MMTCC lost 4-1
Congratulations to Tom Lewis who, for the second day running, beat a Prested
player - this time Sarah Vigrass who has a better handicap than Tom. We look
forward to his handicap coming down into the teens.
The two Androids (as David describes them) , Pick and Hamilton had their chances
against Mike Carter and Will Stevens - but Mike was playing very well and Will
improved during the match.
A sterling effort from Lloyd Pettiford and a very good result to take the first
set but his opponent pulled out the stops with his terrific rackets player's
backhand.
There were times when John Miller and David Bryant looked in control and on top,
but again their opponents improved through the match.
Phil Shaw-Hamilton had a mountain to climb to make any impression on his
opponent - too much golf, tennis and table tennis the day before celebrating his
60th birthday - plus too little sleep etc etc. He has said he will be quite
happy to forget that performance and put it down to 'experience'.
National League Div 8 versus Holyport 3 December
Steve Watson v Chris Knight, 6-1, 4-6, 4-6 L
Martin Trees v Tim Dadd, 5-6, 6-0, 6-4 W
Howard Shipstone, 6-5, 2-6, 4-6 L
Sadly we lost the tie after three very close games. All of them went to three
sets, some of the sets were very lengthy due to the very high number of deuce
games. One game in particular sticks out at somewhere in excess of 25 minutes
(Steve W won it at least twice, if only the marker agreed!) To quote a team
member the Trees Dadd encounter was "lacking in finesse but was a great fight".
The Watson match was somewhat hampered by Steve's dodgy leg and a lack of match
practice.
Howard continued his run of massive luck as exercised by his opponent, who never
gave up a thing, used his wood, bad timed shots and flukes to full effect.
However Howard always kept a cheerful happy go lucky attitude - but kept it
pretty well hidden!!!!
National League Div 8 vs Hatfield 26 Novemberer
Another win and away at Hatfield for all that.
Dennis Mitchell v Lucie Browning 6-4, 2-6, 6-2
Lucie came back really well only to be befuddled by Dennis finding a serve of
good length and some speed in the final set. Thus proving that Old and sneaky
beats young and talented! A great start to a national league career and one that
won’t have to wait long for a first win.
James Barlow v Martin Trees 2-6, 2-6
Brute force overcame class in this “tighter than the score suggests”
result.
Martin Tucker vHoward
Shipstone 3-6, 6-2, 4-6
In the final rubber, I am not sure who had the greatest risk of a heart attack;
Howard “what nimble feet and a gentle touch he has” Shipstone or the Captain in
the dedans. With an opponent who retrieved better than the best gundogs Howard
overcame a massive number of “lucky” shots from his opponent with a few
“fortunate” shots from himself! The anger management classes are working (just).
A great win just when we needed it.
Currently unbeaten with round 4 at home to Holyport (league toppers) on Saturday
3rd December.
THE BRODIE CUP 6th November 2011. Report by the editor of the Court
Circular. (and no spelling mistakes!)
MMTCC 2 MCC 3
Away against MCC on the fast floor of Lords is never an easy draw. Starting 1
down as a clash with the Interclub tournament took out our 30 handicap singles
players was even harder.
Our 45 doubles pair John Cook and Tim Messer made a fine start beating James
Leeper and David Bugge 6/4 1/6 6/1
Alastair Goulty - a little stiff from his Saturday Rugby football match- nearly
made his young opponent Francis Moore work for a third set but lost 1/6 5/6 The
match of the day was the 50 singles in which Stewart Hodges came back from 1/5
in the 3rd set to beat James Coley 6/5 2/6 6/5. A fantastic and very exciting
performance.
At 2 rubbers each Captain Martin Trees playing with Richard Seymour Mead should
have clinched the match against Giles Pemberton and Roger Cotton but
regrettably having got back to 1 set all they lost their way going down 3/6 6/1
0/6.
The black eye sustained by RSM in the third game as both players attempted to
return a ball off the tambour is in no way to be blamed. Captain Trees would
never poach when playing with such an old and experienced partner and besides a
blow to the head is probably the only way to sharpen up the editor these days.
National InterClub Tournament 5th and 6th November
Sponsored by H.L.Barnes, Stratford upon Avon
Leamington won everything this year - Ed Steele beat Chris Knight in the final
of the Singles, Guy Stanton and Ian Steele beat RTC's Richard East and Owen
Saunders and Leamington Second team won the overall Team Trophy.
