Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Roy Claxton's career best result.
Roy Claxton describes his win against Ghanaian prodigy Eric Amoah as the pinnacle of his table tennis career in this years Inter Services Tournament.
In doing so he helped the RAF maintain one of the longest unbeaten runs in Services Sport - that’s 27 years the RAF have been unbeated. Amoah has represented his country at Olympic, Commonwealth and Worlds Championship levels, so no wonder Roy was over the moon. Well done Royston!
SATTC B finish in top half of the table
SATTC B finish in 6th place in their first season in D1.
SATTC B’s season came to a close on May 6th with a 4:5 defeat away to Kilwinning B. No matter the result, both teams would be safe from potential play-offs pending league reconstruction next season. Roy Claxton maintained his 100% record despite good performances from Kilwinning’s Billy Paterson and Dougie Gillespie, each taking an end off the South Ayrshire no 1. Paul Morris had to dig deep with all his matches going to 5 ends. Despite being 10-6 up in the 5th against Dougie, the 72 year old lost out 12-10. At 5:3 to Kilwinning it was down to Paul to get the vital 4th point that would keep us 1 place above our Ayrshire rivals. With Billy playing well having easily despatched Gary 3:0 he was the firm favourite, however Paul conquered his fatigue to grind out a great victory.
Well done all the team! It’s been a tough 1st season in D1 with the experienced players doing a good job to keep us safe and the new players improving their game by playing at this higher level.
SATTC B’s season came to a close on May 6th with a 4:5 defeat away to Kilwinning B. No matter the result, both teams would be safe from potential play-offs pending league reconstruction next season. Roy Claxton maintained his 100% record despite good performances from Kilwinning’s Billy Paterson and Dougie Gillespie, each taking an end off the South Ayrshire no 1. Paul Morris had to dig deep with all his matches going to 5 ends. Despite being 10-6 up in the 5th against Dougie, the 72 year old lost out 12-10. At 5:3 to Kilwinning it was down to Paul to get the vital 4th point that would keep us 1 place above our Ayrshire rivals. With Billy playing well having easily despatched Gary 3:0 he was the firm favourite, however Paul conquered his fatigue to grind out a great victory.
Well done all the team! It’s been a tough 1st season in D1 with the experienced players doing a good job to keep us safe and the new players improving their game by playing at this higher level.
Friday, February 13, 2009
First Season in D1 proving a challenge
13 matches played 9 to go. SATTC are currently languishing 10th out of 12 teams. With the likelihood of league restructuring next season, the challenge is to get into the top 7 to guarantee survival in Division 1. With the return of Roy Claxton after his 4 month stint in the Falklands and a real effort from the rest of the squad, there is a good chance we can do it. This week saw our best result of the season as well as an exit from the handicap. So all efforts can now be concentrated on the league campaign.
Handicap Cup - Round 1
We played 2 matches this week. On Wednesday Roy, Alan and Gary travelled to Cardonald to play the 44th BB in the Handicap Cup. They are 15 points clear at the top of D2 and although we gained more points overall we had a mountain to climb with the handicaps. Roy won all 3 but young Adam pushed him close. Gary beat Derek and had good games with Andrew and Adam. Alan did not play his best loosing all his matches. The BB won by about 53 points.
League
Last night it was back to league business in a rearranged match with Garnethill (Vincent, Tony & Joe). Roy got us off to a good start, easily beating Tony 3:0. Alan then played Vincent losing the 1st end 11:8 but then winning the next two to 9 and 7. He tightened up and as Vincent found some form to loose the 4th 11:6. The final end was a tense affair with both players failing to take the initiative. It could have gone either way but Vincent took it 12:10 to win the point. Next it was Gary v Joe. Gary started well easily winning the 1st 2 ends, then he tightened up and let Joe bring it back to 2 all - a difficult few ends where he was struggling with his confidence. Fortunately he managed to shake off the jitters to win the 5th end. 2:1 to SATTC after round 1.
Next it was Alan v Tony - another 5 ender. Alan having to overcome his nerves and strive to be patient in the rally (and with some good advice from Roy) finally prevailed to win 3:2. Roy then beat Tony 3:0 with Tony doing well in the 3rd end competing well with Roy eventually winning 11:9. Gary v Vincent was a cracker of a match with all 5 ends closely fought battles. Vincent coming through in the end with some good forehand winners. 4:2 to SATTC after round 2.
Alan started the final round with a disappointing match with Tony losing 3:0. Gary's last match with Tony was yet another 5 ender, with Gary having to dig deep to overcome nerves against Tony who was defending well and attacking when the opportunity arose. Gary came through to win 11:8 in the 5th. The last match between Roy and Vincent was very entertaining with Vincent doing his best to overcome Roy's well placed shots and difficult serves. Some great rallies, but Roy won 3:0 to give SATTC their best win of the season so far. That will help us move up the table. But we will need to do well in our remaining matches to get into the top 7 and guarantee D1 status next season.
Next week's match is against Brunswick A and the team is Roy, Pierre and Neil.
