Tag: Table Tennis

Tennis The Covid Way In Noddyland, 23 March To 12 May 2020

This is an exciting moment in our tennis lives, as the Boston Manor courts are set to reopen after lockdown. Daisy and I are allowed to play again.

Have we merely been sitting on our bottoms biding our time? Have we heck.

When it seemed inevitable that lockdown was about to happen, I got ordering on-line, so a variety of tennis-oriented gizmos have been trickling through the system to us over the last couple of months.

The first manifestation of the “tennis ball on an elastic string” training device was not a great success. The base was fine, but the “string” was an elastic band and the ball seemed to be made of cardboard rather than vulcanised rubber.

It lasted about five minutes.

Fortunately I had already ordered some more robust-looking varieties which trickled through in early April. The depicted version is one of two we now have, using a proper elasticated string and balls that have some durability.

If you look carefully in the background of the above picture you can also see the other device I bought, which is far less fun but it helps you to work on technique. The ball is static but it won’t move the way you want it to move unless you apply, for example, top spin or cut properly.

Actually it is especially good for practicing cut. I’ll probably persevere with this device with my real tennis racket once we are back on the modern courts with the modern rackets. So my real tennis friends should watch out when (if) we get back onto the real tennis court.

As usual Daisy looks more elegant, stylish and (let’s be honest) balanced, even when playing with this elasticated string thing and its erratic bounce.

But it’s not all been about modern tennis in the back yard – dear me no.

We’ve played table tennis pretty much every day of lockdown and my game has improved quite a bit. Before lockdown, Janie was, for sure, better than me at table tennis and always had been.

By the end of lockdown, I think it is fair to say that we are playing level.

I filmed just over 11 minutes of our last match before the end of lockdown:

Unfortunately the camera runs out of film as the scores are about to draw level at 3-3 in the decider, so this film is only for aficionados of the game…well, not even for them, frankly.

Daisy and Ged might want to see it again in their dotage.

Some people might want to watch some of it for a laugh.

If by any chance there are Ogblog readers desperate to know how this match ended, we have a team of operatives standing by (Daisy and Ged) to provide personalised responses to e-mail requests, e.g. for the final score or even for a blow-by-blow account of the closing salvos.

Live Sport! Well…It Was Live Yesterday, Table Tennis From Noddyland, 6 April 2020

Yesterday I finally plucked up the courage to attempt some filming of the half-sized table tennis that Daisy and I have been playing during lockdown.

We had played six games, which had gone: Daisy, Ged, Ged, Ged, Daisy, Daisy. That’s 3-3 (or, if you prefer, I won the first best of three and Daisy won the second best of three).

Nothing else for it, a one game decider.

We haven’t really got the hang of us changing ends mid game, nor of the camera placement, but this epic final is quite a thriller.

It’s also less than 5 minutes long.

After the decider, we checked out a different camera angle which, with the benefit of hindsight, I think might be better for future matches.

I get a bit arsy at the end of the screen test for this one. It had been a long, hard day.

The arsy ending is worth the price of admission alone in my opinion.

There will be more where these movies came from.

World Miniature Table Tennis Championship: Ged v Daisy, Noddyland, 23 March 2020

Our World Is Getting Smaller With Covid-19

In the grander scheme of things, our sporting woes are small beer. But last week, on Tuesday, I played real tennis at Lord’s for the last time in a while. Earlier today we played lawners in an almost-empty Boston Manor Park, again probably on hold for some time, now that non-essential road travel is off the agenda.

The excesses of February seem a long time ago now:

Four Courts In 25 Hours; Boston Manor Centre Court, Lord’s Real Tennis Court, Royal Court Theatre & Boston Manor Court One, 8 & 9 February 2020

Desperate times call for desperate measures. When socially distancing and only going out when necessary, we’ll need to exercise and play at home for a while. I have ordered some low cost, high value gizmondry for the purpose, which should be wending its way to us as I write…

…but in the meantime we dug out the little Butterfly miniature table tennis table:

Other brands and other outlets are no doubt available, but click the pic for an outlet

We bought ours for a mere score, perhaps a score or more years ago. We’ve only used it occasionally and always enjoyed ourselves when we have done so. It is very small and very frustrating to play…in a good way.

Daisy normally wins at table tennis and I think had always previously won at the miniature variety. The speed of reflexes and balance aspects of the game play to her strengths.

Yet, strangely, since I started playing real tennis, my table tennis results against Daisy have been getting better. Would that also apply to the miniature variety?

Only one way to find out. We agreed to play a proper match, i.e. a best of 5 games, in which each game is won by the first player to win 11 points, and be at least 2 points ahead of their opponent.

Let the games begin

The first game was an absolute humdinger, which Ged eventually won 21-19, after being 10-8 up and having far more game points than Daisy.

The second game Daisy won 11-9, keeping her nose in front pretty much all the way through that game.

Ged won the third game 11-7, in fairly dominant fashion after the first few points.

Then Ged took the lead in the fourth; at 8-5 up Ged thought he had Daisy staring down the barrel, but as so often at table tennis, the winning line seemed to evade Ged as Daisy slowly but surely turned the game around to win it 12-10.

So it was 2-2 going in to the final game. When Daisy went 4-3 up in the fifth, Ged even exclaimed…

…why do I always find a way to lose this stupid game?

…which, with the benefit of hindsight, is probably not the right way to project one’s confidence in winning at your opponent.

