The Waterside Closed Tournament will happen next month, on the 3rd March.

The Championships are open to all registered and paid up members of Waterside Table Tennis Club. Players must be under 18 years of age on the 1^st January 2012 to play in the Juniors.

Entry is free and entry forms must be received by1st March 2012

Forms for the tournament can be download from here: Waterside Closed.

January started with great competitions at Waterside TTC! Following the successful Waterside 1-star, the now famous Young Players Tournament was held again on 21st January. Several of the our young players who now attend coaching sessions of Friday played for the first time and enjoyed a very good afternoon of table tennis.

Winners of the Young Players consolation group

The consolation competition was won by Calvin Barlow, followed by Waterside’s Josh Lockyer and, in third place, Mats Colling.

In the main group, two Waterside Players finished in the podium: Artur Veeck was the competition’s runner up and Matt Moody finished in third place. Both were edged by Alan Dawson, a very good player who has been in the podium other times.

Keep an eye in our calendar of events for the next tournament!

Winners of the Young Players main group

There was a strong presence of former Waterside players at the inaugural event (Hungarian Open) of the ITTF World Tour  the rebranded name of the ITTF Pro Tour.

In the beautiful but cold Hungarian city of Budapest Ken Macleod, David McBeath, Matej Hamran and Hannah Hicks met a long way from where they had first met in Southampton. Hannah and David were there as players competing on the biggest stage of world table tennis while Ken was there as coach and Matej as umpire.

From top left, clockwise: Matej Hamran, (ITTF.com), Ken Macleod (photo: Sara Caddeo), David McBeath (Hantsweb), Hannah Hicks (Hantsweb)

Hannah played Tamara Boros in her opening group which is an indication of just how far she has come since the early days and her first appearances in Hampshire tournaments. Hannah now trains with England in Sheffield and prior to that with Rowden Fullen at Bournemouth. No wins for Hannah in the Women’s singles but more good experience and later a win against Nagypal of Hungary in the U21 girls.

David also faced strong opposition in his Men’s Singles group in the form of France’s talented Simon Gauzy and Frane Kojic of Croatia. David started the group with an impressive win over Kojic and then raised many eyebrows by taking on Simon Gauzy over the table and taking the first 2 ends. Gauzy fought back and was just that bit more comfortable in the deep where he has great strengths at defence and switching to strong attack. Gauzy eventually beat David 4-2 but a strong performance by David against one of Europe’s rising stars.

Ken was the coach in David’s corner for the event and also advising Naomi Owen of Wales and Alice Loveridge of Guernsey.

Matej took centre stage on the televised show court on the saturday where he was the umpire for the Men’s Singles Semi-Final between Ma Long and Xu Xin of China. Ma Long emerged as winner as he continued his spectacular run undefeated on the Pro Tour and now World Tour.

All have now moved on from Waterside although still maintaining links, David and Ken visited in summer of 2011 for a training camp. There is also a strong possibility these 4 travellers will meet again at Waterside this summer for a training camp. The message to the new generation of players and indeed any aspiring umpires is clear if you have the quality you can follow in these footsteps!

By Ken Macleod

It is time to get away from the tables and enjoy a fun evening with table tennis friends and family. Waterside Table Tennis club is inviting all members, families and friends to test their abilities in a great Skittles Evening, on Thursday 23rd February, at 7.30pm, in the Ship Inn Pub (Old Redbridge Lane, Southampton).

Tickets cost £9.00, and include a Basket Meal. Choose from 1/4 Roast Chicken, 10oz Cumberland Sausage, Whole Tail Scampi, Spicy Vegetable Samosa, 1⁄4lb Vegetable Burger, Cod Fillet.

The Junior and Senior Hampshire County Closed Tournament will happen in the next couple of months, both at Waterside TT Centre. The Junior Closed will be held on 19th February, with U13, U15 and U18 (boys and girls) plus U15 and U18 open doubles. The Senior Closed will be held on 11th March.

The Championships are open to all registered members of League and Clubs affiliated to Hampshire. Members ranked by other counties during the current season are not allowed to play, unless they are currently ranked below 10 in their County, and have not yet played for their County.

Forms for the tournament can be download from here: Junior Closed and Senior Closed.

The birth of a new and exciting Olympic year is now firmly upon us and it was refreshing to witness the young blood and possible future 2020 Olympians carving out their own unique stamp on the Butterfly plywood. A total of seventy young players from eight different counties enjoyed plenty of match competition at yet another very successful Waterside two day Open tournament (another breeding ground for future stars).

The tournament was held over the weekend of the 7th/8th of January, at the popular venue of Waterside’s Testwood College Sports arena in Southampton. The Sunday event reached a nail-biting climax when the top two seeds in the Cadet and Junior boys fought out a couple of pulsating finals.

All of these eager youngsters are serving their apprenticeship in life (which for many is table tennis) and none more so than Jamie (chop and attack) Trevillion from Dorset S1 and Jimmy (spin it to win it) Yeung from Hampshire S2. They went head to head in a double duel shoot-out final, with Jamie taking the earlier Cadet Open whilst later on Sunday, Jimmy gained his revenge by winning the Junior title.

Junior Boys medalists

This brace of finals had the audience on the edge of their seats with some top quality attack versus defence rallies where it sometimes took at least ten exchanges each to win a point or force an error. Yeung, the all out attacker, could topspin brilliantly on both wings yet kill any loose ball compared to the opposite strategy of Trevillion who loves chopping his way to victory and taking opportunist attacks on his forehand side.

Both finals were a huge credit to the players (one that went the full distance while the other spanned four games) and they were a fitting spectacle to end two days of excellent play with the added bonus that so many players stayed right to the end to enjoy the last match.

