2012 Winter Interclub Round 1 Results

… are in the pipeline but for those die-hards who like to analyse everything here are the score-sheets from Tuesday and Wednesday: Part 1 and Part 2 (part 2 is a re-scan of a couple of sheets unclear in the first scan).

30 teams in winter interclub this year!

The team count by clubs is:

Empire 11
Belmont 7
Waterloo 5
Karori 3
Onslow 2
Titan 1
Johnsonville 1

Draws

Draws were tweaked a little including some name changes and the extra team added to P4, I updated the links to the draw on the original post here.

2012 Winter Interclub Draw and Rules

Hot off the press the draw and rules are now available below. Enjoy the competition!

Information & Rules: TTW 2012 Winter Interclub Rules

Premier 1: Premier 1 draw
Premier 2: Premier 2 draw
Premier 3: Premier 3 draw
Premier 4: Premier 4 draw

Timetable

May 15 Premier 1 & 3 grades commence (Tuesdays)
May 16 Premier 2 & 4 grades commence (Wednesdays)
May 30/5 Junior Grade Commences
June 28 – July 16 School holidays (no interclub play, Junior Nationals)
July 17 Premier 1 & 3 grades continue
July 18 Premier 2 & 4 and Junior grades continue
Sept 4 Grade champs for Premier grades (1st vs. 2nd teams in each grade)

Remember Junior Interclub dates per above.

Tournament

Also remember the Wellington Autumn Open – May 19/20 – entries close May 15!

Brian Hearfield – Technical/Te Rama Stalwart

This is the latest player profile from Malcolm Wong:

Brian Hearfield in 2011

In 1950 Brian (then 15 years old) joined the Technical Table Tennis Club in Wellington. There were 2 tables in the Technical Old Students Tennis Pavilion in Taranaki Street, which is today occupied by Massey University. On Sundays Brian would often play from noon to late at night. He recalled that players had to prove they were a certain standard to join the club. There was a limit on the membership and good players were asked to join the club, rather than the other way around.

The Technical Club was formed in 1936. The Club has won 32 Wellington interclub titles including 6 A Grade (1939-41, 1943-44 & 1946). The A Grade team included Frank Mooney, Wellington’s top ranked man (1943) who was also a wicket keeper in the NZ Cricket Team (1949-54). The W M Jackson Shield (Most interclub points) was won twice (1946 & 1977). The Sportswear Model Trophy (Highest point average for 3 nominated teams from a club) was won 6 times (1974, 1977, 1981, 1987, 1989 & 1990). The most interclub teams entered were 11 in 1971 & 1977.

Club members were involved in several notable achievements. Max Gosling was selected for the first ever NZ Team in a match against the touring Hungarian Team (1938). Eric Boniface was selected for the first NZ Team to travel overseas (1939). The team travelled to Australia for matches against state teams. John Crossley and John Stewart were in the first NZ Team at the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary (1950). Crossley won the first international title by a New Zealander when he won the Scottish Open Men’s Singles held in Edinburgh (1950). Gosling (1939), Boniface (1940-41) and Crossley (1944) were ranked Number 1 in Wellington and all won the Wellington Open Men’s Singles. Crossley was North Island Men’s Singles Champion (1949).

29 New Zealand Open Titles were won. The first was achieved in 1940 when Dawn Croxton won the Women’s Doubles with Leonie Kennedy, and the Mixed Doubles with Max Gosling. This was the first year of the NZ Inter-Association Teams Championships and Wellington won both the Men’s and Women Teams Title. Club members representing Wellington were Max Gosling and Eric Boniface (Men) and Leonie Kennedy, Dawn Croxton and May Wareham (Women).

In 1950 Club members were in all 5 NZ Open individual finals. John Crossley lost to Bob Jackson (Auckland) in the Men’s Singles. John won the Men’s Doubles with Neville Brightwell (Canterbury). Margaret Hoar won the Women Singles, Woman Doubles with Thyra McGregor, and the Mixed Doubles with Owen Jaine (Auckland). As well, Murray Dunn won the NZ Under 16 Boys Singles that year. Murray was to win a record 9 Wellington Open Men’s Singles and also 4 NZ Men’s Singles (1960-63).

Margaret Hoar was the number 1 ranked Wellington and NZ Woman (1949-50) when she was at the Club. She was the Wellington, North Island and NZ Women’s Singles Champion in those years. Christine Beasley (nee McGregor) was the number 1 ranked Women for 7 consecutive years (1973-79) and won 10 Wellington Open titles including 5 Women’s Singles (1973-74, 1976-78). She was also an excellent tennis player and won the Wellington Tennis Open Women Singles (1979), achieving a unique tennis/table tennis double.

In 1967 the club moved to the Te Rama Tennis Pavilion in Kilbirnie when the Technical Tennis Pavilion had to make way for new buildings. In 1972 the club changed its name to Te Rama to meet city council requirements to stay at the site as the tennis club had folded up. In 1984 the club moved to the Kilbirnie Gym due to the Aqua Centre being built where the Tennis Pavilion was. In 1985 the club moved to St Giles Church Hall and later to the Newtown Stadium. A team was last entered in interclub in 2001.

