NCTTA Connections Boost Mississippi Senior Olympics
An NCTTA Feature - May 2011

By Andy Kanengiser
NCTTA Media Relations Chair

Home court advantage is always a plus, no matter what the sport. A good case in point was in May when Oklahoma City, led by Kevin Durant’s 39 points, knocked off the Memphis Grizzlies on the Thunder’s home turf in the decisive Game 7 of their NBA series.

Home court also didn’t hurt a bit for several in-state participants in the Mississippi Senior Olympics that wrapped up with a number of events like track & field and table tennis on May 13 at Mississippi College and basketball on May 14, also on the MC campus in Clinton.

The events attracted about 300 senior athletes to various sites in Clinton, and other communities in metro Jackson in Central Mississippi. Some of the men and women ignored the $4 per gallon gas prices and drove from as far away as Missouri, Tennessee, and Louisiana to take part in the fun games in the Magnolia State.

Again this year, there were plenty of NCTTA connections to the Mississippi Senior Olympics. Dixie Division Director Herb Bennett, who ran the table tennis tournament for seniors, also walked off with a gold medal for his 50-something age group. He got help from Mississippi College Table Tennis Captain Ken Qiu, who set up and put away the tables at Alumni Gym. That’s the university’s old basketball gym where the MC Choctaws’ 5th place nationally ranked team practices during the season.

The Senior Games in Clinton were a nice tune-up for Bennett, who travels to Houston, Texas to compete in the 2011 National Senior Games in late June. Bennett, the longtime leader, architect and mentor of the University of Southern Mississippi table tennis team, still knows how to play his favorite sport. He’s made the 90-mile drive from Hattiesburg to Mississippi College many times before in recent years to run the NCTTA’s Dixie Division tournaments at the university’s Baptist Healthplex.

Bennett qualified for the Houston games last year on the same floor at Alumni Gym at MC in May 2010. Other sports going on for seniors in Texas include bowling, softball, volleyball, swimming and shuffleboard, to name a few.

The 2011 Mississippi Senior Games also marked the return of NCTTA Media Relations Chairman Andy Kanengiser, who serves as university news coordinator at Mississippi College. Kanengiser doubles as sponsor of the Mississippi College table tennis team.

Kanengiser took lots of pictures, but sat out the 2010 Senior Olympics after suffering a heart attack in February 2010 at Mississippi College. On May 13-14, 2011 the 59-year-old New Jersey native made his comeback and won two gold medals for table tennis (singles and doubles) and one for basketball (free throws).

“God was watching out for me during the day of my heart attack and during the recovery process,” said the alumnus of both Penn State and Florida State. “The Mississippi Senior Olympics is a wonderful event to promote physical fitness and healthy lifestyles. I encourage folks to get involved in Senior Olympics in their states.”

Kanengiser went undefeated in singles play and teamed with Jackson State University computer science professor Tzusheng Pei to win three straight in doubles competition against a pair of Vicksburg, Mississippi men. The NCTTA Media Relations chairman thanks Ken Qiu for a 90-minute practice session at Mississippi College a few days before the Senior Olympics to help him get ready.

Qiu, a native of China, also works at MC’s International Programs Office in addition to his graduate school studies in the School of Business on the Clinton campus. “Ken built the MC table tennis team from scratch starting in 2007 and is a big reason for MC’s
successful climb up the national ladder in this fantastic Olympic sport.”

Congrats to Herb and Andy for their success on the court!

For more information on the Senior Olympics, visit the National Senior Games Association website.

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