In the initial rounds on Saturday Oxford's Mark Partington and Leamington's Andy
Dixon looked to be playing very consistently.
However the final rounds of the singles were dominated by the winner and runner up of Box 2
who contested the final.
Ed Steele improved in every match he played and at the end was playing
noticeably better than at the beginning. Chris Knight played well but Ed
(handicap 37) looked to be playing about 4 or 5 handicap better towards the end. This has happened a number of times and
the organiser was left wondering whether or not he should introduce a handicap
adjustment during the tournament.
The finals of the doubles was
a victory for the underdogs - between RTC who came second in their box and
Leamington 1 who came 8th overall. Guy Stanton played very well, ably supported
by Ian Steele who is now a complete bandit off his newly acquired handicap of
53.
There were many close matches, in Singles Box 2 all except one match went to
6/5.
Thanks to Tom Granville and Nick Jury of Moreton and Marc Seigneur of Leamington
for marking. We are very grateful to Leamington Tennis Court Club for the use of
their court on the Saturday.
And thanks to H.L.Barnes for continuing to sponsor this very enjoyable event.
Results
Final rounds: select here to see the details of the finals
Box rounds: select here to see the box rounds
(singles)(doubles)
MMTCC V HATFIELD HOUSE Sunday
30th October
Hatfield won 3/2
Martin Trees lost to John
Savage 362/6 6/1 4/6
Mike Etherington-Smith beat Chris Alley 6/4 6/0
Stewart Hodges lost to Frank Goulbourn3/6 6/4 5/6
David Aldwinckle lost to Gill Goddard
5/6 5/6
Bruce Paxton beat Robin Alley 6/26/4
MMTCC V OXFORD LADIES Saturday 29th October
Oxford won 3-1
Tim Messer beat Maggie Henderson Tew6/0 6/4
David Aldwinckle lost to
Sophie Dannreuther 2/6 3/6
Jill Slora lost to Cam Ormsby 3/62/6
Philippa Twohig-Howell lost to
Juliet Wesley 6/32/6 1/3
vs Old
Malvernians Sun 23 Oct Richard Seymour Mead
& Mike Etherington-Smith lost to Tom Bomford &
John Cook 6/4 5/6 1/3 Richard Thomas
& Tim Messer beat John Burnett & Tony
Puckeridge 3/6 6/5 6/5
Andrew Hamilton & Matt fattorini beat Philip
Shaw-Hamilton & Richard Hardwick 6/05 5/6 6/4
vs The
Dedanists Sat 22 Oct Tom Bomford (30)
beat Chris French (31) 6/1 6/3 Richard Seymour
Mead & Andrew Hamilton beat Matt Fattorini
& Chris French 6/3 6/4 Norman Hyde &
Howard Shipstone lost to to Richard East and
John Beatty 6/5 4/6 2/3 David Aldwinckle
& Keyvan Farmanfarmai lost to Alastair Robson
& Peter Flood 0/6 0/6 Richard Hardwick
& John Cook lost to Willie Wilks & Josh
Farrall 2/6 4/6
MMTCC Golf Day: 13 October
Stratford-on-Avon Golf course was
bathed in sunshine on Thursday 13 October for
the club's annual golf day and the course and
greens were in an excellent condition.
The champagne moment of the day prize
went to Mike Metcalfe for his shot to the
green on the 9th which cannoned off a very dry
and hard greenside mound into the window of
the clubhouse lounge, waking up some dozing
members with a sharp reminder of life in World
War 2. Fortunately the damage was limited so
blushes were spared.
2nd prize for 39 Stableford
points went to Dr. Richard Seymour Mead (13),
the same amount as John Lambdon (22)- due
to the noise emanating from the
bar, your correspondent didn't hear the
reasoning behind the countback decision-
however, the organiser Simon Allen 's decision
was final! So John playing off a handicap of
22 politely accepted the trophy in fluent
Mexican.
Many thanks to Simon Allen for
organising the day and to Tom for rounding up
people to play.
