Help NCTTA Fundraise By Going Online!

Have you ever thought to yourself, "I would like to help out NCTTA and college table tennis but I just don't have the time with work and stuff?" I am sure lots of you say this and truly mean it, but what if we told you that a small percentage of your online searches, and or purchases, could go to help college table tennis?

First, by using www.goodsearch.com and designating "National Collegiate Table Tennis Association" as your designated charity you can help NCTTA gain 1 cent per search! Yes a penny isn't much but with over 6,000 NCTTA fans out there, every little bit helps.

Second, is Amazon Smile. Amazon Smile will now donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible Amazon Smile purchases to National Collegiate Table Tennis Association when you shop at Amazon Smile

Now you have a couple quick and easy ways to help out college table tennis.

Seemant Teotia Boosts NCTTA Divisions

By Andy Kanengiser

NCTTA Media Committee Chair 

Seemant Teotia always steps things up a few notches when it comes to his tireless work behind the scenes with the NCTTA.

The founder of the Virginia Tech table tennis club in 2003 and outstanding player at the Blacksburg school through 2008, Seemant wears many hats as an NCTTA leader these days.

Seemant says his solid friendship with AITTA co-owner Shigang Yang is paying some dividends for college players. It's paved the way for $10 discounts for NCTTA players signing up for tournaments hosted by the AITTA.

Yang is a major player in table tennis circles. He's served as head coach for the USA Junior National Team and is a former World University Games champion.

"Our hope is that other USATT tournaments will follow Yang's footsteps and give NCTTA discounts," Leparulo says. "It is a great idea and should bring in more college students into tournaments. It's a win-win for everyone involved."  As for Seemant, Willy can't say enough good things about this NCTTA workhorse.

"Seemant is an integral part of our NCTTA family who wears so many hats," Leparulo said. "We thought it would be nice if he could serve as a mentor to our new Georgia Division directors since he lives in Atlanta."

Finishing Strong

With a new year upon us, for many schools there is a lot of unfinished business coming up in college table tennis competition. Divisions play once in the fall semester and then again in the spring semester, and generally the top schools from the fall want to finish strong guaranteeing their place in the NCTTA post season!

Buffalo is still the team to beat in the NCTTA Upstate New York division, but they don't have it easy with Cornell in second and Syracuse in third putting pressure on them. Ariel Chen, Upstate NY Division Director and former Syracuse University player tells us, "UB is the school to beat in this division."

Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is taking up hosting duties this semester with their 10 to 12 tables. Syracuse University has a secret weapon in a former Indian National player joining their squad for this semester that according to Chen, "SU's ex-Indian national team player may beat UB's ex-Brazilian national team player!" Only time will tell, check out the NCTTA Upstate NY Division tournament on February 1st at RIT!

Pictured below is NCTTA Upstate NY Division Director, Ariel Chen, and Syracuse University team.

Syracuse University and Upstate NY Division Director, Ariel Chen (far right)

NCTTA's Central Plains division has an interesting dynamic with the Wichita State University table tennis team dominating the division for almost an entire decade. They are their division's Texas Wesleyan, winning divisional titles 6 years running and appearing at the Championships in 5 different years.

Pictured below is the Wichita State Table Tennis team at NCTTA last semester.

Wichita State University

John Potochnik, NCTTA's division director, says: "WSU understands that they have a good team, but that everything is relative. Most of their players are "home grown" meaning that they learned most of their skills practicing on the WSU team (as compared to many of the best collegiate table tennis players who are accomplished players before they enter college). WSU is looking to continue their winning ways and get a 7th division title, check out the NCTTA Central Plains division at University of Kansas on February 8th!

Over on the east coast, the NCTTA DC Division gets going on February 8th with team play at George Washington University's campus. DC division director Brandon Lawrence tells us, "UMD is the clear favorite, the real battle will be for second place between UMBC, JHU and GW." Second place is important because wildcards could be invited from this division as well!

Pictured is a team picture of the George Washington Table Tennis team at a recent NCTTA tournament.

George Washington Team

McMaster University Emerges As Table Tennis Powerhouse In Canada

By Andy Kanengiser

NCTTA Media Committee Chair

McMaster University is a growing public research-driven institution that's booming with nearly 30,000 students.  It's one of the biggest attractions and economic drivers in Hamilton, the port city in the Canadian Province of Ontario.

