Champions 2020

 

I write this in September 2020, the year that the UK was hit by the worldwide Coronavirus Pandemic. Table Tennis was hit more than most sports, being mainly an indoor game. But we are playing again so I don’t want to dwell on that. Rather, I want to focus on the 2019-20 season.

First, however, a bit of local Cleethorpes\Grimsby Area history. As I have often said, in 2009-10 my team (then) NALGO F won the old Division 2 (since renamed Division 1) by winning all 16 of our matches. Sean Ward and Jack Blyth, then “kids” (if they don’t mind me saying) led the way and I pulled my socks up a bit. Or rather, they pulled me along to better things. Incidentally, there was no fist pumping or gamesmanship or crying or cheating from us. We set out to avoid relegation then coolly built up steam. This here moron maybe used an Oxymoron there with “coolly” and “steam” by the way.

Before long we expected to win so doing so was “Just another day at the office”. Sean and Jack remain great role models of course…Successful too. Extremely.

But at the end of that golden season we went our separate ways. I ended up joining a “Pipefit” team in Division 3. Sadly their bright and cheerful Welshman Eric Williams – a picture of health and vitality – suddenly passed away, so I took his place. That wonderfully sporting gentleman Brian Lomas became “Mon Kapitan”. What a phlegmatic philosopher! Organised us so well too. I’d like to think we didn’t let him down too often.

In 2011, when new team-names were the rage, I came up with the team-name Nemesis. I am an unapologetic Trekkie of course. Other teams chose to call themselves “The Old Swingers” (later “The Untouchables”), “The Has Beens”, “Cudabins”, “Greenhorns” and God knows what. And of course a group of young kids titled themselves the “Centurions”! Young Jack Blyth played for “Swingers\Untouchables” without even knowing what those names were about.

Anyway, lobber Dennis Burgoyne teamed up with Brian and myself under the Nemesis name. Then Phil Sharpe provided our defensive spine in 2014\15. Dennis left in 2015. We went on to win The Cup (Handicap) and the “new” Second Division by 8 points. Then we finished bottom of Division One after keeping above that “wooden spoon” spot most of the season. Wolds Wanderers made a late surge to skip over us while Phil was on holiday abroad (towards the end anyway). Finishing bottom didn’t mean we were crap.

Last August (2019), however, I managed to persuade seven year absentee Craig Kendall to make a big comeback and then join us. He has pedigree, having won some Men’s Doubles Titles for example. At first he was very rusty, as expected, but some great shots were still there. As many surly opponents later remarked, those winners rang out all over the place. Haha.

So it became another season at the office for my team in the “newer” (third tier) Division Two. Craig took 100%, Phil 85% (2^nd best average in this division) and I was disappointed to finally drop down to 67% by losing all three to Colin Woodford’s team at the end. Colin’s lot always beat me straight after I’ve won something!!! Kapitan Brian weighed in with a decent 53%.

Sadly Coronavirus Lockdown cut the season short with two matches left to play. The league was frozen and we were declared Champions. Played 19 Won 19. I was hoping to put my Average right but… Tough at the top lol.

Orsted A (Colin W, Charlotte “Rampling” Ashford and Derek Elmhirst) and Zebras Mark 3 (Dave Mitchell, Sam Saywell, Bill Bygott) also had great seasons, each of them only losing 4 matches all season. We of course inflicted 3 of those on both teams. Meanwhile Immingham Club A (Dave Hall, Millie Smith and the Dimblebys) won 17\18 in Division Three. Stuart Pollard (Greenhorns) scuppered them by taking all 3 and thus helping force a draw.

4Matic Engineering (featuring youngsters Luke Nimmo and Isaac Gibney) finished top of the pile in The Prem of course. They were unbeaten in open play. Nudge-nudge. And “Team of Many Names” Woodfield WM (Chloe Lingard, Jack Chambers, Colin Grey, Simon Burniston) went unbeaten to take the D1 Title. I’d better mention that our Craig Reserved for both 4Matic and Woodfield WM. He is very choosy who he plays for.

Lots of stats and names here I see. Not my thing to be honest. Let’s not forget all the great table tennis being played throughout the league. I feel sure the game has progressed overall. As new Chairman John Hancock remarked, there was an awful lot of defensive play around here in the past. Good defenders are thin on the ground these days, whilst fast-bat attackers are flourishing. Sean Ward is still top of the shop now, closely followed by John Hancock. Jack Blyth is up there too. John says he was more defensive early on, but I don’t recall that. Attack is the way now. 

