Steve Hopkins
***Recent articles on ButterflyOnline by Steve Hopkins***
Steve has been a contributor to the sport for many years. Most recently, as a part of the leadership of the Rhode Island Table Tennis Association, and their We Are Butterfly Club in Manville, RI. He is a five-time Rhode Island State Champion, a club coach, a fixture in the Monday “A” League, President of their Board of Directors, and a 2018 inductee into the Rhode Island Table Tennis Hall of Fame.
Steve began a juniors club in 1982 in South Carolina that was based on the campus of Anderson College, where his father was the college’s President. In 1985, that club became the foundation of a college team – where Steve was later able to play and train. Steve was a grant recipient for the 1984 junior program at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. Over his time in Anderson, South Carolina, Steve was able to benefit from the presence at Anderson College of some of the best players and coaches in the USA (including USATT Coach of the Year recipients, ITTF coaching award winners, and two Olympians).
In 2007, Steve became Editor of USA Table Tennis Magazine along with his wife, Marie. Steve managed the publication, the layout, the content, and the advertisers while Marie reviewed the publication for errors and created and applied consistent rules for capitalization and abbreviation. Over his tenure (May 2007- Dec 2014), Steve helped USATT produce 43 printed magazine editions, 10 electronic magazine editions (many editions were in multiple media), 17 tournament programs, prospectus and media guides for 3 Olympic games, USOC posters, and a variety of web content and social media articles. In 2012, Steve was selected as a delegate to the event in China honoring the 40th Anniversary of Ping Pong Diplomacy. Before joining Butterfly in 2017, Steve was a part of the editorial team at Paddle Palace where he created and edited content for their website, publications, and social media.
In recent years, Steve has been in charge of Tournament Operations for the Boston Bruin’s annual Pucks & Paddles fundraiser (which has raised about $750,000 for Bruins Charities), and in 2023 he also ran a table tennis event for the Cincinnati Bengals (and the ad they created using that event was viewed over 2 million times across the Bengals’ social media channels).
Outside of table tennis, Steve is an attorney who works for an international travel insurance company. He specializes in higher education travel and exchange programs and currently works with approximately 100 American Universities in assessing risk for study abroad programs. His group pays medical bills, helps with travel issues, provides health and safety information to travelers, and evacuates travelers out of harms way. He has been an author of three health and safety publications, has created health & safety training curriculum, and was Chair of the NAFSA Health & Safety Subcommitee (2016 and 2017). He was a part of a 3-person leadership team for NAFSA’s New England Region, which is tasked with supporting international education at accredited colleges and universities throughout New England.
Steve is Editor of the ButterflyOnline.com News & WAB Club Sections. If you would like to submit articles to Butterfly for our website, please contact Steve at shopkins@butterflyna.com.
