By Andy Kanengiser
NCTTA Media Chair

Mark Wei does a super job as the NCTTA's Northern California Division director.

A bright software engineer at Google, Mark excels on the volleyball court, too.

But when it comes to his favorite Olympic sport, the former University of California table tennis club standout always brings his A game to the table.

That was the case when Mark paddled his way to victory at the 2nd annual Google (MTV) table tennis tournament. The event in late May at Charlie's Cafe attracted 200 awesome players.  

The only time that Mark was defeated it was strictly an exhibition match. He lost three straight games to a table tennis superstar, Lily Zhang of the University of California. Lily reigns as the 2015 collegiate women's singles champion. It's an honor the Cal student earned with her excellent play at the TMS College Table Tennis Championships in Wisconsin in April. Lily is also expected to be playing on the USA Olympic Table Tennis Team in 2016.

So really, Mark Wei shouldn't feel too bad losing to Lily Zhang.She's an amazing and very talented student-athlete!

Word of Mark's triumph reached NCTTA headquarters, and got a big thumbs up from his colleagues.  NCTTA leaders are quick to congratulate Mark for his recent Google triumph. But he's also to be commended for his hard work in a strong Northern California Division. He oversees teams like Cal that saw its women's team receive a second place trophy at the 2015 NCTTA championships in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Cal's coed team landed in 5th place at the games in Green Bay Packers Country April 10-12.

Division leaders like Mark Wei are the bread and butter of the NCTTA. The organization governs the sport of table tennis at more than 150 colleges in the USA and Canada.

The Google software engineer is a productive part of the NCTTA family during the season stretching from late August into mid-April. "The NCTTA is thankful for Mark, an NCTTA alum himself for being at the helm of such a competitive division as Northern California,'' says NCTTA President Willy Leparulo.

Want more information about the Google table tennis tournament on May 22? Try looking for YouTube videos, and there should be plenty of photos floating around on the web. Having no luck? Then just Google it!

By Andy Kanengiser

In the heart of the Silicon Valley, there's plenty of buzz this summer about the TopSpin table tennis club.

It took some investments, and lots of paperwork to sign, but Kevin Korb stepped up to purchase a San Jose club on the brink of closing in June.

A former standout with the University of Southern California's Ping Pong Posse, Kevin acted quickly to keep the doors open at the spacious eight-year-old club.

It's now early July, and he's pumped about what the future holds for players at this California table tennis paradise.

"I could not be more excited about the opportunity to make my mark on the world of table tennis,'' Korb says. "I hope that my efforts to promote the sport inspire the next generation of table tennis stars!''  

But he got pretty serious in a hurry. About one month after the NCTTA games wrapped up in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Korb returned to Northern California after finishing another year at USC on May 16. He discovered the TopSpin table tennis club was scheduled to close June 1. "What followed can only be described as the most hectic time of my life.''

His parents helped him receive financial backing, but he fully owns all the assets in his name. He signed papers on June 17 as the club's new owner. He succeeded previous owner Tung Huynh.

The club is now officially in Kevin's hands, so what's next?

"The future holds all sorts of new exciting developments as I look to embrace the club motto of 'table tennis to the masses!,'' with July seeing the launch of The TopSpin Academy and the return of the TopSpin Saturday League.''

He's sounding the trumpets and asking if any NCTTA alums or current players are interested in coaching or front desk duties at TopSpin. He's also cranked out a brand new website at TheTopSpin.com and taken other steps to get the word out about the TopSpin club via social media.

Look for Kevin Korb to return to his USC studies as a junior in Fall 2016. At the private university in Los Angeles, the USC Trojan is a psychology major. He's minoring in consumer behavior and entrepreneurship.

NCTTA President Willy Leparulo applauds Kevin's bold business move and sees opportunities for partnerships ahead.

"We hope the NCTTA and TopSpin can work together to better promote table tennis,'' Leparulo said. "Kevin is such a colorful character. We hope to see him back at USC.''

Taking a year off from school to pursue his dreams is really a fantastic opportunity for the Southern Cal table tennis star.

A back injury during the summer after high school ended Korb's hopes of launching a college volleyball career. Sporting a solid rating of 2000, Kevin says his table tennis hobby soon became his passion.

People can find Kevin on Twitter at twitter.com/korbkid or reach him by calling The TopSpin at 408-970-5078 or by email at info@thetopspin.com.

