N E W S

 

 

Closed Championships Abandoned

Having spent many weeks preparing for these Championships and several hours setting up the venue the day before, the organising committee was hopeful that the forecasted heavy snowfall and icy conditions would not prevent the Championships from going ahead on Sunday February 5th as planned. No such luck unfortunately! The disruptions were insurmountable and the tournament would have been decimated, so the painful decision was made to call it off, and frantic phone calls were made to notify all the competitors. The committee is already investigating alternative dates to reschedule the Championships and entrants will be notified as soon as possible.

 

Fairbank Cup

The results of the second round matches are shown on the "Fairbank Cup" page. As in the first round there were 2 walkovers through unavailability of teams for diverse reasons, which is a great shame. The handicapping was spot on once again, as the matches were nearly all very closely contested, 3 of them going the full distance. Several reports were sent in describing how excited and inspired all the juniors were in their performances against their more experienced senior opponents, which is tremendously encouraging. For the record, almost all the juniors involved won 2 of their 3 sets, including from Denham Village, Ben Naylor-Smith (11), Louise Williams (12), Adam Crossley (14), Rosalind Lane (15) and Adam Reed (17), and from CSP Academy, 14 year olds Alex Nagle and Joseph Underwood, whose birthdays are just 2 days apart.

The quarter-final matches, which are scheduled for week commencing 27th February, will be fairly evenly distributed with 4 teams from the first division (2 of which will be knocked out) and 2 from each of the second and third divisions. The draw for the semi-finals to be played in week commencing March 26th has also been made and is shown on the same web page. Please note that it is the responsibility of the home team captain to arrange a mutually agreeable date and venue with the away team captain.

 

Closed Championships

Remember ..... This year's Closed Championships take place on Sunday 5th February at Dr Challoners School for Girls, Little Chalfont. If you are not competing in the tournament do come along and support our players, because there should be a feast of table tennis on display.

 

League Matches - Week Ending 27.01.12

No real surprises in Division 1. The three top players of Denham Village A, Lukasz Janisiewicz, Glen Wilkes & Adam Reed  hammered yet another weakened 2-man Rickmansworth B team, 10-0, to underline themselves as serious contenders for the Division 1 title, & have now taken the lead. Rickmansworth A almost mirrored this match by beating Village’s 2-man B team, 9-1, Chris Ogle & Roger Pyle scoring maximums, & have slipped into second spot, just 4 points behind. Higher Denham’s match against Chalfont Alpha was postponed, & they now lie 3 points adrift albeit with two matches in hand. Second division’s Chalfont Gamma were also unable to field a full team but Derek Husbands kept a clean sheet to squeeze a good draw from last week’s co-leaders Chalfont Colts. Denham Village D brought their big guns to Rickmansworth, thrashing their C team 9-1 to effectively put pay to their title chances, Graham Smith & Stefan König comfortably winning all their sets. The CSP Academy registered their 6th draw of the season against Chalfont Epsilon, their star player Alex Nagle romping through without dropping a game. As the fourth 2-man team this week, Rickmansworth D did well to scrape a draw against Village F in Division 3, newcomer 14 year old Alex Cleary announcing his 100% debut for the F team. Village E’s trio Scott Thompson, Nigel Parsons  & Eden Moafy demolished their G team, 10-0, to emphasise their third position, whilst the junior girls of Village H put up a valiant fight before going down 4-6 to Ickenham URC, ruthless Ron Bryant not conceding a single game. It was good to see our first ever wheelchair player, Ickenham’s captain Don Taylor making his first welcome appearance this season & winning his first set.

