Minnesota Hosts 5th Annual High School State Championships
An NCTTA Feature - March 2011

By Nancy Chen
NCTTA Media Relations Committee

With the national championships approaching and college admissions decisions beginning to turn up, it’s time to start thinking about who will form the next generation of college table tennis stars.

Although there isn’t a national league for high school table tennis yet, some states have started organizing high school state championships, which are bringing together some of the top youth players in the state. One of the largest such events in the country is the Minnesota State High School Team Championships.

Initially an outgrowth of the interest of a handful of high school coaches and parents, the 2006 inaugural event had only 3 teams. With a record of seventeen co-ed teams and six girls’ teams from Minneapolis, Duluth, and Rochester participating, it’s fair to say the event has grown tremendously in its five year history.

This growth in high school table tennis involvement is encouraging on multiple levels, says Table Tennis Minnesota director Mitchell Seidenfeld. “What’s most exciting about this event is not just that all these teams show up year after year, but that each one of those teams represents a school club or intramural league of twenty or thirty more competitive players,” notes Seidenfeld.

Seidenfeld and at least half a dozen other regular club members work together in organizing the event, reaching out to additional schools, and promoting youth table tennis in the state. Seidenfeld attributes much of the success of high school table tennis in Minnesota to the large community of people willing to work together to keep the sport growing. In the past five years, the high school program has become as well established in Table Tennis Minnesota as the leagues, junior program and state championships.

Children that start out in leagues and the junior program eventually become high school students and play for their high school club team. And it doesn’t take an expert to figure out what next after high school. So we reached out to some top Minnesota high school for their thoughts on high school and college table tennis:

An Avid Competitor from Lakeville South HS

Name: Brandon Mader
Involvement: Four years on the team, current number 1 player
College choice: Rochester Polytechnic Institute
On table tennis: It should be more recognized in the states. There is already the same number of teams as in lacrosse, and it’s one of the fastest-growing sports in the US. It’s a fun game to get your mind sharp; you’ve gotta be athletic and think when you play.

The Dynamic Duo from Eden Prairie HS

The Team: Soham Shah and Yiding Hou
The Scoop: Shah and Hou have been co-captains and doubles partners of the Eden Prairie team for the past two years, and rebuilt the team nearly from scratch their junior year. The University of Minnesota may be expecting Soham, but Yiding has not yet made his college decision. Both will be playing other sports in college, but plan to also find their way to the college table tennis club.
On table tennis:
Soham: The high school championships are really fun; the more teams the better. I’d like to give a shout out to my partner—great thanks to him.
Yiding: Soham and I knew each other before high school and he got me involved in table tennis at Eden Prairie. I’ve never seen so many people playing table tennis at the same time until I’d been to the high school tournament.

Gals with Game from Benilde-St.Margaret’s HS

The Team: Tara Fan and Mikayla Coulombe
The Scoop: Fan (sophomore) and Coulombe (junior) placed second in the first ever girls division in the high school state championships. They went with matching sweatbands and fun in mind this year, but are gunning for first next year.
On table tennis:
Tara: I love the atmosphere of the tournament with all the teams and players’ excitement. I had gone to a few practices and started to see that I definitely wanted to be on the varsity team with them—I had never seen people who were so good and took it so seriously before.
Mikayla: When the table tennis team started up at my school, I really wanted to join because my family is HUGE on table tennis. The emergence of the girls’ state tournament in Minnesota gave me the opportunity to start practicing with the varsity team and going to some tournaments. It was pretty epic.

Know about some interesting high school table tennis competitions or high school players?
Let us know at publicrelations@nctta.org