The Impact of College Table Tennis

Here are a few points which i believe are obvious and true:

1. Table tennis is a great sport and we want it to grow.
I can't truly speak for what anyone else really wants; i'm not a mind reader. But i'm going to assume that local players would prefer not to have to travel to find competition. I know that i'm constantly working with people who, like myself, spend thousands of unpaid hours every year to try to make things better. And i suspect that when people such as our top players, their families, and others donate to the USATT's Annual Giving Campaign, it is with similar intentions. I assume most people want things to grow.

2. Though many people in the US have played table tennis, it is not a major professional sport in the US.
I recall a story told by a friend about his degree in sports management. He had planned to write his thesis about a subject related to table tennis, and his faculty advisor suggested that for a "sports management" degree his thesis should be about a "sport", not table tennis.

It's one thing if a random person doesn't consider table tennis to be a sport; it's another when a person working in sports has this view. This is what we're up against.

3. The most successful table tennis countries have one of the following: (a) a cultural connection with the sport, (b) significant government funding of table tennis, or (c) strong and deep table tennis leagues.
I don't think we can count on (a) or (b) ever happening here. Not every strong table tennis country is well funded by its government, yet somehow they get by. Maybe they just have good organization, strong clubs, and a wealth of volunteers.

4. In the US, professional sports often have some connection to college sports.
It varies by sport, but professional athletes in many sports go to college first, and i get the feeling that college sports are more important in the US than they are in other countries. On the other hand, sport clubs seem less important in the US than in Europe.

Yeah this is rambling a bit, but it leads to this one:

5. College leagues and their associated scholarships drive junior participation in other sports.
How much money do your neighbors spend on their kids' participation in football or hockey or whichever sport they play - not with the goal of having them become pro, but rather so they can get a scholarship? Sometimes they spend more money in development than the resulting scholarship is worth.

Why can't this work for us?

Right now we have a nice group of juniors who play for a variety of good reasons: it's fun, healthy, and character building. It's a sport that can be played over your whole life. Some players aspire to be World Champions or Olympians. Another possible future is to become a professional table tennis league player, but i'm not sure how many are thinking in that direction.

These are not bad reasons to play, but they aren't motivators that reach a lot of people. Only a few people go to the Olympics and it's only once every four years. Our group of juniors wouldn't compare to the number of soccer players in a city school district. What if there were an additional motivation: The opportunity to earn a table tennis scholarship to a top university - one of thousands of such scholarships? How many young players would there be? How many collegiate and junior coaching jobs would be created to support these programs? How many adults would come out of those college programs with a desire to continue playing in adult leagues? How many of those adults would be willing to support a professional league?

If we had a complete system of college table tennis, the sport would be transformed at all levels.

We're still far from that, but even so, college table tennis has come a long way. 167 coed and 43 women's teams participated in the 2013-2014 NCTTA league - the highest numbers to date. A couple schools have varsity programs and scholarships, while many others have programs that are well-established as club sports, with funding for a little travel and some with part-time paid administrators. There are even players who moved to the US so they could play table tennis (and go to school). I think college table tennis has made an impact, but at the moment it doesn't transform the sport like it could.

To reach a new level, in which table tennis scholarships really have an impact, a lot of work needs to be done. At this stage, growth still needs to be pushed; it doesn't happen spontaneously. Many people think that some nebulous group known as "they" need to develop programs for players; instead of players, parents, and coaches doing it themselves. Unfortunately the small pool of table tennis volunteers is often working at capacity already. For every program that exists, somebody had to step up and make things happen. For every NCTTA club - as well as every USATT club - there is at least one leader. This is not going to change. An optimist will observe that this means we have over 200 table tennis leaders in our colleges. The pessimist will point out that for the sport to double in size, we need twice as many leaders.

We're always looking for more help. Any volunteers?

How about one final point?

6. Growth of table tennis in the US would bring value to the sport in other countries.
The US has a unique influence on world culture, and if table tennis became more popular in the US, it would have a worldwide impact on the sport. I believe the ITTF recognizes this and would love for the sport to be huge in the US. And i believe the ITTF sees value in college table tennis in particular because their marketing partner, TMS International, is the title sponsor of this year's NCTTA Championships.