Handicap Cup - Round 1
We played 2 matches this week. On Wednesday Roy, Alan and Gary travelled to Cardonald to play the 44th BB in the Handicap Cup. They are 15 points clear at the top of D2 and although we gained more points overall we had a mountain to climb with the handicaps. Roy won all 3 but young Adam pushed him close. Gary beat Derek and had good games with Andrew and Adam. Alan did not play his best loosing all his matches. The BB won by about 53 points.
League
Last night it was back to league business in a rearranged match with Garnethill (Vincent, Tony & Joe). Roy got us off to a good start, easily beating Tony 3:0. Alan then played Vincent losing the 1st end 11:8 but then winning the next two to 9 and 7. He tightened up and as Vincent found some form to loose the 4th 11:6. The final end was a tense affair with both players failing to take the initiative. It could have gone either way but Vincent took it 12:10 to win the point. Next it was Gary v Joe. Gary started well easily winning the 1st 2 ends, then he tightened up and let Joe bring it back to 2 all - a difficult few ends where he was struggling with his confidence. Fortunately he managed to shake off the jitters to win the 5th end. 2:1 to SATTC after round 1.
Next it was Alan v Tony - another 5 ender. Alan having to overcome his nerves and strive to be patient in the rally (and with some good advice from Roy) finally prevailed to win 3:2. Roy then beat Tony 3:0 with Tony doing well in the 3rd end competing well with Roy eventually winning 11:9. Gary v Vincent was a cracker of a match with all 5 ends closely fought battles. Vincent coming through in the end with some good forehand winners. 4:2 to SATTC after round 2.
Alan started the final round with a disappointing match with Tony losing 3:0. Gary's last match with Tony was yet another 5 ender, with Gary having to dig deep to overcome nerves against Tony who was defending well and attacking when the opportunity arose. Gary came through to win 11:8 in the 5th. The last match between Roy and Vincent was very entertaining with Vincent doing his best to overcome Roy's well placed shots and difficult serves. Some great rallies, but Roy won 3:0 to give SATTC their best win of the season so far. That will help us move up the table. But we will need to do well in our remaining matches to get into the top 7 and guarantee D1 status next season.
Next week's match is against Brunswick A and the team is Roy, Pierre and Neil.
Senior Assessment
Sunday Feb 8th
North Ayrshire hosted the Scottish Senior Assessment Tournament at St. Matthews in Saltcoats.
This was a great opportunity for Ayrshire players to take advantage of a major event on their doorstep. Representing South Ayrshire were Alan McCarry, James Weatherston and Gary McAlpine (his 1st assessment experience). Representing North Ayrshire was Richard Main, Chris Main, Ian McPherson and Sean Doyle.
A First Experience for Gary
Gary really enjoyed the 1st group playing some top rated players including Niall Cameron (Scotland's No 2 player) managing to get 5, 4 & 5 points in the 3 games. Also in his group was Ritchie Main (NATTC), Daniel Swiatek (Drumchapel), and Grant Williams (Perth). All 4 players were tough opponents although he didn't win any games he competed well. So it was down to the bottom group to slug it out with the other 5th placed players. His only win was against Robbie McIntosh (Brunswick A) who he beat 3:0. All the other players were a good D1 standard and he struggled winning only 1 end. Unfortunately Sean Doyle withdrew at the 2nd stage so Gary ended up 28th out of 30 players. “A very enjoyable but rather humbling experience” said Gary.
Richie Main (7th), Alan McCarry (10th) and Chris Main (12th) had a good day finishing 1st, 4th and 6th in the 2nd group of 6. James did not play his best and finished 16th ending up 4th in group 3. Ian McPherson did well considering he does not play much competition TT these days, concentrating his efforts in junior coaching. He managed to get into the 3rd group along with James and ended the day in 17th place.
See full results at TT Scotland’s website.
North Ayrshire hosted the Scottish Senior Assessment Tournament at St. Matthews in Saltcoats.
This was a great opportunity for Ayrshire players to take advantage of a major event on their doorstep. Representing South Ayrshire were Alan McCarry, James Weatherston and Gary McAlpine (his 1st assessment experience). Representing North Ayrshire was Richard Main, Chris Main, Ian McPherson and Sean Doyle.
A First Experience for Gary
Gary really enjoyed the 1st group playing some top rated players including Niall Cameron (Scotland's No 2 player) managing to get 5, 4 & 5 points in the 3 games. Also in his group was Ritchie Main (NATTC), Daniel Swiatek (Drumchapel), and Grant Williams (Perth). All 4 players were tough opponents although he didn't win any games he competed well. So it was down to the bottom group to slug it out with the other 5th placed players. His only win was against Robbie McIntosh (Brunswick A) who he beat 3:0. All the other players were a good D1 standard and he struggled winning only 1 end. Unfortunately Sean Doyle withdrew at the 2nd stage so Gary ended up 28th out of 30 players. “A very enjoyable but rather humbling experience” said Gary.
Richie Main (7th), Alan McCarry (10th) and Chris Main (12th) had a good day finishing 1st, 4th and 6th in the 2nd group of 6. James did not play his best and finished 16th ending up 4th in group 3. Ian McPherson did well considering he does not play much competition TT these days, concentrating his efforts in junior coaching. He managed to get into the 3rd group along with James and ended the day in 17th place.
See full results at TT Scotland’s website.
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