Secondary British School's

Chris Griffiths and Ethan Lewis both were representing Ferndale and Wales at the weekend. Chris was in the A team with Ryan Oyler and Ethan in the B team with Callum Evans.
Ethan and Callum finished 6th out of 10 in the team event. In their group the played Jersey, England A and Ireland. The beat Jersey 3-2 (Ethan won two and Callum won one). The boys lost 5-0 against England with Ethan losing 9 in the fifth to the English number 2. Against Ireland it was another close match with the boys loosing out 3-2 (Ethan and Callum both won one). In the consolation part of the team event the boys played Isle of Man 3-0 with no sets being dropped by either player. In the 5th and 6th play-off the boys met Jersey again, who they beat before. The boys lost this time around the boys lost 3-2 with Ollie Griggs gaining revenge on Ethan and beating him 3-2.
Chris and Ryan had a 5-0 will against Isle of Man with both players not dropping a set. Next up in their group was Scotland A. This was a very close match with the boys winning 3-2. Blair Fowler won his two matches 3-2 and the boys both beat the Scottish number 2 3-0 so it all came down to the doubles, which the Welsh boys won 3-2. Next up were Guernsey B and this was another 5-0 victory with Chris dropping a single set in the whole match.
The quarter finals saw the boys meet Scotland B and the came out comfortable winners with a 3-0 win (once again no sets dropped). The semi final saw the boys face England A and the boys put up a great fight but sadly could not keep up the great results and lost 3-0.
There was a 3rd and 4th play-off match against Scotland A and Chris gained revenge over Blair Fowler by beating him in the 1st match to go on and win the match 3-1.
Well Done to Chris and Ryan for getting a bronze in the team event.

Next up was the singles event on the Sunday. Chris came out all guns blazing and started the day strong with a confident display to win his group, beating Ryan Courtie (IOM) 3-1 and Jack Bennett (ENG) 3-2. The quarter finals saw Chris meet Blair Fowler again and Chris again improved on his last result against Blair by beating him 3-1 this time. Chris then had to play Number 1 seed and England number 1 Helshan Weerasinghe, sadly Chris could not keep up the great form and lost 3-0. In the singles there was no 3rd and 4th play-off so Chris gained his second medal of the weekend.

Overall it was a fantastic weekend for both players and Ferndale. The boys will have learned a lot from this event and can bring back experiences gained to the Academy and help the younger players as well as themselves.
Well Done boys for a fantastic effort at the weekend.

Cippenham Festival

Liam Winder was playing at the above mentioned competition at the weekend. In the Under 14 Main event Liam reached the last 16. In the Under 16's Liam had revenge over the player who beat him in the Under 14's 3-0 in the group stage. He qualified for the Consolation event and reached the quarter finals. In the Under 18's Liam reached the last 16 of the main event but met the number 1 seed and lost 3-2. Well Done Liam in a very busy competition.

Message from Gertsen

Congratulations to Ethan Lewis and Chris Griffiths for getting selected for the British Schools this weekend in Lilleshall. The boys started playing Table Tennis with me 2 and a half years ago and it gives me great pride to hear that they are doing so well. Good luck to the pair of you and I look forward to more success stories.
 
It is also fantastic to hear that players I started back in the day are still playing and enjoying their Table Tennis, Charlotte Slye, Steven Fawkes, Jamie Walters, Liam Winder all picking up Welsh caps this season. Dylan Lewis, Callum Westcott, Sam Griffiths, Jaymz Tutton all heavily involved in com[etitions, fundraisers and so on.
 
Although I  have left I always look out for the Ferndale players names in tournament reports or through speaking to Scott. I think Scott is now starting to get to grips with the job and it looks like good things will be happening in the future.
 
Nothing would please me more than for Ferndale table tennis club to be in existence for many years to come!! I will also speak with Scott and look at visiting the club through the summer when you have a training day!
 
PS- Good luck to Cardiff City in the Championship next season; if anyone wants tickets to watch a premier league team such as Swansea let me know. I may be able to pull some strings!!
 
Regards
 
Stephen Gertsen

Fund Raiser Total

After a great effort from everybody that attended the bag packing day the result of the day is in. The total made was £333.54 and will all go to Ferndale Table Tennis Academy. Well done everybody who put in the effort for the day.

Morrison's Bag Packing

Saturday the 18th of June was the selected date of the Academy fund raiser at Morrison's in Porth. Not only was the day attended by players but a massive thank you must go to the parents and family members of players who came along to help out on the day. It was a great success with the money still being counted at this moment. Sadly not all players from the Academy could attend due to National squad sessions, illness and school commitments but overall it was a fantastic day. Pauline Fawkes did a fantastic job organising the day and once again has shown how well Ferndale Academy can run an event.

Steven and Pauline Fawkes

Sam Griffiths and his mother, Emma

Charlotte Slye, Callum Westcott and Dylan Lewis

Bag Packing to Raise Funds Change of Time

The bag packing was originally to start at 9am but instead it will be from 10am until 2pm on Saturday 18th of June. Players attending should wear Ferndale kit. Hopefully see as many of you as possible there.

Super Series Weekend Three

Ferndale had several players representing the school at the third weekend of this competition. This has a very high standard entering in both the Under 14 and Under 19 events with there being no easy matches.
The top four positions for both age groups were as follows:

Under 14's
1st - Callum Evans (Tonyrefail), 2nd - Jac Jenkins (Tonyrefail), 3rd - Stefan Jeczalik (Tonypandy), 4th - Caitlin Williams (Nantymoel)

Under 19's
1st - Charlotte Carey (Ebbw Vale), 2nd - Connor Edwards (Tonypandy), 3rd - Ethan Davies (Tonypandy), 4th - Chris Griffiths (Ferndale)

A great result for Dylan Lewis in the Under 14 consolation event as he played very well to win the event. He will be disappointed not to qualify for the main event but to go out and show that he was good enough to win the consolation event.

Well Done to all the Ferndale players.

UK School Games

To end a very busy weekend in Welsh Table Tennis an automatic qualification event was held for the UK School Games. This is a fantastic event and great opportunity to compete with all the best players from the UK representing either their county in England or national team for Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Charlotte Carey and Lewis Williams won automatic qualification events but the good news for Ferndale is that Chris Griffiths has been selected to represent Wales at this huge event. Well Done Chris and Good Luck.

TTAW Master's

Ferndale was represented at the Welsh Master's by Chris Griffiths. He was selected to play in the pre-arranged matches but he also played the qualifier to play in the main event.
The qualifying event took place in the afternoon at WIS. Chris played very well but sadly was unable to qualify for the main event but finished 3rd, losing out to eventual finalist of the Main Event and Ex-Welsh Senior Internationalist Patrick Thomas.
In his pre-arranged match for the evening he was drawn to play Ryan Oyler. This was always going to be an exciting match with both players playing fluent and exciting table tennis up close and away from the table. Chris showed his dominance from the word go and won 2-0. Well Done Chris.
For a full report of the event check the TTAW webpage.

West Wales Training Camp

On Thursday the 2nd of June three players from Ferndale represented the club at a training camp in West Wales. The players selected were Charlotte Slye, Jamie Walters and Josh Williams. All three players enjoyed the day and worked very hard. This was a great chance to train with different players and different coaches. A full report of the training day is on the West Wales blog (in the links section).