Talk About ‘Heart’: Young Table-Tennis Star’s a Model Player

Estee Ackerman has recently hit a couple of major milestones.

First, on Dec. 9, the 12-year-old from Long Island, N.Y., won the fourth annual “Jewish Kids Got Talent” competition on JewishKids.org in the “heart” (or chesed) category. About a week later, she captured the “Under-1800 Round Robin” division in the 2013 U.S. National Table Tennis Championships, held in Las Vegas.

She is currently the country’s No. 3 ranked “mini-cadet,” or under-13 girl competitor.

Not bad for the seventh-grader, who forfeited her chance at a title at the 2012 Nationals when she realized that she would have to compete on Friday night—on Shabbat.

“I had been training for five or six months for this … and it was hard. When I came to the tournament, I entered in the different events,” she explained.

One of those events is based on ratings and abilities, and required her to compete against people of different ages and then advance in rounds as she beat more and more players. “When I came to round 16, I checked my schedule and saw that the next match would fall on Friday night, on Shabbos. When we [my family and I] saw that we said, ‘What should we do? We’ve come so far and trained so hard.’

“In my mind and heart, even though I think it’s fine playing a little Ping-Pong after lunch on Shabbos, I thought competing in tournaments with all the media and cameras around would not be in the spirit of Shabbos and would not be what Hashem [G‑d] would want me to do,” said Ackerman.

So she notified the organizers and forfeited her match—and her chance at a title that year.

Estee practices two to four hours several times a week at home.

“I was a little upset, but I knew this was the right thing to do,” acknowledged the preteen. “Even though I am trying to win the gold medal in table tennis, I am also trying to win the gold medal in life.”

It was the youngster’s recounting of her story—coupled with prowess in her sport—that led to her enter, and then win, the “Jewish Kids Got Talent” competition held by Tzivos Hashem–Jewish Children International, Chabad centers worldwide and Chabad.org in the “heart” (or chesed) category for acts of loving kindness. Eli Avidani of Jerusalem and Yossi Stambler of Warsaw, Poland, won in the “hand” (performing arts) and “head” (intellectual pursuits) categories, respectively.

“When I heard my name [announced as the winner], it was shocking,” she recalled, noting that she faced some very skilled competitors. “I was extremely happy and lucky I got my votes. It was very nice for me to see that my story inspired people, and that they chose to vote for me.”

Daniel Finkelman, who produced the talent competition, said: “Estee is the reason why we have this competition in the first place. She used her talent to inspire not only kids, but adults as well—me included.”

A Potential Olympian?

Ackerman began playing table tennis in her family’s basement when she was 7 after watching her father and older brother, Akiva, now 15, play. “When I started, my Dad couldn’t even see me because I was shorter than the table. All he saw was the racket.”

Dante Cabactulan, left, son of Libran N. Cabactulan, ambassador to the United Nations from the Philippines, came to see the "Jewish Kids Got Talent" competition, and met Estee and her parents, Chanie and Glenn Ackerman, and her older brother and table-tennis mentor, Akiva.

But it was clear that the Ackerman children had a real knack for the game. Soon, the two were taking lessons, joining table-tennis clubs and competing.

“We found coaches who would teach me the proper way to hit,” explained Ackerman, “then we went to leagues and tournaments, and since then, I’ve been progressing and getting better and better.”

Though her brother (an even better player than she, noted the 12-year-old) doesn’t have as much time for the game as he used to now that he’s in high school, he does help make sure his sister stays strong by practicing with her often.

The two have even competed together, winning the “Under-3200 Doubles” at the 2012 U.S. Open, which was held in Grand Rapids, Mich., and unlike Nationals is open to people from outside of the United States. (When traveling for competitions, Ackerman said her family stays with local Chabad shluchim, or emissaries.)

Winners of the Kids Got Talent contest also got a check for their favorite charity. Estee gave a donation to Hatzalah Volunteer Ambulance Corps. of Nassau County, N.Y.

As for her future goals, the seventh-grader, who practices two to four hours several times a week when not preparing for tournament, said: “Hopefully, if I become much, much better, my dream is one day to become the first Jewish Orthodox Olympian. It’s a lot of work; I have to get better.”

Such thoughts couldn’t be more timely with the start this week of the Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia.

“Judaism, in my life, will always come first,” she continued. “If it comes to Shabbos, learning Torah and keeping kosher, that comes first. Even though I love table tennis, I love my religion, too.”