In the past, as junior table tennis players grew up and went on to college, many found themselves forced to retire from the competitive table tennis scene. Not so anymore….

Boasting a membership of over 30 schools spanning from Ontario to Florida, the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association (NCTTA) is an umbrella organization composed of enthusiastic and motivated college students who, besides being passionate about playing table tennis, are dedicated to promoting the sport. Formerly known as the League of Northeast Intercollegiate Table Tennis (LNITT), the name was changed in 1998 to accommodate rapid league expansion and development, particularly southward with the additions of the Carolina and Southern Divisions.

Since its establishment in 1992 by Boston University alum Nelson Chin and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alum Thomas Hu, the organization has seen its membership grow rapidly. The organization, which began as a small gathering of five schools in the northeast region, currently oversees intercollegiate competition between five divisions – the Upstate New York Division, the New England Division, the Mid-Atlantic Division, the Carolina Division, and the Southern Division – among which the 30 some colleges are grouped geographically. Schools compete within each division during the school year and the top finishers from each division convene at the NCTTA Championship Finals in the Spring to vie for the coveted "NCTTA Champion" title. The last NCTTA Champion was Johns Hopkins University, who walked away with the crown for the 1997-1998 school year; unfortunately, organization and travelling problems during the past school year prevented an NCTTA Finals from materializing last year. The 1999-2000 school year NCTTA Championship Finals is tentatively scheduled for Sunday, April 2, 2000 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

According to Chin, his "motivation was to see table tennis have professional respect at the college level, and at the same time promote friendship matches and activities among the campuses both regionally and internationally." This same mentality is perpetuated by the handful of students from member schools who serve as unpaid officers for NCTTA, devoting enormous amounts of time and energy into coordinating meets between schools. Although some of the officers have never met face to face, they manage to work closely together through weekly Internet chat meetings. The national officers for this school year are Jack Wu (Upstate New York Division), Helen Huang (New England Division), Khoi Than and Vivian Lee (Mid-Atlantic Division), Ankur Vyas (Carolina Division), and Willy Leparulo (Southern Division).

The Internet, which creates an easily accessible network between the organization’s members, has become an integral part of NCTTA. Discussions among members regarding various issues are held regularly via e-mail listservers. The official NCTTA website (see end of article), which is the major communications and information center for all members, is managed by new webmaster Dan Wang, an MIT alum. Since taking up the job in October 1999, Wang has worked tirelessly on improving the website to include the latest schedules, results and updates, newsletters, advertising space, message boards, and contact information.

Under the leadership of current President Karen Chang, a senior at Wellesley, the NCTTA has been able to increase its membership and its number of competitions, as well as better streamline the organization. Chang said, "When I first became an officer for NCTTA my sophomore year, I recall laughing at then-president Robert Lendvai’s vision that the ‘N’ in ‘LNITT’ would one day stand for ‘National’ instead of ‘Northeast.’ Today, I am proud to still be around to see his vision becoming reality. We still have a long way to go, but I have confidence that if we continue to dream big, and put sincere efforts into building a quality competitive organization, we will make an important step forward for the future of table tennis in the U.S."

Competitively, NCTTA has seen the level of its players increase as well. Although players range from novices to advanced 2300+ level players who have competed nationally for several years already, a substantial number of 2000+ rated players make the meets competitive enough for advanced players. This increased level of play both encourages and challenges new players to aim for higher levels. Khoi Than, a freshman at Johns Hopkins and president of the school’s table tennis club, believes that "the level of play in NCTTA is extremely high. Among our ranks we find champions from all of America’s largest tournaments, including the U.S. Nationals, the U.S. Open, and the Junior Olympics."

Such championship level play was evident at the recent New England Division meets, held at Harvard University and Dartmouth University. Harvard is currently in the lead with a 6-0 record, with MIT close behind at 5-1. Helen Huang, a junior at MIT and the New England Division Director, comments, "As in previous years, it seems as if it will be Harvard and MIT vying for the division title, and thus far in head-to-head competition, Harvard took advantage of the absence of MIT’s number one player, Eugene Shuster, in the first meet to take the early lead. This sets up for an exciting second half, in which the final Harvard-MIT face off will be sure to feature each school’s absolute best teams and strategies, as well as hopefully drawing out some excellent and exciting table tennis from the players." The Upstate New York Division University held a meet on November 20th at Syracuse University, the Southern Division met on November 14th at Emory University, and the Carolina Division competed on November 20th at Duke University. The Mid-Atlantic Division will most likely hold their first meet in early December. All results are posted on the official NCTTA website.

The intercollegiate nature of the organization still presents many challenges. Physical long distance not only restricts officers from holding frequent face-to-face meetings, it creates large expenses for schools travelling to faraway meets, and makes expansion a more difficult process. Fortunately, the support of Newgy Industries, the NCTTA’s official sponsor, has helped fund many of the organization’s activities. As the manufacturer of Robo-Pong, it is obvious that Newgy Industries takes both high-quality table tennis equipment and student development seriously, and shares the NCTTA’s vision in making collegiate level table tennis expansion a reality.

For the future, the organization is striving toward expanding throughout the rest of the country. If you are interested in making your school a member or for more information about the NCTTA, please visit the official NCTTA website at: