EASTER TRAINING DAYS

The below poster gives details of the Easter Training Days being run by Matt Ware at the Grange School on Tuesday 11^th April and Tuesday 18^th April.

Please note that the numbers are limited to 24 players per day, so if you are interested best to book early.

TERRIFIC TOURNAMENT (PART 2)

By the Tuesday night of Week 2 of the BDTTA Individual Championships, the New Milton Club already had 8 of its players going through to 10 of the finals, but there was more yet to come.

On Wednesday night, there was such a high entry for the Bournemouth Closed and Handicap events that both semi-finals had to be carried over to the Finals night. Jack Trafford, already featuring in three finals, beat Jordan Pang (Bmth Sports) in their quarter-final of the Handicap event to face Broadstone’s Krzystof Skwarek in the semi-finals. Jack will have his work cut out as he has to give Skwarek a 9 start up to 21, but the way Jack’s playing at the moment he may well end up playing either Matthew Ryan or Yaroslav Troschey (both from Winton YMCA) in the final.

In the Vets 50+ event last night (Thursday), last year’s runner-up Steve Hemmings saw off Wei-Jun Liang (Bmth Sports) in their semi-final to face ex Milton club mate Alan Gordon (now Bmth Sports) to have another crack at the title.

The matches involving NMTTC players on Finals Night appear below. They will not be in that particular order but a Programme of Events will be issued on the night.

This is far and beyond the highest number of finalists that NMTTC has ever had in the Individual Championships, so why not come on down to the Grange tonight to cheer on your team and club mates.

GOOD LUCK TO ALL OUR PLAYERS!

SEMI-FINALS

Bmth H’Cap – Jack Trafford (NMTTC C) v Krzystof Skwarek (Broadstone)

FINALS

Division 1 – Andy Tipsana (NMTTC C) v Matthew Stanfield (Bmth Sports)

Division 2 – Jack Trafford (NMTTC C) v Luke Hunt (Breamore)

Division 3 – Graham Underwood (NMTTC G) v Steve Cheesman (NMTTC F)

Division 4 – Ben Greene (NMTTC J) v Richard Stroud (Merton)

Division 5 – Adam Titcombe (NMTTC L) v Michael Kominek (Winton YMCA)

Junior U15 – Jack Trafford (NMTTC C) v Matthew Stanfield (Bmth Sports)

Junior U18 – Jack Trafford (NMTTC C) v Ali Malloch (Bmth Sports)

Vets 40+ – Gerard Redman (NMTTC C) v Ian Brown (Broadstone)

Vets 50+ – Steve Hemmings (NMTTC A) v Alan Gordon (Bmth Sports)

Vets 60+ – Brian Bickell (NMTTC B) v Dave Nicholls (Ringwood)

Vets 70+ – Brian Bickell (NMTTC B) v Danny Allen (Merton)

As the Bournemouth & District Table Tennis league drew to a close last week, two teams from New Milton Table Club were looking forward to playing in higher divisions while another two are unfortunately facing life at a lower level.

The H team (Lewis Reading, Eddie Tompkins, Dave Sutton & Les Smith) were top of Div 4 for the whole of the second half of the season and finished their campaign on a high by beating basement boys Bmth Sports M 8-2 in their own back yard.  Skipper Les Smith (pictured below) was back in action after holidaying in the Antipodes and matched Eddie’s brace of wins to go along with Lewis’ fifth hat-trick of the season.

The club’s dark horses, the G team (Mike Toole, Elliott Storr-Smith & Graham Underwood) snuck quietly into second place of Div 3 five weeks back and occupied that slot for the remainder of the season. They also finished off with a win by beating Merton H 6-4 at the Grange.

The B team (John Millward, Shaun Newcomb & Brian Bickell) finished up second from bottom of the Premier league having spent much of their season in the basement zone. The Bees certainly found life very difficult after losing star player John Hook to an achilles tendon injury early during the second half of the season, and their curtain call was a 10-0 hammering by Winton YMCA A.

In Div 2, the B team (Terry Jenvey, Chris Pusey & Mike Toole) needed to at least draw against second from top Bmth Sports H to give themselves any chance of survival but they lost 3-7 to stay at second from bottom. It was all academic in the end, however, as third from bottom Breamore beat Bmth Sports G to send Milton down instead.

The J team had a “bye” in Div 4 in the final week with second from bottom Nimrod B needing to whitewash Merton K to swap places with Milton and send them down instead. That was a tall order as Nimrod lost 2-8 first time around and so it proved as they lost 3-7, ensuring the Jays survival.  Full results details are below:-
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WHEN: SATURDAY 25TH MARCH – 2PM TO 4PM

WHERE: ALL SAINTS SCHOOL, WEYMOUTH (DT4 9BJ)

Shaun Newcomb is a full time wheelchair user and specialises in coaching athletes with a disability, working from beginner standard to Elite level. A former GB player, Shaun continues to work closely with British Para Table Tennis on Development and Selection. Shaun has been a training partner for some of our current GB Paralympic athletes and was selected to be the coach for the EAD (Elite Athletes with a Disability) at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, as well as GB Team Manager and Lead Coach at both the 2013 INAS World Championships (for athletes with a learning disability) in Hong Kong and for the 2014 IWAS World Junior Games. Shaun works with Table Tennis England as an adviser on disability issues as well running frequent regional disability training sessions. He also runs table tennis sessions for rehabilitation in the Duke of Cornwall Spinal Injuries Centre in Salisbury, Wiltshire.

