By Willy Leparulo; guest writer
NCTTA Press Committee

The question one has to ask is “How do they do it?” High performing athletes in Table Tennis who excel in both academics and our sport epitomize what we know to be a student athlete.
One could argue that every one of the 245 student athletes competing at this year’s National Championships fall into this category. You wouldn’t be wrong, however, there is another level of student athlete who is on top of their game both on the court and off of the court.

Ved Sheth from UC Berkeley (#7 in Men’s singles) majoring in Electrical Engineering Computer Sciences has an interesting perspective on the matter.

He says “I think the secret is a really fixed and dedicated plan to how you spend your time. If you're going to study for say 2-3 hours, you have to fully commit to studying for those 2 or 3 hours meaning no distractions at all. A lot of times people study with their phone near them or don't put pressure on themselves to get work done since they have more time. For me, I have to make full use of this time.” Time can be the enemy, but Ved makes it an advantage!

UCLA’s Angie Tan, sophomore and #4 singles in the Women’s Singles draw and current pre-med student majoring in Physiological Sciences.

Angie says, “Balancing my school with table tennis has definitely something I’ve been working on since I was young, and it has been especially hard after becoming a college student. However, I find it easier to keep up with my table tennis training when I don’t treat it as a task I have to accomplish but rather something I enjoy.”
There is the secret to success: enjoyment and passion!

Best of luck to all of the College Table Tennis players in their academics and their table tennis on the court!

Pictured here (left) Angie Tan (UCLA) and (right) Ved Sheth (UC Berkeley)

(Photos by Jia-Yu (Trinity) Sung)

About 2024 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships
The championships are hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Visit Eau Claire CVB. The event will feature: Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Men’s/Coed Teams, Women’s Teams.
PongSpace, Joola, the US Coast Guard, Visit Eau Claire and Bluestone Designs sponsor the event.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday, April 12th on http://www.nctta.org/champs/2024/video.html

About NCTTA
The National Collegiate Table Tennis Association (NCTTA) is a non-profit organization established exclusively to promote 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 competitions throughout North America. www.nctta.org

By Jia-Yu (Trinity) Sung
NCTTA Press Committee

Every year as players trickle into the competition venue at Nationals, you could almost imagine yourself bird watching. Birds of a feather flock together, and when the venue doors open, the teams of NCTTA follow suit. Here and there your eye easily catches the bright reds of Boston or the golden yellows of Berkeley mingled with the royal purples of NYU. But when you turn your gaze away from the flocks of teams, you chance upon a rare glimpse of the individuals that fly solo—the singles players representing their university proudly by themselves.

Flying solo at Nationals requires more mental fortitude than most may realize. Without a team, you have no one to share your struggles, burdens, or even successes with. Representing the University of Rochester, sophomore Pradyuman Vijayakumar admits, “despite the financial and time commitments involved, the opportunity to make history for my college is something I couldn’t pass up.”

For senior Wendy Chen of the University of California Santa Cruz, she’s competing this year to make up for lost time. Faced with the unfortunate obstacle of COVID, Wendy’s collegiate table tennis career only started last year. “I’m graduating, so this would be my last year playing for college (for now at least), and with the opportunity I decided I should still go one last time!” she professes.

Equally spirited, Daniel Tan of Texas A&M recalls the importance of community in his table tennis journey and reminisces “I would finish my homework and my dad would take me to the local Chinese civic centers to play with all the uncles and aunties and slowly climb the ladder as I grew older.” Heading into Nationals, not only does Daniel look forward to seeing old friend and childhood rival, Oliver Wang of UT Dallas, but also to competing with some of the best players in North America. What else does Daniel hope to do in Wisconsin? “I want to watch good table tennis,” he says. Same here Daniel, same.

Foraying into the US table tennis scene, Kaustubh Kulkarni rose through and topped the ranks of state and national level table tennis in India well before he began his graduate studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. Aiming to truly treasure this experience, Kaustubh proclaims, “I’m looking forward to playing against all the talented players that will be coming to Nationals and I’m eager to raise awareness about table tennis as a professional sport—hoping to win some good matches!”

With so many teams to watch, don’t forget to turn your eyes toward the determined singles players too. Maybe you’ll make some new friends at Nationals!

(Pictured: Kaustubh Kulkarni staring down his opponent at the 2024 NCTTA West Regionals)
(Photo by Jia-Yu (Trinity) Sung)

About 2024 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships
The championships are hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Visit Eau Claire CVB. Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Men’s/Coed Teams, Women’s Teams. PongSpace, Joola, the US Coast Guard, Visit Eau Claire and Bluestone Designs sponsor the event.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday, April 12th on http://www.nctta.org/champs/2024/video.html

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 Press Committee

Paying it Forward is best described as a principle or strategy of being a recipient of a good deed and repaying that “kindness” to others. NCTTA is for our volunteers, and especially those coming from college table tennis, the organization demonstrates an active example of this strategy.

