9th Annual Pelorus Trust Stadium Sports Festival

Calm before the storm

A few weeks ago, on Tuesday the 6th of March, 600 year five and six primary school students from the Wellington region attended the 9th Annual Pelorus Trust Stadium Sports Festival at Westpac Stadium. Thanks to coach Stephen Hirst and helpers (Rob Chung is in a picture below) table tennis was be one of the 18 sports involved.

Organised by Sport Wellington, the annual Pelorus Trust Stadium Sports Festival aims to expose primary school children to a variety of different sports. This year 54 schools applied to attend the event, of which only 20 spots were available. Given the delicate weather requirements of table tennis, outdoors was ruled out but thanks to Jamie Milne at Sport Wellington a place for table tennis was found within the concourse area (along with a couple of other similarly weather-sensitive sports).

While no doubt Stephen & co were run ragged by the end of the day, he reported the day as a great success and well worth the effort. They were able to distribute hundreds of leaflets listing the Wellington junior clubs to students and teachers and interest was high.

Coolmoves, the pros.

One of the main hurdles was how to get tables from the Newtown stadium out to the Westpac stadium and back. Especially given that the Donic tables we have there need to be transported upright and in one piece. We owe many thanks to Coolmoves who were able to very professionally move eight tables to and from the Westpac stadium! Without Coolmoves we could not have been there.

The age range here parallels the primary/intermediate & junior club coaching program that Table Tennis Wellington has also been running with thanks to Pub Charity support. Stephen Hirst is also the coach for this program and has been able to reach many schools and junior clubs in the Wellington area. Programs like this and the stadium event help build the grass-roots base and feed into the junior clubs.

Table Tennis, everyone's favourite!

Bats down, ready for the next group.

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!

Table Tennis Coaching – Stephen Hirst

Experience dedicated coaching from Stephen Hirst, former New Zealand representative and professional player.

Stephen has coaching accreditations and experience in England, Germany and New Zealand at beginner level through to International level.

Stephen is available for:

• One on Ones
• Club Visits
• Schools sessions
• Group Coaching
• Demonstrations
• Training Camps
• Coaching for all abilities

From just $30/hour
 

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• A previous NZ International Player with over 10 years coaching experience at National and International level.
• Experienced in the development of players from all ages and ability in a single focused session or as a group.
• Whether you require to fine tune your technical game, or to gain more enjoyment from the fast – paced sport. The coaching sessions are tailored for maximum success.

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To Book please contact Stephen:
 Home: 04 5896257
 Mobile: 021 655 100
 Email: Stephen290879 [at] yahoo.com

Ref attached: Stephen Hirst Coach (pdf)

2011 New Zealand Open Championships

Click below for the Teams and Individual Entry Forms for the New Zealand Open Championships to be held in Christchurch from the 12th to the 16th of October, 2011. Please note the closing date of 31st August 2011.
http://www.tabletennis.org.nz/nationalevents.htm

294 Blenheim Road, Upper Riccarton, Christchurch 8041

Junior Training Squad 2011

The 2011 Silver Trainng squad has been underway for a few weeks now.  Credit must be given to last years coach Andrew Hubbard for the high standard of play and of attitude of the players in the sqaud. Training is on Thursdays 5 to 7pm and Sundays 2 to 4pm.

We have been working towards the North Island Table Tennis Tournament which will be held on Saturday the 30th of April

Players traveling to the tournament are: Ian Wang, Gareth Telfer, Henry Stoupe, Sean Hanson, Liam Cambell and Angela Chapman.

Paul Solt – Wellington Junior Coach

Regional Schools – Final Results

Perhaps the biggest thing this year was the big push this year into secondary schools in combination with the primary/intermediates. Thanks to Andrew Hubbard who worked closely with College Sport Wellington for the secondary schools and The Lion Foundation for the primary/intermediate school work. (See also Andrew’s earlier entries on this blog under TTW:Schools for a glimpse into coaching and development in the schools in our area.)

