County Juniors

A LOSS, A DRAW AND A WIN FOR THE ESSEX JUNIOR SECOND TEAM

REPORT ON THE JUNIOR DIVISION 2D MATCHES PLAYED ON SATURDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2014 

The first round of Junior Division 2D matches were played at Cippenham TTC on 15 November. With only seven teams in the Division, two of whom, Surrey 2 and Essex 2, were relegated from Division 1B last season. One team would have a bye each round. For the opening round of matches this would be the Surrey team and unfortunately Bedfordshire would be a girl short in their matches. Close matches ensued with two thirds either 6-4 wins or draws. All matches were played on two tables.

The Essex second team for the day was Sidney Dorn, Ryan Gooday, Justin Jeffery, Stephanie Cross and Zoe Davies. Original selection Luke Jones played for the first team the week before and stood down for this day.

Essex’s first match was against Oxfordshire. Sid came back from 2-0 down to number two Simon Price, ranked 226, but finally lost 11-9 in the decider whilst on the other table Justin lost to the opposition number three Fabian Avdifferen 10, -9, 10, 2, an encouraging start for him in his first match for the County. With the girls next on Zoe (ranked 75) had to come back from 2-0 and a match point down to Vicky Coll (87) to win -7, -8, 10, 2, 9 and Stephanie (the highest ranked girl on the day at 22) beat former school colleague Kristelle Brook (47) 3-1. Oxon won the next two matches, Ryan losing to No. 1 Erik Wahlgren 3-0 and Justin to Simon 3-1. Stephanie beat Vicky 3-0 comfortably but Zoe lost to the higher ranked Kristelle by three 8’s. Sidney lost to Erik 3-0 but Ryan (295) beat Fabian 3-0 so the team lost 6-4.

In the second round Essex had Bedfordshire to play, whose top two boys were ranked 63 and 186. Ryan and Justin were outplayed by the opposition 1 and 3, Matthew Evans and Owen Hewett respectively, both losing 3-0. Stephanie and Zoe both had easy 3-0 victories over Rebekah Barry. Ryan had a good win over Owen after losing the first game to 3 he came back strongly to take the next three games 10, 8, 9. Sidney lost 3-0 to Ed Simms and by three 8’s to Matthew. While in the last match Justin lost to Ed 5, -13, 5, -11, 6 to leave the match a 5-5 draw.

In the last round of matches Essex 2 had Sussex 3 to play, a similar scenario to the previous Saturday when it was Essex 1 v Sussex 2. Essex won the first four matches, Sidney beating Will Goodstone (153) 9, 11, 2, an excellent win since Will had played for Sussex 2 the previous week beating Luke Jones and narrowly losing to Ryan Williams, Justin a nice 3-0 victory over Ellis Crockford. Stephanie had to work hard for her 3-0 win over Evie Quiroga (94) and Zoe even harder for her excellent 10, -3, 8, -8, 8 win over Bethany Pemberton-Hill (40). Ryan then lost to Dexter Sherin 3-1, the third game 12-10 loss appearing pivotal, whilst Justin lost to Will 3-0, just not able to take the match to a fourth game. Zoe then lost to Evie, ranked 19 places below her, 9, -3, 10, 8, outpaced and unable to slow the match down. Stephanie, won the first game 11-9 but lost the second game to Bethany 14-12, then won the next two 4 and 3 to ensure that Essex at let got a draw. With Sidney losing to Dexter after taking the first game 12-10 it was left to Ryan to beat Ellis 3-0 for the Essex win.

An encouraging day for the four players playing at Junior level for the first time, Ryan having played for the second team at the end of last season and I am sure that they all benefitted from the advice from Coach Stuart Gibbs.

The next round of matches will be at BATTS on Saturday 7 February with four rounds of matches to be played but Essex will have a bye in the third round of matches.