Local New Milton Club player Matthew Daish played particularly well in both days to finish in third place in the Cadets on Sunday following his runner-up placing in the Under 13 Boys the day before.

Five Cadet Girls played out an equally exciting and highly competitive round robin in the morning’s competition. Amy Blagbrough, a Waterside club member, started as warm favourite to take the title but had to eventually settle for third place due to two losses inflicted by Kristelle Brook and Annabelle Cox.

After eighteen months away from table tennis 14-year-old Kristelle Brook from Kidlington took the trophy home to Oxfordshire after enjoying her first come back title. A young lady that uses a combination blade with a defensive chopping style on her backhand aided with Piranja long pimples and attacks on the forehand wing proved too hot to handle for all her other four opponents. Good to see you back Kristelle and enjoying the sport as table tennis needs more young ladies in competition.

Annabelle Cox from Milton Keynes finished as runner-up with Emma Blanchford and Ruth Pickering both from Bournemouth enjoying several close matches.

Junior Girls medalists, with Amy Blagbrough from WTTC, in second place

In the afternoon five Junior Girls contested another round robin competition on Sunday resulting in a title win for Becky Kuzu from Dorset taking the podium top spot, with Amy Blagbrough in second, Kristelle Brook in third while Hannah McErlane and Emma Blanchford gained valuable match experience.

Becky (yet another player from the Bournemouth Sports and Portchester conveyor belt) has a unique but simple approach to table tennis with a close up to the table style of pushing, blocking and counter hitting that proves very effective and just keeps getting the ball back on the table.

The tournament kicked off on Saturday with a mixed under 11 age group round robin event with ten competitors that was won by Sonny Brooks from Portsmouth winning all his nine matches. Local Waterside player William Stevens took the runners-up spot by virtue of eight games won with Vincent Cheung taking bronze with seven victories and Josh Selby in fourth place with six wins.

Later in the day the Under 13’s took the limelight with a 20 player Boys’ progressive group event with just three Girls playing a round robin competition. After several advanced groups of play in the Boy’s event 12-year-old Carl Baldry from Cornwall emerged as the winner, however, he was made to work hard in his semi-final match against Zac Dowling from Bournemouth.

U13 boys medalists, Carl Baldry and Mathew Daish

In the final, the young man with a unique grip style who hails from the Blisland Club near Bodmin, took control running out a 3-0 winner against runner-up Matthew Daish from Bournemouth. Another Waterside competitor Artur Veek a left-hander with a bright future enjoyed a great tournament finishing in fourth position.

The Girls event was won by Jasmine Chan winning both her matches with Juliette Moussare taking the runners-up place by virtue of her win against third placed Katie Holt. Following the Girls round robin the three were given more matches as they were mixed in with the boys’ event.

Referee Dave Wiles aided by tournament organiser John Fox kept the event running smoothly and offered the players many matches to enjoy. Many thanks also to Colin French, Tony Huggett, Nico Caltabiano, Jeff Davies, James Stevens and Trevor Mowle the hard working, unsung heroes, back up team who helped with umpiring and also supplied the refreshments.

A special mention to Alan Man who spent hours taking his professional photographs that enhanced the day and this report. The next event to be held at Waterside is on 30th Jun / 01 July with U11, U13, Cadets and Juniors 1 star.

By Geoff Ware.

William, one of promising Waterside’s juniors, enjoyed a great weekend of table tennis during the Waterside 1-star tournament that was held on 7-8 January 2012. William played a marathon of matches, taking part in all four categories for boys: U11, U13, Cadets and Juniors. At the end of Sunday, he had played 27 matches, and even with blisters in his hand, he continued to play.

His fine form took him to the podium in the U11s, when he won 8 of his 9 matches, loosing only to the overall winner, Sonny Brooks. He also had a great run in all other categories, adding a lot of experience to his game.

More podiums are certainly on the way for William!

Sonny Brooks and William Stevens - U11 boys finalists

If it was football and we were playing Championship, and according to statistics, we would be well positioned for promotion (as the Mighty Saints!). But it is table tennis and we are playing Division 4 and we will have to continue to play well. In any case, “we are top of the league”, 10 games, 10 wins!

We closed the first half of the season with a well fought win over St Deny’s C, the team currently in second place. Matches of high intensity, tears from young players, high tempo shots, ended well the year.

Bring on 2012!

Nico

A match full of uncertainty, especially with Dave Goodyer suffering with an injury which prevents too much movement.  It was going to be a tough match! However, our fears were dispelled as the Waterside H trio each gained 2 games plus the doubles against Lesley Jerram and Gerry White.  Once again, Tony Tidswell’s style (and pimpled bat!) had the opposition struggling, including Anne Longland, who he took to 5 sets, before finally succumbing to her, the player of the night.  Dave moved well, enjoying “opening-up” on occasions and confusing the opposition with his below-table-top level scoop shots.  Jeff grew in confidence as the evening progressed, effectively employing angled block defence, with rare attacking play.

Although there was a good deal of canny chopping and moving around the table, there were many instances of good, open rallies, where smashes were quickly returned in succession.  Counter-hitting was very good on both sides and home advantage paid off often.

A most pleasing evening and 7-3 result, which was rather flattering for Waterside H.

Jeff

Matt was unwell so we gave away even more than normal in the difference in average age in our encounter with the enterprising youngsters of Southampton West N. For them, Alan Dawson was very quick on his feet and gave a good account of himself.

If we (Bob and Tony) had not turned the doubles around after a difficult start, the defeat would have been worse. There were good games throughout, and it was neck- and- neck for most of the evening, only for us to lose out in the last two games, when youth got the upper hand. In the end, Soton West N 6 x Waterside L 4. Get well soon, Matt!

Tony Huggett