats because hon-estly speaking the carbon fiber and light weight does not matter, especially if you are a beginner. Also if your foot is still grow-ing there is no need to buy really expensive cleats. I have never bought a pair of cleats over 100 bucks and I still play fine every season. Personally, I like to wait for qual-ity cleats from the previous season to go on sale, and they usually will drop from 120 to 80 dollars.

Shin guard wise, the most important aspect is the bal-ance of weight and protection. The lighter the weight gener-ally means less protection because the shin guard is less thick or smaller. I like to go for lightness over protection just because I don’t take a lot of hard hits but that’s just me. Besides protection and weight, you want to get guards without straps. Strapless guards with leg sleeves Is much easier

Once you’re ready to start playing, go ahead and join a club. I would recommend Lonestar soccer club recreation because it is the most basic level of soccer and a great way to get started. As your skill improves, then you can move up to more competitive levels like divi-sion 2 or super 2.

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If You Want the Power of the Gods

You First Need a

Prophecy

Got Rice Milk?

The official drink of Science Olympiad

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Rice Milk


Paintball

Speed Ahead

Why ultimate frisbee should be accepted into the NCAA

Ultimate


Just a few decades ago an activ-ity formed that involved the throwing of a disc by a bunch of hippie college kids. Today this activity is a game of high

endurance, jumping, diving and strategy. It is played at very competitive levels by clubs, high schools, and colleges around the nation. The sport? Ultimate Frisbee.

The change in popularity and intensity of the game like the addition of the national organization (USA Ultimate), should require it to be looked at more seriously. Therefore Ultimate is good for the NCAA and the NCAA is good for Ultimate.

Many fans of much more popular sports say that Ultimate can’t be a part of the NCAA because it does not require enough athleticism, but they’re wrong.

Ultimate requires just as much athleti-cism as any other sport in the NCAA, including football, soccer, and lacrosse. Ultimate demands high energy and en-durance because players must always be on the move to get open for the disc or to stay with a player that they are marking. According to “Idaho Ultimate Frisbee players enjoy sport’s athleticism, cama-raderie” by David McNeill of the Idaho Statesman, players must be capable of sprinting 15 to 60 yards, jumping higher than their defender to intercept a frisbee, and able to flick the frisbee the entire length of a 70-yard field. Also, it is not uncommon to see players suffer from broken collarbones and dislocated shoulders because they laid out for a big grab. All of these demands are common for all players even at high school levels. I can speak from my own experiences, being on the LASA ultimate team. At the end of a LASA ultimate practice, I’m always drenched in my own sweat, out of breath, and unable to walk without pain blasting through my legs. There’s no doubt that ultimate has great demands for extreme fitness.

Besides the athleticism of Ultimate, the sport itself can be looked at like football

(one of the most popular NCAA sports). The rules and the nature of the game almost reflect the rules and guidelines of football. For example, a standard Ultimate field has a rectangular shape with endzones at each end that are used for scoring points. A point is scored each time the offense completes a pass in the opposing team’s endzone. Furthermore, the disc maneuvers about the field by completing a pass to a teammate and once the disc has been caught by another teammate, he/she has ten seconds to get rid of the disc. All of these rules and reg-ulations essentially create the scene of a different version of football. In this ver-sion, the football (disc) is only advanced up the field by receptions and there are only receivers and quarterbacks. Other similarities include the endzones for scoring points and the ten second rule simulates the act of a quarter back in a pocket with pressure. So if Ultimate Frisbee is indeed an actual sport with rules that are much like football, why not make it part of the NCAA as well?

Not only does Ultimate deserve to become a part of the NCAA, it would also greatly benefit the sport if it were to. According to “No Refs, No Coaches” by John Branston of the Memphis Flyer, players must call their own violations such as picks and drops on an honor system. Counting stall numbers when defending a player with the disc is also part of the game and counting these stall numbers at a reasonable speed is on the honor system as well. Clearly, Ultimate is a game of trust with no referees to call the shots from an unbiased stand-point. If Ultimate were to be a part of the NCAA, then the game could get sponsor-ship for refs and maybe even coaches, thus a more complete sport would be made and fouls/violations would be settled much faster.

