I was leading 3:1 in sets in the women’s single final at the US National championships….one game away from my first title. A time-out was forced out of my opponent as I took the lead 9:8 in the endgame of game five. I got to shake out a little in my corner. Out of the time-out and fully focused on my tactics, I committed to a backhand flick off the short side of the table. Taking that risk pushed me just a little further on the scoreboard.
“I have two championship points now….I can do it right?” “Stop.” “Focus.”
With a push to the middle and a quick forehand counter down-the-line I sealed my first Women’s Single title at the 2025 US National Championships. The feeling of accomplishment in the moment was unprecedented for me. A strong sense of joy and excitement rushed through me as I ran off court to hug my coach, aka Mom. That’s when the more tender emotions started to rise.
“I want to cry. We’ve come a long way… Should I cry? Nevermind, I’m too happy to cry.”
Let’s rewind the tape a bit and look back at what happened in the month leading up to the Nationals. I was in North Carolina playing the US Youth Trials after just coming back from the Doha World Championships. Long story short, I didn’t win it. I had been pretty dominant in the domestic U19 field for quite some time and I definitely didn’t “expect” to lose. Of course, that in itself was a mindset issue that helped bring me to the state of defeat.
The player I lost to, I think she was around thirteen while I just turned eighteen at the time. The loss itself was pretty devastating. The age gap, the amount of people watching, and the manner in which I lost… Frankly, what it brought about was embarrassment. Do I encourage feeling embarrassed because you lost a match? No. But if you can take that tough result and knuckle down to grind towards your next goal, or even just to see a better version of yourself, then yes.
I had three weeks until the National Championships. Only three weeks. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “Failure teaches success”.
To break it down more I would say:
- Failure teaches you what you need to improve
- Failure gives you the natural motivation to want to put in the work to improve (as long as you don’t dwell on it)
- You put in the work to improve and fix up the problems identified
- You will achieve/succeed at something
- Fail again and the cycle continues
*I would rather use the word “setback” instead of “failure”. The latter just comes with a stronger tone and is more commonly used.
So, instead of hitting a low and expecting “success” to just come, there is a process that needs to be followed and successfully executed for your next high to come. In my instance here, I was lucky enough to jam that process into three weeks.
With my mental and technical issues shoved in my face, I worked on them everyday. I had good training at my club (Table Tennis America), morning and afternoon, as many other players were also fired up for the Nationals. Even if it wasn’t obvious to me before the trials, it was clear as day after it that I could slip up to anybody. It encouraged me to focus on every ball and to treasure every chance I got to train.
I participated in five events at the Nationals and managed to take first in four of them. Today’s story is going to be about my Women’s single title run. It was nerve wracking. I lost the first set in my round of 16 match – the first one of the event for me. However, I was mentally prepared and pulled through with good form in the next three games.
Starting from the quarterfinals, the format changed to best of seven matches. Guess who I played? Remember my loss at the youth trials? Yes, it was the same opponent. What a place to get the chance to pick up where I last fell. I locked in the zone, put my full mind and body into winning every point, and with control took the match in a clean sweep.
Moving on to my semifinal match, I played a fellow teammate. The scoreline turned out to be more nail-biting than the finals. I knew I was nervous before the match. I could feel it. Looking back now, maybe a couple of motivational videos and a few more deep breaths would’ve helped. I started off slow. Literally. Slow on my feet, but also slow in reading the table and executing strategies. Inevitably, I fell behind on the scoreboard, badly, one game to three.
The only thing that kept me from falling in that moment of despair and stood me up to come back from the brink was mental grit. It was the biggest lesson I had learned from my latest loss at the time and it was what saved me to achieve my biggest title up to this date. I stood my ground and made life tough for my opponent one point at a time. That was all there was to it. 80% mental and 20% tactics, skills, and whatever else you want to throw in there. I didn’t play well but I fought well. So did my fellow teammate, and it was just unfortunate to meet in the semis.
I had an afternoon to adjust and prepare for the final. I had some butterflies. Even so, I did my best to stay calm and collected, reading through my notes over and over again. As I had managed to avoid the semifinal upset, the line up for the Women’s final was as the seedings suggested. With a full crowd, the show was on.
I hit the ground running. I’m proud to say so because more than often I hit the ground and move no faster than a tortoise. In this particular match I played as I told my coach I would. I went all out, swung for the fences, and things happened to go my way. I went up 3-0 in games. That was more than a dream opening. I was more than happy, but in some sense also a little startled. No matter, the match was far from over.
Despite my efforts to keep the momentum and close things up, I suffered a stingy reminder in the fourth set of what happens when I don’t follow through with a near A-game performance. After a fourth set 2-11 loss, I re-gathered myself in my corner.
Even though the fifth game was very back and forth as we inched up the scoreboard neck an lol d neck, a few deep breaths and some words of affirmation did the trick. It was a gold for me and everyone supporting me!!
A huge thanks to my parents for playing a huge role in this tournament, especially Mom. She sat in my corner as my sideline coach all the way through. We did it! I also want to send a big thanks to my sponsor, Bowmar Sports – Butterfly North America and shout out to my club – Table Tennis America. And thank you for reading this article of mine. I will see you in the next one
To learn more about Sally, click HERE
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