Brian Hearfield started off in F Grade and was in C Grade the following year. He played mainly in B grade. He recalls filling in at A Grade interclub and playing Murray Dunn, Geoff Jennings, John Crossley, Ron Foster and Ivan Houghton. In 1956 at the Hutt Valley Open, Brian and Bill Stewart (both C Graders) upset Mike Beder/Stan Ferguson ( NZ Boys Doubles Champions 1955) to reach the quarter finals where they lost to the top seeds, Murray Dunn/John Crossley (NZ Men’s Doubles Champions 1954). Brian has been in 9 Technical/Te Rama winning winter interclub teams (See below).

A Reserve A Grade 1963 Brian Hearfield, Foon Chin, Thyra McGregor

B Grade 1966 Brian Hearfield, Jack Ngan, Diane Bates
1974 Brian Hearfield, Ray Bryan, Dawn Perks, Judy Sharman
1977 Brian Hearfield, D Hitchcock, Roger Watkin
1989 Brian Hearfield, Henry Anastasi, Malcolm Wong
1990 Brian Hearfield, Roger Watkin, Peter Wong
1993 Brian Hearfield, David Feist, Roger Watkin, Giles Moiser

C Grade 1959 Brian Hearfield, John Wilcox, Andy Curran
1986 Brian Hearfield. Malcolm Wong, Jeff Larsen, Olaf Leijon

Brian had the highest interclub average in B Grade (1990, 1991 & 1993). His best result was 37 wins from 39 matches (94.9%) in the B Grade (1985, 1990). He won the B Grade Singles (1966) and the B Grade Doubles with David Fry (1965) and Bruce Mills (1966). Brian represented Wellington in the annual match against Hutt Valley 7 times. C Grade (1959), B Grade (1965, 1966, 1974, 1989, 1990) and B/C Grade (1993). Wins were achieved in 1959 (7-5) 1965 (10-2) 1966 (9-3). He donated the Brian Hearfield Cup for the B Grade Singles at the Wellington Grade Championships. The first winner was fellow club member Henry Anastasi in 1989.

Brian has been Secretary, Treasurer and Club Captain for the Club. He served on the Wellington Committee (1962-77) and (1992-2009). He was a long serving member of the interclub subcommittee and chaired it when there were 167 interclub teams. Brian was the Secretary/Treasurer (1999-2001) and Secretary (2002-2009). He was a regular sight on night duty at interclub. Brian is a Life Member of the Te Rama Club (1980) and the Wellington Association (1994).

Brian played cricket for Institute Old Boys, Wellington South Institute, Technical College Old Boys and Onslow. His 1971-72 Onslow team included Trevor Mallard (Labour Member of Parliament since 1984 and former Minister (1999-2008). He was a batsman/wicket keeper with a highest score of 85 not out. Brian was in three winning teams: Technical College Old Boys 3B (1958/59); Technical College Old Boys 5th Grade (1960/61); and Onslow 3C (1972/73). The Onslow 3C Team also included a young Kevin Haines, the current TTW Treasurer.

Wellington Table Tennis Association AGM (1997)
Brian Hearfield (Life Member and Committee), Paul Escott (Life Member and President), Malcolm Wong (Secretary/Treasurer) and Eric Tindill (Life Member, The first Treasurer 1933, Double All Black)

Te Rama Club Championship (1999)
Martin Young, Roger Watkin, Brian Hearfield, Malcolm Wong, John Lister and David Robinson.

- Malcolm Wong

Some Empire Club News

For your interest I’m including some recent Empire Table Tennis Club news mostly copied from the newsletter that was recently emailed out (the full newsletter is here). Check out all the photos of Depak coaching in there too!

Movie Fundraiser

When: Tuesday 24th April, Light House Cinema, Petone at 8.00 pm (nibbles from 7.30)

ALERT: Empire Club Fundraiser – fancy a night out to see a cool romantic comedy and help Empire raise some money for their special building projects? The movie is Salmon fishing in the Yemen which sure sounds like something different! Check out a review.

A fisheries expert is approached by a consultant to help realise a sheik’s vision of bringing the
sport of fly-fishing to the desert and embarks on an upstream journey of faith and fish to prove the
impossible possible.
    Starring Emily Blunt, Ewan McGregor and Kristin Scott Thomas.

Supper will be provided from 7.30 pm (movie @ 8pm) at the Light House, Petone. Tuesday 24th April.

Contact: Maggie 5899 140 (home) or 5704 820 (work) or maggie.dyer [at] paradise.net.nz to get your tickets ($20). Open to all.

Eddie Moore

Congratulations also to Eddie Moore, another long standing club member, for being selected to play for the NZ Veterans against the Australian Veterans at the NZ Open Veterans Championships in the Over 75s to be held in Palmerston North over Easter.

Bruce Connolly

Congratulations to Bruce Connolly, a long standing club member, for being selected to play for the NZ Veterans against the Australian Veterans at the NZ Open Veterans Championships in the Over 60s to be held in Palmerston North over Easter.

Empire Veterans Tournament

Saturday 24th of March saw 29 keen players at Empire for the annual tournament. The day was
enjoyed by all, some more than others as they took home a bit of wine! Thanks to Chris for all the
organising – you can see he did get some reward for his efforts….

