Willie’s 75th
Long-time club president Richard Williams, AKA Willie, turned 75 this week. A great party with club friends and food! Thanks to everyone who brought munchies and celebrated with us!
Happy 75th to Willie!
Club member news
Long-time club member Lewis Weinstein has died
Thank you Harvey for sending this info.
LEWIS WEINSTEIN
April 29, 1934-January 17, 2018
Lew was one of the earliest members of our club, joining shortly after it opened.
His friendly demeanor, and his constant smile made him a favorite to challenge. All challengers were comfortable on the table when playing against Lew. He improved his game through the years and added to it, incorporating a vicious spin return before he retired a few years ago with a shoulder injury. All who were fortunate enough to know him, will miss him.
There will be a memorial service tomorrow, Friday, January 19 at 3PM, at Beit Olam Jewish cemetery at 550 Old San Jose Road (Soquel). If you turn off of Soquel and head toward Soquel High School, which is on your left, you’ll see the Beit Olam – Eternal Home – Cemetery on your right.
Lewis will be buried in the Jewish Section, so go through the Jewish Gate, and it’s the section closest to the office building
If the weather is bad, a tent will be set up, and there will be chairs.
Oldest club member, Herb Rossman, turns 89
Happy Birthday Herb! We haven’t seen you at the club lately but we’re thinking of you!
Club member Harvey Gotliffe’s Olympics coverage
Check out Harvey’s blog post about the Rio Olympics with special mention of Santa Clara trained table tennis player Kanak Jha.
Steven Alfred is now the highest-rated SCTTC player ever at 2307!
Players, next time you come to the club, be sure to congratulate Steven Alfred who last week won the Over 40 years-of-age tournament in Fremont taking out the amazing Avi Schmidt in the process 12-10 in the fifth in the semis and then double-winged power looper Kevin Au in the final. This earned Steven $200 for first place and a new rating of 2307, the highest rating of any regular player at our club going back to our founding in 1991. Wow.
With Mickey Boyle’s Nationals Title last year and Charlie Aebersold’s highest rating of 2152, our little old club just keeps getting better and better! In case you aren’t familiar with USA Table Tennis ratings, the lowest is 0 points and the highest rated players in the country are about 2700 to 2800. Coach Jim reached a highest rating of 1825. Mickey is closing in on that. Most USA players dream of breaking the 2000 barrier, but it takes a lot of practice and focus and playing tournaments (you win and lose points based on wins and losses in tournaments).
Here’s a short report from the Alameda tournament, “Over 40 – On the opposite side of the age bracket events, we gave the adults a respite from the juniors in Over 40. Despite a few Warriors-inspired defaults (oops, sorry, they were all just tired after the morning events) the die-hard players who stuck around created plenty of their own entertainment. Steven Alfred, who came all the way up from Santa Cruz TTC for the tournament, played the longest match of the day against former Alameda coach Avishy Schmidt in the semifinals. Really, people were wondering just how many matches they were playing, but in the end they assured us that they only played one, with Alfred ultimately emerging as the winner, winning 12-10 in the fifth set. The other semifinal was much quicker, with Topspin’s Kevin Au overcoming Alameda’s Kock Loe in three close sets. Ultimately, Alfred’s patience was richly rewarding, as he beat Kevin in the final to claim the $200 prize. Kevin’s $100 check consoled him as well and we still got them home in time to catch the last half of the Warriors game.”
Way to go Steven! Thanks for bringing home the gold for the club!
Club member Mickey Boyle wins at US Nationals 2015
SCTTC member Mickey
Our very own Mickey Boyle brought home a trophy for the Under-1500 category at the 2015 US National Table Tennis competition in Las Vegas.
| Group 21 (Place) | Boyle, Mickey | Fong, Roger | Kelsey, Lola | Nam, Thomas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boyle, Mickey (1) | W 5,3,2 | W 2,3,1 | W 9,10,4 | |
| Fong, Roger (CA) (4) | L -5,-3,-2 | L -7,-9,-6 | L 7,-9,-6,-5 | |
| Kelsey, Lola (CA) (2) | L -2,-3,-1 | W 7,9,6 | W -5,9,-8,9,9 | |
| Nam, Thomas (OR) (3) | L -9,-10,-4 | W -7,9,6,5 | L 5,-9,8,-9,-9 |
All results can be found at http://register.usatt.org/tournaments/results.php
Mike Sturtevant wins at the USA Open!
Mike Sturtevant
Congratulations to Mike Sturtevant, who plays at our Santa Cruz club whenever he’s in town. Mike has been training hard and he played great in Las Vegas to win his first USA Open Title in the U1600 Over 18-year-old event in July. Way to go Mike!
Ron of Windmill Farm
Nice mention (and photo) of club member Ronald Donkervoort in Edible Monterey Bay magazine. I was a big fan of his farm’s strawberries before I knew he was a table tennis player.
2014 Sacramento Spring Recap/results
Club members who played at the 2014 Sacramento Spring Tournament
1200 C, Ethan Chen, Robert Feist, 6,7,11.
4200, David Yang/Scott Fong/Ethan Chen, Mickey Boyle/Craig Mitchell/ Robert Feist, 3-0.
Club member Herb Rossman injured
Club regular Herb Rossman recently broke his hip and elbow and is now in recovery at home is now back to playing.