(from an email from Michael Johns today).
Per the Board of Directors of Essential Table Tennis – Tulsa,
Martin Ndengang has been appointed the new Treasurer for Essential Table Tennis effective April 17, 2024.
Congratulations Martin!
David Leonard, Board Chair
Sam Agbasi, Board Member
Nick Agimudie, Board Member
John Cai, Board Member
Tom Jourdan, Board Member
Orson Slater, Junior Board Member
Martin Ndengang, Treasurer

16 players. Reva Hayat (new - paid $100), Hasan Inam (new - paid $100), John Moore, Alex Tupas, Thang PI, Johnny McClanahan, Martin Ndengang, Abraham Kaprielian, Seth Jacob, Travis Flatt, Ray Pestridge, Suan Lang, Michael Johns, David Khai, Susan Phillips, Mike Hamby.

Joplin Table Tennis tournament was held today.
Alex Tupas and Martin Ndengang came in 1st and 2nd in under 1900 !!
(They won money also).
https://joplinttc.wixsite.com/jttc

14 players. Travis Flatt, Drew Cowan, Martin Ndengang, John Moore, Alex Tupas, Abraham Kaprielian, David Leonard, David Khai, Orson Slater, Suan Lang, Michael Johns, Thang Pi, Susan Phillips, Mike Hamby.

17 players. Drew Cowan, Ray Pestridge, Hamid Ezzat, Alex Tupas, John Moore, Martin Ndengang, Abraham Kaprielian, Travis Flatt, Seth Jacob, Michael Johns, Mats Johansson, Thang Pi, Suan Lang, David Khai, Susan, Jorge Marcial (new), Mike Hamby.

18 players. Victor Frischknecht, Michael Johns, Seth Jacob, Orson Slater, Hamid Ezzat, Suan Lang, Abraham Kaprielian, Tom Jourdan, Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, David Khai, Thang Pi, Alex Tupas, Martin Ndengang, Mats Johansson, Cameron Franks, Susan, Mike Hamby.

17 players. Ni Thawang, Ray Pestridge, Mats Johansson, Abraham Kaprielian, Alex Tupas, Hamid Ezzat, Robert Yang, Tom Jourdan, John Moore, Seth Jacob, Michael Johns, Orson Slater, Martin Ndengang, David Khai, Suan Lang, Susan, Mike Hamby.

(from an email Michael Johns sent out dated 3-25-24).
Everyone:
The United States Table Tennis Olympic Team Trials have just completed in West Monroe, Louisiana at the new West Monroe Sports and Event Center. This was a 4-day event (03-21-2024 to 03-24-2024). The event has determined who the Olympians are that will represent the US in Paris, France this summer.
You can watch key parts of the trials, including the final competition, on our Facebook page: Essential Table Tennis – Tulsa. (There are 4 competition tables and 10 practice tables.)
Currently, the US Junior National Table Tennis Team Trials are happening now at the same location.
It’s exciting! Check it out.

16 players. Ray Pestridge, Tom Jourdan, Orson Slater, Martin Ndengang, Alex Tupas, John Moore, David Leonard, David Khai, Hamid Ezzat, Abraham Kaprielian, Seth Jacob, Travis Flatt, Susan, Rusty (from Wagoner!), Mike Hamby, Ni Thawang.

21 players. Travis Flatt, John Moore, Tom Jourdan, Ray Pestridge, Robert Yang, Martin Ndengang, Orson Slater, Hamid Ezzat, Michael Johns, David Leonard, David Khai, Seth Jacob, Suan Lang, Jason Taylor, Thang Pi, Victor Frischknecht, Ni Thawang, Susan, Julie and her husband Randy, Mike Hamby.

15 players. Orson Slater, John Moore, David Leonard, David Khai, Tom Jourdan, Abraham Kaprielian, Hamid Ezzat, Michael Johns, Robert Yang, Seth Jacob, Travis Flatt, Victor Frischknecht, Suan Lang, Susan, Mike Hamby.

12 players. Orson Slater, Ray Pestridge, Thang Piang, David Khai, Abraham Kaprielian, John Moore, Travis Flatt, Hamid Ezzat, Alex Tupas, Michael Johns, Susan, Mike Hamby.

16 players. Martin Ndengang, John Moore, David Leonard, Abraham Kaprielian, Mike Hamby, David Khai, Robert Yang, Alex Tupas, Tom Jourdan, Suan ("swan") Land, Orson Slater, Thang Pi, Seth Jacob, Drew Cowan, Susan, Kelly Boyce.

13 players. Ray Pestridge, John Moore, Michael Johns, Martin Ndengang, Hamid Ezzat, Abraham Kaprielian, Robert Yang, Mike Hamby, Orson Slater, Seth Jacob, Travis Flatt, Victor Frischknecht, Kelly Boyce.

Ray Pestridge is going to the Sergeant Bluff, Iowa tournament on March 16.
https://sites.google.com/sblschools.com/sergeantblufftabletennis/upcoming-events

19 players. Tswj Zoo Yang (new), Suan Lang (3rd time out), Ray Pestridge, John Moore, David Leonard, Alex Tupas, Martin Ndengang, Tom Jourdan, Abraham Kaprielian, Jason and Ian Taylor, Seth Jacob, Travis Flatt, Robert Yang, Mike Hamby, David Khai, 2 new players (played mostly with Mike Hamby), Kelly Boyce.

13 players. Ray Pestridge, Michael Johns, Travis Flatt, Robert Yang, Martin Ndengang, Seth Jacob , Orson Slater, David Khai, Alex Tupas, Mike Hamby, Tom Jourdan, John Moore, Kelly Boyce.

21 players. Tom Jourdan, Ray Pestridge, John Moore, Alex Tupas, David Leonard, Michael Johns, Travis Flatt, Mike Hamby, Martin Ndengang!, Jason and Ian Taylor, Orson Slater, David Khai, Hamid Ezzat, Thang Pi, Abraham Kaprielian, Robert Yang, Ngin Suah, Drew Cowan, Nang Thang, Kelly Boyce.

11 players. Suan Lang, Nang Thang, Seth Jacob, Jason Taylor, Johnny McClanahan, Phang Thang, Orson Slater, Ray Pestridge, Michael Johns, Eugene Deverges (new), Mike Hamby.

15 players. Seth Jacob, John Moore, Michael Johns, Johnny McClanahan, Travis Flatt, Drew Cowan, Alex Tupas, Ray Pestridge, Tom Jourdan, David Leonard, Robert Yang, Thang Piang, Thang Pi, Mike Hamby, Lange (from Mira Mar).

12 players. Ray Pestridge, Okba Harfoush, Seth Jacob, Orson Slater, John Moore, Michael Johns, Johnny McClanahan, Travis Flatt, Drew Cowan, Alex Tupas, Jason and Ian Taylor.

18 players. Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Robert Yang, Alex Tupas, Tom Jourdan, Michael Johns, Abraham Kaprielian, John Moore, Mike Hamby, Seth Jacob, Jason and Ian Taylor, Hamid Ezzat, Orson Slater, Thang Piang, Drew Cowan, David Khai, Kelly Boyce. Other news: Drew Cowan has changed his hours at the Red Cross. He was working 10 hour days and was too tired to play table tennis at nights. Drew now works 8 hour days and may start coming our more.

12 players. Victor Frichknecht, Ray Pestridge, Orson Slater, Hamid Ezzat, Alex Tupas, Okba Harfoush, Thang Pi, Mats Johansson, Travis Flatt, Michael Johns, Seth Jacob, Mike Hamby.

12 players. Ray Pestridge, John Moore, Michael Johns, Travis Flatt, Hamid Ezzat, Robert Yang, David Leonard, Alex Tupas, Abraham Kaprielian, Orson Slater, David Khai (3rd time out total), Mike Hamby.

11 players. Victor Frichknecht (new), Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Hamid Ezzat, Travis Flatt, Thang Piang, Orson Slater, Alex Tupas, Michael Johns, Ibrahim Kaleem, Mike Hamby.

Joplin, Missouri is having a non-sanctioned tournament on April 13.
(Below is an email from the Joplin club dated 2-3-24).
Friends, Welcome to our 2024 Table Tennis Championship! We are excited to host you again. It’s going to be a great Tournament!  There are 8 Singles events available and YOU are invited to enter one or more to participate, and if you know someone who wants to play, invite them as well. This is a great time to brush up your skill in the tournament environment. YOU have the opportunity to win some cash for any events you compete in, as we are offering $1,250 in total prize money!
Send your Entry Form and Payment early to save your spot and get an Early Bird discount!

See you at the tournament!

Janus Lazarus
President
Joplin Table Tennis Club
joplinttclub@gmail.com
417-319-1441

14 players. David Leonard, Ray Pestridge, Robert Yang, Tom Jourdan, John Moore, Alex Tupas, Thang Pi, Travis Flatt, Hamid Ezzat, Mike Hamby, Orson Slater, Johnny McClanahan, Seth Jacob, Kelly Boyce.

The Bixby Club will start playing on Wednesday's only beginning March 1.
Also, the South County Recreation center will close at 8:00 PM (and close down permanently on Mondays).
The center director said it was due to safety reasons.

9 players. Mike Hamby, Michael Johns, Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, Orson Slater, Travis Flatt, Hamid Ezzat, Thang Pi, Kelly Boyce.

13 players. Stuart Southerland (new - used to work with Michael), Ray Pestridge, Orson Slater, David Leonard, Alex Tupas, Michael Johns, Tom Jourdan, Hamid Ezzat, Mike Hamby, Robert Yang, Travis Flatt, Mats Johansson, Kelly Boyce.
Other news: Mats is repairing the broken Butterfly Centerfold table.

John Knox emailed the club an invoice for our rent of the fellowship hall - which means the club is good to play there until the end of this year - 12-31-24 (after Dec 31 -  hopefully they will send us a new invoice for 2025).

14 players. David Leonard, Tom Jourdan, Michael Johns, John Moore, Abraham Kaprielian, Alex Tupas, Travis Flatt, Orson Slater, Robert Yang, Hamid Ezzat, Thang Piang, Thang Pi, Mats Johansson, Kelly Boyce.

14 players. Ray Pestridge, Tom Jourdan, David Leonard, Alex Tupas, John Moore, Orson Slater, Thang Pi, Hamid Ezzat, Abraham Kaprielian, Mike Hamby, Robert Yang, Seth Jacob, Travis Flatt, Kelly Boyce.

12 players. David Leonard, Tom Jourdan, Michael Johns, Patrick Thomas, John Moore, Robert Yang, Mats Johansson, Abraham Kaprielian, Hamid Ezzat, Travis Flatt, Marshall (new), Kelly Boyce.

Hamid Ezzat attended the 2023 Ping Pong Parkinson tournament in Oct 2023 in Austria.
You can view Hamid's interview on You Tube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUHT-2KtYiw
or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npYUqAXI3Mo

There were 300 players - 200 men and 100 women.

17 players. Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, John Moore, Robert Yang, Michael Johns, Tom Jourdan, Hamid Ezzat, Alex Tupas, Travis Flatt, Seth Jacob, Orson Slater, Abraham Kaprielian, Jerad Wheeler, Mike Hamby, Johnny McClanahan, Herb Brooks (new - from Dallas - working on a job here), Kelly Boyce.

2 new Butterfly Europa nets have been ordered and delivered!

14 players. Marshall Smith (new). Jared Wheeler - use to play at the old Bixby center (12 times). Thang PI, David Leonard, Travis Flatt, Tom Jourdan, Robert Yang, Orson Slater, Seth Jacob, Michael Johns, Alex Tupas, Sam Agbasi, Patrick Thomas (2nd time out), Mike Hamby.

MIke Hamby said 2 of the butterfly nets are broken.
Mike will try to repair one of them but the other one is missing a critical part and cannot be fixed.
Kelly will order 2 new Butterfly Europa nets (the same ones we are using now).
I would order from David Correa but his website - https://essentialtabletennis.com/store - does not have nets.
Paddle Palace sells these for $95. A Tibhar smash is $70. A Donic Stress is $70 (we have one of these now but David Leonard does not like it).

16 players. 3 new players - Paul Temshel, Nick Armstend, Patrick Thomas (they play at one of the bars in Tulsa).  Ray Pestridge, Sam Agbasi, Travis Flatt, Alex Tupas, Abraham Kaprielian, Hamid Ezzat, Tom Jourdan, David Leonard, Robert Yang, Orson Slater, Seth Jacob, Johnny McClanahan, Mike Hamby.

11 players. Tom Jourdan, Robert Yang, David Leonard, John Moore, Seth Jacob, Travis Flatt, Michael Johns, Ray Pestridge, Orson Slater and Ibrahim Kaleem (both took a lesson from Ray), Mike Hamby.

(From an email from Michael Johns dated 12-30-23):
Everyone:
The Board of Directors of Essential Table Tennis – Tulsa met on Thursday, December 21, 2023, at John Knox Presbyterian Church.
After discussion among the Board members the following due’s structure for membership in Essential Table Tennis – Tulsa in 2024 was approved:

January 2024 – June 2024          $30.00 (6 months)

July 2024 – December 2024        $70.00 (6 months)

January 2024 – December 2024  $100.00 (1 year)

or

$5.00 per play day

Please direct any questions regarding dues or other subjects about Essential Table Tennis – Tulsa to the Board of Directors:

Thank you –

Keep playing, spinning, and have FUN!!

John Knox - we cannot go into the Fellowship Hall until after 5:30 PM on our table tennis nights - Tuesday and Thursday,
per phone call from Joe Kovar - trustee of John Knox. 

John Knox - 14 players. Tom Jourdan, Travis Flatt, Sam Agbasi, Robert Yang, Brad Balmer, Abraham Kaprielian, Jason and Ian Taylor, Michael Johns, Alex Tupas, Johnny McClanahan, Jasper Ohlson, Zach Hendrickson (from the Okla City club), Mike Hamby. 

10 players. Alex Tupas, Sam Agbasi, Tom Jourdan, Abraham Kaprielian, Michael Johns, Travis Flatt, Mike Hamby, Thang Pi, Sergio, Brad Balmer. 

13 players. David Leonard, Alex Tupas, Ray Pestridge, Mike Hamby, Sam Agbasi, Abraham Kaprielian, Hamid Ezzat, Jason Taylor, Robert Yang, Tom Jourdan, Michael Johns, Thang Pi, Kelly Boyce.

Robert Yang is selling a used Viscaria blade with spinny rubber on it for a good price.
If interested, call/text Robert at 918-946-9031.

(From an email from Bill Lewis dated 12-19-23 for a non-sanctioned tournament in Springfield, Missouri on Dec 24).
(note - if you want a copy of the tournament - email EpcotMagic@aol.com.
Greetings table tennis fanatics!!
"Invitational Only" tournament.   December 24, 2023.  
O'Reilly-Tefft gymnasium: Springfield, Missouri.  
This non-sanctioned event is on a . . . "first come first serve" . . . basis.
First 24 respondents are slotted in Giant Round Robin.  
Open Doubles also slots 24.  
Tourney handles: 24 to 36.
This tournament is time sensitive so please respond quickly if you plan to attend.
With the above in mind and to enter, fill out the attachment which is a Microsoft Word document.
Then.  Follow the contained instructions.  (This email's going to 71 players - so - be the first to enter.)
I think this is a good way to wring out the old year while also welcoming in the new and have spending cash.
Thanks so much and we look forward to hearing from you.
- Bill Lewis -

Bill Lewis
3818 S. Farm Rd. 103
Brookline,  Missouri     65619
President: Ozarks Table Tennis Club
USATT C.R. CU. T.D. & Safe Sport Certified
Club site: www.OzarksTableTennisClub.net
(Cell)  417.493.6259

8 players. 3 new players - Clayton Ming, Josh Cook (played at a club in Australia), Thang Piang. Also, Mo Luqman (last time out was 2-22-22), Seth Jacob, Travis Flatt, Michael Johns, Mike Hamby. 

9 players. Ray Pestridge, Tom Jourdan, Sam Agbasi, Robert Yang, Hamid Ezzat, Michael Johns, David Leonard, Thang Pi, Mike Hamby.

(from an email from Alex and Michael dated 12-12-23):
Everyone:
During regular play on Monday, December 11, 2023 @ 6:30 PM, at the South County Recreation Center (13800 S. Peoria Avenue, Bixby, OK  74008), a meeting of Essential Table Tennis – Tulsa members present was called to nominate and elect the Board of Directors.
By unanimous vote, the following people were nominated and elected to the Board of Directors (listed by alphabetical order of last name):
Sam Agbasi

Nick Agimudie

John Cai

Tom Jourdan

David Leonard

Orson Slater        (Junior Board Member)

John D. Moore, Treasurer

Jeff Miller, LLM, (Non-Board Member, Resident, Montereau Retirement Community), Consultant, Senior Program

The Board of Directors will choose their Chair.

John Knox - 7 players. Jason Taylor, Ray Pestridge, Johnny McClanahan, Drew Cowan, Travis Flatt, Mike Hamby, Thang Piang (new). 

12 players. Alex Tupas, Sam Agbasi, Tom Jourdan, David Leonard, Abraham Kaprielian, Ray Pestridge, John Moore, Michael Johns, Travis Flatt, Hamid Ezzat, Robert Yang, Mike Hamby.

6 players - Ray Pestridge, Travis Flatt, Orson Slater, Michael Johns, Mike Hamby, Drew Cowan.

John Knox - 11 players. Travis Flatt, Tom Jourdan, Orson Slater, Ray Pestridge, Michael Johns, Jason and Ian Taylor, Alex Tupas, Hamid Ezzat, Thang Pi, Mike Hamby.

John Knox - 11 players. Robert Yang, Michael Johns, Ray Pestridge, Drew Cowan, David Leonard, Tom Jourdan, Sam Agbasi, Travis Flatt, Christian Reed (just visiting from out of town), Kyle Spence (just visiting from out of town), Mike Hamby.

John Knox - 12 players. Sam Agbasi, Okba Harfoush, Hamid Ezzat, Ray Pestridge, Travis Flatt, Orson Slater, Tom Jourdan, Jesper Ohlson (back from Purdue College for the summer. He tried out for Purdue's table tennis team but didn't get in), Cody West, Abraham Kaprielian, Robert Yang, Mike Hamby.

John Knox - 13 players. Travis Flatt, Michael Johns, Tom Jourdan, Hamid Ezzat, Orson Slater, Alex Tupas, David Leonard, Okba Harfoush, Cameron Franks, Abraham Kaprielian,  Sam Agbasi, Thang Sum, Mike Hamby.

John Knox - 10 players. Jason and Ian Taylor, Tom Jourdan, Travis Flatt, Abraham Kaprielian, Michael Johns, Ray Pestridge, Orson Slater, Cody West, Mike Hamby.

John Knox - 9 players. Ray Pestridge, Travis Flatt, Tom Jourdan, Sam Agbasi (paid $100!), Alex Tupas, Hamid Ezzat, Orson Slater, Abraham Kaprielian, Mike Hamby.

John Knox - 12 players. Cody West, Michael Johns, Orson Slater, Okba Harfoush, Cameron Franks, Travis Flatt, Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, Cullin Tupas, Tully Cockerham, Rich Herncsy (just in town working), Mike Hamby.

John Knox - 13 players. Ray Pestridge, Mike Hamby, Michael Johns, David Leonard, Alex Tupas, Orson Slater, Hamid Ezzat, Tom Jourdan, Sam Agbasi, Johnny McClanahan, Travis Flatt, Abraham Kaprielian, Kelly Boyce. 

John Knox - no players (Halloween night).

John Knox - 15 players. Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, Michael Johns, David Leonard, Robert Yang, Thang Sum, Tom Jourdan, Mats Johansson, Hamid Ezzat, Travis Flatt, Sam Agbasi, John Moore, Mike Hamby, Johnny McClanahan, Kelly Boyce.
Other news: there is a Senior Tournament in Oklahoma City this weekend that Hamid and Ray are going to.

John Knox - 8 players. Ray Pestridge, Michael Johns, Orson Slater, Okba Harfoush, Cameron Franks, Cody West, Thang Sum, Mike Hamby.

John Knox - 14 players. David Leonard, Alex Tupas, Dave Smith (from Washington - just visiting for 1 week - comes in usually once a year), Sam Smithy (used to play at Brad Balmer's club), Travis Flatt, Abraham Kaprielian, Thang Pi, Tom Jourdan, Mike Hamby, Hamid Ezzat, Sam Agbasi, Okba Harfoush, Michael Johns, Kelly Boyce. Also, 2 people who just watched.

John Knox - 6 players. Cody West, Seth Jacob, Travis Flatt, Jason and Ian Taylor, Mike Hamby (Michael Johns and Orson Slater came by but did not play).

John Knox - 13 players. Abraham Kaprielian, Michael Johns, Alex Tupas, Thang Pi, Travis Flatt, Seth Jacob, Tom Jourdan, Hamid Ezzat, Cameron Franks, Robert Yang (paid $20), Jason and Ian Taylor, Mike Hamby. 

John Knox - 11 players. Seth Jacob, Michael Johns, Orson Slater, Hamid Ezzat, Mike Hamby, Jason and Ian Taylor, Sean Curtis (who brought 3 players from his work - Gilbert Fernandez, Carlos Perez, Eduardo Lopez.

John Knox - 10 players. Alex Tupas, Tom Jourdan, Travis Flatt, Michael Johns, Orson Slater, Seth Jacob, Thang Pi, Abraham Kaprielian, Sam Agbasi, Mike Hamby.

John Knox - 2 players. Mike Hamby, Cody West.

John Knox - 16 players. Seth Jacob, Cody West, Travis Flatt (paid $20), Alex Tupas, Tom Jourdan, Abraham Kaprielian, John Moore, David Leonard, Sam Agbasi, Robert Yang, Thang Pi, Drew Cowan, Landon and Jeff Martinson, Mike Hamby, Michael Johns.

John Knox - 7 players. Orson Slater, Seth Jacob, Michael Johns, Cody West, Travis Flatt, Sam Agbasi, Mike Hamby.

John Knox - 13 players. Alex Tupas, Abraham Kaprielian, Travis Flatt, David Leonard, Michael Johns, Tom Jourdan, Seth Jacob, Orson Slater, Jason and Ian Taylor, John Moore, Sam Agbasi, Mike Hamby.

John Knox - 12 players. Drew Cowan, Orson Slater, Sam Agbasi, Alex Tupas, Michael Johns, Tom Jourdan, Hamid Ezzat, Abraham Kaprielian, Jason and Ian Taylor, Cody West, Mike Hamby.

John Knox - no info. Mike did not play.

John Knox - 6 players. Mike Hamby, Abraham Kaprielian, Michael Johns, Orson Slater, Jason and Ian Taylor,

John Knox - 14 players. Mike Hamby, Michael Johns, Alex Tupas, David Leonard, Hamid Ezzat, Thang Pi, Sam Agbasi, Brian Flinn, Orson Slater, Travis Flatt, Seth Jacob, Abraham Kaprielian, Landon Martinson, Kelly Boyce. 

John Knox - 14 players. Alex Tupas, Michael Johns, David Leonard, Orson Slater, Robert Yang, Abraham Kaprielian, Okba Harfoush, Sam Agbasi, Hamid Ezzat, Johnny McClanahan, Travis Flatt, Jason and Ian Taylor, Mike Hamby.

John Knox - 18 players. Hamid Ezzat (paid $100), Sam Agbasi, Abraham Kaprielian, Jason and Ian Taylor, Orson Slater, Mats Johansson, Alex Tupas, Travis Flatt, Michael Johns, Cody West, Mike Hamby, Robert Yang, Thang Pi, Landon Martinson, Brian Flinn, Johnny McClanahan, Kelly Boyce.

Here is a You Tube link that Bob Petty emailed about the 2023 Senior Games in Pittsburg, Pa (that Ray Pestridge attended and won 2 gold and 1 silver). The video is made of still pics:  https://youtu.be/_Z411rnVnzw
From the email: Hi Everybody,
Here is a video of the Table Tennis competition (plus 2 other sports) at the 2023 National Senior Games in Pittsburgh.  The video was shot by William Robbins. Bob Petty

John Knox - 10 players. Michael Johns, Travis Flatt, Ray Pestridge, Jason Taylor, Ian Taylor, Ibrahim Kaleem, Sam Agbasi, Robert Yang, Abraham Kaprielian, Hamid Ezzat. 

John Knox - 22 players. Robert Yang, Mike Hamby, Michael Johns, Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, John Moore, Jason Taylor, Ian Taylor (Jason's son), Alex Tupas, Thang Pi, Thang Sum, Orson Slater, Travis Flatt, Abraham Kaprielian, Ibrahim Abou-Hamad, Hamid Ezzat, Sam Agbasi, Brian Flinn, Jeff Martinson, Landon Martinson, David Khai, Kelly Boyce.

John Knox - 14 players. Chuy Sacarro (new), Cody West (paid $100!), Michael Johns, Ray Pestridge, Orson Slater, Jason Taylor, Alex Tupas, Okba Harfoush, Sam Agbasi, Abraham Kaprielian, Seth Jacob, Hamid Ezzat, Ibrahim Kaleem, Mike Hamby.

John Knox - 16 players. Cody West, Okba Harfoush, Kendra (his girl friend - just watched), Alex Tupas, Hamid Ezzat, Tom Jourdan, Abraham Kaprielian, Orson Slater, Travis Flatt, Randy Brooks, Brian Flinn, Michael Johns, Landon Martinson, Jeff Martinson (the dad), Kelly Boyce, Mike Hamby.
Other news: Hamid is planning on going to a tournament in Austria (the country).

John Knox - 11 players. Landon Martinson (new mostly), Brian Flinn, Sean Curtis (knows Brian), Tom Jourdan, Hamid Ezzat, David Leonard, Sam Agbasi, Orson Slater, Ray Pestridge, Tom Hillis, Mike Hamby.

Ray Pestridge won 2 gold and 1 silver at the National Senior Games in Pittsburg, PA (around the week of July 17)!

David Correa will be bringing more tables and barriers to the Bixby club on Monday - 7-17-23.
He is also bringing Logan Watson (rating 2126).

John Knox club - If anyone is interested in joining the John Knox Church (not the club, but the church itself) please contact Mike Hamby or Kelly Boyce. Drew Cowan is a member of the church if anyone has any questions. 

Bixby Essential club -  David Correa is bringing more tables and barriers on Monday.
He purchased them at the National Championships.
He will also bring some Okla City players with him on Monday (if it doesn't rain that day).

Michael Johns is currently at the 2023 US National Club Team championships in Ft Worth!

Bixby Essential Club - opening night tonight had more players than expected.
The gym was a perfect place to play table tennis.
Great lighting, wood floor, lots of room, good air conditioning.
In the future, this club website will no longer post the names or numbers of the players that come out. 

Bixby Essential club - opening night will be Monday - 7-3-23!
Club opens at 4:30 PM in the big gym.
South County Recreation Center:
13800 South Peoria Ave, Bixby, Ok. 74008

Bixby Essential Club - the tables were moved this morning from the old Bixby club to South County Recreation Center on 138th and Peoria.
David Correa brought a truck from Oklahoma City to help with the move.
David also brought 2 Butterfly Centerfold 25 tables and talked with the center director (in addition to other useful things).

John Knox - 10 players.  Ray Pestridge, Abraham Kaprielian, Mike Hamby, Orson Slater, Irene Ezzat, Hamid Ezzat, Sam Agbasi, Obaid Khan, Kelly Boyce, Michael Johns.
Other news: Ray Pestridge will be going to the National Senior Games in Pittsburg, Pa around July 15.

