College Report

April Fool’s Gold Rush

By Thomas Lackaff, NCTTA Public Relations Director

I write to you, dear reader, from the past, to address the events of the interim which lies between me typing these letters and you reading them. By the time your faithful postal carrier has delivered the magazine you now hold, the 2005 Clear Channel NCTTA National Table Tennis Championships will be in the record books. Were you there? Did you play? How did it go?

As you are no doubt aware, intercollegiate table tennis is rapidly becoming a national institution, with new schools joining to make a stronger field each year. This year, the Nationals will be held simultaneously with the ACUI championships in Fort Worth, Texas, on April Fool’s weekend. This happens to be the home of the New York Yankees of college table tennis, the mighty Texas Wesleyan University. Since TWU became the first American university to offer full scholarships to table tennis players in 2001, they have won 11 out of 15 individual titles. Currently boasting such stars as Eric Owens and Biba Golic, they maintain their status as prohibitive favorites, especially since winning a very competitive bid with Duke University to host the nationals. (Of course, the Yankees had home-field advantage against the Boston Red Sox, did they not?)

This year marks many milestones in the development of the NCTTA: what grew from a small intercollegiate league in New England to spanning all corners of the (continental) land, now welcomes the first team from Canada (University of Toronto), 11 schools making their national debut, and the first “wild card” entry (UC San Diego). Perhaps most importantly, this year’s nationals will also double as the debutante ball for what is long overdue, even within the brief history of the NCTTA: the presence of five women’s teams.

As hungry team leaders like Univ. of Maryland’s Han Xiao (U.S. National Team Member) may tell you off the record, no one expects it to be a complete cakewalk for TWU. The unknown quantities among the international contingent have historically proven to provide an exciting element of volatility to the mix, as well.

Who knows what the future holds? Well, by now, cherished reader, from my temporal vantage point here in this month known by its leonine debut and ovine curtain call, you do. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to see what happens next!

And now, a word from our sponsors: support from Clear Channel Communications, USATT, The Star Telegram, and equipment from Table Tennis Pioneers and Newgy helped make this all possible.