As you can read from some of the captain’s reports a number of the teams suffered player shortages (one even left the country) and I am indebted to the captains and managers who managed their teams and also to the players who covered, often at short notice. At least some can say they have had their fill of table tennis this year! That said there weren’t too many times that teams weren’t able to field a full squad despite the weather and the trains.

Bearing in mind these difficulties it is great to see the following performances:-

Whilst mentioning CLICK it is great to see that of the 5 teams the Club entered they took 5 out of the top 7 places – a fantastic achievement. It’s good to know that the Club has a ‘bank’ of such talented young stars waiting in the wings.

On the League Competition front the Club entered teams in to all the competitions and again had some great performances. Highlights (or lowlights) are: - 

• A team lost in the final of the 2 Down (first defeat of the season!);
• D team lost in the semi’s of the 4 Down;
• H team lost in the final of the 6 Down;
• Our mixed team lost in the semi’s (Looks good, but only 4 teams entered!);
• J team got through to the semi’s of the Junior Cup and lost to ECC.
• And finally our F team got through to the final of the handicap and lost to ECC.

All in all a very successful year in terms of league play – we clearly just needed that bit extra to secure some of the League Competition silverware. On the

Club night front Fridays continue to be as popular (all four tables occupied to the early hours) as ever and it is great to see a number of the kids from Cathedral practising their shots against the more experienced players.

One concern that has overshadowed the latter half of the season has been the situation regarding our premises. At present it would appear that we have a stay of execution. However the land occupied by the hall is subject to planning permission and therefore we urgently need to seek new Club premises. Thank you for the support you have given in this search.

I’m told you can’t end on a negative so I thought I would briefly mention coaching. Cathedral coaching is booming (see below), we have approx. 16 in the beginners session and a similar number in the intermediates. Most of the kids are regulars and it is great to see them starting to develop. Thanks must go to coaches Neil, Ryan, Graham, Julie and the band of dutiful fathers (Gareth, Ray, Mick) for regularly subjecting themselves to noise volumes above EEC regulations!

On a final note, a quick thank you to Graham for the time and effort put in on the website (www.bvttc.org) and the photos and also for the guidance given to your new secretary.

This has been a fairly quiet year as far as social events are concerned. A proposed quiz night was abandoned due to the uncertainty of whether or not we had a venue in which to hold it! For the same reason the Tom Burns Tournament has been postponed temporarily but it is hoped to hold this at the end of June. On a more positive note, we held our 2nd Christmas Ping Pong Party which proved to be a popular event. Members are thanked for generously donating raffle prizes and of course purchasing tickets. £32 was raised which was donated to a shelter for the homeless in Chelmsford. More recently, our end of season meal at the Green Dragon Pub, was enjoyed by all those who attended. Somewhat disappointing, was the actual number of club members who do attend the social functions e.g. only 16 out of approximately 50 members came to the club dinner – not a particularly impressive number!

The Club entered 8 teams into the Chelmsford & District League for the 2002/03 season, the same number as last year, but also 5 junior teams in the Introductory League, CLICK, two more than last year. It was at times a job fitting them all into the hall!

Having lost Duncan after 6 games, and putting out Alastair and myself as 2 man teams on two occasions. In addition a number of subs were used including Frank Neill, Rob Wigley and Nick Wool. It is therefore no real surprise that we finished where we did. Lucky we had Graham to pull up from the 4^th. All the games were enjoyable and some were very close - (3 draws, and 6 narrow 4-6 defeats). A reasonable season all things considered.Results individually are as follows;

DUNCAN - played 18, won 15 - 83%....would have finished higher in the averages had he been able to finish the season . Best win possibly Neil Gooday 2 straight.

ANDY - played 38, won 22 - 57%....dependable, steady player, singles or doubles.

ALASTAIR - played 38, won 9 - 23%....practically all games went to 3. The opposition ‘sussed’ him out some time ago and few players bother to hit through him, preferring to lob or move him around .

GRAHAM - played 33, won 21 - 63%....usually steady, and won all 3 against Richard Jennings & co. of Bocking in the 2^nd half of season. Andy and he make a safe, steady and winning doubles pairing.

ROBIN - played 56, won 21 - 38%.... played most games as other players unavailable. Struggled 1^st half to adapt to playing standard. Lost 9 games 21-19 or 22-20 in the 3^rd. Beat players such as Ivan Chaplin and Ray Sutton , and ‘nicked’ a game in the 2^nd division for the A team , but no consistency.

