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NCTTA
Newsletter With the college table tennis season ending last month, you might think there'd be less going on in NCTTA. But from NCTTA athlete of the year awards and NCTTA elections, to ways teams are keeping busy in the off-season, there's still lots happening. Plus we've got the scoop on a new national table tennis league and USATT membership discounts for graduating players. Read on for all this and more ... 2012 Superlative Award Winners Announced It's been a great year of college table tennis, but a few people standout for their excellent performances this season. Here are the 2012 Superlative Award winners:
Each winner will receive a Butterfly gift certificate. Thanks to everyone for sending in nominations. 2012 NCTTA Board Elections Elections are coming up for positions on the NCTTA Board of Directors. It's a great opportunity to get involved with a growing organization and help play a crucial role in growing the sport at the collegiate level and beyond. Here are descriptions of the open positions:
Terms are either 2 years (Treasurer, VP, Athlete Rep.) or 3 years (President, HR Coordinator, League Director Rep.). Interested? Submit a statement of intent to elections@nctta.org by June 2. Sponsor
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2012 Championships Photo Galleries If you missed the 2012 Championships or just want to remember some of your favorite moments, be sure to check out all the great Champhionships photo galleries:
Special thanks to Jose, Keith Lam, Jarvis Jacobs, and Mike Hillard for taking photos at the event. US Nationwide Table Tennis League Launches It’s no secret that NCTTA is a big believer in team competition, but outside of college table tennis and a few team tournaments, there haven’t been a lot of opportunities when it comes to team table tennis. Well that’s all changing this year with the launch of the US Nationwide Table Tennis League (USNTTL). “USNTTL will provide additional opportunities for college teams to compete against nearby table tennis clubs, and to create the team environment, so college players after graduation might have the same table tennis experience as they had in college,” notes Attila Malek, one of the directors of USNTTL.
A total of $100,000 in total prize money is up-for-grabs at the national level, with prize money paid out to the winning clubs. The USNTTL season starts in September. It gets even better for college players as USNTTL is waiving club registration fees for NCTTA member schools and offering a $75 discount to college clubs when registering teams to participate in the league. Just use the discount code NCTTA for both the club and team registration. There are also promotional opportunities for participating schools and opportunities to recruit new players. “USNTTL is committed to send press releases to your local newspapers promoting participating clubs and colleges, and so creating interest with prospective students,” says Malek. There’s also a school division for high school players. “High school and college table tennis are essential to growing table tennis in the US,” notes Malek. For more information or to register visit www.usnttl.com Teams Show They Can Compete with Scholarship Programs at 2012 Championships Fans of college table tennis are used to seeing scholarship schools like Texas Wesleyan and Lindenwood bringing home a boatload of titles from the College Table Tennis Championships. And while scholarship programs won their share of titles at the 2012 event, the big story this year was the ability of several smaller non-scholarship programs to hold their own against the big boys. Toronto, Northwest Polytechnic and Texas-Arlington all came home with home collegiate titles from the 2012 Championships. Toronto’s Vivien Zhou and Pei Pei Zheng captured the women’s doubles title, Rock Acklin from Texas-Arlington won the disabled singles title, while Jiaqi Zheng from Northwestern Polytechnic won the women’s singles title in dominant fashion, without dropping a game the entire competition.
Ultimately, Texas Wesleyan captured its ninth straight title, but not without a scare as Texas Wesleyan’s top player Andreas Ball dropped the first match to Mississippi College’s Yang Yu. Texas Wesleyan went on to win 3-1. “Programs like Lindenwood and Texas Wesleyan have better organized programs and that is the only difference,” said Texas Wesleyan coach Jasna Rather on the reasons for their success. “It’s not easy, but we have to continue working hard on getting great student athletes to have chance to fight for championship titles in years to come.”Lindenwood Brand Continues to Shine in College TT
At the Plano Sports Authority 2 Arena, Lindenwood’s Fernando Yamazato of Brazil defeated a longtime friend from his native land, Jose Barbosa of Texas Wesleyan in the semifinals, then edged teammate Venkat Ramesh in the finals, to capture the men’s singles title on Saturday April 14. In the men’s/coed team event, Lindenwood captured third place. After losing to Mississippi College 3-1 in the semifinals, they rallied to a 3rd place finish with a victory over fourth-seeded San Jose State. With 17 players on its roster, the Lindenwood squad comes from all over the globe, with talented players from Brazil, India, Peru, Trinidad & Tobago, Mongolia, and the United States. Nine Lindenwood men and four women took part in the NCTTA’s big event in the Lone Star State. Selling Lindenwood’s strong academic program combined with some big scholarships available for elite table tennis players has put the Saint Charles, Missouri school on the international map. “I get emails from all over the world,” Coach Randy Kendle said during a break in the Championships action. Jiaqi Zheng Enjoys International Success Jiaqi Zheng is clearly one of the shining stars in collegiate table tennis. At NCTTA headquarters, we are standing up and cheering her performances in the USA and other parts of the globe. In a recent ITTF tournament, Jiaqi defeated two outstanding players on the world stage, Ishikawa Kasumi, and Wakamiya Misako, both from Japan. At a tournament in China, she upset standouts Tamara Boros from Croatia, and Jiang Huajun of Hong Kong. It’s not just table tennis for the native of China. Zheng is a business student at Northwestern Polytechnic University in California and works hard in the classroom. “I’m focusing on learning as much as I can, and improving my English,” Jiaqi Zheng says. She’s also working to improve her stellar table tennis game. “I am currently training for the U.S. Open, and looking forward to doing well there!” The U.S. Open returns to Grand Rapids, Michigan June 30-July 4 and is attracting some of the best domestic and international players around. Zheng gives thanks to her college and her sponsor Summus software for their great support year-round.San Jose State Loaded with Talent It’s hard to believe, but this is only the second year of competition for the mighty San Jose State table tennis team. Coming into the NCTTA nationals, San Jose was ranked 4th in the USA and Canada.