(From an email from Shane Spicer dated 6-25-23):
Hello Friends!
A lot has happened over the past couple of months, so I would like to clarify the status of the club.
On 6/12/23, 12 players met at the Bixby Community Center.
The principal discussion was the future of the club in Bixby since Kelly Boyce, President of the Tulsa Table Tennis Club, indicated he will not be playing in Bixby any longer.
Without elaborating on all the discussion, the conclusion was that the Bixby group would separate from the Tulsa Table Tennis Club and form its own group.
It will be called Essential Table Tennis -Tulsa.
It will be a separate group from the Tulsa Club, will have its own bank account, and will manage itself.
We do NOT want this to become an US/THEM situation.
We all play table tennis, and we are there to have fun and grow the sport.
All Tulsa Club members are welcome and encouraged to play at the new location.  
The Tulsa Table Tennis Club will continue to play at John Knox and the President remains Kelly Boyce.
All questions regarding the Tulsa John Knox Club should be directed at Kelly.

Three officers were elected along with advisors:

Interim President – Shane Spicer - shanespicer@yahoo.com

Interim Treasurer – John Moore - johndmoore987@yahoo.com

Interim Secretary – Jonathan Kerfoot - Jonathan.kerfoot@cox.net

Advisors – Alex Tupas & Michael Johns - seedsact@aol.com & michaeljohns1957@yahoo.com

NOTE: The president, treasurer, and secretary will oversee the group and will make all final decisions regarding the club. Any questions regarding the group should be directed to the officers.

On Thursday, June 29, 2023, the Bixby group will move the equipment to the South County Recreation Center, also in Bixby. The first day of play will be Monday, July 3, 2023, from 4:30 PM to 8:30 PM (the center closes at 9 PM).

The address and play dates and times:

South County Recreation Center

13800 S. Peoria Avenue

Bixby, OK  74008

Monday        4:30 PM to 8:30 PM

Wednesday 4:30 PM to 8:30 PM

One of the nights we will play in the gymnasium. The other night will be in three rooms that open into one large room.



South County Rec Center will charge an admission fee to enter the building. The charges are as follows:

$1.00 per person or

$12.00 for a 15-punch card or

$24.00 for a 30-punch card

The club is also required to pay the center 20% of the club dues per year.



Dues for Essential Table Tennis:

$40 per year, which will be due 1/1, but payable by 1/31.

If someone joins after January, dues will be prorated.

$5 for walk-ins

We encourage everyone to come check out South County.  It is phenomenal!   The Bixby group is excited about moving to the new center and having a new home.

Regards,

Shane Spicer

Interim President

Essential Table Tennis - Tulsa

John Knox - no info yet

Bixby - no info

John Knox - power out probably thru thursday - per drew.

Bixby - no info (power maybe out at center)

Bixby - The club elected officers on Monday. Shane Spicer was elected President (Mr. President as he likes to be called). John Moore was Treasury, Jon Kerfoot was Secretary, John Cai was event coordinator (or something like this).
Congratulations to the new officers representing the Bixby South Regional Recreation Center (on 138th and Peoria started July 1.  

John Knox - 15 players. Josh Simmons, Ray Pestridge, Ibrahim Hamad, Abraham Kaprielian, Tom Hillis, Tom Jourdan, Michael Johns, Seth Jacob, Orson Slater, Cameron Franks, Travis Flatt, Dylan Garland, Mats Johansson, Obaid Khan (new), Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - no info yet

Tuesday - 10 players. Tom Hillis, Tom Jourdan, Seth Jacob, Mats Johansson, Dylan Garland, David Leonard, Cameron Franks, Hamid Ezzat, Ibrahim Hamad, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 12 players. Alex Tupas, Michael Johns, Thang PI, Shane Spicer, Ibrahim Kaleem, Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, John Moore, Madhu Koduri, Mauricio Oviedo, John Cai, Jon Kerfoot.

Kyle Sanchez's memorial will be held next Friday in Owasso at 10:00 am at Mowerys.
There will not be a viewing (cremation will be done).

John Knox - 9 players. Abraham Kaprielian, Ibrahim Hamad, Seth Jacob, Orson Slater, Tom Jourdan, Travis Flatt (paid $20), Dylan Garland, Mats Johansson, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 5 players. Jon Kerfoot, Thang Pi, David Leonard, Michael Johns, John Cai.

John Knox - 14 players. Drew Cowan, Michael Johns, Orson Slater, Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, Hamid Ezzat, Tom Hillis, Dylan Garland, Mats Johansson, Mike Hamby, Sammi Mohammed, Cameron Franks, Seth Jacobs, Ibrahim Abou Hamad.

Bixby - 13 players. John Cai, Michael Johns, Alex Tupas, Tom Jourdan, Mauricio Oviedo, Tully Cockerham, Ibrahim Kaleem, Madhu Koduri, David Leonard, John Moore, Jon Kerfoot, Ray Pestridge, Peter Thang.

Kyle Sanchez, an off-and-on member of the club since 1976, died Saturday.
Kyle's son called Hamid and told him.
(Kyle should have been around 58 years old).
Hamid did not know what Kyle died of.
Kyle attended many tournaments in his day and was always upbeat, positive and fun to be around.
Kyle started playing in 1975/1976 at the YWCA on 17th and Memorial (during the Peggy Shaha era).
He would come with his dad - Gary Sanchez and mom - Carlene Sanchez and his brother - Troy Sanchez.
(The Sanchez's were a big part of what made the club fun to play at during the 70's and 80's and 90's).

(from an email from Greg Jensen - gjensen@propak.com - dated 6-1-23)
I wanted to invite you and any members of your club to come to Fort Smith on the 17th of June to play in our Paddle Battle for St. Jude.
We have a group of players that play at my office on Thursday and would love to have anyone from your club come play in the tournament.    
I am jealous of the number of players you have on your website and our club is way smaller than yours.  
The paddle battle is NOT a sanctioned official table tennis tournament.  
It is however a fun day where we come together and play ping pong and raise money for St. Jude in Memphis.  
St. Jude’s goal is to reduce childhood cancer and never bills the family of the children they are treating.  
In our book anyone that helps children is a great cause and we want to help them as much as possible.  
We will have 3 divisions and are asking the players to chose their division.  
Beginner, intermediate, and advanced.    
Believe me I am not thinking any of our advanced would be able to match your advanced but all we are hoping for is to have as many players as possible and to raise as much money for St. Jude as possible.    
Each player gets a t-shirt and I hope has a great day.        
Please give your members the flyer and if they would like to play there is a QR code to sign up and register.     If they have questions they can call me on the numbers below.  
We have a facebook page for our weekly club days:  
Propak ping pong club and can put out 6  to 7 tables when we have more players..      
Before Covid we were seeing 15 to 20 but since Covid we have 8 to 10 weekly players.  
Looks like on your website you play Tuesdays and Thursday’s and that will make it hard for me to come play, but maybe one day I’ll be able to meet you and see your club.  ( I would love to have half your members ).
We had a few paddle battles before Covid and this is our first one since the past 2 year layoff.    
Hoping for a good turnout and for sure we will make it fun.    
Again thanks for helping get the word out and would love to meet some of your players if they make the trip over.  Sign up using the QR code and the player gets a cool shirt !!!    
Win a division and they will get a one of a kind trophy to bring back to the club.
Thanks hope to meet you one day.

Greg Jensen

PROPAK LOGISTICS
mobile: 479-651-5405
office: 479-478-7811

John Knox - 14 players. Tom Jourdan, Ray Pestridge, Josh Simmons, Travis Flatt, Hamid Ezzat, Mats Johansson, Abraham Kaprielian, Orson Slater, Michael Johns, Seth Jacob, Dylan Garland, Tom Hillis, Ibrahim Abou Hamad, Mike Hamby.

Ft. Smith is having a non-sanctioned "fun" tournament on June 17.
Cost - $20 person.
Contact Greg Jensen - PROPAK LOGISTICS
mobile: 479-651-5405 - office: 479-478-7811
(More info to follow).

Bixby - 8 players. John Cai, Michael Johns, Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, John Moore, Jonathon Kerfoot, Thang Pi, Ibrahim Kaleem (just took a lesson from Ray).

John Knox - 12 players. Michael Johns, Ray Pestridge, Seth Jacobs, Orson Slater, Hamid Ezzat, Dylan Garland, Mats Johansson, Robert Yang, Sam Agbasi, Tom Hillis, Ibrahim Abou Hamad, Mike Hamby.

Monday - Memorial Day - no info

John Knox - 11 players. Ibrahim Abou Hamad (paid $100!), David Leonard, Mats Johansson, Tom Jourdan, Josh Simmons, Michael Johns, Seth Jacob, Orson Slater, Travis Flatt, Dylan Garland, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 10 players. Ray Pestridge, John Moore, Michael Johns, Mauricio Oviedo, Shane Spicer, Thang Pi, Tully Cockerham (lesson with Ray), Mats Johansson, Jonathon Kerfoot, John Cai. 

John Knox - 12 players. Seth Jacob, "Samy" (Mohammed Samy actual name) - new, Orson Slater, Hamid Ezzat, Robert Yang, Sam Agbasi, Tom Hillis, Cameron Franks, Drew Cowan, Dylan Garland, Travis Flatt, Mike Hamby. 

Bixby - no info

Michael Johns and Alex Tupas have secured a new place to play!
This new place will replace the Bixby location around July 1.
It is the South County Recreation center at 13800 South Peoria Ave, Bixby (about 6 miles from the old Bixby Center).
We get the gym one night a week and the "rooms" another night.

John Knox - 11 players. Coy Tran (new but not new), Ray Pestridge, Travis Flatt, Michael Johns, Tom Jourdan (still not 100%), Josh Simmons, Orson Slater, Abraham Kaprielian, Cameron Franks, Tom Hillis, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 8 players. Michael Johns, Alex Tupas, Thang Pi, John Moore, Jonathon Kerfoot, David Leonard, John Cai, Jason Taylor.

John Knox - 9 players. Cameron Franks, Travis Flatt, Dylan Garland, Thang Pi, Orson Slater, Ray Pestridge, Tom Hillis, Seth Jacob, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 11 players. Michael Johns, Alex Tupas, Mauricio Oviedo, David Leonard, John Cai, Thang Pi, Shane Spicer, John Moore, Jonathon Kerfoot, Tom Jourdan, Madhu Koduri.

John Knox -  8 players. Mike Hamby, Mauricio Oviedo, Abraham Kaprielian, Michael Johns, Cameron Franks, Tom Hillis, Seth Jacobs, Josh Simmons.

Bixby - 8 players. Thang Pi, David Leonard, Corey Flaugher, Shane Spicer, Michael Johns, Orson Slater, John Moore, Jonathon Kerfoot.

John Knox - 8 players. Ray Pestridge, Drew Cowan, Alex Tupas, Orson Slater, Hamid Ezzat, Dylan Garland, Mauricio Oviedo

Bixby - 8 players. Alex Tupas, Michael Johns, John Cai, Jonathon Kerfoot, David Leonard, John Moore, Ray Pestridge, Madhu Koduri.
Other news: there are 5 tables at Bixby now!

John Knox - 10 players. Michael Johns, Travis Flatt, Drew Cowan, Abraham Kaprielian, Dylan Garland, Orson Slater, Alex Tupas, Hamid Ezzat, Tom Hillis, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 8 players. Alex Tupas, John Moore, Michael Johns, Ming Li, Ray Pestridge, Ting Chen, Shane Spicer, Ibrahim Kaleem (just took a lesson from Ray).

John Knox - 16 players. Michael Johns, Orson Slater, Abraham Kaprielian, Mauricio Oviedo, John Moore, Thang Pi, Tom Hillis, Dylan Garland, Travis Flatt, Seth Jacob, Corey Flaugher, Cameron Franks, Hamid Ezzat, David Reynolds, David Leonard, Omar Ahmadieh.

Bixby - the grand reopening will be this Wednesday - 5-3-23 (if Alex and Michael can get all the equipment to Bixby by then).
New hours will be 3:30 to 9:00 PM on Mondays and Wednesdays.
Alex and Michael have a key to the building.

John Knox - 12 players. John Moore, Alex Tupas, Orson Slater, Shane Spicer, Michael Johns, Mike Hamby, Thang Pi, Travis Flatt, Seth Jacob, Abraham Kaprielian, Dylan Garland, Kelly Boyce.
Other news: Dylan will be moving to St. Louis in July.

John Knox - 20 players. Ed Flores, Leo Lopez (both new), Alex Tupas, Michael Johns, David Leonard, John Moore, Seth Jacob, Orson Slater, Abraham Kaprielian, Dylan Garland, Johnny McClanahan, Travis Flatt, Jason Taylor, Tom Jourdan, Tom Hillis (paid $100!), Hamid Ezzat, Robert Yang, Cameron Franks, Mauricio Oviedo, Mike Hamby.

(from an email from Eugene - eatha@swbell.net - dated 4-16-23)
(to get a copy of the entry form - email eatha@swbell.net)
We will be holding an Arkansas Open Table Tennis tournament for the first time since 2015 at the Dailey Center in Little Rock 6-17-23.
The main event is a double round robin singles event for 50 players – everyone advances to the second round & unrated players can enter this event.
We will also be holding four small doubles events between the first & second singles rounds of play.
Each doubles event will be limited to 6 teams.
Unrated players can enter the Open doubles event, but a player must have an USATT rating to play in the U3400/U2600/U2000 doubles events.
We are having the 3 rated doubles events to give the lower rated players a chance to win a doubles event –we’ll see how this works out.

We are not set up for online registration so entries will need to be mailed to me.

There is a new requirement from HQ for entry forms pertaining to juniors who play in tournaments.
Page 4 of the entry form has the USATT Safe Sport protocol. This applies only if you are coaching junior players;
it does not apply if the junior you are coaching is your own child or if you are the legal guardian of the junior.
Otherwise, if you are coaching a junior you must be Safe Sport compliant & return this form with your entry.
If you are not coaching a junior you can ignore this form.
If you coach a junior & are not Safe Sport compliant, you will be asked to stop coaching –
if you do not comply, we are required to call the police & have you removed for endangering a minor –
I have never seen anything warranting that at any of our tournaments, but incidents in other sports now require all Olympic affiliated sports to adhere to Safe Sport.

If you have any questions let me know.

Eugene Atha - 501 835-5291 - eatha@swbell.net

(from an email from Bill Lewis dated 4-15-23).
Greetings table tennis fanatics!!
Missouri Show-Me State Games Open.
This year’s tourney:  June 3, 2023
$4000 In Prize Money!!
Sponsored by:
Ozarks Table Tennis Club
www.PaddlePalace.com    www.SMSG.org
Springfield Parks and Recreation     https://www.parkboard.org
Entry Form Here:  www.OzarksTableTennisClub.net
Last year's 2022 Missouri "Show-Me State Games" premier event ~ Giant Round Robin ~ garnered top player Rachid el-Boubou, from Lebanon.
Rachid el-Boubou proceeded to take 1st Place GRR; 1st Place Open Singles and 1st Place Open Doubles with partner Okba Harfoush.
Liedy Handoko from Tennessee took 2nd  in the GRR and 2nd place in Open Singles.
Logan Watson from Oklahoma ended up with 3rd  Place in the GRR but also 2nd Place in Open Doubles with partner Winfred Addy.

Enter early to reserve the slots of your choosing!!

Thanks so much and we hope to hear from you.

- Bill Lewis
- Missouri “Show-Me State Games” Table Tennis Commissioner  

John Knox - 11 players. Michael Johns, Travis Flatt, Seth Jacob, Robert Yang, Tom Jourdan, Alex Tupas, Abraham Kaprielian, John Moore, Thang Pi, Tom Hillis, Dylan Garland.

John Knox - 15 players. John Moore, Travis Flatt, Hamid Ezzat, Alex Tupas, Seth Jacob, David Reynolds, Dylan Garland, Orson Slater, Robert Yang, Michael Johns, Mauricio Oviedo, Cameron Franks, Thang Pi, Tom Hillis (new), Mike Hamby.

Charles Wall, the new interim tulsa county parks director, will personally go to the south tulsa county recreation center (the one Michael Johns has checked out) and see if there is room to store our tables and a place to play. He will contact Kelly next week with his recommendations. (Shane Spicer knew someone at the Tulsa County parks department who knows Charles Wall is how we found out about Charles). Kelly told Charles that when Michael Johns checked out the center (ie the Glennpool center/South Tulsa County center) they said they didn't have any storage area for our tables. But Charles Wall told Kelly that he will go there to see if he can find room for our tables.

John Knox - 18 players. Alex Tupas, Parviz Mojaverian (rating 2195), from Overland park, Kansas. Michael Johns, Robert Yang, Hamid Ezzat, Orson Slater, Shane Spicer, Dylan Garland, Mauricio Oviedo, Sam Agbasi, John Moore, Cameron Franks, Thai Tran, Travis Flatt, Abraham Kaprielian, Jacob Tipton, Mats Johansson, Josh Simmons.

John Knox - 16 players. David Leonard, John Moore, Michael Johns, Ray Pestridge, Orson Slater, Dylan Garland, Seth Jacob, Hamid Ezzat, Thang Pi, Travis Flatt, Mats Johansson, Sam Agbasi, Alex Tupas, Austin Green, Mike Hamby, Thai Tran (from Seattle - just visiting). 

John Knox - 16 players. Michael Johns, Kelly Boyce, Robert Yang, Abraham Kaprielian, Mats Johansson, Travis Flatt, Jason Taylor, Jacob Tipton, Mike Hamby, Murty Salvitala, David Leonard, Seth Jacob, Dylan Garland, Thang Pi, Drew Cowan, Naseri Irakunda.

John Knox - 18 players. Ray Pestridge, Michael Johns, Alex Tupas, Dylan Garland, Orson Slater, Abraham Kaprielian, Travis Flatt, Mats Johansson, Robert Yang, David Reynolds, Hamid Ezzat, Enrique Perez, John Moore, Xavier Lee, Seth Jacob, Murty Salvitala, Mauricio Oviedo, David Leonard.
Other news - Murty (from Northern California) is just visiting his son this week.

Kelly, today, called Jared Cottle, the City Manager of Bixby, to get a user agreement so we can use the old Bixby Center.
Jared said the city attorney was creating user agreements with the requirements of users (ie insurance, ect) and will email it to Kelly when the attorney has created the agreement (which should be in a few days).
Jared said the agreement will only be good thru June and any time after June will have to be taken up again with the city council as to if they want to renew any agreements.

John Knox - 18 players. Josh Simmons, Drew Cowan, Michael Johns, Alex Tupas, David Leonard, Mike Hamby, Mats Johansson, Sam Agbasi, John Moore, Robert Yang, Seth Jacob, Jason Taylor, Travis Flatt (paid $10), Abraham Kaprielian , Orson Slater, Jonny Miller, Jacob Mark, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby center update - the Bixby center will no longer be owned by the Tulsa County parks dept as of tomorrow - Friday - at 2:00 PM.
The Center will then be owned by the City of Bixby and anyone who wants to use the building up to June 30 will need to sign a user agreement with the City of Bixby (Kelly called Jared Cottle on 3-30-23 and had to leave a message about getting a user agreement).

John Knox - 16 players. Omar Ahmadieh, Cameron Franks, Mauricio Oviedo, Michael Johns, Alex Tupas, Seth Jacob, Orson Slater, Hamid Ezzat, David Reynolds, David Leonard, Sam Agbasi, Robert Yang, Xavier Lee, Travis Flatt, Thang Pi, Mike Hamby.

Drew is going to get us 4 more chairs.
Johnny McClanahan talked to the City of Tulsa about us moving back into Dawson and the City said the HOA of Dawson has control of the center and Johnny will contact the HOA.
Michael Johns talked to the Bixby Public Schools and left a message for them to call him back.

John Knox - 12 players. Alex Tupas, Travis Flatt, John Moore, Xavier Lee, Sam Agbasi, Robert Yang, Michael Johns, Orson Slater, Abraham Kaprielian , Mauricio Oviedo, Ken Hargett (new), Mike Hamby.

Johnny McClanahan is going to talk with the City of Tulsa (or others) about playing at Dawson park again (we used to play at Dawson Park before we moved to John Knox on June 2019).

John Knox - 19 players. Travis Flatt, Xavier Lee, Robb Lee, Seth Jacob, Hamid Ezzat, Michael Johns, Robert Yang, David Reynolds, David Leonard, Alex Tupas, Orson Slater, Sam Agbasi, Abraham Kaprielian, Dylan Garland, Johnny McClanahan, Mauricio Oviedo, Mike Hamby, Kelly Boyce, Omar Ahmadieh (knows Okba)(3rd time out - first time was 9/2020).

All of the 2 foot tall cardboard barriers (and there are a lot of them) are going to be taken to a recycling center somewhere, on Monday, along with many taller pieces. John Knox does not use any of the 2' tall pieces. Since we have moved out of Bixby now, there is a lot of excess cardboard barriers. If anyone knows of a recycling center near John Knox (preferably) that will take all this cardboard, let Kelly know.

John Knox - 7 players. Cameron Franks (new - used to play at the okla city club), Travis Flatt, Xavier Lee (paid $50), Emir Valitov, Josh Simmons, Seth Jacobs, Mike Hamby.

 Bixby - (LAST TIME PLAYING HERE!) - 11 players. Michael Johns, Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Alex Tupas, John Moore, Jesper Ohlson, Thang Pi, Sam Agbasi, Tully and Abraham (just took a lesson from Ray), Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 3 players. Michael Johns, Ming Li, Yen-Ting Chen

3 John Knox players told Mike Hamby that they could store a Bixby table in their garages:
Xavier Lee, Drew Cowan, Reed Maguire.

John Knox - 14 players. Emir Valitov (paid $100), Reed Maguire (paid $100), Cal Maguire (paid $100), Mats Johansson (paid $100), Sam Agbasi, Robb Lee, Drew Cowan, Xavier Lee, Hamid Ezzat, Mason Maguire (the 3rd brother), Orson Slater, Travis Flatt, David Reynolds, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 11 players. Steve Stewart (new - drove in with Ray from Stillwater), Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, David Leonard, Robert Yang, John Cai, Michael Johns, Jason Taylor, Shane Spicer, Julie Cooper (took a lesson from Ray), Kelly Boyce.

Guts Church on 41st between Mingo and Memorial.
Kelly went by there today and left his phone# telling the 2 women greeters that our club can run a ping pong club for them at no cost to them and to call Kelly if they are interested.

Bixby - will try to move the tables out of Bixby this Friday to players garages for now.

1st Baptist Church in Broken Arrow (as a place to move the Bixby club to):
Alex contacted them and the church is not letting in any outside groups.

Sapulpa Boys and Girls Club (run by the Salvation Army).
(from an email Michael Johns sent on 3-11-23)
I spoke with the Director of the Creek County Boys and Girls Club Friday afternoon.
He said he used to be the Director and recently came back.
He answered the phone when I called.
I explained why I was calling.
He said their gym is usually busy during the day and sometimes in the evening.
He felt out best bet would be the Chapel.
He said it has a lot of empty floor space.

He indicated he had talked to Joe (the Karate/Boxing guy) at Bixby who mentioned us.
He suggested we come out and look at the chapel and see if it could work.
He said he would be excited about having us and he knows the kids would also.
He mentioned that it wasn’t going to work with Joe because his equipment had to be stationary, but out stuff is on wheels.
I told him we can put the tables in different places; they wouldn’t all have to be in the same place.
I told him we could be flexible on evenings.

He said he isn’t sure what he would charge us, but we could probably do a fundraiser since all their monies for operation are from donations.
I told him we can discuss that.
He said they might be able to give us a key for access afterhours since they close at 7 PM.

He said next week isn’t good because it is Spring Break week, and they will be swamped.
He suggested we come out the following week (20 -25th), mornings are best.
I told him we will call before coming.

His contact information is:

Jake Law, Director
Salvation Army – Sapulpa Boys/Girls Club
1721 S. Hickory Street
Sapulpa, OK  74066
(918) 224-4415

Update on moving the Bixby Club:
(1) Chandler Park - Kelly talked to Kim (who knows us well) on Monday and Kim said she will talk to 2 people.
(2) First Baptist church in Broken Arrow. Alex Tupas will talk to them. He has family who attends the church since the 1980's.
(3) YMCA in Owasso. Matt Dyer (who knows our club well) - Kelly talked to him on Monday and Matt said he will make some phone calls.
(3) Michael Johns was to go to the City of Bixby yesterday and ask for a place to play.
(4) Gatesway foundation in Broken Arrow - Kelly texted Brad Balmer (who tried to move his club there) yesterday and Brad said he will call them for us.
(5) Northside Christian Church in Broken on Lynn Lane and Hwy 51 - Kelly talked to Mike Hamby who will talk to David Reynolds tonight (David plays at the John Knox church and is a member of Northside) (if David shows up) about using their church.
(6) One of our members (can't mention their name) is talking with their huge organization (can't mention the name of the organization per the person's request).
(7) Julie Cooper (who take lessons from Ray) will talk to her church about moving.

John Knox - 10 players. Hamid Ezzat, Drew Cowan, Xavier Lee, Abraham Kaprielian,  Mats Johansson, Robert Yang, Dylan Garland, Sam Agbasi, Travis Flatt, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 10 players. Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, John Cai, John Moore, Robert Yang, Michael Johns, Thang Pi, Alex Tupas, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 2 players. Yen-Ting Chen, Michael Johns.

John Knox - 13 players. Marcus Makar (an old timer), Xavier Lee, Robert Yang, Hamid Ezzat, Sam Agbasi, David Reynolds, Orson Slater, Enrique Perez, Emir Valitov, Mats Johansson, Johnny McClanahan, Travis Flatt (paid $10), Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 9 players. Alex Tupas, Michael Johns, David Leonard, Thang Pi, John Cai, Mauricio Oviedo, John Kerfoot, James Rhys-Davies (new - knows Mauricio), Kelly Boyce.
Other news: Michael Johns is going to the City of Bixby and talk in-person with Jared Cottel (Jared has not returned our phone call - we left a message on 2-28-23 with a woman from his office - so Jared gets a personal visit from Michael.
(Jared is the City Manager of Bixby - an elected position).
Joe - who has a program at the Bixby center also - did the same thing and Joe never got a return call either.
Joe  went down already to talk with Jared in-person about providing a space in Bixby to continue his program at the soon to be closed Bixby center.
We don't know how the Joe meeting went.

Kelly has updated the Pickle Ball places web page (these are places that have indoor courts).
Click here to see results so far:
http://tulsatabletennis.com/pickle-ball-places-for-bixby.html

Johnny McClanahan checked out the Promenade Mall as a possible place to move the Bixby club to.
He said the mall closes at 7:00 PM!
He also said the mall is in bad decline and few stores are left.
A new ice center is to open there in the future but the mall people don't know if the mall will stay open later than 7:00 PM or not then.

Mike Hamby said we can use his enclosed trailer to move the tables at Bixby!!
The trailers inside dimensions are 6' wide x 16' long.

John Knox - 8 players. Orson Slater, Travis Flatt, Emir Valitov, Hamid Ezzat, Dylan Garland, Abraham Kaprielian, Mats Johansson, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 13 players. Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Robert Yang, John Moore, John Cai, John Kerfoot, Alex Tupas, Jesper Ohlson, Jason Taylor, Michael Johns, Thang Pi, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce.

