By Willy Leparulo; Guest writer
NCTTA Press Committee

One of the defining characteristics of Women’s college table tennis is the level of competition it offers. In NCTTA, women hold a vital spot in a successful Collegiate Championship experience.

NCTTA Championships has Coed (Men and Women) playing together in addition to women-only events like Doubles, Singles and Women’s Teams. Top women players generally can see that they will be playing 10-12 matches a day!

Texas Wesleyan University always brings a deep team and their women’s college table tennis leaders Zhen Deng and Jiaqi Lin are absolutely a one-two punch to be reckoned with! Deng and Lin are ranked #1 and #2 in Women’s Singles with former US Women’s National Team member, Crystal Wang of Emory, as #3.

The Women’s Doubles competition, which could be looked as a precursor to the women’s team competition (since doubles is a tiebreaker in the team competition), sees Deng and Lin as the top Women’s Doubles seed with an overall (4949) rating. The second place duo of UCLA’s Angie Tan and Joanna Sung are at (4675). The road to championships at NCTTA may start and end with the doubles. All that being said, Texas Wesleyan Rams are favored here.

The Texas Wesleyan Table Tennis program, owner of the most women’s team championships in all of college table tennis history, are hungrier than ever as last year’s title went to UCLA. Texas Wesleyan Rams have claimed 10 Championship Women’s Team titles and are currently ranked #3 in all of women’s college table tennis with UCLA and NYU at #1, 2 respectively. Look to see fireworks here!

(Pictured here are Zhen Deng and Jiaqi Lin of Texas Wesleyan Photo by Yukong Zhang)

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 2024 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships are an interesting game of numbers and this isn’t just about telling the score! Let’s take a closer look!

46 Colleges and Universities
80 Men’s Singles (full event)
40 Women’s Singles (full event)
24 Coed Teams (full event)
16 Women’s Teams (full event)
32 Men’s Doubles (full event)
16 Women’s Doubles (full event)
245 Student Athletes
27 Coaches
101 Volunteers (staff)
24 Countries
68 Academic Disciplines

The NCTTA is a veritable mini United Nations and could along with the academic majors be a small to medium-sized university! We have male and female student-athletes from all over the globe. From China to Canada, Brazil to Thailand, and of course, the USA is also well represented!

NCTTA, a National Organization in USA Table Tennis for the past 15 years, is also the governing body of college table tennis and is excited to bring to Eau Claire, Wisconsin the plethora of international and domestic young collegiate stars on April 12-14th.

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
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NCTTA Press Committee

PongSpace is proud to be partnering once again with NCTTA to expand table tennis. PongSpace is excited to contribute to NCTTA so the student-athletes can have a fun table tennis experience during and after their college career.
Speaking of enhancing one's collegiate table tennis career, PongSpace is rolling out products and services to help collegiate athletes improve their game. PongSpace co-founder and CEO Thomas Hu says, “We have signed multiple professional table tennis players to roll out the PongSpace remote coaching experience. The program is currently being piloted at schools in NYC now. Keep an eye out for our product launch in September!”

The NCTTA championships is the largest collegiate table tennis event in North America attracting top teams and players to participate as well as thousands of fans across the continent to watch the exciting competitions. “PongSpace appreciates the opportunity to work with NCTTA,” Hu said. “College table tennis athletes and enthusiasts bring unparalleled energy we need for the sport. PongSpace strives to provide a fun experience for them.”

"We are very happy at the partnership forged with PongSpace both here at the National Championships and in the future for our league, College school teams, and our Alumni!" said Willy Leparulo, president of NCTTA.
PongSpace’s mission is to connect table tennis players to table tennis resources. You can find affordable places to play with people you want to play with at a time you desire. The PongSpace CEO says, “We are also teaming with clubs and other venues so you can compete together with your friends in our George Braithwaite Major League Table Tennis in addition to your collegiate competitions. We offer free weekly instructional videos and soon interaction with top rank world professional players so you can improve your game.”

PongSpace is also rolling out "Peakapong" together with World Champion Xu Shaofa. “So no more who is better at Pickle Ball or Ping Pong. Bring them on!” exclaims Thomas Hu.
Thomas adds, “Some of you may be graduating in a few months stepping into another chapter of your life. What will the future be like in a new place with new people? Do not worry, there is always a space for you at PongSpace where you can find your table tennis comfort.”

To find a table near you to play, visit https://PongSpace.com

To learn more about the George Braithwaite Major League Table Tennis (Season 3 starting in September), visit https://georgebraithwaitemltt.PongSpace.com/

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
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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.