Current Table after the first round of matches is:

P W D L F A Pts
Berkshire 3 2 0 1 23 7 4
Oxfordshire 2 2 0 0 12 8 4
Surrey 2 2 1 1 0 15 5 3
Essex 2 3 1 1 1 15 15 3
Sussex 3 3 0 2 1 14 16 2
Bedfordshire 3 0 2 1 11 19 2
Wiltshire 2 0 0 2 0 20 0

Arthur C. Clark
Essex Junior Match Secretary and
Junior Division 2D Organiser.

County Juniors

2015 Essex Junior Closed Table Tennis Championships

The 2015 Essex Junior Closed Table Tennis Championships is taking place this season on Saturday 10th January at BATTS, Old Harlow.
An entry form for this event is available for download using the following link –  Essex_Closed_2015-Junior
Players should note that an entry form must be completed for each player and is to reach the  Referee:-
Arthur Clark, 2 Top Road, Woodham Walter, Nr. Maldon, Essex, CM9 6RQ.
Not later than Wednesday 17th December 2014.
Entries can also be made via email and information on how to do this is included on the entry form.

 

County Juniors

A Good Win for Essex Juniors

REPORT ON THE JUNIOR DIVISION 1B MATCHES PLAYED ON SATURDAY 8 NOVEMBER 2014

 With the Junior Division 1B again spread across the Country from Essex to Cornwall it was originally proposed to split the Division in half as last season to reduce travelling for the first round of matches. However as Table Tennis England had taken both London area venues for Premier County matches no other venue could be found for the eastern half so Hampshire offered their new Winchester venue. Some two weeks beforehand the Middlesex second team withdrew from the Division as they now had no one to organise and look after their team so there were now only seven teams in the Division. The Westgate venue was a nightmare to find, even for those with sat-navs, through the town centre one way streets and a lack of direction signs and street nameplates. With Jermaine Fearon not answering to the invite to play for the first team, Luke Jones accepted the promotion invite.

Essex’s first match was against a Kent team who had been relegated from the Premier Division last season and with the team of boys they had a clear intention to get back into the Premier Division. Tom Windram, James Smith and Ben Foster won all six matches against Ryan Williams, Sam Hume and Luke Jones with Sam the only one to take a game off their opponents. In the Girls matches Jane Li beat Becky Hancock 3, 5, 3 whilst Tiana Dennison defeated her 6, 3, 18 from 10-8 up and at least ten match points before clinching the match. Against Evie Foster Tiana lost 9, -9, 9, 9 whilst Jane, 27 points below Evie in the Ranking List held a match point in the fourth game before losing 10, -7, -8, 10 , 9. An 8-2 defeat.

Essex had a bye in the second round, they should have been playing the Middlesex team.

In the last round of matches Essex 1 had Sussex 2 to play, a must win if Essex were to avoid relegation. Not a good start with Sam losing to the Sussex No. 1 George Hazell 13, 4, 10. On the other table in the contest of the No. 3’s Luke had a comfortable victory over Scott Covey 6, 7, 9. Jane and Tiana then won their matches to put Essex 3-1 up against Alice Hazell (three 5,s) and Emma Sheen (11, 9, -10, 9) respectively. Ryan then squeezed home against William Goodstone 11, 9, -10, 9 and Sam a more dramatic win over Scott. At two games all Sam found himself 10-6 down in the decider. But Sam is a fighter and four points later the match had swung and Sam quickly took the next two points for a great win. Then with two easy wins for the girls the match was won. Ryan beat George 3-0 but Luke lost the last match of the day 5, 9, 9, to William.

Current Table after the first round of matches is:

P          W         D         L          F          A          Pts

Hampshire                  3          3          0          0          27          3        6

Dorset 1                      3          2          0          1          17        13        4

Kent                             2          2          0          0          16          4        4

Essex 1                       2          1          0          1          10        10        2

Devon 2                      3          0          1          2            8        22        1

Cornwall 1                   3          0          1          2            8        22        1

Sussex 2                     2          0          0          2            4        16        0

The final round of matches will be held at Cippenham on 7 March 2015 when Essex will play, Hampshire, Dorset 1, Devon 2 and Cornwall 1.

 

Arthur C. Clark
Essex Junior Match Secretary and
Junior Division 1B Organiser.

