By Michael Reff

NCTTA Media Relations Committee

Northwestern University is a model school for table tennis team building efforts and results. Just this last regional tournament at Lindenwood, the coed team pulled off a second-place finish by defeating formidable opponent Minnesota in doubles 3-2. It was a heartwarming experience and, as Northwestern coach Ned Leuchtner recalled, “The team came together in an embrace after and there was not a dry eye to be found among us.” This win qualifies them for the NCTTA championships that will take place April 20-22 in Round Rock, Texas.

Northwestern University has had a table tennis program for 10 years, the product of Coach Leuchtner’s hard work, passion and experience being a table tennis student athlete himself growing up in Elkhart, Indiana. “I went on to play in many National Tournaments, and played in the same collegiate tournaments that I coach in now as table tennis champion at Indiana University,” Ned reminisced. Before coaching at Northwestern, he taught table tennis to high schoolers. According to Ned, “I still am in touch with most of my former student athletes, who have gone on to good jobs and live in all parts of the world. They enjoy staying in touch with our program. Quite an honor for me indeed.” This statement epitomizes what college table tennis is all about: fostering athleticism and academics in equal parts.

Like many college table tennis programs among the NCTTA, Northwestern’s club had modest beginnings. For two years, they had to fight for practice times and space with the Ball Room Dancing Club in the Norris Center Student Union building (the author of this article can commiserate with this experience, having had trying times with cheerleading squadrons and volley ball teams in both undergraduate and graduate schools!). Mr. Leuchtner finally, with the accompaniment of the team captain, met with staff from Sports Clubs on campus, and successfully convinced them to move their practice venues to a better facility. “That was 8 years ago, and have not looked back,” Ned stated.

This most recent success at the regionals is due to several factors. One reason is because of the instructive table tennis coaching certification program that NCTTA president Willy Leparulo created. The first classes were conducted in September 2017 at Iowa University and Coach Leuchtner participated in them. He says that what he learned from the course “was to create individual goals for each teammate AND a team goal for the season.” Another factor for the impressive performance has been the team members themselves shining through in leadership roles. Coach Leuchtner cites graduating seniors David Lee and Eddy Lin as pivotal players that have exemplified consistency and tenacity in their respective tenures with the team.

In response to a question on how Northwestern was preparing for the championships in Round Rock, Texas  Coach Leuchtner exuded optimism and was goal-driven. “Our preparation for Nationals, has been to stay the course on our practice schedules and stay focused on the various drills that we do,” he said. Congratulations on a strong finish Northwestern and best of luck at the Nationals!

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). https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Table-Tennis

by Andy Kanengiser

NCTTA Media Chair

A star studded roster of sponsors is signed up for the 2018 national collegiate table championships in the Lone Star State.

The Sports Capital of Texas, Round Rock will be the place to be April 20-22 for the iSet national collegiate table tennis games. Round Rock did a great job hosting the national tournament attracting more than 250 players in 2016. NCTTA leaders anticipate a bigger and even better tournament with its stellar lineup of sponsors on board.

"Our biggest tournament of the year is a huge success thanks to our sponsors,'' says NCTTA President Willy Leparulo. " We can't thank them enough for all they do from one season to the next. This year is no different.''

Sponsors like USA Table Tennis play an awesome role. Based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the group is the national governing board for the support of table tennis in the United States. The organization creates opportunities for athletes and coaches to in participate year-round. They are involved in nearly 300 clubs and over 350 tournaments per year in the USA. USATT sanctions events like the U.S. Open and U.S. Nationals.

In addition, USA Table Tennis officials are responsible for selecting and training teams for international competition including the Pan American and Olympic games. It is a member of the International Table Tennis Federation and is affiliated with the United States Olympic Committee.

Other star sponsors in the 2018 championships lineup include equipment sponsors Double Fish and Gerflor.

