Why I still play table tennis

I played under-13 table tennis in Valencia. I was never going to be good enough to matter, and I knew it at twelve. I kept playing anyway, and I still do.

The reason is that it is the most portable serious sport there is. A table fits in a hallway. A game takes ten minutes. Anyone can hold a bat, and after a month anyone can rally, so there is always someone to play.

It is also the sport that taught me to lose quickly. A point is over in three seconds. You cannot carry the last one into the next. That turned out to be useful in places that have nothing to do with a table.

Calisthenics is the other half of my week, and volleyball was the school years, as a junior varsity libero. But if I could keep one, it would be the small white ball.