Southport Table Tennis Club helping to regenerate table tennis in Southport

Southport ‘E’ ( ‘E’ for expired )completed the season’s fixtures with a visit to Argyle on Monday 17th March & improved marginally on the result in the home fixture but still went down 1-9.

Following the victory in the last match and the draw in the one prior to that there was hope that the improvement would continue but a strong Argyle team led by Chris Coogan gave little away.

Pitting Ken against Argyle’s no. 3 proved a good strategic move & gave the team great psychological boost when Ken ran out the winner in 5 games. That proved to be the extent of our success, however, as the remaining 9 games were lost despite sterling efforts by the rest of the team. To Ken’s great glee he finished the season by being able to say that he won one game against Chris Coogan in his singles encounter.

Southport ‘B’ 6 – 4 Southport ‘A’

In the upset of the season, Southport ‘B’ pulled off a remarkable win against their higher-ranked, and higher-placed ‘A’ team colleagues. (more…)

The ‘E’ team, (‘E’ for ecstatic) finally achieved their season long ambition and notched up a firm 6-4 victory over Argyle ‘C’ on Tuesday 3rd March.

This following a 5-5 result in the last match indicates that we have been able to not only last the pace but also to finish strongly. The final game of the season will be against Argyle ‘B’ who, no doubt, will be out to avenge our defeat of their juniors but until then we will revel in the E uphoria of our first win.

It was a sound team performance with Ken,Tom, Norah and Charles all returning singles and/or doubles victories. Young Ken was the star performer despite, or because of, having his car stolen earlier in the day as he won both his singles and the doubles. The result hinged on the final doubles in which Ken & Charles lost the first game but then took the next three to seal the victory.

Courteous goodbyes were exchanged with the visitors but it is hoped they didn’t hear the raucous bellows of the victors as they left the building. Well, we’ve got to make the most of it.

After the comprehensive drubbing by the ‘C’ team last week the ‘E’ team ( E for elated but only mildly) travelled to the Paraplegics venue for the fourth time this season and came away with a hard fought 5-5 draw.

All team members enjoyed success in singles or doubles but Ken was the star by winning both his singles ( one v Ian Littlewood ) and the doubles with Charles. Tom & Gil returned excellent singles victories to help the team claim it’s second draw of the season but an outright win still E ludes us. Maybe next week…..

The E ( ‘E’ for extremely unsuccessful ) team met Formby TTC this week and failed to improve on the 1-9 result against the same side earlier in the season. In fact the result was even worse as we went down 0-10. Comparing the results over the two matches,however, some comfort can be taken from the closeness of many games and the fact that a number of events went to four & five games.

Next up the ‘C’ team (‘C’ for calamitous ? )- will be for us!

The ‘E’ team which is comprised of Aughton & Ormskirk U3A members have the prospect of a match against Mawdesley U3A but the date for the match is uncertain as Mawdesley’s hall is being re decorated. Just as well we are not going to be there during the refurbishment as there might have been the dubious distinction of being whitewashed twice!

Passing swiftly over 3 more League defeats in recent weeks, the ‘E’  (E for eliminated) team enjoyed a close encounter with Formby H T ‘D’ in the Gunson Plate on 29th January.

After the adjustment of the handicap Southport lost by just 11 points. This outstanding achievement was made by Ken winning one singles and amassing valuable points in the other. If Charles, Tom & Norah had managed to scrape a further 12 points between them in their games the match would have been won. Nevertheless it was a creditable performance against a very strong Division 2 side.

Sunday, 27 January 2008.

Eight of our members represented Southport Table Tennis Club in this year’s closed championships. The full complement of 5 juniors (Danny Houghton, Danny Woods, Jamie Wordsworth, Jonny Cummins and Ollie Valentine), well supported by parents, plus Cummins senior (Jeff), Colin Fyles and Alan Nolan, spent a gruelling day from 9 o’clock in the morning until well into the afternoon, with Colin’s last match finishing at 5.30pm. This was our best representation for a number of years and is a good indication of the resurgence of table tennis in the club.

All events this year started with a mini-league of 3 or 4 people who played each other, with the group winner and runner-up going on to the next round, so you were guaranteed to play in at least 2 contests per event. In some of the events, the second round also had a mini-league. After that it was a straight knock-out competition.

I entered 5 events, not with the hope of winning any, but so I could get lots of games. In the end, I played 14 games (including 4 victories), which seems pretty good value for my £13 entry fee. All of us who took part seemed to enjoy the experience, not least Colin Fyles, who is through to the final of the Over 55′s after a very hard fought match against Brian Crolley, a 1st division player with a 75% record. I imagine Danny Houghton (not yet 13) might just be feeling a little bit elated too, as he is through to the final of the Division 3 Restricted event. Finals night is on Tuesday, 29th January at St Teresa’s CMS Club, when Colin will play Dave Evans (100% in Division 1) and Danny will play Lung Yu (83% in Division 3). Whether they win or lose, they will have done us proud to reach the finals.

Finally, I must pay tribute to Roger Neal, the organiser, for a well run competition, and thank Formby High School for the use of their table tennis facilities.

The ‘E’ ( E for eternally optimistic ) team entertained Deyes High on Tuesday 8th Jan. in the first game of the second half of the season and despite the all too familiar 10-0 defeat there are signs that the standard of play is showing a distinct improvement. Everyone in the team won at least one game: Ken & Tom took their opponents to 5 games in their respective singles, Charles got a game against their number 2 & Norah won 1 game in her singles and another with Tom in the doubles.

Nothing for the rest of the Division to worry too much about but we are getting stronger!

Passing swiftly over defeats by St Teresa’s ‘D’ (a 2nd division team) in the Anon Plate and by Argyle ‘B’ in the league, the ‘E’ team (‘E’ for elated) drew an exciting match last week with Argyle ‘C’.

On equal terms for most of the match, this was a fixture which, with a little more luck, might have resulted in a victory. Hopefully, we can achieve this in the return fixture at home later in the season.

Norah was on court in the last game at 5-4 down and needed to win to draw the match. Happily, she withstood the pressure and won in 3 straight games. Ken also was in good form again and won both his singles. Pat notched up a singles win and Tom & Norah completed a good night’s work with success in a close match in the doubles.

The ‘E’ team (‘E’ for exhausted ) visited Kew Hospital for the third time this season on Wednesday 14th Nov. and suffered a hat trick of defeats by losing 1-9.

Gil Jamieson distinguished himself with a victory in one of his singles and Norah took her opponent in one event to 5 games.

Elsewhere odd games were won but not in sufficient numbers to gain another set.

A fourth meeting is scheduled towards the end of the season and there is determination throughout the squad to record at least a few more games and, perhaps, another set or two against these formidable opponents.