I've had loads of handshakes over the last two days, maybe winning the county crown at 48 yrs of age gives some of you hope!

 Meanwhile, its rare to get a national press report that makes you feel good and bad at the same time, but here is one, taken from the ETTA British league press report 

''Speedwell Chesterfield did exactly as their name suggests - they powered their way through their four matches. Their best performance came in round 14 and it was a fitting end to the Season. Chesterfield demolished second-placed Elgre Draycott I 8-0 and seven of their eight wins were achieved 3-0.Even a player of Andy Wignall’s calibre struggled to make an impact. England no. 34 Veteran Wignall lost 12-14, 11-7, 6-11, 8-11 to Alice Sheng and 7-11, 5-11, 9-11 to the powerful Victor Shi Guang.''

No mention of John Malone and Alkisti Olympiou who both played in that match though, but the good news for them is that Adam Ellis the club captain has donated two Elgre Draycott sponsored shirts as a reward for their efforts, and playing at such short notice.

A fantastic turnout from Lincoln players, and all had a really good days TT.  The question most were thinking was how good was new Lincoln Player 'Eric' the Chinese player going to be, The answer came in the mens semi final, when he lost to Sean Ward from Grimsby, the player I eventually beat in the final, in what was a real hard to predict affair, the match ebbed and flowed in favour of us both, Sean took a big 5-1 lead in the 5th, but then I had a huge run of points to take me 9-5 up, and at that level, we don't often make mistakes, still, he's young, I'm sure he'll be winning when I'm pushing up the daises. I lost in the final of the mens doubles with Mark D, To Sean Ward and  the competitive John Hancock, and won the Mixed doubles with Lesley Keast, against Mark D and Alkisti in the final. 

The Vets singles was close, I had two match points against Mark D, and should really have sealed it, but I think my mind was on the Mens singles, Mark played well, from 2-0 down to win, so all credit to him, but I know what that feeling is like, Vets is secondary, we all really want to win the mens singles. 

I won the mens singles at the county championships after a 9 year gap, whooopeeee! More later....

Here's one of the better ones on youtube.  Notice how hard the smashes are and how different the forehand technique is from that of a sponge player's. 

This whole clip is fantastic, but have a look at the rally on 1 min 50 sec, he smashes alternately R/handed and L/handed, far far harder than it looks, because you need two sets of footwork.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOg0-4ltLIM

 OMG, then look at the left handed loopdrive at 4:05....