Still, despite that schoolboy error, Ged then managed a little run of points and then just about managed to keep his cool and his nose in front to win the final game and therefore the match 11-9.

What fun. Not quite the real thing, but better than nothing.

Dinner at Zafferano With Jamil and Souad On Friday Evening, Followed By Little Tennis Next Morning, 14 January 2017

Ice Stops Play: The Only Safe Form Of Tennis That Saturday Morning Was The Table Variety

The headline is the diary note; the rest is delightful detail.

Jamil and Souad very kindly and generously wanted to treat us to dinner at Zafferano on the Friday evening. It would have been hard to refuse such a kind offer.

They usually like to treat us to Lebanese food, but they love Zaffs and we had never all been there together. Indeed Janie and I hadn’t been to Zaffs for yonkers, so it seemed like an excellent idea for a change; it was.

The other three were all talked into a delightful veal cheek dish. I felt a bit “vealed out”, having spent much of the midweek eating the most wonderful leftovers from last Saturday’s Daisy special – click here. So I tried a delightful roast guinea fowl dish.

Jamil and Souad are always both delightful company. Jamil likes to pick my brain and debate matters of political and economic importance; gently but shrewdly. You need to keep your wits about you when debating with Jamil; he usually sends the odd curve ball into the discussion, not least a playful tendency to do the devil’s advocate thing unexpectedly and see what happens.

Souad is much quieter but you can tell that she takes everything in. When she does chip in to the discussion, her points are always incisive, decisive or both.

Jamil is a very keen tennis player (proudly so despite advancing years), so we chatted about modern and real tennis – mostly the former. He had seen the latter (at his club, the Harbour Club) but never played it.

Both Jamil and Souad seemed mighty impressed that Janie and I intended to play tennis (modern variety) the next morning at 9:00. It wasn’t an especially late night, but we’d certainly had plenty to eat and drink by the time we left Zafferano and agreed that we should all meet again quite soon.

But of course it was too cold for tennis the next morning. I say “of course”, but Janie and I couldn’t resist going down to the courts just in case; it was borderline temperature-wise but definitely just below freezing and therefore still like an ice rink on the courts.

Only one thing for it; emergency rations on the outdoor table tennis table. We always carry the equipment in our tennis bag for just such an emergency.

Janie usually wins at table tennis, having mis-spent more of her youth on that game than I did, But on this occasion, I was victorious three games to one. Perhaps the extra speed of reactions and cocked wrist needed for real tennis has had unintended benefits on the table variety for me.

Janie doesn’t look angry, even though this photo opportunity came post-defeat.

 

London 2012 Paralympic Games, ExCel Centre, 3 September 2012

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Volleyball was possibly the most watchable of the sports we saw

Following our three days at the Olympic games for badminton, tennis and hockey, Janie and I were well up for our Monday at the Paralympic Games a few weeks later.

I booked a day at the ExCel Centre, as we hadn’t got to see any Olympic events there and I liked the spec. for such tickets, which was basically a confirmed booking for one sport at one time, with an open ticket to see any other sport that day, on a walk-up basis, if there were seats available.

We planned to get to the ExCel via North Greenwich Tube and then the Emirates Air Line Cable Car across the Thames. This was mostly an excuse to take a quick look at the O2 (at that point neither of us had been) and to try out the cable car.

Photos of our day, including the cable car ride and the Paralympic events, are all in this Flickr album (along with photos from our day at the Olympic Park in August) – click here.

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Weightlifting isn’t really my cup of tea in either its Olympic or Paralympic form, but this was fascinating to see

When planning our day at the ExCel, Janie had marked off several sports on the schedule which she hoped to see. I suggested that we manage our expectations, as I knew the days had all sold out, so I thought that the “walk up” element might be very limited.

As it turned out, the days had clearly been sold with a view to most people moving around and watching several sports. The stewarding was of the very highest standard, so that each time we asked a steward for advice, along the lines of “we’ve already seen volleyball and are firmly booked to see boccia later, we quite fancy…what do you suggest we do next?” you’d get a sensible answer and help to find a good event to watch at that time.

Very cleverly planned and executed by the organisers and stewards respectively. The upshot was that visitors all seemed to be getting loads to see and every event had a large crowd. By that stage of that summer, believe me, the London crowds knew how to make noise and enjoy watching sport; any sport.

Boccia; in truth not very watchable but clearly very skillful
Boccia; in truth not very watchable but clearly very skillful

So, we started off with the seated volleyball, which was very exciting indeed to watch – I’d certainly volunteer to watch that again.

Then weightlifting, which frankly doesn’t float my boat in any format but was fascinating to see in its Paralympic form.

In truth, the boccia was the least watchable of the sports we saw, but it is a sport that severely disabled people can play. Or elderly people; indeed a few months later my mother proudly showed me a boccia certificate that she had won at Nightingale, although she didn’t quite remember what she had played or whether she had enjoyed playing it.

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Table tennis, or, as Boris would have it, wiff-waff

We rounded off our day with the table tennis, which was very exciting and watchable. In effect we sort-of got to see two sports in this event, as some of the matches were wheelchair while others were standing. As with lawn tennis, the wheelchair version of the game is quite different from the standing version of the game; both good to watch, just differently so. We watched the table tennis for quite a while before heading home, very satisfied indeed.

We loved this day; it is one of our favourite memories of that summer.