NCTTA Newsletter
May 2010

2009-2010 Superlative Award Winners
Recognizing the best players, coaches, teams, and Division Director of the year

Nominations were accepted from all around the country for the best of the best in college table tennis to determine who excelled in each of the following categories:

1. Male Athlete of the Year: Yanjun Gao (La Guardia Community College)
   Others receiving votes: Dave Llona, Olmo Zavala and Mark Hazinski
2. Female Athlete of the Year: Sara Hazinski (Texas Wesleyan)
   Others receiving votes: Judy Hugh
3. Rookie of the Year: Sara Hazinski (Texas Wesleyan)
   Others receiving votes: Andres Ng, Yanjun Gao, Yuling Cai, Jose Barbosa, Livia Mizobuchi
4. Coach/Manager of the Year: TJ Wang (Governors State University)
   Others receiving votes: Ralph "Radar" Presley, Randy Kendle, Jasna Rather, David Livings, Zhang Yi, John McInerney, Santos Shih
5. Rookie Team of the Year: De Anza College
   Others recieving votes: McGill University
6. Most Improved Team: Florida State University
   Others receiving votes: Lindenwood, Berkeley, Baruch College, Rutgers, Georgia Tech
7. Division Director of the Year: Linda Leaf (Upper Midwest)
   Others receiving votes: Ben Modic (Ohio), Sumon Roy (New England), Andrew Aprikyan (Northwest), Lillian Yu (Eastern Canada), Abrahm Behnam (Virginia), George Che (Mid Atlantic), Herb Bennett (Dixie), Felix Filozov (NYC), Randy Kendle (Midwest)

Congratulations to all the winners and nominees on their outstanding performance this college table tennis season!

NCTTA 2010 Elections Nearing June Finish

No campaign rallies are expected. No debates or stump speeches. Lobbyists won’t contribute a fortune to candidates or treat them to steak dinners in posh Washington restaurants. But that doesn’t mean NCTTA elections aren’t important.

Some highly visible posts are up for grabs for folks who are passionate about the sport. Open positions include: President, Vice President, Treasurer, Historian and Athlete Representative. The terms are two years. Unfortunately there’s no fat salary, fancy limo and fabulous book deal with these volunteer jobs in the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association. The hours can be long, but the work is fun and rewarding, and you can really make a difference in helping to improve college table tennis.

Nominations and statements of intent are being accepted from May 10 - May 20 at elections@nctta.org. Voting will run from May 21 through June 1. Each NCTTA member school gets one vote. By June 5th, the new board will be announced and training begins and by July 1, new board members will take office.

For those looking for another way to serve, committee chair posts and committee member positions are always open. We welcome your involvement! You can help us write the NCTTA newsletter, and get busy boosting collegiate table tennis recruitment efforts, among other things. Volunteerism is good for the soul!

Want to know more? Check the NCTTA website or on Facebook. Once the election results are finalized, we will let you know.

NCTTA Finalizes Goals for 2010 and Beyond
Growth/recruitment, scholarship opportunities and grassroots/high schools are top priorities

Behind the scenes at the sensational table tennis championships in Wisconsin, NCTTA leaders carved out some time to finalize their main goals for the future of college table tennis. After gathering input from committee chairs, division directors and member schools and after several months of discussion, NCTTA identified its three top priorities during the board’s face-to-face meeting in Waukesha, WI in April.

In a nutshell, the NCTTA named this trio of priorities:

• Growth and Recruitment: The aim is to expand the base of more than 150 college and universities that field table tennis teams, keep current campus clubs active and step up recruitment.
• Scholarship Opportunities: Currently three NCTTA member schools offer scholarship opportunities for table tennis players, and NCTTA is looking to significantly expand the number of table tennis scholarship opportunities in the months and years ahead.
• Grassroots/High School Programs: Getting young players involved in table tennis competition needs to start at the high school level if not sooner. NCTTA believes that a stronger development system to feed into the growing collegiate ranks will benefit college table tennis and the larger table tennis community as a whole.

Attaining these goals will take hard work and dedicated people. They probably won’t be fully accomplished in just one year, but 2010 figures to be a key starting point for these priorities. NCTTA President Willy Leparulo said this about the organization’s new goals: “We are excited about the direction the organization is taking and hope to be able to see real progress within the next year.”

Sponsor Corner
Special thanks to our sponsors, Newgy, Killerspin and Attack Table Tennis!

NCTTA, would like to thank Killerspin for its support of college table tennis. Killerspin is the exclusive NCTTA League and Championship Equipment sponsor through 2011. Member schools just need to fill out the Killerspin Premium Membership Program Application to receive phenomenal equipment discounts in the online Killerspin store.

Also, special thanks to NEWGY Industries, for its continued support of college table tennisincluding the 2010 College Table Tennis Championships. Newgy offers a great way to fundraise for your club by signing up and participating in their Newgy Robo Pong Affiliate Program.

