NCTTA welcomes iSET Network Development as the new title sponsor of the NCTTA finals. iSET is a new startup Canadian company involved in sport entertainment technology development.
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NCTTA welcomes Double Happiness as the official table sponsor of the iSET College Table Tennis Championships.
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NCTTA welcomes Double Fish as the official ball sponsor of NCTTA competitions.
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NCTTA welcomes Butterfly as the official sponsor of NCTTA's Coaching Certification Trainings. Butterfly produces high performance table tennis equipment of high quality in order to satisfy the requirements of all players.
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Tokyo Paralympic Medalists! 🥇🥉
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Congratulations to Ian Seidenfeld and Jenson Van Emburgh for winning Gold and Bronze medals respectively at the Tokyo Paralympic Games!
Ian is a student athlete at the University of Minnesota and Jenson is a student athlete at Florida Southern.
Photo Credit: Vlad Farcas, NCTTA South Texas Division Director
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College Table Tennis is back after a 1.5 year layoff due to the pandemic!
I don’t want to jinx it but I will say it anyway: the world is opening up, vaccinations are available and NCTTA is up and running too!
NCTTA’s expectation is that those who can be vaccinated will be, and those who cannot, will take precautions for themselves and others in their proximity.
NCTTA is still being careful, cautious and considerate but college table tennis is back! We as an organization will follow college and university guidelines on the matter as well.
- Women’s teams must go through the same registration as Men’s/Coed teams and now cost $20.
- We have pictures of what works and doesn’t work for the Uniform rule (hopefully making it easier to understand).
- Rosters are due 72 hours before the competition, and if they are not turned in they will be ordered randomly.
School teams needing equipment, tables, rubber, etc. take a look at Megaspin!
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NCTTA Registration Opens September 7 📝
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Look for NCTTA registration for the 2021-2022 league season to be open on Tuesday September 7th on nctta.org!
Deadline is Friday October 1st.
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NCTTA National Fundraiser and Alumni Affairs 🌐
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NCTTA’s National Fundraising Campaign is coming to an end. This past summer, we conducted many events including the NCTTA Summer Parties. If you haven’t had the chance to give, please consider it now!
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Dollar for Dollar up to $100k of our fundraiser will be matched. We appreciate the more than 115 donors to our campaign already!
For those who attended the NCTTA Summer Parties at 888 or SPIN or even virtually, if you liked what you saw, we would love to hear from you. Check out this short clip from the NCTTA Virtual party about the alumni party!
NCTTA Alumni Association needs new members - if you are interested in coordinating parties in your city, hanging out with College TT alumni and know how to have a good time…then we are looking for you!
Contact alumni@nctta.org to get more information and fill out our database!
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By Michael Reff
NCTTA Media Committee
Tokyo 2020 was one for the books,
Lots of loudnproud passion, with focus determined looks.
We had an assortment of NCTTA alums who pledged to thrill,
From USA’s Lily Zhang to Guyana’s Chelsea Edghill.
Their table tennis prowess combined with pride for their nations,
They fought valiantly with verve and point by point celebrations.
Though the pandemic put a damper on having lots of spectators,
We salute you NCTTA alum crew, and hope to see you in Paris later!
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SPIN NYC & 888 TTC Summer Parties 🎉
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By Emily Huang
NCTTA Media Intern
On Sunday August 8, NCTTA players, alumni and friends came together to celebrate the organization at two parties held in New York and California. The summer event united generations of NCTTA members and was sponsored by Joola, Stupa Analytics and Rotary Sports Unlimited. NCTTA President Willy Leparulo also hosted a live Zoom event for those unable to attend in-person.
The East Coast party welcomed 61 attendees to the private room of SPIN NYC, where many celebrities have been before. To ensure public safety, the organizing committee checked everyone’s vaccination status and temperature upon arrival. The few people that did not present a vaccination record were asked to keep their mask on.
Attendees were incredibly diverse in terms of race, gender and age, including high school graduates, current college students, recent college graduates and older alumni. Several walk-in guests also attended after being invited by friends. People mostly played doubles, and the yelling and screaming made hearing the Zoom meeting on the TV impossible.
