The ETTA encourages juniors who move from their local area to attend University to find out what Table Tennis clubs/leagues will be available for them during their time away.
Leagues are also encouraged to seek out players attending their local University where the University doesn't have its own TT club.

News Letter

As documented below, a request was made at the AGM to help with the fixture congestion that arises from the current league format. If you have any thoughts on this, please add them to the forum Here

The AGM was opened by Graham Mortimer at 7.30pm. All clubs were represented (after some of those in the bar remembered they had a meeting to go to).
Richard Goodhand gave the Secretary's report, thanking the Committee for their work. He said the highlight of the year was the Championships at the Corn Exchange, with quality matches fitting for the finals night. He thanked Jimmy Farrow for his effort in organising it and this was greeted by a round of applause by those present. People were encouraged to help clear up after next years Championships due to the large number of tables which have to be moved.
Richard encouraged teams to enter the Handicap Cup which had been relaunched this year, and spoke about the strength of the Premier League which bode well for the future. A negative aspect of this season was the number of unfulfilled fixtures, and stressed the importance of completing matches.
Players were asked to search for any trophies they may be holding as a number were missing.
A report from Colin Bennett was read on Suffolk Juniors, with Jake Collins highlighted as he will no longer be eligible next season having been a key player in the junior ranks for a number of years.
A further reminder was made to those present of the ETTA Rubber decision as listed below.
A report on the Kesgrave Table Tennis Club was made, todate £2300 of the £2500 loaned has been repaid in just under 2 years, with the remainder expected before the summer break. Richard thanked Steve Branton and his wife for running the club.
Although not expected this year, Individual Player registration looked to be on the cards in the future.
As a final note, Richard thanked Graham who was stepping down as Chairman (the tongue in cheek reason being 'old age').
Jimmy Farrow presented the Treasurer's report which included the Championship's report. 107 (or 45% of the league) entries had been received. The finals night had included the attendance of the ETTA Chairman and the Ipswich Mayor.
No changes were to made to the League fees for next season.
The rule change proposed by Pickwicks was discussed and although the cancellation of matches by noon of the match day were not ideal (some wished it to be 24 hrs), the change was felt to be better than the existing rule. The vote was unanimous in favour of the new rule.
The trophies were presented to the divisional winners and runners-up.
The Jim Kenworthy Trophy for the Most Improved Junior was awared to Darren Evans of BT Bright Stars for winning 77% of his matches in Division 3 in his first season.
The Doris Fox Award went to George Earle, a very popular choice on the night, for his untiring work in a number of local leagues.
John Leith was elected as the new Chairman, the Player Registration Secretary was handed over to Jimmy Farrow and all other posts were voted in en-block. Michael Wright and Aimee Sparks were also voted on to the Committee.
In the AOB, Jimmy Farrow and Bently TT club were thanked for hosting the Handicap Cap Final.
A discussion was held on the league format, see above.
The start of the new season is expected to be Monday 7th September.
The meeting closed at 8.45pm. Sorry, no photo this year, everybody suddenly disappeared into the bar after the meeting ;-).

An excellent day's Golf was played by 18 League players (and Guests) at the Brett Vale Course, Raydon. After early rain the weather improved considerably giving us pretty dry conditions all way round.
Richard Goodhand took the honours out of the registered players with an outstanding score of 39 points off his 12 handicap. Graham Mortimer achieved 2nd place with 37 points and last year's winner Keith Armes captured 3rd place on 35 points. 4th on countback was Mark Nowers also on 35 points. Our Guests' winner was Tony Nicholson (Brett Vale member) on 35 points. Also on 35 points was Robin Burley, with Phil Lown 3rd on 29 points. The winner of the "24 and over" handicap was Robin Burley whilst "nearest the pin" on the 10th hole was Tony Nicholson and on the 16th hole was Norman Goodchild.
After the event the Brett Vale provided everyone with a very satisfying "golfer's meal". This was followed by presentation of prizes by Keith Armes and Ken Rodwell.
We are looking for more Competitors/Guests for next year's event so if you want a good day's golf in enjoyable company please enter next year. We are probably looking at a Course on the east side of Ipswich for 2010.
Finally, Andy Warner almost persuaded me to give him an enhanced handicap over his nominated "22 handicap" but I didn't give in and just as well because he still came in with a good score of 31 points !! Nice try, Andy !!
See you all next year.
Ken Rodwell (organiser)

The following letter was sent to all IDTTL club secretaries...