County Juniors, General

ESSEX CADET AND JUNIOR INTER LEAGUE 1 NOVEMBER 2014

ESSEX CADET AND JUNIOR INTER LEAGUE 1 NOVEMBER 2014

Report from Arthur C. Clark 

The Essex Cadet and Junior Inter league competitions for Season 2014/2015 was held at BATTS Harlow on 1 November 2014. Four Essex Leagues took part in the Junior event, Burnham, Chelmsford, Clacton and Southend following the withdrawal of Colchester three days beforehand. Three teams, Harlow 1, Harlow 2 and Southend took part in the Cadet event after Burnham also withdrew three days beforehand. Thus there were three rounds of matches to be played for each event against the original five rounds for the Junior event. All matches were played on two tables. Apologies to the Clacton Team who were unaware that the match start for the junior Teams had been put back from 9.30am to 11.00am as their players did not receive information on the late change. The Junior format was four players with each player to play two singles and one doubles thus giving a ten match format whilst the Cadets format was three players, nine singles.

 

CADETS

 

The round one match was between Southend and Harlow 2 which Southend won 9-0, all matches three straight. Reece Griffith-Harris, Daniel Zeffie and James Goddard all conquering against James Crisford, Ben Sivathanu and Diesel Harvey

 

The two Harlow Teams then met one another in the second round match with George Campbell and Harry Blayney winning all their matches for the first team although Harry had to come back from 2-1 down to beat Diesel Harvey. Jack Crisford was the first team’s other player

 

Thus the final round match between the two winners would determine the destination of the Title with Southend team holding a three point advantage. Reece, Daniel and Ryan Williams (no not the Essex Junior No. 1 player) all winning two each but none could get the better of Harlow’s George Campbell. The 6-3 win gave Southend the title.

 

TABLE

P          W         L          Pts

Southend         2          2          0          15

Harlow 1          2          1          1            9

Harlow 2          2          0          2            3

 

SOUTHEND TEAM

Cadet winning Inter League team , Southend. Players Reece Griffith-Harris,Daniel Zeffie, Ryan Williams and James Goddard.

JUNIORS

 

Most of the Junior teams seemed to have had problems with the end of the School half term holiday week and players not available resulting in the withdrawal of Colchester and Burnham struggling to find only three players. Southend had brought four cadets with them so they loaned Burnham a player each round for experience at the older level.

 

In the opening matches Southend had a 7-3 win over Burnham, Richard Jovic two wins over Robbie Appleton, 12-10 in the fourth game and Botond Mezo 3-0 and Rebecca Lowman an excellent win over Adam Hill 13-11 in the decider. Justin Jeffrey the only player to win both his matches in Southend’s 7-3 win. In the other opener Chelmsford beat Clacton 8-2 , Sam Hume achieving Clacton’s two points with wins over Ryan Gooday and Daniel Berry. The three matches going the full distance all went Chelmsford’s way, both doubles and Gracie Edwards’ defeat by Daniel. Chris Denyer and Peter Windley won their matches against Kevin Olano and Tom Wilkin fairly comfortably.

 

The second round of matches saw comfortable wins for Clacton over Southend , 9-1 and a whitewash 10-0, 3-0 wins  for Chelmsford against Burnham. Southend’s sole win was for Justin Jeffrey over Gracie.

 

In the last round of matches Chelmsford quickly won the four matches against Southend by 3-0 margins that they needed to take the title although Justin fought hard in going down 11, 6, 10 to Daniel. Chelmsford went on to win 10-0 as did Clacton in their 10-0 win over Burnham to give them the runners up position.

Sam Hume, Chris Denyer and Peter Windley the three players to remain unbeaten.

 

TABLE

P          W         L          Pts

Chelmsford     3          3          0          28

Clacton            3          2          1          21

Southend         3          1          2            8

Burnham         3          0          3            3

 

CHELMSFORD TEAM

Junior Winning Inter League Team, Chelmsford. Players Ryan Gooday, Daniel
Berry, Chris Denyer and Peter Windley.

The winners and runners up trophies were presented on the day by Eric Todd..

Arthur C. Clark

Essex Junior Match Secretary

 

County Coaching, County Juniors

Essex Junior Coaching and Development Programme 2014-2015

Essex Coaching and Development Programme training sessions will be held at BATTS, Harlow on the following dates:

12th October 2014
30th November 2015
11th January 2015
22nd February 2015
22nd March 2015
26th April 2015
24th May 2015
21st June 2015

Please note that these training sessions are by invitation only. Invitations will be forwarded to parent of selected players by email. If you require any further information, please contact either Stuart Gibbs (stuart.gibbs12@sky.com) or Simon Lowman (simon.lowman@btinternet.com). As always, ECTTA are grateful to BATTS for their generous support in hosting training sessions.

County Coaching

Essex Development Squad Training

Bats on Table

Josh Dye reports on the Essex training.

Essex junior coaching continues to move forwards with the Development Squad meeting on Sunday 6th July at BATTS. With County Coach Stuart Gibbs on a well deserved holiday a handful of volunteers helped run a 5 hour training session which looked at footwork, anticipation and service practice before finishing with some match play.

Many thanks to John Mansfield Paul Morris, Howard Grant, Dave Bowles, Martin Edwards, William Do, Reece Seddon and Mr Multi-Ball Graham Frankel for their time and effort. I would also like to thank Ann Lowman who not only manned the cafe all day but provided valuable help throughout.

There continues to be a good atmosphere within the squad and credit should go to Stuart Gibbs and Simon Lowman who instigated these sessions.

News

Len Hoffman, Essex Life Time Achievement Award

1 Comment
Len (seated) surrounded by players ready for the presentation

Len (seated) surrounded by players ready for the presentation

On April 5th 2014, a packed Saturday morning @ the Mossford Table Tennis Club, Junior Section’s Meeting, at the Palmer Academy, saw the Essex County Table Tennis Association present Mossford’s legendary Len Hoffman with a Life Time Achievement Award.

There to join Len in his celebrations, were former International ranked Juniors and Seniors who Len coached: the Juniors of the impressive Mossford TTC; the Officials and helpers of the Mossford Table Tennis Club.

Len’s former pupils included Stuart Gibbs (former England No. 2 at Junior and Senior Levels and Vets No 1: Stuart reaching the last 16 of the World Men’s Singles), Skylet Andrew (former England Junior and Senior No 1; Skylet a Commonwealth Men’s Doubles winner)) and former Junior Internationals: Alex Abbott, Maxine Abbott and Leon Smith.

LenSkyLeonAlStuAn

Hosting the Presentation were Mossford stalwarts David Humble and John Spero, together with key Mossford members: Phil Ashleigh, Tony Cantale and 18 year old Josh Dye.

From the Essex Committee were Essex President Stuart Gibbs, Essex General Secretary Jayne Johnson and myself.

Jayne and I arrived at 10.15 and the Hall was full of activity. The Mossford youngsters were all playing. Stuart, Skylet, Alex, Maxine and Leon were all knocking with the youngsters: a great atmosphere.

The Mossford Coaching Team, were all coaching and in the middle, was Len Hoffman, running a contest for the children, oblivious to what was about to happen.

With the Interval looming, David Humble called for everyone to gather around the area where Len was sitting. Dave introduced myself with some very nice words and I said some fitting words for the Lifetime of devotion to Junior coaching of Len, spanning an amazing 65 years.

I commented on Len’s Lifetime of Coaching and the high standards that those present today had reached: from Len’s early days with Chester Barnes and Stuart Gibbs, to the next generation of Skylet Andrew, Alex and Maxine Abbott, Shelley Ruocco and Grant Solder and many, many more. In his younger days, Len also coached Football and coached Harry Rednapp and Frank Lampard senior. Much of this information came from an article that Mossford’s John Spero had written for a Presentation last year that the Mossford Table Tennis Club made to Len: an amazing lifetime commitment to the enjoyment and skills of so many young people.

A nicely engraved Glass Tankard on a nice stand was presented to Len by Stuart Gibbs. Stuart added his appreciation: giving us all an insight into the fun times they all had as youngsters learning Table Tennis with Len and how much enjoyment they have all had throughout their lives. For many, success at the highest level: all emanating back to the early efforts of Len in creating a lasting interest in Table Tennis. Len as always was totally modest, accepting his Award with a warmth that everyone loved and eager to get back to the Tournament he was running during the Mossford Morning session

Stuart then passed the floor over to Skylet Andrew to heap more praise on Len. Skylet delivered a most exhilarating chat; joining Stuart in attributing much of his success in life, to those early days with Len. Skylet had the youngsters laughing as he recalled some of his young experiences. Skylet then went on to say how table tennis had played a major part in equipping him for the successful career he has had so far, attributing much of this to Len Hoffman.

After, Skylet joined the children and gave them some lessons on serving with his legendary high ball throwing: Skylet had the youngsters laughing, given them high fives once they had mastered his serves, with his help. He had the total attention of everyone; the sheer enjoyment was clear on all the youngsters’ faces.

Our thanks to the very successful organisers of the Mossford Table Tennis Club

And our thanks to Len Hoffman, the likes of which may never be seen again: an amazing Life Time Commitment to the enjoyment of youngsters: possibly thousands.

Ken Field
Chairman
Essex County Table Tennis Association
14th May 2014

County Juniors, County Seniors, County Veterans, County Vets 60s+

2014-15 County Championships

Next season’s County Championships Divisions are now online. Find the full set of 2014-15 divisions here:  This opens as a PDF document.

Essex have 10 teams entered for next season:-

Senior division 1B Essex 1, Avon, Buckinghamshire, Devonshire 1, Hertfordshire,  Middlesex 2 and Surrey 1.

Senior division 2D Essex 2, Hampshire, Kent 2, Surrey 2, Sussex 2, and Sussex 3.

Junior division 1B Cornwall 1, Devonshire 2, Dorset 1, Essex 1, Hampshire, Kent, Middlesex 2, Sussex 2.

Junior division 2D Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Essex 2, Oxfordshire, Sussex 3, Surrey 2, Wiltshire.

Cadet division 1B Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire 1, Buckinghamshire 2, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent 2, Middlesex 2, Norfolk, Suffolk, Surrey 2.

Veterans division 1B Berkshire 1, Dorset 1, Essex 1, Kent 2, Middlesex 1, Surrey 1, Sussex 2, Wiltshire 1.

Veterans division 2A Cambridgeshire 1, Cheshire 2, Durham, Essex 2, Norfolk 1, Northamptonshire 1, Northumberland, Yorkshire 3.

Veterans division 2B Bedfordshire 1, Buckinghamshire1, Devonshire 1, Essex 3, Hertfordshire 2, Oxfordshire 1, Somerset 1, Surrey 2.

Over 60’s Premier division  Cheshire 1, Essex 1, Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire 1, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, Sussex, Yorkshire 1.

Over 60’s division 1B Berkshire 1, Berkshire 2, Buckinghamshire, Essex 2, Hampshire, Hertfordshire 2, Kent 1.

 

 

 

Tournaments

BATTS 1 STAR OPEN 10/11 MAY 2014

A MASSIVE ENTRY FOR THE MAY TOURNAMENT AGAIN

The second BATTS One Star Junior Open Tournament of season 2013/14 was held at the home of BATTS Table Tennis Club, the Norman Booth Centre, Old Harlow on the 10/11 May. There was a massive entry, 120 all told, which meant reluctantly that Consolation events for those players who failed to finish in the top two places in their Groups could not be held for the U16, U15 and U13 Boys and Under 16 Girls events. Players entered from as far away as Hampshire, Beds, Northants and Norfolk as well as four of the Greenhouse Centres and a contingent of eight players from the island of Jersey.

