Olympian Banh Puts Education Before Table Tennis

By Paul E. Pratt, AsianWeek.com - August 5, 2005

U.S. Olympian representative Tawny Banh.

"People have this misconception ... it's still annoying when they say 'ping pong' instead of table tennis," says Tawny Banh. "Table tennis now is a fast-paced, intense game." If anyone should know exactly how competitive the sport is, it's Banh, a two-time member of the U.S. Olympic Table Tennis team, former two-time national doubles champion and part-time coach.

"The audience which has knowledge and is more involved with table tennis knows the difference," says Bahn, 29, who notes that in pro table tennis, the ball reaches speeds of over 100 miles per hour. "It's those which haven't really been exposed, that haven't really seen the competitive side of table tennis, who still think it's ping pong."

"It's getting more popular," says Banh, who was born in Bac Lieu, Vietnam, and immigrated to the U.S. when she was three. "There are more people aware of how great the sport is."

Banh first learned about the sport 16 years ago. Her introduction to the game came rather late - she was 13 at the time - by professional table tennis standards. "All of my [U.S. Olympic] teammates started when they were six, seven years old," she shares. Even so, Banh feels the fact did not negatively affect her.

"I was lucky enough to pick it up really quickly," says Banh. "I enjoy playing sports. I've always been athletic. I tend to pick up sports really quick[ly]. It was sort of amazing."

Her late start is only one of the ways Banh bucks table tennis norms. When her coach Richard Ching, a former national champion in his native Philippines, was called back to his homeland in 1990, Banh started trained on her own. Instead of having a coach, Banh has relied primarily on practice partners - like fellow Los Angeles Table Tennis Association (LATTA) Member Yao Xi "Crystal" Huang.

"It's really unusual," Banh admits. "Everyone has a coach. From the time you're young, you take private lessons."

Nonetheless, Banh has excelled. In 1994 she made the U.S. National Table Tennis team. Six years later, she represented the U.S. in the Sydney Olympic Games. Though it was something Banh "always dreamed of doing," the actual experience was far different than she had imagined.

"Everything was overwhelming," Banh says. "I was nervous. I had butterflies. When I stepped into that arena, and saw all the people, I freaked out." Banh lost in the preliminary round.

When given the opportunity to go to the 2004 Athens Olympics, Banh hoped for different results. However, pitted against a competitor from South Korea - a Top 5-ranked country where table tennis is a national sport - the odds were stacked against her.

"With the war going on in Iraq, and being in Europe, Americans weren't that popular," Banh recalls. "Usually they would always cheer for the underdog, but they were cheering for [my opponent]! I knew it was just politics, but it made me want to win even more."

Tawny with the control backhand.

Called "tense" and "dramatic" by Banh, the best of seven series between the women wound up tied 3-3. The last game still being played, all eyes were on Banh.

"Every point I scored I would yell and pump my fist," Banh remembers. "It was good for the show. The NBC commentator was just loving it. He said I have a 'pitbull mentality.'"

Though she did not win an Olympic medal, Banh has fared much better in the Pan American games, where she is a gold, silver and bronze medalist. Banh won back-to-back U.S. Nationals Women's Doubles championships - with partner Jasna Reed in 2003 and again in 2004 with Gao Jun. Five times she has been a finalist in the U.S. Nationals Singles championships.

However, Banh is now giving her full attention to something she has kept on the back burner during her table tennis career: Her education. "I delayed it for a while because of trying to make the Olympics, the Pan Am games and all the traveling," Banh says. "Now I have come back to finish up."

This summer, Banh is set to graduate from California State University, Los Angeles with her bachelor's in Business Management. After which, she hopes to enter the corporate world and gain some experience before going into business for herself.

Though she still plans to compete in the U.S. Nationals in December and on the team next year, Banh expects a corporate career to become top-priority. Considering the amount of time required to stay competitive, Banh says once she enters the business world, her professional table tennis career is "50-percent sure" to come to a close.

"As with every sport, if you don't train you're going to lose your touch, your footwork, your speed," she notes. As a result, Banh says she feels the 2008 Olympics are almost definitely out. "As the time gets closer, it could be a different story. Who knows? It's hard to say three years away."