The fact of the matter is Ultimate Frisbee belongs in the NCAA because the nature of the sport fits the stature of other NCAA sports and because a move to the NCAA is needed for the improvement of the sport. Common misconceptions surround the sport and how it lacks intensity for NCAA standards. However, the truth is that Ultimate has evolved to a much more thrilling, heart-pumping sport that challenges college students across the nation. With over 700 college Ultimate teams in the United States, the time has come for this sport to be esteemed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

By: Sammy W.

Ultimate re-quires just as much athleti-cism as any oth-er sport in the NCAA, including football, soccer, and lacrosse.

Paintball


Inside look at

Expert ping pong player and LASA Se-nior, D-wang, has been called the num-ber one player in his highschool. He goes more in depth about himself and give tips for young player at his high-school, that are inspired by his skill.


D-Wang


Ping-Pong

Sweat dangles from D-Wang’s nose and splatters onto the small plastic ball below him, which he holds so elegantly with two fingers. As he drops the ball to the table beneath him, his arm with paddle in hand, swings forward ever so smoothly like a torpedo

through water. At the sound of his paddle smacking the ball, it is only fractions of a second before the ball makes its way at him again and again, until this plastic ball meets the net. With each attack on the ball, heat builds within the air as well as on his paddle, and will not cool until the match is settled. It’s hard to believe that so much intensity and extreme focus all happens on a tiny 45 square foot ping pong table, but those 45 square feet of space is where D-Wang is at his best.

D-Wang also known as Daniel Wang, is what LASA has best to offer when it comes to the sport of ping pong. Being the best Ping pong player at his high school, it’s no wonder why Daniel is looked up to by freshmen that are newly interested in the sport. With such a title, he still flies humble and is always willing to give advice/help, whether it is ping pong related or schoolwork.It was 9 year ago when Daniel picked up his first paddle in the garage of his house. Daniel’s dad introduced him to the sport and he soon picked it up. But it wasn’t all natural skill. He had to practice every day to get to the level he is at now.“Honestly, I had to use my free time for practicing ping pong and I consistently worked on finding my correct stroke,” says Daniel.

Surprisingly, Daniel didn’t even start playing for a club until he was in high school. It was his sophomore year when got involved in a club called ATTA (Austin Table Tennis Academy). When Daniel got to ATTA, he was humbled and realized how much more he could improve, and how much he needed to. “Before I walked through the doors of ATTA I was full of pride but that all changed when I saw the skill level of players inside.”

So, He trained and worked harder. Daniel would go to the club to practice two or three times a week, but recently he hasn’t been able to go as much as he would like because, with being a senior comes time consuming college work. Though Daniel is a senior and has become the most skilled ping pong player at LASA high school, he treats the title as a grain of salt.

He says, “I know I’ve been called the best at my high school and I do believe I am but I think about comparing myself to players outside of school who are better than me and how I can im-prove.”

Today, with the LASA student’s tight schedule, he still manages to fit ping pong in as much as possible. In the very corner of LASA’s cafeteria, next to the pool tables and lunch booths along the walls, lies one single ping pong table. The top of this crisp edged table has a glossy purple tone with a newly design, adjust-able net. Come lunch time, and Daniel is found in this corner


doing what he loves. As he plays inspired freshman, there are 10 to 20 more students all waiting in line to play the legend-ary Daniel Wang. As the students wait their turn, they gape in amazement at Daniel’s skillful techniques. Whenever he is in the lunch room he is directing the flow of games, and he has absolutely no tolerance for student who don’t take to sport seri-ously. For example, one time, a student started to interfere with Daniel’s opponent, so he immediately told him off.

“Hey you, what’s your name?” “Jack”, said the student. “Ok Jack, you don’t play here tomor-row alright, you’re through.”

After a long lunch full of ping pong, and a long day of be-ing a LASA student, Daniel will usually come straight home and take a nice nap to regenerate his body. After his after-noon nap, he has a rather early dinner before he heads to ping pong training. By 6:30 he is inside ATTA and won’t leave until around 9:00. As he steps foot into the warehouse know as ATTA, he can smell the scent of sweat from players already in action. There dozens of people playing in 2 columns of ping pong table going down to the end of the warehouse and there is a central open path going between the long columns. To the side is a small locker room with a front desk not too far from it.

