Auburn Table Tennis Club News

ATTC News

Greetings One and All -

Welcome – New players this past Monday – Rich Pontius (finding us on the web) and Steve Fuentes (finding us through Neil Zapatos, thank you Neil). Regrettably the ARD Summer Activity Guide came out, and our club was not included. We have checked in with ARD (ARD is our landlord, and has been since our inception five years ago), and we should be back in the print for the Fall guide (we are in the guide most of the time). In the meantime, help us please keep spreading the work of our existence! We usually attract half a dozen to a dozen players checking us out, through the ARD Guide.

Seen our Business Cards? Grab a few next time you are hitting. These are easy little “drop offs” for friends and anyone who gives you a funny look when they see you carrying a ping pong paddle around. Our own club greeting card.

May 19^th, Special Pizza Night Event at ATTC! – make plans to be there. More details to follow.

Reno Wrap Up – Our club made fine showings: Doug Vaughan – first place in under 750; Tom Spesick – runner up in U-2100 and winner in under 1950 (that’s bling AND cash, baby, in two events); Bill K. – runner up in U -2250.

Wild Wednesday April 28 Round Robin - 21 players total. Two players gaining 100 points or better! Seven players getting 30 or more rating points. A night of upsets. Lots of scalps being taken! Some grunting and wailing that would make Jerry Mifsud proud.

Group 4: The #4 seed – JP Solly – comes through his group of 5 to win. JP and Jon Saunders tied with 3-1 records, but JP took the head-to-head battle in game five. Group 3: Michael Carlson sweeps the group 4-0; but big news here is the low seed, Jay Andes, moving up from group 4, grabs 100 rating points! Nice work Jay. Anybody watching Jay’s intensity on Mondays can understand why he is causing trouble on Wednesdays.

Speaking of trouble … Abhijeet Lall found 150 rating points to add to his own, in Group 2. It has been some time (at least a few years; we have a crack research squad still investigating) since a player has won 2 groups in succession. Congratulations Abhijeet – winner of Group 3 last week, and winner of Group 2 this week. It’s a hardbat fiasco that dishes up trouble for most everyone, and next on tap is Group 1. Larry Scott survived the battle with the hardbat and Abhijeet Wednesday; he was the only one. Casually he mentioned that $50 would buy all his secrets on this. See Larry for details.

Group 1: When the moon and stars cross like this … Bill K. is either hitting lots of nets and edges, or people are afraid to beat him and risk being assigned some major club management activities. Truth is, there were many nets and edges (and many apologies, some of which were heart felt). However, Group 1, second week in a row, with 3 matches going to 5 games, goes to Bill K. in a 5 match sweep. Notable notes from Group 1 – Sam Seo breaks over the 1600 rating mark.

Special Letter to the Editor, from John Hanna: “First of all I would like to offer my sincere apologies to anyone……. who spoke really loudly in the seating area during my matches. Yes, I am sorry you spoke so loudly that I had to ask you to keep it down but still give you permission to talk quietly! It’s bad enough just having to hear the huge bangs of any hard bats hitting the ball on adjoining tables, never mind chatter about how good Bill is playing!

Apparently, not only do I snarl like a Rottweiler during any close matches I play, but it appears that I also have over sensitive hearing which resonates through my whole body causing severe hair loss and shoelaces to slacken after a run of lost points in a game.”

Editor’s Note: Let’s see if that chatter continues next week …

For Wed. night, - if you will be late (after 6:45 pm), be sure to call Bill at 916-275-0899 or Tom at 530-613-0101 and let us know. If you reach us, we will get you on a table.

Also for Wednesdays, tables permitting, if you wish to come and hit for fun (i.e. not participate in the round robin), that is fine and the Club will charge $2 per person for that. This is on a “hit or miss” basis, though. We have been “hitting” on this the last few weeks.

Bill Kochenderfer

Results for 4/28/2010: Latest Round Robin Results

Greetings Auburn Table Tennis Club -

Welcome – Newly renewing his vows to the sport – Bryce Jessup, (delivered as promised by Abhijeet Lall) for Wed. Round Robin. Nice to see you Bryce, keep coming back.

Sacramento Tournament – May 15, 2010 – Linked at our website. Note this tournament includes a “Middle/High School Team Event” and if you are interested in that bracket of play – call James directly at 916-308-3209.   Usually the entry fees are less, and the events are an excellent introduction to tournament play. Plus a great excuse to go hit for half a day. Signups are due by May 5, so turn these in soon.