NCTTA embodies the spirit of generosity, camaraderie and support within a collegiate sport community. At this year’s 2024 NCTTA Championships, 73 out of 101 volunteers are NCTTA Alumni. In other words, graduates of other college table tennis programs who played in NCTTA were beneficiaries of the NCTTA experience and now return to give back to the new community.

Angela Guan is a perfect example of an alumni paying it forward. Guan was an all star athlete with UC Berkeley and now is a PongSpace ambassador and MLTT player. She says about coming back to volunteer with NCTTA, “I hope to provide college students with the amazing experience of NCTTA I had.”

Ultimately, paying it forward within the scope of NCTTA epitomizes a philosophy of generosity, kindness, interconnectedness and, of course, fun that are values we all share.

(picture of Angela Guan behind the camera in video)
(Photo by Grant Bergmann)

About 2024 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships
The championships are hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Visit Eau Claire CVB. The event will feature: Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Men’s/Coed Teams, Women’s Teams.
PongSpace, Joola, the US Coast Guard, Visit Eau Claire and Bluestone Designs sponsor the event.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday, April 12th on http://www.nctta.org/champs/2024/video.html

About NCTTA
The National Collegiate Table Tennis Association (NCTTA) is a non-profit organization established exclusively to promote 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 competitions throughout North America. www.nctta.org

By Willy Leparulo; Guest writer
NCTTA Press Committee

NCTTA is elated to be working with JOOLA to further the sport of Table Tennis. Joola has been the NCTTA 2023-2024 Ball Sponsor and is also the 2024 Championship ball sponsor. The JOOLA Prime ball will be our game ball!

JOOLA Global Marketing specialist, Matthew Hetherington states, “JOOLA is happy to offer our support to NCTTA and its annual National Championships. We believe that the NCTTA season - not only has excellent structure and organization, but also provides a pathway for passionate table tennis players to continue in the sport. This is during a time when many decide to end their playing careers due to education and a lack of time and opportunity. JOOLA will always actively be a part of events, organizations and projects which help more players enjoy continuing to play the game at different stages of their careers and lives!”

JOOLA hosts the popular JOOLA Team tournament in DC every November, and a number of college table tennis teams take part in that event. JOOLA continues by saying,

“We are also happy to encourage and continue to promote team-based formats in table tennis, especially in the schooling systems, as we know this is important for the future of the sport in the USA and around the world.”

About 2024 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships
The championships are hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Visit Eau Claire CVB. The event will feature: Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Men’s/Coed Teams, Women’s Teams.
PongSpace, Joola, the US Coast Guard, Visit Eau Claire and Bluestone Designs sponsor the event.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday, April 12th on http://www.nctta.org/champs/2024/video.html

About NCTTA
The National Collegiate Table Tennis Association (NCTTA) is a non-profit organization established exclusively to promote 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 competitions throughout North America. www.nctta.org

By Willy Leparulo; guest writer
NCTTA Press Committee

The NCTTA Championships have been hosted at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire twice before in 2015 and 2017 and now back for a third time in 2024. Each time the local Eau Claire population, which includes nearby Chippewa Valley, has stepped up for help with the event.

NCTTA wants to recognize some folks in the area:

Lucas Connolly from Visit Eau Claire has been everything we have asked for and more. We had to unload a large number of specific sport equipment at a nearby storage area and he not once but twice helped us out. I don't know that I have ever had a CVB go to bat for us like this ever before.

Garrett Larson, Facility Director of the McPhee and Olson University gym, has bent over backwards at our every request. We can’t thank him enough for his help.

Gordy Bischoff, of the local Eau Claire Table Tennis community, from connecting NCTTA with help from the University to helping with table fixing and connecting to others to help. Huge help, thank you Gordy!

Last but not least, Dr. Jianjun Ji and University of Wisconsin Eau Claire table tennis team deserves a shout out as they have assisted us with volunteers and our table shipment. It is great having their “can do” attitude.

Gordy Bischoff says it well, “I have come to find that one of the core elements of my long career (building and repairing guitars) has been my desire to help people.
As table tennis is a passion for me, it was an easy choice to offer my time and help to such a prestigious event, this year’s NCTTA tournament and an added feature of being presented in my home city of Eau Claire Wisconsin. I have found a wonderful core group here of like minded positive people with ‘can do’ attitudes.”

About 2024 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships
The championships are hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Visit Eau Claire CVB.
The event will feature: Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Men’s/Coed Teams, Women’s Teams.
PongSpace, Joola, the US Coast Guard, Visit Eau Claire and Bluestone Designs sponsor the event.

Watch the event on live stream starting Friday, April 12th on http://www.nctta.org/champs/2024/video.html

About NCTTA
The National Collegiate Table Tennis Association (NCTTA) is a non-profit organization established exclusively to promote 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 competitions throughout North America. www.nctta.org

NCTTA will conduct a live draw tonight for those that are interested!