This session is open to all groups and individuals to attend. For more information please contact Andy Millar at a.millar212@gmail.com or 07710 507075

In the penultimate week of the Bournemouth and District Table Tennis league, the H team clinched the Division 4 title and the G team will be runners-up of Division 3 in their first season in the league. The K team are pushing for second place in Division 5 but their fate is now in the hands of others.

The H team (Eddie Tompkins, Dave Sutton & Lewis Reading) won the Div 4 title by beating third placed Merton J 8-2 at Mudeford Wood courtesy of hat-tricks from Reading and Sutton who has only dropped one match all season.

The G team pictured below (Mike Toole, Graham Underwood & Bev Scott-Johns) clinched second place in Div 3 by holding the table topping Broadstone D to a 5-5 draw in their own back yard. With Toole coming up with his customary hat-trick and captain Underwood chipping in with the one win, the doubles were needed to secure the draw. Toole and Underwood struggled to get going in the first set but shaded it 12-10; then they clicked to take the next two sets 11-7, 11-5 to claim the two points.

Down in Div 5, the K team (Mike Gent, Malcolm Douglas & Geoff Biggs) took over the second spot from Shamrock B by hammering second from bottom Nimrod C 10-0 at the Grange. However, the Kays have now played all of their matches and Shamrock only have to take a point off Nimrod C in their final match, as seems likely, to reclaim second place and deprive Milton of promotion to Div 4.

STOP PRESS!

Following the final week’s (Week 18) matches so far, the bottom-placed B team are relegated from the Premier, and the D team relegated from Div 2 at second from bottom.  The J team go into the final week third from bottom of Div 4 with Nimrod C needing to beat Merton K 10-0 to send Milton down to the bottom division.  However, this is most unlikely as Nimrod lost 2-8 first time around.
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This year’s Individual Championships get underway at the Grange School on Monday 20th March with the Mens’ and Ladies Doubles, culminating in the Finals Night on Friday 31st March.

No need to book in advance, just turn up on the night (see registration times below), and it’s completely free!

The Program of Events (see entry conditions) appears below.  Good luck to all NMTTC members who enter!

Last week saw the New Milton F team knocked out of the annual Times & Directory Handicap Cup competition in the semi-finals, but two of the club’s teams made it through to the semi-finals of the Plate competition.

In the Cup proper, the Div 3 F team (Ian Linney, Steve Cheesman & Sylvia Smith) lost their semi-final against the Premier’s Ringwood A despite a hat-trick from Cheesman. It went right down to the wire at 4-4 with Linney needing to beat Ringwood’s Oliver Crossley in the ninth and final match but he narrowly lost 15-21, 21-14, 19-21.

In the Plate quarter-finals, the Premier’s B team (Brian Bickell, Shaun Newcomb & John Millward) gained some light relief from their parlous league position by beating Div 4’s Bmth Sports M 5-4 to book their place in the semi-finals. England veteran Bickell is still recovering from a shoulder injury but played cannily to win his first hat-trick since his return. It was poised at 4-4 when wheelchair player Newcomb beat Bourne’s Maggie White to follow suit with his team-mates.

The other team to progress through to the Plate semi-finals was the Div 3 G team (Graham Underwood, Mike Toole & Bev Scott-Johns) who did so at the expense of their club mates in the D team (Terry Jenvey, Malcolm Floyd & Chris Pusey) who usually play a division higher. It was all over at 5-0 and then club treasurer Floyd narrowly beat club secretary Scott-Johns in the mandatory sixth match to make it a tad more respectable at 5-1.  The triumphant G team are pictured below: l-r Mike Toole, Graham Underwood (Captain) & Bev Scott-Johns.

The E team (Peter Daish, Simon Daish & Simon Golding), who normally ply their trade in Div 2 faced a very strong Div 1 side Bmth Sports D which included ex Milton player Alan Gordon. Milton went ahead 3-2 but Gordon beat Golding having already seen off the other Simon to level things off at 3-3. Unfortunately the two Simons lost their final matches to exit the Plate at 3-5.

The L team featuring Stuart Burton (captain), James Harper and Maggie Brown had to travel to Colehill to take on Shamrock A who normally play a division higher than them in Div 4. In another very tight match and despite a hat-trick from captain fantastic Burton, Milton just lost 4-5 to be denied progress to the Plate semis.

The New Milton club are assured of at least one of their teams making it through to the Plate Final as the B team has been drawn against the G team in the semi-finals.

The break in the league programme enabled the two postponed derbies to take place. The A team repeated their first round 9-1 trouncing of their B team who are firmly stuck on the bottom of the Premier. In Div 3, the second placed G team assumed bragging rights over their F team as they converted a first round 5-5 draw into an 8-2 drubbing. Full results details of all matches are below. Read the rest of this entry →

As well as being captain of the New Milton C team playing in Div 1 and a virtuoso violin player and teacher to boot, Frank Handy has another string to his bow, namely being a very well respected cross country runner.

I am pleased to be able to print an extract of a recent article in the New Milton Advertiser along with a photo kindly provided by the Sports Reporter:-

New Forest Runners were out in force for their cross-country championships, held at Denny Wood near Lyndhurst on Sunday 19^th February.

The NF championships were combined with the seventh event in the CC6 winter series. Although weather conditions were good, there was enough mud and hills to make the 5 mile course a challenge for the 17 New Forest ladies and 16 Forest men who competed.

The ever consistent Frank Handy (11^th CC6 overall) won the New Forest senior men’s championship from the up and coming newcomer Henry Harris (14^th).

The photo shows our very own Frank in the centre and it looks as though he can hardly keep his eyes open!