Some grumbling was heard in the halls … The kind of grumbling we like to hear. “Let me know when the Olympian is coming to town.” Photos now on the website, follow the link from our Gallery page, or click on this direct link: http://www.auburntabletennis.com/gee_pictures.htm. Diana Gee visited us April 12. You never quite know who will make a surprise appearance in Auburn. First it was John Travolta shooting a movie, now this. We know in our hearts which celebrity will have the most lasting impact on our community. Best if you plan to attend each and every Monday open-play night, we suppose (follow Ron Mallory’s lead; perfect attendance).   If you are interested in lessons/coaching from Diana, send her an email at dkgee@yahoo.com.

Wednesday April 21 Round Robin - 18 players, plus open play. Group 4: Jay Andes – continuing to take scalps as his consistency improves.    In Group 3: Abhijeet Lall – on a tear with that wild paddle of his.   Group 2: Sam Seo hardly found a fair fight; did not lose a game (this possibly will be different in Group 1 for Sam next week …). Group 1 – Bill K squeaks by deuce in the 5^th in several of the matches, finally proving that clean living, a good attitude, and, of course, controlling the data entry of results, is the path to success.

For Wed. night, - if you will be late (after 6:45 pm), be sure to call Bill at 916-275-0899 or Tom at 530-613-0101 and let us know. If you reach us, we will get you on a table.

Also for Wednesdays, tables permitting, if you wish to come and hit for fun (i.e. not participate in the round robin), that is fine and the Club will charge $2 per person for that. This is on a “hit or miss” basis, though. We have been “hitting” on this the last few weeks.

Bill Kochenderfer

Results for 4/21/2010: Latest Round Robin Results

Greetings Taxpayers of the Auburn Table Tennis Club -

Table Tennis Royalty in Auburn – This past Monday, Diana Gee paid us a visit. Diana was a member of the US Olympic Teams of 1988 (Seoul) and 1992 (Barcelona), playing in singles and doubles. Our own Grant Connell played against Diana and her sister (many years ago … he says; his memory was fuzzy on the results; yeah, right, fuzzy, that’s it). Many thanks to Bob Grittner for arranging this introduction of Diana to our club, and thank you Diana for taking the time to hit a few with our members. Well, 15 or 16 players managed to get a chance to pick up a few pointers; Diana hardly had a chance to sit down (we heard no complaints, however). Photos? Oh to be sure. Check the web site in the next few days. We will also email some to the specific players. If you are interested in lessons/coaching from Diana, send her an email at dkgee@yahoo.com. For her “official” USATT biography (she was inducted into the USATT Hall of Fame in 2009) check out: http://www.usatt.org/organization/halloffame/gee.html

Time for Trends? – We are mid way through April and over half way in to the “1^st Half 2010.” A fairly recent update to our software permits us to track the “trends.” Check this out on the Latest Results pages (look at the bottom of the page for the “Trends” option).

So far – the “Best Record” leaders are:

Name	Appearances	W	L	Win %
Quinn, Kevin	7	22	9	0.710
Kwong, Anson	12	33	16	0.673
Tournier, Patrice	5	11	6	0.647
Spesick, Tom	14	37	21	0.638
Connell, Grant	13	33	21	0.611
Fagan, Max	5	12	8	0.600
Hanna, John	14	34	23	0.596
Feyh, Chuck	7	14	11	0.560
Kochenderfer, Bill	12	28	23	0.549
Solly, JP	4	8	7	0.533

“Best Record” is determined by the winning percentage; with a minimum of 15 RRs being played during the six month period (so by now you would need to have played at least 4 RRs). Kevin Quinn/Max Fagan – we have missed seeing you in the last couple months, so make a point of getting back for Round Robin play!

The “Most Improved” leaders (i.e. players gaining the most rating points) are:

Name	Appearances	2010-01-01	Present	Change
Andes, Jay	5	200	299	+99
Vaughan, Doug	11	560	650	+90
Solly, JP	4	309	399	+90
Quinn, Kevin	7	174	256	+82
Myers, Fred	7	343	410	+67
Fagan, Max	5	286	341	+55
Connell, Grant	13	1651	1700	+49
Spesick, Tyler	9	1349	1395	+46
Blom, Matthew	8	1413	1457	+44
Kochenderfer, Madison	7	329	369	+40
Kwong, Anson	12	1651	1690	+39
Quinn, Keith	7	150	184	+34

Sacramento Tournament - Has just been set – May 15^th (Inderkum High School – this is in Natomas; easy to get to off Interstate 80). We are linking this at our website shortly.

Wednesday April 14 Round Robin - Arranged courtesy of Tom Spesick – winners of the evening were: Grant C. in Group 1; Dave Ganguly in Group 2; Nikolai Z. in Group 3 (however, the evening was punctuated by Adhijeet gaining 100 rating points … just wonder how he will fare when the paddle is upgraded …); Michael Martin – Group 4. Thanks to all for keeping matches moving. We still ended up with half an hour or so for open play, on 5 or 6 tables, which is great.

