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CONTACT: Kenneth Lim PHONE: (800) 581-6770 EMAIL: info@nctta.org |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April
4, 2013 National Table Tennis Star is All Business at NYU Former
USA Men’s National Singles Champion in Collegiate Championships Playing
professional table tennis is a daunting experience. You train for months on
end. You hit multiball for hours every day, seven
days a week. Countless footwork drills. Strength training. You watch your
diet. All for that shot at glory and a podium finish during the Olympics.
It's just you, your opponent, a nine by five table, and millions of people
watching worldwide. But for 18-year-old
former USA men's national singles champion Michael Landers,
calculus is way scarier. "The questions
just sit there you know. They don't move, they don't do anything,"
Landers says, shaking his head. "At least when you hit the ball it might
come back." Michael Landers has
played table tennis for nine years. He is one of the youngest players to win
the national singles championship at 15 in 2009. He is also a freshman at New
York University's Stern School of Business. And just as he's caught on to
opponents' habits and tendencies on the table over the years, the Olympic
hopeful is now adapting to life as a college student. "It's
definitely a lot different from the life that I've been used to,"
Landers admits. "Going from an online high school with minimal amount of
work to like one of the top business schools in the country with tons of work
has been really difficult." But despite the
increased workload, the Long Island resident is grateful for the new
opportunities college brings. For years, table tennis was Landers' life. He
would practice 6 to 7 hours a day and go for physical training 4 to 5 times a
week. "Before
college, I was basically just focusing on table tennis. I stopped going to
high school, I had to transfer to online school, and I lost a lot of my
friends." Landers said. "But for the first time in a while I can
actually be around people my own age and have the social life I kinda missed out on for a little bit." Landers
says
one of the main differences between college and high school is that his new
schoolmates at NYU have embraced, rather than scoffed at his table
tennis ability. "People here
are a lot more mature and they actually respect table tennis as a sport
rather than just taking it as some silly little game that shouldn't be in the
Olympics," he said. "You tell them you play Olympic level table
tennis and they think it's the coolest thing." But the 2623 player
turns candid at the mention of college romance. "That kinda happened by itself you know," Landers says,
grinning, referring to his current girlfriend Suzanne, whom he met
at NYU. "I like to let things in life play out by themselves." He recalls them
being late for an NYU formal party this semester. Landers was playing in a tournament final that day. The
ball started at seven and Landers had to leave the gym to text his girlfriend
that he would be late. At eight. "She got so
mad," Landers laughs. "And when we eventually went there I couldn't
dance because I was still sore from playing. We had to leave after an hour.
She was the one wearing heels but I couldn't move at all." Nevertheless, table
tennis remains Landers' first love and a year of college has not covered his Timo Boll ALC with dust. Landers joined the NYU Table
Tennis Team in September last year, and played a pivotal role in leading the
team to its first ever NCTTA grand slam. NYU won both the
coed and women's team tournaments at the Northeast Regional Championships in February
this year. Landers was the men's singles champion. "The NYU team's
a great and really dedicated group of people and that's one nice thing about
collegiate table tennis as opposed to just playing in regular United States
tournaments," he said. "You're part of a team and I'm not only
playing for myself, but for my school and my team mates and trying to
represent us the best as I can." Saajan Patel, a junior
at NYU and fellow NYU table tennis team member recalls
his first impressions of Landers when the latter joined the team last fall. "I thought he
might be self-centered because I've seen good players behave like that
before," the 20 year old said. "But he turned out to be quite the
opposite. He's a great team player, and he's always looking to give tips to
other players and helping everyone else get better." Landers hopes to do
his best in both the team and singles tournaments at this
year's NCTTA National Championships, held in Rockford, Illinois
this April. He is currently the number one men's singles seed leading up to the
competition. "For our team,
we're a relatively new group of team mates put together so I think around top
eight would hopefully be the goal this year, and much higher in the future as
we learn to work and get better together," he said. "For singles, I'm
just gonna go all out and try to win the entire
thing." Still, Landers does
not think it will be an easy path to victory, considering the number of good
players playing collegiate table tennis this year. "Everyone's a
threat," Landers said. "Two of my closest friends Grant Li and
Peter Li play for USC and UC Berkeley, so there should be some
interesting matchups." Ultimately,
juggling college and table tennis is a delicate balancing act, and Landers
says it's all about making time. Personally, he doesn't think he will ever
stop playing. "I still get
to do what I love," Landers said. "And in addition to that I'm
hanging out with people my own age, making friends and going to college. It's
awesome." The 2013 College Table Tennis
Championships is hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Rockford Area Convention and Visitor’s Bureau and
is one of the most competitive table tennis tournaments in North America
featuring 6 events: Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Men’s/Coed
Teams, Women’s Teams. The event is sponsored by Newgy
Industries, Butterfly, PR etc. Rockford Table Tennis
Club, Fitzgerald Equipment, Rockford Park
District Full list of participants and
seeds: http://www.nctta.org/champs/2013/news.html Players and spectators alike will
enjoy a jam-packed weekend of table tennis at the 2013 College
Table Tennis Championships.
The event starts Friday April 12th and continues to Sunday April 14th at the
Forrest Tennis Center in Rockford, Illinois. About NCTTA The National Collegiate Table
Tennis Association (NCTTA) is a non-profit organization established
exclusively for promoting the sport of table tennis at the college level. As
the national governing body for college table tennis in the United States and
Canada, NCTTA organizes intercollegiate competition throughout North America.
www.nctta.org About USA Table
Tennis Headquartered in Colorado Springs,
USATT is the national organizing body for table tennis in the United States,
serving 9,000+ members and nearly 300 clubs. USATT sanctions 200+ events a
year including the US Open and US Nationals. USATT is affiliated with the
International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), as well as the United States
Olympic Committee (USOC). www.usatt.org
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