“Anyone who walks in too ATTA would feel a sense of accep-tance and belonging because there are a wide range of players inside, whether it be skill level or age. One time I even watched an 80 year destroy a college student in one game.”

When Daniel isn’t watching other exciting games, he will go find another table and start to warm-up with his opponent. First they will hit forehand to forehand and then backhand to back-hand at a very controlled and easy pace. Afterwards, they will start to increase the intensity and add some movement. Once both Daniel and his opponent are warm, they volley for serve. When Daniel serves he takes the attack method on the ball rather than a floating chop.His serve will generally give him the control on the game, which will allow him to direct the ball.

“I like to hit the ball low and quick with an attack because I’ve been taught that a good attacker is usually a good defender.”

After Daniels feels like he has enough ping pong for one day, he will go home to his school and college work. It’s hard for Daniel to come home so late and start on his work, but it’s a sacrifice that he is willing to make. With that all said, it’s easy to see how he is such an inspiration to younger student in his school. Fur-thermore, with all the talk about Daniel being the best and all, he decided to leave some tips for beginners looking to get more

involved with the sport.Daniel believes that if someone is just starting out, the best thing is to go to ATTA to get fitted with good quality equipment and to start prac-ticing because most people don’t have tables at their house. ATTA has a little store that sells paddles and balls that are great for begin-ners.

“You don’t want to buy some

cheap paddle in a toy store or anything like that, because unlike a sport like soccer, equipment is very important for perfor-mance”, says Daniel.

Daniel treats equipment at such a high priority, so much that he ordered his Chinese blade and German rubber separately for a better quality paddle. Once a beginner has equipment and feels comfortable, they should not immediately go into games against players of high level, looking to get better, because they won’t. Playing like that as a starter will only develop bad technique.

“It’s better to first build a good foundation with a machine that spits out balls before looking for challenging matches.”

Furthermore, Daniel believes that it’s very beneficial for begin-ners to get a coach or another player that can look at technique to help fix any mechanical errors. A trainer is always great to have when working on finding a comfortable stroke. New players need to start developing proper techniques as soon as possible.Furthermore, with all the talk about Daniel being the best and all, he decided to leave some tips for beginners looking to get

LASA freshman playing during lunch


Ping-Pongmore involved with the sport.Daniel believes that if someone is just starting out, the best thing is to go to ATTA to get fitted with good quality equipment and to start practicing because most people don’t have tables at their house. ATTA has a little store that sells paddles and balls that are great for beginners.


Furthermore, Daniel believes that it’s very beneficial for begin-ners to get a coach or another player that can look at technique to help fix any mechanical errors. A trainer is always great to have when working on finding a comfortable stroke. New players need to start developing proper techniques as soon as possible.Furthermore, with all the talk about Daniel being the best and all, he decided to leave some tips for beginners looking to get more involved with the sport.Daniel believes that if someone is just starting out, the best thing is to go to ATTA to get fitted with good quality equipment and to start practicing because most people don’t have tables at their house. ATTA has a little store that sells paddles and balls that are great for beginners.

“You don’t want to buy some cheap paddle in a toy store or anything like that, because unlike a sport like soccer, equipment is very important for performance”, says Daniel.


Furthermore, Daniel believes that it’s very beneficial for begin-ners to get a coach or another player that can look at technique to help fix any mechanical errors. A trainer is always great to have when working on finding a comfortable stroke. New players need to start developing proper techniques as soon as possible.

“If rookies don’t fix their errors, they will find that in the future it can be very difficult to change.”

In the past weeks Daniel has stop coming to his school’s table during lunch, giving freshman a chance to practice with each other. However, it won’t be long before Daniel returns to play a well respected opponent name Ying L.

“I’ve been asking to play Daniel but he says he needs to practice more before we play”, says Ying.

Their match will be epic and every interested student will be there, making the game even more fun and intense. Daniel knows Ying will be a challenge but that only fuels him more to drive for perfection.

“I am the best ping pong player in LASA but Ying may give me a run for my money, so I just have to keep getting better.”

“You don’t want to buy some cheap paddle in a toy store or anything like that, because unlike a sport like soccer, equipment is very important for perfor-mance”, says Daniel.

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