For the record, here are the final results for the recent schools teams competition:
2010 Regional Intermediate Tournament Results
CSW 2010 Secondary Schools

Secondary

Premier Girls:
1st: HVHS : Helen Wu, Ellen Xiong, Philippa Morris, Shannon Fitzgerald
2nd (equal): Kapiti College : Mako Nishikawa, Ariana Te Raugiita, Ruby Meres, Yuri Sato
and Chilton St James 1 : Natalia Walker, Mikie Milloy, Stef McCallum, Victoria Munn

Division 2 Girls:
1st: Sacred Heart College 2 : Danielle Duggan, Teneya Nicole, Michelle Pather, Keely Cherry
2nd: Sacred Heart College 3 : Wairemana Williams, Teresa Warner, Jess Andrew, Belinda Dodge

Premier 1-Boys:
1st: Upper Hutt : Martin Murdoch, Conal Warrender, Jermaine Harawia
2nd: Onslow College : Noam Bar-Shalom, Rory McKenzie, Evan Simmers

Premier 2-Boys:
1st: HVHS 2 : Callum Gates, Ian Wang, Craig Morgan, Steven Cheong
2nd (equal): HVHS 3: Stefan Vrecic, Gareth Telfer, Garrett Fitzgerald, Yao Chun
and Kapiti College 1 : Naoki Suo, Joe Harris, Max Beckman, Daniel Reupke

Premier 3-Boys:
1st: Wellington College 2 : Cheyaathan Haran, Arjun Sundareshwar, Cameron Crofts, Sam Cooper, James Partridge, Gavin Hewitson
2nd (equal): Onslow College 2 : Jack Walker-Bowell, Rhune Pettit, Rowan Stimpson, Conor Harrison
and Newlands College 1 : Sam Chittenden, Thomas Chittenden, Joanna Judge, Karan Sood

Premier 4-Boys:
1st: Upper Hutt College 2 : Daniel Dexter, Jesse Pullen, Matt Reynecke, Alex Zurek
2nd (equal): HVHS 5 : Rob Salisbury, Donald Tang, Louie Thie, Brandon Ngan
and Wellington High 1 : Jeremy Le Garrec, Jackson Croft, Sam Forman, Jeremy Sutton, Christy

Premier 5-Boys:
1st: St Patricks Silverstream 5 : Kameron Field, Nikau Fiso, Angelo Miranda, Jermaine Rodgers
2nd: Kapiti College 2 : William Duncan, Daniel Ellison, Janosch Nagy

Premier 6-Boys:
1st: Newlands College : Neel Patel, Andrew Withers, Scott Edgecomb, Riddhesh Bardiy, Quijada Munoz
2nd: St Patricks Silverstream 6 : Lewis Barr-Brown, Ryan Drake, Steven Mitchell, Cory Van de Coolwijk

Intermediate

Premier Boys:
1st: Hutt Intermediate 1 : Liam Campbell, Kieran Mouton, Jordan Duff
2nd: Wellesley College 1 : Willem van der Wilt, Christian Davey, Ben Linton

Division 2 Boys:
1st: Wellesley College 3 : Jules Harrey, Louis Stevens, John Clearwater, Christian Webby
2nd: Wellesley College 4 : James Watkins, Toka Sopoaga, Hayden Nickel, Hector McLachlan

Division 3 Boys:
1st: Wainuiomta Intermediate 1 : Sunzer Wu, Caleb Smith, Scott Saengpanya, Ryan Millar
2nd: Karori West Normal School 2 : Jordan Collicoat, Michael Woods, Mitchell Crayford, George Nesus-Stainton

Girl’s Division:
1st: Hutt Intermediate 1 : Angela Chapman, Mia Paranihi, Trinity Masoe, Brea Rolton
2nd: Naenae Intermediate 1 : Naea Albert, Fonofa Fale, Danche Anae, Dianna Oloapu

ITTF Level 1 Coaches Course 2010

TTNZ will be running an ITTF Level 1 Coaching course later in the year. Anyone interested please email secretary [AT] ttwellington.org.nz !

Venue yet to be determined, it is possible that funding may partially cover any travel costs.  It would start on a Thursday night and continue until Sunday (it is a 24 hour in total course).

A Level 2 course is planned for 2011.

Ref: ITTF Coach Accreditation for more details.

2010 Cathay Pacific NZL Junior Open

…results are all posted on http://www.tabletennis.org.nz, in particular the draws including Wellington players (search for “(W)”) – many players making it out the the group stages:

U18 Boys‘ - congratulations Thom Nguyen winner!!!