Must mention, sadly, that Brian Lomas has found the inactivity of Covid Lockdown rather debilitating, if I may say so. He is unsure about what level he can play at so is seeking a team in D2. Craig is our new captain. Must say that Brian will be a very hard act to follow. The man is a legend, as I hinted at earlier. Brian will be greatly missed, but I hope he does well, wherever he goes. On a brighter note…

Congratulations to our Craig for being at least one of the youngest Vice Chairmen we have ever had, following the recent AGM. His work as Media Officer is outstanding too. By comparison this blog is “Dinosaur Times”, written on papyrus with a quill. Craig’s young son might be impressed though: he loves Dinosaurs!

And with that thought I bid you all Adieu.

Paul Butters

 © PB 7\9\2020.

They Came From Another Galaxy...

(Picture Credit - Monsters in Motion)

They came from another galaxy. Descending upon Grimsby Table Tennis League Premier Division like a mighty alien invasion. 4-Matic Engineering! Their young scouts smote all before them, including twice-in-a-row champions “The Untouchables”. Then, to ensure their utter Domination they brought down two of the best from the National League Whirlpool Galaxy. Their first of two complete Championships was secured.

Their young bloods were Thomas Armitage, Isaac Gibney, and Luke Nimmo. Luke was indeed from another galaxy: Immingham! They had scores of youth trophies between them. Sadly Thomas went away studying. Isaac got long-term injured falling off a skateboard.

But not to worry: in came the mighty Thor with his Hammer – John Hancock, alongside King of the TT Gods Odin – Sean Ward. (John now has 10 Grimsby Men’s Singles Titles and Sean 6). Sean is still in his twenties I think. They have had great success in The National League etc.

The vanquished Champions – The Untouchables – for the record, included the likes of Rob Sampson, Ian Pooler, Russell Hayes and Ray Simpson. Jack Blyth was with them before he went off to Lincoln Uni. Gary Usher (1 time Men’s Singles Winner) before that.

But now 4Matic had become the Manchester City AFC of Grimsby TT (with all due respect to Liverpool since). World Domination.

I will now go off on a tangent. For while this was all happening my own team Nemesis were winning Division Two by 9 points an improvement of 18 points from the previous season. I of course wrote an entry on here about it (scroll down the blog for that). Even had two readers: Phil Yang and Neil Drewery!!!

Only a few months back Phil remarked that I had stopped writing these entries “since your successes have dried up” (I paraphrase). Well actually, they didn’t dry up. In season 2018-19 we did not disgrace ourselves in Division One, against the likes of Chloe Lingard, Mike Lamberton, Paul Heald, Aaron Dorey (for a while) and other Premiership-Class players. 

Through sickness etc. we had to play without key players, especially towards the end of the season. Only at the very end did “Wolds Wanderers” overtake us, by just two points. So we ended with the wooden spoon, but only just. I played most players twice for an Average of 45% but missed a third of the season through a strange Migraine-like illness so didn’t make The Handbook as a “Top Tenner”. Phil got 54%+ to finish 8^th in the D2 “Averages”.

And we had a great Cup run. Our first big win was over D1 high flyers Lighthouse FA (as they were then called (they change their name weekly lol): Colin Grey, Simon Burniston and our constant Lady Champ Chloe Lingard. My Big Brag from that match was beating Chloe 21-20 in our first game. But I also took 2 games from Simon and a 21-9 from Colin. Phil took games from Simon and Colin and Brian Lomas one from Simon.

Then we beat Carrera Engineering from The Prem (Mark Gibney, Tom Parrott and Dave Hanks) in the Quarter Finals. That was on the 18^th February. Dave was carrying an injury to be fair. Our Phil Sharpe won 5\6 games!!! Actually I was using my Anti-Loop-Both-Sides bat at this time and they didn’t like it much.

So who did we draw in The Semi? Why, 4Matic of course! With a start of 215 so needing 9 per game. Many said the handicap wasn’t enough. The lads were far from confident. I relish taking on the best, but the others do not.

In their quarter finals 4Matic had kept a decent Immingham Club side down to 101 points. That was Dave Hall and the Bellamy brothers I believe. They troubled young Luke with chop for a while until “Mr. X” Master Coach John Bray took the young man to one side… Sean Ward had played all three of his matches at the beginning and then gone to work: blitzing the opposition before he went!

He did the same in The Semi against us. That was on Tuesday 26^th March (a long time after our quarter final). First he beat a bewildered Brian 21-1, 21-1 (!). Then he defeated our No 1 Phil 21-2, 21-1. Shocking! No way could Phil play his usually solid chop\lob game against Sean. Phil blocked well and even tried hitting (!) but to no avail.

I was not brimming with confidence as I faced Sean. But I picked up a few early points somehow. The lads remarked I had already just about matched their totals. But Sean was unrelenting. I ceased up in the second game to go down 5-21, 2-21. They say Sean beats good, seasoned Premiership players this way too. Indeed I have seen him do it since.

