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
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).
Check out Matt Heatherington’s excellent blog for news and pictures on the Nationals, to quote:
“It was a great day of table tennis today in Palmerston North, especially for Wellington coach Stephen Hirst who was overwhelmed when a gold medal opportunity game Wellington’s way. An incredible feat of team work and great skill shown by the combination of Thom Nguyen and Hayden Tapp who defied all odds to win gold in the Open Mens Doubles.” [click for more…]
Some good earlier teams results too (for details see here):
Women’s Wellington – 2nd (Catherine Zhou, Sabine Westenra, Lisa Yue)
Men’s Wellington 1 – 8th in A Grade (Thom Nguyen, Hayden Tapp, Callum Rusbridge, Andrew Rieper)
Men’s Wellington 2 – 2nd in B Grade (Bryan McConnochie, Depak Patel, Phillip McConnochie, Paul Solt)
Men’s Wellington 3 – 3rd in B Grade (Robert Chung, Jeffrey Chin, Delano Lam, Kai Xu)
Men’s Wellington 4 – 6th in B Grade (Chris Williams, Craig Gear, Brendyn Shaw)
Got any pictures or more links? Let me know or post as comments here.
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:
A second Wellington Junior Development tournament was held on Sunday Sept 11, 2011 at Empire Stadium.
Another successful tournament where Wellington’s developing players were on display. This included many players from the successful Silver and Bronze level coaching groups. Thank-yous to The Southern Trust for helping support the Silver group and to Pelorus Trust for helping support the Bronze group.
Thanks to all the juniors who played in the tournament, all in very good spirit. It was also great to see all the girls who entered – well done for playing, girls!
In a first ever for a Wellington tournament, we had a brother sister sibling final. The Under 17 Mixed Singles final was contested between Ellen Xiong and brother, Adam. And it was the younger sibling Adam who prevailed in the final. Well done to both Xiongs for contesting a brother vs. sister final!
Thanks to Bruce Northover and Paul Escott for running the tournament, with great assistance from Alan Costley.
The winners and runners-up’s of the tournament were:
| Event: | Winner: | Runner-up: |
| Under 12 Mixed Singles | Hui-Ling Vong | Chris Linton |
| Under 12 Plate Singles | Tauariki Matthews | Liam Buckrell |
| Under 12 2nd Plate Singles | Josh McPhee | Taine Eade |
| Under 12 Doubles | Liam Buckrell/Mason Tangatatai | Chris Linton/Chris Pearson |
| Under 14 Mixed Singles | Adam Xiong | Yao(Frank) Fu |
| Under 14 Plate Singles | Henry Stoupe | Chris Pearson |
| Under 14 2nd Plate Singles | Tauariki Matthews | Max Turner |
| Under 14 Boys Doubles | Ben Westenra/Yao (Frank) Fu | Adam Xiong/Kieran Mouton |
| Under 17 Mixed Singles | Adam Xiong | Ellen Xiong |
| Under 17 Plate Singles | Chun-Kiet Vong | Henry Stoupe |
| Under 17 Boys Doubles | Adam Xiong/Kieran Mouton | Ben Westenra/Chun-Kiet Vong |
| Under 17 Girls Singles | Angela Chapman | Abbey L’Estrange |
| Under 17 Girls Doubles | Angela Chapman/Ellen Xiong | Angelica Aberia/Abbey L’Estrange |
There is video footage from the tournament uploaded onto Youtube (edited and uploaded by Win Nguyen). There are presently 4 videos, with another one or to two video parts to come. Check these out (along with heaps of other t.t. videos) at:
FYI, the annual Manawatu Rep match is this year being held at the Empire Table Tennis Club stadium Saturday (Oct 1) from around 10:30-4pm. If you’re not playing, pop in for a look.
This week was the end of regular-season Series 2. Results to date: 2011 Winter Interclub 0928. Remember Series 1 results are found in this posting.