By Andy Kanengiser

NCTTA Media Chair

Playing exhibitions at a Clinton bowling alley and at a Mississippi Braves minor league baseball game in Pearl are just a few of the fun events for the No. 1 ranked Mississippi College table tennis team.

As rock music blared, amazed Clinton kids watched MC table tennis coach & captain Cheng Li defeat all opponents at the Indian Lanes bowling alley.

"It was fun,'' Li said of the Friday night exhibition at the Indian Lanes bowling alley, a few miles from the Clinton campus.

Cheng Li took on challengers like Zhicheng "Johnson'' Liang, the MC assistant coach, the bowling alley owner and a couple of Clinton kids. He offered a few tips to players,young and old, before the hour-long event came to an end on July 10.

Such is life for the Mississippi College team after winning its first team title at the 2015 TMS National College Table Tennis Championships in Wisconsin in April. MC edged mighty Texas Wesleyan, the national champions for an incredible 11 straight seasons.

Just days after the triumph at the University of Wisconsin- Eau Claire,, the MC team was challenged to an exhibition on the Clinton campus. They would face "New York Times'' crossword puzzle editor Will Shortz and Robert Roberts, a three-time Caribbean table tennis champ. Shortz is the owner of the Westchester Table Tennis Center in New York. Will is known to millions of listeners nationwide as the National Public Radio Puzzlemaster and he's written many books on crossword puzzles. But he's also a terrific table tennis player and wonderful advocate of the sport.

Following that well-attended exhibition at Alumni Hall, the MC players showed off their extraordinary skills at 7,000-seat Trustmark Park in Pearl. They played fans and even Marvel cartoon characters like Captain America as the Mississippi Braves battled a Southern League rival on the diamond. It was another fun-filled event for players like Cheng Li and Tong Zhang, the 2015 table tennis collegiate men's doubles champs.

Several Mississippi political leaders have been getting in on a blitz of honors for MC's table tennis stars. Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, Congressmen Gregg Harper and Bennie Thompson and the Mississippi Senate have all authored resolutions commending the MC team for their win in Wisconsin.

Mississippi College President Lee Royce and his wife, Rhoda, recently saluted the team at a special dinner on the Clinton campus. It was held at their new presidential residence, known as the Phillips House.

Cheng Li, Tong Zhang and teammates Yi Chi Zhang and Tyler Brogdon are enjoying the extra attention. But they all say that their studies come first at Mississippi College.

"It's nice to see the MC players get more recognition,'' said MC table tennis sponsor Andy Kanengiser. "They have worked hard and deserve it. Winning the national team championship is also bringing more focus to the Olympic sport of table tennis in the Magnolia State.''

The celebration isn't over just yet. The MC table tennis players have been invited to join the university's Homecoming Parade on October 24. Once the 10-minute ride on College Street is over, the MC players will get back to the business at hand: facing teams like Miss State, Southern Miss, West Florida, Tulane, UAB, Alabama and others at the fall Dixie Division tournament at Alumni Gym.

College Table Tennis had an international reach this summer in South Korea where the 2015 Gwangju World University games were held.

A group of College Table Tennis friends and teammates banded together to attend the 28th World University games. Brian Chen, Nathaniel Chu, Ming Curran, Bowen Rao, Heng Zeng, Sylvan Guo, Kaylee Ho, Ellen Hwang, and Jasmine Nguyen all from Berkeley, University of Southern California and UCLA competed in July.

50 countries participated in the Table Tennis event and in total over 146 nations with almost 13,000 athletes in total participated. These games are the 2nd largest participatory event where the Olympics being the first.

The US team sponsored by Netopia played in Singles, Doubles and the team event against several different countries. The USA Ladies team beat Estonia and Kaylee Ho out of USC made it to the main draw of the Women's Singles event!

Our NCTTA Friends from Canada were also present at the games: University of Michigan's Lester Lee and McMaster's Dun Li participated in this great event. Canada University table tennis team featured below.

An incredible experience for all involved, congratulations to all that made the trip! Some of the US Team featured here.

ANY JOURNALISM majors or better yet JOURNALISM, ENGLISH graduates out there want a great volunteer gig?  NCTTA is looking for an EDITOR and WRITERS for its website and newsletters:

http://www.nctta.org/newsletters/ 

This is a great opportunity for anyone looking to get their work released to different media outlets and help NCTTA with Blogging, Newsletters, Twitter, etc.

Click here to get involved with this committee or others.