When: Sunday, March 31st 10pm eastern
Where: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/9964546347

#livedraw #transparency #WhoPlaysWho #bracket #NCTTA

It is bittersweet for NCTTA these days as we say farewell to long-time National Organization Director, Brandon Lawrence. Brandon has a long history with NCTTA as a Division Director, Board member and many other areas.

He was selected to serve on the USATT board in January 2020 after several unfortunate delays (due to confusion by the USATT Board and their legal counsel) he was finally acknowledged to start his service to the USATT Board in February 2021.

We thank Brandon Lawrence for his service to NCTTA and his service as National Organization Director as a part of the USATT Board of Directors and wish him luck moving forward.

NCTTA Board of Directors has thus selected Kagin Lee to replace Brandon's position on the USA Table Tennis Board of Directors. Kagin Lee is a well-respected ITTF International Umpire and Referee. He was also a board member of NCTTA and the USA Table Tennis from 2013-2016. NCTTA Board of Directors selected and voted for Kagin to be the representative unanimously per USATT bylaws 7.6.

We look forward to Kagin representing the NCTTA as the National Organization Director on the USATT Board of Directors.

By Michael Reff
NCTTA Press Director

Exciting news! The United States Coast Guard is making waves by becoming a new NCTTA Sponsor! In doing so, they will be able to have their own booth at the 2024 Champs in Eau Claire and, according to Petty Officer Jackson, hope to bring a “crew of Coasties to this event and possibly a couple boats as a static display for people to hop on and view.”

Petty Officer Jackson has been a major player in securing the sponsorship deal between the NCTTA and the United States Coast Guard. He’s served for 18 years and has had “a host of adventures and good times within the service.”

He met NCTTA President Willy Leparulo through a mutual friend and “it didn’t take long for us to become friends.” One thing led to another and Petty Officer Jackson helped volunteer at the Champs in Round Rock 2 years back and assisted greatly with the flooring and much more!

Leparulo is ecstatic over the sponsorship! “I am super excited about getting US Coast Guard on board with NCTTA. We are a good match and am excited for USCG to be a part of the College Table Tennis landscape!”

The following is Petty Officer Jackson’s description of the United States Coast Guard and its many benefits for employment and service:

“The US Coast Guard is a fantastic place for young men and women from ages 17-41 to start or further their career. We fall under the Department of Homeland Security which means most of our jobs are here in the United States protecting our coasts and defending citizens from harsh elements on the water. We have a wide variety of benefits from getting your college paid for, 100% free medical, exciting jobs with active mission and a whole host of additional opportunities.

I am Proud to serve in this great service and love coming to work every day being able to spread this opportunity to many others making the coast guard family grow.”

Thank you so much to Petty Officer Jackson and the United States Coast Guard for what we hope will be just the beginning of a fruitful sponsorship!

By Michael Reff

The wait is finally over on who won the 2025 NCTTA Champs Bid! And the honor goes to…. Rockford, IL! All parties involved in this decision are overjoyed with the outcome.

Kara Davis, group sales manager for Rockford Area Convention & Visitors Bureau had this to say about their successful bid:

“After a 12-year hiatus, the Rockford Area Convention & Visitors Bureau and the UW Health Sports Factory welcome back the 2025 National Collegiate Table Tennis Association. Early April is a great time of year to positively impact our hotels, restaurants, shopping and attractions. We are very excited to work with Willy Leparulo, President of the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association, and his team to host a memorable tournament for the athletes.”

Of course, on the NCTTA side of things it is all smiles there.

“We are super excited about coming back to Rockford,” NCTTA President Willy Leparulo exclaimed. “Last time I think was 2013 when we were in the clocktower tennis facility. Having played at the UW Health facility twice I know how awesome it is! The board is excited!”

Finally, we would be remiss to not acknowledge major player Ed Hogshead, a master tournament director in all things table tennis. Rockford, IL is also home to his very popular America’s Team Championship held annually every Memorial Day weekend.

Mark your calendars as the 2025 NCTTA Champs will proudly be hosted in Rockford, IL on the April 4th-6th weekend!

NCTTA Division tournaments are back in 2024 with almost 30 geographical divisions competing from January 20th to February 10th for that coveted place into the NCTTA postseason!

Division team winners are automatically qualified, so a lot is on the line!

Division tournaments will also host Men’s and Women’s Singles competitions where winners will also get direct qualification to the NCTTA Regionals.

To sign up for NCTTA Singles, go to nctta.app and click on Registration and from there Singles.

Speaking of NCTTA Regionals, these mini-Champs events will occur around the country from February 18th to March 3rd and will serve as a qualifier to the NCTTA Championships.

For all of these tournaments (Division singles/teams & Regional singles/teams) every student athlete MUST be on the NCTTA Eligibility Form turned in 72 hours prior to your division tournament this semester to be eligible. See here: http://nctta.org/doc/2024%20Spring%20League%20and%20Postseason%20Elig%20...

ANYONE and we mean ANYONE that is interested in playing in the postseason must be on this form, no exceptions.

Don’t forget rosters are due 72 hours prior to your event too on nctta.app