Next Tuesday Oct 4 (7pm as usual) will be the finals night for the 1st vs. 2nd ranked teams from each grade to play off for the win. Also a good spectator opportunity. A grade-champs night will be held after the nationals but just prior to the pre-Christmas summer interclub (which was composite teams last year) – keep summer interclub in mind, there is the pre-Christmas and the February one – each one round round-robin with a possible final playoff night or two depending on entry counts and number of grades. Both summer interclub mini-seasons are independent and may have different formats.
Senior results are here: 2011 Winter Interclub 0921
Next week is the last regular-round play. Tuesday October 4th will be the 1st team vs. 2nd team finals night for all senior grades. Feel free to come even if you are not playing!
Series 1 results are found in this posting.
Onslow club champs finished this week, I’ll be posting results and pics soon, last night for the Onslow senior club is Thursday next week (29/9) and will be a casual social night. If your club has also had its club champs just send me some text or pics and we can post it here too.
OK, sorry for the delay, catching up after a fun week, here is the list, good luck to all.
Men’s Team A
Men’s Team B
Men’s Team C
Men’s Team D
Women’s Team
Results are here: 2011 Winter Interclub 0914. Thanks to Chris Williams for maintaining this spreadsheet.
The Junior Interclub Series 2 draw is here: TTW Winter Junior Interclub draw Series 2.
Junior Interclub results so far are here: 2011 Winter Junior Interclub 0914
PS: Series 1 results re found in this posting.
Results for this week are here: 2011 Winter Interclub 0907
Other news:
* Nationals teams have been selected and entries submitted to TTNZ. I’ll post the list pretty soon.
* The Waikato Open is Sep 17-18 so if you are heading that way then enter (the form is here).
* Sep 15 (Thurs) – Empire midweek doubles tournament
Results are here: 2011 Winter Interclub 0831
NB: Series 1 results for those asking me are found in this posting.
Some Wednesday night pictures for a change…
Here is the result summary from the earlier 2011 TTSports Wellington Open (Wgtn Open champs-runners up results summary).
There was a computer death (fortunately after rather than during the tournament!) so we didn’t have readily exportable data to upload here.
Event, Winner/Titleholder (Association) bt. Runner up
Open Men’s Singles Thom Nguyen (Wgtn) bt. Hayden Tapp
Open Women’s Singles Catherine Zhou (Wgtn) bt. Lisa Yue
Open Men’s Doubles T Nguyen & H Tapp (Wgtn) bt. Craig Dye & Mitchell Barker
Open Mixed Doubles M Hetherington & C Zhou (Waikato/Wgtn) bt. M Page & L Yue
B Grade Mixed Singles Matthew Ball (Manawatu) bt. Myles Collins
C Grade Mixed Singles Harsh Singh (Wgtn) bt. Harry Chen
C Grade Mixed Doubles K McGeehan & M Wong (Man/Wgtn) bt. D & Z Lochhead
D Grade Mixed Singles Zac Lochhead (Manawatu) bt. Paul Griffin
O70 Mixed Singles R Ammundsen (Manawatu) bt. Joy Mozer
O60 Men’s Singles Bruce Connolly (Wgtn) bt. Richard Ammundsen
O60 Mixed Doubles B Connolly & C Williams (Wgtn) bt. K McGeehan & R Ammundsen
O50 Mixed Singles Lindsay Ward (Wgtn) bt. Depak Patel
O50 Mixed Doubles L Ward & B McConnochie (Wgtn) bt. I Talbot & D Patel
O40 Mixed Singles Ian Talbot (Wgtn) bt. Lindsay Ward
O40 Mixed Doubles L Ward & I Talbot (Wgtn) bt. D Patel & B McConnochie
O30 Mixed Singles Lindsay Ward (Wgtn) Robert Chung
O30 Mixed Doubles L Ward & C Dye (Wgtn/NH) K Aldersley & B McConnochie
U21 Men’s Singles Thom Nguyen (Wgtn) bt. Myles Collins
U21 Women’s Singles L Yue (Wgtn) bt. Emily Kan
U21 Combined Doubles Myles Collins & Mark Page (Waikato) bt. J Harter & M Hetherington
U18 Boys’ Singles Thom Nguyen (Wgtn) bt. Jeffrey Chin
U18 Girls’ Singles Emily Kan (Manawatu) bt. Ellen Xiong
U18 Plate Singles Adam Xiong (Wgtn) bt. Ian Wang
U18 Boys’ Doubles T Nguyen & D Lam (Wgtn) bt. N Watson & D Lochhead
U15 Boys’ Singles Dean Lochhead (Manawatu) bt. Nathan Watson
U15 Plate Singles Terry Lee (Manawatu) bt. Che Dixon
U15 Mixed Doubles N Watson & D Lochhead (Manawatu) bt. A Xiong & S Hanson
U13 Boys’ Singles Jae Lee (Manawatu) bt. Sean Hanson
U13 Mixed Doubles Jae Lee & D van Drimmelen (Man/Wgtn) bt. A Xiong & S Hanson
(This has been previously distributed to the likely schools but here it is as FYI.)