 

League Matches - Week Ending 20.01.12

Three of the four main contenders for the first division title were in action in this week’s resumption of play after the Christmas break, and all had comfortable victories. Denham Village A had a clean sweep against Chalfont Beta, courtesy of their top players Glen Wilkes, Lukasz Janisiewicz and Adam Reed. Higher Denham’s John McCance, Rad Zivkovic and Gary Keers also bagged all the points against a 2-man Village B team, whilst Rickmansworth A dropped just the one point against their B team, Roger Pyle and Max Bonyadi emerging unscathed. Only 7 points now separate the four teams, although leaders Higher Denham have a match in hand, which makes the final third of this year’s fixtures an interesting prospect. Chalfont Gamma have lost considerable momentum in the race for the second division title as their top player, Rob Culverhouse, has unfortunately broken his arm and is temporarily out of action. They went down 4-6 to Denham Village C despite Derek Husbands winning all his sets and his share of the doubles. CSP Academy put up a good fight against leaders Denham Village D but conceded 4-6, Roland Stanbridge comfortably winning all his games for the visitors, whilst Chalfont Colts put 7 past sister club team Epsilon to draw level at the top. Although 5 of the sets went the full distance, Denham Village F had to give second best to Chalfont Kappa in their division 3 encounter, Norman Dennis keeping a clean sheet in their 8-2 win. Despite a full house by Chris Cox, Rickmansworth D could only manage a draw against Denham Village G, and a similar performance by Eden Moafy steered Village E to victory over the juniors of Village H whose only 2 sets were won by the vastly improved Ben Naylor-Smith.

 

Fairbank Cup

The results of the first round matches are shown on the "Fairbank Cup" page, as are the draws for the second round due to be played in week commencing 30th January. Please note that it is the responsibility of the home team captain to arrange a mutually agreeable date and venue with the away team captain.

Highlight of the first round was the splendid performance of 12 year old Louise Williams, Denham Village E's secret weapon who was brought in from the H team to play up against Chalfont Kappa, and who won all her 3 sets to record a 5-2 result. Handicapping was justified in the very tight 5-4 victory of the Denham Village A team over the G team, Richard Cottle clinching it in the 9th and final set.

 

Kiss Of Death

The following article was sent in by Ron Bryant of the Ickenham team as a consequence to last week's League Match report......

 

I don't know who wrote those kind words about my 29 wins out of 29 but it was the kiss of death!!

Here is a short report I wrote to a few friends which shows that as the year comes to an end so does

my winning run!! It was fun while it lasted.

 

Denham E, had two players drop out, one through a bereavement and one through an illness, they brought

in a guy from a lower team who entertained but struggled and lost all his games; they also brought in a young

lad who plays 5 days a week, and plays in the national league, it was his first game of the season. He

used to be coached by Sue Merican at Hillingdon but is now coached by Eli Baraty at B Batt.

Timur is a very special talent and won all his sets 3-0, no complaint but one wonders why he has not played

before. Having said that I also lost to Eden Moafy who I beat last week 3-0.

The match hinged on the doubles which was Andrew Taylor and I against Timur and Eden who were both on top

form. We managed to scrape the first game 11-9 but were 10-9 down in the second when they got the jammiest

of nets which landed six inches over the net (no more). I had been way back away from the table and young

Timur turned shouted 'Yes' and grabbed his partner in a victory hug, I managed to get my bat to the ball and

lifted it over the net, with them in great celebration not in any position to continue the point. 10-10. It was very

funny, from our end of the table!!

With their minds still on the point they thought had won the game, we won the next two points 12-10. and the

third game. The match score was 5-5 so we are still unbeaten but that is no consolation for this disappointed writer.

 

Ron Bryant

 