John Moore emailed LeAnne Taylor from KTUL Channel 8 about Bixby closing (in hopes someone might see it who can help us with a place to play).
Kelly called Jared Cottel today - city manager of Bixby - left message with receptionist to call me.

John Knox - 13 players. Drew Cowan, Travis Flatt, Kyle Sanchez, Emir Valitov, Seth Jacob, Sam Agbasi, Hamid Ezzat, Dylan Garland, David Reynolds, Enrique Perez, Abraham Kaprielian, Johnny McClanahan, Mike Hamby.

The Bixby Center is closing their doors on 3-31-23!
In case we can't find a place to move our 6 tables to by then, 5 players have graciously agreed to let us store one table at their home garages. They are: John Cai, Jason Taylor, Mauricio Oviedo, John Kerfoot, Ernie Beard.
(the following players are unable to store a table - David Leonard, John Moore, Michael Johns, Shane, Kelly).

Bixby - 17 players. Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, John Moore, Alex Tupas, Michael Johns, Jesper Ohlson, John Cai, Jason Taylor, Thang Pi, Mauricio Oviedo, John Kerfoot, Ernie Beard (who is buying a robot!), Shane Spicer, Ty Montgomery, Doug Minton, Clint Meadors, Kelly Boyce.

Michael Johns checked out Abiding Harvest Church in Broken Arrow and they want too much money.

Ray Pestridge is going to a tournament (using the Rating Central rating system) on March 4 in Sergeant Bluff, Iowa.
Link to tournament is:
https://sites.google.com/site/sergeantblufftabletennis/upcoming-events

We have added a web page to our website that lists all the places we can potentially move the Bixby Club to and with comments/results if they will let us move there or not.
The link to this page is at top of the club website labeled "For places we have looked at to move the Bixby club to..".
Or you can click here - http://tulsatabletennis.com/pickle-ball-places-for-bixby.html

Michael Johns is going to check out Abiding Harvest Church in Broken Arrow to see if we can move the Bixby club there. 

From an article from USATT insider dated 2-24-23:
WINFRED ADDY AND MARIA TRAN WIN THE 2023 USATT OKLAHOMA STATE CHAMPIONS
By Vlad Farcas | Feb. 20, 2023 (Note - Vlad was the referee of the tournament).

The 2023 USATT Oklahoma State Championships, held this past weekend at Essential Table Tennis Club, kicked off the brand-new series to crown women and men’s champions in all 50 states.
USATT member clubs from around the country will host State Championships over the next ten months for state residents, which will include championship events as well as juniors, seniors and doubles events which are meant to accommodate players of all ages, genders and skill level in order to develop and grow table tennis at the state level.

USATT State Champions (Men’s and Women’s Singles) will receive a recognition award as well as an invitation to the “Dinner of Champions” which will be held at the 2023 US Open.
Champions will also be listed on the USATT website, as part of efforts to create a database that throughout the years will reflect the history of best players at the state level.

At the USATT Oklahoma State Championships, over 50 players from all over Oklahoma competed in 9 events in a well-run 2-day sanctioned USATT event.

In the Men’s Singles events, it was Winfred Addy and Dylan Garland who battled in the top half of the bracket.
The former international player managed to win 3 games straight.
In the bottom half, US Para Developmental Team member Logan Watson and Essential TTC’s Jeffrey Waters went 5 games in a match that could have gone either way, both players having match points throughout the game.
It was Jeffrey Waters who clinched the semifinal match and went on to the chance to play for the State Champion Title.
The State Championship Finals was won by Addy Winfred 3 games to 1, in a match where Winfred’s experience played a big part in the result.

In the Women’s Singles event, Maria Tran breezed through her competition, winning against all five opponents in straight games.
Aged 17, Maria was excited about her accomplishment “It’s a really nice opportunity and I’m quite grateful for being able to participate and win this title.
I hope this will encourage more women and young girls to play table tennis.”

David Correa, President of Essential Table Tennis and long-time table tennis promoter in the Oklahoma area was “really happy with the great turnout of the first USATT State Championships!
It was really nice seeing players I haven't seen playing tournaments and hopefully it will motivate more players to play table tennis.”

Update on the Bixby Center closing (or now may not be closing but probably will anyway):
All construction has stopped on the development (across the street from the Bixby Center) because the land will not support the weight of the planned 133 luxury apartments and retail shops building due to the sand content in the soil.
The developer was going to also buy the Bixby Center (and tear it down) but the Bixby Center has the same sand content.
At this point, no one knows what the developer will do so stay tuned here for further notices.
(The name of the architect firm that designed this project will not be mentioned here due to the potential lawsuit).
In addition, the City of Bixby has said they want to continue running the big events that the Bixby Center has been running for the last 20 years or so at the Center and is considering using a Baptist church in Bixby to host all the non-profit events (table tennis is a non-profit event) but so far, no word from the City of Bixby on this.

John Knox - 9 players. Robert Yang, Sam Agbasi, Emir Valitov, Josh Simmons, Seth Jacob, Travis Flatt, Jacob Tipton, Abraham Kaprielian, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 12 players. Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, John Moore, John Cai, John Kerfoot, Michael Johns, Jesper Ohlson, Madhu Koduri, Julie Cooper and Tully Cockerham (both just took a lesson from Ray), Julie's husband, Kelly Boyce.
Other news: John Kerfoot came in 3rd in the Over-60 event at the Okla state games.

Bixby - 2 players. Michael Johns, Sam Moammar (lives in Tahlequah!). 

Tulsa results for the State Game of Okla held 2-18-23 and 2-19-23:
David Leonard came in 2nd in the Under 1750!
(David beat a player that beat Maria Tran! and should get points).
Kelly Boyce came in 1st in the over 60!

John Knox -11 players. Kyle Sanchez (from the old days), Sam Agbasi, Travis Flatt, Emir Valitov, Enrique Perez, Hamid Ezzat, Dylan Garland, Seth Jacob, 3 others.
Other news: Mike Hamby has an enclosed trailer - 6' high - that we can use to move the tables from Bixby to wherever.

Bixby - 10 players. David Leonard, John Moore, Michael Johns, John Cai, Jesper Ohlson, Thang Pi, Jason Taylor, Shane Spicer, Mauricio Oviedo, Kelly Boyce.
Other news: David did not get his trophy (he should have got one but no one gave him one before he left the tournament).

The Tulsa Facebook site has a new administrator of Shane Spicer.
Stephen used to do the Facebook but has not been active on it in years.
You can click the facebook icon at the top of the clubs website or go here:
https://www.facebook.com/TulsaTableTennis

A Saturday group of brave Tulsa players went up against the table tennis machines of Okla City at the state games and the results for the Tulsa players were not pretty. The terminators won (again).
Hopefully the Sunday group of Tulsa players will fair better.

John Knox - 12 players. Travis Flatt, Emir Valitov (got a new paddle!), Seth Jacob, Drew Cowan, Dylan Garland, Abraham Kaprielian, Robert Yang, David Leonard, Josh Simmons, Enrique Perez, Sam Agbasi, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 13 players. Alex Tupas, Jesper Ohlson, John Cai, Julie Cooper and her husband, Madhu Koduri, Mauricio Oviedo, Michael Johns, Ray Pestridge, Thang Pi, Shane Spicer, Tully Cockerham and Orson Slater (both just took a lesson from Ray). (info courtesy of Shane). 

Update on the Okla state tournament this weekend (45 players total so far):
9 players from Tulsa are going - Sam, Dylan, Robert, David Leonard, Jesper, John Kerfoot, Kelly Boyce, Orson, Michael Johns.

Highland Park Christian Church on 31st between Sheridan and Yale - Kelly went by there to see if they would allow our
Bixby club to move there. This church offers pickle ball and has a nice indoor basketball court. Unfortunately, the pastor said they have no storage space for our tables. It looks like the churches that offer pickle ball might be the next places to check out. 

Bixby - 3 players. Michael Johns, John Kerfoot, Ten-Ting Chen.

John Knox - 10 players. Josh Simmons (paid $100!), Emir Valitov, David Leonard, Robert Yang, Travis Flatt, Dylan Garland, Hamid Ezzat, Seth Jacob, Orson Slater, Mike Hamby.

Update on the Okla state tournament this weekend (34 players total so far):
7 players so far from Tulsa are going - Sam, Dylan, Robert, David Leonard, Jesper, John Kerfoot, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 6 players. Michael Johns, Jason Taylor, Ernie Beard, Jesper Ohlson, John Kerfoot, Thang Pi.

Update on the Bixby closing. If we have to rent storage for the Bixby tables/cart which take up a 6' x 18' space (For 5 tables and the cardboard cart), price from County line storage at 41st and 193rd for a 10' x 15' is $105 month. A 10' x 20' is $130 month. Note - Shane will check out the YMCA in Bixby.

John Knox - 10 players. Emir Valitov (new), Seth Jacob (paid $100!), Travis Flatt, Josh Simmons, David Leonard, Abraham Kaprielian, Robert Yang, Sam Agbasi, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 16 players. Michael Johns, Ray Pestridge, John Moore, John Cai, John Kerfoot, Madhu Koduri, Alex Tupas, Jesper Ohlson, Jason Taylor, Thang Pi, Ty Montgomery, Mauricio Oviedo, Doug Minton, Orson Slater, Ibrahim Kaleem, Kelly Boyce. Other news: Michael Johns will check out the Glenpool recreation center tomorrow. 

Bixby - 6 players. Michael Johns, Ernie Beard, Jesper Ohlson, Ty Montgomery, Austin Green, Jacob McCormack.

Update on the Bixby update - Shane Spicer said Church on the Move is a no-go due to their lack of storage space.
Shane said he had a lead for a place in Catoosa near the Hard Rock Casino but it is a no-go also.
Michael Johns is going to put a hard press on Ted Hill to find us a place in Bixby.

Update on the Bixby Center closing.
Nothing is official yet, but the center will be closing probably no later then July.
The center had one of their big money making events (the model railroad event) scheduled for April 1 and they cancelled it.
Table tennis may stop sooner then expected due to the person who works nights is looking for a job.
If this person finds a job, the center may have to cancel all night activities.
Shane Spicer will see if we can move to the Church on the Move.
Shane works there and rumor has it he has a lot of pull. Our club offered him a job if he can pull this off. His title would be President of the Church on the Move Table Tennis club (the accolades, prestige and acclaim of being the president of a table tennis club would be his).
Will keep everyone posted as the changes occur.

John Knox - 9 players. Dylan Garland, Hamid Ezzat, David Reynolds, Sam Agbasi, Robert Yang, Travis Flatt, Orson Slater, Mike Hamby, Seth Jacob.

Bixby - 17 players. Alex Tupas, David Leonard, John Moore, John Cai, John Kerfoot, Thang Pi, Jason Taylor, Michael Johns, Brad Balmer, Jesper Ohlson, Shane Spicer, Ernie Beard, Mauricio Oviedo, Ty Montgomery (new), Doug Minton (new), Austin Green, Kelly Boyce.
Other news: the Bixby center will be shutting down soon.

The Oklahoma State Championship tournament is set for Feb 18 and 19 at the new downtown Oklahoma City club (ie David Correa's location).
There are 9 events. Only Oklahoma players can enter!
(Sam Agbasi visited this new location/club this week so check with him).
To enter, go to: Omnipong.com. Mouse over 'activities'. Click on 'tournaments'. Scroll down to 'Oklahoma'.
This is a sanctioned tournament!

John Knox - no info yet.

Bixby - 10 players. Alex Tupas, Brad Balmer, David Leonard, Jason Taylor, John Cai, Madhu Koduri, Michael Johns, Ray Pestridge, Shane Spicer, Orson Slater (just took a lesson from Ray).

Bixby - lots of sleet on the roads. Bixby is closed tonight.
Special note - The Bixby Center is now officially classified as a "surplus" building.

John Knox - no info yet (Mike did not show up)

Bixby - 17 players. John Moore, Ray Pestridge, Thang Pi, Michael Johns, Alex Tupas, David Leonard, John Cai, Mauricio Oviedo, Jason Taylor, Madhu Koduri, Kelly Boyce,  2 new players - Julie Cooper and her husband, Orson Slater, Ibrahim Kaleem, Ibrahim's grandmother and grandfather.

Bixby - 5 players. Michael Johns, Jason Taylor, Ernie Beard, Yen-Ting Chen, Ming Li.

John Knox - Mike Hamby will not be out this week (has Covid).

Bixby - 7 players. Michael Johns, David Leonard, Shane Spicer, Thang Pi, John Cai, Jason Taylor, Sam Agbasi. (note - snow was supposed to fall but didn't).

(from an email Michael Johns sent out on 1-18-23 about the potential sale of the Bixby Community Center):
Tulsa Table Tennis Club - The Tulsa County Commissioners are considering whether to sell the property the Bixby Community Center is on to the City of Bixby.
If this happens the Bixby Community Center where we play will belong to Bixby.
Bixby is in negotiations with the Developer, who is already building a 100 apartment complex with shops and a restaurant across the street from the Center.
The Developer has indicated that he/she will most likely tear down the Bixby Community Center to continue building.
Thus, we will lose the Center for us to play.
The timetable on this is uncertain, but the feeling is we need to try to stop the Commissioners from selling to the City of Bixby as soon as possible.
Please contact the Tulsa County Commissioners and ask that they not sell the Center to Bixby.
This is an important community resource.

The three Commissioners are listed below with their respective Districts they represent.
All three commissioners will vote on the sale.
 

Mr. Stan Sallee, District 1, which includes North Tulsa and Owasso, Skiatook, Collinsville, Sperry and areas of Broken Arrow and Tulsa.

same address as Kelly Dunkerley

(918) 596-5020

ssallee@tulsacounty.org

Ms. Karen Keith, District 2, which includes 1/3 of Tulsa, Sand Springs, and part of Jenks.

same address as Kelly Dunkerley

(918) 596-5016

kkeith@tulsacounty.org

Mr. Kelly Dunkerley, District 3, which includes South Tulsa and Bixby.

218 W. 6^th Street

Tulsa, OK  74119-1004

(918) 596-5010

kdunkerley@tulsacounty.org

Thanks - Michael Johns

John Knox - 10 players. Travis Flatt, Josh Simmons, Robert Yang, Sam Agbasi, Jacob Tipton, Mats Johansson, Hamid Ezzat, Dylan Garland, Abraham Kaprielian, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 9 players. Ray Pestridge, John Moore, Madhu Koduri, David Leonard, John Cai, Ernie Beard, Michael Johns, Tully Cockerham, Kelly Boyce.
Ernie is planning on buying a new paddle.

Bixby - 3 players. Ernie Beard, Ting Chen, Michael Johns.

(from an email Michael Johns sent out on 1-18-23 about the potential sale of the Bixby Community Center):
Tulsa Table Tennis Club - The Tulsa County Commissioners are considering whether to sell the property the Bixby Community Center is on to the City of Bixby.
If this happens the Bixby Community Center where we play will belong to Bixby.
Bixby is in negotiations with the Developer, who is already building a 100 apartment complex with shops and a restaurant across the street from the Center.
The Developer has indicated that he/she will most likely tear down the Bixby Community Center to continue building.
Thus, we will lose the Center for us to play.
The timetable on this is uncertain, but the feeling is we need to try to stop the Commissioners from selling to the City of Bixby as soon as possible.
Please contact the Tulsa County Commissioners and ask that they not sell the Center to Bixby.
This is an important community resource.

The three Commissioners are listed below with their respective Districts they represent.
All three commissioners will vote on the sale.
 

Mr. Stan Sallee, District 1, which includes North Tulsa and Owasso, Skiatook, Collinsville, Sperry and areas of Broken Arrow and Tulsa.

same address as Kelly Dunkerley

(918) 596-5020

ssallee@tulsacounty.org

Ms. Karen Keith, District 2, which includes 1/3 of Tulsa, Sand Springs, and part of Jenks.

same address as Kelly Dunkerley

(918) 596-5016

kkeith@tulsacounty.org

Mr. Kelly Dunkerley, District 3, which includes South Tulsa and Bixby.

218 W. 6^th Street

Tulsa, OK  74119-1004

(918) 596-5010

kdunkerley@tulsacounty.org

Thanks - Michael Johns

John Knox - 7 players. Drew Cowan, Hamid Ezzat, Travis Flatt, Dylan Garland, Johnny McClanahan, Mats Johansson, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 11 players. Ernie Beard (new), John Moore, John Cai, Alex Tupas, David Leonard, Thang Pi, Ted Hill, Michael Johns, Madhu Koduri, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce.

John Knox - 1 player. Travis Flatt (Mike Hamby did not play).

Bixby - 15 players. John Moore, Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, David Leonard, John Cai, Madhu Koduri, Michael Johns, Thang Pi, Orson Slater, Ibrahim Kaleem, Brad Balmer, Jason Taylor, Jared Wheeler, John Kerfoot,  Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 2 players. Michael Johns, Jason Taylor.

John Knox - 6 players. Orson Slater (paid $100!), Travis Flatt, David Reynolds, Dylan Garland, Robert Yang, Mike Hamby.
Other news: Mike Hamby will not play Thursday.

Bixby - 13 players. John Moore, John Cai, John Kerfoot, David Leonard, Alex Tupas, Thang Pi, Michael Johns, Jerad Wheeler (moving to Midland in one month), Mauricio Oviedo, Shane Spicer, Madhu Koduri, Jason Taylor, Kelly Boyce.

John Knox - 4 players. Dylan Garland, Travis Flatt, Martin Ndengang, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 13 players. John Moore, John Cai, John Kerfoot, David Leonard, Alex Tupas, Michael Johns, Jason Taylor, Thang Pi, Ray Pestridge, Madhu Koduri, Robert Yang, Ibrahim, Tully. 

Bixby - 3 players. Ting Chen, Ming Li, Michael Johns

Bixby - 10 players, Shane Spicer, Alex Tupas, John Moore, Michael Johns, John Cai, Jared Wheeler, John Kerfoot, Mauricio Oviedo, Ted Hill, Madhu Koduri (info courtesy of Michael),

John Knox -  10 players. Sam Agbasi, Drew Cowan, Travis Flatt, Jacob Tipton, Brad Balmer, Robert Yang, David Reynolds, Hamid Ezzat, Johnny McClanahan, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 14 players. David Khai (new), Zam Kap (new), Thang Sum, Thang Pi, David Leonard, Robert Yang, Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, John Moore, Madhu Koduri, Jared Wheeler, Shane Spicer, Brad Balmer, Michael Johns (info courtesy of Ray).

John Knox - 3 players. Josh Simmons, Travis Flatt, George Atkins

Bixby - 2 players. Jared Wheeler, Michael Johns

Bixby will be open tomorrow - Thursday - for table tennis.

John Knox - 11 players. Josh Simmons, David Leonard, David Reynolds, Robert and Landon Yang, Michael Johns, Travis Flatt, Jacob Tipton, Johnny McClanahan, Abraham Abou-Hamad (new), Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 3 players. Ming Li, Ting Chen, Michael Johns

John Knox - 6 players. Travis Flatt, Dylan Garland, Brandon Waller, Drew Cowan, Curtis Ly (new), Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 14 players. John Moore, Ray Pestridge, Robert Yang, Alex Tupas, Thang Pi, Michael Johns, David Leonard, Mauricio Oviedo, Sam Agbasi, John Cai, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce, Tully Cockerham, Ibrahim Kaleem.
Other news: Bixby will be closed Thursday - 12- 22 and Tuesday - 12-27. 

John Knox - 6 players. Tully Cockerham, Travis Flatt (paid $10), Josh Simmons, Michael Johns, Dylan Garland, Mike Hamby.
Other news: Mike Hamby will not be out next Thursday.

Bixby - 7 players. John Moore, Madhu Koduri, Ray Pestridge, Jason Taylor, Daniel Haack (new - knows Jason), Mauricio Oviedo, Shane Spicer. 

Bixby - 3 players. Ming Li, Ting Chen, Michael Johns

John Knox - 8 players. Drew Cowan, Enrique Perez, David Reynolds, Sam Agbasi, Robert Yang, Dylan Garland, Travis Flatt, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 12 players. Alex Tupas, David Leonard, Michael Johns, Ray Pestridge, Orson Slater, Ibrahim, Tully Cockerham, Mauricio Oviedo, Jerad Wheeler, John Moore, Thang PI, Shane Spicer. 

Bixby - Kelly will not be out this week due to the flu ("I should have got that darn shot" - Kelly).

David Correa's Essential Table Tennis DOWNTOWN location is now open!
It is open Mon - Fri -  6:00 PM to 9:00 PM.
Links to the Tulsa's clubs website on this new location are:

http://tulsatabletennis.com/essential-table-tennis-club-okc-david-correa.html

and

http://tulsatabletennis.com/moore-ok-table-tennis-club.html

and

Link to the David Correa Essential Table Tennis website is:

https://essentialtabletennis.com

John Knox - 7 players. Josh Simmons (from Chicago but living in Tulsa now), Travis Flatt, David Reynolds, Drew Cowan, Tully Cockerham, Orson Slater, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 10 players. David Leonard, Ray Pestridge, John Moore, John Cai, John Kerfoot, Michael Johns, Thang Pi, Madhu Koduri, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 5 players. Michael Johns, Jared Wheeler, Ming Li, Ting Chen, Ryan Bunch (new - just moved to Bixby)

John Knox - 7 players. Drew Cowan, Dylan Garland, Travis Flatt, Hamid Ezzat, Johnny McClanahan, Robert Yang, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 11 players. John Moore, Ray Pestridge, Thang Pi, David Leonard, John Cai, Michael Johns, Alex Tupas, Tully Cockerham, Orson Slater, Ibrahim Kaleem (all 3 just took a lesson from Ray), Kelly Boyce.

John Knox - 9 players. Josh Simmons (new), Orson Slater, Tully Cockerham, Hamid Ezzat, Drew Cowan, Travis Flatt, Robert Yang, Sam Agbasi, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 7 players. Michael Johns, Ray Pestridge, Jared Wheeler, Steven Moore, John Moore, David Leonard, John Kerfoot (info courtesy of Michael).

Bixby - 4 players, Jerad Wheeler, Michael Johns, Ting Chen, Ming Li.

John Knox - 5 players. Hamid Ezzat, Drew Cowan, David Reynolds, Brandon Waller, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 15 players. Madhu Koduri, David Leonard, John Cai, Jason Taylor, John Moore, John Kerfoot, Sum Thang, Pi Thang (paid $40 to Ray!), Kap Thang, Michael Johns, Ray Pestridge, Shane Spicer, Orson Slater, Ibrahim Kaleem, Tully Cockerham (all three just took a lesson from Ray).

Bixby - one player - Michael Johns

John Knox - 8 players. Hamid Ezzat, Allen Majlesi (knows Hamid), Robert Yang, Sam Agbasi, Jose Prado (the son), Jose Prado (the father), Dayo Tychus, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 11 players. Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, John Moore, Michael Johns, Thang Pi, John Kerfoot, Ted Hill, Madhu Koduri, Orson Slater and Ibrahim Kaleem (both just took a lesson from Ray), Kelly Boyce.

Bixby will be open next week until 9:00 pm but will be closed Thursday and Friday.

John Knox - 9 players. Michael Johns, Johnny McClanahan, Orson Slater, Cal and Reed Maguire, Abraham Kaprielian, Jacob Tipton, Travis Flatt, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 8 players. John Moore, John Cai, John Kerfoot, Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Thang Pi, Madhu Koduri, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 5 players. Ting Chen, Jason Taylor, Ted Hill, Michael Johns, Ming Li.

Bixby - 8 players.  Ray Pestridge, John Moore, John Cai, John Kerfoot, Alex Tupas, David Leonard, Michael Johns, Kelly Boyce.

John Knox - 10 players. Drew Cowan, Hamid Ezzat, Robert Yang, Landon Yang, Mats Johansson, Brandon Waller, Travis Flatt, Orson Slater, David Reynolds, Mike Hamby.

John Knox - 11 players - Special note - the door code has changed!
Baltazar Laguna,  Travis Flatt, Brandon Waller, Orson Slater, Mats Johansson, Hamid Ezzat, Dylan Garland, Abraham Kaprielian, Michael Johns, Jonny Miller, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 9 players. John Moore, Thang ("tongue") Pi, Thang Sum, Suan ("swan") Lang (all 3 are from Myanmar or as Ray calls it "Burma"),  Alex Tupas, David Leonard, Madhu Koori, John Kerfoot, Kelly Boyce.
Other news - this next sentence is for Ray Pestridge's benefit (who still calls this country Burma) -
"As for the country's name change, the Myanmar commission decided to replace the English name "Burma" with "Myanmar" since  Myanma is the official name of the country in the Burmese language

Bixby - 3 players. Ting Chen, Ming LI, Michael Johns.

John Knox - 11 players. Johnny McClanahan, Travis Flatt, Daltazar Laguna, Hamid Ezzat, Brandon Waller, Enrique Perez, David Reynolds, Dylan Garland, Sam Agbasi, Robert Yang, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 13 players. John Moore, Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Madhu Koduri, Thang Pi, Jason Taylor, John Cai, John Kerfoot, Michael Johns, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce, Orson Slater and Ibrahim Kaleem (both just took a lesson from Ray).

Sam Agbasi results are now posted from the tournament he played in Dallas on 10-29-22.
87 players were in this tournament! Sam played 7 matches.

John Knox - 15 players. Daltazar Laguna (paid $20), Sam Agbasi, Robert and Landon Yang, Travis Flatt, Drew Cowan, Orson Slater, Tully Cockerham, Enrique Perez, Hamid Ezzat, Brandon Waller, Abraham Kaprielian, Dylan Garland, Brad Balmer, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 8 players. Thang Pi (pronounced like "tongue"), Thang Sum, Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, Michael Johns, Kap Mung,  Ting Chen, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 2 players. Madhu Koduri and Michael Johns

Kelly has contacted David Correa about getting some new wheels/casters for the Butterfly 25 Centerfold tables at John Knox. David said he will order them.

John Knox - 12 players. Erick Dobrich (played once on 8-9-22 at Bixby), Jacob Tipton (paid $40), Johnny McClanahan, David Reynolds, Brandon Waller, Robert Yang, Drew Cowan, Enrique Perez, Travis Flatt, Hamid Ezzat, Daltazar Laguna, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 17 players. Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Alex Tupas, John Moore, John Cai, John Kerfoot, Sam Agbasi, Michael Johns, Kap Mung (new), Thang Sum, Thang Pi, Tully Cockerham and Orson Slater and Ibrahim Kaleem (all 3 just took a lesson from Ray), Shane Spicer, Jason Taylor, Kelly Boyce.

John Knox - 13 players. Drew Cowan, Michael Johns, Jacob Tipton, Gabriel Santos, Travis Flatt, Mats Johansson, Hamid Ezzat, Johnny McClanahan, Dylan Garland, Abraham Kaprielian, Orson Slater, Enrique Perez, Mike Hamby 

Bixby - 12 players. John Moore, Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Alex Tupas, Jason Taylor, Mauricio Oviedo, Thang Sum, Thang Pi, Ting Chen, John Kerfoot, Madhu Koduri, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 3 players. Thang Sum, Thang PI, Michael Johns

John Knox - 11 players. Hamid Ezzat, Travis Flatt, Enrique Perez, David Reynolds (paid $100!), Brandon Waller, Drew Cowan, Mats Johansson, Johnny McClanahan, Dylan Garland, Daltazar Laguna (new), Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 15 players. Thang Sum and Thang Pi (both new), Ray Pestridge (paid $100), John Kerfoot, Sydney and Nicky Agimudie, John Cai, David Leonard, Sam Agbasi, Michael Johns, Alex Tupas, Orson Slater and Ibrahim Kaleem and Tully Cockerham (all 3 just took a lesson from Ray), Kelly Boyce.

