Opening Comments
What a week for our illustrious teams.
TTTA1 and TTTA3 top their respective divisions with our other teams hovering towards the top end of theirs. TTTA3 are bristling with our youngest talent and seem to be capable of taking on anyone in division 3.
It used to be all about our young Internationals Kacper and Allesandro, but William Bevan and Ivan Vaplaks refuse to be left behind and are developing at an alarming rate. Well done them!
So, as I sit at my reporters’ desk rather than being out in the pouring rain and storms, let’s see what’s been happening shall we?
But first………..who are our most successful players? Based on their averages, here they come!
Div. 1
Jakub Piwowar – 100% (No surprise there then!)
Lenard Hernandez – 87% (Great result)
Warren Gnai – 81% (First season in 1 too!)
Div. 2
David Crowley – 100% (Great but only played two whole matches)
Kacper Piwowar – 93% (Hmmmm, another Piwowar?!)
Allesandro Mitranescu – 92% (Wonder why TTTA3 are winning?)
Ben Hoare – 78%
Div. 3
Ed Damanskas – 89%
David Crowley – 82% (There’s that name again!)
David Rowsell – 74%
Div. 4
Jerry Hollings – 89% (Wonders why he’s not in Div.1)
Willian Whittington – 84% (Son of Dick, but absconded to Torquay on his way to London)
Jean Neafcy – 77%
Division One
TTTA1 Drew with NA Batmen 5-5
Jakub was back from International duties to take on the menacing Batmen who have been tearing up all comers and sitting pretty at the top of the table.
TTTA1 lead the table after Batmen had a postponement but this was always going to be an exciting game.
Complete with a cold from his travels, Jakub had to push on through to take his maximum and POM award. The experience of his opponents not quite enough to take him down. He also combined with Patrik to take the doubles to complete a fine draw.
Esmeralda had three cracking matches but succumbed to the force of the Gibbs boys (Dad and son and also a supercharged Naomi Jackson. What a game that would be two of the brightest young female stars in the league battling it out for supremacy!
Patrik had a tough night for him only winning one point but joining Jakub for the winning doubles.
TTTA1 stay at the top but the two games in hand for the Batmen, means that they will probably have to take the unusual second spot.
Division Two
TTTA3 full of our mightiest, shortest and youngest stars are now winning just for fun. The opposing teams are not finding it quite so much ‘fun’ and this week was no different.
After the thrashing of NA Kestrels last week, it was the turn of Marldon Tykes to face the ‘mighty midgets’. They beat a very strong team 8-2 to leave them 5 points clear at the top of Div.2
Despite some really close games Allesandro and Kacper took maximums with only ‘The Wizard’ Steve Tyler getting the better of Ivan and taking their doubles keeping them from a whitewash.
Brilliant play from our youngsters. Will Division 1 halt their progress? I doubt it.
However, this was the second time in a week that Marldon Tykes had played TTTA3 the first was on Monday when their re-arranged match was played at Marldon. This time there was no Kacper or Allesandro with William Bevan coming in strongly and Peter ‘Hitman’ Moretta standing in taking the average age up by 60 years!
Ivan took centre stage this time winning his maximum and POM.
William has to take his place behind his three mates often but how can you argue with his position when he walks over all the opposition to take his maximum too?
Peter stepped up valiantly but couldn’t help his young teammates this time but had some great games all the same.
Division Three
Division three is beginning to look like a two-horse race with Titans and NA Owls winning some great games which only goes to help the charge of TTTA4 & 5 in their battle for third.
TTTA4 beat NA Kites 7-3
Our 4th team needed a good win to push their claim for third place. It was a win but all the same a very close match but deserved win.
This was a heavyweight team that was put out with big hitters Ed Damanskas and Craig Collins ‘swinging low’ to take their maximums and combining to take the doubles, Ed earning his POM award too.
Anne Marie Gibbs had a night to forget losing to a pretty tricky Andy Guy, a very young (probably 6 years old) Quillan Wilson and Derek Stratton who is in his early 90’s.
As the Terminator said “I’ll be back” as we know she will fully armed and dangerous.
TTTA5 beat The Hasbeens 6-4
This match proved to be a turning point for 5 against a very tricky Hasbeens.
Alan Tyrrell did what he usually does by being extremely awkward with his dodgy bat and playing style. You can’t argue that’s its now effective though! Ho took POM without dropping a single set. Annoying right?
Peter ‘Hitman’ Moretta and the Grand Master John Fowler did themselves proud with two each as did French Dave. John and Peter just missing out on the extra point losing the doubles in a tough match.
Division Four
TTTA6 beat NA Merlins 6-4
After a tough loss against the Grove last week, you would have expected a backlash from 6 against the lowly placed Merlins, not so. It seemed as if they actually had Merlin himself casting some spells on our thrusters from Torbay.
Things got off to a pretty unusual and unexpected start with ‘Our Den’ Dennis Cramond, presumably still dreaming of the RWC win, having a battle royal with Eve James of NA only to lose the final game 12-10. Jean Neafcy usual bamboozles this division with her tricky serves but Mark Winstanley, ‘Biker Boy’ of NA cast aside the spell to take the win in 4. Two down? Our 6, never!
Jerry Hollings steadied the ship with a full house maximum, bless him! Also taking the doubles with “Our Den’ and win POM award.
Elsewhere it was just one a piece for Jean and Dennis, just edging the win 6-4. Not a helpful score when you’re chasing Grove for the title and promotion!
TTTA7 Drew with Dawlish Diamonds 5-5
Our 7 had a blend of young and old, no experienced! Dawlish just had the latter which forced a bit of a stalemate.
Nick Turner and Phil Jewell put in a good shift in this match with Peter ‘Gandalf the White’ conjuring up a game himself to take the match to a draw.
This is a pretty good result in itself as Dawlish are running third in the table.
It’s getting really exciting and also pretty nerve wracking too. Keep going teams, everyone is improving, especially the youngsters but its the same for our opponents, they are getting better too!
Table tennis is alive and well and living in South Devon!
Keep watching, keep playing!
Private one-on-one coaching
£30 per hour – please contact to book.
Would you like a private lesson from one of our lead coaches? More intensive table tennis coaching is available from our top coaches, Jo and Kris Piwowar.
Booking is essential as places are limited, either book by clicking below or send us a text.