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HOW ARE THEY
DOING? If you are a regular viewer of the BVTTC website then you may have been following the progress of our teams in the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League over the first half of the 2003/04 table tennis season. To bring it all together here is a brief round up. The League Tables and Press Reports for the C&DTTL can be found on the League website. Promoted to the first division the A team (Waseem Qureshi, Peter Barrett and Adrian Pitt) have more than held their own even though at the half way stage they languish at second to bottom in the table. The best result being an emphatic victory over Maldon B who are now firmly anchored at the bottom of the table. Draws with Billericay and Danbury B added to the points tally as well as picking up single points against Rawreth A (former winners of the division), Hatfield Peverel A and Elmtree A -against whom Adrian inflicted a rare defeat on junior star (and last years Men's Singles finalist) Vytas Rybakas. They will need to repeat this performance in the second half if they are to survive to fight another year in the top flight. A complete new line up for the B Team (Neil Gooday, Alastair Piper, John Patman and Julie Vansertima) was placed in Division 2. Having been tipped as possible relegation prospects the team have shown the potential to be real winners. Neil has led from the front finishing the first half with a tremendous 73% average. Had they not been forced to concede the last match of the half, when Neil was forced out of action through appendicitis, they might have ended up in fourth position rather than the sixth position they actually occupy. This is however traditionally a very close division and an equally good second half could see them creep up the table. Both the C & D Teams are placed in Division 3. Despite the lettering it is the D Team (Robin Armstrong, Alastair Brown and Barry Pritchard) who have fared the better. New signing Barry has definitely taken to life at this new level ending up with a 67% average from the first half. The biggest problem has been player availability with fixture clashes with commitments in other league's. If that could be resolved then their current comfortable mid-table position might be further improved. For Frank Neil - captain of the C team - life has not however been so sweet. The move of Nick Wool out of the area, and absence abroad on business of No.1 Ray Lawrence, has left the team really struggling and they currently reside at the bottom of the table. But there have been one or two signs of new life in the last couple of matches with a convincing 8:2 win over the much higher placed OC's A and a hard earned draw with Excalibur B. If the team can now build on that then they may yet avoid the drop. For the E Team (Gareth Joice, Stuart Skippings, Steve Back and Ryan Pitt) the first half of the season has been an absolute roller-coaster. Benefiting from support from both Andy Skues and Graham Turner - who may both yet find themselves pushed up to the third division teams - the team has recorded 8 victories out of 9 matches with some dazzling displays. None more so than when Gareth, Stuart and Graham demolished nearest rivals Danbury H 8:2 and Gareth, Stuart and Steve overcame an in form Excalibur C 6:4 in one of the closest and most hard fought matches in this division. They will have to do it all again if they are to stay top of the tree. Teams F (David Gatheral, Bill Chester, Mike Robinson and Mike Johnston) and G (Diane Pitt, Colin Gooday, Bob Francis, Mark Patman and Richard Upson) find themselves in Division 5. They may look fairly evenly matched on paper, but their respective results tell a completely different story. Only the top team in this division have won more matches than the F team who are very well placed at fourth. And that might have been higher but for a couple of serious hiccups! By contrast the G team, who have been unable to get Colin to play on a regular basis, have recorded just 1 win and are now adrift at the bottom of the table. They will need Colin to play in significantly more matches in the second half if they are to survive.
The Club has no fewer than 4 teams in Division 6 of the League. Three of them featuring mainly junior players. The senior side (H Team - Peter Revell, Ron Arthur, Eric Clift, Fred Henwood and Chris High) have not fared quite as well as might have been expected, having regard to their experience. But the lowest division has been tough again this year. Ron has done well having played in all matches and ending up with a 67% average, but inconsistent support has left the team in 6th place - last of the senior sides in the division. Of the 3 junior sides it is the K team who have fared best (Steve Clift, Laura Pyman, John Mutch and Rob Able). Steve & Laura are really starting to find their feet and now that Laura is back after a spell in hospital kept her out of sport for a month you can expect them to continue to pick up. The J team, with the youngest players, (Sam Pitt, Phil Twite, Haydn Upson, Rykki Vansertima) have so far struggled to move up a gear to take on senior players. But their time will come. And finally there is the L Team (Tom & Ed Miles, Matthew Shipperd and Martyn Chattey). Martyn has played fantastically, winning 21 out of the teams 25 games won, and finishing the half on an average of 71% - as good as any senior player. So, where is the support Tom, Ed and Matthew? At the moment they languish bottom of the League and despite Martyn's efforts they seem destined to stay there. Come on boys prove me wrong.
Apart from the 11 teams in the main League, the Club also has two junior sides in the Introductory League - CLICK. The M Team features the more experienced trio of Adam Pitt, Matthew Skeoch and Hannah Pitt and they have made that experience count. Although just 10 Hannah has made tremendous strides and is now a match for anyone in CLICK, and the teams results reflect it. At the half way stage they are top of CLICK. Adam has dropped just 1 game out of 10 and Hannah 3 out of 14. Impressive records. The N Team features 4 newcomers. Shaun and Mark Hurrell, Richard Napper and Bradley Hudgell. And what a fabulous start they have made to their table tennis careers. Richard has shown a real eye for the ball finishing the half with a 75% average; and all 4 boys have shown excellent competitive spirit. To the surprise of all they have finished the half in 2nd place with the same number of total points as the M team. An excellent achievement. Well done to all our teams. We shall watch with interest to see how you finish. HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! CLICK HERE TO VIEW LEAGUE TABLES
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