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Newsletter (September 2017)
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Welcome back College Table Tennis teams and players! A new NCTTA College Table Tennis season is upon us! Get news about TMS and Doublefish! Find out how to update your NCTTA Rating, how the 1st ever College Table Tennis Coaching Training went and how to get some cool discounts from USA Table Tennis. Read up on a great opportunity in New York City as well as how to register for NCTTA!
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Sponsors
NCTTA would like to thank TMS International for their support of college table tennis. TMS is the title sponsor for divisional and regional competitions, as well as the TMS College Table Tennis Championships.
NCTTA welcomes Double Fish as the official ball sponsor of NCTTA competitions.
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NCTTA REGISTRATION IS OPEN
Deadline is in the first days of October, don't wait until it is too late b/c you could get charged a late fee!
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Want to change your NCTTA College player rating?? Here is your chance (if you meet the criteria):
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NCTTA Coaching Certification - A Success
They came, they saw, they learned...they became certified as NCTTA college table tennis coaches! 15 college table tennis coaches from around the country came to the University of Iowa to flex their coaching muscles.
Coaching in NCTTA has finally come to the forefront of college table tennis. NCTTA has a coaches committee, and it has taken about 1.5 years to create this certification class, but finally, after much time and work, the class has come to fruition. Thanks to NCTTA sponsor TMS for putting the idea in our heads in the first place!
Coaches in College Table Tennis aren't just about forehands and backhands; there are also various administrative aspects that other non-University table tennis club coaches may never have to worry about like: budgeting, storage, practice space/time and student related issues. Coaches become an extension of a student's family, if done correctly, and NCTTA felt it was important to highlight this by creating a course that encompassed parts of the ITTF and USATT coaching certification trainings already available.
In Iowa over Labor Day weekend 15 coaches were certified from all over the country and a great first class of Coaches are ready to manage and coach their respective programs. Coaches Committee member Alan Chu said of last weekend, "Table tennis weekend full of energy and passion from coaches across the nation." It was all of that and more.
Congratulations to all and look for the next training in early summer 2018 as now Alan Chu, Meng-Yu Wang, Shelly Huang-Leparulo and Willy Leparulo are all trained to teach the class!
Thanks to Joola for the balls, USA Table Tennis, ITTF for the support, Richard McAfee for his incredible teaching and understanding, and, last but not least, to the University of Iowa for hosting such a great program.
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NCTTA College Membership Discount With USA Table Tennis
NCTTA member schools and its players now get an amazing discount from USA Table Tennis by joining as a club and player!
Join as a USATT club for $25.00 (normally $75) - Run your own tournaments (read: make TONS of money on a fundraiser)
- Get access to great CLUB INSURANCE (Which most of your schools don't provide!)
All this for only 25 dollars for the academic year (until May) and it is open to any NCTTA member school
Join USATT as a member for $25.00 (normally $75)- Get access to tournaments around the country without having to pay any ratings fee!
- Get a USATT rating which you can use to raise your college rating
- Participate in more tournaments (Table Tennis is fun!)
All this for only 25 dollars for the academic year (until May) and it is open to any College club player of any NCTTA member school
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NCTTA And TMS International
Sign New Agreement
By Andy Kanengiser
NCTTA Media Chair
National Collegiate Table Tennis Association leaders are delighted to be partnering with an all-star team of sponsors once again as the 2017-18 season begins.
Recently, NCTTA officials and TMS signed a one-year deal for the new season.
"TMS does so much to improve the level of collegiate table tennis tournaments and promote our favorite Olympic sport,'' says NCTTA President Willy Leparulo. "We are delighted to be partnering with TMS for at least one more year. TMS is definitely an important player in the world of table tennis.''
TMS has worked for years with the International Table Tennis Federation tp promote such things as the 2016 ITTF-North America Cup and the ITTF World Tour in China. The company has been a partner with the NCTTA as well in recent years.
Other major sponsors of the NCTTA's new collegiate table tennis season include China-based Double Fish. Founded in 1954, Double Fish supplies thousands of balls for a series of NCTTA tournaments from Fall through Spring.
Based in Guangzhou, China, Double Fish will sponsor the balls, whether it is for NCTTA divisional, regional or championship play.
The 2018 TMS championship games will be hosted by Round Rock, Texas. Located near Austin, Round Rock was the site of the 2016 games. The NCTTA's biggest tournament of the year attracted 250 of the best collegiate table tennis players in the USA and Canada.
