Junior of the Month: Whitney Ping

• Member, 2004 USA Olympic Team

• Member of 1999-2004 U.S. Junior National Team

• 2002 U.S. Junior National Champion U-18 Girls

• 2002 U.S National Championships U-22 Women’s Champion

• 2002 U.S. National Women’s Singles Quarterfinalist

• 2002 North American Junior Girls’ Finalist

• 2001 Canadian International Junior Open Cadet Girls’ Champion

• Highest rating: 2355; Current rating: 2307

You can read about Whitney and Jasna making the USA Olympic Doubles Team in the feature article this issue on the North American Olympic Doubles Trials. You can see her on the cover of this issue as she and Jasna celebrate a great victory. What you can’t see is how hard she’s worked to get to where she is. She’s been training all over the world in recent times, including a long tour of Europe with Jasna. She says that they have a good time together, and noted, "Some parts of our personalities are polar opposites but we generally agree on the important things.  We talk a lot; she has some crazy stories that are entertaining to listen to, and she’s fun to be around."

Whitney is from Beaverton, Oregon, and plays and trains at the Portland TTC. She’s had a number of coaches over the years – Doru Gheorghe, Mark Nordby, Masaaki Tajima, and father Ken, who’s also the VP of the Portland club. Her father got her and Emily started as their first coach. She trains regularly with the members of the PTTC, her dad, and especially Mark Liu.

Style-wise, Whitney plays a very modern two-winged mid-distance looping game. Her game strongly resembles Jasna’s, and when they practiced at the Olympic Trials, you could see the uncanny resemblance in their games. You could also see how much the two liked to counterloop, just ripping the ball back and forth until one would lob, and the practice rally would continue. And continue. And continue. Any questions about how they are able to topspin so consistently in matches is answered by watching them practice.

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