Chairman’s report for the season 01-02
The last season of Jags Table Tennis Club has been an extremely busy and in my opinion successful one with many personal and team success stories.
For the first season in our history we had two teams in the Senior British National League and both teams finished in the middle of the tables.
During the passed two years Javad Ameri, our senior coach and the development officer has built up a strong juniors section that have represented Jags in the British and National Junior leagues and the National Cadet League as well as local and regional competitions.
Locally, Jags Senior A secured the Bromley league title for the second season with Jags B and C finishing in the top half of the table. We also reached the national final of the Ormsby Cup where we finished third, losing to Horsham and Progress who were this years winners.
Congratulations go out to a number of our players who have achieved successes throughout season on the Grand Prix circuit. Abdul Wuraola had a very good season being the band one winner and winning a number of doubles finals. Chirs Beckley was the band two winner with close competition from Our Simon Philips. Clive Carty did well in many veteran competitions. John, Pandus and Martin all had successes in their respective bands and have done the committee proud.
Jags Sports Club:
As you are all aware the swimming pool is now open and with it a lovely new reception area, not to mention a much larger staff team with some familiar and some new faces.
As you may have noticed building work is still happening and in the new year we should be able to enjoy some refreshments in the café after having a workout in the new fitness suite. This has meant that various temporary measures are put in place. Such as aerobics in the hall and limited parking spaces. I am sure that when the work is finished we will all benefit from what must be the best facilities for table tennis in the country.
Of course all these new facilities are costing a lot of money and therefore have a direct affect on the membership fee, which I know you are all aware of. The committee has negotiated a membership rate with Jags Sports Club, which will be reported to all our members soon.
Partnerships:
We have built up partnerships with South Bank University and more recently with the UK Chinese Table Tennis Association. There are benefits to our club in having these partnerships and as result of these some of our club members have started to study and have been given scholarships by the university. We meet regularly with representatives from these partner agencies and from the ETTA and discuss relevant information and progress. Any relevant information is then filtered through to the members.
Other activities:
Jags have hosted a number of junior ranking tournaments and Jags juniors have represented Southwark in The London Heathrow Youth Games.
We also hosted the Bromley closed tournament this season and there are plans to run more tournaments for the next season.
New development:
This is an exciting time for all of us and much of Javad’s time recently has been taken up with researching of a table tennis center being built in Dulwich College ground, which can be dedicated to this fine sport of ours. This has lead to confusions within the committee about our roles at times in regards to the present table tennis club and the future plans.
It is important for our members to support the committee and to take the time to read documents, notices and other information given to them by committee members. Yes we all want to play table tennis but in order for table tennis to be successful at Jags and possibly in new premises we all need to take an interest.
The committee is always happy and encourages members to bring any ideas or issues to their attention as we are here to represent you and if we do not do this, we are failing our task.
The future of our Table tennis club relies on the development of new players alongside meeting the needs of the already established players with integration of the two. As our juniors improve and develop, it is our role as senior members to help and encourage their development and recognize that in order for them to continue to improve we need to offer them dome of our time and expertise. This time was offered to many of us when we were learning the game. I would like to challenge all senior members to give up 15 or 20 minutes a session to start this process of integration.
Finally I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those people who have helped to establish and promote Jags table tennis club and a particular thanks to all those on the committee who have given up so much of their time, Good luck to all players for the coming season.
Your chairman
Marin Smith