By Michael Reff and Brayden Glad
NCTTA Media Committee

It’s already been an exciting day at the 2022 NCTTA Round Rock Championships. We’ve seen the beginning of the Coed and Women’s teams event as well as single’s competition, but the main attraction for the evening were the dazzling displays of doubles talent.

High performing athletes that have already graced the national and international arenas gave the crowd quite a show tonight. On the men’s side, 2017 US Men’s National Doubles Champions, brothers Sharon and Gal Alguetti from Indiana University (IU), clinched the NCTTA Men’s Doubles title over NYU’s Jeremy Hazin and Mudit Dani 3-1. Despite the NYU pair losing, they put up a great fight with a strong crowd behind them. Ultimately the perfect communication between the IU twins proved too much for the lefty/righty pairing.

Sharon said of the competition, “These are the same people we have trained with in this part of the draw.” IU coach Luke Gillespie added, “ The kids have trained together and know each other’s games very well. This is the top echelon of Table Tennis in the United States and Canada. We are pleased to be a part of this tournament’s success.”

For the Women’s doubles finals it was an all Texas affair. Zhen Deng and Jiaqi Lin of the perennial women’s champs school Texas Wesleyan University ultimately captured the hardware and continued their school’s laudable reputation for winning the title after defeating Eden (LeiJie) Qi and Kelly Zhao of Texas 3-1 as well.

If this is any indication of what’s to come, we are in store for many more excellent matches tomorrow and Sunday! Tune in bright and early to the live streaming at the 2022 Round Rock Champs April 9 for more ponging prowess!

Pictured here are the new Men's Doubles Champions from Indiana University, Sharon and Gal Alguetti

About 2022 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships
The championships are hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Round Rock CVB. Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Men’s/Coed Teams, Women’s Teams. The event is sponsored by Double Happiness, Double Fish and Joola.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday April 8th on champs.nctta.org

About NCTTA
The National Collegiate Table Tennis Association (NCTTA) is a non-profit organization established exclusively for promoting the sport of table tennis at the college level. As the national governing body for college table tennis in the United States and Canada, NCTTA organizes elite intercollegiate competition throughout North America. www.nctta.org

By Michael Reff
NCTTA Media Committee

University of California, Irvine player Hitoki Kidahashi is not your typical college freshman. Born in Japan, he then moved to China at a very early age, ultimately ending up in Hawaii. Kidahashi is an ambitious Computer Science/Japanese double major hoping to add a 3rd field of study in either education or general engineering to his already packed schedule.

In addition to his intense passion for table tennis, he’s also an internationally ranked Rubik’s cube puzzle solver.

Kidahashi wears multiple hats at the 2022 championships. For UC Irvine he’s basically every officer and position imaginable for the team: president, treasurer, team manager, team captain, training and on court coach, as well as safety, cleaner, and equipment manager! He’s also participating in the Men’s singles, doubles, and Coed teams events.

Consequently, he’s a perfect candidate for NCTTA volunteerism. Kidahashi caught the NCTTA volunteering bug after participating in the West Regionals and hearing about another player going to nationals as a volunteer. He found out about the different positions he could do in the Champs and reached out, inquiring, “Do you guys need more volunteers? I can help,” ultimately signing up for the Registration area.

After volunteering Thursday afternoon, he proceeded to diligently help his team in an evening multi-ball practice to prepare for their ensuing competitions.

When asked about what motivates him to take on so many responsibilities, he responds with computer programming humor: “recursion.” He says that because he is in multiple positions, it makes him inevitably take on more tasks. This recursive trait might be easily identified as a dominant one in the genetic makeup of all our loudnproud volunteers at the NCTTA!

Kidahashi has said that he used to think he was an introvert early in life, but ultimately realized he just needed to bond with people of shared interests. In high school he already demonstrated leadership skills as he managed the Rubik’s cube and cyber security club.

He has found his niche in table tennis, and, as NCTTA is the ultimate college table tennis social network, we hope to see him for many years to come as the multihyphenated NCTTA player volunteer!