John Knox - 12 players. Dylan Garland, Travis Flatt (paid $20), Michael Johns, Tully Cockerham, Orson Slater, Jeffery McNeal, Drew Cowan, Enrique Perez, Brandon Waller, Johnny McClanahan, Gabriel Santos, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 10 players. Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Alex Tupas, Sam Agbasi, Jason Taylor, John Kerfoot, Sydney and Nick Agimudie, Ting Chen, Kelly Boyce.
Other News: Sam is going to a Dallas tournament on 10-29-22!

John Knox - 8 players. Dylan Garland, Travis Flatt, Enrique Perez, David Reynolds, Mats Johannsson, Brandon Waller, Drew Cowan, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 13 players. Nick and Sydney Agimudie, Michael Johns (paid $200 !!), John Moore, Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Sam Agbasi, John Kerfoot, John Cai, Orson and Abraham (both took a lesson from Ray), Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce.

John Knox - 18 players. Alex Tupas, Ray Pestridge, Travis Flatt, Tully Cockerham and his dad John, Johnny McClanahan, Jacob Tipton, Orson Slater, Gabriel Santos (paid $100!), Dave from Washington State, Martin Ndengang, Dylan Garland, Brandon Waller, Sam Agbasi, Mats Johansson, Kyle Moulton (from the Okla City Club), Mike Hamby, Jeffery McNeal (last time played Dec 2020 at Bixby).

Bixby - no info

Bixby - 1 player - Michael Johns

John Knox - 11 players. Brandon Waller, Travis Flatt, Dylan Garland, David Reynolds, Johnny McClanahan, Enrique Perez, Jacob Tipton, Sam Agbasi, Mats Johansson, Drew Cowan, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 12 player. Alex Tupas, Ray Pestridge, John Moore, Ted Hill, John Kerfoot, John Cai, David Leonard, Michael Johns, Orson and Abraham (just took a lesson from Ray), Louis J., Shane Spicer. (info courtesy of Shane).

Bixby - 1 player - Michael Johns

John Knox - 16 players. Tully Cockerham, Alex Tupas, Dylan Garland, Travis Flatt, Drew Cowan, Ray Pestridge, Michael Johns, Hamid Ezzat, Sam Agbasi, David Leonard, Abraham Kaprielian, Mats Johansson, Jonny Miller, Orson Slater, Kyle ?, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - no info

John Knox - 15 players. Abraham Kaprielian (paid $100 !), Hamid Ezzat, Travis Flatt, Brandon Waller, David Reynolds, Sam Agbasi, Dylan Garland, Drew Cowan, Enrique Perez, Chuck Urasaki, Jacob Tipton, Johnny McClanahan, Mats Johansson, Ben Crowder, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 12 players. Jason Taylor, John Moore, John Cai, David Leonard, Alex Tupas, Ted Hill, John Kerfoot, Michael Johns, Ray Pestridge, Orson and  Abraham (just took a lesson from Ray), Shane Spicer (info courtesy of Shane).

Bixby - 1 player. Michael Johns

Alex Tupas is going to (with his wife's approval) to the US Open in Ontario, California on Dec 16.

John Knox - 14 players. Tully Cockerham (paid $100 !), Jacob Tipton (paid $60), Alex Tupas, Michael Johns, Hamid Ezzat, Robert Yang, Travis Flatt, Orson Slater, Dylan Garland, Mark Tipton, Sam Agbasi, Enrique Perez, Jonny Miller, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 5 players. Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, John Moore, John Kerfoot, Ming Lee.

John Knox - 14 players. Enrique Perez (paid $100 !), Chuck Urasaki, Clive Chafa (new - from ORU), Anand Vijayasri (new - used to work with Drew), his daughter - Kilambi Vijayasri, David Reynolds (kinda new - from Brad Balmer's old club), Martin Ndengang, Orson Slater, Brandon Waller, Travis Flatt, Sam Agbasi, Dylan Garland, Drew Cowan, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 10 players. Alex Tupas, Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Jason Taylor, John Moore, Louis J., Abraham, Michael Johns, Juan Pagan, Shane Spicer (info courtesy of Alex).

Bixby - no info

John Knox - 15 players. Michael Johns, Travis Flatt, Jacob Tipton, Dylan Garland, Robert Yang, Sam Agbasi, David Leonard, Drew Cowan, Kyle, John and Tully Copperham, Jonny Miller (paid $100!), Jason Taylor, Johnny McClanahan, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 1 player. Michael Johns

John Knox - 15 players. Robert Yang, Cal and Reed Maguire, Jonny Miller, Travis Flatt, Orson Slater, Dylan Garland, Martin Ndengang, David Leonard, Brandon Waller, Abraham Kaprielian and his dad Nazareth Kaprielian, Johnny McClanahan, Sam Agbasi, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 10 players. Alex Tupas, John Moore, Cole Berkenbile and Carynn Chance (paid $60!), Sam Agbasi, Michael Johns, John Kerfoot, John Cai, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce. 

John Knox - 13 players. Martin Ndengang (paid $100!), Michael Johns, Dylan Garland, Orson Slater, Travis Flatt, Drew Cowan, Brandon Waller, Gabriel Santos, Jonny Miller, Johnny McClanahan, Robert and Landon Yang, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 8 players. Alex Tupas, David Leonard, Ting Chen, Jason Taylor, John Kerfoot, Sam Agbasi, Mauricio Oviedo, Kelly Boyce.
Other news: Sam is playing well with his new grip on his penhold paddle (he calls it "wonky" ).

Bixby - 2 players. Sam Agbasi, Michael Johns

John Knox - 12 players. Orson Slater, Travis and Julian Flatt, Cal and Reed Maguire, Brandon Waller, Robert Yang, Martin Ndengang, Sam Agbasi, Dylan Garland, Drew Cowan, Mike Hamby.
Other news: Hamid Ezzat may start playing next Tuesday!

Bixby - 8 players. Alex Tupas, David Leonard, John Moore, Michael Johns, Jason Taylor,  John Cai, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce.

John Knox - 17 players. Michael Johns, Sam Agbasi (paid $100), Brandon Waller, Travis and Julian Flatt, Jacob Tipton, Mark Tipton, Orson Slater, Abraham and Nazareth Kaprielian, Dylan Garland, Martin Ndengang, Drew Cowan, Jonny Miller, Robert Yang and his son, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 6 players. Alex Tupas, David Leonard, John Moore, John Kerfoot, Jason Taylor, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 4 players. Johnny McClanahan, Jason Taylor, Mats Johansson, Michael Johns.

John Knox - 16 players. Orson Slater, Tully Cockerham (knows Orson), Johnny McClanahan, Travis and Julian Flatt, Brandon Waller, Mats Johansson, Dylan Garland, Robert Yang, Sam Agbasi, Abraham Kaprielian and his dad Nazareth , Gabriel Santos, Jacob Tipton, Martin Ndengang, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 9 players. David/Dave Redthunder (just moved here from Washington), Alex Tupas, John Moore, David Leonard, Michael Johns, John Kerfoot, John Cai, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce.

David Correa's new website is up and running.
https://essentialtabletennis.com/

John Knox - 13 players. Travis Flatt (paid $10), Brandon Waller (paid $100), Dylan Garland (paid $100), Mike Hamby (paid $100), Julian Waller, Drew Cowan, Johnny McClanahan, Michael Johns, Mats Johansson, Robert Yang, Sam Agbasi, Orson Slater, Gabriel Santos. 

Bixby - 7 players. David Leonard (paid $55), John Moore, Ting Chen, John Cai, Alex Tupas, John Kerfoot, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce.

John Knox - 9 players. Mats Johansson, Orson Slater, Drew Cowan, Travis Flatt, Dylan Garland, Sam Agbasi, JB, Martin Ndengang, Robert Yang. (info courtesy of Drew).

Bixby - 11 players. Alex Tupas, David Leonard, John Moore, John Cai, Alex Tupas, Michael Johns, Shane Spicer (paid $40), Ted Hill, Jason Taylor, John Kerfoot, Kelly Boyce.

Vlad Farcas will be in Moore, Ok tomorow - Sunday - from 1-4:30 PM. He is a professional table tennis player and USA Olympic Coach. So far, Martin Ndengang and Sam Agbasi are going to Moore. Anyone interested contact Martin or Sam or David Correa (note - if you don't know who David Correa is, you need to find a new sport).

John Knox - 11 players. Sam Agbasi, Johnny McClanahan, Brandon Waller, Michael Johns, Travis and Julian Flatt, Martin Ndengang, Robert Yang, Mats Johansson, David Leonard, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 7 players. Alex Tupas, John Moore, John Kerfoot, Michael Johns, Jason Taylor, Ting Chen, Kelly Boyce.

John Knox - 12 players. Sam Agbasi, Robert Yang, Travis Flatt and his son Julian, Mats Johansson, Brandon Waller, Drew Cowan, Martin Ndengang, Corey Bryant, Johnny McClanahan, Rob Lee (paid $100!), Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 9 players. Alex Tupas, David Leonard, John Moore, John Kerfoot, John Cai, Michael Johns, Jason Taylor, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce.

John Knox - 12 players. Dylan Garland, Xavier Lee, Travis Flatt, Orson Slater, Sam Agbasi, Martin Ndengang, Robert Yang, Brandon Waller, Gabriel Santos, Michael Johns, Drew Cowan, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 8 players. Alex Tupas, David Leonard, Jason Taylor, Cole Berkenbile, Carsynn Chance, Ting Chen, John Kerfoot (paid $40!), Kelly Boyce.
Other news: Ting Chen is changing to shakehand style.

John Knox - 17 players. Travis Flatt, Corey Bryant, Martin Ndengang, Jason Taylor, Orson Slater, Johnny McClanahan, Robert Yang, Drew Cowan, David Leonard, Xavier Lee, Jacob Tipton, Sam Agbasi, Brandon Waller, Michael Johns, Abraham Kaprielian, Nazareth Kaprielian (Abraham's dad), Mike Hamby.

Bixby - no players (ie  nada, zip, zilch, nil, diddly-squat).
(We know this because Shane Spicer said so).

John Knox - 7 players. Sam Agbasi, Martin Ndengang, Travis Flatt, Brandon Waller, Robert Yang, Dylan Garland, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 7 players. John Kerfoot, Michael Johns, David Leonard, Alex Tupas, Carson Chance, Ray Pestridge, Cole Berkenbile. (info courtesy of Ray),

John Knox - 10 players. Travis Flatt, Abraham Kaprielian, Jacob Tipton, Johnny McClanahan, Robert Yang, Martin Ndengang, Drew Cowan, Sam Agbasi, Mike Hamby, Brandon Waller.

Bixby- 11 players. John Cai, John Kerfoot, John Moore, Michael Johns, David Leonard, Alex Tupas, Mauricio Oviedo, Ray Pestridge, Cole Berkenbile, Erick Dobrich, Shane Spicer. (info courtesy of Ray).

John Knox - 5 players. Travis Flatt (paid $10), Johnny McClanahan, Xavier Lee, Drew Cowan, Mike Hamby.
Other news: We can now start playing at 6:00 PM !

Bixby - 14 players. Cole Berkenbile (new), Carynn Chance (came in with Cole - just watched), Abraham Kaprielian, Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, John Moore, Alex Tupas, Martin Ndengang (playing very well), Michael Johns, Sam Agbasi, Madhu Koduri (paid $40!) , Jason Taylor, Jacob Tipton, Kelly Boyce.
Other news: Abraham graduates from Spartan in 10 days and will looking for a job (preferably in Tulsa).

John Knox - 4 players. Peter Bui (new), Drew Cowan, Johnny McClanahan, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 19 players. Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Alex Tupas, John Moore, Michael Johns, Sam Agbasi, Robert Yang, Yen-Ting Chen, Mauricio Oviedo, Martin Ndengang, Madhu Koduri, John Kerfoot, John Cai, Shane Spicer, Ted Hill, Kelly Boyce. The next 3 players just took a lesson from Ray - Tom Eaton, Orson Slater, Abraham.
Other news: Tom Eaton will be going back to Japan (where he lives).

John Knox - 5 players. Xavier Lee, Brandon Waller, Orson Slater, Corey Bryant, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 12 players. Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, Michael Johns, Abraham Kaprielian, Tom Eaton (just took a lesson from Ray), Jason Taylor, Madhu Koduri, Robert Yang, Martin Ndengang, John Kerfoot, Sam Agbasi, Kelly Boyce.

John Knox - 8 players. Xavier Lee, Robb Lee, Reed Maguire, Brandon Waller, Corey Bryant, Johnny McClanahan, Robert Yang, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 14 players. Ray Pestridge, Jason Taylor, Alex Tupas, Martin Ndengang, Michael Johns, Sam Agbasi, Shane Spicer, Yen-Ting Chen, Ted Hill (paid $40!), Abraham Kaprielian, Madhu Koduri,  Orson Slater (took a lesson from Ray), John Kerfoot, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 15 players. Madhu Koduri (last time out was Dec 2013), Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Robert Yang, Alex Tupas, Michael Johns, Jason and Noah Taylor, Sam Agbasi, Abraham Kaprielian, Jacob Tipton, Jacob Green, Martin Ndengang, John Kerfoot, Kelly Boyce.

John Knox - 4 players. Brandon Waller, Cal and Reed Maguire, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 12 players. Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, David Leonard, Michael Johns, Orson Slater (took a lesson from Ray), Martin Ndengang, Abraham Kaprielian (slowly getting his old offensive game back) , Jacob Tipton, John Kerfoot, Mauricio Oviedo, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce.

John Knox - 4 players. Brandon Waller (new - plays at the Tulsa bars), Xavier Lee, Robb Lee, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 12 players. Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, David Leonard, Michael Johns, John Moore, Tom Jourdan!, Ouli Jourdan!, Martin Ndengang, Sam Agbasi, Tom Eaton (new - took a lesson from Ray), John Kerfoot, Kelly Boyce.

John Knox - 5 players. Travis Flatt, Xavier Lee, Robb Lee, Orson Slater, Mike Hamby.

Update on Hamid Ezzat's 2 Parkinson's tournaments he attended recently.
In Portugal - he won 3 medals.
At US Nationals in Ft Worth he won 6 medals (and $350).

John Knox - 7 players. Travis Flatt, Xavier Lee, Robb Lee, Abraham Kaprielian (from Lebanon), Jacob Taylor, Vania Andrews, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 19 players. Ray Pestridge, Corey Flaugher, John Moore, Jesper Ohlson, David Leonard, Jason and Noah Taylor, Robert Yang, Michael Johns, John Kerfoot, Alex Tupas, Kyle Moulton (new - from the Okla City Club - trains with David Correa), Yen-Ting Chen, Sam Agbasi, Martin Ndengang, Ming Li, John Cai, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce.

John Knox - 5 players. Johnny McClanahan, Travis Flatt, Michael Johns, Ray Pestridge, Mike Hamby.
Other news:  Hamid was at the Nationals yesterday in Ft. Worth and will start back next week.
Xavier started a new job but thinks he can start playing again next week.

Bixby - 15 players. 4 new players (all came in together) - Anthony Kaprielian (a coach trained player from Lebanon), Jonny Miller, Mark Tipton, Vania Andrews. Corey Flaugher, David Leonard, Robert Yang, John Moore, John Kerfoot, John Cai, Alex Tupas, Sam Agbasi, Jason and Noah Taylor, Kelly Boyce.

John Knox -2 players. Travis Flatt, Mike Hamby.
Other news: Michael Johns is in Ft. Worth watching the Nationals!

Bixby - 14 players. Nathan Sullivan (from Tennessee - just visiting), John Moore, David Leonard, Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, Yen-Ting Chen, John Cai, Jason and Noah Taylor, Sam Agbasi, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce, Abraham and Orson Slater (both took a lesson from Ray),

John Knox - 10 players. Thai Tran (from Seattle club. Just visiting in Tulsa. Rating - around 1700), Michael Johns, Ray Pestridge, Sam Agbasi, Orson Slater, Travis Flatt, Corey Bryant, Gabriel Santos, Zack Hendrickson, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 3 players. Alex Tupas, David Leonard, Kelly Boyce (Shane would have been here but we texted him not to show up - sorry Shane)

John Knox - 5 players. Travis Flatt, Corey Bryant, Sam Agbasi, Zac Hendrickson (from the Okla city club - in Tulsa on business for a day), Mike Hamby.
Other news: the church said we no longer need to use the new locking procedure.

Bixby - 13 players. Robert Yang (getting ready for an "Asian" non-sanctioned tournament in Minnesota), Corey Flaugher, Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Alex Tupas, Michael Johns, Ming Li, Yen-Ting Chen, Peter Thang, Martin Ndengang, Orson Slater, Thai Tran (new), Kelly Boyce.
Other news: Thai Tran went to the John Knox church tonight but didn't know how to get inside.

John Knox - 12 players. Corey Bryant, Corey Flaugher, David Leonard, Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, Mats Johansson, Michael Johns, Robert Yang, Travis Flatt, Sam Agbasi, Martin Ndengang, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 6 players. John Moore, Jason Taylor, Noah Taylor, Ming Li, Yen-Ting Chen, Kelly Boyce.

John Knox - 6 players. Robert Yang, Corey Bryant, Sam Agbasi, Martin Ndengang, Travis Flatt (paid $10), Mike Hamby.
Other news - Mike explained how the new locking-the-door procedure works (the church is trying to improve their security since the shooting at the hospital).
Other news: Xavier got a new job with new hours and may not be able to play anymore.

Bixby - 12 players. Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Alex Tupas, John Moore, Michael Johns, Jason Taylor, Mauricio Oviedo, Abraham, Orson Slater, Peter Thang, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce.

From an email from Bill Lewis dated June 9: (a mere 3712 words)
(Okba Harfoush was in this tournament and came in 2nd in the Under 2000 !)
June 9, 2022  -  Author: Bill Lewis
Write-Up: 2022 Missouri Show-Me State Games Table Tennis Open
Fifty players completed 208 matches spread across nine events during the running of the June 4, 2022 Missouri Show-Me State Games held in beautiful Springfield, Missouri.  
Winfred Addy from Moore, Oklahoma was the tournament’s overall top seed.  
The day’s premier event was the Giant Round Robin which had $1000 for 1st place, $800 for 2nd and $400 for 3rd.
Rachid-el Boubou from Raleigh, North Carolina would go on to win this tournaments most prestigious event with a perfect Giant Round Robin record of: 8 matches won to 0 lost.  

The Giant Round Robin was a paralleled event with a first round robin containing 4 players in 6 groups;
then, alternating with a second round robin holding 6 players in 4 groups for a total of 24 players.  
A number equaling 96 matches would ultimately be played in this contest.  
Leading out of Group 1 was Addy who won all three of his matches.  
Boubou then eclipsed all three of his competitors from Group 2 besting each at three matches won to zero lost.  
In Group 3 Liedy Handoko from Cordova, Tennessee tore through his slate of opponents with 3 matches won to none lost.  
From Group 4 PJ Phachantry from Wichita, Kansas sprung a live trap on his contestants and successfully contained them with an identical 3 match wins versus 0 matches lost while in Group 5 Logan Watson from Moore, Oklahoma corralled his roster of challengers also at 3 to 0.  
Lastly in Group 6 John Chen from Overland Park, Kansas decided to do the same thing to his host of antagonists by shutting down his rivals with three matches pocketed while losing zero.  
All 24 players then subsequently advanced to their respective Class A, Class B, Class C and Class D round robin positions.  
Each of the four classed round robins would necessarily require 15 games apiece to complete.  

In physics there are four forces needing dealt with; the gravitational force, the electromagnetic force, the weak force and the strong force.  
Through the completion of Class A Boubou showed why he’s the strong force to be reckoned with as the man won all five of his matches;
the celebratory grand prize of $1000 dollars in legal tender, plus a gold leafed medal.  
That said, two of his matches would be won like a high diver on the 10 meter board: with a high degree of difficulty as both Watson and Addy took Rachid-el to five games.  
And, that’s quite a testament to these two formidable players.  
This event perhaps not so surprisingly, would end with a three-way tie between Addy, Handoko and Watson for the second place position.  
When the computations were ultimately tallied, Handoko received 2nd, $800 in bank notes and a silver medal whilst Watson received 3rd place, $400 greenbacks and a bronze medal.  
Addy was contented with 4th place while PJ Phachantry filled out the field at 5th and John Chen trailed the pack in 6th.
In Class B, the 1st place protagonist was Richard Martin from Overland Park, Kansas and he too had a sterling record of 5 match wins to 0 lost.  
Richard would receive $100 for his battles and a gold medal.  
Was this to portend a trend, for just as in the prior Class A; was Class B to have its own three-way tie for 2nd place?
The answer would be revealed in a singular succinct word: Yes.  
One might accurately think more bookwork for the tournament director.  
When the arithmetic number crunching was inked to bleached white paper it revealed Scott Meredith from University City, Missouri would be in 2nd place; Alex Anuraga from Wichita, Kansas was in third while Ethan Ellsaesser from Springfield, Missouri came in 4th.  
Rounding out the cast in 5th place was Nik Terzic from Ballwin, Missouri and in 6th was Victor DiMartino from Grain Valley, MO.

Hearkening back a few centuries to the time when pirates roamed many white-capped seas and ‘shiver me timbers’ could be heard loudly as any battle ship’s rallying cry - in Class C, Dale Boswell from Springfield, Missouri did just that as the collective hairs of his oppositionists first went up their spines then back down as they faced headlong into his dastardly pips-out paddle.  
When called for Boswell serves short pips when serving then reverses using long pips while returning.  
With this unique combination his competition really didn’t stand much of a chance.  
Heralded names such as Ruwen Filus, Joo Se Hyuk, Liedy Handoko , Chen Weixing, He Zhi, Gionis Panagiotis and Evgueni Chtchetinine are just some which readily come to mind to describe fellow and current world class pips-out players.  
Too, there was something in the air, something ominous, something contemplative, something about which a person could not easily place their finger on about this day as this particular event would reveal yet another three-way tie needing broken.  
The big difference this time though would be the three-way tie for 1st.  
To that end a certain tournament director’s hand was now actually getting tired, however, number crunching needed to be done and done it would get.  
Boswell’s concentrated efforts paid off as he had the better games won vs. loss ratio and he received $100 and a gold detailed encrusted medal.  
Coming in 2nd was Raj Coona from Memphis Tennessee and he received $40 as well as a silver medallion.  
Rounding out third was Brett Hermann from Wichita, Kansas and he was entitled to $30 and a small bronze circular object.  
In fourth place was Paul Vernon from Fayetteville, Arkansas, and in 5th place was Xiangwei Du from Columbia, Missouri whilst in sixth place was Sage Crane from Neosho, MO.

In Class D, Paul Shelor, an avid table tennis player but also a most prestigious choral director from the city of Quincy, Illinois came in first place with a spotlessly perfect record of five games won to zero lost and he garnered $100 for his ventures plus a gold coin.  
The person coming in second was architectural and design engineer Adam Toth from Springfield, Missouri who had 4 outstanding match wins to but one loss and Adam correctly received $30 and a shiny silvery pendant.  
Up from Sheridan, Arkansas and in third place came Charles Brooks who had three wins to only two losses and he was awarded $30 and a bronze emblem.  
Arriving in 4th place was Lee Futter from the host city of Springfield, 5th place went to Aida Amir from Wichita, Kansas while in sixth place came Brad Todd who also hailed from Springfield.

The format for Open Singles was single elimination and it contained 16 identified players.  
Starting in the 8ths it would be Winfred Addy vs Xiangwei Du and as was expected a 2300 rated player against a 1400 doesn’t take long to settle.  
The next top-bracketed 8ths showcased Alexander Anuraga against Scott Meredith.  
Meredith scored 33 points through three games to Anuraga’s 23 and subsequently advanced to play yet again.  
John Chen demonstrated he has lots of high horsepower hits and he did just that by limiting Ethan Ellsaesser to 11 points through three games.  
Just the opposite though was the case with Liedy Handoko who had his hands literally full in the last of the top-bracketed 8ths as he went up against the almost show stopping fighter in Okba Harfoush from Tulsa, Oklahoma.  
Okba nearly pulled off the impossible as he took Handoko to five games before barely bowing out at 11 to 7 in the 5th and deciding game, so, kudos to Okba.  
In the first match of the bottom bracketed 8ths it would be Logan Watson versus Kevin Jiao from Overland Park, Kansas.  
Watson as it turns out is much like an expensive multi-faceted watch: many intricate parts working in precise functioning fashion.  
Watson would win this match at three games to zero.  
Up next in the bottom-sided bracket was Nik Terzic who did some slicing and dicing of his own against Raj Coona.  
Nik parlayed his considerable skills with nice corner to corner hits.  
In the end Terzic would defeat his lesser ranked opponent in four games.  
PJ Phachantry and Everton Wilson from St. Charles, Missouri sparred in another eight’s bout; however it would be Wilson who didn’t possess enough fisticuff power to adequately stave off Phachantry’s exacting hits and prowess.
Wilson lost in three games.  
Everett Jiao, a 1606 rated player from Overland Park, Kansas had the unenviable task of meeting up with the tournament’s overall # 2 seed in Rachid-el Boubou, who at 2311 dispatched Jiao in three uninterrupted games.  

In the first of the quarterfinals it would be Addy against Anuraga and while Anuraga had a lot of heart his legs weren’t pumping quite quickly enough nor did they respond to Addy’s all-around game and Addy won in 3 games.  
Lighting swift John Chen first checked the gauged meter in his own gas tank for adequate propulsion but there just wasn’t enough juice left to outlast Handoko in the other top-half bracketed Qtr’s.  
Chen did extremely well but lost: 11 to 9, 11 to 8 and 14 to 12 and it was Handoko who had the polished silky smooth touch as he advanced to the semifinals.  
In one set of the bottom-sided quarters then it was Logan Watson vs. Nik Terzic.  
Whether Nik at day or Nick at Nite it didn’t really seem to matter: It was all elementary my dear Watson.  
Watson dialed up the wattage and the metered wheel spun revolutionarily fast as Watson advanced in four skirmished games.  
In the last of the Qtr’s then it was Phachantry versus Boubou.  
What’s the difference between being 2300 and 1970 –?– over three hundred points which was more than enough to hold Phachantry to 16 points through three games.

In the top half of the semi’s then it would be Handoko in a man-to-man fight against Addy.  
Remembering Handoko’s resilient defensive game he dispatched Addy in four distinct games: 11 to 4, -9 to 11, 11 to 9 and 11 to 7 to advance to the championship match.  
The last semifinal pitted Boubou with Watson.  
Not much can be said about this match other than the fact that Watson was consequently and unceremoniously relegated to the third place game as he lost in straight sets: 11 to 4, 12 to 10 and 11 to 4.  
Addy and Watson however would then go on to deliver their own literal haymaker of a 3rd place match.  
Through five games a total of 108 points were scored with Addy narrowly eking out a decisive 5th game at 11 to 6 and he was awarded a 3rd place medal plus $300.  
The duel for Open Singles supremacy was now unfolding and taking hard shape.  
As promising as it was at least through the first game with Handoko winning at 13 to 11, the next three games belonged to Boubou at 11 to 7, 11 to 8 and 11 to 9.  
Boubou walked away with 1st place, $500 in traveling currency and the requisite golden medal while Handoko received $400 in hard cash, a silver medal and a firm handshake.

