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Colin Fyles is new club champion!

admin — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 20:43:10 +0000

Colin Fyles holding the Bertrand Travis Cup after beating Paul Lunan in the club championships

With no time to play the last match on Sunday, Colin Fyles and Paul Lunan had to play the final of the club championship competition on Thursday evening.

On a very warm evening, each player needed only 15 minutes warm up before squaring up to each other. After a very cagey start from both players (the first set lasted almost 7 minutes and finally went to Colin 11-9), Colin found his backhand flick/smash to be the most effective way to win points and Paul had no answer as Colin raced ahead to take the next two sets 11-5, 11-7.

The win was a true reflection of Colin’s form throughout the competition and confirms his number 1 rank in the club.

His name has now been added to this illustrious list of previous winners:

1960 - 61 - D Gunson
1961 - 62 - D A Ashby
1962 - 63 - P G Longhurst
1963 - 64 - D A Ashby
1964 - 65 - D A Ashby
1965 - 66 - D A Ashby
1966 - 67 - J Watts
1967 - 68 - J Watts
1968 - 69 - D A Ashby
1969 - 70 - D A Ashby
1970 - 71 - P R Beatham
1971 - 72 - P R Beatham
1972 - 73 - P R Beatham
1973 - 74 - F W S Smith
1974 - 75 - J M Davidson
1975 - 76 - W J Evans
1976 - 77 - M D Cray
1977 - 78 - N A Cray
1978 - 79 - J M Cray
1979 - 80 - L Linforth
1980 - 81 - J M Cray
1981 - 82 - M R Pearson
1982 - 83 - M R Pearson
1983 - 84 - S Baker
1984 - 85 - M Fletcher
1985 - 86 - A Clark
1986 - 87 - J D Killip
1988 - 89 - C Ford
1989 - 90 - J Quirk
1990 - 91 - A Clark
2009 - 10 - C Fyles

Club Championship

admin — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 16:30:06 +0000

Pat Boylett, winner of the Handicap Plate, with Oliver Cox, the other finalist.

We had a very successful competition day on Sunday, 4th July, with 19 people entering the main event. This started at around 2.15pm, with four Groups of 4 or 5 players, each person playing all the others in the group. The top 2 in each group then progressed to a knock-out stage. The final was due to be played between Colin Fyles and Paul Lunan, but we ran out of time. This match will therefore be played on Thursday, 8th July during the usual practice evening.

Those who were unsuccessful in the main event could then enter the Handicap Plate competition. Seven people entered for this, and handicaps, which had been decided before the main event started, were applied at the start of each game. Each match consisted of the best of 5 games, each game being played until one person reached 11 points.

The eventual winner was Pat Boylett.

Southport Closed Championships

Alan — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 09:09:47 +0000

The annual Closed Championships of the Southport & District Table Tennis League will be held on Sunday 7th February at Formby High School. Details of location and how to enter are on the entry form.

You can download an Entry Form in either Adobe PDF (closed10.pdf) or Microsoft Word (closed10.doc) format. If you are interested in entering, please print a copy of the entry form, complete it and send it together with your entry fee(s) to Roger Neal as indicated on the form. Please put your initials in the box for each event you wish to enter, as in the example attached (closed10 example.jpg).

If you want to enter the doubles and have a partner, please indicate their name; if you want to enter the doubles, but don’t have a partner, put a question mark (“?”) in the box.

I would encourage you all to have a go. The odds are that you won’t win a trophy (though two of our club did reach the finals night last year), but you’ll get to play different people than usual, and you’ll get to see some good players in action.

By the way, if anyone has a suitable raffle prize they wish to donate, please let me know.

Alan Nolan

Snow, ice, frost

Alan — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 13:59:16 +0000

The second half of the TT season has been delayed, unless you were due to play last Monday. If so, you probably just managed to get your game in before the big freeze hit us.

Southport College has been closed since Tuesday, and although it is scheduled to open again on Monday 11th January, the car parks will not reopen, and further fixtures will be affected next week.

Players should contact their team captains to confirm whether matches will go ahead as planned.

Gunson Cup Draw, 1st Round

Alan — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:39:52 +0000

The Draw for the first round of the Gunson Cup has been made, as detailed below.

This is a handicap competition, and the numbers after the team names show the advantage over the opponents. Each match consists of eight singles events, each of 5 games up to 11 points. At the end of the match, points for each team will be totalled and the handicap adjustment added to each team. The team with the greatest number of points after the adjustment will be the winner.

