Table tennis on radar
Ricky Thompson
Issue date: 4/13/05 Section: Campus Life
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"I played [table tennis] in high school with my friends -- it was just the thing to do," said Coppola, who founded the Northeastern Table Tennis (NETT) Club in 2000.
Coppola said the 15-member club is open to all students who are enrolled full-time at the university, regardless of their playing ability. Once recruitment is complete, members will then play against one another to develop rankings, and the top eight players are invited to represent Northeastern and compete in the New England division of the National Table Tennis Association (NCTTA).
Three times per semester, the team will compete in round robin-style tournaments that bring players head-to-head with club teams from other local institutions, such as Harvard University, Boston University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In its third season participating in the league, Northeastern trailed an undefeated BU squad and finished second in the division and 25th in the country overall, with an 11-3 record.
On April 2 and 3, Coppola, along with his teammates -- graduate student Neelam Bendre, junior electrical engineering major Sanjin Osmancevic and middler engineering major John Michand -- traveled to Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Knox, Texas, to compete in the NCTTA Championship. While it was memorable, it was performed at breakneck speed, Coppola said.
"We landed on Friday, played Saturday and Sunday and flew back Sunday night," Coppola said.
Although the team was mentally prepared to take on the competition, the same could not be said for their physical condition. On Saturday, Coppola and Osmancevic fell ill and were not able to play, forcing Northeastern to forfeit two of its four scheduled matches.
"Dennis and I were sick for a day and a half, so we really can't tell how well [we could've done]," Osmancevic said. "We still did OK, but we could've done better if we hadn't been sick."
Once the team was back in full form, Northeastern was able to win its first and only match of the weekend, when it beat West Virginia, 3-2.
"We tried our best," Coppola said. "At the nationals, every school is serious. There was tough competition there; you can see the high level of play and devotion to the sport."
In addition to hosting the event, Texas Wesleyan University won the championship for the fourth consecutive year. Coppola said the school prides itself on its table tennis program and awards scholarships to talented applicants.
"They're the team to beat," he said. "They're like the New York Yankees of table tennis."
With nine years of playing experience under his belt, Osmancevic said that one of the club's undeniable and most important strengths is the sense of unity shared among its members.
"As a team, we all play with a lot of heart. We never give up and we get along pretty well with each other, so you can't count us out - ever," he said.