Kyle Wong of Oakland, California, who’s studying aviation operations, and Joseph Coorey, a mechanical engineering student from Sri Lanka are other standouts on the Spartans team. And then there’s Sally Su, a corporate finance major from China. These San Jose players are all business on the court and smart in the classroom. “We brought our books with us,” Truong said before the team headed to warm-up on the second day of Championships competition. Tu is a stellar table tennis player who was seeded 8th nationally at the start of singles competition in the Lone Star State. Like a number of teams, the San Jose State table tennis squad gets little financial support from their university. The players raise money by giving table tennis lessons at a computer company in the heart of the Silicon Valley. The team also gets help from a local sponsor, Ken Nguyen, but would like to see others step up to the plate. No matter the level of financial support from year to year, Sean Lee believes his favorite sport is an invaluable part of his life. He’s also sold on his rapidly rising San Jose State team. “I have a passion for this game. It started when I was young,” Sean said. “This game came easy to me.” Success has come pretty easy for San Jose State as well. The team finished the 2012 season 4th in the nation after the Collegiate Championships, pretty good for a team in their sophomore year. Crowd Favorite Walter Alomar Shouts His Way to Championships Upsets As a wildcard qualifier to the 2012 College Table Tennis Championships, few expected 33rd-seeded Walter Alomar to make much noise at the big dance. But amid his trademark shouts of “BOAAAAP … BOAAAAP” after each point won, Puerto Rico’s Alomar managed to surprise just about everyone but himself by advancing to the round of 16 at the biggest competition in college table tennis. Alomar upset 13th-seeded Amaresh Sahu of Princeton in the process. “I was the underdog, but kept a positive, confident attitude throughout,” commented Alomar.
Walter Alomar is a former US junior national team member and spent several years in a table tennis high school in Puerto Rico where he went to school from 8am to 3pm and then trained for 5 hours a day. “The [Table Tennis] Federation of Puerto Rico really invested time and commitment in me.” “My work ethic has always brought me success and I take that into every match I play,” reflected Walter Alomar on his success in his last collegiate competition. Alomar may have been playing in his last year of NCTTA eligibility, but there’s little doubt he’ll make plenty of noise in his future endeavors. All in the Family: Father and Daughter Lead Columbia to Continued College Table Tennis Success
Santos, a 54-year-old who still plays tournaments around the USA, wanted to help when his daughter joined the Columbia team four years ago. With a 2200 USATT rating, he knows the game and loves the Olympic sport. He ended up becoming Columbia’s volunteer coach in 2008. As the action played out at the modern Plano sports arena, “this is a reminder of many years ago when I played in Taiwan,” said Santos Shih. Asked who is better, Santos gives the edge to his talented daughter who graduates in May. “We play close, but she has the edge over me.” Stephanie Shih will graduate from the prestigious university in the heart of the Big Apple with a major in Asian Studies and a minor in sociology. Columbia’s team is used to being at the NCTTA’s Big Dance that features the best 250 collegiate table tennis players in North America. It marks the seventh year in a row that Columbia has made it to the NCTTA nationals. Coach Shih expects to return for a fifth season as Columbia’s coach and help players improve their game. “Every year we have some new blood. The roster is in constant change.”Florida Teams Aim to Stay Competitive in Off-Season Although the college table tennis season may have ended in April, several teams from NCTTA’s South Region are looking to keep their skills sharp during the break. Four Florida schools from all corners of the state recently got together for an informal NCTTA off-season tournament. 20-30 players from the Universities of Florida, South Florida, Central Florida, and North Florida turned out for the event, held in Central Florida’s Polk County in Winter Haven. Rap Rap Francisco from UCF helped organize the competition. “I had access to the gym and figured, why not put together a small tournament during the off-season?” Former North Florida team captain Shaun Sapp saw it as a great way to get some of its younger players additional experience in advance of next season. “We decided that since none of our A team roster would be back for next season we could let our future A and B team players get some good experience,” said Sapp. Sapp thinks this kind of off-season preparation will return UNF to its second South Regional in as many years. “The new UNF Team will rise very fast, and I expect them to take the NCTTA Panhandle division this upcoming year!” Both Florida and Central Florida fielded teams with a mix of current students and recent grads, while South Florida was led by former college standout Dave “the forehand slam” Llona. “I will be playing for USF this year while I finish my MBA,” says Llona. Llona graduated from Central Florida in 2010 and is aiming to be the top player in Florida collegiate table tennis in his last season of eligibility. “I’m ready to tear it up!” announces Llona. USATT Membership Discounts for NCTTA Graduates NCTTA has recently teamed with USA Table Tennis to create a special opportunity where recent NCTTA grads can take advantage of USATT membership for 50 percent off of the regular price. Yes, you read that right 50% off. USATT membership is the best way to stay involved with table tennis after graduation. So take advantage of this great deal! Read all about it at: nctta.org/alumni NCTTA takes care of its alumni hoping that they then will return the favor to their collegiate clubs by donating their time or money or both to keep programs and teams alive. Keep involved!Got an idea for a future story or newsletter topic? Email the NCTTA Media Relations Chair. |
| NCTTA
Newsletter - May 2012 Our mailing address is: NCTTA 2322 5th Street #204 Santa Monica, CA 90405 Our website: www.nctta.org Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/collegett Copyright (C) 2012 National Collegiate Table Tennis Association. All rights reserved. |