	Singles winner	Singles runner up	Doubles winners	Doubles runner ups
Over 60s	Chris Williams	Jim Jarmin	Chris Williams / Nha Nguyen	Jim Jarmin / Richard Ammundsen
Over 50s	Lindsay Ward	Depak Patel	Depak Patel / Lindsay Ward	Chris Talbot / Ian Talbot
Over 40s	Lindsay Ward	Depak Patel	Depak Patel / Raewyn Young	Chris Talbot / Ian Talbot
Women’s	Maggie Dyer	Nancy Chan	N/a	N/a

Empire Visit to Wanganui Table Tennis Club

There is a visit in the planning stages for Empire to visit Wanganui some time in late May. The
Feilding Club will be joining in so there will be the three clubs involved in the matches.

************** Update ******************

The Wanganui visit will be Sunday 27th May. The Feilding Club will also be joining the Empire TTC, so the three clubs will be involved in an afternoon of fun table tennis. Carpooling will be available from the ETTC clubrooms. Departing Empire 9 am to arrive Wanganui 12 noon (approx).

ETTC will reimburse petrol costs for vehicles used for carpooling. Lunch will be provided by the Wanganui Club with organised games starting after lunch.

If you are interested let Rose Douglas know (rose.douglas [at] darroch.co.nz) or fill in the clipboard left at the clubrooms before 17th May.

It will be good to have as many there as possible, all grades and standards welcome.

2012 Summer Interclub – Finals Results

The full result spreadsheet is here: 2012 Summer Interclub 0404 Final. Refer to the spreadsheet for the details but the winning and runner-up teams in each grade were:

Grade A:
Winner: Belmont Blast (Heath Murdoch & Callum Rusbridge) 3-2 over Empire Amber (John Gan & Depak Patel).
(All the X position vs. X position section vs. section playoffs in grade A on the Finals night were 3-2 results!)

Grade B:
Winner: Empire Palladium (Chris Williams & Richard Dalziel/Bruce Connolly) 3-2 over Belmont Bumble Bees (Frank Fu & Hui-Ling Vong).

Grade C:
Winner: Belmont Bandits (Matt Gill & Ramnick Tiwana) 4-1 over Empire Silver (Vladimir Vysotskiy & Alex Safronov).

Looks like it was Belmont and Empire fighting it out in the top of every grade on finals night with Belmont taking 2 out of 3 grades.

Congratulations all winners and thanks to all for playing in the summer interclub competition. There is a break before winter interclub which typically starts later in May.

Photos by Gareth Telfer:

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Super stars Hui-Ling Vong and Abram Goh in the news

There are a couple of great new articles in the press this week on Hui-Ling Vong and also Abram Goh following their results recent ITTF Hopes event in Auckland.

First is one on Hui-Ling in The Wellingtonian: Hui-ling targets table tennis titles which has a nice photo. One of her goals is to be the best player at her club (Belmont) so watch out Belmont – oh wait, that means becoming the best player in Wellington so watch out everyone!

The other one is in the Hutt News: Belmont youngsters rise to top and talked about Hui-Ling and Abram. The classic quote from Stephen Hirst was: “She looked very annoyed with a bronze,” Hirst says !

Stephen Hirst organised and managed a group of juniors that went to the recent Inaugural TTNZ Hopes and Cadets Trials in Auckland on March 25. Results and pictures (click on the “Images” tab) are here.

Mike Flynn Memorial Award

Every year a winner is selected for the Mike Flynn Memorial Award. This is awarded to the most improved junior in Table Tennis Wellington for the previous year also including attitude, cooperation and respect for others. (According to the rules of this award, an individual can only win this award once.)

Here is the previous winner for 2010 Delano Lam (Waterloo Club) presented by TTW President Paul Solt:

Delano Lam, 2010 Mike Flynn Memorial Award winner (right)

And the 2011 winner Gareth Telfer (Waterloo Club) with TTW President Paul Solt:

Gareth Telfer, 2011 Mike Flynn Memorial Award winner (right)

Congratulations to our recent and all winners of this award and also Waterloo Club!

Eddie Moore – Life begins at 60

Here is the latest player profile from Malcolm Wong:

Eddie was born in Christchurch (1932). There was no organised sport during his time at primary school. In his secondary school days, at Christchurch Technical College, he excelled in football and cricket as well as playing table tennis for the Avonside Table Tennis Club from the age of 15 to 25. Eddie was in the first XI for both football and cricket. In football, as a centre forward, his outstanding performance in the South Island Schools Tournament (1949) resulted in him becoming selected as a South Island Schools representative. In cricket his rapid improvement lead him to be selected for the Canterbury Under 16 Boys team (1947) as a spin bowler, a team which included future NZ representative Murray Chapple (1953-66).

After Eddie left school, work and family took precedence over sport. In 1972 he moved to Wellington on a job transfer. When he retired at 60, Eddie was looking for a sport to play. He wanted to play tennis but there was no men at the local Midweek Club. A chance meeting with Ron Menchi lead to him joining the Empire Midweek Table Tennis Club (1992-93) where he became the Secretary. Eddie moved back down to Christchurch in 1993 and rejoined the Avonside Table Tennis Club. He immediately became the Secretary/Treasurer (1993-2003). He started up the Canterbury Midweek Table Tennis Club based on what he had seen at the Empire Midweek Club.

