Dear Tournament Participants,
 
 

THANK YOU for supporting the Samson Dubina Table Tennis Academy and table tennis here in Ohio by entering the $6000 Nittaku Ohio Open Open table tennis tournament!!!!  We really appreciate your participation!
 
Please note the event times are 9am, 1pm, 5pm.  This is different than some of our prior tournaments, so please take note.
 
Tournament Draws:  https://ttlive.app/ui/tournament/34028775-0859-4cc6-b78b-dc9cddcfda26
 
Our tournament hotels are Residence Inn and Holiday Inn.  See link for contact info:    https://www.samsondubina.com/coaching/official-hotels
 
Please read the updates listed below:
 
Venue
The tournament venue is the Samson Dubina Table Tennis Academy located at 2262 South Arlington Road, Akron, Ohio 44319.  Make sure that you check-in at the control desk and give/sign the waiver.  The table assignments for your groups will be posted.  Please try to arrive at least 30 minutes before your event!  Event time is default time!
 
 
Facility Availability
We know warm up is important to you, so we suggest you make sure to arrive early to get in some practice.  The facility will open at 8:00am on Friday for practice and 8:00am on Saturday.  We try to run a very efficient tournament so in general, there will be limited table availability for practice once matches start each day.  You will have to try to jump on the tables between matches.  Matches take priority over practice.  
 
Thursday, the facility will be available for practice from 3pm to 5pm and then again from 9:30pm to 11pm.  We have some limited availability in our Thursday night league if you would like to play in the league from 6:30pm to 10:00pm.  You can play any number of matches (1 to usually about 9) in your assigned group if you choose to participate. You do not have to play all the matches in your group.  Let Samson know if you want to get into the league this Thursday.
 
Format
Most of the events are Giant Round Robin format with 6-7 players per group and the top 4 advancing to the elimination rounds.  The size of the group may vary depending on the number of entrants in the event.  Some events will end after the finish of the round robin matches.  This is based on the number of players in the event.  Typically, unrated players cannot advance.  However, if unrated players have league ratings from the Paddle Palace Ohio League, we will use their league rating for advancement.
 
Prize Money and Taxes
Each player who earns $300 or more will be responsible for providing information needed to generate a IRS Form 1099 and will be responsible for claiming the income.  You will be asked to fill out a Form W-9 even if you have previously filled one out for us.  Dumps, Defaults, and Splits receive no awards or prize money.
 
Meals
Snacks are available at the Samson Dubina Table Tennis Academy to purchase, including Gatorade, bottled water, Starbucks Frappacino drinks, V8 energy drinks and a variety of other drinks, snack foods and fruit.  On Saturday only, free meals will be given to all the tournament players.  If you entered one event, then you get one free meal.  If you have entered multiple events on Saturday, then you can get a free lunch and free dinner.  Make sure that you get a meal ticket when you arrive on Saturday morning.  Saturday lunch will be served from approximately 11:30am-12:30pm and Saturday dinner will be served from approximately 5:30-6:30pm.  Meals may be available to spectators for $5 on Saturday only.
 
Rules:
1. Please arrive at least 30 minutes before your first match.
2. If you arrive late, you may be defaulted some matches.
3. TT Live will be used for scoring.  Scoring will be done on group sheets or in the TT Live App.  Please contact Samson in regards to the setup of this App if you are not aware.
4. The winner of each group will be responsible for returning any score sheets used to the control desk.
5. If controversy arises, please seek help with the tournament staff.
6. Minors need to be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
7. No white shirts or shorts!
9. There is a two minute warm up period for each match.  This will be strictly enforced.  Please observe this rule!  In order to get through all our matches in a timely manner, warmups must not exceed two minutes.
10. Players should remain in the facility as much as possible during their event periods when they are not playing.  Matches need to move along quickly and we need to know where players are.  Please notify event staff if you are going to leave the facility.  You may be defaulted if we cannot find you after a reasonable period of time.
 
Sponsors
We would like to send out a huge THANK YOU to our tournament sponsors who brought this event to Akron and have helped us promote this event during the last couple months.  Thanks to:
Presper Financial Architects www. Presperfinancial.com
CLJ Studios www.cljstudios.com
Sports Alliance of Greater Akron www.playakron.com
Wil-Cut Engineered Abrasive Solutions www.wil-cut.com
Paddle Palace www.paddlepalace.com
Power Pong www.powerpong.org
Nittaku www.nittaku.com
Samson Dubina Table Tennis Academy www.OhioPingPong.com
 
Tournament Staff,
Thanks to our dedicated staff and volunteers who make this event possible - Samson Dubina, Steve Graber, Mark Hendricks, Ethan Alexander, Sid Khandelwal, Blake Cottrell, Sam Dubina, Nancy Dubina, and Heather Dubina.  The tournament director is Heather Dubina and the Referee is Steve Graber the umpire is Jeff Yamada.  At times, if the referee is away, an assistant referee will be assigned in his place.  Samson and other SDTTA staff will be coaching academy players throughout the tournament.
 
Pro Shop
We have a wide variety of table tennis products available in our pro shop.  We are an official Nittaku club, so most of the products are Nittaku.    You can pay for the products using cash, check, credit card, or PayPal.
 
 
Thanks again and have a great tournament!
 
Samson Dubina