The first four weeks of the season seem to have flown by, and the bottom line is that out of 21 results to date, Southport teams have won 10 and lost 11. The ‘Result’ column is from the Southport point of view.

# Deyes High cancelled at very short notice (45 minutes).
* Southport ‘F’ won after a countback of games won.

At the bottom left of the screen, I’ve included a new facility - an online poll to gather your views on what you’d like to see different. Please select one or more of the possible answers, click on “Vote” and see the results.

The ‘C’ team finds itself in a completely different league this season, or at least a different Division!

After 3 league matches and the first round of the Anon Cup, the record is not one that stands much scrutiny: played 4, won 0, drawn 0, lost 4. In the league, we have won only 3 sets out of 30, with Tom Banton involved in all three of them (2 singles wins and a doubles). And we haven’t even played any of the top teams yet!

In the Anon Cup, a 6-0 result was again a fair reflection of the strengths of the 2 sides, with Formby HT ‘D’ making good use of the net cord and table edges! Seriously, though, if they get more nets than their opponents, it’s probably because they are able to play the ball closer to the net in the first place, so good luck to them.

One consolation, though not much of one - at least we’re in the Plate competition!

Gregg Letts has produced another tutorial, with video, for your entertainment and education. Enjoy!

Table Tennis/ Ping-Pong Basic Strokes - Backhand Banana Flick Return of Serve.

We’re off! And galloping into the lead is the new junior ‘F’ team, led by Jeff Cummins. Unfortunately, this is a somewhat hollow victory, as the opponents didn’t actually turn up. [Should we claim the points or offer another date? Opinions please?]

Close on their heels is the other team of juniors, the ‘D’ team - leader Paul Lunan, with his lads proudly boasting individual 100% records. Also with 8 points is the ‘B’ team, after we were notified that one of their opponents had played out of order, so we gained an extra 2 points.

Fourth past the post is the ‘A’ team (though I’m not sure which one is Mr T.) just a nose ahead of the revamped ‘E’ team.

Bringing up the rear is the outclassed ‘C’ team, losing heavily in their first division 2 match.

• Mon: North Meols ‘A’ 9 - 1 Southport ‘C’
• Tue: Southport ‘A’ 7 - 3 St Teresa’s ‘D’
• Wed: St Teresa’s ‘C’ 2 - 8 Southport ‘B’
• Wed: Southport ‘D’ 8 - 2 Paraplegics ‘A’
• Wed: Southport ‘E’ 6 - 4 Formby HT ‘E’
• Thu: Southport ‘F’ 10 - 0 Formby TTC ‘F’ (w/o)

It all starts again this Monday, with the ‘C team venturing to the outer reaches up at North Meols to play their ‘A’ team. Will this be the group who last season played as the ‘B’ team, now that their Division 1 ‘A’ team has dropped out? We’ll soon see.
Southport ‘A’ kicks off with a home game against St Teresa’s ‘D’, who finished just two points below them - will it be a close game this time?

Three matches take place on Wednesday: the ‘B’ team have a tough game away to St Teresa’s ‘B’; the ‘D’ team are at the hospital Spinal Unit playing their home match against Paraplegics ‘A’; and the newly configured ‘E’ team play host to Formby Holy Trinity ‘E’, who finished 4th in Division 3, and who might have done rather better with a regular line-up.

Finally, two of the ‘newbies’ of the 3rd division play each other on Thursday. Jeff Cummins leads our second juniors’ team (Southport ‘F’) into battle against Formby Table Tennis Centre’s ‘F’ team, who might also turn out to be juniors. This could be the place to spot some up and coming talent for the future. We wish both sets of players an enjoyable evening, played in the best spirit of competition.

For 2008-9 fixtures, see the links on this page.

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…

• The kids of today are the champions of tomorrow. Sooner or later they will overtake you.
  • But with cunning and experience, you can put off that day as long as possible!

• There will always be those who embrace change, those who fight against it, and those who feel things were better 20 years ago.
  • Over time, you will be in each of those categories at least once!

and some things we all need to remember during the coming season…

• The goal is to hit one more ball on the table than your opponent - whether other people like the way you do it, or with what equipment, doesn’t matter. There are no points given for style.

• Win or lose, give a firm handshake and a sincere “Thank you”.

Think about it!