The then Canterbury Table Tennis Hall needed substantial repairs and planning permission for this would not be approved as it was in a residential area. Eddie with Keith Armstrong and Ron Fleming became involved in the purchase of the former Yates Seed Store(1999) for table tennis. They with Denver Glass, Neville Duggan and Brian Wilson were the driving force behind the conversion of the building into the current Table Tennis Canterbury Stadium (294 Blenheim Road), opening in early 2000. The six were presented with an appreciation medal by Table Tennis Canterbury. Eddie was further recognised for his endeavours by being made a Life Member of Table Tennis Canterbury and receiving a Summer Sports Award from Sport Canterbury in 2000. He was Table Tennis Canterbury Sportsperson of the Year (2002). Eddie returned to Wellington in 2003 and was responsible for running the Empire Midweek club, with Lois McStay, until 2009. He was awarded the Dick Gray Cup for Best Empire Club Member (2008) and the Empire Table Tennis Cup for Most Outstanding Performance(2009). There is a volunteer profile on Eddie in the Empire Spin Newsletter (August 2008).

Eddie soon made an impact in veterans table tennis. He was in the NZ Over 50 Men’s team to the Australian Veterans in Perth (1994). There he caused a hugh upset in a teams match by beating Ken Cole, who had just won the NZ Open Over 45 Men’s Singles. In 1999 Eddie was number 85 on the NZ Open Men’s rating list at the age of 67! In 2008 he won the NZ Open Over 70 Men’s Singles and Mixed Doubles (with Lois McStay). Eddie has represented New Zealand four times in the Over 70 Men’s team in the test against Australia. He has won 12 individual NZ Veterans titles including the Over 70 Men’s Singles (2002) and the Over 75 Men’s Singles (2007 & 2009).

Eddie had an outstanding performance in the NZ Veterans Over 75 Men’s singles (2009). Eddie defeated the second seed, Geoff Nisbett, in the semi finals and then the top seed, Tony Herbert, in the final. Tony was then the current Australian Veterans Over 70 and 75 Men’s Singles Champion. Eddie continues to play table tennis at the Empire Midweek Club and hopes to play at the World Veteran’s Championships (2014) in Auckland.

Above: NZ Veterans Test Team (2008) for the match against Australia
Back Row (L/R): Christine Little, Sabine Westenra, Jim Jarmin, Eddie Moore, Fleming Alison, Lyndon White, Bill Stewart, Dave Scott, Bryan McConnochie.
Front Row (L/R): Pauline Bennyworth, Chip Eade, Lynnette Bellamy, Gerry Doyle, Alison Williamson, Lesley Gardner, Lindsay Ward, Raewyn Young.
Photo: TTNZ Archives

Empire 2012 Veterans Tournament – March 24 (Sat)

Great practice for the Easter Vets.

SATURDAY 24 March, 2012

9:30am – 5:00pm

Empire Stadium, Marine Parade, Petone, Lower Hutt

Over 40, 50 and 60 events

Singles and Doubles

 

Timetable

9:00 – 9:30am	Registrations, practice time
9:30 – 12:30pm	Round robins for all singles events; doubles events
1:00 – 3.00pm	Post section singles events; doubles continue
3:00 – 4:30pm	Semi finals and finals for all events

 

Information

1. Players may enter in up to two age groups but they must be consecutive, ie Over 40 and Over 50 or Over 50 and Over 60.
2. Ages are as at 31 December 2011.
3. Entry fee is $10 per player and can be paid on the day.
4. The organisers reserve the right to merge events, change the format or run consolation events, depending on the number of entries.
5. Entries close on Wednesday 21 March 2012 with Chris Williams on 04 527 8629 or williamsck [at] xtra.co.nz

The entry form is here: 2012 Empire Veterans Entry Form.

Light refreshments will be available for purchase.

Player Profile: Depak Patel the Backhand Wizard

Thanks to Malcolm Wong for another player profile!
Depak Patel is a Empire Premier 1 player and a ITTF level 1 coach. He was born in the town of Pardi in the state of Gujarat (India). When he was 3 months old the family immigrated to England. After a 3 month journey by ship they settled in Leicester, the largest city in the East Midlands.

Depak played football (left winger) at school from age 10. Among his team mates was Winston White (right winger), who was to play professionally for Leicester and several other clubs (1976-93) making 529 appearances and scoring 61 goals. Playing for a rival school team was Gary Lineker (striker), who went on to played 80 times for England (48 goals). Depak was in the football team that were the Midlands Asian Students 5 a side Champions. He is a supporter of both Leicester City and Chelsea Football Teams.

Depak started playing table tennis at the local youth club at age 13. A teacher at his high school encouraged him to go to a Saturday coaching group. He joined Abbey Table Tennis Club and started off in Division 15 which his team won in his first season (1976). Depak progressed through to Division 4 before he moved to London. There he joined Ashford Table Tennis Club where he played Division 1 in 1988/89 and 1989/90. The Club won the British League (1988/89) with a team full of internationals including the Belgian, Jean-Michael Saive (The future European Men’s Singles Champion in1994 and World Number 1) and New Zealander Peter Jackson. Depak won the National Asian Students Table Tennis Singles, Doubles and Mixed Doubles in 1981 and 1984.