U15 Boys’ and Girls’

U13 Boys’ and Girls’

Teams:

U18 Boys’,  U15 Boys’,  U15 Girls’,  U13 Boys’.

Junior’s preparing for 2010 NZL Junior Championships

The 2010 New Zealand Junior National Championship are being hosted by Auckland from July 7th – July 11th.  The following teams have been selected to represent Wellington at the Championships:

Under 18 Boys Team

Thom Nyugen, Delano Lam, Jeffrey Chin

Under 18 Girls Draft Player

Lisa Yue

Under 15 Boys Team

Connal Warrender, Matthew Sheppard, Caleb Magan

Under 15 Girls Team

Maddy Nash, Ellen Xiong, Angela Chapmen

Under 13 Boys Team ‘A’

George Stoupe, Sean Hanson, Adam Xiong

Under 13 Boys Team ‘B’

David Van Drimmelen, Ben Westenra, Mats Olsthoorn

Parafed have-a-go day

 

19 people attended the Have-a-go day held on June 20th at the Empire Table Tennis stadium. The event was organised by Parafed Wellington sports co-ordinator Michelle Laurenson.  TTW  was represented at the event with Secretary Stephen Hope setting  up and TTW Chairman Bruce Northover assisting throughout the day.

TTW coach Andrew Hubbard commented ‘ there were 7 disabled athletes, wheelchair athlete 11 year old Catherine Pot showed a lot of potential and is keen to continue.  Working with Parafed Wellington we plan to follow up on this day with regular coaching sessions for a number of wheelchair athletes who we hope may go on to represent Wellington at the NZL Parafed Championships being held in North Harbour 22-25 October.”

A special thanks to Empire Table Tennis Club  Building Convenor John Kane who spent many long hours making the bathroom facilities at Empire wheelchair compliant for this event.

Wellington High School Table Tennis Club a Big Hit

 

                                                                                 

 Under the direction of Wellington High School Head of Sport Mrs Di Jordan, Wellington High have been the first school in the Wellington region to benefit from the sponsorship arrangement TTW have entered into with one of New Zealand’s leading providers of sports equipment Rebel Sport. Following a very well attended demonstration to promote the term three Wellington zone interschools competition Mrs Jordan was the driving force to get a school  table tennis club up and running. Three new Double Fish Deluxe roll away tables were purchased to complement the existing school tables as well as nets, bats and balls and going by the turnouts at the club so far more tables will be required.  TTW coach Andrew Hubbard commented ‘ It’s great to see so many students enjoying table tennis, today there were around 60 students playing, many  new to the sport and I am hopeful that we’ll see a good number of these students taking part in the Interschools comp which will commence on Tuesday 10 August at the TTW Newtown stadium.”

Wellesley School Demonstation

Wellesley School were the Wellington region Intermediate boys champions in 2009 and won the central zone inter primary schools competition earlier this year. Obviously this is not a co-incidence. Organised by Mr Darren Houston and Mr Murray Blanford the school are currently half way through a knock out competition. There are a 128 players taking part. Regular practise sessions take part on the schools three tables.  Organised by Mr Darren Houston on Friday 21 May, TTW Coach Andrew Hubbard and former Chinese provincial player Catherine Zhou carried out a demonstration at the school. Plans to return to provide coaching sessions were made and certainly Wellesley will be a school to watch out for again at this years championship .

North Island Teams Championships

These championships are being held on June 5-6 at North Harbour Stadium.

Entries close May 27.

Norths Teams Entry Info,

Based on preliminary expected entries supplied by association officials, it looks like there wil be 32 teams entered for the North Island teams event at Queens Birthday.

Some categories will be combined, and the aim is to have each team play 7 contests over the weekend.

The preliminary timetable is

Saturday sessions: 9am, 11am, 1pm and 3pm finishing at 5pm

Sunday sessions: 9am, 11am, 1pm finishing at 3pm.

It is expected that all teams will play in every session, as the organisers are trying to have no byes.

Entries close next week, so there is room for changes to teams, and there are some teams who have asked for draft players, so organisers will accommodate those requests.