Please note for the new 2009/2010 season the Treasurer proposes no increase in Player Registration or Team Affiliation, therefore Player Registration remains at £17.00 per player and Team Affiliation at £18.00 per team.

The following rule change has been proposed for consideration at the AGM on 21st May 2009, at Capel Library.
Concerning the cancellation of a league or cup match:-
‘Any team wishing to cancel a match must advise the opposition, at the latest, by midday of the day of the match. The divisional secretary must be advised in the normal way. Failure to do so may lead to the offending team being fined.’
We will be asking you to vote as a club on this rule. You will be entitled to one vote for each league team you had playing in the league at the close of this season. We calculate the vote entitlement to be as below and this will be the basis employed at the AGM so please let us know if you are not in agreement with these numbers.

Whilst writing, we wanted to provide clarification of the ETTA position on rubbers. Twelve months ago, ETTA recommended that English leagues allowed a 12 months cooling off period for any long pimple rubbers which had been removed from the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) approved rubbers list. IDTTL followed this recommendation as summarised in the IDTTL 2008/2009 handbook on page 21.
As promised, we have sought further clarification from ETTA 12 months on. It does appear that the direction provided by ETTA 12 months back was not correct, or certainly was misleading. We have been liaising with Colin Clemett, the ETTA rules committee Chairman, who has advised that for local league play, there is no requirement for a player to use an ITTF approved rubber, nor can a local league introduce or enforce such a requirement. Bearing in mind the recommendation ETTA issued 12 months back, this response came as quite a surprise, and we went back to them for additional clarification.

Essentially, any league affiliated to ETTA has to play its league matches within ETTA’s laws of table tennis, and these laws are totally independent of ITTF. This means that frictionless long pimple rubbers will remain legal within IDTTL and all English leagues for the 2009/2010 season. This advice from ETTA was brought about by a specific approach but we are expecting national guidance to be issued shortly along these lines and therefore other local leagues which specifically banned these rubbers 12 months back should be instructed by ETTA to reverse this ruling very shortly.
A copy of the email correspondence between Colin and the IDTTL has been included in your club's copy of this letter. Please refer to your club secretary if you wish to see the correspondence.
Note, this correspondence also clears up the question of bat changing during a league match, ie. you can do it as often as you wish, providing you show your opponent and umpire.

Finally, if you are playing in a non-league tournament, eg British League or County, you should check their rules concerning rubbers as these are currently played under ITTF regulations, therefore making the ITTF approved rubbers rule enforceable. If you have any questions on this topic then please feel to contact the committee.
We look forward to seeing you at the AGM.

The 2009 IDTTL AGM will be held on Thursday 21st May 2009 at Capel Village Library.
Clubs are reminded to ensure they are represented at the meeting.

The match day photos can be found at IDTTL
The Presentation photos are at IDTTL
The user name is 'idttl' and the password (lowercase) is the same as on page 13 of the handbook.

Who holds their bat like this?	Who shields their serve like this?	Was Richard driven to tears?
A improved photo merge, gives a good impression of the setting. Click on image to see a larger view.

The following people won prizes in the draw and Spot the Ball competitions.
Draw:
1st Colin Bennett
2nd Angela Stubbings
3rd Malcolm Collins
4th Peter Armes
5th Andy Dosher
6th Bob Jennings

Spot the Ball Winner: Jared Bones

On Saturday 14th March, IDTTL put on a display of Table Tennis at Ipswich's Buttermarket in order to promote the IDTTL Championships on the weekend of 21-22 March. Photos of the event are shown below.
Click on the images to see a larger view.

The IDTTL Championships currently run two age groups, Cadet (U15) and Junior (U18) for younger members of clubs affiliated to the league. It was decided to extend this to include an U13 event for league players and players being coached within affiliated clubs.
The U13 event took place at Kesgrave Sports Hall on Friday 13th March at 7pm.
A total of 12 players entered from the Kesgrave and Britannia TT clubs, playing in three groups of four, the top two from each group and the two best third placed players going through to make up the eight players in the quarter finals.
With just two hours to play a total of 25 matches across four tables, there was no time for slacking as players were kept busy playing and umpiring.
The Quarterfinals saw Eddie overcoming Natalie, Matt beating Joe, Ellis being pushed hard by Peter, and finally Kieran staving off the challenge from James. From the semi's Matt beat Eddie and Kieran beat Ellis, both beaten semi finalists looking good to challenge for next years U13 final as this years finalists will move up to the U15 age group.
The final pitted two team mates from Division 3's BT Bright Stars, and making his mark straight from the start, saw Matt take an early two game lead with a good display of counter hitting, and spin serves. Game three proved to be crucial with Kieran facing defeat but able to take the game 12-10. From then on Kieran forced Matt into playing a more defensive game allowing Kieran to win the final two games and the U13 Championship.
All players are to be commended on their level of play and the spirit in which they played.
It is hoped trophy winners will able to attend the finals night of the main Championships to receive their trophies.

