Yes, it's that time of the year
again. The start of another table tennis season. With the
2006/07 season about to launch on the 17 September the club
staged its pre-season rehearsal for the league teams with an
inter-club competition. But with a difference. The season
launches from a new playing venue.
A last minute offer from
Chelmsford Borough Council has made more playing time
available to the Club at the Chelmsford Sports &
Athletics Centre (possibly good news for Chelmsford City
football fans!). As a result the Club took the decision to
move league play from Newlands to Melbourne for the new
season. This decision was taken as part of a development
proposal from CBC to make table tennis a second feature
sport or specialist sport for the Melbourne Centre. It also
helps us to make small reductions to our match fees. The
decision was taken after careful consideration, but as the
offer was made very last minute and by that time the League
Constitution had already been drawn, we had to move swiftly
and decide. Whether this is the right or wrong move we're
not sure. But it does allow us to get a greater foot in the
door at Melbourne and bring together our equipment in one
venue allowing us to make better facilities available to
all.
Now back to play! The A team,
captained by Neil Gooday and featuring Neil, Waseem Qureshi,
Peter Barrett and Aaron Fennell are bidding to retain their
place in Div 1. And again that will be a tough call against
some of the very best opposition. Hopefully if they can get
Aaron playing a few matches that should strengthen their
chances. On the night Adrian joined the A Team in the
absence of Peter and Aaron to take on the B Team, captained
by Al Piper and featuring Al, Julie Vansertima, Ray Lawrence
and new boy Bradley Hudgell. A big jump for
Bradley. The match was a good one. Bradley made a real
impression making Waseem wait until deep into the 5th end
for a win. Al also made the A Team fight taking the only win
for his side for the night a 3:1 victory over Adrian and
then taking Neil to the wire just losing out at 13:11 in the
5th. But at the end of the day the match went with the form
book 9:1 to the A side.
On the other side of the hall
the two division 3 sides met. C v D. And as you might expect
this was a very close affair. The C Team captained by Mike
Johnston and featuring Duncan Elloy and Ryan Pitt (and also
with Alastair Brown of email fame in their squad) made a
good start with Duncan taking the opening set. But a string
of 4 wins from the D Team captained by Frank Neill but on
the night featuring Stuart Skippings, Steve Back and
returning nomad Bill Wall (who we were delighted to welcome
back to the BVTTC colours) stunned the opposition. This
included a tremendous 5th set win for Stuart over Ryan and a
further 5th set defeat for Ryan at the hands of Steve.
Obviously not Ryan's night! After that it was pretty even
steven. With a maximum from Bill just giving the D Team the
edge for a 6:4 victory. It seems Bill could prove a very
handy addition for Frankie's squad.
|
Members
test out the new playing conditions at Melbourne. In
the foreground
players of the A Team, on centre court players
from the L Team and on the end court players from the
division 6 clash between J & K. |
In the match E v F both teams
were able to field their full 4 man squads. The E Team
captained by Bob Francis, featured Bob, Gareth Joice
returning after a brief break, Laura Pyman, gradually
recovering after her summer surgery, and a fully fit Graham
Turner! The F Team captained by Mike Robinson featured
Mike, Colin Gooday and juniors Phil Twite and Hannah Pitt.
Two sets went to 5. Laura just edging out Hannah at 11:8 in
the 5th. And Mike then reversing that edging out Laura 11:8
in the 5th. Phil also played well taking a win from Bob and
Colin & Mike showed their experience to take the
doubles. But those were the only 3 games for the F Team.
Victory to the senior side 7:3. A very good match.
The next clash featured predominantly
young people. With the G Team from Div 5 (managed by Graham
Turner), comprising of Adam Pitt, Babu Stephan and Matt
Skeoch, being challenged by the top Div 6 H Team (captained
by Richard Upson) made up of Richard Baxter, Sam Pitt and
Haydn Upson. It was good to see two new players to the Club
on display here. Babu for the G Team making a first entry
into play in Chelmsford and Richard Baxter for the H Team
returning to table tennis after a period of higher
education. had the opening set of this match been repeated
throughout it would have been a long and extremely
competitive match. Sam Pitt showed something of the class he
is capable of with flashes of brilliance to sneak past the
dogged Adam at 13:11 in the 5th to give the underdogs an
early lead. Sam also brushed aside Matt but came unstuck in
his final set losing out to Babu over 4 ends in a closely
fought set. Richard was unable to add to the score for the H
team but Haydn stopped Babu in his first match with a close
3:1 win. With each of the G Team members taking 2 wins each
together with the doubles the final result was 7:3 to the
division 5 side. One thought this match might have been
closer.
In the all division 6 clash
between the established J Team, captained by Fred Henwood
and featuring Fred, Ron Arthur and Jacqui Smith, and the new
K Team featuring the Austin family captained by Father Ian
with support from daughter Clair and son James, one might
have expected the senior side to prevail. Especially as 2 members of the Austin clan have no
previous league match experience. But the youngsters put in
a tremendous show here each taking 2 singles, the pick of
which was a superb 11:8 in the 5th victory for Clair
over Jacqui. And with Ian taking all 3 wins it was the K
Team who came away with a 7:3 victory.
The final match on court
again featured mainly players from Div 6, with a little help
from CLICK. Mainly players from the L Team under the
captaincy of Eric Clift. On the night the line up of the two
sides was Ian & James Austin, Tom Lee and Damien Laverty
against Diane Pitt, Andrew Orme and Matt Davis. The result
here was perhaps another slight surprise. With just Ian
winning 1 singles it was Diane's side who ran away 9:1
winners. But that doesn't tell the full story. Matt Davis
showed just how much he has improved surprisingly overcoming
Tom in 5 very competitive ends. Damien & Tom nearly
pulled off the shock of the night in the doubles just losing
out to Diane & Matt 11:7 in the 5th, after having been 2
games to 0 up. And James put in a superb effort to make
Diane go all the way to the 5th before winning through.
And so an experimental
evening came to an end. Despite a few moments of chaos
overall it wasn't as bad as some had feared. The conditions
played well and players had the chance to test themselves
out and blow off a few cobwebs. Now let's see how it goes
for real! good luck everyone.
|
In
the foreground here, well the face says it all! The
centre table features the G v H Teams with the back
court being the all division 3 clash between C &
D. |
