Southend Junior Players Win Essex schools competition

Howard Grant took time away from normal Southend Junior Coaching duties, to coach members of his Hullbridge Teams in the Essex Schools Team competition. Schools from all over the county converged on Batts in Harlow on the 4th Oct, to play the right to represent Essex in the National Schools Team Event, Howard had many of his juniors taking part on the day, and 3 of them who all come from the same school The Eastwood Academy, triumphed in the under 16 boys event, Sidney Dorn, Dan Payne and Hullbridge newcomer Harry Harwood all took the Essex trophy along with Billy Praim-Singh.
It was good to see so many Southend League players taking part, proving how strong we are, at producing some of the best Juniors in Essex, now comes a bit more hard work from Howard, as he has to prepare the boys for their next round of matches against the English Schools finest Table Tennis players, Good luck "H" and well played lads.

Report from Karl Dorn, SDTTL Press Officer

Mike Watts Award for Hockley Table Tennis Club

At their club night on Thursday 27 June, Hockley TTC were presented with the Mike Watts Award for development in Table Tennis.  This is an award presented to an individual or club that has developed TT within the Southend League. 

The Hockley TTC has grown over the past few years to a 6 team club with three club nights and have ambitions to find a way of having a dedicated TT centre within their area.  With their determination, I would think that they will achieve this.  The club ranges in ages and standards and it was good to see juniors from this club entering the SDTTL Junior Tournament this season.

Well done Trevor Vincent and the Hockley TTC

 

2013 Southend Table Tennis League Junior Tournament

Southend Table Tennis League Junior Tournament

 

This weekend saw the annual Southend Junior Table Tennis Tournament take place at Hullbridge Sports and Leisure venue, in Hullbridge, where youngsters competed in 8 different events.

An early start was the order of the day, as an extra event was added  to cope with the fantastic influx of new youngsters wanting to play the sport this year, an influx that has seen Junior coaching increase in the local area to meet demand. The Southend league is fast becoming one of the best attended junior Table Tennis leagues in the county, seeing many of it's Juniors go onto represent Essex in matches all over the country.

The players were split into different age groups, where groups of 4 would play each other to determine the winner and runner up, they would then move on to the knock out rounds reaching the final, to then see who would take this years honours.

 The under 11 final was between Canvey's Ryan Williams and Hullbridge's Dan Zeffie, the boys showed many good touches during the game, with Ryan's experience telling in the end ,giving the title to the Canvey player, this will be the first of many meetings between these two in years to come.

The Under 13 title was won by Hullbridge's Zoe Davis who beat fellow team mate Emily Smith in the final, both girls showing the boys how its done. The same pair met in the final of the Girls event, with the same outcome, these two look on course to be future Essex stars, as they both get better every time they play.

The under 15 event was taken by Hullbridge's Sid Dorn who met ever improving Rawreth player Adam Hill, who has increased his weekly training with great effect, County player Sid was eventually too strong for Adam, and he promised to use more hairspray in future as he went on to win in 4.

The Under 18's saw rivals Ben Matthews and Kieran Skeggs come together, Rawreths Ben was the victor in this match, but was pushed all the way with fantastic table tennis skills from both players.

The Open was Kieran Skegg's event, getting his own back on Ben Matthews in the final, the rivalry continues.

The Boys was the final event, pitting Thorpe Bay's Kieran Skeggs against Sam Lowman, players who have known each other for years, with once again Kieran coming out on top, proving too strong and skillfull for Runnymead's Sam.

A great day was had by all, showing that the Southend Table Tennis League is the place to be if your a Junior Table Tennis player!

Karl Dorn, SDTTL Press Officer

 

 

Veterans National Championships - 2013

Veterans National Championships - 2013

 

Kevin Caldon again for the second year in a row reached the final Over 50's National Championships held at Tiptree on the 11^th and 12^th May and after beating Clive Carthy in the Semi Final he narrowly missed out on become National Champion in the final to Nigel Eckersely in the in what was a hard fought very tight affair played over five sets (12, -8, -9, 9, 7).

 

International Team Championships of Veterans Societies - 2013

 

Kevin Caldon now ranked No 4 in the England Veterans Over 50's has been selected to represent England in the above event at Over 50's level which is to be held in Birmingham from the 27^th to 30^th June 2013.

 

Kevin was selected to play in this event last year but was unable to attend due to injury, so must be especially pleased to have another opportunity to represent England in an International Event.

 

Report from George Reeves, Rawreth TT Club

Essex Coaching & Development Programme for Cadet and Junior Players 2013-2014

Essex County TT Association:

Essex Coaching & Development Programme for Cadet and Junior Players 2013-2014 -

Essex Coaching and Development Officer, Stuart Gibbs, has embarked on an exciting new programme of coaching and development opportunities for cadet and junior players in the county.

Stuart will be providing opportunities for young players in the county to train together and is determined to raise the standard of play within Essex.

See more from Ken Field's Report

2013 Essex Juniors Closed Championships

2013 Essex Juniors Closed Championships will be held at BATTS on Saturday 13th April 2013.

 

Closing date for all entries will be 26th March 2013.

There are U18, U 15 and U 13 events for boys and girls.

 

Entry Form

Essex Assessment Training Group-Clacton Coastal Academy-3rd Feb-13

It is not often that players have an individual coach at training sessions although Essex County Coaching Officer Stuart Gibbs managed to enlist the services of ten coaches to support the twelve Essex juniors who attended the Essex Assessment Training Group session in February. Players from the Clacton, Colchester, Southend and Burnham leagues were represented. The juniors were fully committed to the training tasks assigned by Stuart and worked hard throughout the five hour session. Three new players were welcomed to the group and they demonstrated the progress that they are making at their local clubs. The standard of play was enhanced by James Denyer, Sam Lowman and Sidney Dorn, all of whom have represented Essex in ETTA Inter County Championship matches at either Cadet or U18 level. The volunteer coaches did a great job, always on hand to encourage the young players to give of their best and to provide advice and support. Thanks go to Felipe Rodriguez and Gill Locke for organising the venue.

 

The next training session for the group is being held at BATTS Harlow on Sunday, 21st April. S. Lowman

 

Tribute to Roy Kirk

ROY KIRK 27/08/1934 TO 14/01/2012

 

Roy seems to have played for St Peters forever, until he retired a couple of years ago, but he probably joined in the late seventies or early eighties. He was extremely reliable, a firm believer in fair play, had a very sense of humour and for many years rode his motor bike to the matches. He and Ray Elsdon made a formidable doubles team in the Summer league and didn't concede many games. Following the replacement of his hips, he found side movement difficult and progressively recovery from playing table tennis took longer so he called it a day.

 

One of his other interests was cricket. In his fitter days he played for Rayleigh Fairview Cricket Club and latterly, Roy, Ray Elsdon and Brian Parker were regular supporters of Essex at Chelmsford.

 

I am sure that all who played with and against Roy will have fond memories of him and miss him. His funeral will be at Southend Crematorium at 4pm on Thursday 17^th January.

 

Paul Reed