Special thanks also to our platinum Championships sponsor, Attack Table Tennis for their generous support of the 2010 Championships. Attack is a Michigan-based supplier of quality table tennis apparel and gear. Find out more about Attack Table Tennis on their website: www.attacktabletennis.com!

2011 Championship Bid Locations Announced
Two cities on different coasts vying to host the 2011 Championships

It’s Atlanta versus San Mateo. The South versus the West Coast. For table tennis lovers, it’s the battle between two cities seeking to host the 2011 College Table Tennis National Championships. The bidding war pits the San Mateo Convention Center against the Georgia Tech Table Tennis Association. The 2010 Championships held in Waukesha, Wisconsin brought 259 athletes from 59 colleges and universities to the area from April 9-11.

Atlanta is home to the table tennis playing Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, the Atlanta Braves, the Atlanta Hawks and loads of Southern charm. Georgia’s capital city has gone all out to bring the tourney to their neck of the woods in the heart of Dixie. You can bet that all the Georgia and Dixie Division schools are hoping to have the Championships in their backyard.

San Mateo, for folks that don’t know, is in the heart of the San Francisco Bay area. The city was incorporated back in 1894. It’s home to the College of San Mateo and the city is a short drive from nearby Bay area powerhouses like Stanford and the University of California-Berkeley.

The NCTTA leadership will be examining everything from arena lighting to the number of tables available, hotels in the vicinity, seats for spectators, plans to attract volunteers and much more. Table tennis fans are encouraged to check out the bids and ask questions on the NCTTA forum.

After three straight years in the Upper Midwest – in Minnesota in 2008 and 2009 and in Wisconsin in 2010, it looks like fans of their favorite Olympic sport will be in for a change. The climate figures to be warmer, whether it is Georgia or California. The choice will be announced on the NCTTA web site, via Facebook and in the June newsletter.

NCTTA Thanks Sponsors for 2010 Championships

The 2010 national championships in Wisconsin have come and gone. But before we close the book on the fabulous three-day event in Waukesha, we want to say thanks again to our fantastic sponsors. Without our sponsors, there would be no national tournament attracting more than 250 players from campuses across the United States and Canada.

We recently welcomed Attack Table Tennis as one of the proud sponsors of the collegiate championships. The company supplies quality apparel for table tennis players. We say thanks again to Attack for being part of the action near Milwaukee from April 9-11, 2010.

The NCTTA leadership team also wants to give a shout out to our longtime championship sponsors. So please take a bow, Killerspin and Newgy Industries! You deserve an extra round of applause. Chicago-based Killerspin is the American leader when it comes to table tennis equipment and accessories. Newgy Industries is well-known for producing its revolutionary digital robots to help build “tomorrow’s champions,” as the company in Gallatin, TN puts things. Newgy is the longest running supporter of the College Table Tennis Championships and also a key supporter of the NCTTA’s national scholarship program.

NCTTA President Willy Leparulo put it best when he recently thanked the valuable supporters of the 2010 championships. “This year’s Championships is made possible through the dedicated support and efforts of Newgy Industries, Killerspin, Attack Table Tennis, the Shorewood Table Tennis Club and of course our gracious and hard working hosts from the Waukesha and Pewaukee Convention and Visitors Bureau,’’ Leparulo wrote in the 2010 championship program.

And the NCTTA leader went on to salute the work of the entire tournament staff, the organizing committees, umpires, officials and volunteers for their extraordinary efforts prior to and during the tournament. It was all a team effort, a job well done!

NCTTA folks are now looking forward to an outstanding 2010-2011 competition season culminating in the 2011 championships next April!

Congrats to the NCTTA Class of 2010!
Some graduating players look back on their college table tennis experiences

Graduation day is really a big deal on college campuses around the United States and Canada.

To the Class of 2010, leaders of the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association want to extend their heartiest congratulations for a job well done. That goes to the students certainly, but also to their parents and their sacrifices to make it happen.

Internet personality, David “the big slam” Llona is making his exit this year after three successful years at the University of Central Florida. Llona was the highest ranked College Table Tennis player in Florida and was able to start his own Facebook page and had a myriad of “fans” follow his every move. At the 2010 College Championships, he was even asked for his autograph!

Llona graduates with a business degree and may soon begin working as a professional in the accounting world in Tampa. Llona has some valued advice for the up and coming college table tennis athlete, “Do not get discouraged if you lose a lot of matches at first because you will get better with practice.” Llona went on to say that in his early days he lost to both a 10 year old girl and a 75 year old man. In other words, just check the ego at the door and have fun! NCTTA wishes Llona the best as he represents one of the most passionate personalities in college table tennis.

We also commend student-athletes like Richard Qian, who graduates in May with a bachelor’s degree in economics and mathematics from the University of Wisconsin.

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