Mirtha Verde Ramo and Guillermo Valenzuela invited me to Chile in 2023 where I was honored to present a workshop on healing and wholeness at their institute. Everyone seemed very pleased to learn and practice some of the natural healing techniques I had learned from Dennis. Mirtha had the room packed with many of her students and after adding her special touches of decrees and burning Egyptian myrrh as incense, by the end of the evening we had that room cooking with energy and the electrons were buzzing. Or maybe I had just inhaled too much myrrh, which was fine since Guillermo was driving us home anyway.
Then we traveled to Easter Island with a group of their students on a week-long retreat that was designed for us to connect more deeply with ourselves and nature. We stayed at the Hotel Tupa and it was an excellent choice because they have a Ping-Pong table. And of course I had brought my $350 carbon fiber embedded paddle with hybrid rubber 5,222 miles with me. You never know when a pong challenge will be thrown in your face and I always try to be prepared. It’s not good to have to play with cheap house paddles with short or no pips. Heck, I’m no Marty Reisman. I gotta have 2.0mm smooth rubber or Max on both sides.
Marty Reisman video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjNwj7MnUoA
The manager, Nicholas, was the top player and we soon found a few other guests to play with, which made my stay even more enjoyable.
One of the memorable times on Easter Island was the transformation we witnessed of Teteh, our guide from the hotel who took us around the island to see the Moai statues at all the sites. He was a local islander who had experienced a very hard life. He was depressed, had been divorced, and at one point was homeless and sleeping in ditches. After spending several days with us, he became touched by the pure intention and humbleness of our group towards him, Easter Island and all its wonders. And his heart center became activated and he was overcome with loving emotions.
Surrounding him with our arms in a group hug, we chanted his name while we stood along the rim of the volcano as he cried tears of happiness. During these hours with us, he re-kindled his love for life and the spirit of joy within him that he once knew when he was a young man. Below is a link to the video of Teteh serenading us one evening after his transformation. This photo shows several of us with the priest of the church on Easter Island. The Sunday ceremony was wonderful, filled with lively island music and heartfelt singing. I can hardly wait to share all this and more with you in the third installment of this memoir series, Tennis With God III, that is now in the process of unfolding.
Short video of Teteh’s song:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/AURyvUW99vA
FYI: There will be plenty of Ping-Pong action in Tennis With God II, as I continue to play with Fluffy, The Mailman, Electroshock Scott, Woody, the Tunisian Tornado and a growing crowd of strong players on the outdoor patio during the summers at Teddy’s Tavern in Seattle. Sadly, a condo will one day replace Teddy’s and the rest of the city block. Our intense and epic games on the warped fiberglass table, sitting perhaps a little too close beside a wall of ivy where the balls get stuck, will come to an end. No exact time frame has been given for our departure, but the end of a beloved pong institution masquerading as a dive bar in Seattle is near.
There are a few other places we will find a place to congregate because our pong group has been relentless in its training and entering local matches. We eventually gained enough confidence and traveled several times to the Paddle Palace in Portland, Oregon for USTTA sanctioned tournaments there. My childhood training partner, five-time U.S. Open champion and Olympian Sean O’Neill and his highly-trained crew there are tough competition.
Although Sean is a old friend, I kind of hold him responsible for me not winning any trophies when were young, because he won them all at the regional tournaments we entered. I guess you could say he is kind of my pong “frenemy” but I’m trying to work that out. He’s too nice to hold a grudge against. By the time he was 12 years old, his USTTA rating was 2000. That’s good enough to beat the people in the pong movie Balls of Fury, which I believe should have at least been nominated for an Academy Award. My USTTA rating is the same as it ever was and so I’m still doing everything I can to raise my game and win some of those plastic trophies against the nine year-olds at the U-1100 level before they get too good. Wish me luck! These tournaments are like some kind of Octagon of Pong where egos can be shredded in a heartbeat, so leave yours at the door if you can. Judy Hoarfrost and her son Ryan Hoarfrost run the Paddle Palace and even hall-of-famer Christian Lillieroos is often on the phone lines to help you get your optimum set up when he is not coaching the MLTT Portland Paddlers.
Paddle Palace web site:
Major League Table Tennis web site: