2010 Summer Teams Pennant
Entries Open

Entries for the 2010 Summer Teams Pennant are now open. Entry forms are available online and will be at HALC on a Tuesday and Friday evening. We are anticipating having 4 grades again. In 2010 we will be conducting 3 Teams Pennants instead of 2. This means that each pennant is only 12 weeks long instead of the previous 17 weeks. The competition format will remain the the same. I.e. Davis Cup style competition requiring a minimum of 2 players / team.

St George & Sutherland Shire Player shines at Masters and Australian Veterans.

St George and Sutherland Shire Table Tennis Association player and coach, Wayne Heginbotham, had an outstanding two weeks at the World Masters Games and the Australian Veterans Championships. During the World Masters he won Gold medals in the Over 50 Men's Teams Event, Over 50 Men's Singles, Over 50 Men's Doubles and the Over 40 Mixed Doubles. During the Australian Veterans Championships he won gold in the Over 50 Men's Teams, Over 50 Men's Singles, Over 40 Men's Singles, Over 50 Men's Doubles.

Tuesday Night Teams Pennant is now on a 2 week break.

During this time the World Masters Games Table Tennis and Australaian Veterans Championships will be played at Hurstville Aquatic Leisure Centre

Friday Nights Casual Play suspended for 2009 World Masters Games and Australaian Veterans Championships

Friday night casual table tennis will not be held on the following dates:

• 9/10/2009
• 16/10/2009
• 23/10/2009

On Friday the 23/10/2009, spectators are welcome to come along and watch as the individual events, of the Australian Veterans Championships, will be reaching the quater finals stage on Friday evening. The quarter finals matches are quite often some of the most exciting matches to watch.

For details of the draws for the Australian Veterans Championships click here.

2009 Annual General Meeting - Tuesday July 28th

On Tuesday 28th of July 2009 the St George and Sutherland Shire Table Tennis Association will hold it's Annual General Meeting prior to the commencement of competition for the night. Nominations are called for the following positions:

• President (1)
• Secretary (1)
• Vice President (1)
• Treasurer (1)
• Committee Members (min 3 - max 7)

For details of the agenda click here.

Junior Coaching Sessions
for children aged 8 to 12

Starting Wednesday July 29th, we will be offering a Junior Coaching program run by Peter Masen, a highly skilled coach. As fine example of Peter's talents is his daughter. She is approximately 13 years old and plays for NSW in the Junior teams and recently represented Australia (U15 age group) in the Oceania Cadet Challenge held on the Gold Coast. Peter has also coached some of our existing A grade players when they were juniors.

Click here for a detailed flyer on the coaching sessions.

Casual Play to commence at
Menai Indoor Sports Centre

Thursday the 23rd of July 2009 marks the start of Casual Table Tennis at the Menai Indoor Sports Centre. St George and Sutherland Shire Table Tennis Association in conjunction with the Menai Indoor Sports Centre will be running Table Tennis on a Thursday night from 8:00pm until 10:00pm. There will be 7 tables available to start with. If you live in the Shire come along and try it out. It is great value at only $5 / person / night for 2 hours of play.

2009 Winter Teams Pennant
Commences

The 2009 Winter Teams pennant will start on Tuesday July 7th, for A, B, C and D grades. The competition is looking strong at this point with some new and strong players listed in A grade along with some new and stonger players in the lower grades. Will we see a change in the winners of A grade this time around? We'll have to wait and see.

Click here for detailed information on the 2009 Winter Teams Pennant.

2009 Summer Teams Pennant
Final Series Starts

The Finals Series for the 2009 Summer Teams pennant will start on Tuesday June 2nd, for A, B and C grades. D grade will commence their finals on Tuesday June 9th. To find out who is playing in the final series, click on the appropriate grade.

A, B, C, D.

Winter Teams Pennant
Entries Open

Entries for the 2009 Winter Teams Pennant are now open. Entry forms are available online and will be at HALC on a Tuesday and Friday evening. We are anticipating having 4 grades again. The competition format is will be the same as the 2009 Summer Teams pennant. The committee will be undertaking a review of the teams pennant format during the Winter Teams pennent. Any changes will, more than likely, commence with the 2010 Summer teams pennant.

