7th November 2009
Rowhedge Club Juniors in action
Four Rowhedge club juniors took part in round one of the National Junior League held at Stowmarket TTC on Saturday 7th. Mark Smith, Andrew Harvey, Sam Burrows and Thomas Lewis playing in their first such event. The club has had success in the past in this event but it has been a few years since a team has been entered. Event Organiser Peter Avenell had indicated that the competition would run without any breaks so it was decided to take four players which allowed each player a break during proceedings. Six teams form the league and as well as Rowhedge club being represented there were teams from Wensum TTC (Norwich), Bury St Edmunds TTC, NETTS (Earls Colne), Wymondham and Stowmarket TTC.
Rowhedge made a sound start recording a 6-0 win against a weak Stowmarket team, Mark, Andrew and Thomas recording comfortable wins against Chris Porter, Harry Hughes and Harry Abbott. Next up were local rivals NETTS who fielded Luke Tarrant, Patrick Gilbert and James Denyer. Mark Smith was in dominant form and dealt with the challenges from Luke and Patrick with ease, winning both matches three straight. Andrew pushed Luke but needs to gain some more experience playing against pimpled rubber, which Luke uses to some effect on his backhand. He also went down three straight to Clacton based James Denyer who has improved considerably this year. In his first match Sam pushed James all the way and was unfortunate not to win the second game, losing that 10-12. But with two games under his belt James wrapped up the third 11-6. Sam made a slow start against Patrick Gilbert and then went very close but eventually lost 1-11, 8-11, 9-11.
Match experience is a mojor part of this competition and the players should learn through playing in this competition. Keep cool when under pressure is a key lesson to learn and Thomas Lewis is certainly gaining some experience in this department. In the Bury St Edmunds match he secured a great win against Jack Anthony 11-8, 7-11, 11-9, 11-8. It was a roller-coaster match for all concerned and at one point Thomas was making a good job of talking himself out of a win. However, he recovered to record a very satisfying win against an awkward penhold player. His demons attacked in his next match against Joe Easdown. Losing the first game to love applied plently of pressure, which would always be difficult to recover from. A frustrating losing match for Thomas but the experience is equally important at this stage of his playing development. Mark was looking unbeatable and he easily saw off the challenges from George Kizis and Joe Easdown. Sam picked up his first win of the day in a tense five setter, finally getting the better of Jack Anthony 11-9, 8-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-8. A 4-2 win was a great rsult against a strong Bury side.
Our final match of the day was against Wensum and squad rotation meant Mark Smith was on the sidelines for this one. Once against match experience played it's part in all matches. a 6-0 loss does not really reflect the match since both Thomas and Andrew pushed their Wensum opponents hard. Perhaps they will have better success next.
In all a satisying day, 2 wins from 4 not a bad result with a target of 3 wins or better for our next outting in the competition on the 28th November. Thanks should go to Greg Green who provided some transport and coaching during the day.
19th October 2009
After a break for a couple of years RTTC entered the National Cadet League which is being staged this year at Stowmarket Table Tennis Club. Cadets are under-15 players but we took a very young side to the event. Lajos Zsisku (13), Ben Jackson (10) and Jane Li (10). They did the club proud and came through the day with two wins to their credit. Lajos led from the front surprising himself in taking 7 wins from 10 matches. Ben really showed his promise in his final match of the day, standing at 4-9 down in the fifth game and looking defeat in the face, he pulled together a string of winning shots to draw level at 10-10 and take the game 12-10. A great performance. Jane was understandably a little nervous in her first match but with her first win under belt in the third match of the day, her confidence grew and she began to play up to normal performance level.
The next round of matches are scheduled for 22nd November, once again at Stowmarket Table Tennis Club.