Photo of Sergio (left) and Erik (right), photo credit to Grant Bergmann.

By Shaquila Sarapao, Guest writer
NCTTA media

The Sung Sisters

One set of siblings comes in the form of twin sisters Joanna and Rachel Sung from UCLA. With one being right-handed and the other left-handed, they make the perfect doubles pair. The Sung sisters have pushed each other to the limit, motivating the other to work harder. Joanna tells me, “I feel like she [Rachel] pushes me a lot in practice, possibly because she hits the ball really wide because she finds it funny to see me struggle, but I have seen immense improvement on my footwork from that.”

But as all siblings do, they fight—even during their doubles matches. “I feel like our arguments have taught us to put aside personal matters on the court and just focus on winning the match,” Joanna says. Through the arguments, they are each other’s support system. They hope that this year, their UCLA Women’s team will take home the gold.

The Pulido Brothers
Similar to the Sung sisters, brothers Sergio and Erik Pulido (DBU) have a very positive and supportive relationship, focused on helping each other out rather than competing about who is better. One notable difference about these two, compared to other sibling athletes, is that Erik is the coach for DBU while Sergio is a student athlete under him.

Sergio expresses that his brother, Erik, has been a key player to his success, noting that his brother’s support has been a significant source of confidence and mental fortitude in this sport. Both DBU brothers were inspired by their older brother who played for Columbia in 2012. Sergio’s goal this year at nationals is to make it through the round robin and into the top 32 players.

About 2023 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, PongSpace, Major League Table Tennis.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday April 14th 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

Felipe Castaño and Jorge Vanegas pictured together in Photo

Willy Leparulo, Guest Writer
NCTTA Media

Se habla español?

The Colombian officials speak Spanish, English and the Table Tennis umpiring language too! A number of officials from the country of Colombia are at the 2023 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships this year. Felipe Castaño, Jorge Vanegas, and Erik and Sergio Pulido (brothers) all come from the country famous for its aromatic coffee and table tennis!

First, Erik and Sergio Pulido, brothers living in North Texas. Sergio is a player in the competition but also helping out as a scorekeeper in traditional NCTTA fashion, (everyone helps where they can). Erik is an active member of NCTTA from when he was a student athlete at Georgia Tech (engineering degree) to now living in Dallas and the coach of the Dallas Baptist University table tennis team. Erik says, “As an active member of NCTTA, I have continued pursuing my passion for table tennis, growing as an umpire, networking with others and most importantly having fun!”

Felipe Castaño is a first time attendee of the NCTTA Championships and is one of our many foreign officials at the event. Castaño is a table tennis troubadour if there ever were one. He takes his craft seriously and goes all over the world to promote it. We are lucky to have him at the NCTTA Champs this year!

Finally, an athlete and official favorite and International Umpire: Jorge Vanegas. Vanegas explains, “I’ve been a part of the NCTTA family since many years ago. It was this family who offered me the opportunity to continue applying my knowledge and experience as a certified umpire.”

Vanegas knows table tennis is a small world. He is a National and ULTM umpire back in Colombia and says “Through this I crossed paths with Felipe Castaño, he being my partner in one of the most prestigious Colombian Leagues.” In addition Vanegas met up with Erik Pulido during USA Nationals. Vanegas goes on to say, “I continue with the desire of helping and contributing by mentoring others that want to experience this face of our beautiful Sport, being NCTTA one of the best escenarios to achieve this, Thanks Family.”

Gracias and Thank you!

About 2023 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, PongSpace, Major League Table Tennis.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday April 14th 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

Photo of Viren Patel, Photo credit to Grant Bergmann

By Michael Reff
NCTTA Media Committee

NCTTA is all about the team spirit, but sometimes players make it to the champs individually, without their team and must channel the spirit alone (or so we think!) These are the “lone rangers,” the “solo warriors,” representing their respective schools for all the glory! Each lone ranger’s story is unique and some actually do have a lot of support coming to the champs even without making it with their team.

For example, Cameron Smith of the University of North Carolina, Charlotte is quite certain his fans will be the loudest and proudest of the whole National Championships.

“I definitely won't be alone; [I’]ll have a whole cheering section rooting for me that I will be bringing along with me and a few fans from some other universities as well,” Smith said. He previously got to the Nationals the year before with his team and did quite well, reaching the quarterfinals of the Coed team event.