“News” corrections – In addition to observations of improper grammer, spelling and punctuation, we noted at least one factual shortcoming in last week’s news. Mark Copeland caught us fudging on the table length (we said 10 feet, and Mark set us straight that it is 9 feet long). Thank you Mark. I believe this may fix a personal issue I have had hitting balls off the table by about a foot. Next, I have to look into some crazy person that is going around shaving 1/16 of an inch off the table side edges, at least the edges I keep missing.

If you find any errors in the News, by all means, reduce them to a formal memo, vetted by three or more peers, submit in triplicate to our Washington, DC post office box with the standard $37 processing fee, and we’ll get right on a correction.

For Wed. night, - if you will be late (after 6:45 pm), be sure to call Bill at 916-275-0899 or Tom at 530-613-0101 and let us know. If you reach us, we will get you on a table.

Bill Kochenderfer

Results for 4/14/2010: Latest Round Robin Results

Greetings Summer Weather Lovers of the Auburn Table Tennis Club -

The News is Here – just like Lake Wobegon, all the players are good looking and the hitting above average.

Business Cards? Did someone ask if the ATTC has cards? Yes we do by golly. Many were dispersed to members this past Monday and Wednesday. Thank you Michael Carlson for providing these. Let’s use to promote the club! An easy item to hand out to that friend, neighbor, grocery store clerk, whoever you see that might be a candidate for some therapy twice a week. The next time somebody snickers at your mention that you play “table tennis,” you give them a card and invite them to do a gut check and see if they have what it takes to blast a 40 mm sphere across a 10 foot table with us.

Wednesday April 7 Round Robin - Battle of the hardbats – yes indeed, we mean battle, between Ricky Pisanu and Devin Forsey. Punctuated by exclamations in Italian and the sporadic Haiku. We’ll leave to your imagination which player said what. At the end of the day (and a match that may have seemed like it took a day), Devin was on top, and also winner of Group 3.

Mark Copeland surfaced to confirm he still owns a table tennis paddle and intends to use it, frequently. He had to spend some quality sweat getting by Chuck Feyh (3-2), but did so, and took Group 4. We suspect this could mark Mark’s markedly increasing marks (or ratings) back up to the 700 + level from last year. Mark our words here (just don’t criticize the vocabulary).

Group 2 – 10 matches played; 5 of them were won by the underdogs. Lots of ratings points changing hands there, with Tyler Spesick getting the lion’s share, winning the table, and proving that you do not need more than 30 days to get used to pips after having rubber for the first 21 years of play (we understand Tyler was given a paddle in the delivery room; very thoughtful gift, we are sure his mother approved). Tyler, we’re real sorry about the “maximum one Spesick per group” rule that passed by a unanimous vote … right after you and your father left the club Wednesday. No offense to the senior Spesick, but he does not hit as hard as you and we prefer to have less chance of welts (and demoralizing losses). You can appeal this decision to next Wednesday’s RR coordinator. His decision will stand.

Group 1 – Anson K. our (formerly) top rated “active” player is still away for super-double-secret training in China, under the tutelage of 6 world champions, 2 actors from the movie “Balls of Fury,” 3 ping pong playing monkeys and a diet consisting solely of raw meat and ground premium Hurricane rubber. In his absence, Grant and Tom duked it out for top honors, which we can safely say involved cheating at all levels, because it required they both beat Bill K. This can’t be legal; no way. Grant C. did win the table, officially. Unofficially, this is all being investigated by the independent, unbiased, totally fair and reasonable John Hanna. Stay tuned for a possible new reality show “Keeping up with the ATTC.”

Thank you - Michael Carlson, more sewing prowess that mends our nets and for arranging for a T-Shirt selection (yes, we have T-Shirts due to arrive in April), and Jon Saunders, in case we forgot to mention, brought a net set back into service with some nifty repairs.

In case you missed it – We failed to note in a recent e-mail from Bob Grittner, that his visit to Auburn is scheduled for this Monday (the 12^th). Bob, we mistakenly had the brass band, key to the city, speeches and other special events all ready for last Monday. It was quite a dress rehearsal. Budgetary constraints prohibit us from having this all out for you again. OK, now that our reading glasses are in place, do please grace us with your presence.

For Wed. night, - if you will be late (after 6:45 pm), be sure to call Bill at 916-275-0899 or Tom at 530-613-0101 and let us know. If you reach us, we will get you on a table.

Bill Kochenderfer

Results for 4/7/2010: Latest Round Robin Results

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