Based in Guangzhou, China, Double Fish has been in the table tennis business since 1954. Double Fish balls are used by players at NCTTA tournaments in the USA and Canada earlier in the year. The balls will be flying around and spinning at the April games at the Round Rock Sports Center. Double Fish's bragging points included supplying equipment at the 2017 NCTTA championships in Eau Claire, Wisconsin and at the 2016 ITTF-North America Cup.

Founded in 1937 in Lyon, France, Gerflor is a leading floor manufacturer. The company provides resilient sports flooring.

DHS, the company many know as Double Happiness, served as the official supplier for the World Table Tennis Championships in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017. The company produces balls, rubber blades, bats and other items. DHS was the official supplier at the Olympic games in 2008 and 2012.

The games are now titled after iSet, and NCTTA officials were delighted to welcome them aboard earlier this year, Leparulo noted. "The iSet announcement was a shining moment for us in the collegiate table tennis world.''

When nearly 300 student-athletes, coaches and volunteers travel to the 2018 tournament near Austin, they are likely to encounter several of the event's leading sponsors.

 "Please take the time to thank them for their support of collegiate table tennis,'' Leparulo said. "It would be impossible to stage our premier event of the year without their support. They stand tall in the eyes of NCTTA leaders.''

Consisting entirely of volunteers, the NCTTA is a non-profit that promotes and governs the Olympic sport of table tennis at the college level in North America.

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). https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Table-Tennis

Italian underground DJ/Producer fromerly part of 2GI is booked to DJ at our Champs!

Come ready to spin with "$-money" on and off the tables!

https://soundcloud.com/oldfag4

This weekend at the My Table Tennis club in the Canadian city of Toronto the 2018 NCTTA Great Lakes Regional Championships will take place. This annual event which “ping pongs” back and forth between the USA and Canada (last year taking place in Akron, Ohio) is a who’s who of College Table Tennis greats in the region. The NCTTA Great Lakes region maintains a vast geographical boundary including both the United States and Canada with parts of Upstate NY, Michigan, Ohio and Canadian Provinces of Ontario and Quebec. NCTTA has had a long friendship and history with Canadian College Table Tennis where Canadian teams played alongside their US counterparts since NCTTA’s inception in the 1990’s. 

Great Lakes Regional Director, Keith Lam says, “The host city for Great Lakes have been on a rotation between Toronto and Akron - to balance out the travel between USA/CAN players. This year it will be in Toronto.”

These American and Canadian student athletes will be vying for titles in men’s/women’s singles and men’s/coed and women’s teams. 12 men’s/coed Teams and up to 8 women’s teams will compete for the title as well as the chance to qualify for the 2018 iSET College Table Tennis Championships April 20-22^nd in Round Rock, Texas. Singles play will also be important as the best players from 7 divisions in both the USA and Canada fight for the right to be the best. Up to 24 men’s singles and as many as 12 women’s singles will participate.

College Table Tennis National Championship qualification is on the line for every event. In the men’s/coed teams perennial favorites, University of Michigan look over their proverbial shoulders at the likes of SUNY Binghamton featuring USA star Kai Zhang among others. On the Canadian side Toronto, McGill, Ottawa, Western Ontario and Universite du Montreal are very dangerous! University of Ottawa features Filip Ilijevski, who has been one of the top stars in Canadian Table Tennis, and is currently earning his bachelors at the University of Ottawa in Biomedical Sciences. Not to be outdone, McGill University features not only a table tennis starlet in Canadian Women’s Table Tennis circles but a poet if you will! Carr-Harris is an accomplished writer, look her up on Amazon!

Don’t count out the singles competition! In women’s singles look for University of Toronto’s top player Nadiya Beyeva to lead the competition. On the men’s side, Kai Zhang is heads and shoulders above everyone in the draw. Zhang is a Westchester Table Tennis club product and has been called a master and prodigy in the USA Table Tennis world.

Great Lakes Regionals will be live streamed from Canada! Tune in to see how they and others do as we love to see great competitors rise to the occasion!