The Under 2100 showcased 11 candidates who played 11 matches in a single elimination format.  
In the top eighth’s it was Nik Terzic who downed Xiangwei Du in straight sets while the other top half eight’s profiled Alex Anuraga and Everett Jiao.  
Anuraga managed to keep his would-be oppressor at bay in a four game sweep.  
In another 8th it was Kevin Jiao who fought off Rich Tompson from West Plains, Missouri in a quick three game scenario.  
Ethan Ellsaesser then slid by Raj Coona in an orderly three games to secure a slot for himself in the quarterfinals.  
In the quarters then, Harfoush downed Anuraga in one four game free-for-all fray while Phachantry eliminated Ellsaesser’s hopes-n-dreams in another four game gambit.  
The last of the quarter’s saw Kevin Jiao go up against Scott Meredith and it would be Jiao who would claim victory in three demonstrable games.  

In one set of semifinals then it was Terzic who first tried heroically, then dare I say even valiantly but he surely could not stop the ‘steamroller of Harfoush’ who had game scores of: -8 to 11, -9 to 11, 11 to 8, 11 to 9 and 11 to 9 as it ever so narrowly favored Harfoush.  
Terzic was thus thrust into the positional 3rd place match.  
On the bottom-sided ledger, Phachantry would be tested to the extreme before finally pulling out his own victory in a grueling, punishing 5th and last game as he won 11 to 5 and so doing demoted Jiao to the 3rd place match against Terzic.  
And - in this 3rd place matchup it was Jiao who was smokin’ hot as he handily won three games to zero against Terzic – Jiao subsequently received $50 simoleons, a handshake and a bronze medal.  
Just like Air Supply’s ‘All Out Of Love’ Harfoush was now all out of energy in his 1st place championship match vs. PJ Phachantry and Phachantry amply demonstrated enough reserve resources to outlast with scores of: 11 to 4, 12 to 10 and 11 to 7.  
Phachantry secured for himself $200 in banknotes, a luxuriously beautiful golden medal and a hearty handshake.
Harfoush received $100 in folding money, a circular silver medal and the understated handshake for a job well done.

Under 1800 was comprised of 12 entrants who were placed in three round robins of four players each.  
Victor DiMartino emerged unscathed from his Group 1 round robin with three match wins.  
The second place finisher was Carl Lewis from Mountain Home, Arkansas who had two wins.  
Even though he was seeded # 3, the Group 2 leader eventually turned out to be Brett Hermann from Wichita, Kansas who won 9 out of his 12 games to advance himself to the semifinals.  
The 2nd place finisher here was Sage Crane.  
From Group 3 Paul Vernon maintained a spotlessly perfect record of three matches won to 0 losses.  
Thanathip Pirom from Manchester, Missouri finished second.  
The # 2 and # 3 round robin group leaders would then play a semifinal match with the loser receiving 3rd.  
That match parlayed the talents of Paul Vernon with Brett Hermann.  
Though this match did go the absolute limit of five games Hermann eked out a quality 11 to 4 5th game and Vernon settled for 3rd place plus a bronze decoration.  
The regal Under 1800 championship latterly pitted Hermann against DiMartino – two fellow Wichita State University players.  
Hermann’s beacon light must have been shining brightly as he guided himself to terra firma in three demonstrable games: 11 to 5, 11 to 8 and 11 to 5 and he first laid stake then laid claim to 1st place and the resplendent golden medal while DiMartino paddled on in for 2nd place and some high purity content silver jewelry.

The Under 1600 had a complement of 12 participants.  
Once players were sorted then slotted to their necessarily assigned positions the three round robins could officially begin.
With this in place, from Group 1 emerged Victor DiMartino as he stopped his slate of three adversaries successfully slaying each.  
Sage Crane would come in second.  
From Group 2 Thanathip Pirom from Manchester, Missouri won his three matches as he nicely upended all his aspirants.  
Paul Shelor came in second.  
Pirom would then play in the singular semifinal match against Group 3 match winner Brett Hermann.  
En route to Hermann’s three match wins though was the giant from Chandler, Arizona: Dave Zapatka.  
Looking much younger than his years, Zapatka took Hermann to five mind bending games before faltering ever so slightly at 11 to 9 in the 5th.  
Thanapa Pirom would come in 2nd.  
Thanathip Pirom then tried hard but he could not unseat Brett Hermann in the semifinals and he was awarded a 3rd place trophy.
Hermann and DiMartino would then play for first.  
This match had a lot of interesting points and it was quite close at 11 to 9, 11 to 6 and 12 to 10 but it ended up being a match which was won by Hermann and he received a gold 1st place medal while DiMartino got a silvery colored object.

Under 1400 was composed of 12 players.  
Charles Brooks was the Group 1 round robin leader with three high caliber wins.  
Lee Futter from Springfield, Missouri came in second place from this first group.  
Timothy Romero from St. Charles, Missouri would reign supreme from Group 2 with three match wins while Adam Toth came in second.  
From Group 3 there was a three-way tie for first.  
When the tie breaking calculus was completed it revealed Thanapa Pirom would advance while Aida Amir from Wichita, Kansas came in second.  
Pirom would consequently go up against Romero in the obligatory semis and she had just enough of the right stuff as she pulled off a real Olive Oyl nail biter at 11 to 7 in the 5th.  
Romero settled for a 3rd place medal.  
The first place match with Thanapa and Brooks was penned to paper.  
Brooks obviously has a tremendous amount of experience in close games and it showed as he beat his younger partner in 4 games: 11 to 7, 11 to 8, -14 to 16 and 11 to 4.  
Brooks was crowned Under 1400 Champion and given a complementary gold medal while Thanapa Pirom was awarded a silver medallion.

Novice Singles contained nine players participating in a single elimination format.  Joshua Du from Columbia, MO and Dianne Zimmerman from Chandler, Arizona would be the first ones to play.  Zimmerman pounced first then outlasted her compatriot in three games in one of the eighths.  Craig Woycheese from Springfield, MO went up against Teddy Landers from West Plains, MO and he advanced himself to the quarters.  Then in the top-sided quarters Zimmerman lost in straight sets to Dale Doolittle from Springfield, MO.  In another quarterfinal match Alfredo Loaiza and Josh Mueller both from Springfield, Missouri went the distance in an extended match at five games with Mueller winning: 11 to 6 in the 5th.  In the other quarterfinals it was Woycheese vs. Fred Lee from Springfield and they apparently knew each other’s game all too well as Lee exploited this fact by winning back-to-back-to-back games.  

In one set of semifinals then were Doolittle vs. Tony Luo from Springfield.  Though this game was chock full of points it would be Luo who would advance in the 5th game at 11 to 7.  Doolittle was obliged down to the 3rd place match.  The remaining set of semis saw Mueller and Lee go at it.  Lee dispatched his nemesis in a three game match and Mueller was then destined to play for third. And, in that race for third place it was a match between Doolittle and Mueller which stretched itself to five pitched games.  When the dust had firmly settled though it was Doolittle who hung his cleats and clogs for all to see by winning the strategic fifth game at 11 to 5 and he received a 3rd place medal.  In the race for 1st it would be Lee vs. Luo.  Fred Lee would win a hard fought match at three games to one and with scores of:  -8 to 11, 16 to 14, 11 to 9 and 11 to 9.  Lee was acknowledged the title of Novice Singles champion and rewarded with gold while Lee was gifted the runner-up’s silver prize and he also requested a handshake to-boot so, he got that as well.

Open Doubles had six premier teams in competition.  
Winfred Addy and Logan Watson teamed up and they won their Group 1 skirmish against Liedy Handoko/Raj Coona and against Nik Terzic/Scott Meredith.  
Handoko/Coona won a single match which allowed them to play for third.  
In Group 2 the tandem tag team of Rachid-el Boubou and Okba Harfoush parlayed their considerable talents by winning both of their games thus punching their tickets to play for 1st.  
And - in the 3rd place match it would be Richard Martin and Alexander Anuraga who would split $100 as they battled through three games against the team of Handoko/Coona; they would also receive bronze centerpieces.  
The 1st place match of Boubou/Harfoush and Addy/Watson was inked to papyrus.  
Boubou and Harfoush proved their mettle as they won this match at three games to one.  
Boubou/Harfoush then divided $400 while gaining gold medals and Addy/Watson shared $200 but also received silver medallions.

The Under 3400 Doubles witnessed six teams in action.  
From Group 1 the team of Everett Jiao and Sage Crane advanced with two great clashed wins, one against Wenyan Drake and Omar Roman, both from Springfield, MO and one against Brad Todd and Steven Choi also from Springfield, MO.  
Drake and Roman did manage to secure one of their matches and were then sent to the 3rd place matchup.  
In Group 2 Dale Boswell and Dave Zapatka beat both their opponents in Ethan Ellsaesser/Alfredo Loaiza and then outgunned Teddy Landers and Rich Tompson.  
Ellsaesser and Loaiza were then pitted with Drake and Roman in the 3rd place match.  
This was a match which would go the distance as Ellsaesser/Loaiza clung closely to the cliff’s edge in some victorious climbing; and they topped off their final 5th and last game at 11 to 6 thus receiving third place medals.  

Ironically or not so ironically – the 1st place game had Boswell and Zapatka against Jiao and Crane.  
This was one of those rare heart stopping matches which any attendant crowd loves to watch and this with eyes wide open.  
When the last swirl of the Parker Pen ink was dry it would reveal the duo of Boswell/Zapatka who would win at 3 games to 2 and, get this: 11 to 9 in the 5th and that’s as tight as it can possibly get.  

With this last match completed it concluded the day’s long journey of satisfying events.

“Congratulations” . . . to all winners and participants.  The day was cool, the atmosphere was conducive to fine matches and the tables performed well.  Most importantly the players were our fine guests.


Bill Lewis
www.ozarkstabletennisclub.net
President Ozarks Table Tennis Club
Author: Bill Lewis

John Knox - 8 players. Michael Johns, Sam Agbasi, Johnnie McClanahan, Travis Flatt, Orson Slater, Robert Yang, Martin Ndengang, Gabriel Santos.(info courtesy of Michael).
Other news: waiting on Michael Johns (or anyone who closed up tonight) to comment on the new locking-the-door procedure.

Bixby - 8 players. John Moore, Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Alex Tupas, Jason Taylor, Behzad Ranjbar, Dariush Mohammadi, Kelly Boyce.

Here is the link to KOTV website showing the Ray Pestridge interview:
https://www.newson6.com/story/62a8b05a160bdb070f94eb6e/senior-games-table-tennis-gold-medalist-ray-pestridge-discusses-his-big-win

Ray Pestridge just finished his big live interview with LeAnne Taylor on Channel 6/KOTV today -  Tuesday - June 14 - at 9:45 am. It was a big success! LeAnne was very happy about how it turned out. They had 4 of their main TV people playing on TV. Also, after we were done, many of the other employees there wanted to play with Ray (and did).
When KOTV gets the Ray video ready for their website, we will post a link to it here.

John Knox - 6 players. Travis Flatt, Orson Slater, Robert Yang, Martin Ndengang, Sam Agbasi, Mike Hamby.
Other news: John Knox has a new locking-the-door-procedure.

Bixby - 14 players. Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Alex Tupas, Raj Johnson, Ruby Johnson (wife), Albert Johnson (son), (all 3 came in with Alex), Behzad Ranjbar, Dariush Mohammadi, Ming Li, Mauricio Oviedo, Yen-Ting Chen, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce, Michael Johns.

Ray Pestridge's big live interview with LeAnne Taylor on Channel 6/KOTV will occur Tuesday - June 14 - at 9:45 am.

Bixby - 9 players. Ray Pestridge, Michael Johns, Corey Flaugher, John Moore, David Leonard, Peter Thang, Behzad Ranjbar, Dariush Mohammadi, Kelly Boyce.
Other news: LeAnne Taylor shown up at 4:30 by herself to talk with Ray (she was doing a pre-interview actually).
Ray had all his table tennis memorabilia (including a large photo of himself when he was 18 years old!.
He had all his National and World medals, newspaper clippings from his England days and other misc items. She took pictures of all of it.
She took video (on her phone) of our players playing.
Michael had the robot set up and she took phone video of that also.
She was planning on being there 20 minutes and wound up being there 1 hour.
(Some of us thought she would be glammed up like she is on TV (ie lots of hairspray, lots of makeup, stylish clothes, flashy jewelry, etc, - but she wasn't (bummer).

John Knox - 8 players. Sam Agbasi, Robert Yang, Robb Lee, Xavier Lee, Gabriel Santos, Martin Ndengang, Travis Flatt, Mike Hamby.

Attention all Tulsa table tennis players.
LeAnne Taylor from Channel 6 will be out tomorrow - Thursday - at 4:00 PM to interview Ray Pestridge.
We need as many players that can show up by 4:30 at the latest (even if it is only until 6:00 PM so the John Knox players can go to John Knox later). There will not be any cameras there, so any camera shy people (ie David Leonard) will not have to worry. 

John Knox - 10 players. Johnnie McClanahan, Travis Flatt, Xavier Lee, Robb Lee, Martin Ndengang, Sam Agbasi, Corey Flaugher, Michael Johns. Robert Yang, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 10 players. Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Jason and Noah Taylor, Mauricio Oviedo, Alex Tupas, Shane Spicer, Ben Ranjbar, Daryosh Mohammadi, Kelly Boyce.

Channel 6/KOTV - from the 9:00 AM morning show with Leann Taylor - will send Leanne only to Bixby on Thursday  - 6-9-22 - at 4:00 PM - to interview Ray Pestridge for winning a national title.

John Knox - 9 players. Gabriel Santos, Michael Johns, Xavier Lee, Cameron Victor, Travis Flatt, Corey Flaugher, Sam Agbasi, Martin Ndengang, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 6 players. John Moore (paid $40), David Leonard, Alex Tupas, Mauricio Oviedo,  Jose Prado, Kelly Boyce

Results from the USATT website ( https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Table-Tennis/Ratings.aspx ) from the May 21 Moore Okla tournament are now posted (with individual results showing - for example - Robert Yang beat a 1970 player and went 5 games with a 2089 player). 

John Knox - 15 players. Sam Agbasi, Robert Yang, Orson Slater, Travis Flatt, Michael Johns, Cameron Victor, Corey Bryant, Corey Flaugher, Xavier Lee, Martin Ndengang, David Leonard, Cal Maguire, Reed Maguire, Mike Hamby, Robb Lee.

Bixby - 9 players. John Moore, Yen-Ting, Ming Li, Alex Tupas, Jason and Noah Taylor, Mauricio Oviedo (paid $40), Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce.

Update on the Springfield, Missouri tournament (ie Bill Lewis tourney) for June 4:
Here's what's currently left open (from an email from Bill Lewis dated May 29:
3 sets of Open Doubles
3 sets of Under 3400 Doubles . . . (split then added event 2 weeks ago in light of extreme # of Open Doubles teams)
3 slots in Under 2000
1 slot in Open Singles
5 slots in Novice Singles

56 players currently signed.

John Knox - 15 players. David Leonard, Robert Yang, Dylan Garland, Jose Prado, Drew Cowan, Corey Bryant, Corey Flaugher, Sam Agbasi, Robb Lee, Xavier Lee, Michael Johns, Travis Flatt (paid $10), Cameron Victor, Gabriel Santos, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 3 players. Alex Tupas, John Moore, Mauricio Oviedo. 

John Knox - 11 players. Michael Johns, Xavier Lee, Orson Slater, Reed Maguire, Cal Maguire, Travis Flatt, Martin Ndengang, Dylan Garland, Robert Yang, Abraham Hassan, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 12 players. Corey Flaugher, David Leonard, Alex Tupas, John Moore, Sam Agbasi, Mauricio Oviedo, Ming Li (paid $40!), Jose Prado, Yen-Ting Chen, Cameron Victor, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce.

Results of the May 21 Moore, Ok tournament are:

Event -        First Place         Second Place     Third Place              Fourth Place
Under 1000 Zunluo Wang    Dennis Rhodes   Carter Murdock3rd-Sanjay Kodam
Under 1400 Nolan Adams    Samuel Agbasi   James Kennedy   4th-Seif Azadi
Under 1800 Dylan Joshua   David Leonard     Huy Nguyen          4th-Hiep Nguyen
Under 2000 Maria Tran         Bernard Mensah Dylan Joshua Ley 4th-Hiep Nguyen
Under 2400 Winfred Addy    Bernard Mensah Maria Tran             4th-Linda Shu
Open Singles Jiaqi Lin         Zhen Deng           Winfred Addy        4th-Logan Watson

LeAnn Taylor from channel 6/KOTV will do a story on Ray Pestridge winning the National Seniors Tournament.
KOTV will set up a table at their studio and Ray can "teach" the channel 6 people how to play!
(The story will run on KOTV's 9:00 am program when Ray gets back).

Ray Pestridge came in 1st - in his age bracket - at the National Senior's tournament in Florida!
Another national title for Ray!
For a link to a photo of Ray on the podium:
http://tulsatabletennis.com/photoalbum1.asp?CategoryID=29
(special note to the younger Tulsa club  players - don't ask someone over the age of 60- like Ray - what age bracket he won).

Update on today's Moore, Okla tournament:
David Leonard got 2nd in under 1800.
Sam Agbasi got 2nd in under 1400.
Robert Yang did well and will gain rating points.
(info courtesy of David Leonard). 

Update on the May 21 Moore, Ok tournament - 10 Tulsa players are signed up (per omnipong.com).
Robert Yang, Corey Bryant, Sam Agbasi, Robb Lee, Xavier Lee, Yee Yang, David Leonard, Martin Ndengang, Michael Johns, Jose Prado (56 players have entered so far).

Bixby - 13 players. David Leonard, Alex Tupas, Michael Johns, John Moore, Zachary Conner (from the Okla City Club - in Tulsa for the PGA), Sam Agbasi, Yen-Ting Chen (paid $40!), Travis Flatt, Corey Flaugher, Cameron Victor, Jose Prado, Mauricio Oviedo, Kelly Boyce.

John Knox - no play on Thursday - 5-19-22

John Knox - 12 players. Xavier Lee, Michael Johns, Orson Slater, Martin Ndengang, Travis Flatt, Corey Bryant, Dylan Garland, Mats Johansson, Robert Yang, Hamid Ezzat, Cameron Victor, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 9 players. Corey Flaugher (paid $100!), David Leonard, John Moore, John Cai, Jason Taylor, Mauricio Oviedo, Sam Agbasi, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce.
Other news: Corey Flaugher is now working in Tulsa - at 21st and Garnett - at the old K-Mart - doing outside sales - and plans on coming out to Bixby both nights. 

John Knox - 13 players. Xavier Lee, Robb Lee, Michael Johns, Travis Flatt, Dylan Garland, Corey Bryant, Mats Johansson, Robert Yang, Hamid Ezzat, Sam Agbasi, Martin Ndengang, Cameron Victor, Mike Hamby.
Other news: The church and Drew has approved us getting a 55 gallon trash container - on wheels - to be able to put the cardboard in. Kelly will buy it.

Bixby - 6 players. Yen-Ting Chen (new), Alex Tupas, Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, John Kerfoot, Kelly Boyce.
Other news - Ray Pestridge will be leaving next week to play in the Florida Senior Tournament.
John Kerfoot will be getting cataracts next week and a heart procedure.

Update on the May 21 Moore, Ok tournament - 8 Tulsa players are signed up (per omnipong.com).
Robert Yang, Corey Bryant, Sam Agbasi, Robb Lee, Xavier Lee, Yee Yang, David Leonard, Martin Ndengang (55 players have entered so far).

John Knox - 17 players. Ray Pestridge, Michael Johns, Travis Flatt, Mats Johansson, Corey Bryant, Xavier Lee, Martin Ndengang, Orson Slater, Dylan Garland, Drew Cowan, Sam Agbasi, Hamid Ezzat, Robert Yang, Jose Prado, Cameron Victor (new), Dayo Tychus (new) (both came out with Jose), Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 6 players. Alex Tupas, Jason Taylor, John Moore, John Kerfoot, Mauricio Oviedo,  Shane Spicer. (info courtesy of Shane).

John Knox - 9 players. Xavier Lee, Robb Lee, Travis Flatt, Dylan Garland, Michael Johns, Hamid Ezzat, Martin Ndengang (he has been in Canada working), Mike Hamby, Mats Johansson.

Bixby - no info

John Knox - 15 players. Robert Yang, Yee Yang, Hamid Ezzat, Michael Johns, Sam Agbasi, Travis Flatt, Reed McGuire, Mats Johansson (sold his robot!), Xavier Lee, Dylan Garland, Robert Nipper (paid $75!), Zack Rimzo (new), Bobby Denas (new), Mike Hamby, Drew Cowan.

Bixby - 9 players. Alex Tupas, Jason Taylor, John Kerfoot, Maurico Olviedo, John Moore, John Cai, Ted Hill, Peter Thang, Shane Spicer.

John Knox -10 players. Michael Johns, Yee Yang, Robert Yang, Sam Agbasi, Hamid Ezzat, Dylan Garland, Drew Cowan, Travis Flatt, Johnnie McClanahan (paid $100!), Mike Hamby.
Other info - Alex Tupas said to make it easier to move the cardboard barriers, the club should buy at least one 55 gallon trash container with wheels. Drew, if the church will approve this, then lets get at least one. The church can also use the container(s) whenever they need to move things.

Bixby - 5 players. Alex Tupas, John Moore, John Kerfoot, John Cai, Kelly Boyce.

Update on the May 21 Moore, Ok tournament - 7 Tulsa players are signed up (per omnipong.com).
Robert Yang, Corey Bryant, Sam Agbasi, Robb Lee, Xavier Lee, Yee Yang, David Leonard (40 players have entered so far).

John Knox - 14 players minimum. Orson Slater, Hamid Ezzat, Robert Yang, Yee Yang, Dylan Garland, John Kerfoot, David Leonard, Jason Taylor, Drew Cowan, Travis Flatt, Corey Bryant, Xavier Lee, Johnnie McClanahan, Michael Johns (info courtesy of John Kerfoot).

Bixby - closed today

Update on the May 21 Moore, Ok tournament - 5  Tulsa players are signed up (per omnipong.com).
Sam Agbasi, Robb Lee, Xavier Lee, Yee Yang, David Leonard (34 players have entered so far).

John Knox - 11 players. Xavier Lee, Robb Lee, Travis Flatt (paid $10), Drew Cowan, Sam Agbasi, Scott Coatney, Hamid Ezzat, Corey Bryant, Dylan Garland, Mats Johansson, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 6 players. Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Michael Johns, John Moore, Mauricio Oviedo, Kelly Boyce.
Other news: Bixby will be closed on next Tuesday (so K.B. will be gunning for R.Y. at John Knox).

(from an email from Brad Balmer dated 4-14-22)
Hello, I wanted to update you on the status of the Broken Arrow PPC.
We will be closing the club for now.
My schedule has changed as of late, and I do not have the time to dedicate to the club in a way that is necessary.
This includes the Friday League and Saturday Junior classes.
For those who recently paid ahead or purchased a paddle and want refunds please contact me individually at my phone number. 918 240-7465.  
I am sorry for closing but I have no choice currently.
I will keep the website going if anything changes.
Thank you all for your support and attendance.
If anyone is interested in purchasing one of the clubs’ tables let me know.
I’m sure we can work out a deal.
Take care and contact me anytime.  
Coach Brad

John Knox - 15 players. Xavier Lee, Michael Johns, Travis Flatt, Ray Pestridge, Drew Cowan, Sam Agbasi, Cal and Reed McGuire, Orson Slater, Robert Nipper, Scott Coatney, Hamid Ezzat, Corey Bryant, Dylan Garland, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - John Moore showed up and was the only player.

Bixby - no info

John Knox - no play. Boy scout dinner using the room.

John Knox - 10 players. Robert Nipper (new), Ray Pestridge, Xavier Lee, Sam Agbasi, Travis Flatt, Robert Yang, Scott Coatney, Corey Bryant, Hamid Ezzat, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 4 players. Alex Tupas, John Moore, Michael Johns, Shane Spicer.

John Knox - 15 players. Xavier, Rob, Travis, Robert, Sam, Ray, Michael, David L., Mats, Drew, Alex, Corey B., Yee, Hamid, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 3 players. John Moore, John Cai, John Kerfoot

Tournament update - the Spring 2022 Essential Tournament for 5-21-22 is now posted on omnipong.com website.
So far, 2 Tulsa players have signed up - Xavier Lee and Sam Agbasi.
David Correa said he has had 117 people inquire with him about this tournament so if you want to go, sign up ASAP. Shirts will be of high quality. For a link to more info:
https://okctt.wordpress.com/spring-2022-essential-tt-and-okctt-tournament-under-construction-not-official-yet/

John Knox - no play on April 14 - Thursday.

John Knox - 14 players. 3 new players that Drew knows. Travis Flatt, Hamid Ezzat, Robert Yang, Yee Yang, Drew Cowan, Dillon Kay, Dylan Garland, Sam Agbasi, Corey Bryant, Chris Lane, Xavier Lee. (info courtesy of Xavier).
Other news: Xavier says he will fix the wheels on the Stiga table with the 2 separate halves.

Bixby - 8 players. Ray Pestridge, John Moore, John Kerfoot, David Leonard, Michael Johns, Jason Taylor, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce.

Moore, Okla (ie David Correa) is having a sanctioned tournament on May 21.
6 events - U-1000, U-1400, U-1800, U-2000, U-2400, Open.
David will post this on Omni Pong this week.

For a short list of the USATT sanctioned (mostly) tournaments in our area:
April 16 - Irving, Tx. $1125 prize monies
April 23 - Tyler, Tx. $220 prize monies
May 7 - Joplin, Mo.  $830 prize monies (non-sanctioned)
May 14 - Austin, Tx. $2100 prize monies
June 4 - Springfield, MO - $5000 prize monies
July 2 - Fort Worth, Tx. US Nationals. Big money here.
July 23 - Austin, Tx. $1815 prize monies

John Knox - 12 players. Xavier Lee, Robb Lee, Travis Flatt, Ray Pestridge, Michael Johns, David Leonard, Hamid Ezzat, Robert Yang, Yee Yang, Drew Cowan, Dillon Kay, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 5 players. Alex Tupas, John Moore, John Cai, Ivan Moon, Kelly Boyce.
Other news: John Moore got a single new sheet of Nittaku Fastarc C-1 from MegaSpin.
Cost - $45. He likes it better than the G-1 and will be getting another sheet.

Tournament results for Sam Agbasi from the Texas Wesleyan Open held 3-26-22 are now posted on the USATT website.
There were 60 players.
Sam played 10 matches.

Tournament results for the 3-20-22 Robo-Pong St. Joseph Valley Open tournament that Dylan Garland, Brad Balmer and Chris Lane attended are now posted on the USATT web site.
There were 234 players!
Dylan played 20 matches!

