… are here: 2012 Summer Interclub 0229. Thanks to Chris Williams for again putting the results together for summer interclub.
A good night, the first competition night of the year for most. I’m still recovering…
… are here: 2012 Summer Interclub 0229. Thanks to Chris Williams for again putting the results together for summer interclub.
A good night, the first competition night of the year for most. I’m still recovering…
Official notices have been sent out already but you may be interested to know that the 10th Annual General Meeting of Table Tennis Wellington is being held commencing 7:30pm at the Empire Table tennis Club stadium. Even if you are not a specific member or club delegate, you can attend as an observer. Also, there are spaces available on the executive committee so there is a chance you’ll be nominated!
Notwithstanding specific coaching roles or specific honorariums (accepted or otherwise), members of committees are unpaid and may work many hours, sometimes in between family crisis and imminent work deadlines! Next time you walk into a club or activity, consider how many people might have been involved along the way in bringing table tennis to you. That small amount of money you spend really goes a long way. In the overall scheme of things, any time or expertise you can provide over and above those dollars counts a great deal towards maintaining table tennis in our community.

A committee is a vehicle for planning and decision-making, followed by enabling the people and resources to execute specific projects. While a committee should ideally proportionately represent a range of interests, note that many (if not most) major activities happen externally to direct committee involvement, with perhaps only intermittent interaction if at all. To clarify what I mean, here are some examples:
At the end of the day, we are all better off if everyone working on a community project is doing something they enjoy and in an area they are interested in. Maybe there is some project that you may be interested in, that you would like to run or be a part of, you can get on a club or association committee or not even be on a committee at all but just talk with your committee to see how your project can dovetail nicely with everything else that is going on.
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.

This is the report from Malcolm Wong on his recent trip to the NZ Masters Games. Malcolm won 6 medals on his trip this year.
This multi sports event was held in Dunedin (4-12 February 2012). The table tennis (4-7 February) was held at the Edgar Sports Centre in South Dunedin. The Netball was also held there at the same time which made for a very noisy environment.
Malcolm Wong won 3 silver and 3 bronze medals. Silver medals in the Over 45 and Over 55 Men’s Doubles with Stephen Craw (Christchurch), and in the Over 55 Mixed Doubles with Patricia Swale (Invercargill). Bronze medals were in the Over 45 and Over 55 Men’s Singles, and the Over 55 Teams with Stephen Craw.
The results are published here.
Malcolm beat NZ Veteran representative Stephen Craw in both the Over 45 and Over 55 Men’s Singles. He lead Wang Qi 2-1 in the Over 45 Men’s Singles before losing 2-3.
The medals were presented by a different person each day. Leigh Gibbs (Games Ambasssador and former Silver fern player & coach), Audrey Fogarty (widow of Bill Fogarty – 1948 NZ Men’s Singles Champion) and Barrie Kendall (Long time organiser of the masters table tennis in Dunedin).
Ngaire Garrett caused the biggest upset when she beat the former NZ Women’s Singles Champion Yvonne Fogarty in the semi finals of the Over 55 Women Singles.
Thanks to the organisers, Stephen Burgess, Graeme Clent and Barrie Kendall for their work in running the tournament.
PS: In 2013 the NZ Masters Games will be in Wanganui Feb 1-10, 2013.
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
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…]
Thanks again to Malcolm for his latest player profile, this time on local celeb Lindsay Ward!


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.

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.

Adrian Lust, Dianne Ord, Lloyd Richards, Robert Kerr
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.)

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.”

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
Final results are here (sorry, I was sitting on this for a few days): REVISED: 2011 Composite Interclub 1207 Final Revised
It was a 3-way tie for first in division 2 (Bobcats, Caracals, Ocelots) but on countback Ocelots win (Chun-Kiet Vong, Adam Slocombe, Chris Sutton)! The Cheetahs win division 1 (Ian Talbot, Paul Brown, Craig Gear). Congratulations to Ian Talbot for topping the division one %s and Chun-Kiet Vong for topping the division 2 %s. Thanks to Chris for all the work with the spreadsheet this year.
Congratulations to all players and thanks for coming. Have a great break and see you all in 2012. Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year from TTW to you.
Some pictures from at the end of the last night…
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.

And listed below the results of our competition which was held during October and November.
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
Sorry for the delay results are here: 2011 Composite Interclub 11/30.
Last night tomorrow!
Thanks to Malcolm for this report:

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).

