Issue 1: Jan 2013
Rudford "A" Team report
With a few changes to the team from last season, with the youth of 12-year old Olly Tyndall and the experience of Dave Harvey, we were definitely in for an interesting season. We started well with 5 straight wins over the three other Rudford teams (sorry guys!), RSV and Gala. However, it was always going to be a challenge to continue with this momentum against a very strong Highnam A side losing 8-2, but with Olly winning 2, proving that he deserved to be playing in the top division with an average of 77.78% so far!
One highlight of the first half has to be when Dave and Darren eventually played each other. After Dave won the 1st set, he decided to go out to the kitchen and eventually appeared with the mop, holding it like it was his woman! We finally found out that he wanted it for dabbing his feet for grip (even though he doesn’t actually move!). After a well fought contest Darren eventually came out on top 8-11, 5-11, 11-8, 11-3, 11-6.
The most athletic movement of the season so far has to be when I was running for a net ball from Abu Saleh, hurtling towards the table fully laden with mugs and a carton of milk, swinging my leg right over the lot, avoiding everything. Oh, and by the way, after all that effort I didn’t manage to return the ball, and eventually losing 11-9 in the 5th.
We are 2nd at the moment behind Highnam A so will hopefully continue with a consistent second half and stay ahead of RSV & Friends A until the end of the season.
Ann Barnes
Rudford "C" Team report
This newly formed team is slowly acclimatising to the standards of Division 1 - albeit a little too slowly. Although still awaiting its first win (or draw), the team stands poised for a surprising late bid for the title. Stalwarts Ken Smith and Chris Pearce, both benefitting from a recent diet of turkey and mince pies, feel they have the potential to turn those narrow defeats into glorious victories. Graham Chandler has undergone some serious close season training on the golf course which will, no doubt, transform his forehand smash. Trevor Oliver is threatening to handover the captaincy reins unless the team starts winning - sheer motivational genius! So look out Division 1 - a rejuvenated and motivated team is about to hit the tables.
Trevor Oliver
Rudford "F" Team report
We did not expect much success this season having just been promoted from Div 4, so its fair to say we have not been disappointed. Phil is still recovering from eye surgery in the summer and we persuaded Dave Vye to return to the fold. Losing our first two matches seemed to set the standard, we then had success against Highnam 7-3 who beat us to the title last year. Three heavy defeats then followed compounded by the loss of two points for a late card, in effect losing 9-1 in this match made the loss minus 1 point!! However, since then we have held our own with a draw, a close loss and another win against Highnam. In the Handicap we were drawn in the preliminary round but were not able to arrange the fixture and our opponents conceded, in the second round we drew our H side and just failed by 12 points. Fabrizio has been our mainstay this year so we have to try to retain our position for his sake. Here’s to the second half, full of optimism.
Sten Salisbury.
Rudford "G" Team report
This season has been tough since last year but I have learnt a lot from playing new players and gained a lot of experience from that. Our team works hard in every game, sometimes we win and sometimes we don't but no matter what the result is, we can improve on that next time we play and get a better score as we move on through the season. We are hoping to try and get promoted to division 3 but if we don't, we will be proud of what we have achieved and try and get promoted next season. As the captain I am having really good experience as being the captain; organising the players when they’re playing and give them good encouragement when playing. I would really like to be captain again if I had the opportunity, it's a fantastic experience for leadership. Our team's progress at the moment is that we are on 46 points (5th) and we have played 9 matches and have won 3, drawn 2, lost 4. Our players averages at the moment are: Liam James (35.29%), Jon Berry (16.67%), Margaret Pang (56.25%), Michael Pang (37.50%) and Paul Russom (36.36%). All our players in this team have done extremely well so far, they still have a lot of matches at the moment, so they can get there percentages higher.
Liam James (Captain)
Rudford "H" Team report
We started off as a last minute entry because the 4th division was a team short. We have three young players, Kim, Max and Ollie, all playing in their first league season, with myself and Elaine to provide some experience. Unfortunately, Elaine hasn’t been well for most of the season, so the rest of us have made up the team most weeks so far.
Although it’s their first time around, Kim, Max and Ollie have all managed to win games in either the league or cup and are improving in leaps and bounds. I know they aren’t always happy when they lose, but they are up against mostly older and more experienced players and have done their best, turning in some excellent performances.
Our division is very close this year with several teams all within a point or two of each other. At the time of writing we are in fourth place with 57 points out of 11 games. If we’re very lucky we could grab third place, but with the tiniest bit of bad luck could end up second last, so there is everything to play for – no pressure at all.
In the handicap cup we played our own club Rudford F side in the first round and sneaked through in a close game by the narrow margin of 12 points. We drew St James’s Church in the next round, but couldn’t quite make up the handicap deficit and lost this time by 12 points in another close game.
Alan Welsh.