League Matches - Week Ending 16.12.11

The pace is hotting up among the four contenders in division 2. Denham Village D trounced Chalfont Epsilon, 9-1, to take over the lead by a single point from Chalfont Colts who dealt Denham Village C a similar blow. Players scoring maximum points were Stefan König & Jonny Smith for Village D & Nick Lee & Steve Whitehurst for Colts. Two points behind are Rickmansworth C who went down, 7-3, to Chalfont Gamma who are a further point adrift, Rob Culverhouse & Derek Husbands winning all their singles plus the doubles. The top of division 3 has developed into a dual between Chalfont Kappa & Ickenham URC who are drawing away from the rest. Clean sheets from Barry Ferguson & Jack Maskill helped Kappa to easily dispense with Denham Village G who could only manage 2 players, 9-1, whilst unblemished performances from Ron Bryant & Andrew Taylor helped Ickenham to a 7-3 win against Village’s E team. Kappa are in the driving seat at the moment, but Ickenham who trail by 9 points have a match in hand. Rickmansworth D’s Anthony Cox, Nicholas Currey & Ronnie Patel gave their team a real boost by bagging all the points against the Village H juniors. Ron Bryant has played 29 sets to date & won them all, which has not been surpassed since 1999 & could very well be an all-time league record, subject to ratification. Well done Ron!

 

League Matches - Week Ending 9.12.11

Higher Denham trounced Chalfont Beta, 10-0, in the first division thanks to maximum scores by Radovan Zivkovic, John McCance & Gary Keers, & have gone 7 points ahead of Denham Village A. Two of the top four contenders in division 2 suffered set-backs; Rickmansworth C lost a tight match to Denham Village C, 4-6, whose new recruit Steve Pascoe won all his singles & a share in the doubles, whilst Denham Village D went down 3-7 at home to Chalfont Colts with Nick Lee again comfortably winning all his sets. Colts have now leapfrogged Chalfont Gamma by one point at the top, Gamma only managing a draw at the CSP Academy despite another full-house by Rob Culverhouse. The Academy seem to specialise in draws, having notched up their fifth so far this season. In division 3, the Denham Village F team were too strong for the G team, winning 8-2, with David Cottle & Shaun Bausor keeping clean sheets in their singles & combining to win the doubles too. The junior newcomers of Denham Village H were not unexpectedly given a master-class by contenders Chalfont Kappa, 10-0, Jack Maskill, Hazel Williamson & Barry Ferguson scoring maximums, although Village H’s Ben Naylor-Smith did put up a brave fight.

 

League Matches - Week Ending  2.12.11

The local first division Derby between Chalfonts Alpha & Beta was predictably won by the Alpha team, Mark Scholfield & Steve Smith getting maximum points. Denham Village A fielded 3 juniors against Higher Denham, Alex Holland, Adam Reed & Jared Patel, & won comfortably, 7-3, the 3 points coming from master veteran John Taylor. Village now go to the top by 3 points although Higher Denham have a match in hand. Rickmansworth B had another miserable night with just 2 players once again, & went down 4-6 to Village B despite Kevin Williams winning all his sets. There are 4 teams now jockeying for position at the top of division 2 following emphatic wins by Chalfont Gamma over Chalfont Epsilon, 9-1, & Chalfont Colts over Rickmansworth C, 8-2. Gamma’s Rob Culverhouse & Derek Husbands kept clean sheets against 2-man Epsilon, whilst Colts wheeled in their star player Nick Lee who along with Ian Hopkinson won their sets handsomely. The CSP Academy juniors finally registered their first win, a good one against Village C, 7-3, Alex Nagle getting a maximum score. Gamma have taken the lead but there are just 5 points separating the top 4 teams although Village D have a match in hand. The crunch match between division 3 contenders Chalfont Kappa & Ickenham URC was narrowly won 6-4 by the latter who have now drawn ahead by 3 points. Ron Bryant retains his 100% average with yet another maximum score. Village F put 9 past lowly Village H, courtesy of maximums from Adam Crossley & Shaun Bausor, whilst Rickmansworth D had a commendable 6-4 win against Village E, with their new junior Andrew Grassick registering his first 2 wins, defeating highly ranked Scott Thompson in the process.

