NCTTA

2018 Elections: Candidates and Voting

To all NCTTA member club presidents/representatives:

Candidates for NCTTA board positions have submitted their Statements of
Intent, and voting is now open.

Here are the candidates and links to each one's Statement of Intent:

Vice President External
Joe Wells - http://nctta.org/elections/2018/VicePresidentExternal_JoeWells.pdf

Treasurer
Randy Kendle - http://nctta.org/elections/2018/Treasurer_RandyKendle.pdf

Athlete Representative
Tae Kim - http://nctta.org/elections/2018/AthleteRep_TaeKim.pdf

Please submit your votes by email to elections@nctta.org, with the
following:
1. Your name
2. Your school
3. For each position, Yes or No, in terms of whether you are in support of the candidate
Even though only one candidate is listed for each position, votes need to be
submitted for each of them. If you wish to abstain from voting for a
particular position, then indicate "abstain" for that position.

The deadline for voting is 11:59 PM Eastern Time on Tuesday, June 12.
Only one vote per school will be counted. Invalid votes will not be counted.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask at the email address given above.
Thanks for your participation!

2018 Elections for NCTTA Board of Directors

Submitted by nctta.president on Thu, 05/31/2018 - 10:54am

To NCTTA school club presidents, members, alumni, coaches, and supporters:

The time has come for elections for certain positions on the NCTTA Board of Directors. For those of you interested in further involvement with NCTTA, here is your opportunity to play a crucial role in the direction of the organization, as well as that of college table tennis in the US and beyond.

These are the positions that are open for election. They are 4-year positions.

Vice President External
Treasurer
Athlete Representative

Please remember to read the NCTTA bylaws for qualifications to run and the description for each position:

http://www.nctta.org/doc/NCTTA_Bylaws.pdf

Candidates must submit a Statement of Intent to elections@nctta.org to be approved to run for the NCTTA Board of Directors, Deadine is June 5th.

On or around June 6th, the statements will be posted and approved candidates will be announced.

At that time, voting will begin, and will take place until June 12th. Voting will be done by presidents (or representatives) of each NCTTA member school; each school will have 1 vote for each position.

Training for newly-elected Board members will occur immediately after election is complete and terms will officially begin on July 1.

Please any direct any questions to elections@nctta.org.

To those who decide to run, NCTTA wishes you the best of luck

NCTTA Coaching Certification in Northeast at Zing! Table Tennis

Submitted by nctta.president on Tue, 05/22/2018 - 11:19am

(Pictured above, one of UC Davis coaches, Jace Jackson working with star woman player Aditi Chodri) Pic by James Wang

NCTTA's Coaching Committee has been busy at work setting up yet another College Table Tennis Certification training. For Coaches and fans the first training was last September at the University of Iowa.

NCTTA will send two trainers, Alan Chu and Willy Leparulo to conduct the training. Leparulo says, "I am super excited to be able to bring our talented coaches in NCTTA this training. Alan and I went through it last September and can't wait to meet the new crop of coaches. We are very lucky to be at Zing! Table Tennis Center."

Zing! Table Tennis center is situated very close to 5 well known colleges and the UMass Table Tennis club team practices at Zing as well!

This is open to all current NCTTA Coaches and or others wanting to get involved in Collegiate Table Tennis coaching. This training will also count for USATT Club Coaching Certification.

Click here to register!

What: NCTTA College Table Tennis Coaching Certification: https://sites.google.com/nctta.org/coaching-certification/home

When:

June 30: 9am to noon; 1:30pm to 5pm,

July 1st: 9am to noon; 1pm to 4pm

Where:

Zing! Table Tennis Center

122 Pleasant St Suite 111,

Easthampton, MA 01027

Why: To be able to professionalize College Table Tennis Coaching

Cost: $75.00 per person, click on signup to pay and sign up

Book: One must purchase "ITTF-IPTTC Level 1 Coaching Manual" for the certification: purchase link

NCTTA Best Of The Best Announced

Submitted by nctta.president on Mon, 05/21/2018 - 1:54pm

Every year after the Championships NCTTA celebrates "the best of the best" of the year. NCTTA will award VISA gift cards to each winnes of each category!

