With a name like Bryce – you know, that superfast sponge from Butterfly – you’d think he’d be an all-out looper, like the overwhelming majority of top players. But no – he never loops, he just hits. And he’s the US Nationals and World Junior Champion.

With hardbat that is. Yes, Bryce Milford, 16, won Junior Hardbat Singles at the last two World Hardbat Championships (2021 and 2022), along with winning the event at the US Nationals in July this year, the first time he’s played in that. This weekend he’ll be competing in the US Classic Table Tennis Nationals in Austin, TX, where he’ll be playing in both Open Hardbat and Hardbat Juniors (Under 18), where he’s #1 seed. But with all these titles, he has a bigger goal – we’ll get to that.

It’s been a gradual transition. He’s played for seven years, but originally as a regular run-of-the-mill sponge player. But over the last two years he’s transitioned from practicing 90% sponge, 10% hardbat, to the reverse – he’s now 90% hardbat. He plays about six hours/week, including one hour with Coach AJ Carney – who just won Hardbat Singles at the Nationals while Bryce was winning Juniors. They are the Dynamic Duo, the Batman and Robin of hardbat table tennis – except that Bryce doesn’t want to be just Robin anymore. And yes, we’ll get to that.

He also plays with his hardbat in leagues at his home club, the Triangle Badminton and Table Tennis Club in Morrisville, NC. But the large majority of his matches he’s playing against sponge players, which is a bit different than playing sponge. He also gets a lot of hardbat practice with former US Olympian and Hall of Famer Diana Gee, who he says is his primary hardbat practice partner.

Bryce plays an all-out attack game from both wings, hitting and smashing winners almost at will. You have to be careful when serving to him – if it’s a micron high, he’ll hit it in. He uses a Butterfly Grubba all-wood blade. (Carbon blades aren’t legal in hardbat table tennis.) He’s had numerous nice wins in hardbat, including one over many-time hardbat champion Bin Hai Chu.

Outside table tennis, but closely related, is weight training at a local gym. He says he goes there anywhere from 2-5 times per week. Weight training is one of the most underestimated parts of table tennis – most top players do it. The larger muscle mass allows you to maneuver your body faster, allowing faster play, whether it’s sponge or hardbat. But it’s not all pong and gym – he also likes to play video games. At school, he says his best subject is math, and he likes science as well. He’ll be starting his junior year this Fall.

So, what is his biggest goal and what’s this about not wanting to be Robin to AJ’s Batman anymore? Bryce said his biggest goal now is to beat Coach AJ in a hardbat tournament. And being a good coach, that’s exactly what AJ is training him to do. So . . . watch out, Batman!