John Knox - no play on April 14 - Thursday or May 19 - Thursday (boy scout dinner)

John Knox - 10 players. Xavier Lee, Dillon Kay, Dylan Garland, Hamid Ezzat (paid $100), Orson Slater, Paul Slater, Abraham Hassan, Kaleem Hassan (the dad), Travis Flatt, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 9 players. Ray Pestridge, Michael Johns, John Moore, John Kerfoot, John Cai, Ivan Moon, Alex Tupas, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 7 players. David Leonard (he will not play next week due to his love of money), John Moore (left early due to his hand problem), Alex Tupas, Sam Agbasi (going to a Ft Worth tournament this weekend), John Kerfoot, Peter Thang, Kelly Boyce.

John Knox - 11 players. Xavier Lee, Robb Lee, Dillon Kay, Ray Pestridge, Michael Johns, Don Tiger, Travis Flatt (paid $10), Robert Yang, Yee Yang, Hamid Ezzat, Mike Hamby.

John Knox - 10 players. Dave Blackington (new), Carlos Reyes (new), Xavier Lee, Sam Agbasi, Mats Johansson, Travis Flatt, Hamid Ezzat, Alex Bradley (knows Hamid), Dillon Kay, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 11 players. Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, David Leonard, John Moore, John Kerfoot, Michael Johns, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce. Donna Goswick, Orson Slater, Abraham (these 3 took a lesson from Ray).
Other news: Ray will stop giving lessons since he wants to get ready for the Ft Lauderdale, Florida tournament next month. 

John Knox - 5 players. Robert Yang, David Leonard, Michael Johns, Travis Flatt, Mike Hamby (St. Patricks day).

Bixby - 3 players. Alex Tupas, Sam Agbasi, Kelly Boyce (St. Patricks day)
Other news: Alex is going to the Joplin tournament on May 7. Non-sanctioned. $830 prize monies.
Sam is going to the Texas Wesleyan tournament next weekend - 3-26-22. 2 star tournament.

John Knox - 8 players. Xavier Lee, Travis Flatt, Sam Agbasi, Dylan Garland, Yee Yang, David Leonard, Robert Yang, Mike Hamby.
Other news: Hamid will be out next week!

Bixby - 11 players. Ray Pestridge, Michael Johns, Peter Thang, Jason Taylor, Alex Tupas, John Moore, John Cai, Shane Spicer, Orson Slater and Donna Goswick (both just took lessons from Ray), Kelly Boyce.

John Knox - 10 players. Xavier Lee, Ray Pestridge, Drew Cowan, Sam Agbasi, Robert Yang (paid $80!), Dillon Kay, Jose Prado, Travis Flatt, Scott Coatney, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 4 players. David Leonard, Alex Tupas, John Moore, Kelly Boyce

Joplin is having a non-sanctioned tournament on May 7.
$830 in prize moneys.
https://www.facebook.com/joplinmotabletennisclub

Ray Pestridge played in a non-sanctioned tournament near Sioux City, Iowa on 3-5-22.
The tournament used a Ratings Central system instead of the USATT system ( ratingscentral.com).
Ray came in first in Open Doubles (he played with Matt Cushing)!

John Knox - 10 players. Xavier Lee, Drew Cowan, Travis Flatt, Dylan Garland, Dillon Kay, Robert Yang, David Leonard, Sam Agbasi, Alex Bradley (new), Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 7 players. Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, Jason Taylor, Shane Spicer, John Moore, Kelly Boyce, Donna Goswick (just took a lesson from Ray).

John Knox - 17 players. 2 new players - Paul Cristo, Sebatian Ceboux. Yee, Xavier, Don, Ray, Robb, Michael, Travis, David, Corey B., Dylan, Dillon, Sam, Robert (paid $10), Mauricio, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 5 players. Alex Tupas, Ivan Moon, John Moore, John Kerfoot, Kelly Boyce.

John Knox - 10 players. Dillon Kay, Sam Agbasi, Dylan Garland, Xavier Lee, Travis Flatt, Scott Coatney, Robert Yang, Yee Yang (paid $20), David Leonard, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 13 players. Ray Pestridge, Michael Johns, Ivan Moon, Matthew Francis (new), Alex Tupas, John Moore, John Kerfoot, Mauricio Oviedo, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce. 3 players that just took lessons from Ray - Donna Goswick, Abraham, Orson Slater. 

John Knox - Mike Hamby did not play so no info so far.

Bixby - no table tennis tonight due to the sleet storm

(from an email from the "USATT insider" dated 2-23-22)
THE 57TH ST. JOSEPH VALLEY OPEN: BY BRAD BALMER (ie, Broken Arrows own Brad Balmer):
I am not sure if there are any club tournaments that have endured for 57 years but this event has.
It has a long and storied existence that will continue on March 19-20, 2022, at the Indiana University at South Bend Student Activity Center.
The very experienced crew from the South Bend Table Tennis Club will once again conduct a tournament that has been enjoyed by many players over its long history.
This will be an Omnipong event with a focus on Staying on time.
Round Robins are to start at the event time listed on the entry blank.
Players simply go to their designated table, (info posted on wall) then match slips will be brought to the tables.
Pagers are then supplied to the RR winners and buzzed to pick up next single elimination match.
South Bend is in the Eastern Standard Time Zone (EST).
The tournament motel is the Holiday Inn Express, located at, 120 N. Dixie Way, South Bend, IN. 46637.
The phone number is, (855) 680-3239.

This tournament had its origin as a South Bend Tribune sponsored event, in 1936, at the old S.B. YMCA.
Located at the corner of Wayne and Main Street.
Weldon B Hester, the Y’s Boy’s Director, created the S.B. Club and this event.
The next year help would be provided by legendary South Bend coach and USTTA Hall of Fame member John Varga.
There was no tardiness for a match, nor complaints, or controversy.
Varga directed and often was heard shouting orders.
The players responded, “yes sir and how high!”
Needless to say the tournament always ran on time.

That downtown YMCA was home for the SJVO for 27 years until the Studebaker sponsored structure finally gave out in 1964.
So many of the best players in the land would trek to South Bend to compete in the first major event of the year.

In Weldon’s own words - “we sent players to Toledo and Chicago tournaments.
I was determined to start a South Bend tourney and called it the St. Joseph Valley Open.
I arranged for an excellent set of trophies.
Then I drove up to the Illinois State open in Chicago to show them off and arouse interest in our SJVO.
I had no arrangements and just walked in the door, said I had trophies, and set them up on a table.

Somehow they didn’t throw me out.
This was my first table tennis tournament (it wasn’t so hot!).
I met Jimmy McClure, Nationals Men’s Champion, from Indianapolis there.
Our trophies were much larger than those of the IL open and Jimmy was interested.
He helped bring in many of those first year top players.
We ended up with players from 7 states, Toledo sent their top players and after that attended all of our affairs.

The SJVO continued from that first year until 1963.
Winners included table tennis legends and U.S. Hall of Fame members, Lhea Thall, William Holzrichter, Bernie Bukiet, Harry Hirshkowitz, Norbet Vandewalle, Mildred Shahian, Peggy Ishkoff, and South Bend’s, very own, Betty Henry and Sherri Krizman.
Early January dictated the SJVO was always the first major event of the season with the weather sometimes making attendance an adventure.

The South Bend Club has actually endured for some 87 years with many venue changes.
Here is a basic timeline through the years.
1935- 1964 old S.B. YMCA, 1965-1978 the club was continued through the efforts of coach Varga at the new YMCA, Bill Hornyak efforts in the Michigan City area and Ronald Liechty running a club at the Boys and Girls Club in Plymouth.
I along with Phil Schmucker, Jason Denman and Dan Rush re-ignited the South Bend TTC flame in a basement room at the old administration building on the IUSB campus.
We later started the SJVO back up in 1993 and it has been going strong ever since.
All four of us will once again, join together, in helping run this year’s event.
This tournament has been on the cover of the Topics magazine 4 times.

Larry writes in the Topics:
A quick note about the running of the tournament itself before we get to the main events.
I’ve been to many large tournaments and seen many an experienced director fall apart and run a sloppy tournament.
When I first arrived at the tournament site, I discovered that there really wasn’t an experienced tournament director at the desk, at least not experienced in running big tournaments.
I was worried.
It was fantastic to see what, on their very first try, they ran it nearly flawlessly.
(If you played in many of the big tournaments in the 1980’s, you’d know how much some of us appreciate that!).
How did they do it?
They did solicit advice from experienced directors such as Donna Sakai, Dan Seemiller, and Barry Rodgers.
However, in general, they simply were very competent $ efficient workers and planners.
They also had some of the best table tennis artwork I’ve seen, done by club artist Paul George.
Congratulations to Coordinator Brad Balmer, Director Jason Denman, President Phil Schmucker, and all the others who helped put this event together.
(And apologies to all those who did not get named here).
Thanks for running such a great tournament-we hope to be back next year.

Jason Denman writes:
SBTTC has always been about innovation and out of the box thinking to fund our club and juniors program.
Poster artwork in 1993 which later became part of our T-shirt designs.
The playing arena, which illustrates the scope of the SJVO, with television arena as well as a view of Paul’s figures.
We were a computerized tournament in 1993 that was fully time scheduled with each player getting a player packet and in 1994 filmed a commercial to go along with the televised matches.
Even more important is the teamwork that was displayed throughout the years.
From an organizational standpoint, through the massive group of volunteers that setup/tore down tables, assembled the barriers, checked in our players, posted the results and all the little things that make a tournament what it is.
We were fortunate enough to have a group of diversely talented folks who had the drive to make SBTTC what it is.

Larry Hodges reports,
“The SJVO tournament crew once again showed that it doesn’t take decades of experience to run a great tournament, just hard work, efficiency, and determination, 263 entries and 50 tables highlighted what is fast becoming one of the most popular U.S. tournaments".
He continues, “Also in this tournament I witnessed what may well be the shot of the century and I don’t even know who the player was who made the shot.
The player smashed a ball so that it hit the net post against the knob that tightens the Stiga net.
The ball bounced all the way across the table and hit the top of the other net post.
It bounced back around ¾ of the way across the table, rolled along the top of the net a foot or so, then dropped over the other side.
It hit the net clamp on the far side, and rolled it onto the table for a winner!
“That guys tricky,” said USATT Vice President, Jimmy McClure upon hearing of the shot.

To top things off that year, we hired the local independent TV station to film and broadcast the semis and finals of the tournament.
Local announcer Bob Nagle, (who meandered in 5 minutes before airtime), and table tennis legend David Sakai did the announcing.
The station was tied into ESPN, so the entire broadcast was nationally shown at least 4 times, along with many of the commercials that we solicited from local sponsors.
We also hired Grassroots Productions to create two South Bend club commercials with the help and guidance of Hollywood actor Chad Everett (cousin to club members David and Sherri Krizman).
Club coach Viktor Tolkachev wrote most of the script and played the butler.
As Viktor always said, “UNBELIEVABLE.”
We did have a lot of energy that year. We had a blast…

Larry writes in 2000,
“What makes a 4-star tournament good?
Good playing conditions-floors, lighting and spacious courts; timeliness; lots of events; and a friendly staff.
The St. Joseph Valley Open had all of this-plus $20,000 in prize money, probably the most ever for a 4-star tournament.”

2003 saw yet another tournament move to Indiana University at South Bend.
The real story for the next 10 years was the play of South Bends own Mark Hazinski.
He dominated this time frame by winning the Open 9 times along 6 doubles championships and dozens of other event wins.
(BREAKING NEWS, Mark will be back for this year’s 2022, event).
Mark’s exemplary sportsmanship follows in the footsteps of the club’s philosophy and mimics club mentor Virgil Miller and coach Dan Seemiller.
An award in Virgil’s name is given out each year to the individual who donates time, effort and attitude, to the highest degree in support of club efforts.
His legacy will live on as long as there is a South Bend TTC and the St. Joseph Valley Open.
This tournament is the result of numerous volunteers.

The St. Joseph Valley Open continues the efforts of so many throughout it’s long journey.
Unfortunately, so much of the original paperwork was discarded a long time ago.
We did manage to save some of the records, entry blanks, and pictures.
There evidently was a broadcast of the tournament, in the early 60’s on local station WSBT, but try as I might, could not retrieve a copy of that event.
I will keep trying.
Anyone out here reading this article who happens to have any programs, pictures, or paperwork from the 35-63 time frame, please contact me.

If this sport is to grow, it will be by club managers/coordinators, tournament organizers, sponsors, and fund raisers.
With all due respect, U.S. table tennis has had top players for 80 years and yet we still have only 8k registered tournament players.
This won’t change until motivated, committed club organizers are found, to move the sport forward.
Events such as the SJVO, are the tools we use to promote the sport and also help fund our programs.
To have one club run a top notch event for 57 years is a great accomplishment.
“Sustained Energy,” is the hard part.
We use the St. Joe Valley as our annual energy boost to continue our efforts.
If you haven’t attended one of our tournaments in a while, come on back.
As of 2/22 we had 195 entrants and we expect over 200 total.
Some events are filling up, so enter ASAP.
Once again all players will receive a tournament poster and t-shirts will be for sale.
We hope to see you next month.
You can enter at www.omnipong.com.
Check out our club’s website at; www.southbendtabletennis.com

Brad Balmer
South Bend Table Tennis Club

(1848 word article)

John Knox - 19 players. Paul Ni (new - just watched), Jennifer Liu (new), Mo Luqman (new to John Knox - has been to Bixby 13 times), Don Tiger (paid $20), Mats Johansson, David Leonard, Xavier Lee, Sam Agbasi, Robert Yang, Martin Ndengang, Reed Maguire, Cal Maguire (paid $100), Scott Coatney, Travis Flatt (paid $10), Dylan Garland, Dylan Kay (new), Mike Fixke (new), Drew Cowan, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 10 players. Alex Tupas, Ray Pestridge, Jason Taylor, Michael Johns, John Moore, John Kerfoot, Shane Spicer. Abraham, Orson Slater, Donna Goswick (these 3 players just took a hour long lesson each from Ray).

John Knox - 9+ players. Michael Johns, Xavier Lee, Robb Lee, David Leonard, Robert Yang, Yee Yang, Don Tiger, Travis Flatt, Sam Agbasi (info courtesy of Michael Johns).

Bixby - no play tonight due to the storm.

John Knox - 15 players. 2 players from Spartan - Abdul and Feras, Xavier Lee, Don Tiger, David Leonard, Martin Ndengang, Dylan Garland, Reed Maguire, Yee Yang, Robert Yang, Travis Flatt, Mike Hamby, Drew Cowan, Sam Agbasi. Scott Coatney.

Bixby - 9 players. Ray Pestridge, Michael Johns, Alex Tupas, Jason Taylor, John Moore, John Kerfoot, Kelly Boyce, Abraham and Orson Slater (both just took a lesson from Ray).

John Knox - 16 players. Xavier Lee, Michael Johns, Don Tiger, Ray Pestridge, Martin Ndengang, Mats Johansson, Robert Yang, Yee Yang, Sam Agbasi, Travis Flatt, Corey Bryant, Drew Cowan, Chris Lane (Chris is married to Brad Balmer's daughter), Mike Hamby, 2 players from Spartan.

Bixby - 7 players. Alex Tupas, John Kerfoot, John Moore, Ted Hill, Ivan Moon, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce.
Other news: Ted Hill said Bixby just passed a bond issue to revitalize the downtown Bixby area.
The community center, where we play, is part of the downtown area (on the west side) and would not be included in the bond money (ie they will not upgrade the center with the bond money). Which means, the community center maybe in the way of the revitalization project.

John Knox - 15 players. Don Tiger, Xavier Lee, David Leonard, Sam Agbasi, Dylan Garland, Martin Ndengang, Travis Flatt, Yee Yang, Mike Hamby, Cal Maguire, Reed Maguire, Mats Johansson. 3 new players from Spartan - Abaul, Fera, Faisal.

 Bixby - 10 players. Ivan Moon (played 4 times last year), Ray Pestridge, Jason Taylor, Alex Tupas, Michael Johns, John Moore, Tom Jourdan, Orson Slater and Donna Goswick - both just took a lesson from Ray, Kelly Boyce.

John Knox - 8 players! (Big snow storm - 8" of snow). Robert Yang, Michael Johns, Sam Agbasi, Xavier Lee, Robb Lee, Chris Lane, Yee Yang, Mats Johansson. 

The Bixby community center will be closed tonight due to the snow storm.

John Knox - 15 players. Mark Turner and his son - Gabe (new), Matthew Skelton and his son Silas (new - from Brad's club), Robert Yang and his son, Martin Ndengang, Xavier Lee (paid $30), David Leonard, Yee Yang, Mats Johansson, Dylan Garland, Travis Flatt, Sam Agbasi, Mike Hamby.
Other news: On the church's requirement that a member of the church has to been at each of our meetings - Drew Cowan is working on this.

Bixby - 10 players. Donna Goswick and Abraham and Orson Slater  (all 3 just took lessons from Ray). Ray Pestridge, Michael Johns, Alex Tupas, Jason Taylor, John Kerfoot, John Moore, Kelly Boyce.

John Knox - 15 players. Yee Yang (paid $20), Don Tiger, Sam Agbasi, Corey Bryant, Martin Ndengang, Xavier Lee, Michael Johns, Travis Flatt, Mats Johansson, Caleb Maddox (new), Nathan Luo (knows Caleb), Chris Lane, Brad Balmer, Robert Yang, Mike Hamby.
Other news: A new church admin person said a member of the church must be present at each of our meetings.
Someone needs to talk to Drew about this and possibly making some of our members to become members of the church.

Bixby - 7 players. Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, David Leonard, Donna Goswick (just took a lesson from Ray), John Kerfoot, Mauricio Oviedo, Kelly Boyce.

Brad Balmer club info - from an email from Brad dated 1-26-22:
Friday nights BA pong league was a barn burner. 17 paddle warriors showed up, ready to do battle.
Table one’s reigning king Dylan Garland, was upset (for only the 2nd time in of couple years) by local top player Robert Yang.
3rd place finisher Yee Yang played great and was also in the mix for top honors.
The club’ s elder statesman Brad Balmer, was running on fumes the last couple of matches but did manage to secure the 4th spot.
Cory Flaugher, Chris Lane and Vik Gopi gave it a good go, with all players winning at least one match.
Great to see such an intense, competitive round robin erupt last Friday evening, at the Gatesway Foundation gymnasium.
Table 2 had newcomer to the BA club, Sam Agbasi go undefeated with a stellar 4/0 match record, in winning his group.
Club regular Chris Tater went 3/1 and took home 2nd place honors.
Table 3 came down to a battle between the Yowell family matriarch, Holly and long time local junior Steele Cullison.
Holly prevailed and garnered her fist RR group win.
Way to go Holly. Dust off those paddles and join us this Friday for a friendly, but competitive game of table tennis.
Hope to see you all there and don’t forget about our Saturday morning junior class.

John Knox - 13 players. Drew Cowan, Xavier Lee, Reed and Cal Maguire, David Leonard, Travis Flatt, Sam Agbasi, Martin Ndengang, Robert Yang, Yee Yang, Mats Johansson, Dylan Garland, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 9 players. Ray Pestridge, Abraham (just took a lesson from Ray), Alex Tupas, Sam Agbasi, Michael Johns, John Moore, Caleb Maddox (2nd time out - a sophomore at Holland Hall), John Kerfoot, Kelly Boyce. 

Bixby - 11 players. Jesper Ohlson (fresh from his knee injections and didn't lose a step), Ray Pestridge, John Moore, Tom Jourdan, Alex Tupas (still playing very well), Kyle Walker (2nd time out), Damon and Bryson Hoog (the son) (Bob Kyker is Damon's uncle), Bob Kyker (just watched), Reed Kyker, Kelly Boyce.

John Knox - 16 players. Phil and Donna Goswick (new), Corey Bryant, Robert Yang, Yee Yang, KO Foing, Rob Lee, Xavier Lee, David Leonard, Don Tiger, Michael Johns, Martin Ndengang, Sam Agbasi, Mats Johansson, Travis Flatt (2nd time out), Mike Hamby.

John Knox - 11 players. Don Tiger, Dylan Garland, David Leonard, Robert Yang, Yee Yang, Scott Coatney, Xavier Lee, Martin Ndengang, Sam Agbasi, Mike Hamby, Travis Flatt (new).

Bixby - 9 players. Kyle Walker (new - just googled us), Ray Pestridge, Tom Jourdan!, Michael Johns, Abraham (just took a lesson from Ray), John Moore, Orson and Paul Slater, Kelly Boyce.
Other News: Tom Jourdan has a new playing style! His old style, a "patented" style ( a 3rd ball - no rally - uber attack style) from Russ Hamilton (who trained Tom for decades) does not work any longer because of Tom's shoulder problem (Tom would not have surgery to fix his shoulder).  Tonight was Tom's first attempt with his new spontaneous style and Tom will decide tomorrow if the new style suits him and his shoulder. 

John Knox - 12 players. Ray Pestridge, Yee Yang, David Leonard, Martin Ndengang, Sam Agbasi, Drew Cowan, Scott Coatney, Don Tiger, Dylan Garland, Robert Yang, Jose Prado, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 4 players. John Moore, Mats Johansson, Mauricio Oviedo, Jered Wheeler. (info courtesy of John Moore).

John Knox - 11 players. Don Tiger, Martin Ndengang, Michael Johns (could only play 2 matches!), Corey Bryant, David Leonard, Yee Yang, Robert Yang, Sam Agbasi, Paul and Orson Slater, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 11 players. Reed Kyker, Bob Kyker (just watched) John Moore, Alex Tupas, Jennifer Liu (new), Paul Ni (new), Jerad Wheeler, Richard Selman (last time played was Nov 2004!), Ted Hill, Jose Prado, Matt Hunt (new - knows Shane), Shane Spicer.
Other news: 7 players showed up after 7:00 PM!
Richard Selman - Joined the club in 2004 - played 33 times - and last played 11-23-2004.

John Knox - 4 players. Sam Agbasi, Mike Hamby, Robert Yang, Martin Ndengang. (very cold today)

Bixby - 7 players. David Leonard, Sam Agbasi, Jason and Noah Taylor, Jose Prado SR, Jose Prado JR., Kelly Boyce

Results from the Texas Wesleyan tournament held 12-11-21 in Ft. Worth are now posted on the USATT web site.
3 Tulsa players attended this tournament: Dylan Garland, Corey Bryant, Martin Ndengang (Sam Agbasi was going to play but wound up just watching due to his Gout).
Martin gained 33 rating points!
There were 69 entrants.

Bixby - 13 players. Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Jason Taylor, Sam Agbasi (fresh from recovering from Gout in his playing hand), John Moore, Abraham (just took a lesson from Ray), Jose Prado, Ted Hill, John Kerfoot, Shane Spicer, Alex Tupas, Jerad Wheeler (last time played was 2/2019. He started 1-14-14 and has been out 13 times), Kelly Boyce.

John Knox - 5 players. Dylan Garland, Robert Yang (paid $20), Xavier Lee, Drew Cowan, Mike Hamby.

John Knox - 9 players. Xavier Lee, Robb Lee, Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Don Tiger, Sam Agbasi, Drew Cowan, Corey Bryant, Mike Hamby.

Bixby will be closed tomorrow - Thursday.

John Knox - 15 players. Logan Watson (from the OKC club - rating 2032), Kyle Spence, Robert Yang, Yee Yang, Ray Pestridge, Martin Ndengang, Xavier Lee, Michael Johns, Sam Agbasi, Corey Bryant, Dylan Garland, Dwayne  Beavers (paid $100!), Scott McWilliams (paid $100!), Drew Cowan, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 10 players. Zach Hendrickson (from the Okla City Club where he has been playing since Jan), David Leonard, John Moore, Reed Kyker, Jason and Noah Taylor, Ben Ranjbar, Daryosh M., Ehsan (new - knows Ben), Kelly Boyce.

John Knox - 13 players. Rob Lee (paid $50!), Xavier Lee (paid $20), Ray Pestridge, Don Tiger, Martin Ndengang, Michael Johns, David Leonard, Ben Ranjbar, Daryosh Mohammadi, Kyle Spence (just visiting from San Francisco), Sam Agbasi, Robert Yang, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - closed

Update on Alex Tupas- he is alive! (and well).
Alex says he will be back but at the soonest will be 1-14-2022.

John Knox - 14 players. Scott McWilliams, Dwayne Beavers, Michael Johns, Ray Pestridge, Xavier Lee, Yee Yang, Robert Yang, Martin Ndengang, Sam Agbasi, Don Tiger, Scott Coatney, Cal Maguire, Reed Maguire, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 5 players. Jose Prado, Ali Naghavi (owns all 3 Freeway Cafe's), Ben Ranjbar, Daryosh Mohammadi (Ben's father in law), Kelly Boyce.
Other news:  Bixby will be closed Thursday - 12-23-21, but will be open next Tuesday and Thursday.
Jose will graduate next semester and already has a job in Kansas City!

Alex Tupas is in the hospital today getting heart stints.

John Knox - 11 players. Michael Johns, Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Scott Coatney, Corey Bryant, Martin Ndengang, Xavier Lee, Robb Lee, Ben Ranjbar (new), Daryoush Nohan)nadi (new - Ben's father in law), Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 1 player - Michael Johns

Bixby - 11 players. Scott Russell (new - plays tennis with Okba), Hernan Elizondo (new - plays tennis with Okba), Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Michael Johns (just used the robot), John Moore, John Kerfoot, Abraham (just took a lesson with Ray), Orson Slater (took a lesson with Ray), Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce.

John Knox - 8 players. Reed Maguire and Cal Maguire (paid $100 check!), Xavier Lee, Scott Coatney, Dylan Garland, Yee Yang, Robert Yang, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 7 players. Alex Tupas, Michael Johns, Corey Flaugher, Darren Delaune, John Kerfoot, Mauricio Oviedo, Ray Pestridge.

John Knox - 11 players. Ben Crowder (lives in Colorado), George Valverde, Don Tiger, Dylan Garland, Scott Coatney, Robb Lee, Xavier Lee, Yee Yang, Mats Johansson, David Leonard, Mike Hamby.

From an email Michael Johns sent on 12-2-21:
I attended the World Championships from Friday thru the finals on Monday.
I saw the following people in attendance from the Tulsa Club:
Sam Agbasi, Hamid Ezzat, Mats Johansson, and myself. I’m sure there were others.
The final results:

Men’s Singles
Fan Zhendong (China # 1) vs. Truls Moregard (Sweden, 19 year old, # 77)
Zhendong 4 games to 0. (China)

Women’s Singles
Sun Yingsha “Sha Sha” (China # 2) vs. Wang Manyu (China # 9)
Manyu 4 games to 2.  (China)

Men’s Doubles
Mattias Falck/Kristian Karlsson (Sweden) vs.
Jang Woo-Jin/Im Jong-hoon (Korea)
Falck/Karlsson 3 games to 1  (Sweden)

Women’s Doubles
Wang Manyu/Sun Yingsha (China) vs. Hina Hayata/Mima Ito(Japan)
Manyu/Yingsha 3 games to 0. (China)

Mixed Doubles
Wang Chuquin/Sun Yingsha (China) vs.  Hina Hayata/Tomakazu Harimoto (Japan)
Chuquin/Yingsha 3 games to 0  (China)

The matches were exciting and intense. 

Jha and Moregard were impressive young talent. The future of Table Tennis.

