Picture of the team at the 2003 NCTTA Team Championships, with members of the Georgia State University team (Opens a new browser window)
To celebrate its tremendous progress, NCTTA would like to feature one of the Cinderella teams that made it to the semi-finals at the 2003 Championships. We interviewed Mr. Gurhan Gunduz, the director and a valuable member of Indiana University’s table tennis club.
1)When was the club established?
The club was established in spring 2002. After Gurhan Gunduz
transferred to Indiana University from the Florida State University program.
Gurhan, after being very involved in his previous school’s administration
of a table tennis club, decided to start the Indiana University Table
Tennis club in the Spring of 2002.
2) Who's the club president and what are his current objectives/goals
for the club?
The club president is Mehmet Ozturk. We are all working together to
promote the table tennis in our campus and increase our members. We are
also planning to propose a one credit table tennis course at the
university.
3) Can you tell us more about your players on the very successful
Indiana team?
I am originally from Turkey and trained there. I am a two-wing attack
player. Villy Andreeva is from Bulgaria, where she trained and was a
member of the Bulgarian National Team. She is a chopper with long pips on
one side. Zuchi Algaa is from Mongolia but has also spent one year
training in Korea. Michael Golde is our U.S. representative, born and
raised here.
4) How many tournaments do club members participate in? Overall
performance? General performance? Most memorable player during club history
(with picture if possible)
Our club members(not all of them) usually participate around 3
tournaments other than NCTTA in a year. Actually as I mentioned earlier,
2002-2003 was our first year. One of the tournament that we participated,
South Bend tournament, was very successful tournament for us. Gurhan
Gunduz won under 2000, Zuchi Algaa won under 1850 and lost in semifinals
under 2250. In doubles under 4100, Gurhan and Zuchi took the second
place. Since our history is too short, we can say that our current team
players are going to be remembered
5) What environment do club members practice in(venue, tables, any
special club activities to promote the sport and competition)? How often do
you practice?
We play in the University gymnasium twice a week. The place we play in
big enough to fit five tables. We have six tables. We are trying to
get bigger practice space. Unfortunately there is no AC so it is not
easy to practice in summer. We are planning to have regular
competitions like leagues to bring some excitement into our practices.
6) Does the club have a coach? What is your view on players having
coaches and their role?
Our current coach is Gurhan Gunduz. Villy Andreeva is also going to be
coaching. We do not coach the team players, though team members help
each other time to time, since all of them has a lot of experiences in
table tennis. The coach is there to help other members of the club if
they need any.
7) Comments for NCTTA?
I appreciate NCTTA for organizing college tournaments and promoting
table tennis in US. It brings seriousness to table tennis at the college
level. Thanks to them, we have a chance to meet many college level
table tennis players and fans. Table tennis clubs also get more support
from universities by playing in regional and national level competitions.
I thank NCTTA for what they are doing and I believe they will continue
do a good job.