Chilton St James Demonstation

Thursday 20th saw TTW Coach Andrew Hubbard together with Catherine Zhou carry out a demonstration at Chilton St James school.  A large number of interested students and teachers gathered in the school gym to watch the demonstration.  Andrew commented ” My thanks to Head of Sport Ann Fowler for organising this visit. The demonstration went particularly well,  the students were very keen and interested to learn more about table tennis. Nearly all of the students came up to have a go at returning Catherine’s high toss serve  which they all really enjoyed”.  The demonstration ended with a number of students registering to play in the new College Sport Wellington weekly schools competition which will be starting on Wednesday 2 June  at the Empire Table Tennis Stadium.

Evans Bay Intermediate Benefit from TTW Schools Program

Beginning this Wednesday 19th May a group of 40 keen students from Evans bay Intermediate will take part in  a seven week table tennis skills program.  The program has been co-ordinated by Evans Bay School Teachers Mrs Mary Sagato and Mrs Gina Newman. TTW Coach Andrew Hubbard commented ” I’m very grateful to Mrs Mary Sagato and Mrs Gina Newman for organising this program and look forward to working with them to grow table tennis in the future.”

Hutt Intermediate Girls Squad Training

On Wednesday 19th May TTW Coach Andrew Hubbard began a seven week program at Hutt Intermediate school working with a group of keen girls.  Andrew commented”  Given the difficulties we have experienced getting more girls into regular training I’m especially delighted to be working with this group of girls, I’d like to thank both Mrs Paula Willis-Love and Mrs Catherine Sawyer for their support and organisation of this initiative.”

Gracefield Primary School – A great age to start playing table tennis.

 

Many Wellington Table Tennis players will remember the name Simon Edmonds, the former nationally ranked player and winner of numerous NZL titles while representing Hutt Valley is now the Principal of Gracefield School.  TTW Coach Andrew Hubbard has been carrying out coaching visits to Gracefield school on Friday mornings. The program will run for seven consecutive weeks with five classes each day learning the basics of table tennis and being encouraged to go the next step and join a club.

How to achieve victories in modern table tennis

At a recent European coaching conference held in Zagreb, Croatia, LI Xiaodong who is a highly profiled expert and coach from China made a presentation to 60 participants from the  23 European Associations who took part took. LI Xiaodong is the coach of former 3 times World Champion Wang Liqin and many, many other World and Olympic Champions. To enjoy the full story please go the following webpage: http://www.ettu.org/level2.php?id=7&id2=59

To download the full presentation please click on2_LI XIAODONG_Victories_Modern_TT

Reading 4 to 5 times may assist to absorb this fasinating insight into Chinese table tennis.

TTW, COLLEGE SPORT WELLINGTON and KIWISPORT combine to grow table tennis in Wellington region High schools

As part of the KiwiSport initiatives, Table Tennis Wellington , as part of a project have been granted some funding support to promote/grow/introduce Table Tennis into Secondary Schools of the region.

Table Tennis Wellington believe the huge interest shown in the yearly one off College Championships is an indicator that a weekly competition for High School students has the potential to develop into a competition attracting hundreds of participants.

Table Tennis Wellington coach Andrew Hubbard has been charged with driving this programme which will be piloted this term in Hutt Valley Schools and expanding to Wellington & possibly Western Bays Schools in term 3.

Essentially there are 3 programme components: School Demonstrations, Coaching for students provided at the competition venues and schools and competition commencing Wednesday 26 May [4.00-6.00] at the Empire table tennis Club and running for 6 consecutive week. This promo, coaching , competition program format will be replicated in Wellington in Term 3 based at the Wellington Table Tennis Stadium commencing 10 August – 14 September.

Hutt High Coach Gary Murphy(4 time winner of NZL National High School Championships)

Waterloo Junior Club visit

The Waterloo Junior Club is based out of the Waterloo School Hall in Waterloo. The junior club night is every friday from 7.00-9.30pm. On Friday May 7  TTW coach Andrew Hubbard made a visit to the club. Waterloo club coach Alan Costley commented that the club has been running well with full attendances. He is being assisted in the running of the club by Brian Pearson and Premier player Steve Chapmen.  Andrew commented on the improvement seen in many promising young players including Sean Hanson, Rueben Reid and Jessica Pearson. Andrew also took note of the  talented ‘Chapmen’ sisters Samantha and Angela.