Press Report

The Danbury Club captured the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League Veterans Knock-out Cup for the tenth successive time as their all-star line-up of Stuart Gibbs, David Bowles and David Jacobs overcame Hatfield Peverel A 5-3 after a first-class Final. However, this was no "stroll in the Park" for Danbury as the Peverel side who included Fred Dove in the no. 2 playing position picked up both doubles. These were both excellent wins with Dove and John Parodi producing a terrific performance to get the better of Gibbs and Jacobs 3-2. Dove and John Gagg then rather sensationally hammered Gibbs and Bowles 3-0. Dove added another win, with a 3-0 success over Jacobs to keep Peverel in the frame but Danbury still had enough in hand to take the title. Gibbs saw off Dove 3-2 and John Parodi was no match for either Dave Bowles or Dave Jacobs succumbing 3-0 on both occasions.

The Semi-Final of the Junior Knock-Out turned out to be a much closer match than the Final. ECC A were given a real fright by Baddow Village A before they emerged as 5-2 winners. Tom Hill was the ECC hero with two really hard-fought wins. First he overcame Martyn Chattey 15-13, 11-9, 11-9 and then to secure the ECC victory he scraped home 8-11, 11-9, 12-10, 9-11, 11-9 against laura Pyman after a real thriller. ECC's Lorna Staff, whose form has improved markedly over the course of the season, reversed her defeat in the Girls Singles in the Chelmsford Closed Tournament with a 7-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-9 victory over fellow County player Laura Pyman. With Simon Webber (who had won his singles in the Semi-Final) again remaining undefeated in the Final ECC A were relatively comfortable 5-1 winners over Baddow Village C. The win achieved by Baddow was an absolute gem of a success, with a battling Adam Pitt securing a superb 6-11, 11-9, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9 victory over Tom Hill.

The Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League Annual General Meeting on Thursday 27 May 2004 saw a controversial proposal to restrict the number of players to seven per team defeated by 19 votes to 11. The general feeling of the Meeting was that this proposal was far too restrictive. It was felt that teams needed the option of signing on extra players because of the demands people face at work nowadays, as well as the fact that players often play in quite a few other Leagues. It was also pointed out that Juniors face pressure playing when they have exams beckoning and it was felt that generally the Sport should never impose restrictions that prevent people playing it, even if they do not wish to play every single week.

Adrian Pitt, who has made a considerable input into Coaching in the League and in particularly with his involvement at the League's popular Friday Night Coaching Classes at the Melbourne Athletics Centre is the latest recipient of the League's prestigious Rosebery/Pope & Smith Award. A fine first division player in his own right his open modern attacking game has enabled a whole host of younger players to benefit at what have been a very popular series of Coaching sessions over the last year. With former League Coaching Officer Neil Gooday having been similarly awarded the previous season this illustrates the high level of gratitude that the League places on the time that players are prepared to devote free-of-charge to developing the talents of the League's Juniors.

With League Chairman Richard Hiskey standing down but taking on the job of Divisional Secretary current League President Norman Smith was re-elected to the position of League Chairman. Neil Freeman will be taking on the role of running the League's Web-site. With Graham Turner who has been so effective in this role taking a well deserved rest it is great to hear that someone with Neil's Computer knowledge will be taking over what has become a very time-consuming job.