The TMS 2014 College Table Tennis Championships is the finale of the 2013-2014 NCTTA league, to take place April 4th through 6th in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh. The action will be streamed live all weekend on the ITTF's YouTube channel, and will feature three US Singles Champions among a field that's deep as always. Don't miss it!

2013-2014 NCTTA League

The NCTTA season begins this Sunday as seven college teams from Georgia and Tennessee compete in Atlanta. Several more South divisions meet the following weekends, and then the rest of the country after that with multiple competitions every weekend. The vast majority of play will be team competition, though there will also be some lone-gun singles players.

Unfortunately, the US is not known for its world-class table tennis. But it is known for its world-class universities, and sports are a part of most universities to some degree. In the US, college sports are critical for many sports, with football and basketball the clearest examples of this. Is it possible for our sport to use the university network to improve our sport? To some, not only is it possible, it is necessary.

A league of 200 teams is fairly large, but in many ways the NCTTA league is still small. The nationwide staff (all volunteers) is trained one by one. Budget is a constant concern. School teams struggle to be seen as real sports in the eyes of their athletic departments. Even so, in a country that is considered a table tennis backwater, we might have one of the best collegiate leagues in the world.

In the ITTF team rankings, the Brazilian Men's team is ranked #14, while the US Men's team is ranked #48. With that in mind, consider this Brazilian article, which can be found in its original Portuguese here. English translation by Jorge Vanegas.

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Brazilian College Champion in USA Declines Professional Career José Barbosa prefers to continue on the road to business, he is in his last semester. By Francisco Junior To pursue the dream of being a professional athlete and to represent Brazil, or to continue with another career? In the mind of José Barbosa, College Table Tennis Team Champion in the United States, there is no doubt. The Brazilian studies business (focusing in administration, marketing and management) at Texas Wesleyan University and represents its team in collegiate competition. Though he is stuck in a tough situation, he has already decided not to pursue a career in sports. "To be a part of the National Team is not in my plans any more. I was on the Under 15 and Under 18 teams from 2004 to 2008." He also said, "I represented Brazil at the Universiade (College World Championships) held in China in 2011. For that reason, for me the sport was always a door opener," he commented. This semester, 23 year old José Barbosa prepared himself in order to finish on a high note in USA Table Tennis. In the finals of the NCTTA (National College Table Tennis Association) championships, the Brazilian won the final match against Mississippi College, and therefore Texas Wesleyan won the Championship title. "I came to the United States in 2010 because I received a table tennis scholarship at Lindenwood University. After one semester, due to my strong performance in team competition, I was invited to Texas Wesleyan University and helped win three team titles (2011, 12 and 13)," José said. At the last edition of the NCTTA Championships, more than 300 athletes from 35 North American colleges competed. A total of six Brazilians participated. Besides José Barbosa and Claudia Ikeizumi from Texas Wesleyan, there were four others from Lindenwood University wielding their racquets. José Barbosa asserts: "You cannot compare Brazilian table tennis with American" In the analysis of José, table tennis played in Brazil "does not pass the entrance exam to enter the world of college table tennis in the U.S." mainly in terms of organization and structure. He recalled that even the food is provided by the tournament itself in the competition gym. "The matches are broadcast live every day of the tournament with live commentators. The infrastructure is fantastic. We always have as many practice tables as competition tables (20 were in the last tournament). That never happens in Brazil, even in tournaments organized by the International Federation (ITTF, in English)" he compared. A fan of the German Dimitrij Ovtcharov, José Barbosa relates that he lived with Cazuo Matsumoto in France in 2009, and points to his ex-roommate, the best Brazilian by world ranking (45th place), as a high point for the country at the time. "I admire Cazuo Matsumoto for everything he has done in recent years. I know how hard he has struggled and how deserving he is of all that is happening," concluded the native of Jundiaí province in Sao Paolo, who cannot resist the longing to return to Brazil whenever there is a holiday, in order to renew his energy by receiving the warmth of family and friends.

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We may not be the major leagues, but it's a positive when a player from another country says we're doing something right.

