Tulane Traveler Treks to Table Tennis Tournament
Hello NCTTA world, we would like to introduce you to Fiona Hu, currently the only Tulane University Table Tennis representative in the NCTTA postseason! Hu traveled 19 hours to her division in North Alabama (her school is in Louisiana) and did so by train! Talk about passion and commitment, and folks, that isn't even the amazing part. Let's dig in and get to know more about her story!
Ms. Hu was born and raised in a place called Denham Springs, Louisiana, and picked up her first paddle during a middle school P.E. class. She didn’t even realize that table tennis was a competitive sport, but at Tulane University as a freshman, she learned that Tulane even competed in the NCTTA Championships, and from there, she was determined to compete. She later joined the local New Orleans Table Tennis club and even had an opportunity to do a semester abroad in China. In China, she would meet what she calls her “Table Tennis mentor,” and from that point her love for the sport flourished into passion.
Look, we all know that table tennis in the USA is a niche sport at best and that is no different in Louisiana, but what Hu found was a global community of pongers that enjoy and love the sport equally as her. Taking a 20-hour train ride to North Alabama gave her perspective and, yes, a qualification to the NCTTA South Regionals in Texas, where this time she will be taking a plane ride for the next experience!
A shoutout to the folks she has met along her “Journey of Tenacity”: New Orleans Table Tennis Club, Tulane Table Tennis, Oxford (AL) TT club, Drew Ogden (Dixie Division Director), and even her opponents from Universities in Alabama, Pari Motivaras and Bhavya Paineni.
Good luck to Ms. Hu on her next adventure on the campus of Texas Wesleyan University for the NCTTA South Regionals!