greetings 4^th of july lovers of the auburn table tennis club  -

we are open july 5 – open play as regularly scheduled!

thank you tom – running the past two wednesday round robins, to close out june and to close out the “first half” of 2010.  results are updated on the web site.

david sur, reid allyn, tamara chappell and nik (son of nik) zavastitsa – welcome again to you all.   also, welcome back to jz who paid us a visit a few mondays ago, testing out play post-broken bone and hobbling around a bit.  needless to say he still manages to hit and return balls like few around.  jz, feel free to use auburn as your convalescence destination; we will gladly provide all the recuperative training you may desire.

lots of exciting matches during my absence, and the conclusion of the 1^st half of 2010 revealed some surprises and some expected results.   in the “most improved” category – for players gaining the most rating points from january 1 to june 30, 2010, we could all see as of about 8 weeks ago, that tyler spesick was going to crush the rest (and crush more than a few opponents) in this race.  keeping with the “youth” theme, madison k. took second place on this.  we look forward to another six months with both of these players in contention, yet again, in the same category.   abandoning the “youth” theme,  doug vaughan edged the only slightly younger bill k. and captures 3^rd place.  nicely done, doug.  i note your 40 + rating point gain in the last two weeks and a couple very nice victories.  

here is the table of finishers:

note – minimum 15 appearances required in this and the “best record” category.    if you want to see the complete table of results, check them out in the “trends” tab on the round robin results.  there were a number of players showing good advances.

in the “best record” category, apparently the best strategy employed here, to capture the top honor, was to stay away on vacation for a few weeks.   a total of 5 players end up within 4 percentage points after 20+ round robins.  what this should tell you is that we are all improving, hitting well, and trading wins and losses.  1^st place – bill k.; 2^nd place – anson k., 3^rd place – john hanna.

here is the full table of finishers:

the top three finishers in both categories will receive a choice of some fine table tennis gear in recognition of their achievement (and by “fine” gear, we mean not too expensive items; and by “recognition” we really mean a photo with all the winners, for the web site).  all expenses paid trip to nationals has been considered and, no news shock, rejected, as a possible award. 

for wed. night, - if you will be late (after 6:45 pm), be sure to call   bill (916-275-0899) or tom at 530-613-0101 and let them know.  if you reach one of them, 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.  we have been seeing rr groups of 15 to 18, so room to hit during these summer months when folks are away from time to time.   keep this in mind for some open play if that is your preference.

bill kochenderfer

greetings auburn table tennis club  -

welcome – visiting this past wednesday – james therriault (who runs the sacramento “sac rec” table tennis club – playing monday, wednesday and fridays, for the past couple of decades; this is linked on our website), joined by joey tenerife (“cttn” – certified table tennis nut).  both excellent players and top rated for our round robin.

“regular” schedule continues indefinitely – monday “open play” and wednesday “round robin.”  lots of vacations and summer projects and events, but this is also the time we see some returning players who only make it back “home” during june, july or august. 

doubles were spotted playing wed. night after rr; and this may be a good time to work in some extra hitting – tables are available.

thank you in advance to tom s. who will coordinate the next two rrs. 

wednesday june 16, 2010  round robin report:  lots of matches, a number of upsets, and some rallies that went on and on, and on, and on.   group 3 saw what we believe is a record low change in points.  status quo, almost.  only 11 total rating points changed hands.  bob hemming prevails in the group of 5, with all matches playing to the favored seed.  in group 2, anson k. defeats 5 opponents, including a narrow 3-2 over tyler, and pulls back into the 1600 rating range.   in group 1, james was able to practice the very important “low ceiling lob” game that will be useful for competitive play when they start holding tournaments in catacombs.  notwithstanding the challenge, james prevailed to win group 1, but not without a few scares and some 3-2 matches with patrice t., sam seo, and bill k.  the latter was in fact a 2-3 result, in bill’s favor, no less.   revenge may be a dish best served  on a friday night at didion … 

check out those “trends” on the ratings page on the web site.  tyler and madison seem pretty solid on the “most improved” (i.e. greatest rating increase).  third place has a few contenders.  doug vaughan, john hanna, bill k., all in the hunt.   “best record” will come down to the wire – five players within a few percentage points.

for wed. night, - if you will be late (after 6:45 pm), be sure to call   tom at 530-613-0101 and let him know.  if you reach him, he 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.  mostly “hit” these days, so keep this in mind for some open play if that is your preference.

bill kochenderfer

hello auburn table tennis club -

this week’s news by proud attc dad, tom spesick. sitting out for the rare occasion with a pulled leg muscle, i got to enjoy the club as a spectator…

welcome – new to the club this past wednesday – elan seagraves, making his way up from sacramento. hope you can make it to more round robins.

wednesday june 9, 2010  rr:  a small group of only 13 that got to witness the tyler show! tyler let most of the top attc players know that with his improved play, he is a force to be reckoned with!

group 1 – tyler spesick takes full advantage of his chance on group 1 and goes 3-1. he narrowly misses out on the group win to john hanna, also going 3-1, but he got by tyler 3-2.

group 2 – patrice tournier goes 3-0 and gets his chance on group 1 next week as each match goes according to rating. 

group 3 – mark copeland gets the sweep in group 3 and is looking good in rating improvement!

attc t-shirts – a few left. look good and show your club pride!

