Reading and District Table Tennis Association

John Cunningham Youth Division - 2010/11

Divisional Fixture Secretary: Steve Ricks

The Youth Division matches take place on Friday evenings at Bluecoat School, Sonning - starting at 7:00pm.

Directions: from Cemetery Junction take A4 to roundabout at top of Shepherds Hill, continue across railway bridge and take first left into Sonning Lane (B446). Bluecoat School is on the left opposite Berks County Sports Club. Table tennis is held in the Gym adjacent to the car park.

For details of the Youth Division contact Alan Dines Tel. 0118 311142.

At the end of the season congratulations to Hanson, Danny and Daniel of OLOP Strikers who have not only won the division, but have done it unbeaten and also have two of their players unbeaten as well; a commendable effort.
Since last time, Strikers have beaten SCP Tigers with Hanson winning two and Daniel Thorne one. Then they thrashed SCP Thunderbolts who were above them in the table having played a game more, 5 - 0 with Hanson and Danny winning two each.

The Runners-up position goes to SCP Tigers, who had a really good run in. Firstly though, they had to play Strikers and predictably went down 4 - 1, though Jonny Abbott did well to take the scalp of Daniel Thorne. Jon then won two more and Danny Dockree one to defeat OLOP Trojans 3 - 1. This meant that they finished level on points with clubmates SCP Thunderbolts. The play-off for the runners-up spot was a tightly contested affair with some really close games, however Tigers eventually ran out clear winners 4-1 with Jonny and Danny winning two each – congratulations to them.

Having led the table for a fair bit of the season, I expected SCP Thunderbolts to at least get second place, but they had a miserable last couple of games. Firstly losing 5-0 to Strikers, then losing the play-off to Tigers. When Max Sweetman, Guy Thurlow and Rowan Stacey all play well, they are a match for most teams, however it didn’t happen for them in the second half; they finished third.

OLOP Hammers managed a win in their last match against Trojans to move off the bottom of the table into fourth place. Phil Saunders and Tian Savage won one each, then combined to win the crucial doubles to take the match 3 - 2.

OLOP Trojans finished fifth. Gus Thomis has put in sterling effort, winning the majority of his games, however he has not had much support. Wins were always going to be hard to come by at this level, and in spite of Gus winning one or two every week, Trojans have not actually won a match in the second half.

Congratulations to SCP Avengers who pipped OLOP Eagles into second place to win Division 2. Since last time they have defeated Attackers 3 - 2, lost to Panthers 3 - 1, then lost to league leaders Eagles 4 - 1! It seems inexplicable then, that they should tie with Eagles on level points at the end of the season and go on to defeat them 3 - 1 in the playoff for top spot. In truth these two teams were always clear at the top and it seems that when it came down to “winner takes all” Avengers held their nerve in what was a tightly contested match – Well Done to Anieth, Elliot and Dan.

OLOP Eagles must be wondering how they came to lose first place, having led for the majority of the second half, they eventually surrendered the lead in the last couple of weeks only to get it back again. To get to this point they defeated Raiders 3 - 2, then Avengers 4 - 1 to set up the playoff. Tian finished with a 75% success rate ably supported by Joshua with 50%.

Third place goes to the girls of OLOP Panthers, who had Fiona Taylor unbeaten. She was supported by Jade Fudge who improved as the season went on and won a couple of games on the way.

In fourth Place come OLOP Lions. Chris Johnson has been their mainstay and Lorcan has contributed his first win in this half of the season. This team’s success is a testament to having two players that turn up every week. On the occasion of their match against OLOP Eagles they won on the strength of Eagles only having one player. Chris and Lorcan both lost their match to Joshua, but Eagles had to concede the other 3 games.

The last three teams all finished on 4 points. In fifth place, on goal difference are OLOP Attackers. They have Sam Ricks unbeaten and really should have been pushing for the top. Availability of players for key matches seems to have been their downfall. Siad has won 40% of his games and Austin won his first game in this half.

SCP Raiders are in sixth place. They defeated Attackers in the same manner mentioned above, by turning up with two players against a one-man team. This was enough to give them their second win of the season. Adam won 60% of his games and Marcus won exactly half of his.

In seventh place are SCP Spartans. Sam and Alex have found wins hard to come by in this half with Sam winning 2 out of 8 and Alex only managing one win out of 7.

Have a good summer, remember you can keep your hand in at the junior coaching sessions on Sunday mornings at OLOP and we’ll see you all again at the start of next season.

Steve Ricks