Thomas Hu, the party coordinator, said “the excitement there was incredible.” SPIN generously extended their hours until 9:30pm for the party to be a full two hours. Hu noted that “everyone was really happy about the event. At the end of the night, many of them were asking when the next one will be.”
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Over on the West Coast, 33 people attended the party at 888 Table Tennis Center in the Bay Area. All 25 members who RSVP’d came, with a few at the door entrants. There was mingling between alumni as people were happy to see old friends and meet new people. Nikhil Kumar and Kanak Jha, two US Olympians, were present to chat and take pictures with people. Jay Monga, the party coordinator, said “we were really fortunate that they found time to come in their busy schedules, especially right after Tokyo.”
He held a raffle to keep people engaged, awarding Joola prize kits and NCTTA t-shirts. Hiccups aside, kudos to the East and West Coast hosts for running the first of many future successful NCTTA parties!
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A Call to Write for NCTTA 🖊️
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NCTTA has openings in the Media Committee!
Do you like to write and interview players? Do you have a journalism or English background and are looking for something to pad your resume, or are already in the industry and looking to give back?
If the answer is yes to any of the above questions, then maybe the NCTTA Media Committee is for you! NCTTA’s own Media Committee is looking for writers; to join us, please contact michael.reff@nctta.org for more information.
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First In-Person Coaches’ Training Amid Pandemic a Success 💯
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By Michael Reff
NCTTA Media Committee
On August 14-15, three experienced NCTTA leaders conducted a coaches certification training hosted by AGTTA president Brian Crisp at his club in Norcross, GA. The training was sponsored by the stellar table tennis equipment company Butterfly.
The two-day crash course was the first in-person training since 2019, due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Dr. Alan Chu, chair of Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology at the University of Wisconsin- Green Bay, provided table tennis technical expertise as well as theoretical and practical applications of coaching methods. NCTTA President and FSU table tennis coach Willy Leparulo contributed specific info on the NCTTA system of tournament structure, while former FSU table tennis co-coach Logan Zimmerman rounded out the trio of teachers with unique kinesiology input borrowed from his other love of golf.
The ten attendees varied in age and skill level, ranging from 15 to around 60 years old. The course “was organized similar to previous training, although we intentionally started with NCTTA information because we realized that most of the attendees were not as familiar with NCTTA as previous attendees did,” Dr. Chu said. “We were able to get into the on-the-table training and multi-ball feeding more quickly because the attendees were a little more experienced.” Included in the course was even an ITTF Level 3 Certified Coach, Angelo Black who had much success in the Columbia Table Tennis system before moving to the United States.
Dr. Chu also said that since many of the students already had experience training players, the class was run as more of a communicative exchange “rather than solely the lecture format.”
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When asked what he thought of Mr. Crisp’s AGTTA venue, Dr. Chu remarked, “It was great! We were able to have a quiet and large space for the whole Saturday and most of Sunday. The setup was easy, and Brian helped a lot with the logistics. He even offered a free shirt to Willy, Logan, and me!”
With such a great setting to teach (AGTTA is also the venue for NCTTA’s Georgia division!), and an assortment of aspiring NCTTA coaches eager to learn more about this noble path, the event was bound to be a success. Dr. Chu observed that the “diversity of the attendees helped with brainstorming coaching ideas.”
Dr. Chu recommends future NCTTA coaches to “Join our coaching community to discuss ideas on how to make things better for their teams and college table tennis in general. We are always open to listen and help any way we can.”
Congratulations to the newest certified NCTTA coaches and we look forward to watching your respective teams achieve victory through the spirit of leadership, loudnproud passion and teamwork!
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Steven Nguyen - Graphics Intern 💻
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Hometown: Bellevue, Washington
College: University of Washington
Major: Interdisciplinary Visual Arts (Animation Research Labs Student)
Why did you want to get involved with NCTTA?
As a new enthusiast of table tennis, I wanted to surround myself with a community that's passionate about the work. I was also interested in developing my UI/UX design skills to expand areas of both technology and art.
Summer plans besides working for NCTTA?
Currently taking 19 credits during the summer quarter, I just look forward to leaving my room. Hopefully, before the Autumn quarter starts, I can get back into BJJ, Table Tennis, and some traveling.
Favorite quote?
"I am an early bird and a night owl... so I am wise and I have worms." - Michael Scott
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