 

League Matches -  Week Ending 25.11.11

All the first division matches were very closely contested. Higher Denham have taken the lead by one point with a 6-4 home win against Rickmansworth A, & still have a match in hand; Chris Ogle seems to have regained his form for Ricky, after a lean spell, by winning all his sets. An eventful, somewhat heated encounter apparently took place at Dr Challoners between contenders Denham Village A & Chalfont Alpha which ended in an honourable draw. In the match between Denham Village B & Chalfont Beta, 3 players from the second division were called on to play up & produced a humdinger with 5 sets going the full distance, Beta shaving it 6-4 thanks to a clean sweep by Chalfont Gamma’s Rob Culverhouse. Ickenham URC resumed their relentless pace in the third division by dismissing Denham Village F, 9-1, notching up their 6th win in a row, Ron Bryant & Andrew Taylor again doing the business, & have now overtaken Chalfont Kappa who could only manage a draw against Denham Village E, Scott Thompson again registering a maximum. Despite a valiant effort by the juniors of Denham Village H, they had to give second best to siblings Village G, 4-6, although Georgina Cooper & Rosalind Lane won 2 sets apiece. No results were available for the second division teams.

 

League Matches - Week Ending 18.11.11

In the Denham Village A v B second round encounter, the A team emerged comfortable 7-3 winners, young Adam Reed keeping a clean score, & drew level at the top of the first division with Higher Denham, although the latter have a match in hand. Rickmansworth A duplicated their first round performance against Chalfont Alpha by scrambling another draw from a losing 2-5 position. Denham Village D also managed to put 7 sets past siblings Village C thanks to yet another clean sweep by Stefan König, & are now in joint second place in division 2 with Chalfont Colts who surprisingly notched up a 9-1 victory at the CSP Academy, Chris Lee winning all his sets. Rickmansworth C kept up the pressure at the top with an equally emphatic 9-1 result against Chalfont Epsilon, Stephen Wright & David Stephan winning all their sets. Third division Chalfont Kappa are putting in a relentless pace, brushing aside Rickmansworth D, 9-1, after a perfect display by all 3 players Hazel Williamson, Norman Dennis & Barry Ferguson. They have built a 7 point gap over second placed Denham Village E who duplicated their first round result of 6-4 against siblings Village F, Scott Thompson again emerging unscathed.

 

League Matches - Week Ending 11.11.11

The week produced some unexpected results. In the top echelon, Chalfont Alpha who have been climbing steadily up the table suffered a 2-8 set-back at home to Higher Denham, & were unfortunate to lose all 4 sets which went the full distance, John Taylor & Radovan Zivkovic keeping clean scores. Higher Denham have now built a very healthy 7 point lead over Denham Village A. Denham Village B were dealt a clean sweep by Rickmansworth A thanks to Chris Ogle, Roger Pyle & Max Bonyadi, whilst Village A team’s visit to Ricky B gave them a comfortable 8-2 result, Lukasz Janisiewicz hitting form winning all 3 singles plus the doubles. In the second division, Denham Village D turned the tables on Rickmansworth C by reversing their 9-1 first week loss, thanks to maximum points by Stefan König & Andy Panayi. Chalfont Epsilon finally showed their true colours by emphatically defeating the CSP Academy, 9-1, Peter Lombardelli & Frank Cowley emerging unscathed, & Nick Lee’s first outing for Chalfont Colts helped them secure a good draw against Chalfont Gamma who have shown some excellent recent form, the only maximum score coming from Gamma’s Derek Husbands. Only 2 points now separate 3 teams at the top of the division. Third division’s Village E team kept up the pressure on leaders Chalfont Kappa (who had a bye) by dishing out a 9-1 master class to their sister G team, Eden Moafy & Nigel Parsons winning all their singles & then combining to win the doubles. A close encounter between Ricky D & Village F was finally settled 6-4 in Ricky’s favour in the fifth game of the doubles set.

 

Closed Championships & Fairbank Cup

The date & venue for this year's Closed Championships have been arranged; please refer to the "Championships" page for further details. The draws for the first & second rounds of the Fairbank Cup have also been made & are shown on the "Fairbank Cup" page.

