Twin brothers Daryn and Derian Erikson went head to head June 15 in the finals of the first-ever Dylan Cripps Memorial Table Tennis Tournament.
After two fierce rounds of ping-pong action in the R.D. Parker Collegiate gymnasium, Daryn eventually emerged victorious, beating his brother by scores of 21–17 and 21–16 in a best-of-three match.
RDPC physical education teacher Christine Sim said the brothers were dominant the entire tournament, with both of them refusing to give up a single round since the competition began with 20 participants back on June 8.
“I was a good final. It was nice to have the two twins in it,” she said. “I couldn’t tell the difference between the two of them, but they were evenly matched.”
This event was organized to commemorate 14-year-old Dylan Cripps, who tragically died alongside his father Shane as well as another father and son – Conor and Liam Sykes – in a canoeing accident May 22.
The tournament was the brainchild of RDPC Grade 9 students Hayley Sylvester and Taylar Hanson-Oliveira, who were friends with Dylan prior to his untimely death.
“Before Dylan passed he told his mom Li that he wanted to start a ping pong tournament because he really loved ping pong,” said Hanson-Oliveira. “So us and the phys-ed department decided to create one in his honour.”
Both girls said they intend to make this table tennis tournament a reoccurring event every year at the high school, and have even started a Go Fund Me campaign to make that idea a reality.
The pair said they also set up a second Go Fund Me page to raise enough money to build a memorial not just for Dylan, both for all RDPC students who lost their lives.
“It’s for a memorial garden in front of R.D. Parker where we can buy trees and a plaque and benches for all past and current R.D. Parker students that we’ve lost,” said Hanson-Oliveira.
If you would like to contribute to any of these fundraising campaigns, please visit their respective Go Fund Me pages.
