NCTTA Newsletter
April 2008

Lots of important topics in this month's newsletter: the results of a successful 2008 Championships, possible 2009 Championships locations, end-of-season superlative award nominations, plus upcoming NCTTA Board elections. Let's get right into it!

2008 Championships Recap
Texas Wesleyan retains Men’s/Coed and Women’s Team Titles
No question about it: making it to the College Table Tennis National Championships can be difficult. And we're not even talking about the qualifying part. With thousands of canceled American Airlines flights and heavy winds in Rochester, MN making even landing at the airport a dicey proposition, merely getting to the Championships proved an unexpected ordeal for many of the 34 teams that had earned the right to be there. But once in Minnesota, with the Championships underway, it was 3 straight days of college table tennis excellence.

Even the weather couldn’t put a damper on things, with springtime highs registering a balmy 34 F outside the venue (for Minnesota, anything above freezing counts as balmy), while just inside the Rochester Regional Sports Center, the best of college table tennis battled for 8 different national titles in near perfect conditions. There were some familiar faces and a sizeable group of Championship newcomers; some dominating performances and some down-to-the-wire finishes. Just have to ask: 2008 College Table Tennis National Championships: Great Championships? Or Greatest Championships?

It's ok, take some time to think it over. Course there’s not enough space here to cover all the details, so check out the 2008 Championships Website for full Results, Writeups and Photos. Congrats to the 2008 Champions:

• Men’s/Coed Team: Texas Wesleyan University
• Women's Team: Texas Wesleyan University
• Men's Singles: Alfred Najem, Emporia State University
• Women's Singles: Ines Perhoc, Texas Wesleyan University
• Mixed Doubles: Adam Hugh, Princeton University & Judy Hugh, Rutgers University
• Men's Doubles: Adam Hugh, Princeton University & Tahl Leibovitz, Queens College
• Women's Doubles: Jasna Reed & Ines Perhoc, Texas Wesleyan University
• Paralympic Singles: Tahl Leibovitz, Queens College

Thanks to all the outstanding volunteers, the great support from the Rochester Amateur Sports Commission, Killerspin, Newgy, the Rochester TT Club and Table Tennis Minnesota.

Sponsor Corner
Support our sponsors, they make College Table Tennis possible!

This month at TTP enter a chance to win 2 free sheets of your favorite rubber in the Perseverance Trophy Competition! Nominate your teammate, practice partner, coach, faculty advisor, or anyone you know from the table tennis world that you think exemplifies perseverance and determination. If nominating people isn’t your gig check out Killerspin’s fantastic apparel, equipment or DVD’s. Either way you have a winner!

Table Tennis Pioneers and Killerspin are the exclusive NCTTA League Sponsors for the 2007-2008 competition season. Killerspin was also the 2008 Championships Equipment Sponsor, generously providing tables, balls and other equipment for the event.

 Please remember to take advantage of the generous DISCOUNTS (up to 20%) on tables, racquets, rubber, balls and just about any other table tennis equipment your club might need.

Special thanks to NEWGY Industries, our valued Championship Sponsor who provided all of the barriers for the 2008 College Table Tennis National Championships and gave Championships t-shirts to each participant. Plus one lucky Men’s/Coed team (Puerto Rico) and one lucky Women’s team (Columbia) each won a brand new Newgy robot in a special drawing at the 2008 Championships! Thanks to Newgy for their continued generous support of College Table Tennis!

2009 Championships Bids
Possible locations include Rochester, MN, Atlanta, GA and New Haven, CT
"Quo vadimus" is Latin for "where are we going," or in this case, where is NCTTA going for the 2009 College Table Tennis Championships? As the 2008 Championships came to a close, attention turned to 2009 and NCTTA is busy evaluating possible locations. Bid information was made available to over 125 schools and hundreds of sports commissions and convention and visitors bureaus throughout the country. A wide variety possible host organizations contacted NCTTA from as far south as Orlando Florida to as far north as Gillette, Wyoming and just about everything in between. 

NCTTA is excited to be able to choose between three quality bids:

• Rochester, MN submitted by the Rochester Amateur Sports Commission
• Atlanta, GA submitted by Ralph Presley representing Atlanta Table Tennis
• New Haven, CT submitted by the Greater New Haven Convention & Visitors Bureau

Details of each of the bids have been posted on NCTTA’s online forum. Feel free to peruse the bids online, ask questions and make comments to help in the selection process.

Superlative Award Nominations
Nominate the most outstanding players and teams from the 2007-2008 Competition Season
With the 2007-2008 competition season drawing to a close it’s time to recognize those individuals and teams that distinguished themselves with outstanding performances throughout the year. Here are the categories (with the 2007 winners in parentheses):

• Male Athlete of the Year  (Adam Hugh, Princeton)
• Female Athlete of the Year  (Jasna Reed, Texas Wesleyan)
• Rookie of the Year  (Mark Hazinski, Texas Wesleyan/Victor Leung, Columbia)
• Coach/Manager of the Year  (Karun Singh, Columbia)
• Rookie Team of the Year  (Wisconsin Men’s/Coed and Auburn Women)
• Most Improved Team  (Columbia)
• Division Director of the Year  (Chris Wang, Upstate New York)

Please send your nominations to info@nctta.org by 12 PM Eastern on April 30 for consideration. Any individual from an NCTTA member school can send in a nomination.

Upcoming NCTTA Board Elections
Run for the board, become a division director, join a committee ... lots of ways to get involved.
Ever wanted to get more involved in NCTTA? Like to help set the direction of the organization? Have ideas about how to take NCTTA to the next level? 

From the board on down, NCTTA is a completely volunteer-based organization. NCTTA relies on the dedicated effort of talented volunteers for, well, basically everything that the organization does. That means that the organization is looking for and depending on people like you to help make it great. Interested? Know someone else you think would be great?

In May, elections will be held for Executive Board positions (2 year terms), including: President, Vice President, Treasurer, Historian, Athlete Representative and Division Director Representative. Elections will follow the following timeline: