exp's 5th annual ping pong tournament

happy sunday!


this post will be short and sweet as i have a dozen things that still need done before i start the work week. three loads of laundry sit on the bed of the guestroom, i have thank yous to send, lunches to pack, school work to review and scout wants to begin reading wonder tonight {again}. his reason for rereading it is he "was just 6 when he read it and he wasn't as mature as he is now so he'll get more from it".  it's true. he will get FAR more from it reading it as a 10 year. in fact, he's the same age as the main character in the book, auggie.  oh and how could I forget, our 13 year old is off to 8th grade camp all week. he's heading 3 hours away to the mountains of big bear. he's excited and though we'll miss him, we are excited for him too}.

but i digress, before any more time passes, i wanted to be sure to post about scout playing in my company's ping pong tournament two weeks ago. this was his second year participating and though he was good last year, this year, he was 10x better!  all that playing at our kitchen table which is a good  2 feet shorter and one foot narrower worked to his advantage. between his incredible hand/eye coordination and his competitive nature, the kid took 3rd in this all adult contest which had approximately 60 players. i played as well, but was out after the first round {luckily i didn't have to get publicly beat by my son). mr. g was there too competing and he did well, but played the guys that took 1st and 2nd in the tournament so he was out earlier. 

i was both in awe and so proud of scout.  i've seen him play and beat his friends, his parents, and our adult friends who come to the house, but it's a completely different thing to see him compete against adults i don't know.  i wish i could say i taught him all his skills, but it's christopher who has the skills and is home more to teach and play with scout. they are matched up really well these days. i think c only went easy on him the first year he was learning.

scout has always been a natural athlete and a fierce competitor in whatever he does, and today was just one more reminder of it. scout loved playing my coworker, mike, who played college tennis at villanova. mike {wearing the propeller hat below} wins our company tournament almost every year. on our way home from the tournament, scout asked aloud how much longer i thought it would take for him to be able to beat mike. i responded that mike is a bit over over 30. perhaps when mike is in his 40s when his eyes start losing focus, he'd have a better chance. he said "i'd love to be able to beat him". i didn't tell him that in 10 years, he will just be graduating high school and preparing for college. he won't be worrying about my company's ping pong tournament. to a 10 year old, that's a lifetime away, but to a parent of a 10 year old, it's just around the corner. *sniff*

scout's first ping pong tournament

"i hope they don't go easy on me just because i'm a kid"
- scout gerber, age 9


my company hosted their 4th annual ping pong tournament a few weeks ago.
tables are rented, a food truck brought in and employees and clients meet for a
fun and fierce competition in the back parking lot of our office.


typically i help with the front end stuff, set-up and registration but this year,
i thought it would be more fun to play, especially since both of my boys were
playing.


c has played in it every year and the little guys have come out to watch.
last year, the organizer of the event here from my company, saw scout's
skills and welcomed him to play in the 2016 competition. he was thrilled but
was concerned that people would go easy on him because he was a kid.
{he never wants people to go easy on him...what's the fun in that he says}.


now our family doesn't own a pong pong table.  we never have. what we do
have is a large wood table that we use as one.  a friend of c's surprised us with a
net and paddles about 2 years ago and our kitchen table is used more for games and
pong pong and projects more than for eating on.  the table is not quite as long as a
standard ping pong table and it's a good foot and a half narrower but that might have
worked to our advantage as all 3 of us progressed to the 'winner's bracket'.


we all played hard and if anyone started out going easy on scout, they quickly learned
not to.  he played his heart out and ended up losing to the mike, one of our young
engineers who has won the last 2 years.  im happy to report that he didn't get upset at all.
he played his best and was actually quite pleased with himself. on our way home he
gave me the run down on every match he played and who he will try to beat next year.
some highlights of the day.

scout {age 9} - exp's 4th annual ping pong tournament



ping pong play

about a year ago, we purchased a giant slab of oak that we had custom
cut for our kitchen/banquet table. almost immediately after, it's a friend
gave the boys a net, paddles and balls, and it's been used FAR more
for play than a place to eat our meals.

sure we will use it when we have friends over for dinner, if i have a girl's
night, or if the family is playing a board game, but ping pong is what it's used for most.
it's almost become a daily thing and we play whenever the mood strikes us,
or whenever we grow tired of scout's pleas for us to play with him...
rather for him to beat us.

despite my having grown up with a ping pong table, my skills are lacking.
i am improving and i can rally pretty well, but c is the reigning champ in the
house and scout master is close behind. scout is determined to beat him.
finn and i like to play for 'fun' whereas the other two like to play to win.

about a month ago, my company held their 3rd annual ping pong tournament.
it was started a few years back by one of our young engineers, and has become an
event that both our employees and our clients look forward to every year.

since c and i were both at the event this year {c was playing and i was taking photos},
we brought finn and scout along. while finn enjoyed dang brother's wood-fired pizzas
baked in a cool vintage yellow firetruck, scout was more interested in the ping pong tournament.
he watched intently, and when a table wasn't being used, he got out there and played with his dad.

some of our engineers saw him play and the leader of the group invited him to play in
next year's tournament which made his entire night.  though he still can't reach the net,
he is convinced he'll grow a lot over the next year and be ready for this all adult tourney.
he said "i probably won't win, but i'll beat some of the adults. 
i have no doubt of this.

friends, if you visit our home, be prepared to play a game or two of ping pong. *wink*