The Wellington, Hutt Valley and Kapiti Annual Intermediate/Primary Schools Table Tennis Championships will be held at the Empire Stadium, Marine Parade, Petone (tel 568-6054). The Boys and Girls events will be held on the same day – Friday 9th September 2011.
Play will commence at 9.00am and should be finished by 2.45pm. Tables will be available for practice from 8.45am. Officials and players attending are asked to bring their own lunch, however soft drinks and confectionery will be on sale during the day. Please wear soft-soled sports shoes and if players do not have their own bat, we will have some available for use.
Your school is invited to enter Boys and/or Girls teams of four* players, with no restriction on the number of teams.
*Please note the highest division, for boys only, will comprise three players although not all schools are assured of a position in that highest division.
Certificates will be sent to the winning/runners-up boy’s and girl’s teams in each grade.
The entry fee is $6.00 per player ($18.00/3 player team, $24.00/4 player team) and can be forwarded with your entry, with the full names of team members, or paid on the day.
An entry form is here: Table Tennis Wellington Schools Entry Form-4 player
Teams will be graded.
This information along with instructions on how to enter is here: Intermediate-Primary Schools Champs 2011-Wgtn,HV,Kapiti
We look forward to receiving your entries into this tournament, which has been highly successful over a number of years.
The next Junior Development Tournament will be on Sunday September 11 at the Empire Table Tennis Club stadium.
Here is the entry form and conditions: Junior Development Entry September 11 2011
Entries close 9pm, September 8 (refer to the form above for how to enter).
Times (CORRECTED – to be the same as the entry form):
Under 12 2.00 pm
Under 14 10.00 am
Under 17 2.00 pm
This is a great way for junior players to test their skills in a competitive environment.
A report from Malcolm Wong on his recent trip down south…
The Open winners results are published here. Singles winners/runnerups are on the TTNZ site.
Malcolm Wong and Stephen Craw (Canterbury) won the Men’s C Men’s Doubles, defeating the top seeds John Fogarty/Dyna Seng 3-0 in the final. Malcolm also won the D Grade Men’s Doubles with Derek Partridge (Canterbury). Malcolm played a wheelchair player for the first time. He was John Marrable (Otago), originally from England, who is a 5th dan black belt in karate.
Thanks to the tournament organisers for all their hard work. Robin Sew Hoy (Tournament Secretary), Barry Ellis (Tournament Manager), Alan Moore (Referee) and Ben Hurr (Assistant Referee). Also thanks to Emma Paton and Ben Duffy for some of the photos.
-Malcolm Wong
Stats are here: 2011 Winter Interclub 0824
PS: Karori (Monday nights) club champs are underway. Reg also sent me this link on interesting tables tennis activity going on in the UK, check it out.
Table Tennis Wellington 