About 2022 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships

The championships are hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Round Rock CVB. Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Men’s/Coed Teams, Women’s Teams.
The event is sponsored by Double Happiness, Double Fish and Joola.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday April 8th on champs.nctta.org

About NCTTA

The National Collegiate Table Tennis Association (NCTTA) is a non-profit organization established exclusively for promoting the sport of table tennis at the college level. As the national governing body for college table tennis in the United States and Canada, NCTTA organizes elite intercollegiate competition throughout North America. www.nctta.org

By Michael Reff
NCTTA Media Committee

We’re in Round Rock two years since Covid has started
The competition’s fierce, no one hits half-hearted.
Elite shots and play before even the finals,
The loop, lob and blocking, balls spinning like vinyl.

The double’s are done now, it’s only beginning,
Tomorrow singles and teams continue winning.
So strap in for this ride, for the main attraction
Live streaming from Round Rock, don’t miss all the action!

About 2022 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships
The championships are hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Round Rock CVB. Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Men’s/Coed Teams, Women’s Teams. The event is sponsored by Double Happiness, Double Fish and Joola.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday April 8th on champs.nctta.org

About NCTTA
The National Collegiate Table Tennis Association (NCTTA) is a non-profit organization established exclusively for promoting the sport of table tennis at the college level. As the national governing body for college table tennis in the United States and Canada, NCTTA organizes elite intercollegiate competition throughout North America. www.nctta.org

By Willy Leparulo; guest writer
NCTTA Media Committee

NCTTA’s competitions cover several different events in a competitive season from Singles to Doubles, but teams are the organization’s bread and butter. It is also the most sought after title for all entering this competition.

Women’s Team Championships has been dominated by Texas Wesleyan University winning 9 team championships since its inception in 2005. Texas Wesleyan has clearly invested in the women’s team championships as two players lead the women’s game, Jiaqi Lin and Zhen Deng. Lin and Deng are top players for the women's team as for the Men’s/Coed Team. UC Berkeley led by Angela Guan and surprise MIT, led by ex Lindenwood and ex UW Madison stalwart Maria Castillo, will certainly look to push the envelope.
NCTTA offers a Men’s/Coed Team competition which features the best male and female athletes playing together as a team. The Men’s/Coed Team competition is stocked full with incredible competitors from 1st seed to 24th seed. Texas Wesleyan is the only scholarship school among the bunch and is seeded #3 for the first time in its program history. The Rams however should not be discounted!

Indiana University and NYU are #1 and 2 respectively this year and have a collection of international and domestic talent. IU led by the Alguetti brothers; NYU led by Canada’s Jeremy Hazin, India’s Mudit Dani and the USA’s Tom Feng. Then sprinkle in the rest of the school list and you have a veritable “Who’s Who” of college table tennis prowess. Tune in to see who takes the title. Will it be another repeat from Texas Wesleyan or will we be crowning a new champion...?

Photo Credit to Dennis Yanga.

About 2022 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships

The championships are hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Round Rock CVB. Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Men’s/Coed Teams, Women’s Teams. The event is sponsored by Double Happiness, Double Fish and Joola.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday April 8th on champs.nctta.org

About NCTTA

The National Collegiate Table Tennis Association (NCTTA) is a non-profit organization established exclusively for promoting the sport of table tennis at the college level. As the national governing body for college table tennis in the United States and Canada, NCTTA organizes elite intercollegiate competition throughout North America. www.nctta.org

By Michael Reff
NCTTA Media Committee

According to NCTTA President and Coaches Committee Chair Willy Leparulo, “Coaches are an integral part of the College TT landscape.” For a completely volunteer-run organization such as NCTTA, college table tennis coaches, who are typically unpaid as well, are giving back to the sport by instilling confidence, honing technique, and providing knowledge of tournament structure and strategy in their student athletes. Many are NCTTA Alumni themselves, looking to pass on their knowledge and enthusiasm for the game to the next generation of college table tennis players.

For the Upcoming championships in Round Rock, TX we have around 33 coaches coming along with their schools.

One such school, UT Dallas, has three coaches: Head Coach David Chou, Men’s Coach Kiyan Bhalla, and Women’s Coach Srijeet Qazi.
All three are looking forward to coaching and cheering on their teams.

