News

The EK Shield and EK Open are both annual club competitions that were setup to encourage club players to compete. At the time our junior players had little opportunity to compete and these events enabled the players to do so in familiar surroundings. The EK Shield was exclusive to club members only, while the EK Open – being supported by EK Sports Council – allowed players to compete from schools and clubs in the South Lanarkshire area. Most club players gained confidence from competing in both events which meant they also entered other events out with the club such as WOS Junior/Senior League and throughout Scotland. Recently and in the past, I recall some great matches and big upsets in both singles and doubles events.

Club players gained valuable experience of playing in these matches and, in most cases, improved next time around. Many players acquired new skills in learning to umpire for the first time in a competitive match and gained a better understanding of the rules of the game. While I believe the players enjoyed both events, I think it is also important to recognise that the club coaches and volunteers gave up their free time to organise and support successfully events each year.

Unfortunately we were not able to host either event this year, but we cannot wait to see our defending champions defend their titles next year:

EK Shield 2019 U18 Jack Brown, U13 Diarmid McCreadie.
EK Open 2019  U18 Bobby Gray, U13 Diarmid McCreadie.

Hi everyone,

EKTTC Session 2 Tuesday 20th October – Stephen Gersten QnA
– Delighted with how our QnA went with Stephen Gertsen on Tuesday night.
– Fascinating insight into how Stephen’s career has developed and how he has continued from the age of 8 to love all aspects of the game.
– Next EKTTC Session 3 will be on Tuesday 3rd November 2020.
– Thanks to Chris for his support.

Stephen G in action
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcuOl0xHrgo&t=158s

Committee Meeting
– Thanks to everyone who attended our committee meeting on Thursday night.

Pop in and Play
– Unfortunately the unit allocated for our Pop in and Play in EK town centre has been assigned to a retailer.
– However we’re hopeful we will be allocated a new unit in the near future. We are keen to get this up and running now more than ever 🙂

Best Table Tennis Points Ever (Insane Skills) – Amazing
– When I watched these clips I found myself laughing at the incredible skill level which I agree is insane !!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_66SqLWwpk

Thanks for your support

Peter

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As part of our clubs development plan, under our vision is a purpose to increase table tennis participation at all levels across all demographics of our community. Although the club has a heritage of over 40 years as a local sports club attracting youth players from East Kilbride and the surrounding area, in more recent years we have grown to support new and exciting opportunities throughout the community.

The club works closely with South Lanarkshire Leisure & Culture (SLLC), which as part of this relationship the club has reviewed and updated its structure and has achieved bronze level status within SLLC’s ‘Club SL’ programme. We are also a long time affiliate member of East Kilbride Sports Council, as well as an active member of the local community sport hub.

Through the hub we have delivered sessions at many community events alongside other local clubs. Furthermore we have been part of programmes working with Scottish Sporting memories and mental health referral groups. More recently the sport hub has been helping our plans for pop in play, in addition to supporting the club to identify and engage with new demographics. Over the years we have also been fortunate to develop many school links, with a couple still going strong when things unfortunately had to stop earlier in the year.

The club are very proud to have a long standing relationship with East Kilbride Youth Disability Sport Club, whom we have provided sessions with for many years. These sessions are always great fun and many of our players really enjoy coaching and helping out, giving them highly valuable experiences.

As part of our planning and active committee, we are always looking ahead to new opportunities. Our ambition is still to continue growing and explore satellite avenues across South Lanarkshire where possible, whether this is a new branch of the club or through the pop in & play concept.

Join us again for our second virtual club night where this time we are joined by highly valued and respected friend of the club, Stephen Gertsen.

You may know Stephen for the exceptional sessions he has delivered at the club over the years, but in this session we will learn a lot more about his own playing and coaching journey.

With a vast experience playing in various countries and coaching for various organisations this will no doubt be a highly insightful session with plenty to take away.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/98561195682?pwd=Z0VKR1QzZmRnbG5VZno3Y1lVRWRVdz09

Meeting ID: 985 6119 5682
Passcode: 212997

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Luke Jackson has been a member of the club for over six years now and was voted into the role of club captain back in 2018. Luke has progressed and played all the way up to division one of the West of Scotland Junior League and has completed two seasons in our senior league squad. Many club tournament wins at various age groups, in addition to his positive attitude and personality make him a highly respected player and role model within the club. With it being the school holidays we were fortunate to have Luke answer a few burning questions of ours for this week’s blog.

How did you get involved with the club & why?

I first became interested in table tennis while playing it abroad with my family; however I wasn’t good at all. I hated (and still do) hate losing so I was determined to become better than my dad. When I came back home I went to training with my brother who had already been going to the club for a while. From the minute I started I have loved every moment!

What is your favourite thing about Table Tennis?

I love the social aspect of table tennis; everyone gets on with everyone regardless of their ability. You always have a number of people backing your corner during competitive matches as well.

What Junior or Senior League match have you enjoyed the most?

I couldn’t pick one specifically however the entirety of my first senior league was very beneficial as I seemed to learn a lot from older and more experienced players. After my matches my opponents were always willing to help me learn and improve.

Has your involvement in other sports helped with your Table Tennis (& vice versa)?

Yes. After playing football for several years I believe my confidence has risen and I can be very vocal in the table tennis hall. I would also say table tennis has helped me understand that many sports require a lot of strategy and tactics.