New Friday Night Fun
Mini Tables and Large Balls

From Friday the 15th of May, we will have 2 mini tables available to play on. We suggest that when you play on the mini table that you use a large ball (55mm) instead of the standard 40mm ball. Playing with the 55mm ball on the mini table requires you to adjust your game and is a lot of fun.

2009 Open Championships
Largest Tournament Yet

On Sunday the 5th of April, the St George and Sutherland Shire Table Tennis Association ran it's annual Open Champinships. This year saw the largest number of competitors ever for the event, with 108 people entering to play.  26 different Events were played, comprising 372 individual matches.  These matches were played on 23 tables over a period of 12.5 hours.  For a results summary for the day click here.  If you wish to see the draws for the day, click here.

The Open Championships are held each year. This year, as in the past two years, the event was held at the Johnny Warren Indoor Sports Stadium which is part of the Hurstville Aquatic Leisure Centre. This venue will be the host to the World Masters Games Table Tennis and the Australian Veterans Table Tennis Championships in October 2009.

2009 Open Championships
Oldest and Youngest Entrants Compete

During the D/E Grade Doubles Event of the 2009 Open Championships the oldest and youngest players of the Tournament competed.

Harry Roberts, 7 years old, played with his father Mark against Meike Eder and the oldest competitor Dot DeLow, 98. Harry and Mark progressed to the second round after defeating Dot and Meike 11-8, 11-4, 11-5. Earlier, Harry had won the Under 11 Boys Singles Event.  This was the first time either Harry or Mark had played competitive Table Tennis.  Both father and son showed some ability for first time players and we hope to see more of them.

2009 Open Championships
Entries Closed

Entries for the 2009 Open Championships have closed

Draws for all events for the tournament will be available on Thursday April 2nd.

2009 Open Championships
Entries Extended

Entries for the 2009 Open Championships have been extended.

Postal Entries now close Last Mail - Thursday 26th March 2009 and e-mail entries close Midnight - Saturday 28th March 2009.

Click here to go to the Open Championships page and enter via e-mail.

2009 Open Championships

Entries for the 2009 Open Championships are now open. The Championships are being held at the Hurstville Aquatic Leisure Center on Sunday April 5th.

Players should find the upgraded lighting at HALC to their liking and this will be a good chance for players who intend to play Table Tennis in the World Masters Games or the Australian Veterans Table Tennis Championships to experience the venue.

Friday Night Group Coaching Cancelled.

Due to a lack of registrations for the Friday Night Group Coaching, the 2nd block of 5 weeks has been cancelled.

The committee will review wether we will conduct Friday Night coaching in future.

2009 Term 1 - Block 1 Group Coaching
Starts Friday 30th January

The first 5 week block of coaching will commence on Friday January 30th, 2009. The coaching is aimed at junior beginner and intermediate players.

The 5 week block costs $75 / person payable on the first night.

2008 Winter Teams Pennant
Final Series Run & Won

The Grand Finals for 2008 Winter Teams Pennant have been run and won.

• A Grade - Dragons Slayers (3) defeated Dragons (1)
• B Grade - The Radicalz (3) defeated Maccas (2)
• C Grade - Veterans (2) lost to Underachievers (3)
• D Grade - Young Ones (3) defeated Balls of Fury (1)

Details for all Grades of this Pennant can be found by clicking on the Grade Draws & Scoresheets for each grade on the Teams Pennant page.

St George and Sutherland Players win Medals at 25th Australian Veterans Championships.

From the 11th to the 18th of October, a number of St George and Sutherland Shire members represented NSW at the 25th Australian Veterns Championships in Perth.  A number of those members won medals.

Over 40's Womens Team - Bronze Medal - Marie Pinkewich and Allison Flood.
Over 50's Mens Team - Gold Medal - Michael Antoun
Over 60's Womens Team - Gold Medal - Sandra Lynch
  -   - Ron Lynch
Over 75 Mens Team - Bronze Medal - Des Fitzpatrick

Australian Table Tennis loses a Giant.

