The practice nights scheduled for 27th August and 3rd September 2009 have been cancelled because the sports hall at Southport College is unavailable due to student enrolments.
Unfortunately, we have been unable to rearrange the practice sessions at short notice.
From Thursday 23rd July, the practice sessions will run from 7.30pm until 9.30pm. The experiment of having a separate early session for newcomers/beginners has been abandoned due to low uptake.
From 21st May, through to the end of August, we will have a simplified arrangement for weekly practice:
There is one exception to the Thursday bookings: the hall will not be available on the 25th June, so the practice session will be on Wednesday 24th June instead.
Alan Nolan
The hall will be available for Junior Practice on 3rd February, Adult Practice on 5th February, and for general practice on 19th February. The original practice dates of 12th and 26th are cancelled.
On Thursday, 18th December, there will be an extra practice session from 7.30 to 10.00 – the last one this year.
We’d love to see you there.
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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!
Here’s a chance to work off those Easter Eggs! Beginning Thursday 17th April, and running through until September, there will be weekly practice sessions at the College between 7.30 and 9.30pm.
Whether you’re an “old hand” who needs to keep in shape over the summer and maybe learn a few new tricks, or a relative beginner who wants a chance to try out all those mysterious new techniques you’ve read about, it’s your opportunity to have a go. You don’t need to be there EVERY week, but we’d love to see you some of the time. And, at £2 a time for adults (£1 for juniors), it’s pretty cheap entertainment.
Alan