(NYU winner of most improved, coach of the year and male athlete of the year pictured above)

This year's winners are:

Male Athlete of the Year: Tom Feng (NYU)
Female Athlete of the Year: Yue Wu (Texas Wesleyan)
Rookie of the Year: Kai Zhang (Binghamton)
Coach of the Year: Yanjun Gao (NYU)
Rookie Team: Bryn Mawr College
Most Improved Team: New York University
Division Director of the Year: Doru Gheorge (Texas Division)
Regional Director of the Year: Ryan Hsu (West Region)

This is what one nominator wrote about Coach Gao from NYU, "This is the second year of Gao being the coach for NYU, and the first time he led the team in the Nationals. Coaching for two very competitive teams and a numbers of players was very difficult and exhausting, but Gao would always be standing there behind and providing vital support for his players."

Ryan Hsu, Regional Director for the West had many positive comments too including "Very accommodating to all teams and very efficient. Runs the tournament very quickly with little delays and ensures that all teams get enough matches. Ryan is also very kind and friendly all the time. Extremely responsive and responds to inquiries extremely quickly."

Congrats to all that were nominated and to our winners!

BEST of the BEST--2018

Submitted by nctta.president on Sun, 05/06/2018 - 6:01pm

Nominate someone today for the NCTTA Superlatives!

Deadline is May 10th

TO NOMINATE SOMEONE

-email your nomination and WHY to this email info@nctta.org by the deadline

-if you want a PUBLIC Shout out post their picture on Instagram tagging @nctta with the hashtag #NCTTAbest2018 and tell us why they are deserving to be recognized!

Categories are here

Male Athlete of the Year
Female Athlete of the Year
Rookie of the Year:
Coach of the Year:
Rookie Team:
Most Improved Team:
Division Director of the Year
Regional Director of the Year

*Rookie Teams are school teams that have never participated in the NCTTA or NCTTA Championships (Subject to NCTTA historical records)

*Rookie of the year are players new to College Table Tennis (they can be any year Freshman/sophomore/junior/senior/graduate student) also subject to NCTTA historical records

*Division and Regional Directors must be current to 2017-18 competition year

This is not only taking into account National Championships, so nominate a team or player that didn't make it to the champs, but make your case for why!

Winners are awarded a gift card!

Mississippi College Table Tennis Team Captures Third Place

Submitted by nctta.president on Mon, 04/23/2018 - 11:12am

By Andy Kanengiser

NCTTA Media

(Picture of Qingwei Sun and Xiang He of Mississippi College, by Enoch Wong)

Mississippi College's table tennis team fought for every point, but came up short against the new champs, New York University.

Led by TEAM USA Olympian Tom Feng, the New Yorkers edged their MC foes three games to two Saturday in the semi-finals at the 2018 national collegiate championships. The event at the Round Rock Sports Center in Texas attracted 276 outstanding college players from schools across the USA and Canada.

Putting up a good fight all weekend, the MC Choctaws took home a third-place trophy. MC team members and Coach Liang Johnson were honored at a table tennis banquet Saturday night. Hours earlier, MC standouts Ali He and Qing Wei Sun, both natives of China, came up a couple of points short in their dazzling doubles match with NYU. The games attracted a big crowd of fans watching some amazing shots.

Next up, NYU defeated perennial champion Texas Wesleyan University in a thrilling match decided in doubles. Playing in Round Rock, near Austin, Texas Wesleyan brought many of their fans cheering the Rams team from Fort Worth. Texas Wesleyan has captured an amazing 13 coed team championships since 2003. Texas Wesleyan's talented Lady Rams squad captured the women's team title at the Round Rock championships.

Prior to the NYU triumph, Mississippi College made history as the only school in the nation to knock off Texas Wesleyan. That happened in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The MC Choctaws prevailed by two points over a potent Rams team in April 2015 to win its only college table table tennis national championship.

