Northamptonshire currently has two players in the Top 10 of the England Seniors rankings, Chris Doran at No 4 and Tim Yarnall at No 9 , two players in the England U13s Top 10 with Sam Mabey at No 2 and Miles Chan at No 3, Nicole Bird at No 10 in the Girls U13s, and now we have a new rising star with Northampton’s Alex Ramsden reaching No 1 in the England U11s.
Alex began playing at Northampton Junior Table Tennis Club in October 2008. Encouragement and support from Maggie and Michael Edwards, Wendy Hancock and Andy Wood were a key part of his initial enjoyment and early progress and they spotted immediately that he had the potential to be a good player.
Alex enjoyed playing in the National Cadet League this year for Westfield B. As he improved, his results got better and ended with him winning 9 out of 10 of his matches at the last meeting. Alex then finished 2nd and 5th in the East Midlands regional heats in April (U11 and U12). He was invited to play in both events at the nationals in Doncaster at the end of May and achieved last 16 and last 24 respectively.
Alex has played in three 1* ranking tournaments so far, in two of them reaching the final in the U11 category, and in May this year at a 1* tournament in Grantham he beat Jamie Dignum 3-0. At the time Jamie was ranked No 6 in England at U11.
This year, Alex has won the Northampton Town Closed (U11), the Northamptonshire County Closed (U11) and the Leamington and District Closed (U11). He is also a very good tennis player and holds the Northamptonshire County Closed U9 title. He will be contesting the U10 title this year.
Alex is coached by Greg Yarnall who has already had success in coaching Chris Doran and Miles Chan to their elevated positions mentioned in the England rankings.
WESTFIELD TABLE TENNIS CLUB
If you are aware of anyone who would be interested in attending - especially disability day - please put them in touch with me or Alex Green. Can offer free places to support hardship cases. Please come along to meet Will Cooney on 26th Aug - you would be very welcome.
Elaine Smalley
HARBOROUGH TABLE TENNIS CLUB
OPEN DAY SEPTEMBER 11TH 2010
Harborough TTC will be holding an open day at their new venue on the above date from 10am till 4 pm.
We welcome all players and interested persons to see our facilities at
Langton Community Hall, Stonton Road, Church Langton,
LE16 7SZ.
The hall is situated about 5 miles from Market Harborough just off the B6047, if arriving from the south turn right just after the Langton Arms public house onto Stonton Road and the hall is the last building on the right. There is a large car park to the rear of the hall.
