Ariel

Ariel Hsing has aspirations to be the best table tennis player in the world and she is off to a great start. At 16, she is already a two-time U.S. Women's Table Tennis Champion. A San Jose native, Ariel wakes up every morning at 7am to practice serves before going to class. Training can last up to six hours a day at various clubs around the Bay Area. Along with her parents, Ariel has devoted her entire life to table tennis, with the hope of one day becoming an Olympian.

MICHael

In 2009, Michael Landers became the youngest U.S. Men's Table Tennis Champion at the ripe age of 15. Hailing from Long island, New York, Michael spends summers training in central China but most of the time you can find him playing at SPiN, a ping pong social club in Manhattan. At 17, Michael has learned the meaning of sacrifice, having given up his last year of high school for what may be his only chance at making it to the 2012 London Olympics.

Lily

At one point, fifteen-year-old Lily Zhang was ranked second in the world in her age group, a first for any American-born table tennis player. Born and raised in Palo Alto, Lily got her start at the age of seven when she and her family played table tennis in the laundry room of the Stanford faculty apartments where her father taught math. Her evenings and weekends consist of training and she often misses school due to overseas tournaments. It is her love for the sport and the dream of playing in her first Olympics that keeps her motivated and committed to table tennis, the ultimate underdog sport.

Mina T. Son, Director/Producer
Mina is a Los Angeles-based Korean American filmmaker whose films have screened at film festivals and museums including the National Gallery of Art, Margaret Mead, Traverse City, Mill Valley, and Cinequest. A two-time Student Academy Award Regional Finalist, Mina has been awarded fellowships and funding from Independent Television Service, Stanford Institute for Creativity and the Arts, Film Independent, PBS/CPB Producers Academy, the Japan U.S. Friendship Commission, and Center for Cultural Innovation. Mina holds an M.F.A. in Documentary Film from Stanford University and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Jonathan Bricklin, Executive Producer
Jonathan did not invent the game of ping-pong, although he does sometimes take credit for it, having co-founded a chain of intergalactic ping-pong social clubs called SPiN. When not ping-ponging Jonathan writes books and makes documentary films. He lives in Manhattan, has no children, pets or plants.

Yen Le, Co-Producer
Yen is a producer based in San Francisco. 

JJ & Chris, Composers
JJ & Chris are Sundance Fellow Composers who have amassed an impressive list of credits in a short amount of time. Their background in classical and jazz composition account for the lush, sophisticated orchestral scores with hints of jazz harmony that are hallmarks of their music. They have composed for network TV shows ("Detroit 187", "At The Movies"), indie films and documentaries ("One Punk Under God", “The Hacker Wars”) and video games ("Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands", "Transformers 2”, “Firefall”). More details of their work and news can be found on their website, www.epicwavestudios.com.

Sara Newens, Director/Editor
Sara is a documentary filmmaker and editor who has worked in film and television for over a decade, including seven years at CBS News in New York City. Her films have screened at numerous festivals, including Sarasota, Traverse City, Starz Denver, Big Sky and Rooftop Films. She is the recipient of a Princess Grace Foundation Award, CINE Golden Eagle Award, and a Student Academy Award Regional Finalist. Currently, she is a San Francisco-based producer/editor for clients that include Facebook, PG&E, Stanford University School of Medicine, and various non-profits. She is a graduate of the M.F.A. Documentary Film Program at Stanford University, and received a B.S. in Mass Communication from Miami University of Ohio.

Franck Raharinosy, Executive Producer
Franck is an actor, writer, producer, ping pong provocateur and co-founder of SPiN, a chain of ping pong social clubs. He lives in New York City.

Summers Henderson, Co-Editor
Summers is a documentary filmmaker and video editor in Oakland, California.  He was born in Dallas, Texas, studied film and literature at Wesleyan University, and earned a master's degree in film studies from the University of Texas.  In 2008 he received a master's degree in documentary video production from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts.  He worked as editor on "Informant," which won the Grand Jury Prize at DOC NYC, and as associate editor on "Kings Point," which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.

Jenine Early, Motion Graphics
Jenine is a Chicago based motion graphics and 3D designer whose work can be found on screens both big and small. She launched herself into a successful freelancing career in 2004 where she's worked on documentaries, feature films and television series airing on networks such as History Channel, PBS and Fox. Jenine honed her skills as an artist at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she discovered how to combine her love for film, imagery and graphics into motion design. And, how to load and shoot a 16mm Bolex.