Moreton Shield : 15/16 October
2011
Last 16 A. Parmiter v P. Jackson 5/0
J. Richardson v R. Woolston 5/3
T. Bomford v T. Thomas 5/2
B. Irwin v S. Hodges 5/2
D. Phillips v E. Loades 5/3
S. Walsh v C. Hamilton 5/1
A. Hamilton v G.Krus 5/4
F. Walsh v A. Moug 5/2
Quarter-finals: Parmiter v Richardson 5/1
Irwin v Bomford 5/2
S. Walsh v Phillips 5/1
Hamilton v F. Walsh 5/2
Semi-finals: Parmiter v Irwin 5/4
A.Hamilton v S. Walsh 5/3
Final:
Parmiter v Hamilton 6/4
It was gratifying to see the work on
Junior Development by Tom, Nick, Tim
Messer and Beverleigh
Tweohig-Howell coming to fruition with
Ben Irwin and Charles Hamilton doing so well-
Ben reached the semi-final and Charles the
last 16, and it's worth pointing out that
neither of them have parents who play the
game.
So a good mix of age, gender and handicap
got through the boxes- Tom Bomford after only
a few months of play looked a good bet until
he fell to Irwin. The Walsh combo caused some
problems until they hit the buffers provided
by the Chairman. The ever green Anthony
Parmiter despite taking his time to draw
breath, showed how experience and nous are so
important in real tennis especially in his
match against Ben Irwin when the sages felt
that at 4/1 he was doomed...
In the final the Chairman was 3/2 up at
which point a weekend of owe 40/30, ban
tambour and one serve seemed to catch up with
him and Parmiter took the honours and a well
deserved celebratory glass of claret!
Thanks as ever to Tom and
Nick for all their efforts in ball making,
marking and organisation.
Ogilby Cup: 23/24/25
September
A very healthy entry of 18 pairs which
ended in some excellent tennis-
congratulations to Tom Bomford and Mat
Fattorini for providing the dedans with some
entertaining play- well done to Mat for his
well deserved very first mention on the
honours boards- with typical modesty he
explained his success on shrewd partner
choice- indeed Tom has been playing for only 6
months and with his background in
Rackets looks to have a great future-
look out PS-H! Commiserations to Henry Piney
and Lynden Haworth for steady play throughout
the tournament except when 2-3 down in the
final! Thanks to Tom and Nick for
masterminding a most successful and enjoyable
tournament.
Semi Finals
A ROBSON & J LAMBDON
LOST TO H PINEY & L HAWORTH 6/0
H SHIPSTONE&
O
SHIPSTONE LOST TO M FATTORINI & T BOMFORD
6/1
Final
T BOMFORD & M FATTORINIBEATH PINEY & L HAWORTH 6/3
Chetwood Trophy:
24/25 September
The club had two representatives in the
finals of the Club handicap competition- David
Aldwinckle lost all 3 of his matches 5/6- so
the killer wasn't present on the day! Alan
Moug is to be congratulated on reaching the
semi-final in what is always a tough
competition with the disparity of national
handicapping.
Some of you will know that the
T&RA have been building an online booking
system for Real Tennis for the clubs to use.
We have been using it for several weeks - Tom Nick
and I have been keeping the bookings up to date
and you have been able to see the court bookings
but not book on-line yourself.
For those of you who have an RTO id and password
you can now access the system and even book
online. The
url is http://www.realtennisonline.com/bookings. You will be required to enter your Real
Tennis Online (RTO) userid and password.
RTO is the online system which is used to maintain
player's handicaps and various forums.
Currently we have only enabled on-line booking for
Singles and Doubles courts - if you want to book a
lesson or be part of group coaching (or anything
that involves a professional being on court) you
will still need to contact the professionals
firectly. This
is a simple guide to using the system.
For those of you who don't want to do any of
this (you probably won't be reading this
either) you can continue as before and contact the
professionals to book a court or lesson.
If you have problems signing on or don't have an
RTO userid/password please contact Tom Granville
(e-mail : pro@mmtcc.co.uk).
If you have any questions about the booking system
please don't hesitate to contact David Bryant
(e-mail address is in the 2008-2009 handbook)..
If you find any problems then please let David
know by e-mail.
Payment now possible via
Internet - February 2009 You may now pay your bills direct to MMTCC.
Details are printed on your account statement.
New door lock -
February 2009 Note that the very old door lock has been
replaced. Identical operation to before.
