News Page -(last updated dec ,2002) - FOR MORE CLUB OR TT Information: See the Links to other web pages and Dave's Cell phone number information AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE

  
DEC 2002
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Record 30 players in Middletown
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On the last Sunday in December, we reached a record 30 players
in a single night. This includes a number of new unrated players
as well as some past players returning after extended absence from the game. 
Fortunately we now have 9 tables so players averaged 2/3rds play
and 1/3 rest time, with exciting matches to watch and friendly
players to meet during the down times. Average attendance is now
about 20+ players per night, with the largest crowds on Sundays. 
More tables will soon be added to reduce down time. 

NOVEMBER 2002
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Middletown Player wins at Waltham Tourney
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   Congratulations to Subhajit Maitra .
 He won the top division - under 2150, at the recent 
 New England Fall Classic in Waltham, Mass.
    Subhajit, who lives in Middletown, first played at the
Middletown club for a few monthes a few years ago. 
   Back then, when Central CT. players were divided among three clubs, 
he was disapointed with the number, level and variety of
players and reluctantly returned to playing Racquetball.   
   Since returning this fall, Subhajit is now excited with the
club's recent growth and added playing night.
  In fact, having visited or played tournaments
at other clubs in the past, he recently said; 
'We (Middletown) now have the best club to play at in the New England area'.  

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MIDDLETOWN ATTENDANCE GROWS
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   Turnouts of 15 to 20 Players are becoming common on both Wednesday and
Sunday nights recently in Middletown. 
 These large and diverse turnouts provide a wide range of styles 
and playing levels each night from unrated to 2200+ top state players
  And since the actual players showing up each night changes,
in a given week you might play quite a few partners near your level
without ever having to play anyone twice - unless you want to.
    And though we lost a few players in 2001/2002 in Fairfield, since economic
factors and 9/11 have more greatly impacted SW CT and the NYC suburbs,
recently we've seen some new junior, senior and unrated players visiting
Fairfield recently.
 Typical recent attendance in Fairfield has been 12 to 16 players. 

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SHOULD WE ADD TOURNEYS OR NEW NIGHTS?-
YOUR CONTACT INFO (and opinions etc) NEEDED:
--------------------------------------------
  At times, when considering new club nights or activities, including
potential CT tournaments, the ability to quickly and inexpensively
notify interested players has affected the timing or feasability of them.
 If you haven't sent me an e-mail with your contact information this year,
 please do so ASAP.
Send your info (at the least your full name, town and current e-mail )
to me at:  nettadave@yahoo.com.
  Your expressions of opinions, preferences and 
interest (if any) in local tournaments, coaching, ratings etc are also welcomed.

-OCTOBER 2002
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Help us spread the word about TT in YOUR world !
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click here for a printable POSTER : 
Please POST copies of this poster in places you work, shop, go to school etc. Copies are usually availlable from Dave at the club too. People often ask how we advertise the clubs. Newspaper and TV advertising costs thousands of dollars. We depend on word of mouth and the internet because other advertising just costs too much. These posters and available bumper stickers and T-shirts are affordable ways to attract new players.