Michael

John Knox - 10 players. David Leonard (left Bixby early and went to John Knox!), Mike Hamby, Dylan Garland, Xavier Lee, Martin Ndengang, Yee Yang, Robert Yang, Cal Gilbert, Reed Gilbert, Scott Coatney.

Bixby - 10 players. David Leonard, Alex Tupas, Michael Johns, John Moore, Ray Pestridge, Abraham Hassan, Kaleem Hassan, Orson Slater (will start taking lessons from Ray!), Paul Slater (Orson's dad), Shane Spicer.

John knox - 5 players. Dylan Garland, Don Tiger, Sam Agbasi, Martin Ndengang, Mike Hamby.
Other news - 3 Tulsa players going to the Fort Worth tournament next weekend - Dylan, Sam and Martin.

Bixby - 10 players. Alex Tupas, David Leonard, Jesper Ohlson, Patrick Ohlson, John Moore, John Cai, John Kerfoot, Corey Bryant, Ray Pestridge, Michael Johns.

Brad Balmer, with the Broken Arrow Ping Pong Club, has updated his website with new graphics and more.
Do yourself a favor and check it out.
(note - if you don't know what Brad's website is, you need to start playing twiddle winks).

Bixby - 15 players. Alex Tupas, Brad Balmer, Abraham, Jesper Ohlson, Bryson Hoog, Chandler Hoog, John Moore, Reed Kyker, Bob Kyker (just watched), Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, John Kerfoot, Jason Taylor, Patrick Ohlson, Shane Spicer. 

John Knox - 9 players. Paul and Orson Slater (paid $200 !), Dylan Garland, Xavier Lee, Robert Yang, Martin Ndengang, Reed McGire (new), Cal McGire (his brother), Mike Hamby.
Other news - Mike says they need more ping pong balls (this note for Kelly only).

From an email from Brad Balmer:
Hello, just a heads up that American Kanak Jha will be playing
Timo Boll today - Sunday -  at the World Championships in Houston at 4 pm.
This could be an incredible match. To watch go to http://www.worldtabletennis.com
Hit the subscribe button and set up an account. They will send you a code to your
e address to put in. Then you can livestream. It is free. Don't miss this
opportunity to watch this kid play one of the World's long time best players.
Brad

John Knox - 8 players. Michael Johns, Paul and Orson Slater, Dwayne Beavers, Scott McWilliams (knows Dwayne), Yee Yang, Scott Coatney, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 6 players. Xavier Lee, Bob Kyker (just watched), Reed Kyker, David Leonard, Bryson Hoog, Shane Spicer (just watched also). 

Bixby - 15 players. Cody West (new - knows Okba), Scot Willis (2nd time out), Alex Tupas, Martin Ndengang, Jesper Ohlson, David Leonard, Cory Bryant, Okba Harfoush, Don Tiger, Sam Agbasi, Reed Kyker, Bob Kyker (just watched), Brad Balmer, John Moore, Kelly Boyce.
Other news: Okba found a new place to play - the Phat Tire Bike Shop at 420 E. 2nd St, Tulsa. They have one table but it is not set up all the time. You must call in advance before playing. For now, you can call Okba at 918-829-4407. 

John Knox - 7 players. Yee Yang, Don Tiger, Michael Johns, Mike Hamby, Scott Coatney, 2 new players - Daniel Inokoba, Stacy Thompson.

John Knox - 9 players. Scott Coatney (paid $40!), Michael Johns, Xavier Lee, Dwayne Beavers, Dylan Garland, Yee Yang, Mike Hamby, Paul Slater and his son Orson Slater. 

Bixby - 9 players. Alex Tupas, Ray Pestridge, Jesper Ohlson, Patrick Ohlson, David Leonard, Sam Agbasi, Martin Ndengang, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce.
Other news: Patrick Ohlson was going to go the the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships Finals in Houston being held Nov 23-29 but could not get any good tickets (plus another reason). 

Mats has a robot for sale. It has dual wheels on one head.
If interested, call Mats at 918-851-5885

John Knox - 13 players. Scott Coatney (paid $60!), Mats Johansson (paid $100!), Alex Tupas, Mike Hamby, Sam Agbasi, Jesper Ohlson, Patrick Ohlson, Michael Johns, Don Tiger, David Leonard, Martin Ndengang, Robert Yang, Kelly Boyce.
Other news: Mats got a phone call yesterday from Jorgen Persson - (1991 world champion from Sweden and current coach for the Swedish team). Jorgen told Mats he will have his table tennis sponsor make Mats 2 custom-made paddles made to Mat's specifications (that Mats gave Jorgen previously when Mats met him). 

Bixby - closed for Veterans day

John Knox - 10 players. Yee Yang, Robert Yang, Mats Johansson, Xavier Lee, Scott Coatney, Dylan Garland, Michael Johns, Paul Slatei (new) and his son Orson Slatei, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 15 players. Scot Willis (new and paid $40! - neighbor of Patrick and Jesper), Patrick Ohlson, Jesper Ohlson, Darren Delaune, Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, Sam Agbasi, Tim Litvinov, John Moore, Jason Taylor, David Leonard, Don Tiger, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce, Abraham (took a lesson only from Ray).

John Knox will be open on Thursday - 11-11-21 - Veterans Day - per Drew Cowan

(Bixby will not be open).

John Knox - 9 players. Rob Lee, Xavier Lee, Scott Coatney, Michael Johns, Mats Johansson, Dylan Garland, Martin Ndengang, Yee Yang, Mike Hamby.
Other news - the following 3 players owe memberships - Scott, Mats and Robb Lee

Bixby - 9 players. Alex Tupas, Ray Pestridge, Corey Bryant, David Leonard, Jesper Ohlson, Patrick Ohlson (Jesper's dad) - paid $40! , Sam Agbasi (still going to Fort Worth on Dec 11), John Kerfoot, Kelly Boyce  

Knox church - 9 players. Sam Agbasi, Michael Johns, Scott Coatney, Hamid Ezzat, Mats Johansson, Yee Yang, Robert Yang, Martin Ndengang, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 17 players. Ngee Cheng (new - knows Okba), Alex Tupas, Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Jesper Ohlson, Xavier Lee, Reed Kyker, Bob Kyker (just watched - still has PMR - Polymyalgia rheumatica), Tim Litvinov, Okba Harfoush, John Moore, Shane Spicer, Mauricio Oviedo, Abraham (taking lessons from Ray), Kelly Boyce, Bryson Hoog (11th grader at Jenks) (new), Chandler Hoog (9th grader at Jenks) (new) (both are 2nd cousins of Reed Kyker - they are Bob's wife's - sister's - daughter's- kids. (I would call them Reed's grand cousins).

Both of David Correa's playing locations are now listed on the main/home page of the clubs website under links #11 and #12 - Essential table tennis and Moore, Okla table tennis club.

John Knox - 6 players. Scott Coatney, Yee Yang, Rob Lee, Xavier Lee, Michael Johns, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 9 players. Ray Pestridge, Corey Bryant, Sam Agbasi, Mauricio Oviedo, Alex Tupas, David Léonard, John Moore, John Kerfoot, Kelly Boyce.

John Knox - 10 players. Scott Coatney, Dwayne Beavers, Mats Johansson, Michael Johns, Yee Yang, Martin Ndengang, Dylan Garland, Ben Crowder, George Valverde, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 14 players. Daniel Zheng and his young son Jayson (new), Alex Tupas, Ray Pestridge, Xavier Lee, David Leonard, Okba Harfoush, Tim Litvinov (came in with Okba), Mauricio Oviedo, Sam Agbasi, Don Tiger, John Moore, Abraham, Kelly Boyce.
Other news: Sam Agbasi has entered a Fort Worth, Tx tournament for Dec 11.

Jesper Ohlson's results are now posted from the San Antonio tournament he played in on 10-17-21.
His rating is 1463 ! (very good for his first tournament).
He played 7 matches.
There were 44 players in the tournament with 6 players over 2200 (the highest rated player was 2543, then a 2522, a 2302).

John Knox - 8 players. Michael Johns, Yee Yang (paid $20), Robert Yang, Sam Agbasi, Martin Ndengang, Mike Hamby, Dylan Garland, Scott Coatney. 

Bixby - 6 players. Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, Xavier Lee, Robb Lee, David Leonard, Kelly Boyce.
Other news: Xavier may go to the Fort Worth tournament in Dec.
Ray is going to the Senior Okla Games held at the Okc club.

Jon Knox - 13 players. Robert Yang (paid $20), Michael Johns, Xavier Lee, Johnnie McClanahan, Martin Ndengang, Hamid Ezzat, Yee Yang, Ben Crowder, Mats Johansson, Dwayne Beavers, Scott Coatney, Sam Agbasi, Mike Hamby.
Other news: Ben Crowder played in Tulsa from 5/2004 to 5/2007, then move to Colorado to get married and live.

Bixby - 11 players. Alex Tupas, Ray Pestridge, Mauricio Oviedo, Jason Taylor, John Moore (paid $40), Sam Agbasi, Shane Spicer, John Kerfoot, Don Tiger (paid $40), Abraham, Kelly Boyce.

John Knox church - 12 players. Dwayne Beavers, Scott McWilliams, Mike Hamby, Robb Lee, Xavier Lee, Mats Johansson, Michael Johns, Johnnie McClanahan, Don Tiger, Dylan Garland, Robert Yang, Martin Ndengang.

Bixby - 8 players. Alex Tupas, David Leonard, Ray Pestridge, Scott Coatney, Corey Bryant, Sam Agbasi, John Kerfoot, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 18 players. Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, David Leonard, Xavier Lee (paid $10), Jesper Ohlson (going to San Antonio tournament this weekend! A 3 star USATT 1 event only tournament!), Scott Coatney (new), Martin Ndengang, Patrick M., Sam Agbasi, John Moore, Abraham, Mauricio Oviedo, Patrick Ohlson (Jesper's dad), Joe Payton (new), Christopher Knox (new), Shane Spicer, John Kerfoot, Kelly Boyce.

John Knox church - 9 players. Michael Barns, Corey Bryant, Yee Yang, Robert Yang, Michael Johns, Don Tiger, Hamid Ezzat (left early due to his knee), Mike Hamby, Mats Johansson.
Other news: Yee and Robert training for a tournament in Kansas City.

John Knox church - 10 players. Don Tiger, Robert Yang, Yee Yang, Dylan Garland, Johnnie McClanahan, Robb Lee, Xavier Lee, Mats Johansson, Michael Johns, Mike Hamby (info courtesy of Mike Hamby).
Other news: The church has a new pastor and Drew lives in Owasso now (but still goes to this church and Drew is our only contact with the church). Not sure how this might affect our playing at the church.  Jeff London was the old pastor and the churches web site does not show the new pastor yet.

Bixby - 11 players. Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, David Leonard, Jesper Ohlson, Corey Bryant, Jose Prado, Martin Ndengang, Sam Agbasi, John Kerfoot, John Moore, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 17 players. Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, Okba Harfoush, David Leonard, Jesper Ohlson, John Moore, Mats Johansson, Shane Spicer, Jason Taylor, Brad Balmer, John Kerfoot, Sam Agbasi, Mauricio Oviedo, Corey Bryant, Michael Barns, Martin Ndengang, Kelly Boyce. 

John Knox church - 5 players. Mike Hamby, Don Tiger, Xavier Lee, Michael Johns, Drew Cowan.

John Knox church is open now!
Ok to start playing this Tuesday
(per text from Drew Cowan today).

Bixby - 14 players. Jesper Ohlson, Alex Tupas, Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Yee Yang, Sam Agbasi, Michael Johns, Mats Johansson, John Kerfoot, Xavier Lee, Don Tiger, Martin Ndengang, Corey Bryant, Shane Spicer. (info courtesy of Ray).

Bixby - 22 players. Alex Tupas, Okba Harfoush, David Leonard, John Moore, Robert Yang, Yee Yang, Jesper Ohlson, Michael Johns, Ray Pestridge, Sam Agbasi, Mats Johansson, Mike Hamby, Martin Ndengang, Patrick M., John Kerfoot, Xavier Lee, Robb Lee, Shane Spicer, Cole Abbott, Karsten Rice and Tegan Higgs (the rugby players), Brady Gresham (info courtesy of Ray)

Bixby - 21 players. Alex Tupas, Jesper Ohlson, John Kerfoot, Cory Bryant, Sam Agbasi, Martin Ndengang, Mats Ndengang, Xavier Lee, David Leonard, Mike Hamby, Robert Yang, Michael Johns, Mauricio Oviedo, Karsten Rice (the rugby player), Patrick M, Johnnie McClanahan, Tegan Higgs (the other rugby player), Brady Gresham, Shane Spicer, Cole Abbot, Ray Pestridge (info courtesy of Ray).

Bixby - 20 people. Carson Rice and Tegan Hicks (first time out  - from the Rugby club), Robert Yang, John Kerfoot, David Leonard, Robb Lee, Yee Yang, Xavier Lee, Mats Johansson, Martin Ndengang, Michael Johns, Alex Tupas, Jason Taylor, Jesper Ohlson, Sam Agbasi. Mauricio Oviedo, Abraham Hassan , Ray Pestridge, Shane Spicer, Johnnie McClanahan. (info courtesy of Ray)

Bixby - 11 players. Alex Tupas, David Leonard, Jesper Ohlson, Xavier Lee, John Moore, Jason Taylor, Martin Ndengang, Michael Johns, Mike Hamby, Shane Spicer, Ray Pestridge.

John Knox church closed until Oct 4 due to a flu outbreak.

Knox Church - 8 players. Dylan Garland, Mike Hamby, Michael Johns (paid $72!), Yee Yang, Robert Yang, Mauricio Oviedo, Johnnie McClanahan, Don Tiger.

Bixby - 11 players. Alex Tupas, Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Martin Ndengang (paid $100!), Xavier Lee, Robb Lee, Peter Thang (paid $40!), Sam Agbasi, John Kerfoot, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 11 players. Alex Tupas, Ray Pestridge, David Leonard (playing with new Nittaku Fastarc rubber), Jesper Ohlson (paid $40), 1st time out player - Randy Matthew (just visiting from Colorado), Martin Ndengang, John Moore, Xavier Lee, John Kerfoot, Sam Agbasi, Kelly Boyce.

John Knox Church - 5 players. Michael Johns, Dylan Garland, Robert Yang, TinTin (new player from India), Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 16 players. Robb Lee and his son - Xavier Lee (1st time to Bixby), Ray Pestridge (paid $100!), Alex Tupas, Martin Ndengang, David Leonard, Jesper Ohlson (playing very well - took a match off David and almost beat Alex!), John Moore, Gabriel D., Mauricio Oviedo, Michael Johns (paid $28), Jason Taylor (paid $40), Ivan Moon, Shane Spicer, Sam Agbasi (will be using a different rubber on Thursday he got from Alex), Kelly Boyce.

John Knox church -  7 players. Robert Yang, Yee Yang, Dylan Garland, Jose Prado, Cory Flaugher, Bruno Fernandez, Mike Hamby.

Knox Church - 8 players. Dylan Garland (paid $100 to Mike), Don Tiger, Yee Yang, Robert Yang, Brian Flinn, Michael Johns, Bruno Fernandez, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 10 players. Tom Jordan (practiced some, no matches due to his shoulder not healed yet after 1 year!), Ray Pestridge (fresh from his nose cancer), Alex Tupas, Jesper Ohlson, Bruno Fernandez, David Leonard, Sam Agbasi (paid $40!), Jason Taylor, John Kerfoot, Kelly Boyce.
Other news: Jesper is looking to play in a tournament somewhere!

John Knox Church - 7 players. Yee Yang, Mike Hamby, Don Tiger, Michael Johns, Brian Flinn, Mauricio Oviedo, Bruno Fernandez.

Bixby - 11 players. Alex Tupas, Ray Pestridge, David Leonard (paid $30!), Corey Flaugher (still works in Pryor), Peter Thang, Bryce Hurst, Jesper Ohlson, Sam Agbasi, Jason Taylor, John Kerfoot, Kelly Boyce.

John Knox church - 6 players. Yee Yang, Robert Yang, Dylan Garland, Johnnie McClanahan, Don Tiger, Mike Hamby.

Bixby - 9 players. Bruno Fernandez (paid $30!), Shane Spicer (paid $40!), Ray Pestridge (just had 14 stitches removed from his nose!), David Leonard (got his mojo on later in the night), Jesper Ohlson, Sam Agbasi, Martin Ndengang (playing with a new attitude!), John Kerfoot, Kelly Boyce.

MY TEXAS TABLE TENNIS ROAD TRIP
By Will Shortz | Aug. 25, 2021, 2:04 a.m. (ET)
(from an email from the USATT).
(note - Will Shortz and Robert Roberts played in Tulsa at the old Dawson club on 4-16-15
He was here as a guest of the Tulsa Town Hall)
(this article is also a nice summary of what the clubs in Texas are like)

Earlier this month my friend Robert Roberts and I went on an eight-day road trip around Texas, in a rental car, playing at table tennis clubs all over the state.
Texas is home to a big, vibrant table tennis scene, and we’d never traveled there before, making it a natural locale for one of our trips.
Robert and I started doing table tennis road trips in 2008.
We’d been friends for about two years, after he came to New York from Barbados, and I’d become his de facto driver, as he didn’t have a car.
He wanted to go to Toronto. I said I’d take him if we could make a table tennis road trip out of it.
Somehow we managed to play at 10 clubs over seven days and had such a blast that we’ve been doing trips like this ever since.
Past trips have included the Northeast, the Midwest, the South, Alaska (all five table tennis clubs that we could find), and Hawaii.
Once we went island-hopping through the Caribbean, playing at a club on a different island every day.
Most memorably, in 2011 we flew from New York to San Diego, played at Stellan Bengtsson’s club, and drove 3,500 miles home in a rental car, playing everywhere we went.

Of our eight days in Texas, here are some highlights:

Day 1

• Houston International Table Tennis Academy

Manny Velazquez runs this excellent club, which has 16 tables and is designed for training.
When Robert and I arrived, summer camp was in operation.
Every table was full with kids and coaches, with the younger students on the front tables and the older, more advanced ones in the back. Not wanting to disturb things, we drove to the …

• Texas Table Tennis Center

also in Houston. The members are mostly Vietnamese, but all players are welcome.
Nine tables. Excellent lighting. Robert gave me training for about 90 minutes.
Next we returned to the HITTA and played for another hour.
Afterward we took Manny to dinner at a fine Chinese restaurant next door.

Day 2

• San Antonio Table Tennis Club

San Antonio is about three hours from Houston.
When we visited, the club there had just moved to a new location, so they were still settling in.
It’s in a warehouse-like facility with a high ceiling.
11 tables. Lots of good players.
Lighting not so good, honestly, but that will soon be fixed.
We saw our old friends Vlad Farcas (manager) and Ojo Onaolapo (coach).
I had a good win, 3-2, against a player with pips — pips usually being my downfall.
Robert, who’s rated around 2500, was the center of interest.
He graciously took on all comers.
Afterward we had dinner at Willie’s Grill and Icehouse, a place along the I-35 route north to Austin that we happened to light upon.
Good food and a great atmosphere. We’d definitely go back.

Day 3

• Austin Table Tennis Club

This has to be one of the best table tennis facilities in the country.
15-16 tables in a high-ceilinged sports bubble facility.
Good lighting. The tables and flooring give true bounce.
The manager, Shahin Akhlaghpasand, let us in early, and we spent all afternoon there.

• South Austin Pong Club

At 5 pm we left for this amateur club about 40 minutes away.
It plays in the corner of an indoor soccer facility three times a week.
Seven tables. Unfortunately, the place is not air-conditioned, and on the day we visited it was in the mid-90s.
Friendly group. Very soon, though, after several matches with members, we were drenched in sweat and left.
Later we enjoyed a BBQ dinner at the home of Chase Womack, of the Austin TTC, along with Shahin and his family.
(If there’s one thing we learned from this trip, it’s that Texas loves its BBQ!)

Day 4

• Waco Table Tennis Club

Waco is 90 minutes north of Austin, and it has an interesting club.
It’s run by Jim Henry and plays weekdays from 3:30 to 7:00 pm in the basement of a church facility.
Seven tables. Good lighting.
Mainly older players. Not air-conditioned, but the basement was relatively cool when we were there.
Robert and I took on all comers.
I went 3-2. Robert, of course, didn’t lose any games. Very enjoyable.

Day 5

• TopSpin Table Tennis Club (Amarillo)

Amarillo is 6-1/2 hours from Waco, and on Saturday, when we were there, the club opens at 10 am.
Dauntlessly, driving into the night through a storm, we arrived in time for the start.
The club is located in a small warehouse on a two-lane country road about 20 minutes SSE of downtown.
When we were getting close to the address, I was sure that the GPS had messed up.
All we saw was farmland with scattered houses.
But, no, we were at the right place.
Entering the club, we were greeted by the owner/manager, Patrick Pitre.
He arranged an informal tournament in our honor, with two round robin groups of six, and two players coming out of each group for single-elimination playoffs.
The skill levels ranged from under 1000 to 1900-2000.
I went 2-3. I had trouble dealing with the club’s all-white walls and barriers while playing with white balls — although, of course, everyone had the same handicap.
Not surprisingly, Robert went undefeated and won the tournament.
We had a great time and would have stayed longer, except …

• Dallas Table Tennis Club (Carrollton)

… we had arranged to play in the evening at this club, which was five hours away.
Again, a long drive, but fortunately the club was open until 11 pm, so we had no trouble.
It’s owned by coach Kil Soo Kim.
Located in a Korean shopping center.
Nine tables. Lots of good players.
Mr. Kim wasn’t around, but Scott Ryan, an umpire who’s been to our club in New York, was present and made us feel at home.
The club was packed. Robert and I grabbed the one open table and played for 45 minutes.

Day 6

• North Texas Table Tennis Club (Plano)

Sunday was our busiest day, as we raced to cram in three more clubs in the Dallas/Fort Worth area in the course of five hours.
First up was the North Texas TTC, run by Shuai Wang, in Plano.
Shuai was away umpiring a tournament in Houston when we were in town, but he kindly arranged for us to play at his place.
It’s primarily a facility for kids’ training. Robert and I hit for a short while.

• Dallas Fort Worth Table Tennis (Richardson)

The Dallas Fort Worth TT club is run by Donna Chen and has sessions seven days a week at five different recreation centers. The day we were there the club played in Richardson, between Plano and Dallas.
10 well-spaced-out tables.
High ceiling. Good light. Lots of good players.
Sunlight from large windows was a little distracting, but no one seemed to mind, as the room was full, with people waiting to play.
Donna kept things moving, ushering players on and off tables.
I went 1-1. Robert, of course, didn’t lose a game.

• Grapevine Ping Pong Club

Our last club for the day was in the city of Grapevine, located midway between Dallas and Fort Worth, near the airport.
The club is managed by Owen Li and plays at different places on different days.
The day we were there they played at the The Rec, a gorgeous (and huge) municipal facility that offers about every recreational activity you can think of, including an indoor water park.
Eight tables in the gym.
High ceiling. A little chaotic, with few barriers and balls bouncing everywhere, but we still enjoyed ourselves.
In the evening we drove three-and-a-half hours back to Houston.

Day 7

• Korean Table Tennis Club (Houston)

Just one club this day — the Korean TTC, owned by Young Sik Kim.
It was officially closed for the day, but Mr. Kim opened for Robert and me and even came to play with us.
Five tables. Ingeniously, devices have been placed under the tables to prevent balls from getting stuck.
We played for over an hour. Another good time.

Day 8

• Houston International Table Tennis Academy (return visit)

We went back to the HITTA once more.
This was lucky. My flight to New York was due to leave at 6 pm, and no club in Houston was open early in the day.
I would have had to miss a day of play, which I can’t do!
Happily, Manny Velazquez texted Robert the code for the front door so we could get in, and I got 45 minutes of training.

In sum, over the eight days, Robert and I played at 12 different clubs.
We didn’t make it to Texas Wesleyan, whose club was temporarily closed;
El Paso, in the far west part of the state, which was too far away;
Corpus Christi, whose club plays only once a week for two hours, and we weren’t near there that day;
and any other Texas clubs we didn’t know about.

I came home with a new admiration for Texas, improved table tennis skills, a few extra pounds from all the BBQ, a bunch of new friends, and several new ideas for my home club in New York.

For anyone else who might be inspired to try a table tennis road trip, I recommend it!


Will Shortz
Westchester Table Tennis Center

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note - here is the blog entry from 4-16-15 from the club's website when Will Shortz came out:

Dawson - 17 players.
2 first time out players - both from New York - Will Shortz (rating 1873) and Robert Roberts (rating 2514).
Stephen Ackart, Kelly Boyce, Ray Pestridge, Corey Bryan, George McCutchin, Bob Kyker, Michael Barns, Okba Al Harfouch, Hamid Ezzat, Joe Mhemedi, Don Tiger, Jason Taylor, Mike Hamby, Kyle Sanchez, Tom Jourdan. Also, a group of about 8 Tulsa Town Hall members were there to watch Will play.
Other news: Stephen asked Robert how he learned to serve as well as he does. Robert said he would get a box of 2000 balls and practice serving them and would go thru 5 boxes at a time - that would be 10,000 practice serves at a time.

John Knox church - 11 players. Rob Lee, Zavier Lee (Rob's son), Corey Flaugher, Jose Prado, Johnnie McClanahan, Brian Flinn, Bruno Fernandez, Yee Yang, Robert Yang, Mauricio Oviedo, Mike Hamby.
Other news: Mike Hamby will begin collecting membership fees - $10 month or $100 year.

Bixby - 11 players. Jesper Ohlson, David Leonard, Alex Tupas, Jim Turner, Sam Agbasi (had a new penhold paddle!), Martin Ndengang, John Moore, Bryce Hurst, John Kerfoot, Jason Taylor (his son  Noah is in the 9th grade band and practices every night!), Kelly Boyce.
Other news: Tuesdays are not good playing nights for David (per David - and it showed tonight).
Jim Turner was watching table tennis on the Olympics and got inspired to come out.

Ping Pong tournament next month - September - at The Tulsan (a bar in Tulsa).
$1000 prize pool!
(see link #1K below for info about The Tulsan).
(per a text today from Bruno Fernandez).

John Knox church - 10 players. Jose Prado, Bruno Fernandez, Don Tiger, Robert Yang, Yee Yang, Drew Cowan, Efren Colin (Don Tigers son), Zavier Lee, Johnnie McClanahan, Mike Hamby. 

Bixby - 14 players. Alex Tupas, Jesper Ohlson (played 1 match with Martin and left), Martin Ndengang, Bob Kyker (just watched), Reed Kyker, Michael Johns, Sam Agbasi, Dylan Garland, Mauricio Oviedo, John Moore, John Kerfoot, Brian Flinn, Charlie Steel, Kelly Boyce.
Other news: Bob Kyker was talking about the nerve condition he developed in Nov 2019. He said, without any warnings, he got out of bed one night and could not walk! 

“The 100-day countdown to the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships Finals in Houston has begun as the historic showpiece event, set to get underway from November 23-29, gets ready to become one to remember for the ages.
This will be the first time the flagship event is hosted in the Americas and for the first time outside Europe and Asia since 1939.
Dating as far back as 1926, the World Table Tennis Championships showcase the world’s best table tennis players.”
By Calvin Koh / World Table Tennis | Aug. 15, 2021

John Knox Church - 7 players. Corey Flaugher, Mike Hamby, Hamid Ezzat, Patrick M., Robb Lee (last time out was 12-9-19), Adrien Lee (Robb's son), Xavier Lee (Robb's nephew).
Other news: Corey Flaugher now works at 21st and Hwy 169, so he can start coming out more times (Corey was working in Pryor!).

