Recent News

OCTOBER 2009:

On October 24, MdTTA will host a fundraiser for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital -- one of the world's premier pediatric cancer research centers. The fundraiser will run from 10:00 am until 5:00 pm, with table tennis events starting after interested participants arrive. All are welcome, including recreational basement players and folks who have never played table tennis at all. Juniors under 18 who participate are eligible for certain door prizes.

Participants can join as many events as they wish to pay for, knowing that all proceeds will go to support this very worthy cause. Table tennis events that use the robot can be played by a single person. The usual fee for table tennis events will be a $5 event ticket. The following events are planned:

* Robo-Pong matches: Participants play against table tennis robot ($5 for 5 games).
* Robot practice ($5 for 10 minutes of practice)
* Junior table tennis tournaments (not USATT sanctioned)
* Recreational players (juniors and adults) tournaments
* Jungle Pong - a fun multi-player game played on one table (takes about 10-20 minutes)
* Bake sale (throughout day)
* White elephant sale (throughout day)

SEPTEMBER 2009:

* Tournament results were added for recent Circuit and Giant Round Robin tournaments.

AUGUST 2009:

MDTTA ran a Table Tennis/Chess day camp during the hot, humid week of August 17-21, but the campers stayed comfortable while getting their sport and exercise in the club's spacious, air-conditioned room. A record 12 persons signed up for the camp, showing that the support base is strong enough to hold much bigger camps (perhaps 20+ ?) in Eldersburg next summer. In addition to training and individual chess and table tennis competitions, the campers enjoyed favorite games such as Jungle Pong, Brazilian Teams, Around-the-World, and some lively games of touch tag! The touch tag showed that a quick group of 10 and 11 year-olds can run the legs off an aging camp director. In the afternoons, Ed Record (former U.S. Open Mens semifinalist) hit with the boys and showed a number of them how to improve their chop stroke.

The camp table tennis competition was thrown wide open by the absence of two-time defending summer camp champion Patrick Komiske, who was recovering from a wisdom tooth extraction. Patrick was able to attend on the last day and showed that he would have been very tough to beat. As it was, just about everyone in the field had a strong chance to win a trophy. Fourteen-year-old Chris Davis started well by winning close matches over Adam Lin, hard-hitting Aditya Srinivasan, and tournament-tough competitor Jonathan Kronlage, who has won a number of trophies at MDTTA Junior and Novice events. However, fourteen-year-old Adam Lin, sharp from a week of table tennis in Gaithersburg, won the rest of his matches to take the 1st-place trophy with a head-to-head tie-break over Paul Komiske, who secured his third 2nd-place trophy in a camp competition! Wesley Dantzler, participating in his first MDTTA camp, showed well by taking 3rd with only two losses. Atticus Cooke, also attending his first MDTTA camp, took 4th on tiebreak over Chris Davis.

The chess competition was affected by the absence of Keven Lin (winner of the 2007 Summer Camp Chess Competition, no relation to Adam), who got sick on the first day of camp and was unable to return. Versatile Chris Davis took advantage of the opportunity and won all of his games to take the first place trophy over Aditya Srinivasan, who plays tournament chess and has won a library competition. Atticus Cooke took 3rd, the only camp participant to win trophies in both competitions.

The MDTTA Joola club and camps place a high value on sportsmanship, conduct, and helping others to improve. A major factor in China's great history of success in international table tennis is their strong encouragement of cooperation and team play. This is why the camp awarded trophies for sportsmanship, mentoring, and improvement. These trophies recognize qualities that are more important than winning.

Trophies were won by the following campers:

* Table tennis tournament: 1st - Adam Lin
* Table tennis tournament: 2nd - Paul Komiske
* Table tennis tournament: 3rd - Wesley Dantzler
* Table tennis tournament: 4th - Atticus Cooke
* Chess tournament: 1st - Chris Davis
* Chess tournament: 2nd - Aditya Srinivasan
* Chess tournament: 3rd - Atticus Cooke
* Most Improved, Table Tennis - Stephen Prinston
* Sportsmanship and Mentoring - Chris Davis
* Sportsmanship - Atticus Cooke

Pictures from the camp are posted on the website.

JUNE 2009:

* Information about the MDTTA Three Man Teams tournament was posted to the web site along with a downloadable flyer.
* The U-3200 Doubles event was changed to U-3400 Doubles for the remaining Maryland Circuit tournaments in 2009.
* Tournament results were added for the Circuit tournament played on June 6 and the Maryland Closed played May 31.

MAY 2009:

* Information about MDTTA Summer Camps was posted to the web site.
*Revisions were made to the Maryland Closed event information.