Depak also played cricket. He played for the Universal Cricket Club at 14 in the same team was his older brother. Depak was in the team that won the Leicester Liger Festival of Cricket Tournament (1976). His team included 4 Indian test players including Dilip Doshi who was a friend of his older brother in India. The other Indian test players were Ashok Mankad, Brijesh Patel and Madan Lal. The trophy was presented by Mushtaq Mohammad, the former Pakistan Cricket Captain. Depak’s best season was in 1990 for the Sunbury Village Cricket Club where he took the most wickets (75), had the most 5 wicket bags and had the most ‘Man of the Match’ awards during the season. Depak scored his only century (107 n.o.) when he carried the bat through out the innings for the Papatoetoe Cricket Club Presidents team (2000)

Depak moved to New Zealand in 1991 and has lived in Wellington and Auckland. Currently Depak plays and coaches at the Empire Club. He has won the Titan Club Singles twice (2007 & 2008) and the Empire Club Singles on 3 occasions (2004, 2009 & 2010). Depak was in the Wellington O45 Team that won the NZ Teams twice (2006 with Bryan McConnochie) and (2008 with Chris Talbot & Lindsay Ward). Depak was selected for the NZ Veterans team in the test against Australia (2007). He was the Captain of the NZ Over 50 Men’s Team at the Australian Veterans Tournament (2010). He has won 78 tournament titles including the North Island Over 40 Men’s Singles (2009). Depak said his best tournament wins were against Craig Dye and Thomas Samuelson. He is still very keen about playing table tennis and practises up to 4 times a week.

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Summer Interclub Draw

Hi folks, after the usual late rush of entries and fiddling to get seedings near-enough, here are the actual draws for Summer Interclub from Wednesday February 29 through April 4. Thanks to Bruce for getting it all together.

Grades A and B are split into two sections with a playoff between them on the last night. Grade C has a 1v2, 3v4, 5v6 playoff on that last night.

2012 TTW Summer Interclub draw A Grade
2012 TTW Summer Interclub draw B Grade
2012 TTW Summer Interclub draw C Grade

Refer to the earlier 2012 Summer Team Interclub blog entry for more details.

See you all Wednesday at the Empire Table Tennis Club stadium.

Opening night at Empire? (This could be Petone...)

TTW BBQ – Sunday Feb 12!

To all players and their families,

Table Tennis Wellington will be holding a BBQ on Sunday 12th February from 4pm outside the Empire Table Tennis club rooms. This is to foster the family atmosphere we would like all our players to feel part of and genuinely hope you and your family would be able to come and join in this event with us.

We would like you to all participate in some outdoor fun games like Volleyball, Football and Cricket. If any of you have equipment for these games could you please bring it along.

We will be providing sausages and bread and would ask that you bring a salad or a plate of food to share.

To help us with catering could you please advise if you will be attending and if so the number of people you will be bringing.

Please RSVP to Gabrielle Telfer at telferhome [at] clear.net.nz

We look forward to seeing you all there.

-Stephen Hirst

2012 Summer Team Interclub

Contact your club for entry, refer to the doc attached for full details: 2012 TTW Summer Interclub Entry Form.

Clubs are invited to submit entries for the 2012 Summer Interclub event being run from 29 February to 4 April (dates subject to change depending on entry numbers).

Timetable

Wed 22 February: Entries close for all grades
Wed 29 February: Grades commence
Wed 4 April: Playoff round (dependent on format and entries)

Venue & Start Time

All matches will be played at the Empire Stadium, Marine Parade, Petone. The stadium will be open from
6:30pm each interclub night. Interclub matches are due to start at 7:00pm. Players should pay their night fees to
the duty official by 7:00pm and the score sheets will be available from the control table.

Teams

Teams in all grades will consist of two players.
Teams are to be entered by clubs and must be affiliated members of TTW.
Teams with three players or four players can be submitted with any two players playing each week. In such
cases it is up to the club to ensure two players turn up each week.
If a team (one or both players) fail to turn up without giving 24 hours notice to the Interclub Convenor, they will
be liable for the match fees of both teams in their contest for that week.
Please enter team names on the entry form.

Format

Assuming six teams in each grade: Grades will be played as a single round of 5 weeks and a finals/playoff night
in the sixth week.
Teams will play 1 contest each week, consisting of 5 matches; two singles for each player and one doubles for
the team. Matches will be best of seven games to 11 points except for the doubles which will be played as a
best of 5 games.

[... refer to that attached document above...]

Lindsay Ward – The Titan Warrior

Thanks again to Malcolm for his latest player profile, this time on local celeb Lindsay Ward!

Lindsay Ward in the early 70s

Lindsay Ward in 2011

Lindsay first played Wellington A Grade interclub in 1972. Almost 40 years ago! He was also a former Wellington Regional 1 tennis interclub player for more than a decade. Lindsay is the only person to win both NZ Veterans Tennis and Table Tennis Titles. In his school days he was a fast sprinter and represented his primary and secondary school in athletics. His speed helped him in his rugby and he was a winger in the Wellington Intermediate Schools Team that won the Southern North Island Tournament (1968) where he scored 2 tries in the final. Today Lindsay is also a keen cyclist.

Lindsay first played tennis at age 10 and was a Wellington Primary Schools Representative. He won the Wellington Boys Under 15 Singles (1969). Lindsay was the Club Singles Champion at Vogelmorn (4) Miramar (2) and Wellington (5). He played Regional 1 tennis for Miramar and Wellington. In a Dominion Post story he was nick-named The Surgeon for the way he dissected his opponents. In 2000 Lindsay won the NZ Veterans Tennis Over 45 Men’s Singles, the Over 45 Men’s Doubles with Terry Poynter, and Over 40 Mixed Doubles with Robyn Flynn.

