By Andy Kanengiser
NCTTA Media Chair
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire table tennis players worked hard as their school hosted the NCTTA championships games. Many helped behind the scenes as volunteers.
The 11,000-student school in the Chippewa Valley will enjoy benefits in return once the tourney ends Sunday. Double Fish, the China-based company and one of the tournament's biggest sponsors, is donating four new tables to UW-Eau Claire.
"This is a really big deal,'' says Jianjun Ji, the UW-Eau Claire team's coach. "It's a big encouragement to our club. The club will be more involved, and we will get new students.''
At the 2017 TMS college table tennis championships, scores of tables are all over at the McPhee Center as outstanding players from the USA and Canada battle for points.
Wisconsin-Eau Claire players competed against some of the best teams around, including the University of California-Berkeley. Eau Claire played their "A game'' but really couldn't compete against the stars from the West Coast.
"We are learning,'' said Ji, a sociology professor on the Eau Claire campus. "This was good practice.''
Getting four premier tables from one of the tournament's major sponsors will help the Eau Claire team in the future. The Eau Claire team really needs tables. Before the gift was made, Eau Claire's campus housed "four tables. Three are broken, including two that are seriously damaged,'' Ji said.
The school has already located a place in the McPhee Center to store the new tables from Double Fish. "These are high-quality tables of international standard,'' Ji said as he watched singles action from the Eau Claire stands Saturday afternoon. "We are overjoyed.''
The UW-Eau Claire president and other school leaders are delighted as well. When Ji arrived to teach sociology classes here 16 years ago, the Eau Claire campus had only one table. The Eau Claire table tennis club on campus began eight years ago.
The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire hosted the NCTTA's 2015 championship games. The team's players also went all out two years ago to make all visitors feel welcome.
The 2017 TMS College Table Tennis Championships is hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Eau Claire CVB and is one of the premier table tennis tournaments in North America featuring 6 events: Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Men’s/Coed Teams, Women’s Teams. The event is sponsored by TMS International, Gerflor, Double Fish
Players and spectators alike will enjoy a jam-packed weekend of table tennis at the TMS College Table Tennis Championships. The event starts Friday April 7th and continues through Sunday April 9th.
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 intercollegiate competition throughout North America. www.nctta.org
About USA Table Tennis
Headquartered in Colorado Springs, USATT is the national organizing body for table tennis in the United States, serving 9,000+ members and nearly 300 clubs. USATT sanctions 200+ events a year including the US Open and US Nationals. USATT is affiliated with the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), as well as the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). www.usatt.org
