Welcome to another season of our beloved sport and the long-awaited first newsletter. The League handbooks have been printed and should be with the team captains by the end of August/beginning of September. The season officially starts week commencing 13^th September with the preliminary round of Handicap Cup (details later) with the league season commencing the following week (20^th September).

 

The good news is that no teams have dropped out and HRC have entered a third team. As a result the eighteen teams have been split into two divisions. Details are in the handbook and the proposed fixture lists for both divisions are already on the website prior to the new season. On the subject of the handbooks, can I on behalf of the committee and the league in general thank our webmaster, Colin Fell for another brilliant bit of work in sorting and printing the books.

 

ETTA MEMBERSHIP & PLAYER LICENCE

In previous seasons, each Team in the league pays a registration fee and part of this is then passed to the ETTA (English Table-Tennis Association) to register each team for insurance purposes. Effective from season 2010-11, every player who takes part in local league games upwards must pay an individual amount (Adults £5.64, junior/cadet born in 1993 or later£2.82). Once paid the player will receive a registration number that will be held by the local league to confirm that they are eligible  and insured to play in that league. It also doesn’t matter if you play in more than one league, you pay once and receive one registration number but both (or more) leagues must record your number. In order to reflect this change, Team registration fees have been reduced to £35 for the coming season. Players can either pay and register direct with the ETTA or their individual club can collect the fees and send off in bulk. I am aware that the Cheshunt Club are registering all their playing members through the Cheshunt league and informing Hertford when registration numbers are received. Similarly Hoddesdon are arranging registration for their own members. For all other teams, I will enclose  licence application forms with the handbooks for each team captain to arrange registration. I would urge you to ensure that the forms are completed and sent off as soon as possible to ensure that registration numbers are obtained and the league notified to update our records. According to the Team registration forms completed, we have a total of 98 players registered to play, therefore we need 98 individual registration numbers.

 

RULE CLARIFICATIONS

• To ensure that a player cannot change their bat during a match, the ETTA have amended the rules. In future, a  racket cannot be changed during an individual match unless it is accidentally damaged so badly that it cannot be used. I understand that breaking your bat over an opponents head due to an excess number of nets and edges does not constitute “accidental”!

 

• For all competitive TT, the racket covering should be of a brand approved by the ITTF. List of approved makes on ITTF website.

 

HANDICAP CUP

 

The individual handicaps for 2010-11 are on the website.   Every player registered has a handicap. Please note that some have changed since last year so it is important that captains keep a copy of the updated listings.

 

Preliminary round. w/c 13^th September

ALLENBURYS		HRC I
HRC II		CHESHUNT I

 

Ist round w/c 15^th November

HODDESDON IV	v	HODDESDON I
COUNTY HALL	v	HODDESDON II
ALLENBURYS/HRC I	v	CHESHUNT V
HRC III	v	CHESHUNT III
HODDESDON III	v	PRAMASTARS I
PRAMASTARS II	v	CHESHUNT IV
GRUNDY PARK II	v	HRC II/CHESHUNT I
CHESHUNT II	v	GRUNDY PARK

 

DIVISIONAL CUP

 

As last season, each division is split into two “pools” or mini leagues. Each game is a point and the two teams with the most number of points wins their mini league and meet each other in the final. Therefore, ALL NINE GAMES MUST BE PLAYED IN EACH MATCH. It is not like the handicap cup where if agreed the match ends when one team wins five games. The fixture lists for both divisional mini leagues will appear on the website and reminders of upcoming matches will appear on the website.

 

As always, if any of your team members wants an exciting read, let me know their email address and Ill add it to the distribution list.

 

Best wishes

 

Colin Bullworthy

 

Match Secretary

Hertford & District Table Tennis League