Kathleen Cai has had a pretty busy life for a 12-year-old. She’s a student and she’s also made two trips to the Arctic Winter Games (AWG) for table tennis.
Late last month, she was featured in Table Tennis Canada’s Women in Table Tennis campaign, one of the youngest athletes to take part.
“That was really cool,” Cai said. “I was really happy and proud to be featured in that.”
That feature included a Q-and-A for Table Tennis Canada’s YouTube channel. Cai said her dad was there for that moment.
“He was really happy, too, and you could tell that he was proud of me,” said Cai.
The interview she had included her efforts to try and introduce her friends to the sport and why she loves playing table tennis. She also spoke about the challenges she faces as a young athlete and gave some advice to those coming up in the sport.
At the 2024 AWG in Alaska last month, Cai won herself three ulus, which included a gold in juvenile girls doubles.
There was one specific win for Cai that ended up being a huge milestone for her in Alaska.
“I had one of those moments (where) there was this girl from Alaska and I beat her. I felt really proud. I was like ‘oh, I’m pretty good I guess,” she laughed.
Thorsten Gohl is executive director of Table Tennis North and has also been coaching Cai for the past two years or so.
In terms of Cai’s potential as an athlete, Gohl said he sees a lot of it.
“She is eager and has good family support,” he said. “For me personally, it’s not always about the potential in high performance, but it’s about becoming the best version of themselves.”
Cai’s next big table tennis tournament would likely be the Canadian Junior Championship in Quebec, which isn’t until July; Cai said she’s never been that far away from home before.
Though Gohl thinks it’ll be a great time for Cai, he said there are still some hurdles in the way.
“The biggest one is always funding, so we need to figure out how we do that,” he said. “We have $20,000 in yearly funding that we need to do everything within it. That’s not always easy.”
Gohl added there is some additional funding for high performance athletes they can apply to through, whther it be via the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA) or the GNWT. Otherwise, fundraising is always an option.
For her future, Cai said she might want to play for Team Canada. Until then, she’s got homework to focus on.
“Our school ends at 3:20 p.m.” Cai explained. “After that, I spend maybe an hour doing homework and if I have time I’ll go to the Yellowknife club or practice at home.”