 

League Matches - Week Ending 04.11.11

The first round of matches has now been completed & the teams will be embarking on meeting their opponents in the second of three rounds next week. In the first division the Rickmansworth A team had a predictable 8-2 win over the B team, whilst in the second division Chalfont Gamma notched up their fourth win in a row, beating Denham Village C 8-2, Rob Culverhouse & Derek Husbands winning all their sets and, having had a disastrous 0-10 result in their first match of the season, now find themselves in second place. Denham Village D are steadily climbing up the ladder, beating the C of E Academy 7-3 thanks to Stefan König who has now won 12 consecutive sets. The points were shared between Chalfonts Colts & Epsilon, Steve Whitehurst impressively bagging 3 of the Colts points. Chalfont Kappa have built a substantial 14 point lead in the third division with a 10-0 demolition of Denham Village F, with Hazel Williamson, Barry Ferguson & Norman Dennis delivering the goods. Denham Village E are in joint second spot with Ickenham (who both have a match in hand), after an emphatic 9-1 result against junior newcomers Village H, Scott Thompson & Eden Moafy both keeping clean sheets.

 

League Matches - Week Ending 28.10.11

Higher Denham demolished the 2-man Rickmansworth B team 10-0 to go joint top of Division 1 with Chalfont Alpha who managed to squeeze a 6-4 win at home to Denham Village B; Higher Denham have played 1 match less however. The Ricky A team had a comfortable 8-2 win against lowly Chalfont Beta, Max Bonyadi winning all his sets. Second Division Ricky C lost their first match of the season to Chalfont Gamma with Rob Culverhouse and Derek Husbands winning all their sets, but Ricky still maintain a 12 point lead over Chalfont Colts. Colts had a comfortable 8-2 victory over Denham Village C in the other match, Steve Whitehurst not dropping a single game. Chalfont Kappa’s 8-2 result against Village G takes them to the top of Division 3, 4 points ahead of Ickenham, with Barry Ferguson keeping a clean sheet, whilst the juniors of Denham Village H had to concede 7-3 against 2-man team Ricky D.

 

League Matches - Week Ending 21.10.11

Rickmansworth A only managed 2 players at Denham Village A but did well to come away with a 4-6 defeat, Alex Holland junior winning both his sets, however the Ricky B team was white-washed at home by Chalfont Alpha who now share the first division lead with Village A.  In the second division, CSP Academy’s record of 4 consecutive draws was finally broken by Chalfont Gamma who defeated them 6-4 thanks to a clean sweep by Rob Culverhouse. Rickmansworth C march on relentlessly with another emphatic 8-2 win at Denham Village C & are now 14 points ahead of second placed CSP Academy, but Mardik Babaian had to relinquish his 100% record at the hands of Steve Dunn. Village D are slowly climbing up the ladder with a comfortable 7-3 win away to  Chalfont Colts, Stefan König again winning all his sets. Chalfont Kappa of the third division took all 10 points from the junior newcomers of Village H and are now just 4 points with a match in hand behind leaders Ickenham who beat Rickmansworth D, 6-4, Ickenham’s Ron Bryant still maintaining his 100% record in all his 5 matches. Both teams had a player playing up from the H team in the Village F v G clash, young Mathew Cooper doing particularly well to win two of his sets; The F team won 7-3 to go second.

 

League Matches - Week Ending 14.10.11

A fierce clash between the first division champions & runners-up Denham Village A & Higher Denham, ending in draw. Village’s Lucasz Janisiewicz amazingly lost two of his sets to John McCance & Rad Zivkovic (who also beat Glen Wilkes in straight sets). Higher Denham’s ever green John Taylor also lost two of his sets, a rare occurrence, to Glen & Lucasz. The derby between Alpha & Beta was an emphatic 9-1 win for Alpha, John Barclay dropping the only set to Paul Savage. Ricky B drew away to Village B, thanks to a clean sheet by Kevin Williams. In the second division, Ricky C maintained its relentless pace by hammering Chalfont Colts 8-2, Mardik Babaian maintaining the only 100% record of the division.  Second placed CSP Academy drew their fourth consecutive match, which must be the first time this has happened in the history of the league. Ickenham URC retain their lead at the top of division 3 with a comfortable 7-3 win over Chalfont Kappa, Ron Bryant marching on unscathed in all 4 matches. The minnows of Village H however suffered a heavy 10-0 defeat against the more experienced Village F team, but their moment will surely come.

