It’s that time again, when we peek out from behind our hands to see the damage done to our rankings…
By Katie Garner
Every year, the league games provide entertaining, challenging and extremely intense interludes to our normal club night play, peppered with stern competitiveness, eying up opponents, and wishing we were down the pub instead. We always anticipated that this season in particular was going to be a toughie – mainly because of the amount of change we have experienced this year.
Mixed Doubles Results Table so far
Firstly, with our Mixed Team. Winning Division Two last season was a complete rip roaring success that we had never even dreamt of when we started the season. Although completely thrilling and full of child -like glee, this also meant that we had to now take a deep breath, and embark the new season among the kings of Division One. Granted we have only played two games so far, with the majority of matches approaching now the new year has arrived, but I must confess that sitting last in fifth with rather a lot of zeros is a rather stark place to be. It doesn’t seem to reflect the fire of the evenings and actually looks very gloomy. We may be bottom, but we have a lot of games to contend with yet, and you never know, we may sneak a few wins through the net at some point – keep everything crossed!
Men’s Doubles Results Table so far
The Men’s Team has also encountered a vast amount of change in the fact that we have a brand spanking new team for this season. After much moaning and groaning at the end of last season, I took the squad by the scruff of the neck and picked myself out a new men’s team to go forth and conquer Division Four. I have to say, that right now, I am so incredibly proud of our men – I was literally jumping in my chair when I was given the results sheet and saw that our blokes were second out of five places, with only a single point between them and the division leaders. They have performed fantastically well so far, and I am really pleased that our new partnerships are doing the business. It’s been a while since our men have been this successful and it’s great to see them getting the recognition that they deserve.
Ladies Pairs Result Tables so far
As for the Ladies, for both pairs A and B, things have pretty much remained the same, just to keep some consistency for old time’s sake. Me and Jess have been battling in Division 1 and are currently fourth, only one point behind the players in third place. Helen and Liane are fifth in their division so far. Although this may not reflect in the tables, the standard of play among the ladies divisions is simply staggering, and the games have been of such high quality, and such nail biters, that it almost seems a shame to see it reduced to a mere black and white table, the mathematical block lettering reflecting none of the fire and drama that blazes across the court as we fling ourselves into positions we had previously only dreamed of.
In conclusion, the seasons are pretty much shaping up as I would have expected at the halfway point. The Mixed was always a bit of a faraway dream and we knew Division One would be difficult to put it mildly. We plan on giving the other teams a run for their money though, so it’s not over yet. The Men’s is fantastic, although I was quietly confident with my pickings for the new squad. I had high hopes for them and they have not disappointed me in the slightest. As for the ladies, I’m just pleased that our sheer exhaustion has not been in vain, and at least we are not currently in last place – although I know that any of these figures could change at any second.
Good luck for the remaining games guys – we’ll keep you posted!