In early January when snow seldom disappears from Canada's landscape and wind chill factors are ridiculous, folks are warming up to the awesome performances of the McMaster University table tennis team.

The McMaster bunch is led by four incredible freshmen who are standout members of Canada's National Team. Players like Klement Yeung, Dun Li, Max Xia and Michelle Liaw are stepping things up and transforming the McMaster University Marauders into a table tennis powerhouse in collegiate circles.

At the NCTTA's most recent divisional tournament, McMaster knocked off Canada's traditional powers like the University of Toronto and the University of Western Ontario.

"McMaster held a near perfect record at the (fall) tournament," says NCTTA Great Lakes Division Director Keith Lam. Western Ontario exchange student Ken Chong of Hong Kong was the only one to win a match against any McMaster player. He managed to defeat Klement Yeung in some awfully close games. When all was said and done, Ken won it three games to one.

Look for more good things to come for McMaster players in the new year with the championships just three months away.

"McMaster will be a force at the Great Lakes Regional Tournament and the 2015 TMS College Table Tennis Championships" in Wisconsin in April, Keith Lam says.

McMaster is part of Canada's Greater Toronto Division. The school's alumni include funny movie stars like Martin Short and John Candy, but nobody is laughing at their superb table tennis team.

In the Canada East Division, things are looking up, too. That's in large part due to the behind the scenes work of NCTTA alumni like Pierre Luc Hinse and Yang Jiang. The two former collegiate table tennis stars teamed up as co-directors of the division in the Montreal/Ottawa area. Three schools took part in the Fall tournament: McGill University, the University of Ottawa and ETS (Ecole de Technologie Superieure).

Pictured below is the undefeated McMaster University table tennis team.

McMaster University Team

NCTTA Leaders To Select A 2016 TMS Championships Site

By Andy Kanengiser

NCTTA Media Committee Chair 

NCTTA leaders sized up Eau Claire's airport, hotels, table tennis facilities, volunteer support and other factors before selecting the Wisconsin city to host the 2015 TMS College Table Tennis Championships in April 2015.

The city of 65,883 in Western Wisconsin, or about 90 miles east of Minneapolis-St. Paul, will be the place where North America's top collegiate table tennis players will play their hearts out from April 10-12.

The home of beautiful parks, the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and a helpful Eau Claire Sports Commission is the place where our fantastic games will be played in just three short months.

It's January 2015, the start of the new year, and NCTTA's leadership team is tasked to make another key decision - where to locate the April 2016 championship games.

The process is already unfolding. We are starting to hear from cities around the nation that want to host our championship games. The NCTTA will make a final decision come May 15, 2015.

As bids come in, we want to get the NCTTA family involved from coast to coast. We govern table tennis tournaments at more than 150 colleges in the USA and Canada. Later this year, we will seek your input as we narrow down the list and seek to select the best possible site. Please take time to evaluate the proposals we will post on the NCTTA website at a later date in 2015.

The 2014 TMS College Table Tennis Championship games were played in Monroeville, Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh. The 2013 tournament was held in Rockford, Illinois, about 60 miles from Chicago. The 2012 games landed in Plano, Texas near Dallas.

Cities like Rochester, Minnesota (home of the famed Mayo Clinic) and Columbus, Ohio (on the Ohio State campus) hosted our games in years past. We've been to California, too. We like to move the games around, but also want to find the best possible venue for our players, coaches, fans and one that fits our budget.

As the NCTTA gets ready to crank up its spring season, we extend our best wishes for the new year. At NCTTA headquarters we value your input as we draw closer to selecting a site for the 2016 games. Stay tuned.

For more information check out our NCTTA Bidding Guidelines and Application located here under "2016 Championships": http://nctta.org/documents.

NCTTA has recently teamed with USA Table Tennis to create a special opportunity where recent NCTTA grads can take advantage of a 2-year USATT membership for 62 percent off of the regular price.  Yes, you read that right 62% off.  USATT membership is the best way to stay involved with table tennis after graduation.  So take advantage of this great deal!

Read all about it at:  nctta.org/alumni  

Got an idea for a future story or newsletter topic?  Email the NCTTA Media Committee Chair.