Another lone ranger, Viren Patel, of Texas A&M University, in Corpus Christi is incredibly grateful for the experience to play at the champs:

“I am really happy and proud that I could qualify for the nationals", Patel said. "This ‘Lone Ranger’ status is like an achievement for me, and I am really fortunate to get amazing support from my school to achieve this status.”

In honor of all those Lone Rangers coming this year, here’s a brief poem:

These paddlers embrace their passions solo,
In the face of adversity, they preach YOLO,
Their hearts beat up and down like a pogo,
But when the first serve drops, it’s ready to go go!

Representing one’s school without your teams’ tough,
But you made it this far so you’ve got the right stuff,
The passion to play and perform well’s enough,
So bring home the hardware, you’re a diamond in the rough!

About 2023 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, PongSpace, Major League Table Tennis.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday April 14th 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

Pongspace is proud to be partnering with NCTTA to expand table tennis in the Americas during the National Collegiate Championships 4/14-4/16 in Round Rock, TX and throughout the year. We are delighted to contribute to NCTTA so the student athletes can have a fun table tennis experience during their college career.

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,” co-founder and CEO of Pongspace Thomas Hu said. “College table tennis athletes and enthusiasts brings unparalleled energy we need for the sport. Pongspace stri[v]es to provide a fun experience for them.”

"We are super excited at the partnership forged with Pongspace both here at the National Championships and in the future for our league and College school teams," said Willy Leparulo, president of NCTTA. “NCTTA wants to thank Pongspace to be the first to step up with the biggest sponsorship this year for the National Championships.”

"We see many synergies between the two organizations. We look forward for a close partnership in the coming years to help grow table tennis in North America together,” said Thomas Hu.
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. We offer free weekly instructional videos and soon interaction with top rank world professional players so you can improve your game.

We also organize the George Braithwaite Major League Table Tennis, which is a team league for players from all skill levels representing their table tennis club. We understand the reason you are here is to have fun, make friends and represent your school with honor. The George Braithwaite League’s purpose is to facilitate your desire in and outside your school.

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, visit https://georgebraithwaitemltt.pongspace.com/

About PongSpace:

Pongspace is a for profit organization connecting table tennis enthusiasts and table tennis resources together. The company strives to promote the sport by incubating new entrants to the sport while assisting existing entities to increase activities and revenue. Pongspace is the “glue” connecting all spaces of the sport. Whether you are a table tennis toddler or retired senior, there is always a space for you at Pongspace. Pongspace.com

About 2023 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, PongSpace, Major League Table Tennis.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday April 14th 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

Photo of UC Davis Women's Coach Niyu Jian

By Michael Reff
NCTTA Media Committee

Not all NCTTA teams have coaches. An NCTTA coach, usually unpaid, must devote a sizeable and selfless amount of time and resources to make their team tournament ready. But the rewards are priceless and intangible at times in the form of loudnproud cheering, verbal gratitude, and sometimes just a hearty laugh or smile of acknowledgement and thanks.

And coaches are committed to their craft, constantly wanting to find new ways of helping their team improve, learn new techniques, and just be better human beings in general.

After speaking with Niyu Jian of the University of California, Davis, this further solidified my regard for coaches. Jian is the coach for the UC Davis Women’s team and is quite proud of all his players.

“Our women's team has been playing exceptionally well this year,” Jian said.

“The team was able to beat UC Berkeley, Stanford, and UC SantaCruz in the Northcal divisional, winning first place. All the girls were super excited to play in the West Regionals and came to practice often despite the academic stress (it was the midterm week for us when regional happened). Additionally, the club is struggling financially to cover the cost of attending the nationals but we eventually overcome the problem.”

It's the balance of school and table tennis that an NCTTA coach must contend with, and as you can see, Jian respectfully acknowledges all the priorities that his players have.

The largest number of coaches coming this year to the Champs are from schools in California, followed by the host state of Texas. Be sure to watch how coaches in Round Rock use their knowledge and motivational strategies to hype up their respective teams and keep their players in top shape for the battle of the paddles!

About 2023 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, PongSpace, Major League Table Tennis.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday April 14th 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

Photo Credit: Dennis Yanga, representing playing for one’s team and what it means.