As Captain, what advice would you give to younger & newer players at the club?

Perseverance is so important when learning how to play table tennis. You mustn’t give up if you are unable to hit the ball or play a certain shot. Everyone has their own ability so don’t compare yours to everyone else’s. 

What are you most looking forward to getting back to when then club returns?

I can’t wait to see everyone at the club. There are loads of people I only get the chance to see when at training and matches it will be nice to speak to them. I am also eager to get back into senior league although I will need to learn how to play table tennis again it has been that long!

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“A ladder tournament is a form of competition for games and sports. Unlike many tournaments, which usually have an element of elimination, ladder competitions can go on indefinitely. In a ladder competition, players are listed as if on the rungs of a ladder. The objective for a player is to reach the highest rung of the ladder.”

At East Kilbride Table Tennis Club, we have made use of this format to encourage and facilitate competitive play on selected club nights each month. A new ladder is created for each tournament with competitors names drawn at random and placed on the ladder starting positions – this offers the opportunity for less experienced players spend a bit of time further up the board than they would normally be.

Competitors are allowed to challenge anyone above themselves on the ladder and must play everyone on the ladder before challenging the same player a second time. The ladder competition is timed and finishes at an agreed time.

They make for exciting nights and frequently deliver surprises right up to end of the session.

Hi everyone,

I hope you are well.

Club Night Restart ???
– Unfortunately we have had no indication from anyone at SLLC as to when we might restart despite our best efforts.
– We have done as much as we possibly can to get ready and will continue to engage with SLLC to get a rough idea of a restart date.

Tuesday Virtual Club Meetings  – EKTTC Session 1
– We will restart our virtual club meetings on Tuesday night 5th October at 7pm.
– The meetings will be on Zoom on the following link below – once you have signed in.
– As this is a new format bear with us 🙂
– Topic: Virtual Club Night
– Time: Oct 6, 2020 07:00 PM London
– Our first virtual club night will look to engage players back into thinking about the game both technically, tactically and personally.
– Peter, Euan & Chris will take us through some key considerations & importance of good basics.
– The session will be around 30 minutes long and will be discussion based, with the aid of video clips & information slides.
– Join Zoom Meeting https://us04web.zoom.us/j/73426421948?pwd=Ly9OS2dxakpiVnBPRjA1a3VWeUVIUT09
Meeting ID: 734 2642 1948
Passcode: tkRGp3

The Tables 15 min Documentary
https://www.my5.tv/the-tables

Ping Pod
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wprk5nnSz4E
– Could this be a TT venue in EK in the future?

Thanks
– Thanks to Euan who attended a virtual WOS League AGM on Wednesday night on club’s behalf.

Thanks for your support

Peter

Table Tennis Pop In & Play is a Table Tennis Scotland initiative aimed at encouraging participation in the sport. By establishing Pop In & Play venues in vacant Shopping Centre units, the concept allows for easy, accessible opportunities for visitors to literally take some time out of their visit to pop into the unit and play some table tennis.

In contrast to the unsupervised equivalent Ping Pong Parlours in England, Pop In & Play venues are supervised by volunteers thus providing opportunities to support play along with the chance to chat and signpost interested visitors to other opportunities to play.

The first venue was established at the Gyle Shopping Centre in Edinburgh in 2019 with East Kilbride originally due to be online in early 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted our plans but we have over 20 volunteers ready to support the venue as soon as we are able to do so.

Interested in volunteering? Send us an email to eastkilbridetabletennis@gmail.com Keep up to date with our plans at our website: www.ektabletennis.com

Multiball is a training system that we use to improve players at all levels. The coach, or other player, uses a bucket of balls to serve a rapid succession of balls and a player has to play a series of predetermined return shots. The supervising coach can identify problem areas or reinforce the parts of the players shot making that is going well. A table tennis robot can also be used as a multiball feed and both these methods are used at our club.

Players who are learners concentrate on improving stroke techniques and consistency while more advanced players work on improving spin, speed and footwork.

The coach can run video sequences of the training session and show them during a chat with each player to show progress being made as well as areas for improvement.

There is lots of videos showing table tennis multiball sessions on youtube and in particular the ETTA coaches video is a great example of a coach working with players during multiball training. We encourage members to keep watching, shadowing and we look forward to putting you through your paces once again soon.

The West of Scotland Table Tennis (Senior) League (WoSTTL) allows for our members to begin to experience playing against other clubs throughout the west of Scotland. The league format allows for home and away fixtures to be played against around 10 different clubs from October to May and provides our players invaluable opportunities to play against different styles and abilities in table tennis. The competitive yet social environment allows for our young players to develop life skills such as discipline, respect, and communication skills.

The season just past (2019/20) the club were represented by 7 junior players, 5 of whom were making their senior league debut. The fixture list was unforgiving at times with 9 game matches being crammed into a 12-week block between September and December and between January and March. The players deserve a lot of credit for the way they represented the club over the course of season and we’re all immensely proud and thankful for their efforts. We as a club believe we have built the foundations to kick on in seasons to come and this year’s team have inspired more club members to take part in the new season when it is safe to do so.

I even heard a few whispers that some of the coaches are dusting off the old rubber and shredding the timber put on during lockdown to show the young guns how’s its done. Watch this space!