Dumfries Table Tennis Club players have been very busy in the last six weeks. In September and early October there was an emphasis on Women and Girls in Sport Week.
Club member Shannon Brown, who recently passed her Level 2 UKTC coaching course, played a leading role in this, giving coaching sessions to our O50s ladies, running a drop-in session one Saturday afternoon, and, with active schools coordinator Senga Thomson, running sessions for two local primary schools. The two of them also demonstrated their skills for S1 and S2 girls at St Joseph’s College, whilst Shannon ran a session in Dumfries and Galloway College.
In early September student member Danny Bajwa learned that he had been selected to represent Scotland at the European Table Tennis Union Individual Championships in Austria, along with two young women and another young man. Later that month he won the Aberdeen Open Men’s Singles in mid-September.
Danny is currently in Austria, playing in the men’s singles and the mixed doubles. He would like to thank everyone who has donated to his travel fund.
Three teams represented the club at the first of this season’s Scottish National League sessions. Team A (Dawid Sulkowski, Jason Fleming and Danny Bajwa) lost their opening Division 1 match 1-5 to North Ayrshire A, but drew three-all with North Ayrshire B. Meanwhile, in Division 4, Dumfries B made a flying start by beating Edinburgh University B 6-0 and JK Carnbo B 5-1.
The B team members are the experienced club head coach Dylan De Silva, two former top juniors. David Niven and Callum Morgan, and our current top junior boy, Reuben De Silva. They will take turns in the SNL.
Last, but not least, Team C’s members are Finley Boyd, Cory Dawson, Olivia Maxwell and Evan Robertson. Playing in Division 6, they lost their first tie 0-6 to Glasgow South, and the second 2-4 to Edinburgh University C. They were perhaps unlucky not to claim a draw, as the fifth tie went to a hard-fought five sets, in which our youngsters lost out. Many thanks to sponsor, Genesis OHS, for their support.
Some club juniors were in action at the Blackpool Stiga Open, where Shannon Brown won the junior girls’ singles and finished sixth in the women’s singles. Olivia Maxwell won the U15 and U19 Plate events, and young Boyd Telfer was runner-up in the boys’ U13 plate.
The juniors have also helped to devise a new club motto, SERVE, which embodies aspirations for all players: Sporting, Effort, Respect, Values, Encourage. Values which should be part of any sport.
Recent Club events include a Macmillan coffee morning, at which the O50s raised almost £300, and the arrival of 12 brand new blue butterfly tables. Tables are mostly blue these days, as it’s the most suitable colour for viewing on television. (Sadly, we rarely see table tennis on mainstream tv.) Thanks to the Holywood Trust and Tees Sport for their help in acquiring the tables, the old ones have already been dispersed to several schools in the region.
The DTTC League began this week, although the half-term holiday has reduced the number of scheduled matches. Top Bananas are back, but minus Maria De Silva. She has started a course in environmental science and outdoor education at Stirling University, and has already located two possible local clubs. A player from the age of eight, she has been a popular club member, often giving her time to practise with less experienced players. The club will miss her gritty performances and luminous smile.
New arrivals in Division 1 are 2 Slips and a Gully, up from Division 2, alongside one half of last season’s Table Toppers in which Anne Borrowdale has a new team-mate, James Hutchison, and a new team name – The Longshots. Several Division 1 players have swapped to different teams, of which more in the next report.
Meanwhile, Apple Crumble were relegated from Division 1. It is thought that they may soon return there, but sport is a fickle master, so who knows? New in Division 2 are Blade Runners, who carried all before them in last year’s Division 3. No news of a Division 3 so far.
The last word this week goes to Shannon Brown for her reflections on sport – “Sport allows you to have another family, gives you friends you will have for a lifetime.”