Coach Chou says,
“I am excited for our team to compete in this tournament and I think that our team is an underdog in this championship. I’ve worked alongside the team to go back to the basics. We have really zoned in on their existing skills and improved upon them leading up to this tournament. We are excited to be a part of it, and I hope to coach my team to victory. I know they have been working really hard for this moment.”

Coach Bhalla added that “It’s great to see all the effort our team and our coaches have put into preparing for this tournament. We are eager to showcase our talents and I hope we’ll leave our mark at Nationals very soon.”

And Coach Qazi also remarks, “UT Dallas is extremely excited to compete at Nationals! We have been working hard throughout the year during and outside of practice, so we are immensely grateful that we get the opportunity to compete. We can't wait to see y'all there!”

Enthusiasm from the coaches is not in short supply and this is a true marker of their passion for the sport and for their student athlete!

Another coach that’s made it with his team to the nationals is Luke Gillespie of Indiana University. Gillespie is also a Professor of Music at the school. His team showcases the famed Alguetti twins Sharon and Gal, who, along with their teammates are in strong contention for clinching the title in Round Rock this year.

Coach Gillespie recognizes that being a student athlete requires a balance of studies and sports, with the emphasis on making the grade first but he also says, “physical activity and competitive sports (on any level) is an excellent way to stay in good physical and mental condition.” He remarks that his team is playing whenever they have some time off from schoolwork.

“We look forward to doing our best in this tournament,” Gillespie says. “We will arrive to Nationals with humble respect for our competitors and wish everyone the best.”

Kudos to coaches inspiring our NCTTA student athletes to shoot for the stars on and off the table!

Photo Credit to UT Dallas Table Tennis Club

About 2022 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships

The championships are hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Round Rock CVB. Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Men’s/Coed Teams, Women’s Teams. The event is sponsored by Double Happiness, Double Fish and Joola.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday April 8th on champs.nctta.org

About NCTTA

The National Collegiate Table Tennis Association (NCTTA) is a non-profit organization established exclusively for promoting the sport of table tennis at the college level. As the national governing body for college table tennis in the United States and Canada, NCTTA organizes elite intercollegiate competition throughout North America. www.nctta.org

By: Erica Tran
NCTTA Media Committee

There are dozens of strong athletes representing a multitude of states at this year’s NCTTA championships, but there are a few particular stand-outs. Angela Guan, a chopper and crowd favorite, is the Women’s Singles top seed from UC Berkeley. She was a 2014-2015 USA World Team Member and 2016 Pan American Junior Championships Team Champion. She also has many NCTTA titles from the past several years. She will be competing in the 2022 World University Games.

On the men’s sides, some top athletes include Sharon and Gal Alguetti of Indiana University, Kai Zhang of University of Southern California, Nikhil Kumar of UC Berkeley, and Jack Wang of Northwestern University. All have been on the US National Junior and Adults teams for many years and are seasoned players in the international circuit. Nikhil also represented the US in the 2021 Olympic Games. Beside these players mentioned, there are dozens of players rated 2200+. This year’s matches will be feisty.

Tune in live or online with our livestream for top-notch action!

Pictured is Nikhil Kumar. Photo Credit to Shashank Shastry

About 2022 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships

The championships are hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Round Rock CVB. Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Men’s/Coed Teams, Women’s Teams. The event is sponsored by Double Happiness, Double Fish and Joola.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday April 8th on champs.nctta.org

About NCTTA

The National Collegiate Table Tennis Association (NCTTA) is a non-profit organization established exclusively for promoting the sport of table tennis at the college level. As the national governing body for college table tennis in the United States and Canada, NCTTA organizes elite intercollegiate competition throughout North America. www.nctta.org

By Willy Leparulo; guest writer
NCTTA Media Committee

Round Rock is the Sports Capital of Texas and it may even be of the NCTTA world as well, as this is the third time NCTTA returns to Round Rock for its Championship event. NCTTA was in Round Rock in 2016, 2018 and slated for 2020 and 2021, both canceled by COVID. Maybe in 2022 the third time's a charm!

