The first thing you notice about junior Balakumaran Balasubramanian is, of course, the name: 26 letters, an alphabet in itself and one that never fails to stun and amaze the teachers he has had the first time they see it.

Because of the length and complexity of his given name, he simply goes by “Bala.”

After you learn more about Balasubramanian, you also find out that he was and still is one heck of a table tennis player — good enough to have a rating of 1,600 in his age group even though he doesn't have time to play tournaments with his tough academic schedule.

Balasubramanian began playing table tennis while living in India. Everyone in his apartment complex played table tennis, Balasubramanian said, so he picked up the sport. Still, table tennis classes were rare, and he played the game as a mere hobby.

After moving to the U.S. in fifth grade, Balasubramanian started to play table tennis competitively in seventh grade at the Fremont Table Tennis Academy, where he still trains once a week.

Throughout his training, Balasubramanian encountered multiple challenges. For instance, he spent five or six months learning a technique called looping, which means turning a backspin on a ball into a topspin.

“At first, I could not grasp that technique,” Balasubramanian said. “But after five months of practicing the release of the technique, the technique stuck with me and it gave me a huge advantage in matches.”

When Balasubramanian started playing in table tennis competitions as a seventh grader, his rating in the U.S. was 300. As he won more tournaments, his rating rose, though it is still not close to the highest rating in Bala’s age group right now, 2,699.

Balasubramanian fondly recalls his first competition at Sacramento Open in seventh grade. He was surprised at the number of people there. He enjoyed his experience and soon became acclimated to the competitive table tennis environment.

“It was pretty fun, and I got to meet a lot of people from other counties from the Bay Area like Fremont and Alameda,” Balasubramanian said. “I was happy where I placed in the competition and I’m glad I had a chance to be involved.”

Balasubramanian placed second in his event at his first competition. For the next three years, Balasubramanian attended the same Sacramento competition, moving up to a higher rating event each competition.

He went to the U.S. Open for table tennis in Michigan two years ago. The U.S. Open includes top players in each state as well as international players. In his event, he placed second, which skyrocketed Bala’s rating from 800 to 1,300.

During the competition, Balasubramanian was able to learn from some of the best table tennis players in the world.

“I saw more diverse table tennis players during my matches, which really made me change my strategy,” Balasubramanian said.

In junior year, Balasubramanian has competed in only one tournament in Sacramento last October. To compensate for this hiatus, he created a table tennis club at school this year, but to his disappointment, the club was cut by the ASB recently because it wasn’t active enough.           

Balasubramanian hopes to continue playing table tennis after high school, although he said that it will take more work to maintain it throughout college. As for now, he wants to continue to hone his skills to become a better player and also inspire enthusiasm about table tennis in others.

“Table tennis has been an amazing change in my life and I could have not chosen a better sport to play than this,” Balasubramanian said.