The World Youth Championships concluded in Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal recently, and for Team JOOLA’s Faith Hu, it was a major career milestone.This was a big step out onto the international stage for Hu, as she progresses in her table tennis career. Just months ago, she competed in the Pan American Youth Championships in the Dominican Republic, the biggest event she had competed in, but the World Youth Champs was "unlike an other tournament" for her and the biggest and most prestigious so far.“It was inspiring. I got to see the top players from every country from around the world. It felt like an honor to meet them all at once under one venue, and to make friendships and see some amazing table tennis,” says Faith, looking back on the event.Hu was competing in the Under 15 events, this being the first time that the Cadet and Junior events have been combined into one Youth Championship event. The trip was of course filled with grand experiences.Ahead of the tournament the team gathered in Houston with Coach Gao Jun, where they were able to watch some of the World Table Tennis Championships for a day before heading out together. The perfect source of motivation for the young talents from the US.No doubt it came in handy, as the first match of the tournament is likely to be one which is fondly looked back on by Faith for many years to come.The Team event came first, and Hu teamed up with Sally Moyland and Emily Tan. Their match was against Ukraine and was a quarterfinal match in the knockout draw. This was a big opportunity to capture a medal for the team, and the pressure was on from the very first second.While Faith admits her first days of the competition are usually shaky, on this occasion there was only one day to prepare. The practice time had been cut in half as the team luggage had gotten stuck on the connecting flight and they had to wait.Hu recounts the ‘nerve-wracking’ experience of her very first match at the World Youth Championships.It was 1-1 in the team tie, the third match potentially a make or break in the best of 5 tie.The opponent was Sofiia Sheredeha, a player with pips on both sides – medium on the forehand and short on the backhand. Not the kind of player you want to run into for your first match at the biggest event of your life so far.What made this match so brilliant was the phenomenal comeback from 2-0 down by Faith.“I was losing 0-2, I couldn’t get used to the pips. Coach Gao (Jun) gave me some really good advice - to take things slow and get the timing right because the ball will come at different paces. Get your feeling in place and then you can start playing more power when you build confidence,” Faith recounts.“Even though the two games were lost I still felt like I was building up. I wasn’t scared once the third game started and I was confident to attack when I saw opportunities. I felt like I had to take some more risks.”While the third game didn’t start off the way she was hoping, Faith held course and a timeout from Coach Gao instilled the confidence she needed.Both the third and fourth games were incredibly close, 13-11 to Faith, allowing her to close the gap to 2-2. She recalls with her usual bubbly demeanor, that she had actually been behind in both games and that on occasions Sheredeha had held match points.One of the key elements that helped her through the crucial points was the support from her teammates.“When I was playing the boys team had already finished and they came over and supported me and that felt really good, to have all of the US players behind me, including my own teammates. The team always came together when we were playing our matches. I really felt hyped up and lifted in my match.”So far, Hu’s game plan had revolved around creating a lot of variation, especially on serve. Her idea was to create the variations first, so that her opponent was always in a reactive state, rather than doing the same things and allowing Sheredeha to create the variations first.This had been a major factor in her coming back into the match, and helping create her opportunities to play more powerful shots.“In the fifth game I went back to serving the same serve and had to recollect myself at 7-7 and remember that game strategy. I was able to win two points straight away by changing the service variation to go up 9-7,” she says, sounding almost relieved while reflecting on the intense fifth game.In the end she would seal out the fifth and win the match. A brilliant victory, not only for the team, but for Faith too.Listening to her give her recollections of the match and her experience was wonderful. To see the fresh excitement of a player competing in their first major international event.While she lost out in a hard fought 4-2 match in the last 32 of the singles, she left Portugal with a bronze medal from the Under 15 team event, and an incredible memory of her first ever World Youth match.She wasn’t the only Team JOOLA player to bring home a prize.

Amy Wang also brought home silver in the Under 19 Girls Team Event, with the USA losing out to China in the final.She doubled down, taking another silver in the Girls Doubles event, where her and Rachel Sung reached the final stage also. They played fantastically to overcome pairs from Russia, Germany and Chinese Taipei, before losing in the final, 3-1, to China.Congratulations to Faith and Amy, we are proud to see your results and the experiences you continue to gain on the pathway to achieving your next goals!