Willy Leparulo, Guest Writer
NCTTA Media

Year after year, NCTTA has been a home to former and current elite Junior/National team athletes from the USA, Canada and other countries. Representing one’s country while being in college is not an easy feat and one that takes coordination, support and true grit. Trailblazers like NCTTA Alumni Lily Zhang (UC Berkeley) and others have paved the way for the new group to step into the light.

We spoke with Joola’s Matt Hetherington, a former NCTTA athlete from Pillar College, to share his insight with NCTTA on the “vibe” of the NCTTA Championships,

“I think many (elite) college players just enjoy the fact that they can stay in the sport and be involved in some level of competition with more freedom and less stress attached”.

Many elite athletes are here at the NCTTA Championships from not only USA and Canada, but other countries like Trinidad and Tobago, Brazil, India and New Zealand to name a few, all sharing similar previous training and experiences.

One thing is certain: the NCTTA Championships provide a unique table tennis moment, one that isn’t readily available. Hetherington states, “The (NCTTA) team aspect is definitely unique, you get a sense that you are representing something more than yourself. When you achieve something in college, your school is proud, your team is proud, and your friends from outside of the sport at the school make a deal out of it.”

Loud and Proud is NCTTA’s favorite hashtag, so come check out these athletes as they represent their schools!

About 2023 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, PongSpace, Major League Table Tennis.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday April 14th 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

A special treat awaited NCTTA participants and the public on Thursday March 30 at 10pm in a Zoom call. For the first time in NCTTA history, live draws were made to determine who plays whom in the first rounds of the tourney throughout Women’s and Coed’s Teams matches. According to live draw host and Rating Committee Chair Kagin Lee, the decision to carry out the draw this way was to promote transparency.

“Besides the ceremonial aspect, performing a public draw is important to demonstrate the fairness of the draw,” Lee said. “This way there can be no question about why any given team is in one position rather than another; everyone witnessed how it happened, and it was done out in the open rather than secretly in a back room.”

There were specific criteria that the live draw followed, ranging in order of priority level from seeding placement to geographic location, with the goals of creating as much a randomized environment of choices as possible.

The criteria as well as the results of the draw can be found in the link below:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/166PisAss-Ft27gO2Oon6X5wO00xBw0sq....

The live draw boasted an engaging crowd and Lee expertly explained the process and patiently answered questions. He noted, “one person even corrected me when [I] made an error.” This demonstrated further the transparency of the entire public approach to the draw.

Kagin observed that because the draws are finished already and out in the public, “teams can design their ordered rosters specifically for the opponents they expect to face”, saying it is another “strategic element” that was not found in the previous method.

Kudos to Kagin and the rest of the NCTTA crew for being more forward thinking and ushering in a new era of fairness and transparency!

About 2023 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, PongSpace, Major League Table Tennis.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday April 14th 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

Picture of Ning Cheng and Steve Claflin

By Willy Leparulo, Guest Writer

NCTTA President, Willy Leparulo reached out to fellow table tennis event owner, Steve Claflin, Chairman of WE R Table Tennis and architect and owner of AMIBO for assistance when coordinating help for the NCTTA Championships. Claflin, the director of the Classic Hardbat Championships, knows a little bit about who to connect with in Texas, so he linked NCTTA up with the amazing Ning Cheng.

According to Claflin, Ning is a regional umpire, great player and volunteer to ALL things table tennis related and a GREAT friend. Ning was a player back in the day representing the University of Houston in 1997 at the Collegiates. She has competed as a player in various tournaments and as an umpire in even more. Ning has a group of enthusiastic volunteers from the Houston area to turn to. NCTTA is very excited to meet everyone.

Ning states so eloquently, “This small 40+mm white ball connects many of us together and I would love to promote table tennis anywhere I go. Table tennis is the sport I love, this is the sport which brings happiness, health and friendship.”

Here’s to happiness, health and friendship for the 2023 NCTTA Championships!

About 2023 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, PongSpace, Major League Table Tennis.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday April 14th 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

Double Happiness, known as DHS, is the 2023 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships ball sponsor. DHS has been the official ball and table supplier for many international events including the Olympics and the Table Tennis World Championships.

Now DHS is on board with the College Table Tennis Championships providing the newer high quality DHS DJ40+ ball (white) for our wonderful event. A big thank you to Double Happiness for their sponsorship and support of these NCTTA Championships.

About 2023 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, PongSpace, Major League Table Tennis.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday April 14th 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