In 2016, the Mississippi College squad finished No. 2 in the nation, and came in 4th place in 2017.

"The competition keeps getting stronger every year at schools from New York to California and as far north as Canada,'' says Andy Kanengiser, the Mississippi College team sponsor.

"We hoped for a first-place finish, but getting third was quite an accomplishment,'' added Kanengiser, who's in his 11th season as the MC team sponsor.

Coach Johnson and his players "deserve a great deal of credit for their hard work all season,'' he said.

At the April 20-22 tournament in Round Rock, MC defeated such schools as Maryland, Minnesota, Brandeis University and Northeastern University of Boston. When all was said and done, MC's third-place finish was better than such schools as the University of Florida, Northwestern, and Texas.

Tomotaka Yoshitomi, Ali He, Qing Wei Sun, Weiheng Liu, Caleb Shipman, Captain Harry Sharma, Tong Zhang, and Jeremy Gore comprise the Blue & Gold squad in 2017-18. MC paddled it way to become the Dixie Division champion prior to the three-day tournament in Texas. MC finished No. 2 behind Texas Wesleyan in the South Regionals on the Fort Worth campus in late February.

The 2018 iSet national table tennis championships wrapped up Sunday with singles action that saw several MC players competing. Prior to the tournament, Tomo Yoshitomi was ranked the nation's third best men's singles player at the collegiate level.

The National Collegiate Table Tennis Association oversees the Olympic sport played at more than 175 colleges across the USA and Canada. The NCTTA's 2019 championships will be played next April in Greensboro, North Carolina.

The 2018 iSET College Table Tennis Championships is hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Round Rock CVB and is one of the premier 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 iSET, Double Happiness, Gerflor, Double Fish and USA Table Tennis

Players and spectators alike will enjoy a jam-packed weekend of table tennis at the iSET College Table Tennis Championships. The event starts Friday April 20th and continues through Sunday April 22^nd.

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

NCTTA Bids Farewell to Class of 2018

Submitted by nctta.president on Sun, 04/22/2018 - 7:29pm

by Andy Kanengiser

NCTTA Media Chair

(Picture of Tina Wang, picture by Grant Bergmann)

University of Texas senior Tina Wang is wrapping up her career as a Longhorns table tennis player.

For Wang, 21, finishing the season as a player at the 2018 iSet national collegiate table tennis championships, is a terrific way to wrap things up.

The Dallas area resident is surrounded by UT teammates and friends at the lively tournament at the Round Rock Sports Center in late April.

Her final showing as a college player for the UT Longhorns on a national stage is bittersweet. There were many nice memories playing for Texas table tennis teams the past three years. But she and other members of the NCTTA Class of 2018 have big dreams ahead.

A UT business major who graduates in May, Tina will move to McLean, Virginia where she will work in project management with the Capital One bank.

A native of Taiwan who moved to the USA as a young girl, Wang played the Olympic sport for 11 years. If time permits, she will compete in Virginia and the DC area. The Allen, Texas resident brings much to the table on & off the court.

But on Saturday afternoon, Tina was just happy to enjoy the moment with friends as she waited in the lunch line at the classy tournament sports complex. The Round Rock Sports Center is only a 15 minute ride fromn the UT campus at Austin. So there were plenty of UT-Austin fans roaming around to cheer the Longhorns.

The UCLA Bruins fan base in the Lone Star State isn't nearly as strong. A table tennis standout for UCLA since he was a freshman four years ago, David Zeng, 22, is closing out his collegiate career in table tennis as a member of the Class of 2018.

An environmental science major who grew up in inner city Oakland, California, Zeng is thinking ahead. After graduating from UCLA in June, he plans to move to Mexico to learn Spanish. Getting involved in efforts to protect the planet's environment and taking part in social causes are things on his post-UCLA agenda. And he wants to travel.

David grew up playing table tennis with his parents in California, then honed his skills at an Oakland recreation center, starting as a 10-year-old. Table tennis, he said, "is a big part of my life.''