A superb run at the end of the season saw us take a place near the top of the table. Out of the last 32 available points, we took 26 – shame we didn’t start as well! Unfortunately this looks like the end of the road for Geoff, who after many years (21 in total) playing for Baddow may be taking a well-earned break, at least for the time being. Geoff (33%) improved as the season progressed and if he had been able to practice during the season, there is no doubt that his average would have been higher. John having played Division 5 last year, performed excellently in Division 3 and more than justified his elevation. John (45%) improved as the season went on and with the right encouragement we will surely see John playing in a higher Division – the potential is there! As for myself, I thoroughly enjoyed playing and captaining this team and of course getting 93%!

The season started badly with the news of Steve’s injury, which kept him out all season – we wish him well and hope he can play next season. Despite this setback we had a very good season, taking in to account the difficulties in team availability. In 50% of league games we had to call on substitutes. My thanks to all who ‘filled’ in: - Mike Robinson, Stuart Skippings, Gareth Joice. Rob Wigley, Chris High and Richard Upson. The mainstays this season – Bill – with his vast experience and know how, combining clever defence with wrong footing winners and the explosive Nick Wool, who on his day can beat anyone at this level. Also the timely availability of Graham for a six vital matches, enabled us to achieve the runners up spot and a semi-final appearance in the 4 down cup.

Baddow village 'E' suffered from the loss of our captain and best player, Rob Wigley at Christmas. This proved to be fairly devastating to the team's chances in the 5th division. Rob is a superb, classically trained player with a keen table tennis brain and the ability to motivate his players. He regularly won 2 or 3 of his singles and would win the doubles paired with either Mike or myself, often whispering his analysis of the opponent's weaknesses mid-game as useful instruction to his partner. Really the team ought to have been topping the table by Christmas had it not been for the fact that I took a period at the start of the season to adjust from the sixth division and realised that 5th division players are really not much better than those I had been playing last season. However with that and the fact that we dropped a match due to lack of players turning up on time, (blame the trains!) and two matches played with only two players, (those trains again!), we were third or fourth in the table at Christmas. Once Rob left the team and indeed mainland Britain to move to Belfast it was left to David and Mike to keep the team in a position to challenge the leaders. This proved difficult, as the third member of the squad Colin Gooday was unable to play every game due to other commitments. This meant the 'E' team often had to seek reinforcement from the Baddow teams in the 6th division. The players we drafted up from the 6th division did well for us on balance but I felt as though they had to overcome the same problem that I had at the start of the season. It is difficult to play up a division because one naturally assumes that the higher division players are much better than them and thus think negatively about their chances. Considering this I would like to thank those division 6 players that played up and dug us out of a hole. Particularly Fred Henwood and Diane Pitt who both provided wins for us. Those wins often made the difference between a loss or a draw; or a draw and a win and thus won us points in the league table. Of the regular players we all had our peaks and troughs of form. Mike Robinson was never trained as a youngster and his unorthodox style is testament to that. He stands back from the table and gets back whatever his opponent can throw at him. As a style this works really well for him as he is very consistent. The funny thing about Mike is that he is an attacking player trapped in a defensive players body. He is very keen to play a more offensive game. I am looking forward to seeing if over summer he transforms his game, but even if he stays defensive he will get his share of wins for us. Colin Gooday is wonderful to watch in action, an all rounder with well crafted shots, he can chop, topspin, block and smash. Another player with a fine table tennis brain he is able to advise his teamates on correct strategies. Colin got the highest percentage of wins for the team. A very handy teamate to have. I am a defensive antispin player and find I can beat some players easily whilst others just smash their way through me. I had an inconsistent season but was doing better towards the end. Baddow 'E' finished 5th in the division. Considering the loss of Mr Wigley and the dependence on reserves I am pleased with this. We need one more decent player in our squad to enable a higher finish next year. All in all a pleasing and enjoyable year.

A season of two dramatically different halves! Having lost the services of Colin Gooday to the 'E' team, combined with the unavailability of other players, the first half saw Mark, Ryan and Richard struggling, ending at Christmas with the threat of relegation looming. The arrival of Gareth Joice and Stuart Skippings prompted a marked change in fortune, and the team went on to achieve a remarkable 100% record in the new year! Still this was not enough to get into the top two, as the teams above had established a commanding lead, but a comfortable third place was secured. Gareth and Stuart were simply too strong for the division, and with support from Mark and Richard, many handsome victories were recorded, including good wins over the eventual champions and runners up. It was also another successful year for the team in the handicap cup where we started as holders. At the time of writing, the team of Gareth, Mark, and Richard had progressed to the final for the second year running, to face ECC 'E' this time.