2018 NCTTA Great Lakes Regional Championship - Teams (Day 1)
Saturday, March 10 - 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM Eastern time

https://www.youtube.com/embed/nj0cAFPi5CY

2018 NCTTA Great Lakes Regional Championship - Singles (Day 2)
Sunday, March 11 - 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM Eastern time

https://www.youtube.com/embed/ifCc6zNawJ8

Picture by Yujing Cen

This weekend at the Triangle Table Tennis Center  in Morrisville, North Carolina the NCTTA 2018 Mid Atlantic Regionals will take place.  It has become a sort of tradition for the Mid Atlantic Region to host at Triangle. Seemant Teotia states, “They take care of us every year and the student athletes love the environment.”

The NCTTA Mid-Atlantic Region includes schools and college table tennis athletes from the geographic area including the Carolinas, DC, Virginia and Pennsylvania. Around 50 student athletes will be participating in this event for titles in men’s and women’s singles and men’s/coed and women’s team titles. Top winners get to qualify to the coveted NCTTA Championships!

College Table Tennis National Championship qualification is on the line with the top 3 men’s/coed teams qualifying; the top 2 women teams along with the top 8 men singles and top 4 women’s singles also qualify. The iSET 2018 National Collegiate Table Tennis Championships is NCTTA’s premier event.

Pillar College, last year’s rookie team of the region, is now poised as the Region leaders with the highest team rating. It is not a foregone conclusion as Duke University, University of Maryland-College Park and others are in it as well.  Pillar College (from the Pennsylvania Division) from New Jersey actually has dominated their division with former US Olympian player Timothy Wang and former junior star Kaden Xu leading the way.

Maryland features USA international Nathan Hsu while Duke features New Zealand international, Roger Rao. There will be a host of domestic and international favorites!

Men’s and women’s singles should also be interesting. Look for Duke’s Claire Xiao (pictured above) and freshman Sabrina Tran to lead the way in women’s singles while in men’s singles, Pillar College’s Kaden Xu and Timothy Wang may battle. You can never predict sport though.

Check out the Regionals on our live stream!

2018 NCTTA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship
Saturday, March 10 - 10:00 PM to 6:00 PM Pacific time

https://www.youtube.com/embed/TB257TF_lGQ

This weekend at the Westchester Table Tennis club is the NCTTA 2018 Northeast Regionals. These regionals will be a who’s who of Table Tennis stars from Colleges and Universities from New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts.  

College Table Tennis National Championships qualification is on the line with the top 3 men’s/coed teams qualifying; the top 2 women’s teams along with the top 8 men’s singles and top 4 women’s singles will also qualify for the next round. The iSET 2018 National Collegiate Table Tennis Championships is NCTTA’s premier event and is the Super Bowl and World Cup of Collegiate Table Tennis all rolled into one!

Big thanks to the folks at the Westchester Table Tennis club for hosting this great event. Westchester has hosted all NCTTA NYC division tournaments and now the Regionals. Westchester will feature matches this weekend in men’s/coed, women’s teams and men’s and women’s singles.

The contenders from this region in the men’s/coed team are NYU (pictured above) led by National team members Tom Feng and Adar Alguetti, Princeton, Brown and Northeastern University. Rahul Acharya, NCTTA’s NYC Downtown Division Director now plays on the Northeastern University team and they are surprising everyone with their play.  

Watch out for underdogs Brandeis, Tufts and University of Massachusetts-Lowell; they are set  to make the tournament just that much more impactful!  

In women’s team table tennis, watch for NYU and Brown’s teams to be contenders.

Erica Wu from Princeton is the top Women’s Singles player from Princeton University. Wu is in her last year of NCTTA eligibility and will be looking to end her career with a bang!

2018 NCTTA Northeast Regional Championship - Teams (Day 1)
Saturday, March 10 - 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM Eastern time

https://www.youtube.com/embed/qCcPm0SBFkg

2018 NCTTA Northeast Regional Championship - Singles (Day 2)
Sunday, March 11 - 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM Eastern time

https://www.youtube.com/embed/5iT_GH1mFew

This weekend on the campus of University of California at San Diego table tennis players and schools from all over California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado and even Canada (via British Columbia) will partake in the 2018 West Regional Championships!  Don’t miss out on all of the fun; the event is being live streamed here (linked below).