Zeng joined his UCLA teammates at NCTTA national championships in Eau Claire, Wisconsin in 2015 and Round Rock in 2016. Then, it was back to Eau Claire in 2017, and finally Round Rock in 2018. Quite a run for David Zeng and his UCLA teammate, senior Nathaniel Chu, 21, a computer science major from Milpitas, California. David Zeng served as the UCLA club president this year.

NCTTA leaders extend their best wishes to others in the Class of 2018, including Lindenwood University senior Jake Arciniega. The 29-year-old Traverse City, Michigan native played for the first time at the NCTTA Nationals this month.

An interactive media and web design major on the Saint Charles, Missouri campus, Jake graduates from Lindenwood on May 5. Once the tournament ends Sunday, he turns his focus to a bunch of job interviews next wek. The four-year Lindenwood player should be an asset to the competive and creative world of web design.

Summing up his college table tennis days on the powerhouse Lindenwood Lions team, Jake says he loved competing with "a cool and good group of guys. I learned a lot. It's been a great experience.'' Lindenwood's coed team is diverse with players from Guyana, Brazil, Nepal, China and the USA.

Jarol Duerksen and his wife, Leah, who run the NCTTA practice tables at tournaments each year, say they will miss the soon-to-be college grads. The Iowa City couple hopes the players stay involved as NCTTA volunteers down the road.

Graduation is coming soon for two hard-working University of Minnesota table tennis veterans. Head coach John Tranter says it's been amazing to see two graduate students compete on the talented squad and work on their doctorates.

But that's what Minnesota players Gautham Gampa and Pin-Kaung Lai did. A native of Hyderabad, India, Gampa, 25, is working on a degree in pharmaceutics. A native of Taipei,Taiwan, Lai, 29, is seeking his degree in chemical engineering at the school in Minneapolis.

NCTTA President Willy Leparulo is delighted to see all 276 players from schools in the USA & Canada compete at the April 20-22 championships.

"But we especially want to thank the Class of 2018 as graduation day nears. Congrats and best wishes ahead to these stellar student-athletes,'' Leparulo said. "Doors will always be open to our grads to serve as NCTTA volunteers in future years.''

About NCTTA

About USA Table Tennis

Anna Squared:

Submitted by nctta.president on Sun, 04/22/2018 - 7:25pm

By Michael Reff

When Anna LaRocco Masi met Anna Du

Their life journeys became intertwined,

It started as a table tennis introduction anew,

And later blossomed into more interests aligned.

LaRocco Masi started playing in church on Sundays,

Du played recreationally since she was five,

2014 was their initial pong craze,

And with shared namesakes a friendship sparked alive.

Their GWU club is full of diversity and inclusion,

They are the co-captains and copresidents of the team,

They foster a sense of community and in doing this,

Have left a legacy for future players’ dreams.

The women’s team advanced from 2^nd place in regionals,

Into the nationals through a 3 way tie,

It’s the Annas’ last years at GWU so it’s reasonable,

To say they were proud of making it so high.

So what will do after they graduate?
The Annas have their plans all set.

First Peace Corps and then there’s more,

They’ll help volunteer at NCTTA events.

About NCTTA

About USA Table Tennis

Singles Presses On

Submitted by nctta.president on Sun, 04/22/2018 - 8:26am

By Michael Reff

(Picture of Ramy Noseir, Florida State by Enoch Wong)

The Men’s Singles round robin group took off in the early morning of Saturday April 21 for the 2018 iSET NCTTA Championships. Four players per group battled it out to obtain the coveted top two positions to progress through to the championship single elimination round. Although competition mostly went according to the rankings, there were some close calls and minor upsets in the fight for the second seed of the groups.

One such standoff was Juan Maldonado (ranked 50) of Wright State, and David Lee (ranked 3) of Northwestern University. Lee is rated 2145 and is the number one player for Northwestern. Maldonado is 2063. Although Maldonado was the lower rated player, he managed to climb up the scoreboard two games to zero and 5-2 before there was a timeout called and the momentum shifted. Lee stuck to his guns and fought his way to deuce, winning the third game 12-10. With Lee serving at 4-5 on the fourth game, he produced an excellent reverse pendulum serve to Maldonado’s backhand, which earned Lee the point. At one time, Lee was up 10-5, but Maldonado maintained composure and managed to save five game points to tie it up at deuce. Ultimately Lee regained concentration and won the fourth game 12-10 as well.