Some of you may have spotted the new logo on the IDTTL web home page. This is the winner from the competition where entries were requested for a new design. The design will be used on new IDTTL trophies and all IDTTL correspondence. Thanks go to Sonja Talbot, Alan Pearce and Jimmy Farrow for taking the time to enter a number of different designs.

ETTA insurance cover for clubs affiliated to the Ipswich & District Table Tennis League. Page 1, Page 2.

Dear Players,
Having been in post as Regional Development Officer now for over a year I am encouraged by many of the activities that are taking place across the region. Many clubs are excelling in the work they are carrying out as volunteers, with minimal time and resources. My thanks go to all of these people that are doing a brilliant job at promoting and developing table tennis in the region, whether as a coach, treasurer, chairman or in any volunteering capacity.
I am writing to all players across the region as a plea for help and assistance in developing table tennis and increasing our participation rates. Table tennis as you will all agree is a great sport to take up when you are young, you are also able to actively take part and compete to a very late age.
Over the past few years in the capacity as a volunteer at my own club and during my time as Regional Development Officer I have found that many people are playing 2/3/4 league matches each week. As a player myself I understand those players that want to improve their game and get as much practice /playing time as possible. However, it is also very important for the future of our game for players to lend their hand in some volunteering work, so our fantastic game can continue with high levels of participation and support. The young people coming into our sport in some areas are very low and some, not all-local league numbers are dwindling. This is a chance for all those players that are currently not doing any coaching/volunteering within their club/league to step forward to help increase the numbers playing table tennis and to also play their part in beating the obesity crisis in Britain by providing physical activity.
As Regional Development Officer I am happy to work with a group of people/one person within a league /club to set up coaching activities for young people, set up coaching in schools, set up O'50's sessions during the day to bring back those players which used to play. Even if you are a player that would like to get involved in a club/league coaching set up that already exists. The top junior players are in desperate need for practice partners/feeders (no coaching required) from players in the top divisions, whilst the beginners are in need of feeders and coaches at a basic level so they can move into the league. For all the years of enjoyment you have received from table tennis here is a chance to give something back. You can be at any level or age to introduce/re-introduce people to table tennis. Try not to presume that other people will do these jobs for everyone else, the volunteers who are currently involved are very stretched and there are more activities, which need to be set up.
If you would like to get involved in some volunteering work then please contact:
Greg Yarnall on 07889152342 or
greg.yarnall@englishtabletennis.org.uk or let your local league/club/county know.
Greg Yarnall
East Regional Development Officer
English Table Tennis Association

• The following waiver of ETTA Rule (2003/4) 57.1 is to allow the staging of handicap competitions, hard bat tournaments etc. The waiver is not intended to cover the normal league competition, only an "additional competition". Under ETTA Rule (2003/4) 57.1 all Competitive Table Tennis must, subject to any waiver granted, be played under the ETTA Approved Laws of Table Tennis, which are at present as set out in this leaflet.

  National Council resolution dated 9th July 1994 under Rule (1994/5) 42.7.1, to remain in force until further resolution, states: "Any County Association, Local League or club may, without specific permission, organise and conduct an additional competition or competitions solely among its own members and players on a knock-out basis , wherein the normal provisions of the Approved Laws are varied in one or more of the following ways:

  (1) by reducing or increasing the number of points required to win a game, either for all players or differentially under a system of handicaps

  (2) by restricting the type of racket covering or by otherwise diverging from the normal requirements as to equipment."
  
  To answer Adrian Clarke's suggestion of finding a method to allow people to play 21pt matches without breaching the ETTA regulations, we find the above WAIVER quite restrictive:
  
  

  • We cannot run a 'league' type event, it must be knock-out.
    
  • The event must come second to the main 11 pt league - this effectively means that players must be registered and involved in the main league.