Table Tennis News |
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Table Tennis titles – terrific! 19 July 2010
In the highly competitive Victorian Junior Open Championships a doubles win to Michaela Campbell and runners-up placings to two others were outstanding achievements for the Academy's Table Tennis Squad members in just their first year.
As an open tournament the event attracted a number of interstate contestants who competed against Victoria's best in preparation for the Australian titles in September.
Academy players had difficulty overcoming seeded players in the singles round robin eliminations and achieved better results in the doubles.
Michaela's win was in the under-13 girls' doubles where she was teamed with an Albury-Wodonga player.
Michaela's partnership defeated Darcie Morton and her Melbourne partner in the final. Darcie had a second runner up result in the next age level as well, the under-15 doubles.
Brendan Harbridge teamed with a Melbourne girl to be runner up in the under-18 mixed doubles.
Adam Hislop was a quarter finalist in the under-15 boys' doubles, with Jefferson Daniel, a promising Traralgon player who is not currently a member of the Academy squad.
In the singles Darcie Morton had another runner up result in the girls' under 11 final. She was the Academy's single exception in progressing into the final rounds of an age event.
The divisional singles events attracted a large number of entries, particularly in the boys' Division 5, where all of the Academy's squad were entered. Thomas Curtis worked his way through to the semi-finals where he lost after a close contest. His result was quite an achievement in this standard of competition.
Several others in Division 5 reached round 4, the last elimination round, which put them into the top 16. They were Kane Armistead, Adam Hislop, and Luke Jongebloed.
In making the third round Ben Schoonderbeek, Jake Hemphill, Jake Goodluck, Stephan Joseph and Luke Blythman also had respectable results and demonstrated the great depth within the Academy squad.
Selectors will be looking at the tournament's highest achievers to invite into the state training squad. After a preparation program two Victorian teams will be selected from the training squad for the Australian titles, at the Gold Coast, in two months' time.
The composition of the Victorian training squad is expected to be announced in about a fortnight.
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Solid results continue at Ballarat Tournament, 8 June 2010
Table tennis squad members recently attended the Ballarat Junior Open Tournament. A a large regional event, the tournament attracted top ranked juniors from throughout Victoria and South Australia .
In U18 Boys Kane Armistead progressed through to the round of 16 where he narrowly lost to the number 6 seed. To progress this deep into the U18 singles in this state level singles event is a very good performance
Kane Armistead / Thomas Curtis and Luke Blythman / Jake Goodluck advanced to the quarter finals of the U18 doubles on opposite sides of the draw. Jake Hemphill / Ben Schoonderbeek were also quarter finalists in the U15 boys'.
Darcie Morton combined with a metropolitan player to be runner up in the U11 girls' doubles
Academy players entered the Division 3, 4, 5 and 6 singles events. In Division 3 singles Thomas Curtis progressed to the quarter finals before losing to the second seed. Thomas also made the semi finals in Division 4 before narrowly losing to the second seed.
In Division 5 singles Jake Goodluck progressed through to the quarter finals where he lost to the top seed. Kane Armistead and Stefan Joseph also progressed through to the quarter finals in Division 5 singles.
Jake Goodluck and Luke Blythman contested the Division 6 singles final to finish first and second respectively after a close match. Stefan Joseph progressed to the quarter finals in this event also. This was a good result for Jake and Luke who defeated the top four seeds to make the final.
Academy players continue to accumulate state ranking points as they compete in the state level tournaments. TTV records at end of April were: Luke Jonguebloed - 462, Kane Armistead - 435, Adam Hislop - 422, Thomas Curtis - 408, Stefan Joseph - 264, Luke Blythman - 228, Bryce Holwerda - 206, Darcie Morton - 102, Jarrod Donohue - 93.
Further points will be accumulated from the Ballarat tournament.
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Fine table tennis performances at Mornington, 16 April 2010
The Academy's Table Tennis Squad performed extremely well at last weekend's Mornington Open Tournament with almost every player making final rounds of an event. As they were competing against some of Australia 's top-ranked juniors this was an outstanding outcome.
In the doubles, paired with fellow squad members or with metropolitan partners, everyone played extremely well. The best performances were by Darcie Morton (under-11), Stefan Joseph (under-13) and Luke Jongebloed (under-18) who all won their mixed doubles events.
Other outstanding doubles results were:
under-13 girls' doubles, Darcie Morton / Michaela Campbell - runners up;
under-13 boys' doubles, Stefan Joseph / Bryce Holwerda - semi-final;
under-13 girls' singles, Michaela Campbell - semi-final;
under-15 mixed doubles, Jarrod Donohue - runner up;
under-15 boys' doubles, Daniel Campbell / Adam Hislop - semi-final;
under-15 boys' doubles, Damon Morton - semi-final;
under-18 boys' doubles, Thomas Curtis / Kane Armistead - runners up;
under-18 boys' doubles, Luke Blythman / Jake Goodluck - semi-final;
under-18 boys' doubles, Luke Jongebloed - semi-final.