Lindsay first played interclub table tennis in 1969 for Kilbirnie RSA. By 1972 he was playing in their A Grade team with Brian Kennedy, Adrian Lust and Boris Halama. He won the Wellington Secondary Schools Table Tennis Boys Singles and Doubles title and was a Wellington Junior Representative that year. In 1973 his Kilbirnie RSA team won the A Grade title (Gerald Bell Memorial Cup). Lindsay was ranked number 1 (Wellington Junior Boys) and Number 10 (Wellington Men’s) and won the Under 18 Boy’s Singles and U21 Men’s Singles at both the Wellington Regionals and Wellington Open Tournaments. When the Kilbirnie RSA folded up, the players formed Kilbirnie United. Kilbirnie United (Lindsay with Brian Kennedy, Adrian Lust and Warren Mak) won the Wellington A Grade Competition in 1974.

1979

In 1976 Lindsay joined the Titan Club and has represents them in interclub ever since. In 1978 the Titan team (Lindsay Ward, Adrian Lust and Warren Mak) reached the final of the Rothmans National Club Competition in Auckland where they lost 4-7 to Manurewa. The Titan Team (Lindsay with Warren Mak, Adrian Lust and Nha Nguyen) won the A Grade in 1980. Lindsay was a member of the Titan team that won the Wellington Premier 1 competition for 5 consecutive years 2002-2006. Robert Chung was the only other player in the team for all 5 years. Other players included Jie Zhang, Harry Singh, Nha Nguyen and Catherine Zhou. Lindsay has also won the Titan Club Singles 7 times ( 2001-2002, 2004-2006, 2009-2010).

In the top grade Lindsay has won more than 1,000 matches. He has been the top Wellington player in the averages 18 times. Since the Premiers Grades began in 1981 Lindsay has maintained an overall average of over 83%. His best year was 2008 where he won 36 out of 37 matches played (97.30%) but was surprisingly only ranked 7th on the Wellington Men’s list. He is the only person playing Premier 1 in the first year of the competition (1981) still playing in the grade today.

In 1982, L/R: Lindsay Ward, Peter Miller, Ann Gyongyos, Kay Kelly,
Adrian Lust, Dianne Ord, Lloyd Richards, Robert Kerr

Lindsay was first selected in the Wellington Men’s Team (with Lloyd Richards and Ron Foster) for the NZ Teams Tournament in 1976. He last played for the top Wellington Men’s Team at this tournament in 2005 and would still be a contender for this team if available. Lindsay was a member of the Wellington Over 45 Men’s Team that won the NZ O45 Teams in 2004 (with Bryan McConnochie and Chris Talbot) and 2008 (with Chris Talbot and Depak Patel).

Lindsay was the Wellington number one ranked Man 17 times during the period 1978-2005. He has won the Men’s Singles at the Wellington Open 7 times over 28 years (1978, 1983, 1984, 1986, 2002, 2003, 2006) and was a losing semi finalist this year. He has also won the Men’s Singles at the Hutt Valley Open, Kapiti Open, Wairarapa Open and the Manawatu Open. In 1978 he reached the semi finals of the NZ Men’s Singles and was ranked number 9 in NZ that year. At the NZ Open Lindsay won the Over 45 Men’s Singles twice (2001 and 2008) and the Over 45 Men’s Doubles with Ian Talbot (2003). He was selected in the Over 50 NZ Men’s team in the test against Australia (2008).

This year Lindsay won the Over 50 Men’s Singles at the North Island Tournament for the third year in a row. He won the Over 30 and Over 50 Singles at the Wellington Open. Lindsay lost a close match with Craig Dye in the NZ Men’s Over 30 Singles final. He still has many years of table tennis ahead of him!

---

Lindsay made it to the semi-final of this year’s Wellington Open:

Lindsay is currently 51st on the TTNZ Men’s open Ratings list (the 3rd placed Wellingtonian there).
(Thanks to the TTNZ Archives for the older photos and Win for the video.)

Jack Blackmore

Jack with Rob in 2002

I have sad news to report with a notice (attached) of the passing of Jack Blackmore, a stalwart club administrator for many years including with the Wellington association, and was still active even being the recent over-80s winner at the Titan club champs this year. I knew Jack in the mid 90′s and he was dedicated to Titan and the association, and contributed for as long as he could – even on the table winning the over 80 singles at the Titan club champs recently.

A service for Jack will be held at the Barnabas Church, 106a Mana Esplanade, Plimmerton on Wednesday 11am. Several from Titan are coming and I will come too. The notice includes: “In lieu of flowers, donations to the Heart Foundation of NZ, PO Box 5357, Wellington 6145 would be appreciated.”