Saturday morning started with the Under 16 Boys event, eight Groups of five players. With four players not arriving on the day (two of them numbers 1 and 7 seeds) one scratch entry made a Group of three up to four. Only three of the remaining six seeds won their Groups. In the top half number 4 seed James Knudson (E) was therefore expected to reach the final, but in the quarter final he fell to Jersey’s unseeded Jacob Gosselin 7, 7, -6, 4 and in the semi final Jacob defeated Norfolk’s Jacob Goss 5, 9, 5. In the bottom half number two seed Nick Mileham (He) reached the final after a titanic battle with number 3 seed Max Aldous (Mi), coming back from two games down to win -9, -8, 5, 6, 11. In the final Nick had a game point to take the match to a deciding game but lost 8, 10, -3, 10.

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At the same time the Under 16 Girls played their event, what should have been two Groups of five. However the number 1 seed, Amy Blagbrough (Hp) failed to arrive and it later transpired that her transport broke down on the way to the venue so she had to be towed home and thus took no part in this or the other events she had entered. In Group 1 number 2 seed Charlize Uy (He) lost to Zoe Davies (E) -9, -9, 11, 6, 7 but by beating Group 2 winner Jasmine Chan (Mi) 6, 10, 13 in the semi final she reached the final. Similarly in the other semi final Group 2 runner up Gracie Edwards (E) beat Zoe 7, 9, 9 so both group runners up reached the final with Gracie winning 1, -4, 10, 6. In the Consolation event Sarah James (E) carried on her last season’s Consolation winning ways, this time beating Ruth Marsden (K) -5, 10, 7, 8.

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The afternoon saw the Under 14 events. For the boys five Groups of five and one of four with three withdrawals Groups 1 and 2, which only had three players each were merged into a group of six to avoid those players sitting around for an hour and a half waiting for the other Groups to finish. Four top seeds won their Groups but number 1 seed Zaiim Premji (Mi) lost to Jack Stockdale (E) and number 4 seed Zachary Martillo (Ca) lost to Luc Miller (Jersey), Luc scraped through his quarter final against Thomas Connelly (Nk) -8, 10, -9, 5, 6 but lost the semi to number 2 seed Samuel Hume (E) 7, 10, -8, 8. In the other half Zachary and Jack met in the quarter final with Zachary coming through -7, 3, -10, 9, 4 but in another five setter he lost to Kian Burgess (Sk) -2, 6, 6, -7, 5. In the final Kian beat Sam 9, 11, 6. The Consolation final was an Eastbury Greenhouse affair, Rokas Dedinas defeating Ali Cangir 7, 9, 9 having defeated schoolmate Louis Jones 10, -10, 8, -5, 8 in the semi. In the other semi Ali beat Alfie Sutherland (Jey) 7, 3, 6.

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For the Girls there should have been two groups of five U14 players but with four withdrawals a round robin Group of six was created instead. Gracie won her second event of the day without dropping a game with Ruth Marsden the runner up. The Consolation trophies were presented to Alana Mansfield (E) and Eve Whitaker (Bd).

Sunday’s events attracted massive entries so it was not possible to hold Consolation events for the U13 & 15 Boys or U15 Girls events and started with the Under 13 Boys and Girls events. All 15 girls turned up to play (in three Groups of 5) but of 43 Boys entered (seven Groups of four and three Groups of five) 8 failed to arrive, only two of which were known to be injured. This left two players in Group 6 who were moved to other Groups who were short and the one scratch player who turned up on the morning could occupy one of the vacant places. Six of the nine seeds won their Group, two of the seeds lost 11-9 in the deciding game and the other two seeds were among the absentees. Kian Burgess (Sk) again had a good run to the semi fianal where this time he was edged out in a five game thriller by number 1 seed James Kelly (Ca) 5, -6, -9, 10, 9. In the other half Jersey’s unseeded Luc Miller, having beaten the seed in his Group, had what appeared by the scores an easy run to the final beating number 4 seed Jaycee Chan (Mi) 5, 3, 5 in the semi after beating Zaiim Premji (Mi) 3-1 in the quarter. The final went the full distance swinging one way and then the other with James finally crossing the winning line -8, 6, 9, -6, 7.