You may find it easier to print the poster exactly as you wish by importing the image into a graphics or printing program first, as it may not print with the correct size or margins directly from the internet. ------------------------------------------- Two CT Players score in Springfield event -------------------------------------------- Ernest Virgo of Middletown placed second and Rich Dewitt of Fairfield tied for third place in the Gewo/Baystate TTC fall tournament. Virgo eliminated Dewitt in the semi-finals of the championship division then lost to David Fernandez of New Jersey in the finals. Sept 2002 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Dewitt reaches Final with Career Win over Olympian ----------------------------------------------------------------- Rich Dewitt of Fairfield placed second in Open Singles in the September tournament at the Stiga World TT Club in New Jersey. He reached the finals with an upset over US Women's Olympian Lily Yip. Lily - of NJ- is currently among the top 5 U.S. Women, and in the Top 100 of all US players - (Men or Women) and represented the USA in the Atlanta Olympic games. This is one of Rich's best lifetime wins, but shouldn't have surprised Lily, since other past best wins for Rich include her husband, former New Jersey champion Barry Dattel and her friend David Fernandez. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Congratulations to new I.U. Roman T ----------------------------------------------------------------- Roman Tinyszin recently earned USATT.ORG recognition when he qualified as one of only a handful of US umpires listed as an International Umpire. Roman passed an ITTF administered test and refereed a number of important matches at top US and Canadian tournaments including the US Open and North American Olympic qualifying events to earn this credential. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Local TT welcomes new players in Summer, September ----------------------------------------------------------------- A number of new players have joined us in Fairfield and Middletown in the last few monthes. Gary R and some of his friends from the Seniors TT group in Westport have joined us this summer. And continuing the international flavor of the clubs, strong players from China and Poland are recent additions. Tao Ding plays at both clubs displaying skills learned as a youth in China from his father a professional coach there. Pawel is visiting from Poland until January and displays world class style serves and backhand loops in Middletown. Another enthusiastic new, New Haven area player seen at both clubs is Jason, a doctor doing training in area hospitals. ----------------------------------------------------------------- CT Player reaches best US ratings ever ----------------------------------------------------------------- Rich Dewitt of Fairfield reached his best lifetime US rating recently. Rich joined the top 60 players in the country with a USATT rating of 2241 after going undefeated in a Pennsylvania 2 player team tournament in July. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Connecticut Players score in US Open ----------------------------------------------------------------- Congratulations to the local players who played the US open in early July in Palm Beach FL. Ernest Virgo of the Middletown TTC had good results in multiple events, winning the Senior Men's (40+) Doubles events with Texan Kieth Evans. He also reached the quarterfinals of the 40+ singles before defaulting (with a sore shoulder) to former US #1 ChengYengHua - one of the team he beat in doubles previously. He also reached the quarterfinals of the under 2350 rated singles event. Rich Dewitt of the Fairfield TTC reached the quarterfinals of the Men Seniors over 30 losing to former US Champ Jimmy Butler in 3 games. Val Ort (Fairfield TTC) reached a semifinal in the u4200 doubles event. Don Feltenberger reports that had some good wins and he gained rating points but didn't reach any finals. Complete results for the US Open are available at: http://www.usatt.org/events/2002usopen/usopen_results.shtml a link at the pabe bottom to : http://www.usatt.org/events/2002usopen/index.shtml takes you to the ITTF Pro Tour results. or go to ITTF.Com for pro tour results and articles ------------------------ Summer attendance info: ------------------------ If you haven't been playing recently - please be advised that our attendance has been good thru July at both clubs, and growing nicely this year in Middletown - allowing for play twice a week now and maybe 3 times in the winter and possibly a spring tournament in Middletown. New players recently joining in include both unrated and expert and we've had good weekend and Hot weather day participation, and I will try to keep this going by minimizing any summer cancelations. ---------------- NEW WEBSITE LINK ---------------- Tell your friends or co-workers they can find us linked at: www.REALTableTennis.com This new web address should be easy to remember and share with others. It has a prominant link to this site and others for USATT and other table tennis sites. April Club briefs: ----------------------------------------------------------------- Congratulations to Greg Stanford ----------------------------------------------------------------- He entered three events in the April 13-14 2002 Boston TTC April Open. He made it to the finals in the 900, 1000 and 1200 and won the 900 and placed second in the other two. When he isn't at tournaments, Greg plays at both Fairfield and Middletown. Congratulations - ----------------------------------------------------------------- 3 CT. players score at RPI 3 star tourney ----------------------------------------------------------- Rich Dewitt took the under 2150 event and Don Feltenberger won the under 1975 title at this major tournament held near Albany N.Y. Val Ort also played well, reaching the semifinals of the u-2150 and winning a match against a near 2300 player in another event.