Pictured above are UC San Diego's women's team poised to pull off some big wins!

College Table Tennis National Championship qualification is on the line; qualifying teams will be the top three men’s/coed teams, the top 2 women's teams, the top 8 men's singles, and the top 4 women’s singles. The iSET 2018 National Collegiate Table Tennis Championships is NCTTA’s premier event and is the Super Bowl and World Cup of Collegiate Table Tennis rolled into one!

The West Region, encompassing a number of US States and a Canadian Province, contains some very strong contenders in all categories. Ryan Hsu, NCTTA West Regional Director, says about the strongest schools, “Two very strong contenders from Northern California (UC Davis and UC Berkeley) have a bunch of very high level players.  Berkeley and Davis finished 1^st and 2^nd respectively in NCTTA Northern California Division.” 

Hsu continues, “I think the rest of the region is also fairly strong but in terms of team ratings both Northern California schools are above 11k which none of the other schools comes close to.”

Northern California is no stranger to high quality table tennis with several stand alone table tennis facilities cropping up in the past couple of years. US National team has that area to thank as well, for producing stars like Ariel Hsing (former Princeton standout) and Lily Zhang (current UC Berkeley standout).

Look for the incredible Men’s/Coed and Women’s Team table tennis rivalry between UC Davis and Berkeley. Both schools feature very strong student athletes in each event. UC Davis features a brother and sister team of Kunal and Aditi Chodri as well. That dynamic should play into something very interesting if they are asked to play doubles!  Coach Danny Yip of UC Davis may have some tricks up his sleeve, so tune in to see how it ends up!

Men’s and Women’s singles feature incredible athletes including the aforementioned Kunal Chodri, Teddy Tran (both  former USA Junior team members) and Lily Zhang, 2016 US Olympic team player and also a favorite to lead her team in both Women’s teams as well as Women’s Singles. In addition to Zhang another player to watch is Zhang's teammate, Berkeley Rookie sensation Angela Guan, who featured an off the table defense style.

NCTTA West Regionals kicks off Saturday morning pacific time. Here is the schedule and livestream:

2018 NCTTA West Regional Championship - Coed Teams, Women's Singles (Day 1)
Saturday, February 24 - 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM Pacific time

https://www.youtube.com/embed/3oc2X2C07TU

2018 NCTTA West Regional Championship - Women's Teams, Men's Singles (Day 2)
Sunday, February 25 - 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM Pacific time

https://www.youtube.com/embed/GFQoQlzt840

By Andy Kanengiser
NCTAA Media Chair

Perennial national champ Texas Wesleyan University will soon gear up to host the NCTTA’s South Regional table tennis tournament.

The February 24-25 event on the TWU Rams home turf is booked at the Sid Richardson Center on the Fort Worth campus. Teams coming to the Lone Star State event include: Mississippi College, the University of Florida, the University of Texas, UT-Dallas, UT-Arlington, University of South Florida, Georgia Tech, Florida State University and rookies to the scene Florida Atlantic University.

Texas Wesleyan dominated the action at the Texas divisional tournament on February 10. There were automatic bids going to the South Regionals for the Texas Wesleyan coed team, and women’s squad.

The mighty Rams coed team went a perfect 7-0, while the talented Lady Rams team recorded a solid 3-0 mark.

The Texas Wesleyan Rams had the top four finishers in both women’s singles and men’s singles. For the Lady Rams, Wenting Zha finished No. 1, followed by Yue Wu, Edina Haracic of Bosnia Herzogovina, and freshman Vivaleta Manastyrskaya of Belarus. Jinxin Wang took the men’s singles title, followed by Jishan Liang of China, Bruno Ventura Dos Anjos of Brazil and Jason Plog of Germany.

With a diverse lineup featuring incredible skills, the TWU table tennis roster of 39 players consists of standouts from around the globe. Texas Wesleyan has won 13 national coed team titles over the years. Jasna Rather serves as the university’s table tennis program director. Doru Gheorghe serves as the women’s coach.