An unseeded entry rule for division players made it possible for players to compete in a number of divisions, and the standard in lower divisions was extremely high as a consequence. When Jake Goodluck (Division 5) and Thomas Curtis (Division 6) were both runners up in their singles events they gained the finals by defeating players from higher divisions. It was a great result from both boys.
Another outstanding singles performance was by Michaela Campbell who made the semi-final of the highly-competitive under-13 girls singles.
The Mornington tournament showed the potential that our young players have in State-level competition. We look forward to the squad's continuing progressive progress throughout the season.
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Darcie takes first table tennis titles, 9 April 2010
Darcie Morton has claimed the Academy's first table tennis age titles.
At last weekend's Easter Classic Junior Open, Darcie was successful in the under-11 girls singles and doubles.
Unfortunately, Darcie had to withdraw from events during the day, as she had earlier rolled her ankle and it was considered best that she rest from the older age group events.
Darcie's brother Damon also had a great day, taking 4 wins in the matches he competed in.
The titles were conducted at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre, a considerable travelling distance from the Morton's Marlo home. Both Darcie and Damon are to be congratulated for their keenness as well as their outstanding results.
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Skills drills weekend for new squad, 18 March 2010
The Table Tennis Squad has just returned from Bairnsdale after a full weekend of skills training.
The intensity of the sessions and emphasis on skills competence was a surprise to many in the squad, but they soon came to appreciate the results as the sessions progressed.
Head Coach Alois Rosario had organised a day of drills with one-on-one skills teaching and remediation. Instructors were the Academy coaches and four newly-qualified level 1 coaches from the Bairnsdale area.
On the second day the squad members sat through some theory lessons before returning to the tables for some reinforcement drills on the previous day's activities. Players are now expected to continue to practicing these skills.
The training was conducted in the newly-opened Bairnsdale Squash and Table Tennis Centre. Apart from being a top class facility the building has some fine design features which improve the playing environment and helped to sustain the squad through the long sessions. Our thanks to the Bairnsdale Association for the early opportunity to train at there.
The next scheduled activity for the Squad is the State-level Mornington Tournament in early April. This is a long-established and well-supported tournament on the Victorian Junior Circuit and will provide competition against top-ranked junior players in Victoria and Australia. Academy coaches will be keen to see the benefits of last weekend's program in the Mornington results.
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Top results for new table tennis squad, 5 March 2010
Outstanding results were achieved at the table tennis squad's first major tournament last weekend.
Twelve squad members played in the Junior Encouragement Tournament conducted by Table Tennis Victoria. For some squad members it was their first state-level competition.
The tournament was organised in a multiple round robin format with playoffs for the final positions.
Thomas Curtis made the final in Section 1 and finished as the tournament runner up. Luke Blythman also played well enough in his rounds to reach the Section 1 final group. He finished fifth after the final position playoffs.
Luke Jongebloed, Adam Hislop and Kane Armistead were three more with strong results in their groups and finished 11th, 13th and 14th respectively.
Jake Hemphill (21st), Damon Morton (23rd), Stefan Joseph (30th), Bryce Holwerda (39th) and Jarrod Donohue (40th) all had respectable results considering their previous experience and the depth of their opposition. They all took wins and losses during the day and will come away stronger for their experience. There were 51 boys competing in the tournament including those from most metropolitan clubs and the South West Academy.
In the girls' draw there were only 8 playing. However the round robin gave Darcie Morton and Michaela Campbell the opportunity to match themselves against the best players. Darcie, whose game against the top three was particularly promising, finished fourth. Michaela was equal fifth, not far behind.
The squad's next tournament will be at Mornington in April.
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Table tennis off to a flying start, 30 November 2009
Seventeen of Gippsland's best young table tennis players have been selected for scholarships in the Academy's new table tennis squad. The players will be inducted into the new program at the end of January.
However the squad will be off to a flying start when they meet together before then, in December, for their first training day.
Table Tennis Victoria has joined with the Gippsland associations in planning and developing the program to support the region's most promising young talent. Former Olympic coach, Alois Ricardo has been appointed as the program's Head Coach. He brings an extraordinary depth of competition and coaching experience to the program and is a co-editor and technical contributor of the internationally recognised table tennis website, PingSkills.
The successful 17 are: Kane Armistead, Luke Blythman, Alexander Campbell, Daniel Campbell, Michaela Campbell, Thomas Curtis, Jarrod Donohue, Shaun Falla, Jake Goodluck, Riley Hansen, Brendan Harbridge, Jake Hemphill, Adam Hislop, Bryce Holwerda, Felix Fuller Jackson, Luke Jongebloed, Stefan Joseph, William Krutop, Laura Metlikovec, Damon Morton, Darcie Morton and Ben Schoonderbeek.
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