But could we make a miraculous comeback??? Well…….No! I lost 5-21, 5-21 to John Hancock and 7-21, 7-21 to Luke. This was Luke who had recently lost in the league to Chloe! Brian got a 10 against Luke and even a 12 against John. And Phil took an 11 against Luke. But we were beaten by 73. Kept down to 5, with a total of 90. (Less than Immingham! Evenly distributed amongst us).

I did think about using my Anti-Loop bat against 4Matic. But in the end I opted for mid-speed Sriver, as I had against Chloe in The Cup. Earlier the Anti-Loop had proved useless against Chloe and others in the Division One Individual Tournament (which Chloe won, beating Mike Lamberton in the final). Indeed Chloe and Mike were both in my group on that occasion. Most would say that not using the Anti-Loop in the Semi was the right decision. Whatever, it’s now history.

I went to watch The Cup Final. 4Matic met new Division One Champions Louth B (old sea dog Sam Saywell, with relative youngsters Sam Dean and “Raddy” Radoslaw Bierko – rumoured to be Polish!). They played on Monday 13^th May. I cannot imagine a higher quality final. Raddy and Sam Dean play a modern 3 ball attack game, just like 4Matic. Sam Saywell, on the other hand, usually defends doggedly like our Phil. Never score games between Sam Saywell and such as Phil, Colin Woodford or Pete Calvert! They are marathons. But Sam could only block and retrieve against 4Matic.

In the end, Louth B (handicap 200) beat 4Matic 378 - 372 (!). This time Sean did NOT play his 3 at the beginning, which might have cost them. The scores:

Sean V Sam Saywell 21-4, 21-7;

Luke V Raddy 21-8, 16-21 (!) *

John V Sam Dean 21-9, 21-5

Luke V Sam S 21-9, 21-13

Sean V Raddy 21-8, 21-8

Luke V Sam D 21-17, 20-21*

John V Sam S 21-8, 21-3

John V Raddy 21-7, 21-12

Sean V Sam D 21-7, 21-11.

Louth actually got 178 points, nearly twice as many as us in the semi. Sorry Luke, but the first * marks the turning point for me. And Raddy was the hero in my book. He had never played these players before, he remarked. Fast learner! But the whole Louth team did incredibly well. And yet again a top Premiership was thwarted in the final.

Since that final we have played all but two weeks of Season 2019-20. Sadly the Coronavirus Pandemic brought us to an abrupt halt. More about “this” season later: while it lasted it was a belter. Watch out for the next instalment.

Paul Butters

© PB 31\3\2020.

Table Tennis England Local Rankings

(Picture Credit - YouTube)

Table Tennis England provides local leagues with Rankings based on results in various competitions. One way to raise your ranking is to do well in tournaments around the rest of the country. But mainly its on your local league results. It's just a bit of extra fun as far as I am concerned. I note there are players below me whom I rarely beat, yet some above me whom I usually defeat. It's all about some mysterious algorithm but nevertheless based on actual results. These Rankings feature on each local league website.

Here are some current Grimsby League Rankings: Sean Ward 1, David Heppenstall 2, John Hancock 3, Mike Thornley 4, Chloe Lingard 5, Jon Corry 6. There are 142 Ranked players in Grimsby.

My Nemesis Team: Phil Sharpe 39, Myself 49, Brian Lomas 77.

My Facebook Friends: John Whitfield 26, Dave Hall 76, Ray Corke 90, Darren Aldous 101. (All these are Thursday Morning Practice Regulars). There are 142 Ranked players in Grimsby. My Lincoln League Facebookers: Jack Blyth 14, Mike Tindall 40.

More Thursday Practice Current Regulars (might have missed some): Ray Simpson 12, Steve Carter 15, Nick Borst 16, Sean Brown 17, Stewart Dean 18, Mick Corry 20, Trevor Broughton 44, Colin Grey 54, Dorothy Fuller 55, Ian Daxner 58, Michael Louca 60, Ian Campbell 61, Bob Bartle 62, Phil Yang 75, Brian Ashwell 77, Les Gagg 82, Tony Roberts 87, Chris Bygott 89, Ken Harrison 94, John Padley 99, Stuart Pollard 104, Brian Todd 105, Jean Ashwell 110, David Wilkins 113, Mike Gettings 121, Lee Radley 124, Bruce Robinson 129, Val Winslow 134, John Butterfield 137, Roy Smith 140.

Lincoln League Top 5: Mark Donogue 1, Andy Wignall 2, Lesley Keast 3, David Heppenstall 4 and Dan Rimmer 5. Lincoln has 105 Ranked players.

For the record, I have never played David Heppenstall, only watched him. All the rest I have at least practised with.

Paul Butters 2\8\2018

CHAMPIONS!

(From Left: Brian Lomas, Phil Sharpe and Myself. Taken by Debbie with my mobile)

I have some reservations about writing another “bragging” blog entry. But sometimes you just have to celebrate your achievements. So here goes. My team table tennis Nemesis had a great 2017-2018 season. 

