Easter Sunday Training Camp

Easter Sunday saw 12 players travel to Ferndale for an extra training session. Not only did players travel from the Rhondda there were players who travelled from Nantymoel, Swansea and Gwent. The day started early for a Sunday and the first session (10-12) saw the group work on consistancy and then footwork. Even though there was a variation in standards within the group everybody worked incredibly hard.
After a brief lunch break the group were put through their paces with an agility test. This was no easy test, as the players found out. Even though the step ladder caused some difficulty for some players. The day ended with a competition to see who had developed the skills that had been worked on during the day. There was a main and consolation event that everybody played out for the finishing position, apart from the losing semi-finalists in the main event. Due to it being Easter Sunday the winner's were awarded with an Easter egg for their efforts. The final positions were as follows:
1 - Chris Griffiths, 2 - Max Clews, 3 - Ethan Lewis and Steven Fawkes, 5 - Sharlene Williams,  6 - Charlotte Slye, 7 - Jon Bisp, 8 - Kieran Parry, 9 - Jamie Walters, 10 - Josh Williams, 11 - Harry Langley, 12 - Cade Short.

Consolation and Main Event final being played 

Charlotte Carey

Overall it was a fantastic session that every player managed to get something out of and they shall hopefully attend future sessions. Thanks must go to the other coaches in attendance (Dai Treharne and Stephen Gertsen) and also Charlotte Carey, who came for the morning session as a practise partner and also had a little question and answer session with the players to show just how far you can go with hard work.

Ferndale Players Train in East Region

The 18th and 19th April saw Charlotte Slye, Ethan Lewis, Liam Winder and Steven Fawkes travel to the BATTS club in Essex to train with former Ferndale coach Stephen Gertsen. Ferndale were also accompanied by Nantymoel players Sharlene Williams and Gwyn Carvill and coach David Treharne.
The camp was a fantastic training experience for all players as there was a large variation in playing abilities and styles over the two days. This was a fantastic opportunity for the players to get in extra training against top quality players in England.
I would like to Thank Neil Brierley of BATTS club for all the hard work he put in during the training camp to accomodate the Welsh players (and coaches). Another thanks must go to the East Region coaches, Stephen Gertsen and Aad Kwakkelstein, for their hard work and running two fantastic sessions.
There are pictures and a report on the ETTA East Region blog in the links section.

Cheltenham Junior 4 Star

Ferndale had Liam Winder, Steven Fawkes, Ethan Lewis and Chris Griffiths representing the school at the above mentioned event. Report's about the boy's are that they once again gave their best at a top English ranking event with Chris going one step further in the Cadet Banded event than in Derby by reaching the final. The boy's will learn a lot from these events and can bring what they learn back to the academy and not only will they help themselves but also the younger players who will hopefully start attending these events with them.

Easter Sunday Training Day

On Sunday the 24th of April a training session will be held at Ferndale from 10am-3pm. With not many E3 sessions being held during the holidays this is a perfect opportunity for players all over Wales to train together and have a different type of session from a usual after-school. Due to the day being held on Easter Sunday the cost for it all will be just £8 for hall rental. If you are interested please email me to register your spot on the camp. The best email address to contact me on for this is ferndaletabletennisacademy@hotmail.co.uk

British Primary School's Success for Ferndale

Ferndale had two players representing Wales and the school last weekend at WIS. Charlotte Slye represented the Wales A team and Jamie Walters represented the Wales B team in the boys event.
Jamie was playing in only his second competition and found it very difficult, along with the rest of the welsh boys from both the A and B team. Jamie was thrown into the deep end from the start as his first match was against the number 1 seed and ITTF World Hope team member, Chris Wheeler. Jamie will now have seen what standard he has must aspire to if he wants to compete at a higher competitive level like this on a regular basis.
Charlotte had a fantastic weekend in both the Team and Singles event. In the team event she lost only 3 matches out of 10 and proved to be a very strong doubles player by not losing one match through-out the team event. The girls A team played very well and only lost 1 team match against a very strong Irish team to pick up a silver medal. In the singles event Charlotte qualified through her group in second place, this set up a last 16 match against her A team partner Faye. Charlotte lost out in the fifth set and played very well after being 2-0 down.
Overall it was a fantastic weekend for both Ferndale players but with an added bonus of having a medal winner. Both players gained valuable experience that they can now bring back to school to help their fellow team mates. Already this week I can see the renewed enthusiasm in both the players. Once again Well Done to both Jamie and Charlotte and lets hope they have much more success like this in the future.

Glamorgan County Result

This weekend Glamorgan 2 Junior team competed in Okehampton, Devon. The team consisted of Ryan Oyler, Alex Prosser (Tonypandy), Nicole Hall, Carys Webster (both Tonyrefail) and Ferndale player Chris Griffiths. The team beat Devon 3 9-1, Devon 2 10-0 and Devon 4 10-0. These results mean that Glamorgan will have two teams in Division 1B next season. Well done to all the players mentioned above and others that have represented the county this season.