----------------------------------------------------------------- INNA Returns: ------------------------------------------ After spending the last year in her native Russia,Inna Laskova, 1999 finalist in the Open championship event of the Connecticut Championships, has returned to the Nutmeg state in late March. She had previously attended Southern Connecticut State University and has returned to Hamden and club play in Fairfield. At a rating of about 2100, Inna was ranked among the top 20 women players in the USA during 1999-2000. > Feb 2002 Ten Players show for 'Looper-Bowl' ---------------------------------- Based on player requests, we opened Middletown for the regular Sunday play during the Superbowl Football game. And while we had a little less than our typical turnout, and some of us watched portions of the game while between matches, we still had fun playing TT. Players included Xioadi Wang who drove from Danbury and Val Ort from Darien.

New Night in Middletown growing ------------------------------- With the first Wednesday night session in Middletown held with only a few days advanced notice, we still managed to attract a respectable 10 players, with 12 players the following week. Sunday night play has continued with turnouts in the high teens or low twenties. Players on both nights have ranged from a number of new and unrated players to 2000+ USATT rated players including former members of the Jamaican and Phillipine TT Teams. Jan 2002 Congratulations: --------------------- In the December 2001 NJTTC open Greg Stanford won the Finals of both the Under 800 and Under 1000 events . Greg plays in Fairfield, and occasionally in Middletown. He is a relative newcommer to both the club and the tournament scene.

----------------------------------------------------------------- NEW PLAYING NIGHT IN MIDDLETOWN ADDED ----------------------------------------------------------- In Addition to the popular Sunday night play, starting January 16th we will ALSO play in Middletown on Wednesday nights at 7:35pm. Please come out ASAP to show you support midweek play in Middletown. (Due to Riverview's youth activity in the gym, on weeknights til 7:30, please wait in your car until 7:35 if you arrive early.) A number of players have requested this so please come out and help us start the new night with a bang. As before, Sunday play starts at 6:30 though we may change that to 6pm if players arrive at 6:30 and ask for an earlier start.

----------------------------------------------------------------- NEW SUNDAY STARTING TIME in Middletown ------------------------------------------------------- Our Winter starting time on Sundays is Middletown is now 6:30pm with play until 9:30 or (usually) 10pm. This will allow those who work early on Mondays to begin and end play earlier. If most players begin arriving close to 6:30, and express some interest in starting earlier, we will consider opening even earlier (6pm), probably starting in January. - - - - - - - - - -

DO WE HAVE YOUR CURRENT CONTACT INFO? ---------------------------------------- Please send an e-mail to me at nettadave@yahoo.com so I can add you, or confirm your contact information to my e-mail list. Your name and (at least) your town or zip code will assist in identifying which TT news 'alert' e-mails would be of likely interest to you.

Also your phone number and mailing (street) address would be helpful, particularly if you aren't on the USATT membership lists. Tournaments or other special events or schedule changes are possible this fall - but we need a good list of players to contact to 'advertise' new playing times, programs or events.

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AARP Article features 'Ping-Pong' ********************************* Even if you aren't near retirement age you may find this an interesting and well written article for yourself, or to print out and give to friends curious about your TT 'addiction'. Available at: http://www.mygeneration.org/departments/2001/leisure/0405_a.html (cut and paste into a new browser if the link isn't active) the article also includes quotes from a prominent NYC cardiologist who plays. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ NEW PHONE CONTACT INFO:

Club director Dave's personal phone number has changed. Calls can reach my cellular phone at (860)922-8578. Please call between noon and midnight only (please leave a message there if I don't answer.) Also E-Mails ( nettadave@YAHOO.com) are now usually checked weekly (rather than daily) so call if you need info quickly. but please understand I may need to limit the length of calls, to stay within my monthly prepaid cellular calling plan, especially before 8pm on weekdays. Basic schedule information should still be confirmed by calling the club schedule number at (860) 586-7055. I am very careful to update that recording whenever necessary to reflect schedule changes or same day cancellations due to severe weather or other emergencies (power failure etc). so please don't call my cell phone for that purpose. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ *************************************************************************

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