Nancy Yawn, CVB director for the city of Round Rock, is NCTTA’s biggest supporter. Tournament director Willy Leparulo says, “Nancy and us have had a great relationship since 2016 and we have just loved coming to Round Rock every year.”

Round Rock Sports Center is truly a gem of a venue with spacious courts and located within walking distance of so many different areas of enjoyment. Yawn says everyone should experience the world famous “Round Rock Donut,” https://roundrockdonuts.com/

Whether it is dunking those forehand slams or that world famous Texas donut, Round Rock is the place to be in 2022 for NCTTA and College Table Tennis!

Photo Credit to George Thomas

About 2022 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships

The championships are hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Round Rock CVB. Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Men’s/Coed Teams, Women’s Teams. The event is sponsored by Double Happiness, Double Fish and Joola.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday April 8th on champs.nctta.org

About NCTTA

The National Collegiate Table Tennis Association (NCTTA) is a non-profit organization established exclusively for promoting the sport of table tennis at the college level. As the national governing body for college table tennis in the United States and Canada, NCTTA organizes elite intercollegiate competition throughout North America. www.nctta.org

By Alan Chu, PhD, Certified Mental Performance Consultant®
ITTF Level 1 Coach
NCTTA Coaching Committee

It’s the day of the big competition. This is your chance to show everyone your skills and efforts you have put into the training. No pressure, right?

How would you cope with the pressure to perform and potentially adversity in these highly competitive situations? In the February 2022 Newsletter, I discussed focusing on the team goal, trusting the process, and controlling the controllable to help cope with adversity. What else could you do for some final mental preparation? Self-talk—an internal dialog you have with yourself—is one of the techniques that you can quickly learn and utilize.

Most successful athletes talk to themselves in specific ways to help them deal with the stress and anxiety that often accompanies big competition. Without a self-talk plan, you are more vulnerable to the negative effects of high pressure and mistakes. Specifically, unproductive self-talk before a match (e.g., “I don’t want to upset my teammates,” “I gotta win. If not, my team may lose”) triggers your body’s self-defense, “fight or flight” mechanism (e.g., muscle tension, increased heart rate), and negative changes in your performance. Unproductive self-talk during a match (e.g., “That was a terrible shot that I hit,” “Why is my opponent so lucky with so many net/edge shots?!”) undermines your confidence, concentration, and subsequent performance.

So, what does productive self-talk look like? Based on research and my experience, productive self-talk consists of the 3Ps:

1. Positive Tone: Focus on your strengths, past successes, preparation, and goals rather than weaknesses, past failures, unrealistic expectations, and problems. For example, before a match, you can say to yourself, “I know my opponent is strong, but I have a strong forehand loop that I can execute consistently.”

2. Present/Process Orientation: Focus on the present process (this point/match) rather than the past (last point/match) or the future (results of the match/competition). For example, during a match, you can say to yourself, “one point at a time,” “right here, right now, let’s go!” or a task that you are going to execute (e.g., “loop to his/her middle”)

3. Personal Meaning: Before a match or competition, find the positive meaning or motivation for playing it to set an intention. For example, you can tell yourself, “let’s enjoy the match,” or “I want to challenge myself against strong players.”

Utilizing productive self-talk statements or phrases can help you be more confident and focused. Every player has their own preferences, so you may need to trying out different self-talk to see what works best for you.

While it is true that you do not always have control over what happens during the competition (e.g., making mistakes, opponents getting lucky shots), you can always control how you respond to a situation (e.g., using self-talk with the 3Ps). To do so, you can use the 3Rs routine that includes self-talk:

1. Recognize the negative situation or unproductive self-talk.
2. Reframe the situation or self-talk to be more positive and productive.
3. Refocus on the next point and the task at hand.

I hope the 3Ps and 3Rs are helpful for your final mental preparation for the big competition to be the best that you can be!