The strongest table tennis countries generally have professional or semi-pro leagues on a foundation of extensive recreational leagues. Leagues aren't a big part of the picture in the US. You can decide if there's a conclusion to be drawn from that.

NCTTA competition takes place in both the fall and the spring. If you're connected to a college in some way - staff, student, parent, etc. - I hope you can help us grow by participating or helping form a team. Playing on a college team might be the most fun you can have in the sport. And whether or not you're not a college student, we welcome volunteers in many capacities.

The Making of the College Table Tennis Championships, 2013 Edition

Sure, the table tennis tournament that your club hosted was great and unique. But how many tournaments in the US sport these features?

• An event that concludes a year's worth of league competition, requiring each player or team to qualify through regular season (divisional) play and regional qualifying tournaments
• Lunches and an awards banquet provided for the players and coaches - all 250+ of them
• Every match officiated by an umpire, or as a last resort, managed by an official scorekeeper
• No matches on concrete floor
• Every court (18 of them) fully barriered either 23x38 or 30x53 in size, with umpire desks, scoreboards, and towel boxes
• A discrete practice area with 16 dedicated practice tables
• Every player is a part of a team, and every team member is wearing a team uniform
• Matches are streamed live with commentary through most of the competition
• Press releases written and sent out as the tournament progresses
• A tournament program with photos of each participating team

The tournament i'm referring to is of course the NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships, but there is another tournament that i must mention as probably being of a similar class: the Mike Dempsey Memorial tournament. Para tournaments are routinely all-inclusive, though the entry fees tend to be significantly higher.

Other tournaments that might come close in playing conditions are the US National Team Trials, and the North America Cup and North American Championships. Though these events have much fewer entry and table counts, and are a different kind of tournament.

Back to the topic at hand. How does this tournament happen year after year, to the joy of table tennis-loving college students around the country?

If i had to name a single reason it would be tournament director/championships committee chair Willy Leparulo.

Willy drives the bus. When a piece is missing he finds it. When something's not going the way it's supposed to, he almost wills it to happen correctly. He's been doing it for years and doesn't seem to get tired of it. He's not perfect - and he'd be the first to admit or even flaunt it to you - but the amount of drive he shows in this role is incredible.

Court One

But will, desire, and dedication are not enough. One person is definitely not enough. It's a two-year process with a lot of little pieces and if i listed all the steps there'd be a nice big wall of text here.

To put things in perspective, i've run two-star, two-day tournaments with ten events using a two-person crew. I think i could run a four-star tournament with a three-person crew if i had some umpires i could call upon. In contrast, the NCTTA Championships probably requires a bare minimum of 60 staff members, but generally about 100 people are used. There's no way i could name all of them, but they're all important. And the preparation time required is at least 20 times what's needed for a four-star tournament, and it might be more like 50 times. Of course this is impossible to measure but it's definitely a huge process and a ton of work.

Sometimes you're forced to play on the back courts

We have conference calls every month. There are documents to write for everyone - athletes, on-site staff, coaches, spectators. Contracts to bid out, evaluate, revise, and sign. Equipment to rent or buy. Staff to recruit and train. (Anyone know of a US city or even state has 30 umpires ready to go?) All sorts of preparation needed so that the tournament setup and competition can run like clockwork with no overhead, no missing steps or planning that we overlooked. And then we need to run the tournament itself.

What do we, the organizers, get out of this?

Of the core staff (tournament director, technical delegate, competition manager, referee, and volunteer coordinator), only the competition manager is paid. And the amount he's paid probably doesn't cover his expenses.

I did receive an event shirt.

A lot of us received headaches, even if we didn't ask for them.

No competition here, this is just the practice area

But we do get the pleasure of putting on what i believe is the best table tennis event in the country. And we keep people playing after they leave the junior ranks. The vast majority of them say they're having fun.

After the tournament i kicked back and . . . wrote the tournament recap for the USATT magazine. Then i started preparing myself for the next tournament i would be working at.

We're just starting the process for the 2015 tournament, and we're in the middle of working on next year's event. In a couple weeks Ed Hogshead and i will be traveling to Monroeville, PA (a suburb of Pittsburgh) to inspect the site of the 2014 Championships. I think it'll be the best ever.