Photo of Logan Zimmerman and Ryan Day. Photo Credit to Dennis Yanga

By Michael Reff
NCTTA Media Committee

NCTTA is an entirely volunteer-run organization, with its main aim to make the sport of college table tennis bigger and better in North America. Each year our volunteers bring to the table specific sets of skills and training that they have applied from previous or current careers, all in the spirit of teamwork and giving back to the game they love.

We wanted to take this time to honor a couple volunteers who are also military veterans: Logan Zimmerman and Ryan Day.

Logan’s first love in sports was golf. He even earned a Master’s in Professional Golf Management.

His first taste of table tennis came from a severe thrashing from his brother-in-law more than ten years ago. He recalls that the score was 4-21 (old school ping pong rules!). After this humbling experience, he vowed to defeat his brother-in-law, trained for six months, and returned the favor, almost reversing the score! Zimmerman was hooked.

His experience starting to volunteer for NCTTA would come after he began assisting NCTTA President Willy Leparulo’s FSU club in coaching. Zimmerman would later become NCTTA coach certified and then started helping at champs.

Zimmerman is not just a jack of all trades, he’s basically a master. In the Navy he was officially an Avionics Electronics technician. He’s had several positions after his military service, but now he works on troubleshooting 3D printing equipment. He even 3D printed this year’s Champs trophies! Furthermore, he was here since the beginning of the Champs setup and was a pivotal volunteer with laying down the professional blue flooring.

When asked how the military has prepared him for the NCTTA, he says it’s his ability to adapt and improvise in the face of adverse situations, as well as “breaking down problems into simpler steps.”

Thank you to Mr. Zimmerman for your service and commitment to the betterment of NCTTA!

Ryan Day is another late bloomer to table tennis, however he is an all-around athlete, having played professional soccer in Germany, baseball for 13 years, and more. It was inevitable that he would end up with us table tennis fanatics!

Day started playing the Olympic Sport in 2018 at a ping pong tourney in Texas A&M in San Antonio. Similar to Zimmerman, Day’s first experience with table tennis was losing multiple times, and likewise he vowed to do better. He says he “Literally googled table tennis clubs in San Antonio” to try and improve his form.

Ryan started helping out NCTTA after getting coach certified by the organization where he ultimately met ubiquitous volunteer matchmaker Willy Leparulo. Ryan recalls, “Willy was like ‘I love you please can you run South Texas [divisionals].'”

Ryan is ecstatic to join the ranks of table tennis and the NCTTA crew: “So glad I got involved. I love table tennis now, I’m like a fiend but more importantly I love the competitive atmosphere, these guys are athletes.”

Day says that the military has helped him develop an “acute awareness” and “attention to detail,” greatly applicable to helping out NCTTA. He too assisted in the setup of the venue and his strong work ethic perfectly complements NCTTA’s overall infrastructure.

Thank you to Mr. Day for your service as well as your willingness to volunteer for NCTTA!

The NCTTA is proud to have such great volunteers with military service who go the extra mile!

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