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. 

tom spesick

alternative news - 5th edition, part trois – by john hanna.

with tom sidelined with a nasty looking purple “patch” on the back of his thigh, his story of pulling a hamstring while playing yours truly last week appeared to be a smoke screen. i’ve met a few “horses” in my life and that mark was produced by a “horse” scorned.  perhaps it’s not getting enough “oats!”

speaking of purple patches, son of tom, tyler “stinger” spesick, went on a frenzied forehand killing spree and almost won a giant stuffed animal for finishing one short of five direct hits on my thigh!  try explaining 4 round purple circles on both thighs after an evening of “ping pong” in auburn to your wife!  try explaining that while she holds one of your balls in her hand (nittaku)!

let’s forget about who actually took group a this week. i did – jh.  let’s give tyler some kudos for beating the #1 seed grant, and then following up with a 3-2 hit fest on table one against mr. president. with bill fresh from a 3 zip “pro bono” gratuitous win over yours truly, son of tom squeezed the first two games with powerful flat hits, which blasted against the wall so hard that the “girls” in the aerobics class at the other end of the building, decided to do all of their exercises lying on the floor and make the most of the vibrations generated from the tt room.

but bill never gives up and with heckling from the eastern bloc section of a partisan crowd; he steadily recovers and takes back two games to make it 2-2. now there is a four letter word that always materializes in close matches.  some say it is inappropriate to use this word in table tennis.  some actually dream about it in their sleep!  yes, bill finds himself 10-6 down and fights back to 10-8.  then a long hit from bill and it clips the “four letter word” - edge.  tyler is furious! the crowd is smiling!  bill is thinking ‘50 rating points at stake.’  grant is looking forward to lashing out with his 65^th pair of new rubbers and high tech blade in 6 months wondering if this is the right time to use new rubbers against young tyler and his new “piping” hot forehand.  anson and yours truly are thinking ‘hmm…could tyler win 200 points tonight?’  actually, anson was thinking this. i was thinking ‘maybe 150, not 200!’ anyway, back at the match. tyler leads 10-9. a short rally ensues.  tyler pushes one long to bill’s forehand.  very risky! almost as bad as pushing one to tyler’s forehand! bill pushes it back but it only reached the net.  tyler sighs with relief. bill mutters a four letter word under his breath. edge? probably not… and tyler finds himself with 100 new rating points!

next up – yours truly (john hanna v anson kwong).  now remember that i recently had the number one seed at the concord ttc 36^th annual 3 star tourney on the back foot with my well practiced tomahawk serve prowess losing just losing 11-9 in the third game after leading 9-6 against xibo liu, a 2600 rated player!  what chance did anson have?  jh wins 3 zip with some incredible 3^rd ball attack action. now anson had just beaten grant 3 zip in an earlier match. it appears his pips were too passive for grant’s new rubbers to handle and i guess too many forehand loops were misplaced somewhere. the watching crowd caught a few of them!  3 zip to anson.

so a few shock results to start the night with maybe more to come! next up, grant v tyler. tyler puts his brain into right arm bionic mode for the 2^nd time. he wants another 50 points, and 5 games later, he gets them! i did not get a chance to see the match so tom may be able to report on this battle of ages.

so tyler is up 100 points from 2 matches. who is next?  well that would be me!  i had taken tyler 3-1 in open play on monday but it wasn’t easy with the first game going to 16-14 in my favor.  for rr my approach would be different, and i took the first game 11-6 having followed a tactical predetermined game plan. duck!  tyler then steps up and takes game two and three. tyler already had two 50 symbols showing on this eyeballs so a third one in between the two would give him an instant jackpot!  150 points.  however, i changed the tactics and played “differently” and took the 4^th pretty comfortably and got a lead of 8-5 in the fifth.  tyler smashes another ball towards the middle of the middle/backhand side of the table for an apparent winner but the ball was blocked hard past tyler to make it 9-5. the game would soon be over with yours truly winning the match and not losing 50 points (like others i could mention :0)

grant and bill play another 5 set thriller with grant reversing the result from last week, the week when grant left his “missus” in the car outside the club on his way back from arizona, and i also learned that grant picked up a hitchhiker on the way home and had also forgotten to drop him off in downtown auburn on the way here!  he’s so keen!

at the same time tyler wins the battle of the short pips hitting his forehands a little bit harder than anson. he takes it 3-zip and another 40 rating points! anson…at least it wasn’t 50!

final match!  i had to beat grant who had just taken bill for his first win of the night.  i had 4 red blotches on my thigh, courtesy of tyler and i had to take the match to win the group and take away tyler’s automatic place on table a for next week’s rr!  i wonder who tyler was cheering on!

i was focused and had a game-plan to attack grant’s serves.  it paid off, and even though grant took a game and came back from 6-10 down to deuce in the fourth, i took the match 3-1, and the group. oh, and i won one game with a net (chuckle)!

meanwhile patrice flexed his paddle (it’s broken) and lost a solitary game against nik who played most of the match with legal serves.  good job nik.  thanks to patrice for trying to help nik with this!

it’s kudos to doug, who took a game off nik. that really is well played.  nik has been playing at every club in sacramento and recently played table 2 in folsom and sacramento.

new member elan has also got the tt bug. he has been seen at all the clubs and recently played at the concord tournament. he managed to take chuck and madison but mark showed his experience and took group c.  mark, i suggest you attend some dodgeball classes before wednesday.  tyler will be surely waiting for any of your balls to pop up (hopefully not out)!

this was surely tyler’s best week ever.  it shouldn’t be long before more red stinging blotches appear on my thighs again!  take cover!