"We don't say this often enough. But having excellent sponsors like TMS and Double Fish makes college table tennis such a success from one year to the next,'' Leparulo said. "We really appreciate working with these wonderful sponsors. And we're happy to have them as partners in the fight to bring Table Tennis into the limelight.''
Practices are already happening in September at the NCTTA's 150-plus colleges fielding table tennis teams. The first divisional tournaments of the new season are scheduled in October.
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Eric Sindledecker Leads Ohio West Division
By Andy Kanengiser
NCTTA Media Chair
The NCTTA's Ohio West Division remains loaded with good teams.
Schools like Ohio State, Cincinnati, Miami U, Toledo and Oberlin have student-athletes who play table tennis with passion.
Starting this fall, the competitive division in the Midwest will be led by Eric Sindledecker. The 22-year-old Youngstown native will also be busy hitting the books. He's a 5th year Pharmacy School student at the University of Toledo. During school breaks, Eric also works for an independent pharmacy near his Ohio hometown.
Eric is one of many volunteers paying back as they serve in a new role in the NCTTA family of volunteers.
During his sophomore year as a Toledo student, he took over the school's table tennis team. He's taken his favorite Olympic sport many steps beyond that.
Sindledecker spent lots of time attending table tennis clinics led by standout Samson Dubina. He's played in numerous USATT tournaments the past two years to improve his game consequentlyEric brought the skills he learned to the Toledo table tennis team.
Now he will be taking his skills to run the Ohio West division.
Best known for its nationally ranked Buckeyes football team, Ohio State sent its table tennis team to the 2017 NCTTA national championships to Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Its players include Denethi Wijegunawardana, a 19-year-old neuroscience major. An 18-year-old finance major, Shreyans Bafna was among Ohio State Buckeyes making the road trip to Wisconsin for the nationals in April.
Last season was pretty remarkable for Sindledecker and his Toledo teammates.
"My favorite NCTTA memory is definitely my senior year when our A team became the first in Toledo history to qualify and attend regionals,'' he said. "We even defeated the eventual 4th place regionals team, Binghampton University (of New York) 3- 2.''
Expect Eric to rack up more thrilling moments as the NCTTA's Ohio West Division leader.
He got started playing his favorite Olympic sport as a 5th grader. His parents bought him a table for Christmas and he kept practicing in the basement against family and friends. Eric enjoyed playing the sport again in his dorm room as a Toledo freshman and met a player on the school's team.
Table tennis is one of many sports he's tackled over the years. Eric played basketball, baseball, soccer and tennis in high school in Ohio.
"But I was pretty much burned out on those sports,'' Sindledecker said. "So I was glad that I found a new sport to learn and challenge myself.''
Led by coach Urban Meyer, Ohio State football games will attract sell-out crowds to 104,944-seat Ohio Stadium and grab national headlines this Fall. But table tennis is starting to catch on with students on the Columbus campus and beyond in the Ohio West Division.
"We are delighted to see people like Eric Sindledecker step up and serve us as volunteers,'' says NCTTA President Willy Leparulo. "He will be an asset to our team during the 2017-18 season and beyond.''
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Cities Across USA Eye NCTTA 2019 Championship Games
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By Andy Kanengiser
NCTTA Media Chair
Cities across the USA are beginning to express interest as potential sites to host the NCTTA's 2019 championship games.
It's still early in the process. It could be January 2018 when the NCTTA leadership team selects a tournament venue for 2019.
In early September, leaders at several cities around the nation are starting to express interest in hosting the NCTTA's biggest tournament of the year.
Spread over three days, the lively tournament attracts more than 250 of the best college table tennis players in the United States and Canada.
The games also bring in family members, friends, and a sea of valuable NCTTA volunteers. The volunteers handle video production, deal with local media, serve as referees, work as score keepers and take on transportation needs. They work registration tables, deliver sandwiches and do whatever it takes to keep the games on track. The games provide a nice economic boost to the host city for a few days.
Located near Austin, Round Rock, Texas will host the 2018 tournament next spring. It figures to be a repeat performance of its excellent showing in 2016. Eau Claire, Wisconsin served as a splendid host in 2017 after a terrific job handling the college tournament in 2015.Near Pittsburgh, Monroeville, Pennsylvania hosted in 2014 and it was Rockford, Illinois landing the games in 2013. Plano, Texas hosted the games in 2012.