The University of Texas Longhorns team from Austin finished second at the divisional tournament in Fort Worth to punch its ticket to the South Regionals.

Mississippi College won the Dixie Division tournament in the Fall with wins over Mississippi State and the University of Alabama. MC proved too much to handle for the visiting MSU Bulldogs on the Clinton campus Feb. 10. The Alabama squad was unable to make the trip to MC on Saturday.

Sparking the MC Choctaws triumph Saturday were such players as assistant coach Tomotaka “Tomo’’ Yoshitomi of Japan, and Xiang “Ali’’ He of China. Both qualified for singles. Players including Weiheng Liu, Tong Zhang, QingWei Sun, Caleb Shipman and Jeremy Gore round out the squad.

MC was selected to the South Regionals as one of the wild card teams along with schools like Florida State and UT-Dallas.

A Dixie Division powerhouse for a decade, Mississippi College upset Texas Wesleyan to narrowly win the 2015 NCTTA national championship in Eau Clare, Wisconsin. MC’s coed team finished in second place at the national championships in 2016 and 4th place last season.

The NCTTA South Regionals and other regional tournaments will be the next big thing for college players in the USA and Canada. The season closes with the iSET 2018 College Table Tennis Championships in Round Rock, Texas April 20-22 with the event near Austin to attract more than 250 college table tennis stars.

Check out the live streams here:

2018 NCTTA South Regional Championship - Teams (Day 1)
Saturday, February 24 - 2:00 PM to 7:00 PM Central time

https://www.youtube.com/embed/XQtmlhFUsz8

2018 NCTTA South Regional Championship - Singles (Day 2)
Sunday, February 25 - 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM Central time

https://www.youtube.com/embed/LLXh15GT1gA

(Pictured above are the UT Arlington doubles squad)

This weekend the NCTTA 2018 Midwest Regionals will be hosted by and held at Lindenwood University, from where it will be live-streamed. 12 schools and more than 60 College Table Tennis student athletes from Midwestern states (such as Missouri, Illinois, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, etc.) will pour into the Lindenwood University campus to battle for the chance at school glory.  

College Table Tennis National Championship qualification is on the line; qualifying teams will be the top three men’s/coed teams, the top 2 women's teams, the top 8 men's singles, and the top 4 women’s singles. The iSET 2018 National Collegiate Table Tennis Championships is NCTTA’s premier event and will be played in Round Rock, Texas this year in April.

The Midwest Region features scholarship school and current host, Lindenwood University. Lindenwood remains a perennial powerhouse in the Midwest, but other schools are looking to make the hosts work to defend their glory.  Northwestern, led by long-time Coach Ned Leuchtner, has a really deep team this year. Look for Northwestern who also qualified in the Women’s team to challenge the top schools. Also, always a favorite, is the University of Minnesota led by John Tranter and Kris Sabas. “The U,” as it is affectionately called, is led by 2 female players. NCTTA is unique in that the Men’s team can be coed as is clearly exemplified with “the U” (University of Minnesota).

Turning to men’s singles and women’s singles, we see a competitive draw on both sides with top men’s singles seeds 1 through 6 from Lindenwood. Brazilian international and Rookie phenom Massao Kohatsu looks to take the title for Lindenwood.  On the women’s side, sister of #1 men’s seed, Kohatsu Martina, is also a favorite as is Yixin Zhang, an ex-champ from Wisconsin, now calling University of Minnesota her new school. Zhang helped the then UW Madison team from 2016 claim 2^nd place in the competition.

NCTTA Midwest Regional Championship starts on Saturday with Team play and finishes on Sunday with Singles.

2018 NCTTA Midwest Regional Championship - Teams (Day 1)
Saturday, February 24 - 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM Central time

https://www.youtube.com/embed/dAjqdbX1O1A

2018 NCTTA Midwest Regional Championship - Singles (Day 2)
Sunday, February 25 - 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM Central time

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Bxc5q4LWw_k