 

League Matches - Week Ending 7.10.11

Despite Lukasz Janisiewicz winning all his sets for Denham Village A, Chalfont Alpha held the 1st division champions to a good away draw, Jimmy Welch doing well to beat the new junior find Adam Reed 11-8 in the fifth. Rickmansworth A were well beaten at home, 2-8, by Higher Denham, with John Taylor & Rad Zivkovic winning 3 apiece. Last year’s 2nd division runners-up Denham Village D managed to squeeze a 6-4 win at Chalfont Gamma, Stefan König getting back to winning ways by keeping a clean sheet. Village C had a comfortable 7-3 win against Chalfont Epsilon with last year’s division 3 player Christina Lane registering her first 2 wins. CSP Academy notched up their third draw in a row, this time against Rickmansworth C, Alex Nagle winning all his sets. In division 3 Denham Village E could only field 2 players including young Rosalind Lane playing up, & unsurprisingly went down 2-8 to Chalfont Kappa, whilst Ickenham had a convincing 7-3 win at Village F, newcomer Ron Bryant maintaining his 100% record. Brenda Cranfield-Thompson won the only set for Denham Village H against sibling Village G in her very first outing in the league.

 

League Matches - Week Ending 30.9.11

The first division clash between Chalfont Alpha and Rickmansworth A was drawn, Alpha winning the first 5 sets then conceding the next 5. The local derby between Denham Villages A and B was won by the A team 7-3, Stefan Koenig playing up for the A team and doing well to win 2 of his sets. Another close encounter between Ricky B and Chalfont Beta was won by the latter 6-4 with Beta’s John Cooper taking all 3 sets and Ricky’s newcomers Russ Davies and Bob Laker taking a set apiece.

 Rickmansworth C maintained its winning streak by beating Chalfont Epsilon 8-2 to go top of division 2, Mardik Babaian retaining his 100% record. Denham Village D trounced their sister C team 9-1, dropping only the doubles set. The C of E Academy followed their first week’s draw with a second one against Chalfont Colts, their star player Alex Nagle finally losing his first match to Steve Whitehurst after an unbeaten record in division 3 last season.

 The third division match between Villages E and F was won narrowly by the E team, 6-4, with newcomer Scott Thompson retaining his 100% average. Ricky D lost to Chalfont Kappa 3-7, all 3 Ricky singles being won by another newcomer Ajay Manocha.

 

2011-2012 League Kicks Off With A Bang!

 

The Chalfonts & District League commenced the season with a flourish, producing some very unexpected results. Denham Village A’s Essex girls Abigail Gowland (ex Embling) & Rachel Jamieson, supported by 17 year old Adam Reed from Ruislip, handed out a white-wash to Rickmansworth B’s arguably strongest team of Kevin Williams, Geof Bax & Shashin Shah, to go top of Division 1. The roles were reversed however when Village’s sister B team suffered an equally emphatic 9-1 loss against Ricky’s top team of Chris Ogle, Roger Pyle & Max Bonyadi. Chalfont Alpha were narrowly defeated by Higher Denham, 6-4, despite Jim Welch winning all his sets.

The Chalfont Colts team of Chris Lee, Steve Whitehurst and Ian Hopkinson produced a shock result by bagging all 10 points playing away at Chalfont Gamma to head the second division. Last year’s runners-up Village D, who fielded 2 ex first division players in Stefan König and Roland Stanbridge, were unexpectedly trounced 9-1 by Ricky’s C team of Mardik Babaian, Stephen Wright and Dave Sims, and the newly promoted CSP C of E Academy juniors, Joseph Underwood, Ben Jackman and Tarun Chana, made a creditable start to their campaign by holding the ever-green Chalfont Epsilon team to a draw.