Home Team			Away Team
North Meols ”D”	280	v	Formby HT “B”
Southport “C”	220	v	St Teresa’s “A”
Southport “A”	160	v	Formby HT “C”
Southport “F”	280	v	North Meols ”B”
Paraplegics “A”	280	v	Formby TTC “B”
Formby TTC “C”		v	Formby TTC “E”	300
Argyle “B”		v	North Meols ”C”	120
Formby TTC “G”	180	v	Formby HT “E”
Southport “E”		v	Formby TTC “F”	80
Argyle “A”		v	Formby HT “D”	130
Formby TTC “D”	140	v	St. Teresa’s “D”
Southport “D”		v	Bye
St Teresa’s “C”		v	Bye
St Teresa’s “B”		v	Bye
Southport “B”		v	Bye
Argyle “C”		v	Bye

Matches to be played during w/c 2nd November 2009. Home team captains to arrange the fixture by offering the opponents 2 dates, at least one of which is in the cup week.

2009-10 fixture lists

Alan — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 00:51:34 +0000

The team-by-team fixture list may be downloaded from here.

The day-by-day fixture list may be downloaded from here.

Separate fixture lists for each team may be downloaded as follows:

Club AGM 2009

Alan — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 12:40:28 +0000

The Club’s Annual General Meeting will be held on Thursday 17th September, at 8.00pm, in the sports hall at Southport College.

Draft Agenda

Welcome and apologies
Minutes of the last meeting (click to download pdf version)>
Treasurer’s Report and presentation of Financial Statements
Secretary’s Report
Chairman’s Report
Election of Officers
1. Chairman
2. Secretary
3. Treasurer
Election of Auditor
Membership fees
Team designations and playing order
Any other business

Alan
Secretary

Practice night cancellations

Alan — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:03:03 +0000

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.

Southport ‘D’ – Division 3 winners

Alan — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:51:48 +0000

Congratulations to the ‘D’ team juniors on gaining promotion as Division 3 winners! They achieved this feat in only their 2nd season of competitive play, and dropped a mere 18 points out of 180. Their total of 162 points was the highest for any winning team, in any division, in the last 4 years, and their margin over the 2nd placed team was also the biggest.

At this year’s League AGM, the juniors of Southport ‘D’ received a very well deserved trophy as Division 3 Winners.
click the pic

The achievement was all the more remarkable when you consider that the very same squad ended the previous season in 7th position. This improvement was no accident: the whole team has put in a lot of time and effort, has turned up regularly for practice sessions at Formby Table Tennis Centre and has competed at weekends for Merseyside Schools.

I think we also need to recognise the vital contributions made by people other than the boys, and we would like to thank the parents for their encouragement and support throughout the season; Dave Graham of Formby TTC for his coaching; captain and coach Paul Lunan for so much more than the points he gained for the team; members of the League management committee for organising the league and cup competitions; other members of Southport TTC for helping out in the practice sessions; and even opponents for providing the competition and for their helpful words of encouragement.

Near end-of-season experience

Alan — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 23:59:28 +0000

Two of our teams continued their run of form in the final months of the season. The ‘C’ team ended a dismal season with their joint-second best performance (ignoring an earlier walkover), losing 6-4 at Deyes High to finish bottom of Division 2 with a measly 41 points. In marked contrast the ‘D’ team, consisting of Paul Lunan (captain, coach and manager), Danny Houghton, Jonathan Cummins, Danny Woods, Ollie Valentine and Jamie Wordsworth, finished off a superb league season with two 9-1 and three 10-0 victories to end with a points tally of 162 out of a maximum of 180. Looking back over the last 5 years, I cannot find any other team winning promotion with a 90% average. Well done, the lads!

After losing key players for much of the season, the ‘A’ team has recovered somewhat to finish around mid-table in Division 2, and the ‘B’ team looks as though it may also hang onto Division 2 status for next year.

In Division 3, the ‘E’ team has done really well, and currently lies in 2nd place, though it is likely to be overtaken by Formby HT ‘E’ if they play their outstanding matches. The very young ‘F’ team has certainly not been disgraced, and would probably have finished third from bottom if Argyle ‘C’ had not had 1st Division standard Ben Aitken playing for much of the season. Most of the lads are not yet 13½ years old, and will surely make great strides next season.

The final league tables should be available within the next few weeks, so look out for the next instalment.