(Regrettably the outcome was not the desired one, but well done on a good cup run—Ed)

The G team consisted of the experienced Chris High, newcomer Bob Francis, the should know better by now Diane Pitt (also captain for her sins!), the making good progress Martyn Chattey and ex Excalibur junior Tom Webb. We unfortunately lost Tom’s “services” to other sporting commitments after only 1 match and so were down to the gang of four. We are probably the most inconsistent team of table tennis players in the league. Initially Diane led the way as No 1 but by December her inspiration had run dry! Chris was a little more successful and won a creditable 50% of his games, his standard of play improving significantly after a month off travelling around the world! Martyn played some excellent table tennis but was invariably pipped at the post. Hopefully next year he will gain a little more confidence and achieve the success he deserves. Bob made a tentative start to competitive play after several years’ break from the game. However, once he acquired a new bat, his true potential began to be realised and he really carried the team for much of the second half of the season. His overall average of 52% is impressive for a newcomer who had only won 30% of his games in the first half of the season. We may not have won this mini division but we certainly enjoyed ourselves. Diane also acquired the nickname of “bus” – as she was the nearest thing to team coach that was available - according to Bob anyway!!

Although we played twenty matches this last season there were only five other teams in the division (6), one of which was the Baddow ‘G’ squad. By the end of the season we knew our opponents fairly well! The division was close fought and not decided until the last week. The standard for the League’s bottom division being the best I can remember. For us it started with two draws and three losses. Then, in early November, we were joined by Bill Chester and there followed five wins and one draw and until our last two matches (losses against Writtle and Hatfield Peverel) we were in contention for the ‘top spot’. In 15 matches Bill only lost twice and finished the League’s most successful player. I would like to give special mention to Ron Arthur who played in every match, including cup games, and had a success rate well in excess of 50%. My thanks go particularly to Fred Henwood for his support and assistance during the season in traumatic personal circumstances. Also to Eric Clift for ‘standing in’ when others were unavailable. Bill, Ron, Fred and Eric thanks for a most enjoyable season.

This team comprised Philip Twite (13) and Sam Pitt (12) both in their second season of competitive table tennis. Theoretically they could have won this division and indeed they did lose the fewest number of matches suffering only 2 defeats. Their downfall was the fact that they won many of their matches by only a 3-2 margin and since a point is awarded for each game won, they came second to the more consistent K team. This said, both Philip and Sam returned very respectable averages with Philip winning 64% of his games and Sam 87%. Probably their biggest weakness was their doubles play where they often lacked the determination to gain the crucial extra point at the end of the match. Hopefully they both enjoyed this season as they have both played some excellent table tennis and have improved tremendously since September. Thanks must go to Steve Clift who substituted for Philip against ECC P scoring a vital win against Yin Man, and especially to Geoff Twite who took over the role of team manager on numerous occasions when Diane was involved in her own team’s matches.

Sam and Philip,  with Manager Geoff Twite  in background. Runners-up in CLICK  Well done boys!

Rykki and Haydn came of age this season and secured the league title after an average win in excess of 4-1 in each match! Only three matches were lost in a remarkable season. The Click league this year was however a much closer affair than the table and some match scores would suggest. To their credit, a strength of the boys was not to let their heads go down when they were trailing in a match. This spirit carried them to several 4-1 and 5-0 victories when the match could easily have slipped away. Indeed this was demonstrated in the last match against the ever improving 'L' team. The result was a 5-0 win, but both Rykki and Haydn had to dig deep in a singles, coming from 2-0 down to secure 3-2 wins. Both their other singles went to 4 legs, and this was the typical closer encounter than the score suggests of so many matches throughout the season. Haydn returned an average of 92%, and with Rykki coming in at 73%, the pair formed a formidable partnership, which we hope will continue next season.

This has been a great season for this young team, finishing middle of the league table. This was Adam’s second year playing in the Click league. His overall game has improved tremendously where his average has risen from 0% to 60%. Matthew, also in his second year, has played extremely well and again had some fine wins. His brilliant backhand smash often proved to be the winning shot. Hannah, the youngest team member, in her first year, had some fine wins and as the year has progressed never surprises me with some outstanding shots. All three have played extremely well as a team and have improved considerably as the season has progressed. It is very encouraging for next season, where I believe they could well finish in the top half of the league.

N Team ( CLICK)

Members:  Steve Clift, Laura Pyman and Robbie Weatherley 
                        [Manager: Eric Clift]