Photo Credit to Grant Bergmann

About 2022 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships

The championships are hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Round Rock CVB. Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Men’s/Coed Teams, Women’s Teams. The event is sponsored by Double Happiness, Double Fish and Joola.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday April 8th on champs.nctta.org

About NCTTA

The National Collegiate Table Tennis Association (NCTTA) is a non-profit organization established exclusively for promoting the sport of table tennis at the college level. As the national governing body for college table tennis in the United States and Canada, NCTTA organizes elite intercollegiate competition throughout North America. www.nctta.org

By: Erica Tran
NCTTA Media Committee

We have players and schools from all over the United States uniting in Round Rock, Texas for a weekend of competition, camaraderie, and fun. However, it is only expected that Texas has the most number of teams (4 Coed, 4 Women) at the event. Closely following is California, with 5 Coed teams and 2 Women teams.

Similar to years past, Texas Wesleyan poses as one of the top seeds for both Coed and Women events. From sunny California, UC Berkeley is up there for both coed and women events, but University of Southern California (USC) holds the highest seed (5th) out of the California schools for the Coed teams event.

So, be on the lookout for some elite college table tennis from the host state of Texas and the ponging powerhouse of California!

Pictured here is the University of Southern California

About 2022 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships

The championships are hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Round Rock CVB. Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Men’s/Coed Teams, Women’s Teams. The event is sponsored by Double Happiness, Double Fish and Joola.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday April 8th on champs.nctta.org

About NCTTA

The National Collegiate Table Tennis Association (NCTTA) is a non-profit organization established exclusively for promoting the sport of table tennis at the college level. As the national governing body for college table tennis in the United States and Canada, NCTTA organizes elite intercollegiate competition throughout North America. www.nctta.org

By Michael Reff
NCTTA Media Committee

As much as we would all love to play college table tennis for an infinite amount of time, there is a limit to the eligibility. Four years is the length to pack in the paddling fun to represent your school at NCTTA tourneys.

Due to the pandemic and postponing the champs for the past two years, many players have already graduated and are out in the world pursuing their careers. However, there are currently a few players who have reached the end of their eligibility but have qualified for the champs each year they’ve participated in the NCTTA.

One such player is Michael Song of NYU. He says that “this is my 4th year qualifying!” This will be his third Nationals due to the cancellations of the previous two years. He was part of the 2018 NYU Coed team that shocked perennial champs Texas Wesleyan to clinch the title the last time that Round Rock hosted the event.

According to Song,

“NCTTA has been the biggest highlight of my college Career. The opportunity to compete amongst the best college athletes in a sport I love will be something I remember for the rest of my life. I'm so glad to have qualified for my last NCTTA Collegiate Nationals, and I cannot wait to represent my school one last time!"

Full of loudnproud fashion we cannot wait to see what Song and his teammates have in store for the champs this year!

Another player reaching the end of eligibility but qualifying for all champs each year of her NCTTA tenure is Maria Castillo. Her story is quite intriguing, because she has qualified for the champs by representing three different schools: Lindenwood, UW Madison, and currently MIT. A solid player who has been on the highlight reel with some killer lobs, she is also excited to be representing her third and final school in the champs:

“It’s been awesome qualifying to Nationals in both Women’s Singles and Women’s or Co-Ed Teams during my four years of NCTTA. Practices with the teams always give me a sense of familiarity that makes me feel at home, plus it is a great distraction from the craziness school can sometimes be. Nationals are intense but fun, and I’m excited to be representing MIT this year!”

Surely, Castillo’s final year will be another exciting one, this time for her newest school.

Kudos to Song and Castillo for making the cut to get to the champs during all their years of eligibility! We hope they will come back to volunteer for NCTTA after participating in the Nationals that has inspired so many memorable moments for them.

Pictured here is Michael Song. (Photo Credit to Nancy Zhou)

About 2022 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships

The championships are hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Round Rock CVB. Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Men’s/Coed Teams, Women’s Teams. The event is sponsored by Double Happiness, Double Fish and Joola.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday April 8th on champs.nctta.org

About NCTTA

The National Collegiate Table Tennis Association (NCTTA) is a non-profit organization established exclusively for promoting the sport of table tennis at the college level. As the national governing body for college table tennis in the United States and Canada, NCTTA organizes elite intercollegiate competition throughout North America. www.nctta.org