The third division encounters ran true to form. The relatively inexperienced Village G team succumbed fairly easily to the Village E team, whilst the youngsters of the newly formed Village H team under Brenda Cranfield-Thompson’s guidance put up a valiant fight but gave second best to their more experienced seniors of Ickenham URC. There was a close struggle between Ricky D and Village F with the latter just shaving it 6-4.

 

ETTA Membership Renewal

 

Players are reminded that they need to renew their ETTA membership before playing any league matches. The league committee recommends that you do this on-line, which is a very simple procedure, at www.etta.co.uk/membership. The basic annual renewal subscription fees are £6 for seniors and £3 for juniors, which only need to be paid once regardless of how many leagues you play in. Player licence fees which are needed for participation in most national competitions are £26 for seniors and £13 for juniors.

 

 

New 2011-2012 Season

 

The annual Club Secretaries' Meeting was duly held on July 21st to discuss team entries, venue availabilities, league formation, proposed fixtures structure, and ETTA individual membership. Unfortunately despite the acquisition of one new team, 4 teams had decided to withdraw from the league leaving us with 21 teams, 7 in each division. This called for new measures in order to ensure that enough matches would be played through the season, & has resulted in a complete restructure of the fixture list whereby teams would play 3 league matches against each over an 18 week period. This new format was welcomed by everyone present at the meeting. The league would commence one week earlier and finish one week later than last year, and the deadlines have been adjusted for qualification for the Fairbank Cup and for completing matches overdue in the first half of the season. Due to the success of the Closed Championships it has been decided to retain the same format of running the Senior and Cadet Championships on separate days.

 

 

2010-11 Season

 

Notwithstanding a couple of unpleasant incidents where certain players chose to transgress the acceptable rules of behaviour and suffered the appropriate consequences, this was in general quite a successful season with many exciting closely fought matches to be witnessed in the League, Closed Championships and Fairbank Cup competitions. New teams from the Chalfont St. Peter C of E School and the Stoke Poges Club were very much welcomed, as were the 9 teams entered by the newly formed Chalfonts Table Tennis Club. Despite the early withdrawal of one team from 25 originally entered by 8 clubs, all the matches were successfully completed albeit with a week's necessary extension to the scheduled fixtures. Details of team and individual performances can be viewed elsewhere on this website.

 

 

Don Taylor

 

As a very capable captain of the Ickenham URC team, a position which he has held for many a year, Don now has the added distinction of becoming the league's first wheelchair player. In the six league matches he has played so far this season Don has proved to be a gutsy player, and will no doubt be mastering his technique with every new match he plays. For the less initiated amongst us this has of-course meant delving into the rule books and consulting Don's expertise in order to ensure that the correct umpiring decisions are applied.

 

On researching Don's past sporting achievements, it turns out that he was no mean athlete either. On 23rd August 1963 Don broke the British 10,000 metre record on a cinder track at the White City stadium with a time of 28 minutes 52.4 seconds, which was ranked the fourth best performance that year. He held the record for 2 years. What a star we have in our midst! We wish you all the best Don.

 

                                  

                            From left: Peter Harley, Matt Ward, Don Taylor,                         From left: Matt Ward, Dave Swift, Don Taylor, Jim Carpenter,

                                                       Jim Carpenter, Richard Boyes                                                         Peter Harley, Richard Boyes, Christophe Le Ret

 

The Play Anywhere Sport

My favourite sport started in England towards the end of the 19th century when upper and middle class Victorians would, after dinner, convert their dining room into a sporting arena. The table from which lavish food had been served would be converted into a miniature lawn tennis court with everyday items being used to create the game. A line of classic books assembled across the middle of the table became the net, cigar box lids were used as racquets and a ball of string or a champagne cork became the ball.

The early names of the game were Whif Whaf, Gossamer and Flim Flam probably because they reflected the sound of the ball being hit back and forth across the table. In 1901 John Jacques and Son Limited held the copyright name of Ping Pong, which was later sold to an American company, but by the 1920’s there was a revival of the game in Europe and Table Tennis was born. By this time celluloid balls were being used and paddle shaped wooden racquets replaced the cigar box lids and were covered with pimpled rubber.