In the fifth and deciding set, Lee and Maldonado exchanged points early on, but at 7-7 Lee looped to Maldonado’s backhand for a winner that initiated a surge of momentum to win him the set and the match at 11-7 three games to two. This was quite the scare for the higher rated Lee, but a well-deserved victory.

Moving on to another close competition that had a minor upset win were FSU’s Ramy Noseir (ranked 45 and rated 2124) and University of British Columbia’s Hok Kei Au (ranked 49 and rated 2073). Both had similar two-winged attacker styles, with Noseir favoring his forehand more and switching to fishing/lobbing when needed. Noseir and Au duked it out, with Noseir claiming the first game 11-9. His serves were causing Au a lot of difficulties. In the second game, Noseir used more forehand serves instead of his trademark backhand ones, but ultimately Au won this set. Noseir won the next game, and then the turning point occurred in the fourth game, where Au was up 9-8 and a timeout was called. At 8-10 Noseir served and Au scored a winner, yielding the game count to 2-2.

In the final set, both players fought hard, with Noseir lobbing and retrieving several great shots but ultimately losing the points to Au. The final score was 11-7 in favor of Au 3-2. This was a small but great upset for Au, and he will continue into the championship elimination bracket.

Competition is heating up as the fight for the glory continues at the 2018 iSET NCTTA Championships!

About NCTTA

About USA Table Tennis

Age Is Just A Number

Submitted by nctta.president on Sun, 04/22/2018 - 8:20am

By Michael Reff

Marcelo Calle is a shining example of how age is just a number, especially in the table tennis world. Donned the "Ecuadorian Uncle", at 48 years young, he is the most senior member participating in the 2018 iSET NCTTA Championships in Round Rock, Texas. Mr. Calle is a doctoral candidate at the University of Florida majoring in agricultural and biological engineering, with a minor in entrepreneurship. With a smile he said simply, “It’s agribusiness.” With an NCTTA rating of 2253, he is UF’s number two seed this year. UF had a strong run in teams this Championships, tying for 9^th place.

Mr. Calle is no stranger to the Olympic sport of table tennis. He is from Cuenca, Ecuador and had a paddle in hand at age 10. He played from 1979 all the way up through 1996 until he took a long hiatus from the sport, returning only 2 years ago to participate in studies and table tennis at UF. During his earlier years, he had several noteworthy experiences, including spending three months in a Japanese training dojo for table tennis in 1987, and participating in the 1989 World Table Tennis championship hosted by Dortmund, Germany. About these experiences, he noted “In South America, it’s difficult to play in Europe or Asia.” Therefore, these opportunities were never taken for granted and always cherished. Mr. Calle also stated that his family was a major source of support for him on these ventures.

So, what made him return to the amazing sport of table tennis? Well, the answer is about health. Mr. Calle said, “It’s good for exercise while studying at UF.” He believes he has a lot more energy to perform well in studies as well as table tennis and overall life in general. Also, he stated, when playing he can “Forget studies and forget family problems.”

When asked about how he thought UF fared this year, he was clearly proud and happy for himself and his teammates. A 9^th place finish in the nation’s highest college table tennis tournament is not such a bad credential. The last entry into national’s for a UF team was 2014. Mr. Calle said, at UF there’s “good people training” and a “good opportunity to motivate.” He wants to lead by example, showing that it’s never too late to be a college table tennis player, balancing the work, studies, and in many cases, the family load.

Mr. Calle has some simple, but sage advice to aspiring table tennis players. “Keep playing!” he exclaimed. “Table tennis is a sport that needs discipline that mixes with a high level of study.” Mr. Calle sets a commendable example for others that have taken long breaks from the sport and then returned with a vengeance.

About NCTTA

About USA Table Tennis

Pages