On Feb. 4, Campus Recreation’s Intramural Sports held its Table Tennis Tournament in Montview Student Union and encouraged students to compete for the Table Tennis Championship as well as a free Liberty Intramural Sports T-shirt.
The tournament was held in the Montview Game Room. The room was empty aside from the competitors and official Lexi Stayton, the office supervisor of Intramural Sports.
Stayton said this tournament is different from the other intramural sports.
“This is just a one-time event, whereas most of our sports take place three times a week,” Stayton said. “It’s also one of the only sports we offer that’s just an individual sport.”
According to the intramural website, Liberty first started table tennis as an intramural sport in 2012, but in order to make it to the championship tournament, players were required to attend and compete in all of the scattered matches throughout the school year.
Now, there is only one table tennis tournament offered the entire semester for the students, effectively raising the stakes.
Even though the table tennis champion title was on the line, some players attended for a good time rather than glory.
“I enjoy ping-pong, and I just wanted to play. I mean, I enjoy the competition, but I really just wanted to play the game,” freshman mechanical engineering student Matthew Houghton said.
Houghton went on to finish second at the event.
Freshman mechanical engineering major Samuel Heath’s motives for signing up for the tournament centered around the competitiveness of the intramural sport.
“I really enjoy it. I love being able to come and have a little competition, just to kinda see where you stack up at Liberty as far as ping-pong goes,” Heath said. “I’m not just here to play. I want to compete.”
Heath swept the first round but lost in the quarterfinals.
The tournament continued into the night as players moved to the finals. The champion of the tournament was Liberty’s digital media and journalism professor Kornel Gerstner.
The spring semester’s tournament is over, but there will be another one next fall.
For students interested in learning more about intramural sports, they can visit
liberty.edu/intramurals.
Napier is a news reporter. Follow her on Twitter