OOAK Table Tennis Forum

2012 is Preston Guild - it's a local once every 20 years celebration which goes back to 1179 and which is used amongst other things to promote Preston and raise it's profile.

As part of the planned events, our league is organising a friendly international between GB and Australia. The match is scheduled to take place on 23 July 2012 at Preston Guild Hall - same venue as for the India international I posted about previously. This is a link to the venue - it's a great place to watch the games http://www.prestonguildhall.com/site/in ... &Itemid=42

Both men's and women's teams will take part.

Hopefully it will also be another opportunity for our league and partners to promote table tennis in our area.

I'll post more details as and when I get them / they are confirmed.

Should be a good night with a good friendly rivalry.

Looks like a fun and interesting event. When will each of the teams be decided?

It will be good to see some videos of the event afterwards

_________________
Main: Butterfly Timo Boll Spirit ST | FH: Andro Hexer HD 2.1mm | BH: Donic Bluefire MAX

What do you think our chances are of making the team?

_________________
OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Haha, well we have about 8 months until the competition, might be time for some serious training

_________________
Main: Butterfly Timo Boll Spirit ST | FH: Andro Hexer HD 2.1mm | BH: Donic Bluefire MAX

Don't know when the teams will be decided. That's at the discretion of GB and Australia. There's another event around that time which could impact on team selection and it's dangerous to announce who will be playing so early because of contractual arrangements for the players, qualification/rankings etc and we don't want to give out inaccurate info. There's a long time between now and then and a lot can happen.

Videos I would like to do, like with the ones of the India team practicing. They practiced at our own table tennis hall and I just asked them if I could film on the day. I spoke briefly with Massimo Costantini at the English open in 2010 and he had seen the videos on our leagues YouTube channel and was very surprised we'd put them there but he didn't object. Again you have to be so careful with sponsorship arrangements, copyright infringements etc it can be a bit of a nightmare. On the night I'll probably have other duties to do than film so again that would be hard - even if I was allowed. Our leagues priority as far as teams are concerned is to make sure their stay is well organised and comfortable with good travel between venues, convenient use of excellent practice facilites and that they have a good match night experience. Filming is not a priority and shouldn't get in the way of their needs especially at an important time of the year for them.

Unless of course it's you and haggisv who are selected to play for Australia - I've been nagging haggisv for a video of him playing for ages. This could be just the chance

Really good if you sponsor the event Haggisv!

_________________
I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
Aussie Table Tennis Shop / Aussie Table Tennis Facebook Page / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

As it turns out haggisv didn't sponsor the event but we had to get help from others who have sponsored this event.


Arrangements have now progressed.

The match will be on Mon 23rd July at 7:30pm at Preston Guild Hall which should hold around 1500 people if all the tickets are sold. Ticekts cost £8 adults, £5 children. Two tables will be in play at the same time - one for the womens match and one for the mens.

It will be a best of 5 contest but I've been told even if one team wins 3:0 the remaining two matches will still be played, so spectators should get to see 5 matches for the mens and 5 matches for the women.

The Australian team should be:

Men: William Henzell, Justin Han and Robert Frank.
Women: Jian Fang Lay, Miao Miao and Vivian Tan.

We won't know who will be playing for GB until some time in May.

Things are coming together and it should be a very good match up

That will be great to watch... lucky you!

_________________
OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Oh darn, I thought it was going to be in our very own suburb of Preston, Victoria. At least it's on my birthday!

Poster looks good!

_________________

Weapon 1: Andro Kinetic Supreme Hinoki/Zylon OFF-; Andro Hexer HDs (FH 2.1/BH 1.9)
Weapon 2: Ross Leidy 'Smokey'; Friendship 729-5s
Club1: Daylesford - since 2010
Club2: Ballarat - since 2011
Blog: A Naked Bear

Thanks. There were a lot of redrafts with that poster. It was based on an earlier one we did for the France / Israel internationals. However, this time corporate sponsor logo's had to be included and there were lots of changes around their size and locations on the posters, the name we were calling the teams had to be changed, colours kept to a minimum for clarity and photos couldn't be used for copyright issues and to keep printing easier etc etc. I was glad to see the back of it! It's printed in three sizes, A5, A4 and 20*30 inches and will also be going in The Guild Halls own "upcoming events brochure". It's Preston Sports Awards tonight at the The Guild Hall and hopefully some of the large ones will have been printed in time to be displayed at the venue.

Promotting this type of event is always an issue as it can cost a lot and the books have to be balanced for organising and putting on this match. But we're learning each time our league hosts a table tennis international in Preston. Now we have more experience, contacts and organisations and bodies are intertersted in supporting and helping with these events. Australia will be the sixth Country in the last three years to play international table tennis in Preston. Hopefully Preston will get a name as being a good place to play and watch table tennis and the teams that visit get good accommodation, practice and gym facilities available when they want them, match experience at a top venue and a hassle free trip. People in the area (and beyond) get the opportunity to watch international table tennis and the publicity brings more interest in playing or learning how to play table tennis. It should be a win win situation for everyone and Jim Clegg our chairman deserves huge credit for pulling this all together - there's a lot of unpaid work involved.

As usual though actually getting people interested enough to come and watch the internationals is the hard part. Hopefully the two teams should be evenly matched so it will be competitive and there is the added spice of the "Ashes test" angle and that friendly rivalry that exists between the two countries

Oskar. Maybe as it's your birthday that day you should treat yourself and fly over to watch

The teams to take part in this exhibition match on 23 July, 2012 have been confirmed.

