Three Poems About Ping-Pong, Music, and Running

I loved running in 5K races and recording trumpet songs, when I got these two of my awesome talents back in about 2013 immediately after a scary operation. I loved playing ping-pong!

5K Race

 

He had his first race.  At the starting line, the man said, “Runners set;” then the gun went off and so did the runners.  He wanted to keep an even pace throughout.  He started a bit fast, and some of the other runners passed him, but he didn’t let that get him down, and he tried to keep up his pace.  The course for the race was nice, with grand buildings around him.  The day was nice, not cold, but warm, and the sun bright.  The competition was fierce- he tried to stay in front of the pack.  All his training came down to this race, all his hard work boiled down to this performance.  He had on his college colors on his Trinity shirt.  This was his time in life, it was at this moment he was meant to shine.  He had looked forward to running here a while, and this run meant a lot to him, and the race was going well so far.  See how he runs fast and fights to keep up his quick pace!  Not to be intimidated by the other runners and most of all he is doing great staying positive.  He thinks optimistically.  He is trying his best.  At the end of the race he still has juice for a finishing blast of a sprint, and he ends the 5K race in 18:34!

 

Brass Choir

 

He went to tryouts for the orchestra.  He made the orchestra!  His conductor did the tryout.  His instructor was very knowledgeable and very kind.  His name was Stephen Bonta.  His orchestra rehersals were going well, and the orchestra was working on Handel’s Water Music.  The first trumpet player was skilled, and she liked playing the piece.  He was second trumpet.  The passages were fun.   He liked being in a band and playing his own unique part in it.  The rehersals were about an hour long on each day on weekdays.  He had a break halfway through each rehersale where he would go to the nearby student center to get some snacks with his friends.  He liked the musicians he played with and quickly became friends with them.  He looked forward to the break and hanging out with his friends before being ready to get back down to business once the week ended.  Then there was the concert at the end of the semester.  It was fun playing Water Music, and the band did a good job with a rousing applause: he was victorious!

Ping-Pong 

I hit a forehand smash "Bang!' goes the ball, hitting the table quickly on the other side of the net.  Popee returns it well with his backhand, and the pin-pong ball is lobbed over the table... "Slam!" goes the ball as I hit a backhand smash down the line, but Popee gets that, too, with a lob over the net.  "Slam!"  I laugh and hit a forehand smash, but it hits the net, and the table falls harmlessly to the table.  I go to the middle of the table to the net and pick up the ball.  Then it's my turn to serve.  I decide to try my successful backhand spin serve.  I say the score "9-15" and serve.  The ball goes low over the net- a good serve.  It has some good spin, and Popee hits it into the net, and now it is 10-15.  Time to switch over to his serve.  He has a good fast serve.  He taught me how to play ping-pong, and I went from inexperienced to a pretty good player.  He used to beat me almost every time when we played.  I got better, and our games got more intense- I improved well under his watchful eyes.  He won the game, but it was close (18-21).