Jack with Reg Seddon 1997

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BLACKMORE, John Desmond (Jack). – 13.01.1930 – 16.12.2011.
Suddenly at home. Dearly loved husband of Elizabeth and loved father and father in law to Don and Jill, Susan and Stu, Graham and Nicky, and Lynda and Andy. Treasured Grandad of Emma, Steven, Matthew, Amy, Ryan, Joshua, Dion, Melissa, Zak and Chad. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Heart Foundation of NZ, PO Box 5357, Wellington 6145 would be appreciated. Messages to the ‘Blackmore Family’ may be sent to PO Box 13-546, Wellington. A service for Jack will be held at the Barnabas Church, 106a Mana Esplanade, Plimmerton on Wednesday, 21st December 2011 at 11am followed by a private cremation.
Ninness Funeral home (04) 237 4174

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Karori Table Tennis Club 2011 Club Champs

Thanks Reg Fuez for this update on the recent 2011 Karori club championships:

The Karori Club finished off its 2011 season on the 21st of November. On the night the club watched the Senior A Grade Singles final between Frank Su, previous 3 times Senior Champ, squaring off against first time finalist Tim Hills. Frank prevailed in 3 games: 8, 6, 6. Below a photo of action in the 3rd game, with club president Roger Watkin officiating and junior Matt Carmichael in the background acting as a ball chaser.

Frank Su takes on Tim Hills in the Senior A final

And listed below the results of our competition which was held during October and November.

KTTC Club Champs Competition 2011 Winners and Runners Up

Junior Singles
Ben Westenra: Winner;
Chun Kiet Vong: Runner Up
Junior Doubles
Owen Su & David Van Drimmelen: Winners;
Chun Kiet Vong & Zhong Jin Huang: Runners Up
Senior B Grade Singles
Peter Stoeveken: Winner;
Danny Yee : Runner Up
Senior B Grade Doubles
Danny Yee & Steve Montgomery: Winners;
Peter Stoeveken & Tim Fussell: Runners Up
Senior A Grade Singles
Frank Su: Winner;
Tim Hills: Runner Up
Senior A Grade Doubles
Tim Hills & Ben Westenra: Winners;
Frank Su & Russell Jackson: Runners Up

Titan Table Tennis Club Championships 2011

Thanks to Malcolm for this report:

New Titan Club Champion: Ian Talbot

Ian Talbot won his first Titan Club Singles Title when he beat the defending champion Lindsay Ward in the final 4-3 (2-11 9-11 13-11 8-11 11-8 11-7 11-8) After being down 1-3 Ian became more relaxed and adopted a more aggressive approach as he sensed that Lindsay’s attack was waning. Ian’s previous best result was runner up to Depak Patel in 2007. Ian has won the Titan Doubles on 4 occasions (2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007) and the Over 40 Singles twice (2004 & 2006).

Ian had been a leading Wellington junior and he won the Wellington Primary Schools Boy’s Singles (1966), the Wellington Secondary Schools Junior Boy’s Singles (1967) and the Hutt Valley Open Under 18 Boy’s Singles (1971). He stopped playing in 1975 and did not resume playing again until 1995. Recent successes include winning the Wellington Open Over 40 Singles the last 2 years.

In the Club Doubles Depak Patel/Elias Villanueva beat Keith Aldersley/Paul Brown 3-1 Lindsay Ward retained his Over 40 Singles when he beat Bryan McConnochie 4-3 (11-9 9-11 9-11 11-9 9-11 12-10 11-5). Bryan held 2 match points at 10-8 in the 6th game when Lindsay called a time out. Lindsay then slowed the game down and won the next 4 points to take the game and then ran away with the 7th game to take the match. Jack Blackmore won the Over 80 Singles beating Norman Bishop 3-1 (12-10 11-6 7-11 11-5).

Ian Talbot, Lindsay Ward, Depak Patel and Malcolm Wong – all Titan Club Singles Champions

The Titan Club Championships were only started in 1994. Lindsay Ward has won the most singles (7). Ian Talbot and Malcolm Wong share the most doubles wins (4). The Club Singles and Doubles winner are listed below:

Singles                  Doubles

1994  Nha Nguyen         Not held						
1995  Malcolm Wong       Win Nguyen & Jake Yang
1996  Nha Nguyen         Danny Lam & Jake Yang
1997  Nha Nguyen         Matthew Hobbs & Malcolm Wong 
1998  Win Nguyen         Malcolm Wong & William Yang
1999  Win Nguyen         Malcolm Wong & William Yang
2000  Win Nguyen         Nha Nguyen & Win Nguyen		
2001  Lindsay Ward       Malcolm Wong & William Yang		
2002  Lindsay Ward       Philip McConnochie & Jens Schuering
2003  Catherine Zhou     Chris Talbot & Ian Talbot
2004  Lindsay Ward       Bryan McConnochie & Ian Talbot  
2005  Lindsay Ward       Robert Chung & Bryan McConnochie
2006  Lindsay Ward       Chris Talbot & Ian Talbot
2007  Depak Patel        Chris Talbot & Ian Talbot
2008  Depak Patel        Nha Nguyen & Lindsay Ward
2009  Lindsay Ward       Depak Patel & Raewyn Young
2010  Lindsay Ward       Nha Nguyen & Lindsay Ward
2011  Ian Talbot         Depak Patel & Elias Villanueva

Summer Table Tennis – where to get it?

As an overview on what table tennis is on and when during the summer period here is some information. (If you have any info to add please comment or let me know.)

Summer Interclub

Summer interclub (team competition, a bit more casual than the main winter interclub season) is broken into two distinct (unrelated) phases, first the Composite Interclub (see here and here). Second the ‘pre-season’ (late summer) summer interclub round with a format to be determined. For more details watch this blog or keep in contact through your club.

Your club

Some clubs remain open with a small break, others close for a summer break. Consider visiting a different club every now and again – chances are you’ll play people you’ve never played before.