So who is taking a look at serving as the NCTTA host city in 2019?
While no bids have been submitted at this point, "we have heard from several cities that are interested,'' NCTTA President Willy Leparulo said.
One of the first cities to size up the 2019 tournament is Iowa City, Iowa. It's familiar turf for NCTTA people. The University of Iowa hosted a successful seminar during Labor Day weekend to enhance training for NCTTA coaches.
The September event gave NCTTA leaders an up-close look at Iowa, and they enjoyed the blitz of meetings on the university's campus. In addition, the University of Iowa is home to a college table tennis team. The Iowa Hawkeyes are a squad on the rise in the Midwest.
Other cities interested in the 2019 NCTTA tournament include Lancaster, Pennsylvania at its Spooky Nook sports facility. Officials in Hoover, Alabama (outside Birmingham), and Monroeville, Pa. are taking a look, too. Folks at the Milwaukee Convention & Visitors Bureau and people at Tri Valley in California are sizing things up as well. There's still time for other cities to step forward.
NCTTA external vice president Joe Wells will be part of the organization's team traveling to Orlando, Florida in October for another conference to visit with representatives of these cities.
Once city bids are submitted, the NCTTA will post detailed descriptions of each site. The NCTTA team evaluates a long list of items, from size and lighting of the venue, availability of hotels, transportation, banquet facilities, volunteers, costs, concession stands and much more.
"We will work hard with the host city to make the 2019 tournament the very best it can be,'' Leparulo. Once the bids are submitted, NCTTA officials will ask its members to weigh the pros and cons of each potential tournament site across the USA.
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TCU And Kennesaw State Launch Table Tennis Teams
By Andy Kanengiser
NCTTA Media Chair
The Texas Christian University Horned Frogs opened the 2017 football season by overpowering the Jackson State Tigers 63 to 0.
Playing in the Big 12 Conference against teams like Texas, Oklahoma, Baylor and Oklahoma State, TCU is long known for its potent football team on the Fort Worth campus.
Not nearly as big a player in the sports world, the TCU Horned Frogs are trotting out a new table tennis team joining the NCTTA family this Fall. More than 150 colleges across the USA and Canada field table tennis teams at the moment.
TCU students Mark Quiring and roommate Nicholas Boudreaux co-founded the Horned Frogs table tennis team last year. As the 2017-18 season cranks up, TCU will soon be playing in tournaments against teams like perennial national champion Texas Wesleyan University and the University of Texas.
Win or lose, it figures to be a thrilling inaugural year for TCU Horned Frogs players with paddles in hand.
"We are real excited to get started,'' Quiring said. "We can't wait to start competing.''
The Texas Christian University team lacks the awesome depth and incredible experience of the 2017 champs, Texas Wesleyan in their hometown of Fort Worth. The same is true of the Texas Longhorns in Austin.
"We are a young club,'' Quiring says. The TCU team consists of 20 freshmen, two sophomore and six juniors.
Table tennis at TCU will generate little media attention compared to the school's football team coached by Gary Patterson. TCU football plays at 45,000-seat Amon G. Carter Stadium. But a new table tennis team will forge ahead and gain valuable experience.
The same building of a new table tennis team is happening at Georgia's Kennesaw State University that sits 20 miles northwest of Atlanta.
Ken Chong, a 21-year-old computer science major from Kennesaw, Georgia, serves as the club's president. The Kennesaw State Owls play in the Atlantic Sun Conference in NCAA sports, including football that started in 2015. Its new NCTTA team will play in the Georgia Division along with teams like Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia.
Its table tennis team includes Chong and KSU student-athletes like Joseph Nam and Brandon Gresham-Geiger, both from Georgia. Table tennis is a club sports program that's getting help from the university that enrolls more than 6,000 students.
"We have access to advisors, facilities and some funding through this program,'' Chong said.
As the new season gets kicked off, NCTTA President Willy Leparulo is delighted to welcome more schools to play in tournaments this fall and next spring. "We will always be there to help teams get started and continue to grow. We wish them the very best.''
Schools like Wright State University in Ohio are also seeking to get teams started and compete in NCTTA tournaments this season.
