Season Summary

Now the table tennis season is over (I think) let me summarise how it’s gone this year…

Newbury League
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My 2nd season in the Newbury league and my first in Division 2 and as captain. I was planning on avoiding relegation but we got off to a storming start and we were 1st or 2nd for a good chunk of the season. We ended a bit poorly, losing several matches including a disappointing 10-0 defeat at AWE Aldermaston in a match I thought we had a good chance in. An 8-2 win in the final match means that we end up with a three-way tie on points for 2nd place. In the Newbury league this requires a playoff but I haven’t heard if we need to play this yet. In the cup competition we had a terrific run and ended up in the final of the Pembroke Cup against very tricky opponents. We lost (no surprises really) but a runners up trophy in our first season was a good result. I was aiming for a 33% average for the season and won 19 of 44 matches (43.2%) so very pleased with that.

Didcot League
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Our final league match was last night and we needed an 8-2 win to pip our opponents to runners up spot. It was highly unlikely as they are very strong but we managed to win 6-4 and that was our 16th tie unbeaten for the season. We finish 3rd in Division 3 and it was the first two matches of the season which proved to be costly when we could only put out weak teams. I won 50 of 60 matches (83.3%) which is my best performance for several seasons, playing tougher opposition in Division 2 in Newbury has forced me to be more attacking and seems to have improved my game a bit. This was enough to win the “Best Player” trophy for Division 3 which is awarded to the player with the most wins in the season. I entered the Divisional Championships this season, I usually don’t as I’m not keen on individual competitions, I lost all 4 of my matches in 5 games. In the cup competitions, we lost in the semis in the club competition and we were knocked out in the group stage of the team competition.