• Waterloo: starts again early March (probably the first week).
• Onslow: starts again late March.
• Tawa: will start up again at Tawa Intermediate School probably on Thursday, 5 April 2012.
• Titan: open through the summer except for 4 weeks off from mid December. Key hire for the Newtown stadium is available too, contact Table Tennis Wellington.
• Belmont: running until the 25th of November and is starting up again in the middle of March.
• Karori: finishes November 21, starting again late February or early March, to be determined.
• Empire: The the last Monday night is Dec 12, the last midweek – Tuesday Dec 20 then opening casually from Jan 17 (officially Feb 2), and the last Junior club is Friday Nov 11. Opening dates for Mondays & Fridays to be determined.
• Moonshine & Victoria University: – refer to club contact information here.

For more details or for other clubs refer to the club contact information here.

Exercise

Summer is a good time to start and get into a regular fitness pattern, if you find one that fits your schedule and you can enjoy it, then you’ll be more likely to keep it up through the whole year (um, this is do as I say, not as I do). I remember talking to a veteran player who noted that he would tend to win more often as the winter wore on, as other people got less fit! A fair-weather runner like myself will be one of his easy victims come Composite Interclub…

Elite squad coach Stephen Hirst recommends:
“… it is always good in the off season to build your base fitness, i.e. lots and lots of cardio, skipping, running running and more running. As you get about 2 months out before the season starts I liked to taper off the running and start to replace that with more speed work like shuttle runs between two cones 20 metres apart. Start introducing more strength stuff with weights like squats for your quads. My favourite was jumping over a wooden bench traditionally found in schools 3 x 1 minute, it really kills you but gets you very explosive for the start of the season. Also continue this exercise throughout the season… This is all I used to do and can highly recommend it.”

My tip: paint the fence – if it worked for The Karate Kid it will work for you.
At least get out there and mow the lawn…

Helping

There are probably a hundred unpaid volunteers of some kind that help run and facilitate table tennis in the Wellington region. If you’re not already one of this bunch, think of something you enjoy doing that could contribute in any way. Put your name forward!

Web watching

Need a quick table tennis fix? Trawl the web looking for table tennis news, blogs and videos, but start with Win Ngyuen’s youtube channel and Matt Heatherington’s TT blog.

Your mate’s house

There is probably a table tennis table at one of your friend’s houses – go there and play and give them a lesson. Nothing will give you more pleasure. Just don’t forget to bring your own bat otherwise you’ll be battling to a 15-all deuce in the 3rd set against their 11 year old son because trying to topspin using their pimple-out no-sponge half-torn up left-in-the-sun fly-swatter only leaves you looping directly into the carpet at your feet.

The ulterior motive is that you could have some more people to bring along to your club. Lend them your real bat or a spare and open their eyes to what it is all about.

Summer project?

You might not have space for a table-tennis table in your own house but…

make a mini table tennis table… then become the best in the world.

More?

Other ideas? Just comment below!

Empire News (October Newsletter)

The latest Empire newsletter is here:
Empire Table Tennis Club October 2011 Newsletter

Hungry Empire members read this for details of the annual dinner (Saturday, Nov 19) and the midweek annual Xmas lunch (Thurs Nov 24).

Also I copied this news for wider interest:

Midweek Doubles Tournament: 15 September

The annual Midweek Doubles Tournament was held on 15th September and was organised by Arthur Lee and Melanie Armstrong. Arthur has submitted a full report to the Board. Here are the highlights:

• There were 96 participants, of whom 52 were Empire members.
• Teams came from Kapiti, Levin, Wairarapa, Wainuiomata, Tawa and Miramar. Miramar was a newcomer to the tournament.
• Empire winners were Alfred Chin & Stan Joe and Ken Moy & Karl Johnston.
• Empire teams finished runners up on seven of the eight tables.
• There was a cash raffle and a grocery raffle. The grocery items were donated by Empire club members.
• The tournament prizes were again sponsored by Wellington Star, Mercedes Benz dealer, and we than them for their continuing support. The Empire Board also donated prizes.

Many thanks to Arthur and Melanie and to all the other helpers who contributed to such a successful day. Thanks too to Norman Chan for securing the Wellington Star sponsorship.

Winter Interclub Series 2 – Senior Final Result

Congratulations to the winning teams, some close results on the Finals night:

Senior grades:

Premier 1: Belmont Bananas (Callum Rusbridge, Thom Nguyen, Hayden Tapp) 6-3 winners over Titan
Premier 2: Empire Dangerous (Chris Williams, Bruce Connolly, Uy Tang) – a nail-biting 6-5 win over the Waterloo Wizards
Premier 3: Karori Kometz (Darrin Carmichael, Ben Westenra, Reg Fuez) 6-4 over Empire Xiong, reversing an in-season loss to Empire Xiong.

Results for Series 2: 2011 Winter Interclub Series 2 Final

(Juniors to be compiled)

NB: Series 1 Results here.

Thanks to Bruce for managing the interclub nights and to Chris for compiling the results. Thanks Reg for the pics:

Premier 1 winning team Belmont Bananas (Callum Rusbridge, Thom Nguyen, Hayden Tapp)

Premier 2 winning team: Empire Dangerous (Chris Williams, Bruce Connolly, Uy Tang)

Premier 3 winning team: Karori Kometz (Darrin Carmichael, Ben Westenra, Reg Fuez)