On Thursday the 26th of September 2008 Mrs Fran Keyhoe, well known in Table Tennis circles, passed away after a short battler with cancer.  Members of the St George and Sutherland Shire Table Tennis Association would normally know of Fran through her work as a Tournament Referee at Veterans Championships.

To read more about Fran and her work in Table Tennis please click on the following links.

International Table Tennis Federation news item
Table Tennis Australia news item

St George and Sutherland Shire Table Tennis Players to represent New South Wales at National Titles.

We would like to congratulate our members on being selected to represent New South Wales at the Junior National Championships (Adelaide - 28th September to 5th October) and the Veterans National Championships (Perth - 11th October to 18th October).

Once again because we have a large number of members going off to play the Veterans National Championships, the committee has scheduled the 1 week break for the Winter Comp to coincide with these championships.  Therefor there will be no play on Tuesday 14th of October.

St George and Sutherland Shire Table Tennis Player is oldest player in the world to compete at the World Veterans Championships in Rio de Janeiro.

Dorothy De Low, a St George and Sutheland Shire Table Tennis Association player (click here for current competition results), will become the oldest player in the world to compete at the 14th World Veterans Table Tennis Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (May 24th to May 30th 2008). Dot (or Dotty), as she is known by most players, is 97 years old.  Dot will fly to Rio with a group of other players from Australia, including 2 other St George and Sutherland Shire Table Tennis Association members, on a trip organised by Australian Champion, Paul Pinkewich.

Dot has been to numerous World Veterans Championships and won several medals including a Gold Medal for the Over 80's Womens Singles in Dublin in 1992 and the Over 80's Womens Doubles in Baltimore in 1990.

Group Coaching

The St George and Sutherland Shire Table Tennis Association is pleased to announce that we are trialling a group coaching programme on Friday evenings. We have secured the services of a qualified coach who is also a Top 10 NSW Ranked Player.

Details of the coaching are as follows:

If you are interested in taking advantage of this offer, please send an e-mail to the committee, by Monday April 28th, advising us of the names of any people who would like to participate.

2008 Summer Teams Pennant Strongest in Years

The St Geroge and Sutherland Shire Table Tennis Association is pleased to announce that the 2008 Summer Teams Pennant is largest and stongest pennant held in a number of years.
This year we have 4 grades with 8 teams in A grade, 8 in B Grade, 7 in C Grade and 6 in D Grade. Not only has the number of teams improved, but the quality of the teams has improved to where playing in the B grade competition is not easy by any stretch of the imagination.  It is also pleasing to see many "new" players coming into the competition, some of whom have not played in a number of years but played at quite a reasonable level in their earlier years.
We can also still lay claim to one of the oldest competing players in the world. Dorothy DeLow, who in her late 90's, is still playing. She is an inspiration to everybody. We should all remember

To live long, Play Ping Pong.

2007 Australian Veternans Championships - Medals

The St Geroge and Sutherland Shire Table Tennis Association would like to congratulate the following members who received medals at the recent 2007 Australian Veterans Championships held on the Gold Coast.

Event	Medal	Member
O40's Mens Teams	Gold	Cary Mullard
O40'S Womens Teams	Gold	Marie Pinkewich
		Allison Flood
O75 Mens Teams	Silver	Ron Lynch

Important Changes to the 2007 Winter Teams Pennant Draw

Due to HALC cancelling our booking of the venue for Tuesday 16th of October, the committee has decided to move the matches scheduled for that night to Friday the 19th of October rather than extend the competition into December.  Please get a revised draw for your grade by going to the Teams Pennant page.

Japanese Veterans Visit

On Tuesday the 25th of September a group of touring Japanse veteran players, led by former Japanese representative player "Nakamura", will be visiting us at HALC to have some friendly matches.  The matches against the visiting Japanese will begin at approximately 6:30pm and run until 8:15pm.  Our Normal Competition matches MUST start by 8:30pm at the latest.

