Table tennis academy in Katy trains Olympic hopefuls
The coaching team at HITTA has several success stories, including Tom Feng, who competed in the Rio Olympics.
Walk into the storefront of a Katy strip mall and the trophies are what first catch your attention. Then you hear it: the whack of the serve and the tap of the ball hitting the table, repeated endlessly. This is the Houston International Table Tennis Academy.
The facility is a training ground for Olympic hopefuls, including 11-year-old Daniel Tran. He spends about 15 hours a week here, practicing the many different styles of table tennis.
“That’s basically what I do every day,” he says.
Daniel has already placed in international competitions, but he has another goal in mind.
“To make it to the Olympics and be like my brother,” says Daniel.
Michael Tran is on the US National Table Tennis team. The boys’ family moved here from Minnesota two years ago, just so they could train here.
“I used to live in a small town,” he says. “This is like a palace to me.”
Across the gym, two girls about his age are squaring off. Kaye Chen and Grace Wang just picked up paddles a couple years ago. Now they spend a lot of time training.
“You warm up. You do forehand, then you do backhand. You do looping, under spin and top spin,” explains Grace.
Their favorite part of the sport is the competitions.
“When you beat people, it’s exciting,” Grace smiles.
The kids, as well as some adults who take classes at HITTA, learn from coaches like Hangyu Li, who played professionally when he was young.
“I just try to teach everything I’ve got to the kids. I just try my best,” he says.
Li works with children as young as three.
"You have to really concentrate,” he explains. “The ball is really fast and you have to be focused on it.”
The coaching team at HITTA has several success stories, including Tom Feng. He started training with them in 2011 and, five years later, he competed in the Rio Olympics. Kelly Zhao, who plays for the Canadian national team, also trains with HITTA, traveling from Dallas during school breaks.
“It’s actually a real sport that people train for every day to learn things and dream,” adds Daniel.
For information about classes, click here.