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In the U13 Girls the top three girls, Jemma Walker (Bu), Amelia Chan (Mi) and Gracie Edwards (E) won all their matches in their respective Groups, all 3-0 except for Jemma who had to come back from 2-0 down to beat Federica Tazartes (Sy) -14, -7, 9, 9, 3. In the other 18 group matches 9 of them went to a deciding game. Federica must be considering herself unlucky, having lost in the decider to the number 1 seed in the Group she then lost an even closer quarter final to number 3 seed Gracie Edwards -8, 6, 9, -11, 11. Gracie, however, found Amelia just too good in the semi losing -7, 3, 6, 9 and Amelia went on to beat Jemma in the final 2, 8, 1 after Jemma had beaten Lois Perryman (K) 5, 7, 6 in her semi. In the Consolation event Isabella Hudson (Mi) beat Yassmire Al-Amire (Mi) 9, -9, 5, 8.

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The afternoon saw the Under 15 events and the Under 11 Open. For the Boys event there were nine Groups of four but with eight players withdrawing including the top three seeds, only one known to be injured, the Reserve and three on the day requests could be fitted in. All the remaining seeds won their Groups although three of them required a deciding game win in one of their matches. Group 7 was the first Group of the weekend to need a three way countback, not only on games but on points with Jaycee Chan (Mi) taking top spot over Luc Miller (Jey) by 4 points. With the top seeds missing the KO stage had an open look about it. The highest seed, Max Aldous (Mi) eventually made the final but it was hard work with five games needed in both quarter and semi finals. His quarter final opponent was Zaiim Premji (Mi), beaten 10, 5, -4, -5, 8 with Kian Burgess (Sk) the 8, -8, 7, -8, 7 semi opponent. In the other half Zachary Martillo (Ca) defeated the original number five seed James Knudsen (E) -7, -11, 8, 9, 1. The final seemed to lack the higher standards of previous years with Zachary eventually winning 10, 3, -8, 8.

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There were four Groups in the Under 15 Girls event, two of four players and two of five. Seeds Jasmine Chan (Mi), Charlize Uy, (He) and Jemma Walker (Bu) all won their Groups but the Group in which Amy Blagbrough should have played ended in the only other three way tie of the weekend. Games countback gave Ruth Marsden (K) top spot, Megan Allaway (He) runner up and Rebecca Lowman (E) third place. Jasmine found Charlotte Boston (Ca) fighting back a 2-0 deficit in the quarter final before edging through 12, 3, -7, -6, 12, with an easier semi win over Charlize 7, -5, 6, 6. In the other half Jemma met five game specialist Federica Tazartes in the semi winning that -7, 7, 7, -5, 7 but lost the final to Jasmine 7, 10, 6.

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It was good to have sixteen entrants again in the U11 Open event but with some players playing in their first Tournament event ETTA ranking points not necessarily a good guide particularly as the number 1 seed, Benjamin Mencer did not turn up. Felix Thomis (Bk) and Jaden Aulakh (E) won their Groups but Declan Garner (E) could only finish third in his Group, beaten by William McCarthy (K) and Alfie Sutherland (Jey) In Benjamin’s Group Shay Graham (Np) was the winner. Jaden defeated Alana Mansfield (E) 10, -10, 10, 6 in the quarters and Alfie 5, 4, 9 in the semi whilst in the other half William defeated Felix -9, 4, 7, 8 in the semi and went on to win the final 6, 8, 7. In the Consolation event Rahy Premji (Mi) beat George Anderson (E) 6, 8, 7.

Another enjoyable weekend for all the players and a hectic two days for me. It was unfortunate that with the BATTS policy of running Consolation events wherever the Schedule permits for those players who do not finish in the top two places in their Group and gives the lesser players a chance of winning some honours, Consolation events for the Boys could only be held in the U11 and U14 events but the Girls were luckier with only no time available for a Consolation in the U16 event. To have staged Consolations for the other events would have meant very late evening finishes. We hope the Jersey Players enjoyed their weekend in Essex and they venture back again in the future.

Arthur C. Clark
Essex Junior Match Secretary
Member of the BATTS Organising Committee.