By Sushant Lebaka
Press Committee Member

For Jeff Nguyen, table tennis has been a way to compete, travel, and build friendships for more than 20 years. An alumni of UT Austin, Nguyen first got involved as a volunteer coach at UT Austin and later helped players at UTSA and UT Rio Grande Valley.

Those early years took him across Texas for tournaments and visits to local clubs. The friendships he made became one of the reasons he stayed in the sport. “You always end up bumping into them years down the road when you least expect it,” Nguyen says.

Nguyen served as NCTTA’s South Texas Division Director during the 2015–16 season and has recently returned to the role. He has continued to be involved in the community and helped at the control desk at the 2022, 2023, and 2024 NCTTA Nationals, enjoying the chance to be in the midst of the action.

Still an active player, Nguyen has traveled around the country to compete and train at clubs including Lily Yip Table Tennis Club, Atlanta International Table Tennis Academy, and Table Tennis America. Along the way, he has made friends and trained with Olympians and coaches from other countries.

Nguyen returned to the Division Director role because of the talent and energy he sees in South Texas. He wants to give players a welcoming place to compete, improve, and make friends—the same experiences that have kept him involved for two decades.

He is also encouraged by NCTTA’s partnership with Lonestar Table Tennis Academy, a new Austin club working to develop young players in the city and across Texas. Nguyen sees its rapid growth as a promising sign for the local table tennis community.

In the South Region, Anup Gopalakrishnan is our new Georgia director, and we are excited to see what they both do in the coming years!

(Featured in photo is South Texas Division Director Jeff Nguyen)