GB Men: Paul Drinkhall, Liam Pitchford, Andrew Baggaley
GB Women: Joanna Parker, Kelly Sibley, Na Liu

The Australian teams should include: Justin Han, William Henzell, Jian Fang Lay, Miao Miao - I'll confirm the full Australian team details later.

In addition we were recently asked if it would be possible for the USA olympic team to come to Preston and have a joint training camp with Australia. Our league has arranged with one of our Sponsor Partners for this event (UCLAN) for both teams to train and practice at the new multi million pound Sir Tom Finney Sports Centre, which is part of the University of Central Lancashire and which only recently opened. http://www.uclan.ac.uk/uclansport/sir_t ... /index.php

The USA team visiting will be:
Women Ariel Hsing, Lily Zhang, Erica Wu
Men: Timothy Wang

The USA team won't be taking part in the international friendly at the Guild Hall, however both the Australia and USA teams have kindly agreed to let the general public in to watch them practice. I'm not sure whether I'll be allowed to film this yet, like I did when India visited a couple of years ago.

The match format should be best of 5 and will take place at the Guild Hall in Preston - purpose built entertainment venue https://etickets.preston.gov.uk/WEBPAGE ... Block.aspx. However, even if a team gets to 3:0 the remaining matches will be played out so that should be 10 matches which will be played on two tables - one table for the womens match, one table for the men. Both tables will be in play at the same time. Two games of singles, then a doubles followed by the two remaining singles. The last international our league organised at this venue started at 7:30pm and finished about 9:20pm but neither the men's or womens matches went to 5 games so spectators should be in for a good couple of hours of competitive table tennis.

We know and understand that both Australia and the USA are primarily coming to Preston to practice and train prior to the olympics which is just a couple of days later so we as a league are fully aware that our priorities are to
a) put on a good international match (GB vs Australia) for the public and hopefully promote table tennis in our area AND
b) make things as good and stress free for the teams prior to them leaving for the London Olympics the day after the international match.

The GB vs Australia international and the USA team visiting also ties in well with this being Preston Guild Year (a once every 20 years celebration) and also Preston being European City of Sport 2012. It should be a great opportunity for the teams to get some good preparation at excellent facilities, and us to see international players practice and play matches at a top quality venue before they take part in the Olympics.

There is a lot of planning and organisation which is going on behind the scenes to pull this together, most of it done and lead by our chairman Jim Clegg with help from volunteers and the coaches and support staff of the teams involved. And the request to accommodate the USA team was a bolt out of the blue - a very pleasant one, but still a surprise and it's great they wanted to come to Preston to prepare.

I'll post more details of what's arranged as and when I can.

Wow, sounds like lot of great TT to look forward to!

_________________
OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Well, Team Australia have arrived in Preston. Tonight they visited our Table Tennis Centre - must have been a pain in reality having spent many hours in the air and still suffering jet lag but it was good of them to still come down and meet people on our social session night. I even got to meet and speak briefly to ttEDGE - only the second forum member I've ever knowingly met in person and something I should really make an effort to do more of. ttEDGE is taller in real life than he looks in video - mind you most people seem taller when stood next to me and was patient and easy going enough to have a chat with people from our social session.

ttEDGE was also kind enough to give me one of the new prototype table tennis balls so hopefully I'll get to film a comparison of 38mm, 40mm and the new ball. It definitely feels lighter and harder than the current ones. Now the meet and greet is out of the way our job will be to make sure the teams get to do what they came here for - practice before the friendly on Monday at the Guild Hall. Hopefully I'll get to film one of the matches but which one!!!?

Part of the US Team weren't able to be here due to internal flight problems with the weather back in the US which meant they missed their connecting flight. Hopefully they will catch up tomorrow.

Tomorrow is open practice 10:00 til 12:00 and 14:00 - 16:00 so I'll be going down to at least one of those sessions to watch them practice. In the evening Preston City Council is putting on a function for all Olympic teams who are using Preston as a base - including the Australian and USA table tennis teams. It would seem the life of a table tennis player is travel, hotel room, practice, social event, hotel room all mixed in with an element of diplomacy. Not so sure I'd be so patience as ttEDGE and the rest of the team if I'd just flown half way round the world and was now sat watching a "social session". Big thank you to them for coming down to "meet and greet"

Even more of a pity is there's some lovely scenary in this area with the Lake District 45 mins away, the Fylde Coast (where the British Open Golf is currently being held) 20 minutes away and the Yorkshire Dales about an hour away. Seems strange and unfortunate to fly thousands of miles and then miss out on the chance to see some of the local countryside.

Not quite sure where to post this but this but William Henzell's blog was filmed at Sir Tom Finneys Sports Centre where the Australian and US teams were practicing - they are some of our clubs tables being used, and were bought a couple of years ago from the English Open where the players there used them as their practice tables.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLtivkFYKkU


The high speed footage at the start is film I took at 210 frames per second. I've a lot more of the practice session with all the players but it will be a while before I get round to editing it down.

Tonight's the match night. Hopefully the spectators will have a good time and the players will get something useful out of it too.

ed. for some reason I can't embed this video.
[Edit admin: I can] Edit me: Smart "Alec"

Very nice! No trouble picking the spin at that speed

_________________
OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide