Matches to be played in the week beginning 8th March 2010. Home captains to contact opposite numbers regarding match night.

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

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.

2nd ROUND DRAW
Southport “A” v Formby HT “C”
Paraplegics “A” v Formby TTC “D”
Formby TTC “B” v Formby TTC “A”
Southport “B” v St Teresa’s “C”
St Teresa’s ‘B’ v Formby H.T. “A”
Formby H.T. “B” v Formby H.T. “D”
Argyle “A” v Argyle “B”
St Teresa’s “D” v St Teresa’s “A”

ANON PLATE – 2009/2010

1st ROUND DRAW
Southport “F” v Formby TTC “E”
North Meols “B” v Southport “C”
Formby TTC “C” v Formby TTC “G”
Argyle “C” v Formby HT “E”
North Meols “D” v Southport “E”
Formby TTC “F” v Bye
North Meols “C” v Bye
Southport “D” v Bye

All matches to be played week commencing 23rd November 2009

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.

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.

Q. What can the blade of a table tennis bat be made from? Glass? Steel? Polystyrene? Ceramic? Reconstituted cardboard? Anything at all?
A. None of these. At least not 100%.

Q. What can the racket covering be made from? Sandpaper? Paper? Bubble-wrap? Polythene? Cotton?
A. None of these.

Concerning the blade

Rule 2.04.02 of the ITTF handbook regulations states:

At least 85% of the blade by thickness shall be of natural wood; an adhesive layer within the blade may be reinforced with fibrous material such as carbon fibre, glass fibre or compressed paper, but shall not be thicker than 7.5% of the total thickness or 0.35mm, whichever is the smaller.

I guess most people will use rackets that conform to this rule – it’s not easy to buy one that doesn’t conform and it’s too much trouble to make one yourself!

But what about the covering?

Many of you may not realise that there is an officially published list of allowed racket coverings, i.e. rubbers.

The list of allowed rubbers is published on the ITTF website and the official list is published as a .pdf regularly (April and October). This list may also be downloaded from the ITTF website. The rules also have something to say about racket coverings. In particular, Rule 2.04.03 has this to say:

2.04.03  A side of the blade used for striking the ball shall be covered with either ordinary pimpled rubber, with pimples outwards having a total thickness including adhesive of not more than 2.0mm, or sandwich rubber, with pimples inwards or outwards, having a total thickness including adhesive of not more than 4.0mm.

2.04.03.01  Ordinary pimpled rubber is a single layer of non-cellular rubber, natural or synthetic, with pimples evenly distributed over its surface at a density of not less than 10 per cm² and not more than 30 per cm².

2.04.03.02  Sandwich rubber is a single layer of cellular rubber covered with a single outer layer of ordinary pimpled rubber, the thickness of the pimpled rubber not being more than 2.0mm.

How can anyone tell if the rubbers are allowed or not? More help from the official ITTF list document:

How to acknowledge a racket covering from this List:
1. Make certain that you have the correct list (see date of validity, they are published twice a year, in April and October.
Pdf files to be found on our website at all times: www.ittf.com).
2. The supplier and brand names as well as the ITTF logo and eventually ITTF number should be clearly visible on the rubber.
3. These names should appear in the List. If in doubt, check the images/pictures on the ITTF web site.

So, there should be no excuse for players using blades with a honeycomb centre, or one covered with unlabelled rubber, or unapproved rubber.

It’s not racket science, you know!

Southport matches

Formby TTC “F” v Southport “A”
Southport “B” v Formby TTC “C”
St. Teresa’s “D” v Southport “C”
St. Teresa’s “C” v Southport “D”
Southport “E” v Formby HT “D”
Southport “F” v Formby TTC “D”

Other matches

Paraplegics “A” v North Meols “C”
Formby TTC “G” v Formby HT “B”
Formby TTC “E” v Formby HT “C”
North Meols “D” v St. Teresa’s “A”
Formby TTC “B” v Formby HT “E”
North Meols “B” v St. Teresa’s “B”
Argyle “C” v Argyle “B”
Argyle “A” v Bye
Formby HT “A” v Bye
Formby TTC “A” v Bye

Matches to be played in the week beginning 12 October 2009.

Home team captains to offer two dates in that week to the opponents.

1. Jim Irving
2. Bill Bradley
3. Dave Williams
4. Alan Town

B team, Thursday 1st October, Away at Formby Table Tennis Centre ‘D’

1. Paul Lunan
2. Nigel Pilkington
3. Bernhard Frank
4. Endijs Bekmanis (Andy B)

See Google Map showing location of Formby clubs.
Alan

Maybe so, but North Meols ‘C’ did claim a 6-4 victory, with the experience of Les Lord and a good performance by Andy Stuart forming a solid foundation for their win. Southport’s Tom Banton got his money’s worth, coming back from 2-0 down to beat Bill Dawson 11-2 in the fifth set. Andy Hickey had an easy win over John Hepple, but John and Bill steadied their nerve to take an unexpected doubles win off the visitors. Southport left wondering where it had all gone wrong!

The A team held St Teresa’s D to a draw, with Colin Fyles and Jim Irving winning both their singles and Dave Williams picking up the other point. The doubles was a weakness last season, and remains a weakness.

The B team, with three substitutes, got off to a flying start when Formby HT E turned up with only 3 players. Paul Lunan then raced to a quick win against Paul Oakes, whilst Ron Makin pulled one back for the visitors in a close game against Dai Davies. Alan Nolan and Tom Taylor won their solitary singles games, and Dai Davies completed the home team’s scoring with an easy win against Des Logan. Formby then won the only doubles game against Alan & Tom.