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
Results are here: 2011 Composite Interclub 1123.
Hmmm, I need to remember to bring the camera next time to make this a more interesting posting!
On that front, I have a couple more posts from Malcolm in my inbox – one a Titan club champs report and the other yet another great player profile – coming soon, stay tuned.
Also the Empire club dinner was on Saturday and awards were announced and presented, when the newsletter comes out I’ll crosspost here.
Forward to me any end of year results from your club and pictures too if you have any would be great: secretary [at] ttwellington.org.nz
Hot off the press, the results from Chris are here: 2011 Composite Interclub 1116
Next week’s draw (round 3, Nov 23):
Division 1:
Tigers vs. Cougars
Jaguars vs. Leopards
Lions vs. Cheetahs
Division 2:
Servals vs. Bobcats
Ocelots vs. Caracals
On the TTNZ site the 2011 Rankings are available, click here. The (W)’s in there are:
OPEN MEN
8. Thom Nguyen
OPEN WOMEN
7. Sabine Westenra
U18
3. Thom Nguyen
U15 Girls
9. Angela Chapman
Congratulations to Thom, Sabine, & Angela!
Summer Composite Round 1 had a few upsets on the night which augers well for an interesting series! The pdf with the team & individual stats is here: 2011 Composite Interclub 1109-Rd 1
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.
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!
Teams and schedule (SECTION 1 NOW UPDATED)… if you did not enter in a team but would like to be available as a reserve please let Bruce know.
REMINDER for those used to the Tuesday winter interclub grades… this is for WEDNESDAYS (7pm) at Empire!
TEAMS 1 Tigers Bryan McConnochie, Elias Villanueva, Ben Westenra 2 Jaguars Phillip McConnochie, Harry Chen, Russell Buchanan 3 Lions Sabine Westenra, Martin Young, Jeremy Evans 4 Cougars Chris Talbot, Paul Griffin, Brendyn Shaw 5 Cheetahs Ian Talbot, Paul Brown, Craig Gear 6 Leopards John Gan, Tony Rutledge/Paul Solt, Matthew Hobbs DRAW Round 1 9 Nov Tigers v Leopards Jaguars v Cheetahs Lions v Cougars Round 2 16 Nov Tigers v Cheetahs Jaguars v Lions Cougars v Leopards Round 3 23 Nov Tigers v Cougars Jaguars v Leopards Lions v Cheetahs Round 4 30 Nov Tigers v Lions Jaguars v Cougars Cheetahs v Leopards Round 5 7 Dec Tigers v Jaguars Lions v Leopards Cougars v Cheetahs
TEAMS
1 Servals Graham Sole, Jacob Gates, Lucas Westenra/Ian Thomas
2 Bobcats Gareth Telfer, Rod Weston, Hui-Ling Vong
3 Ocelots Adam Slocombe, Chris Sutton, Chun-Kiet Vong
4 Caracals Mats Olsthoorn, Vladimir Vysotskiy, Reuben Reid
DRAW
Round 1 9 Nov
Servals v Caracals
Bobcats v Ocelots
Round 2 16 Nov
Servals v Ocelots
Bobcats v Caracals
Round 3 23 Nov
Servals v Bobcats
Ocelots v Caracals
Round 4 30 Nov & Round 5 7 Dec - to be confirmed
FORMAT:
Round robin only – NO playoffs
Points: 2 for any win, 0 for any loss. You can lose points for disciplinary reasons as per 2011 Code of Conduct.
The latest Empire newsletter is here:
Empire Table Tennis Club October 2011 Newsletter
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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:
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.
Last year’s popular composite team interclub was a lot of fun and is on again. This competition works by teams being arranged to be more even with a top, middle, and lower ranked player allocated to each team. This makes for closer and interesting match-ups every week (Wednesday) is a chance for mentoring of lower ranked players and is less formal that the winter leagues. Also it’s a chance to play with team-mates you may not otherwise get a chance to play with.
Clubs/players are invited to submit entries for the 2011 composite interclub event being run from 9 November to 7 December. Please note that all grades play on a Wednesday night.
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.
Matches are 3-player, 11-match format (same as winter interclub, fees are also the same).
Wed 2 Nov: Entries close for all grades
Wed 9 Nov: commence
Wed 7 Dec: Final round
For more details refer to the form here: 2011 TTW Composite Interclub Entry Form
ENTER TO BRUCE BY WEDNESDAY NOV 2 with your name, your club affiliation, contact phone number(s) & email, and whether you are unavailable for certain dates (refer to the form above).
Until this starts, here is an idea of what to do with your table-tennis balls in the meanwhile:
Scott Weaver’s Rolling through the Bay from The Tinkering Studio on Vimeo.
Here is a results highlight from team managers Steve Hirst & Gabrielle Telfer.
On that men’s doubles win (Thom Nguyen & Hayden Tapp) you should check out this article by Thom on the Belmont Table Tennis Club site.
Sabine Westenra won the Over 30’s Women’s Singles!
Lindsay Ward was runner-up in the Over 30 Mens Singles (Depak Patel won bronze as losing semi-finalist).
Sabine Westenra and Heath Murdoch won the Over 30’s Mixed Doubles.
Runners up were Stephen Hirst and Heath Murdoch in the Over 30’s Men’s Doubles.
Under 21 Men’s Singles Thom Nguyen was runner up to Phillip Xiao.
C Grade Men’s Doubles runners up, Jeffrey Chin and Delano Lam.
Under 21 Mixed Doubles, Thom Nguyen and Jennifer Tseng (Auckland) were runners up.
B Grade women’s Doubles runners up, Lisa Yue and Natalie Paterson (Manawatu).
Teams Events
Wellington Women Catherine Zhou, Sabina Westenra and Lisa Yue came 2nd.
Wellington Men’s Team 2 of Bryan and Phillip McConnochie, Depak Patel and Paul Solt came 2nd in
the Men’s B Grade.
Sabine Westenra was awarded the Veteran of the Year by TTNZ
There is also some great pics of Wellington players on Matt Hetherington’s Blog which can be found
here.
The Barna Cup for Sportsmanship, etiquette and general behaviour was awarded to Team 3 Robbie
Chung, Kai Xu, Jeffrey Chin and Delano Lam which was judged by an independent panel of students.
The Womens Team narrowly missed out by half a point in the women’s equivalent.
More general results are found on the TTNZ site (click under Events).