I began playing the game at Scouts and Youth Fellowship soon after the Second World War when materials to make the bats were scarce. The early bats I used were covered with sandpaper or cork. Later hard pimpled rubber gave better control of the ball but the game was defensive and slow and in one match in a world championship two players took over one hour to contest just one point. Afterwards the net was lowered to create a faster game.

Some players still use the pimples outside style of bat. Most however now favour the smooth shiny external rubber bat face with a thickness of sponge attached to the wood with a special glue. This development has created a whole new bat technology and enabled players to have a customised bat made to satisfy their style of play. Bats can be manufactured for high speed, sound defence, spin control and the ability for players to exert top spin, side spin or back spin, which can surprise an unsuspecting opponent. The spin is sometimes vicious as the ball moves a few millimetres from its predicted trajectory.

In the current century there have been two significant changes to the game, which have affected play, both believed to have been intended to make the game more attractive for television. The ball which can be white or orange to make it visible against different wall colours has been increased in diameter size from 30 millimetres to 40 millimetres to slow the game down and the winning game score reduced from 21 to 11. This creates more exciting crisis points again for the benefit of TV audiences. Each match is the best of five games with the first player to three being the victor.

My career almost came to an abrupt end after my team Ickenham United Reform Church had won the Fairbank cup final in 2008, as a few days later I could only stand for a short period because of an arthritic ankle. I was determined to continue playing in some way and asked our team organiser, “Please can I try and play sat on three stacking chairs?”. This brought raucous laughter at the idea but it was agreed. This arrangement continued for a few weeks but playing on a rigid base makes any movement impossible. Then I acquired an NHS wheelchair suitable for playing the game. I am now a wheelchair table tennis player showing a little improvement and winning some recreational games. My team mates who are mainly in their 70’s are brilliant supporters and always provide a ball boy to collect stray balls and a bat man to carry my bat to the other end of the table between games. We have lots of fun and laughter and I seem to achieve many more than my share net balls, with the ball hitting the net and dribbling over onto the other side of the table and balls that hit the table edge and shoot out of the reach of my opponents. Like a good sportsman I always apologise profusely with a wave of the hand but in my mind I’m pleased because I’ve won the point.

As Table Tennis is a non contact sport it is suitable for players of all ages to compete together. Often in the Chalfont and District League my team of pensioners play primary school children and lose. The ancients were once good players but now their play shows some decline.  It is also amazing how much young players improve with a season of coaching while we are on a player's plateau at best.

Since 2008 there has been a resurgence of interest perhaps more in Ping Pong than Table Tennis. The actress Susan Sarandon opened a posh ping-pong bar in Manhattan and she says “The game is becoming trendy”. In March the artist Ron Arad designed for The Barbican a silver glinting chrome table, which some people might say, is for bling pong. You would hardly expect to see the game being played in an art gallery on tables designed by artists.

Ping Pong is now being played in trendy places including The Book Club in Shoreditch where they have a King Pong night with the prize being a £30 tab on the bar. It is said to be a good recession sport as it needs little space and the barriers to play are few. As well as playing in pubs, flea pits, working men’s clubs, young offenders institutions top business men from Golden Sachs and Barclays have ping pong tables in their offices presumably as an antidote to the stress they have looking after our money.

Prior to the General Election our new Prime Minister David Cameron gave a vote catching demonstration of his skills in the game at a London school. Now in office he should be good at cutting the ball like he is with our benefits. The Mayor of London Boris Johnson is doing his bit to promote the sport by having tables scattered around strategic points in the city encouraging people to play with some alongside his elephants. There is also a table near terminal three departures at Heathrow Airport.

The game of Table Tennis is currently the world’s largest participation sport with over 40 million competitive players and you can even play at altitude in the mountains of the Himalayas in Nepal.

 

Don G Taylor