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.
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…
and some things we all need to remember during the coming season…
Think about it!
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
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
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!
The new season is now only 7 weeks away, and yesterday was the deadline for registering clubs and teams with the Fixture Secretary, John Langton.
Last season we added two extra teams making five in all. This season we are entering six teams as follows:
A team: captain Colin Fyles, match night Tuesday
B team: captain Dave Williams, match night Tuesday
C team: captain Alan Nolan, match night Wednesday
D team: captain Paul Lunan, match night Thursday
E team: captain t.b.a., match night Wednesday
F team: captain Jeff Cummins, match night Thursday
We are still looking for league standard players, particularly for the E team, so if you live in the Southport/Ormskirk/Formby area, enjoy competitive league play but are not with any other club, we would like to hear from you. You can e-mail secretary@sttc.org.uk, or ring 01695 423442, or come along to our practice nights and introduce yourself.
Alan