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Powerful Hurricanes Impact NCTTA Family
By Andy Kanengiser
NCTTA Media Chair Deadly hurricanes Harvey and Irma impacted millions of Americans. The cost in lives, damage to homes, businesses and property was truly immense. The NCTTA family along with the others in the table tennis community in Texas and Florida didn't escape the fury of the two powerful storms, among the worst in U.S. history. By mid-September, officials say the impact of flooding, extensive loss of electricity and lives tossed upside down will be felt for months, if not years, to come. For the NCTTA that oversees more than 150 college table tennis teams in the USA and Canada, members stayed in touch with one another almost hourly via Facebook posts. Their friends in table tennis communities like Houston, Corpus Christi, Miami and Tampa were hunkering down and staying on top of the latest hurricane news developments. There were many prayers lifted up and expressions of concern going to table tennis families affected. Millions of folks watched the Weather Channel, CNN and other media for the latest news. NCTTA President Willy Leparulo and his wife, Shelly, faced Irma's fury in Tallahassee. In their case, there was only some minor cleanup of tree limbs falling down around their home in Florida's capital city. There was post-storm yard clean-up to do for the Tallahassee couple. "It could have been much, much worse in our case,'' says Leparulo, a staff member at Florida State University. "We are so thankful for all the expressions of concern we received via social media. The disaster shows the NCTTA is really one big family that cares about one another year-round.''
Willy and Shelly played it safe as Irma approached the Sunshine State. "We are facing high winds and rains like everyone else,'' Leparulo said. "I am evacuating my house for higher ground. Last year, our house was hit by two trees and this storm is more powerful. We have no choice but to leave.''
As the storm raged on, Leparulo wished everybody in NCTTA circles good luck. "By the looks of this storm, we are all going to need it.''
Electricity remains out for millions of Floridians on September 13. Some first responders working in the Houston area following Hurricane Harvey were required to leave the Lone Star State and help with the Irma recovery in Florida. Relief and rebuilding efforts could take years in some communities in the Florida Keys and the Houston area. The storm slammed into Georgia, with several deaths reported. Hurricane Harvey resulted in flooded roads that forced the Houston Texas Table Tennis Training Center and Chinese Cultural Center to close. The Corpus Christi Table Tennis Club also shut its doors amid the disaster. The Houston Table Tennis Association facility received heavy water damage, with reports of leaks from the ceilings, the loss of an air conditioning unit and soaked floors. University of Miami table tennis players posted photos on Facebook of their tables being covered up as Hurricane Irma approached south Florida. Florida State cancelled its home football game with the University of Louisiana-Monroe. The Miami Hurricanes cancelled their road football game with Arkansas State. School closings in much of the region were ordered. States like Mississippi, Louisiana, South Carolina and Tennessee welcomed thousands of people who arrived to escape Hurricane Irma. Schools like Mississippi College enroll many students from Texas and Florida. MC student leaders on the Clinton campus raised more than $500 and donated water, towels, baby diapers and other supplies to aid evacuees at Houston shelters. The hurricane hit too close to home for Student Government Association Vice President Alex Rodriguez of Houston. He thanks God that his family members escaped unharmed. Listing all the NCTTA people impacted would take time. South Regional Director Dan Reynolds (now in Gainesville, FL) kept close tabs on Hurricane Harvey since his dad lives in Houston. NCTTA Media Committee member Mike Reff was in Lake Worth, Fla. near Fort Lauderdale as Irma's strong winds pounded the region. NCTTA South Florida Division Director, Carlos Zeller was also in South Florida without power. A longtime NCTTA leader and vice president, Joe Wells hunkered down in Tampa. North Florida Division Director Joe Brown lives in Valdosta, Georgia, just north of the Florida line, as the storm took aim on the Peach State. Pictured here is something the University of Miami Table Tennis team created showing their sense of humor about the hurricane and long pips.
All that being said we at NCTTA hope everyone is out of harm's way and recovering! |
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AYTTO NEEDS YOUR HELP IN NYC
AYTTO, in partnership with NYC Dept. of Ed and NCTTA, is currently recruiting assistant coaches for NYC PSAL high school table tennis team as well as coaches for middle school programs for school year 2017-2018. Think about the positives: - Most University club sports need community service hours and this one qualifies
- A great addition for those looking to supplement a resume!
- They *might pay you!
First work assignment will start in October. Time needed is usually two days a week from 2:30 pm to 6 pm on weekdays. Those who are selected can earn community service credit and/or coaching fees. Please submit your contact as well as your playing and coaching experience to thomaswhu@yahoo.com. |
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