But first, let me acknowledge that four of the five 7 team divisions in the Grimsby League were won by a merry mile. Green Horns New Boys went undefeated in Division 3 (John Padley (Capt), Bob Bartle, Philip Yang and Ian Campbell). 4-Matic Engineering lost just once in The Premier Division (John Bray (non-playing Capt), Luke Nimmo, Isaac Gibney, Thomas Armitage, Sean Ward, John Hancock and Reserve Dominic Shum. Meanwhile in Division 4 Clee Sorts Zebras lost just 2 (Brian Todd (Capt), Bill Bygott, Chris Bygott and David Wilkins. My own team of Brian Lomas (Capt), Phil Sharpe and myself also ran away with it in the end. We improved by 18 points from the previous season to finish 9 points clear. Our record was Pl 18 W 15 D 2 L 1 Sets F 122 A 58 Pts 55.

Phil Sharpe was immensely solid and unyielding to achieve a 92.59% Average, losing just 4 individual matches all season. His tactical nous was much appreciated by Brian and myself. Especially me as I tend to play off-the-cuff and not always the best way. Phil also had a lot to do with us only losing two doubles matches all season.

We cannot ask for a better Captain than Brian (77! I think). He is the perfect gentleman and will certainly keep his job for as long as he wishes.  When we hit early trouble against Parkside (Neil Drewery and co) in mid-November it was Brian who turned it round. Neil started our troubles by giving Phil one of his rare defeats. My recent personal Nemesis, chop attacker (!) Dave Roberts weighed in by beating me well. All this just after Colin Woodford (League Treasurer) had declared we would win the league! Pressure! Then Brian stopped the rot and I defeated Neil to avenge Phil. We won 7-3.

Our start to the campaign was almost perfect. We beat “The Has Beens” 9-1 with 2 of their players needing knee operations afterwards. For them it was like an Away Game at Leeds. Hehe. Soon all three of us were in the top 10 of “The Averages”. We won our first 9 matches, though 4 of them finished 6-4.

There were no easy matches. We could see that the youngsters of 3 Generations (Ben and Jacob Ardern) were improving rapidly and would be very strong before the end of the season. The same with Jack Chambers (Greenhorns United) and a few more. Young Tom Spencer (The Musketeers) was already “there” and on his way to a 90.74 % Average, just behind Phil. For a young attacking player to be nearly as consistent as Phil was, on reflection, quite amazing. You have to take more risks as an attacker, so being consistent is some challenge. Then there was Sam Dean (Louth) making a strong comeback to the game after a long layoff.

Our first “blip” came when bottom team Greenhorns United held us to a draw in January. Jack made his “debut” against us (having missed our first meeting when we won 10-0) and took two. Super Reserve Colin McGrath took two too! (That annoyed me as I had beaten him often at the 2017 Top Table – run by Eileen Allison). Only Phil remained steadfast, winning all three as usual. And young Millie Smith hit Brian off the table! Phil and I had to save our bacon in the doubles, but we did it well.

Our reaction to this setback was to beat Parkside 6-4. But by now Brian was having issues with both his bat and his health. The rubber on his bat had perished and he had to find a replacement. Phil had gone through such a crisis last season but was reaping the benefits of making a switch. Brian also kept turning up with flu. To his credit Brian fought his way through this bad patch. But this was a tough spell for us.

In the circumstances we were happy to hold Louth to a draw. Sam Saywell ground out a marathon win over Phil, but we remained unbowed as a team. If anyone can ever match Phil for sheer solidity, Sam can.

Two matches later, Nemesis met its Nemesis as 3 Generations beat us 6-4. Last time out we had beaten them 9-1. I had even defeated my personal Nemesis Vince Whatley with a fine comeback prompted by Phil’s advice. But this time Ben produced one of the best exhibitions I have ever seen of patient attack, to overcome Phil. I again lost to Vince and my doubles win with Brian was but a consolation.

Now the heat was on. Our next match against The Musketeers was crucial. We won 7-3. They ended up second in the table, with Louth third. All the results went our way now, so we played Parkside and Louth as champions. I even had the freedom to beat Dave Roberts with my Anti-Loop Bat!

Personally I won 9\10 individual matches at the end, only losing to a Sam Dean late comeback. Phil won his last 13. And Brian refound some form and took revenge on Millie. But it was all about The Team. Since we went to seven team divisions there have been no easy matches. Lots of tight games. At times we were immense, just for sheer stubbornness.

Our biggest surprise of the season was to receive the Terry Smith Trophy for “Most Improved Team”. Those 18 extra points we got might have helped.

I’m sure next season (in Division One) is going to be a lot tougher. But you can’t take away from us what we have done. It’s 3-4 months ago now and it still hasn’t really sunk in.

Paul Butters

© PB 1\8\2018.