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