The Japanese, for the most part, are our C and D grade standard.  They are people who have taken up the game later in life.  The tour leader "Nakamura" represented Japan on numerous occasions during the 1970's.  He and Paul Pinkewich, Australia's most capped Table Tennis player, have been friends for many years.  The Japanese have hosted visiting Australians on numerous occasions, so this is our chance to return the favour, make some new Table Tennis friends and have some fun.

24th Australian Veterans Table Tennis Championships

The 24th Australian Veterans Table Tennis Championships will be held on the Gold Coast from September 15th through to September 22nd. A list of St George and Sutherland Shire Table Tennis Association members who have been picked for State or Presidents teams is shown below. Congratulations to those players.

Because of the number of members who play the veterans championships, the committee scheduled the 2007 Winter Teams Pennant to have a week off while these championships were being held. So on Tuesday the 18th of September, there is no play.

• Cary Mullard
• Gary Braker
• Marie Pinkewich
• Allison Flood
• Michael Antoun
• Graham Boyton
• Stephen Bruton
• Sandra Lynch
• Patrick McMahon
• Leslie Noonan
• Beryl Davies
• Des Fitzpatrick
• Dorothy DeLow
• Gillian Hutchison
• Ronald Lynch

To find out more about the championships draws click here. To find out more about the general organisation of the championships click here.

2007 Winter Teams Pennant Starts

We started the 2007 Winter Teams Pennant Comp on Tuesday 31st of July.  We have 4 grades this comp, with a slight increase in the number of teams over the last couple of competitions.  Both the A and B Grade Competitions have been strenghtened considerably.  We are looking forward to a good competion.  There are lots of good new Team Names in this comp which will allow for some great commentry on the results.
Some results from the first night include:

• A Grade
• Lady & the Tramps survived the Tornado and took out the night 4 - 1
• Dragons barbequed Stiga 4 - 1 and
• Shanghigh Noon showned they weren't afraid of Thunder by defeating them 4 - 1
• B Grade
• Mix'n'Match proved too strong for Gideon in the clash of the all new teams winning 3- 2
• Vets (the oldies) proved too strong for Hurstville Boys (the youngies) winning 3 - 2
• C Grade
• Marsmen proved they are going to be contenders for the C Grade title by defeating Happy Campers 5 - 0
• The Survivors lived up to their name when they met the new team Cronulla and won 5 - 0

Free Training Night for current Members

From Friday 29/06/2007 until Friday 20/7/2007, existing members of the St George and Sutherland Shire Table Tennis Association are invited to train for free² from 7:30pm until 9:30pm at the Johnny Warren Indoor Sports Centre.

2007 Winter Teams Pennant
Entries Now Open

You are invited to submit your teams for the 2007 Winter Teams Pennant.  The competion will be played over 14 weeks, plus 3 weeks of finals, starting on 31/07/2007 (see the Calendar for more information on dates).  We anticipate having 8 teams / grade with a minimum of 3 grades.  Entries for this comp close 17/07/2007

Teams must have a minimum of 2 players with an absolute maximum of 5 players. The ideal number of players / team is 3.  It will cost $150 / team to enter this comp plus each player must be registered with Table Tennis NSW.  If players are not registered with Table Tennis NSW we can arrange this for you at a cost of $42¹ / player.

You can enter a team by:

• Completing the Entry Forms available at the Table Tennis Desk on a Tuesday Night
• Sending an e-mail with the following information:
1. Team Name
2. Team Shirt Colour
3. Player's Details (which include)
1. Surname
2. Given Name
3. TTNSW Rego Number (if available)
4. Date of Birth
5. Contact Phone Numbers (including Home, work and mobile)
6. e-mail address

2007 Closed Championships
Entries Now Open

These two nights are only open to current members.

Current Members should pick up entry forms on Tuesday night at HALC

New Night for Casual Table Hire

From Friday 22/06/2007, we are starting a Casual Play / Training Night at the Johnny Warren Indoor Sports Centre.  This is due to stong demand for Casual Table Hire.

There will be a limited number of tables available from 7:30pm until 9:30pm for an initial 10 week period. If we have good numbers during this 10 week period, we will extend Friday nights until at least the end of our Winter Teams Pennant (November 27).