Southport Table Tennis Club

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Gregg Letts has produced another tutorial, with video, for your entertainment and education. Enjoy!

Table Tennis/ Ping-Pong Basic Strokes - Backhand Banana Flick Return of Serve.

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We’re off! And galloping into the lead is the new junior ‘F’ team, led by Jeff Cummins. Unfortunately, this is a somewhat hollow victory, as the opponents didn’t actually turn up. [Should we claim the points or offer another date? Opinions please?]

Close on their heels is the other team of juniors, the ‘D’ team - leader Paul Lunan, with his lads proudly boasting individual 100% records. Also with 8 points is the ‘B’ team, after we were notified that one of their opponents had played out of order, so we gained an extra 2 points.

Fourth past the post is the ‘A’ team (though I’m not sure which one is Mr T.) just a nose ahead of the revamped ‘E’ team.

Bringing up the rear is the outclassed ‘C’ team, losing heavily in their first division 2 match.

• Mon: North Meols ‘A’ 9 - 1 Southport ‘C’
• Tue: Southport ‘A’ 7 - 3 St Teresa’s ‘D’
• Wed: St Teresa’s ‘C’ 2 - 8 Southport ‘B’
• Wed: Southport ‘D’ 8 - 2 Paraplegics ‘A’
• Wed: Southport ‘E’ 6 - 4 Formby HT ‘E’
• Thu: Southport ‘F’ 10 - 0 Formby TTC ‘F’ (w/o)

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It all starts again this Monday, with the ‘C team venturing to the outer reaches up at North Meols to play their ‘A’ team. Will this be the group who last season played as the ‘B’ team, now that their Division 1 ‘A’ team has dropped out? We’ll soon see.
Southport ‘A’ kicks off with a home game against St Teresa’s ‘D’, who finished just two points below them - will it be a close game this time?

Three matches take place on Wednesday: the ‘B’ team have a tough game away to St Teresa’s ‘B’; the ‘D’ team are at the hospital Spinal Unit playing their home match against Paraplegics ‘A’; and the newly configured ‘E’ team play host to Formby Holy Trinity ‘E’, who finished 4th in Division 3, and who might have done rather better with a regular line-up.

Finally, two of the ‘newbies’ of the 3rd division play each other on Thursday. Jeff Cummins leads our second juniors’ team (Southport ‘F’) into battle against Formby Table Tennis Centre’s ‘F’ team, who might also turn out to be juniors. This could be the place to spot some up and coming talent for the future. We wish both sets of players an enjoyable evening, played in the best spirit of competition.

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For 2008-9 fixtures, see the links on this page.

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Bill Bradley turned 80 today, and we wish him many happy returns of the day.

At a small presentation to him during last night’s practice evening, I noticed the look of awe on the faces of some of the very promising juniors when they heard he was 80. They were no doubt wondering how it is that an 80 year old can still beat them every time. Well, that’s for Bill to know and for them to find out!

Well done, Bill, and keep them guessing for many years to come.

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Greg Letts is an above average Australian player ( ranked 32 in the Commonwealth in 2005) who writes a table tennis blog. Any table tennis player could learn from his musings on the philosophy of life, based on his table tennis experiences.

I’ll just pick out a few gems. Firstly for the ‘oldies’ among us…

• The kids of today are the champions of tomorrow. Sooner or later they will overtake you.
  • But with cunning and experience, you can put off that day as long as possible!

• There will always be those who embrace change, those who fight against it, and those who feel things were better 20 years ago.
  • Over time, you will be in each of those categories at least once!

and some things we all need to remember during the coming season…

• The goal is to hit one more ball on the table than your opponent - whether other people like the way you do it, or with what equipment, doesn’t matter. There are no points given for style.

• Win or lose, give a firm handshake and a sincere “Thank you”.

Think about it!

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The Club’s Annual General Meeting will be held on Wednesday 17th September, at 8.00pm, at St Teresa’s CMS Club, Birkdale, Southport, PR8 5NJ.

Agenda

1. Welcome and apologies
2. Minutes of the last meeting (click to download pdf version)
3. Treasurer’s Report and presentation of Financial Statements
4. Secretary’s Report
5. Chairman’s Report
6. Election of Officers
   1. Chairman
   2. Secretary
   3. Treasurer
7. Election of Auditor
8. Amendments to Club Constitution
9. Membership fees
10. Team designations and playing order
11. Any other business

For those who have not visited the venue before, here is a map of how to reach St Teresa’s. The red pointer is Southport College and the green pointer is St Teresa’s; click on the ‘+’ or ‘-’ symbols to zoom in or out; click on ‘View Larger Map’ below the map image for directions and a larger map. (Your browser will need to allow Javascript for you to be able to see the map.)
View Larger Map

Alan
Secretary

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The League’s Ordinary General Meeting (also known as the “handbook meeting”) will be held on Tuesday 9th September 2008 at St Teresa’s Club, Upper Aughton Road, Southport, commencing at 8.00pm.
The Agenda for the meeting is as follows:-

1. Apologies
2. Club Roll Call
3. Minutes of the OGM 5th September 2007
4. Matters arising
5. Issue of -
   1. Handbooks
   2. Scorecards
   3. Scorebooks
   4. Balls
6. Fixture Secretary’s Report (including  any alterations required to the Handbook)
7. Any other business

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Well, clearly it was a golfer! Most people credit this comment to Gary Player or Arnold Palmer, but Lee Trevino and Tom Watson also get mentioned as possible sources. It was supposedly in response to a spectator’s wisecrack about a lucky shot in holing out from a bunker. But is there anything more to it, and could it apply to table tennis?

We’ve all played against opponents who seem to get more than their fair share of net points or edges, and we tend to think they’re rather lucky. On the other hand, when we get an edge, we regard it as a well placed shot and a richly deserved point. Can this really be the case? Or is there a way to become as lucky as our opponents and still play good shots?

Maybe there is. If “practice makes perfect”, then perhaps we should be practising aiming at the edges or keeping the ball low over the net to better our chances of getting more of those “lucky” points. The better players hit their shots with greater accuracy, and guess what? this accuracy isn’t pure luck! Hours and hours of practice lie behind this ability to place the ball where they want it, with the speed and spin they choose.

So, if you want to become a luckier player, get down to the college on a Thursday evening over the summer and practise, practise, practise. If you want to develop a good “edge” shot, practise hitting the ball “down the line”, within 6 inches of the edge. The more consistently you can place the ball withing that corridor, the more chance that you’ll get a few extra edge points. Similarly, to get a few more net shots, you need to practise some defensive push/chop shots, keeping the ball within an inch or two of the top of the net.

Put in sufficient practice and the luck will surely follow!

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