Bixby - 14 players. Michael Barns (last time out was 8-22-16 !), Alex Tupas, David Leonard, Martin Ndengang, Robert Yang, John Moore, Michael Johns, Gabe D., Corey Bryant, Sam Agbasi, John Kerfoot, Mauricio Oviedo, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce. 

The non-sanctioned Kansas City tournament - that was to be held August 21 - has been cancelled.
The tournament director - Dylan Garland - said due to Covid, the church (where the venue was) was concerned about Covid. (Dylan was chosen as the tournament director for 3 reasons, none of which we can publicly state (out of respect to other tournament directors). (Dylan will tell you though if you ask him).

John Knox church - 7 players. Okba Harfoush, Corey Flaugher, Hamid and Jonathan Ahmadi, Johnnie McClanahan, Mike Hamby, Robert Yang (info courtesy of Mike Hamby).

Bixby - 15 players. Charlie Steel (new), Brian Flinn (hasn't been out since Nov, 2016), Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Alex Tupas, John Moore, Jose Prado, Dylan Garland, Michael Johns, Patrick M., Sam Agbasi, Jesper Ohlson (fresh from a USTA tournament in Michigan (and we are not talking about Michigan, Okla) , Bruno Fernandez, John Kerfoot, Kelly Boyce. 

Bixby - 14 players. Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, John Moore, Jose Prado (going to a non-sanctioned Kansas City tournament on the 21st! see link below to the tournament), Abraham Hassan (took a 2nd lesson from Ray), Gabriel D., Bruno Fernandez, Peter Thang, Sam Agbasi, Bryce Hurst, Michael Johns, John Kerfoot, Mauricio Oviedo, Kelly Boyce.
For a link to the Kansas City non-sanctioned tournament:
https://www.kansascitytabletennis.com/product/2021-kansas-city-table-tennis-open/

John Knox church - 7 players. Hamid Ezzat and his son Jonathan, Corey Flaugher, Robert Yang, Chad Foster (new), Brian Flynn, Mike Hamby (info courtesy of Mike Hamby).

Why do table tennis players shout Cho?
(from Google) - Chinese players shout "Cho!" which basically means "ball". It's a contraction of "hǎo qiú" (pronounced Hao Chyo with a very very short y) which literally means "good ball" although a more accurate translation would be "good point" or "beautiful shot".

John Knox Church - 5 players. Mike Hamby, Hamid Ezzat, Hamid's son Jonathan, Robert Yang, Brian Flynn. (Drew was not playing tonight (or Tuesday) because he had surgery on his right hand - carpal tunnel) (info courtesy of Mike Hamby).

Bixby - 13 players. Abraham Hassan (new - he is 10 years old and just started taking lessons from Ray), Kaleem Hassan (his dad - just watched), Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Dylan Garland, Michael Johns, Martin Ndengang, Sam Agbasi (fresh from his CKD problem), Mauricio Oviedo, Peter Thang, Corey Bryant, John Kerfoot (paid $40!), Kelly Boyce.

John Knox Church - 7 players. Mike Hamby, Hamid Ezzat, Hamid's son John, Don Tiger, Efrain Efiren (Don's step son),   Robert Yang, Brian Flynn. (info courtesy of Mike Hamby).

Bixby - 13 players. David Leonard, John Moore, Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, Martin Ndengang, Michael Johns, Jesper Ohlson, Mauricio Oviedo, Bruno Fernandez, Bryce Hurst, Shane Spicer, Johnnie McClanahan, Kelly Boyce.

John Knox church is now open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:30 PM to 10:00 PM (thanks to Drew Cowan).
(We will continue to play at Bixby as well on Tuesdays and Thursdays).
There are new Covid 19 rules we must follow.
( 8-1-21 - from a text from Drew Cowan):
New Covid  19 rules to play at the church:
Hey Guys we can start  playing at John Know next week!
We can start at 6:30 (earliest) to 10 on  Tuesday and Thursday evenings
We must honor the following request by the  church:
1. Meet no earlier than 6:30 pm - This is to allow time for the  childcare center to exit the building before the ping pong group meets
2.  Masks required when outside the Fellowship Hall
3. Masks strongly encouraged  while in Fellowship Hall
4. Follow other COVID-19 precautions as able, i.e.  washing hands and social distancing, etc.
5. Must use restrooms across from  the kitchen
6. Must sweep and mop Fellowship Hall floors at the end of the  night.

Hope to see you all soon I have missed everyone!!  Drew

The club bought a new net set today - Donic Stress Net set from Paddle Palace for $70.
(We had some old Stiga net sets that would work, but Ray Pestridge said he did not like how the small net tightening screw works so we therefore had to buy new nets). If the Donic net works out, we will buy 1 more. 

Bixby - 14 players. Jacob Guyette (Vice Pres of the ORU ping pong club), Sean Curtis (ex-president of the ORU ping pong club - both play at the Tulsan and Cabin Boys bars), Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, David Leonard, Jesper Ohlson (from Jenks high school).  Alex Rule, James Owens, "V" (all 3 from Bishop Kelley (or "BK" as they call it), Mauricio Oviedo, Corey Bryant, Michael Johns, Martin Ndengang, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 18 players. Ray Pestridge, John Moore, Corey Flaugher, Peter Thang, Ivan Moon, Michael Johns, David Leonard, Robert Yang, Gabe D. (new), Martin Ndengang, Bruno Fernandez, Jason Taylor, Jesper Ohlson, Alex Tupas, Mauricio Oviedo, Bryce Hurst (new), Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 14 players. Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, David Leonard, Ivan Moon, Kap Mung (new - a pastor), Peter Thang, Jose Prado, John Moore, Mats Johansson (playing the best we have ever seen!), Jesper Ohlson, Martin Ndengang, Mauricio Oviedo, Corey Bryant, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 17 players. Alex Tupas, Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Peter Thang, Robert Yang, Mats Johansson, Martin Ndengang, Alex Rule, Doug Hardgrave, John Kerfoot, Bruno Fernandez, Mauricio Oviedo, Ivan Moon (new), Jason and Noah Taylor, Jose Prado, Kelly Boyce.

Update on John Knox Church - still no word from Drew Cowan or the church.
(At best we would play on Tuesdays and/or Thursdays).

Bixby - 12 players. Peter Thang (new - used to play at the Okla City club (for 2 years) 5 years ago), Robert Yang, Mats Johansson, Jesper Ohlson, Martin Ndengang, Alex Tupas, Michael Johns, John Moore, Jose Prado, Alec Rule, James Owens (both know Jesper), Kelly Boyce. 

Bixby -  19 players. Alex Tupas, Ray Pestridge, Stephen Ackart, Robert Yang, John Moore, Michael Johns, Mats Johansson, Mo Luqman, Sherry Malik (new - he came with Mo), Martin Ndengang, Jason and Noah Taylor, Ali Park (2nd time out), Noel Farley (came out with Ali - just watched), Alex Rule (2nd time out), James Owens (came out with Alex), Shane Spicer, Bruno Fernandez, John Cai, Kelly Boyce.

Stephen Ackart will be out tonight.
For those that don't know Stephen, he is a Tri-State champion (from days of yore).
Winner of the Hutchinson Open in Kansas. Winner of the Joplin, Missouri open. Winner of the Sooner State Games, Oklahoma. Stephen last played 11-22-19.

Bixby - 13 players. David Leonard, Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, Jose Prado, Martin Ndengang, Jesper Ohlson, Jeremy Song, Robert Yang, Michael Johns, John Cai, Johnny McClanahan, Kelly Boyce, Corey Bryant (Corey last came out Jan 2018. He started with the club Jan 2015). 

Bixby - 12 players. Louis Shannin (new), Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, David Leonard, Patrick M., Michael Johns, Martin Ndengang, John Cai, Shane Spicer, Johnny McClanahan, Jesper Ohlson, Kelly Boyce.

Update on the John Knox church: Drew texted. The fellowship hall (where we play) is busy on Mondays, Wed, and Fridays. Drew is going to try to get us Tuesdays and Thursdays at JKC.

Update on Brad Balmer's club: They are starting up league competition (for all ages) with ratings and round robins every Wednesday evenings at the Gatesway foundation gym.
Must be signed in by 6:40 PM. Play starts at 6:50 PM.
Located at 1217 E. College St., Broken Arrow.

Bixby - 11 players. John Moore, Alex Tupas, David Leonard, Martin Ndengang, Michael Johns, Jesper Ohlson, Mo Luqman, Jose Prado, Kelly Boyce, Reed Kyker, Bob Kyker (Bob was only able to play for 10 minutes and then left with Reed).

Update on John Knox church - Ray Pestridge contacted Drew Cowan 2 days ago. Drew said the church is starting regular services next week. Drew doesn't know when we can start playing there. 

Bixby - 14 players. Alec Rule (new), Alex Tupas, Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Corey Flaugher, Patrick M., Michael Johns, Martin Ndengang, Jesper Ohlson, Jeremy Song (2nd time out), John  Cai, Shane Spicer, Doug Hardgrave, Kelly Boyce.
Other news: Corey Flaugher update - last time Corey was out was 10/2020. However, he has been playing at Hamid's house (in Talala) at least once a week. He also bought Jaesung Kim's robot. 

Results from the June 12 Omaha tournament Ray Pestridge attended (and came in first in Class B and first in Class A doubles !):
2021 CHARTER WEST OPEN RESULTS
EVENT PLACE NAME CLUB

GIANT RR – A
FIRST Shyam Purohit ....................... Ames
SECOND Daniel Stepanyuk ................. Lincoln
THIRD Parviz Mojaverian ................ Kansas City
FOURTH Janek DeGuzman .............. Lincoln

GIANT RR – B
FIRST Ray Pestridge ......................... Ok
SECOND Kevin Nabity ......................... Des Moines
THIRD Drew Johnson ..................... Omaha
FOURTH Ishan Patel ...................... Ames

GIANT RR – C
FIRST Shine Cowles ........................ Omaha
SECOND Himadri Mukherjee ........... Omaha
THIRD Pio Juszkiewcz .................... Lincoln
FOURTH Daniel McGinnis ............... Ames

GIANT RR – D
FIRST Kai Zhang ............................. Sioux Falls
SECOND Javier Garcia ......................... Omaha
THIRD Ethan Nyffeler ...................... Omaha
FOURTH Cole Ely ........................... Liberal Ks

GIANT RR - E
FIRST Rick Kolb ............................. Lincoln
SECOND Steve Soper ............................ Lincoln
THIRD Matt Ziegler ......................... Omaha
FOURTH Cameron Unrau ............... Omaha

“A” DOUBLES
FIRST Stepanyuk / Pestridge ........ Mix
SECOND Cushing / Henslee ................. Lincoln
THIRD Patel / McGinnis .................. Ames
FOURTH Juszkiewicz / DeGuzman ... Lincoln

“B” DOUBLES
FIRST Purohit / Schorg .................... Mix
SECOND Wolf / McHugh ................... Omaha
THIRD Deeble / Aithagani ................. Omaha
FOURTH Miller / Brazil ...................Omaha

Bixby - 10 players. Alex Tupas, Ray Pestridge, Robert Yang, Martin Ndengang, Dylan Garland, Jesper Ohlson, Michael Johns, Mo Luqman, Jose Prado, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 15 players. Ray Pestridge, Mo Luqman, David Leonard, Martin Ndengang, Alex Tupas, Jesper Ohlson, Patrick M., Steven Perry (new), Bob Kyker, Shane Spicer, John Cai, Doug Hardgrave, Joey Hardgrave, Johnny McClanahan, Kelly Boyce.

Ray Pestridge played in the Charter West Open in Omaha, Nebraska last weekend - 6-12-21.
Ray won $200! He came in 1st in the Class B round robin and first in the doubles (he was paired with the top seed in the tournament!). He said the players there were not used to long pips. This was a rating tournament but not a USATT rating one.
This tournament used a Ratingscentral.com system.
This system rates players about 200 points lower than what the USATT would rate a player.
This system is from Australia.
To view the results for the tournament (which is not posted yet), look at the home page of the site and under "club" look for the code "OMTTC" (this is the Omaha Neb club and Rod Cowles was the director of the tournament) to show up.

Bixby - 11 players. Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, Dylan Garland, John Moore, Mo Luqman, David Leonard, Martin Ndengang, Michael Johns, Jesper Ohlson, Jose Prado, Kelly Boyce.
Other news: Alex and Michael attended Okba's parents funeral. 

Bixby - 13 players. Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Martin Ndengang, Mohammed ("Mo") Luqman, Michael Johns, Robert Thompson (new - came in with Mo), Bob Kyker, Patrick M., Sam Agbasi, Jose Prado, John Cai, Johnny McClanahan, Kelly Boyce.
Other new: Sam has CKD and has not played in almost 2 months. He has had to change his playing style and his diet because of his CKD.

Brad Balmer has a new place for ages 7-13 only.
For Junior program practices only:
Gatesway Foundation
1217 E. College St.  Broken Arrow
Questions call Brad at 918 240-7465 or go to https://brokenarrowpingpong.com/

The services (for males only) for Okba's parents will be this Thursday at 1:00 PM at Rolling Oaks Cemetery - 4300 E. 91st, Tulsa. 74137 (on 91st between Yale and Harvard).
Okba and his twin sister will be receiving all visitors at his house (also on Thursday) between 6-8 PM.

Dylan Garland's results from his playing in the 6-5-21 Missouri tournament are now posted!
He played 11 matches with wins over 1903, 1946 and 2034 rated players.
He lost in 5 games to Liedy Handoko (rated 2145).
(There were 44 players in the tournament and none from the Okla City club. Dylan was the only Tulsa player).
(if Tulsa knew no one from the Okla City club was not going to this tournament (ie, to represent Oklahoma table tennis), then Tulsa would have sent more Tulsa players).
 

Bixby - 15 players. Alex Tupas, David Leonard, Dylan Garland, Robert and Reed Kyker, Jesper, Jeremy Song (new), Ray Pestridge, John Moore, John Cai, Doug Hardgrave, Jose Prado, Martin Ndengang, Michael and Abdullah (new). (info courtesy of Ray).

We are sad to report that Okba's parents were killed in a car accident in South Dakota yesterday. 

Bixby - 17 players. Olivia and Andreana (new). Martin Ndengang, Michael Johns, Patrick M., John Cai, David Leonard, Alex Tupas, Jose Prado, Jesper, Patrick (Jesper's dad), Johnny McClanahan, Helvin Mejia, Shane Spicer, Joey Hardgrave, Doug Hardgrave, Ray Pestridge (info courtesy of Ray).

Bixby - 13 players. Mohammed Luqman, Jesper, Bob Kyker, Reed Kyker, Alex Tupas, John Moore, Dylan Garland, David Leonard, Jose Prado, Ray Pestridge, Martin Ndengang, Scott Bradley, Johnny McClanahan.

Bixby - 19 players (5 new players). Michael Johns, John Moore, Alex Tupas, Martin Ndengang, Okba Harfoush, David Leonard, Patrick M., Doug Hardgrave, Jesper (new), Eastman (new), Noel (new), Ray Pestridge, Alistair (new), Johnny McClanahan, Shane Spicer, Jose Prado, John Cai, Mats Johansson, Helvin Mejia (new). Had all 6 tables up tonight!

Bixby - 8 players. Alex Tupas, Robert Yang, David Leonard, Mats Johansson, Michael Johns, Martin Ndengang, Doug Hardgrave (2nd time out), Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 16 players. Doug Hardgrave and his brother Joey Hardgrave (both new), Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, David Leonard, Okba Harfoush, Michael Johns, Dylan Garland, Martin Ndengang, Mats Johansson, Brad Balmer, John Moore, John Cai, Shane Spicer, Johnny McClanahan, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 9 players. Alex Tupas, Ray Pestridge, John Moore, Robert Yang, Martin Ndengang, David Leonard, Cody Arnold (new - just moved to Tulsa from Ft. Worth), Jose Prado, Kelly Boyce.
Other news - Jose will be playing every week during the summer. He will start back at T.U. as a senior in mechanical engineering.  

Bixby - 9 players. Ray Pestridge, John Moore, David Leonard, Mats Johansson, Michael Johns, Martin Ndengang, Patrick Mmuokebe, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce.

Thursday - 11 players. Alex Tupas, Ray Pestridge, John Moore, Reed Kyker, David Leonard, Dylan Garland, Mats Johansson, Michael Johns, Martin Ndengang, Tom Jourdan, Kelly Boyce.
Other news: Tom Jourdan update - he only practiced tonight, no game play. Tom said he might be able to start playing games in 2 months.
John Moore has decided to use smooth rubber only on both sides. He tried medium long pips on his backhand and did not like it.

Bixby - 11 players. Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, John Moore, Michael Johns, Mats Johansson, David Leonard, Joann (new), Patrick Mmuokebe, Eli Betinjani, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce.
Other news: John Moore bought a new blade from Table Tennis USA.

Ozarks Table Tennis Club is hosting the 2021 Missouri Show-Me State Games Open table tennis tournament
next month - on June 5, 2021.  
This is a 2-Star USATT sanctioned tournament.
Merely fill the form out and send to me.
(Kelly will have copies of the entry form for the Tulsa players. Since this is the first tournament in this area in a while, this tournament will fill up fast)
"Thanks so much" and we hope to see you there ! !
Bill Lewis
3818 S Farm Rd. 103
Brookline, Missouri     65619
President ~ Ozarks Table Tennis Club
(C)  417.493.6259
epcotmagic@aol.com

Bixby - 9 players. Alex Tupas, Ray Pestridge, Martin Ndengang, Robert Yang, Dylan Garland, Michael Johns, David Leonard, John Moore, Kelly Boyce.
Other news: Tulsa players planning on going to the Springfield, MO tournament on June 5: Dylan Garland.

John Knox church opening for "In Sanctuary Worship" on May 23, 2021 (per their website - see note below from their website).
http://www.johnknoxchurch.org
In Sanctuary Worship
Join us in celebrating our return to in-person worship on Sunday, May 23rd at 10:00 a.m. Central.
The first few weeks, we will celebrate one worship service at 10:00am in the sanctuary.
Once we’ve gotten a firm handle on our new procedures and technology, we’ll return to two services.

Bixby - 8 players. John Moore, Alex Tupas, Ray Pestridge, Robert Yang, David Leonard, Michael Johns, Martin Ndengang, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 10 players. Ray Pestridge, John Moore, Alex Tupas, David Leonard, Mats Johansson, Dylan Garland, Reed Kyker, Rusty Dickson (came in with Reed), Michael Johns, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 10 players. John Moore, Alex Tupas, David Leonard, Martin Ndengang, Michael Johns, Robert Yang, Joseph Gonzales, Shane Spicer, Mats Johansson, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 9 players. Alex Tupas, Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Robert Yang, Martin Ndengang, Reed Kyker, Michael Johns, Mats Johansson, Kelly Boyce.
Other new: Reed can only play on Thursdays.

Bixby - 15 players. Ray Pestridge, Robert Yang, Alex Tupas, David Leonard, John Moore, Brad Balmer, Jose Prado, Mats Johansson, Joseph Gonzales, Sam Agbasi, Gabriel Santos, Shane Spicer, Derick Sparkman, Jake Sparkman (Derick's son), Kelly Boyce. Other news: Who is Gabriel Santos? -  Gabriel Santos is coach trained player (and looks like it) from Brazil. He is working on his PHD and will be in Tulsa about 3 years. He does not have a USATT rating.

Best Women's rallies of all time:
https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Table-Tennis/Features/2021/April/08/Lily-Zhang-makes-the-WTT-Best-Womens-Rallies-of-All-Time-Highlight-Video

The World Table Tennis Championships will be held in Houston, Texas on Nov 23-29, 2021.
This is the first time the USA has ever held this event.
(This should bring in a surge of new players to our club since this is a historic sporting event).
Here is the link to the article:.
https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Table-Tennis/Features/2021/April/13/USA-Table-Tennis-Welcomes-World-Championships-to-America-for-the-First-Time-Ever

Here is a copy of the article:
Individual World Table Tennis Championships in Houston on November 23 – 29
(Colorado Springs, CO – April 13, 2021) – USA Table Tennis (“USATT”), the National Governing Body for the sport of table tennis, today announced that the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships will be held in Houston, Texas, from November 23 through 29, 2021. USATT will serve as the host National Federation for this historic and prestigious event, which was awarded by the International Table Tennis Federation (“ITTF”) to an American city for the first time ever in a year that coincides with the 50th anniversary of another historic table tennis event, Ping Pong Diplomacy.

“We are overjoyed that the World Table Tennis Championships are going to be held in Houston,” said Virginia Sung, CEO of USA Table Tennis.  “Not only will it mark the first time the U.S. has hosted this prestigious event, but the 50th anniversary of Ping Pong Diplomacy adds an additional layer of significance. Once again, we will have the opportunity to celebrate our great international sport in the spirit of inclusion and to demonstrate our shared sense of humanity as we look toward the future. We know that the City of Houston and Harris County-Houston Sports Authority will deliver an extraordinary event for all of us with their exceptional hospitality and professionalism.”

“It is fantastic that in these difficult times of the pandemic we’re able to celebrate this news with fans of table tennis and all sports fans around the world,” said ITTF President Thomas Weikert. “We’re fortunate to have this opportunity to bring the World Championships for the first time ever to the United Sates as we honor the 50th anniversary of Ping Pong Diplomacy. We’re all looking forward to an extraordinary, amazing event.”

The six-day World Championship event will be held in the George R. Brown Convention Center in Downtown Houston. The Championship Finals are currently planned to be played in Houston’s General Assembly Theater.

“What better way to showcase the sport of table tennis than hosting the ITTF World Championships; we couldn’t be more excited,’’ said Harris County - Houston Sports Authority CEO Janis Burke. “It will be a special week for everyone involved to be a part of one historic moment and commemorate the other. What a tremendous way to introduce more players to the sport.’’

“We are thrilled to partner with USA Table Tennis and the Harris County - Houston Sports Authority to welcome the World Table Tennis Championships to the United States for the first time,” said Susanne Lyons, President, United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee. “The USOPC will work collaboratively with the organizers to celebrate the competitors and competition and provide necessary logistical support for all participants.”

The ITTF Championships were originally awarded the Houston at the 2019 ITTF Annual General Meeting and World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. At the same time, the Chinese Table Tennis Federation was awarded the 2022 Championships, which will be held in Chengdu. Houston and China collaborated in what was, essentially, a joint-support bid. In this effort, the US and China received the support of Yao Ming, the basketball superstar who played for Houston Rockets, as well as President Richard M. Nixon’s grandson, Christopher Nixon Cox.

The individual World Championship tournament offers titles in five different events: men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles. The individual World Championship event is held every other year – in the odd numbered years – while the Team World Championship event is held in the even-numbered years.

Ma Long of China is the reigning male World Champion, having won the men’s singles event in the last three consecutive individual World Championships. China’s Liu Shiwen is the reigning women’s singles champion. Ruth Aarons, who won the women’s title in 1936 and shared the title in 1937, is the only American to ever win a singles title in the World Championships. The last Americans to win a title at the World Championships were Erwin Klein and Leah Neuberger who won the mixed doubles title in 1956. Gao Jun, who is the current US Women’s Olympic coach, won the 1991 World Championship women’s doubles title (with partner Chen Zihe) while representing her country of birth, China. Gao Jun and Chen Zihe also won an Olympic Silver Medal for China in women’s doubles in the 1992 games in Barcelona.

Fifty years ago, the US National Table Tennis Team was invited to participate in a series of friendly table tennis matches in China, a trip that is often credited with helping thaw diplomatic relations between the US and China. President Richard M. Nixon traveled to China in 1972, beginning a new era of communication and contact between the two nations.

Bixby - 8 players. Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, Martin Ndengang, Sam Agbasi, Michael Johns, Mats Johansson, Reed Kyker, Kelly Boyce.

Updates on players. Mats Johansson - He tore something in his playing shoulder about 2 months ago while playing in Portland, Oregon with Christian Lillieroos. He is much better now.
Tom Jourdan - he went to an orthopedic and got a steroid shot and physical therapy and may be playing again soon.

Bixby - 12 players. Joseph Gonzales (new) and his wife Lesly (she just watched) (Joseph recently bought a robot and  a table!), Derick Sparkman (new), Ray Pestridge, John Moore, Alex Tupas, Martin Ndengang, Sam Agbasi, Michael Johns, Patrick Mmuokebe, Mats Johansson, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 12 players. Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, Jose Prado, Martin Ndengang, Randy Brooks, Dylan Garland, David Leonard, Michael Johns, Mike Hamby (paid $100), Sam Agbasi, John Moore, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 14 players. Alex Tupas, Jose Prado, Randy Brooks, Sam Agbasi, David Leonard, Robert Yang, Clarence Clanry, John Moore, Martin Ndengang, Robert Aduddell, Ray Pestridge, Chan, Michael Johns, Shane Spicer.

Bixby - 9 players. Sam Agbasi, Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Martin Ndengang, Michael Johns, John Moore, Dylan Garland, Jose Prado, Nestor Prato (info courtesy of Ray and Shane).

Bixby - Starting June 1, we cannot start setting up the tables, barriers, etc. until 5:30 PM (due to the center running their day camp for kids). This will include both Tuesdays and Thursday - until the end of summer.

Bixby - 14 players. Jose Prado (played one match with Ray and left), Ray Pestridge, John Moore, Robert Yang, Nestor Guzman, Okba Harfoush, Michael Johns, Martin Ndengang, Alex Tupas, Sam Agbasi, Clive Chafausipo (new -  plays at The Tulsan with Okba), Brandon Chow, Justin Masiker, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 14 players. Alex Tupas, John Moore, Okba Harfoush, Dylan Garland, Ray Pestridge, Sam Agbasi, Chris, Robert Aduddell, Nestor Guzman, David Leonard, Michael Johns, Randy Brooks, Joshua Jones (new - knows Okba), Martin Ndengang.

There is now an inter-turner-turnpike controversy concerning Sam Agbasi's playing style.
David Correa (from the other side of the turnpike) told Sam (this last weekend) that Sam should stay with his pen hold style.
This writer (after deep reflection) feels Sam should make the painful change to shake hand style.
The reason is because Sam's penhold style in not sustainable (it is fun but not sustainable).
David, being a young man, would naturally prefer a fun, short term solution to Sam's problem.
This writer, not being a young man, would prefer a longer term solution (ie sustainability).
Anyone wishing to suggest an answer to Sam's dilemma, please email this writer.

Bixby - 15 players. John Moore, Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, Nestor Guzman, Sam Agbasi, Robert Aduddell, Martin Ndengang (last time out was 3/2020), Clarunce Clanry (new), Randy Brooks, Okba Harfoush, Jose Prado, Michael Johns, Justin Masiker, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce.
Other news: Sam has decided to not change to shake hand (thanks to David Correa advice over the weekend).

Bixby - 9 players. Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, Nestor Guzman, David Leonard, Dylan Garland, Sam Agbasi, Robert Aduddell, Michael Johns, Kelly Boyce.
Other news: Sam cancelled his shakehand paddle he ordered. He may stay with his pen hold paddle since he was playing very well with it tonight. Also, Alex and Ray had new ideas for his shakehand paddle. 

Bixby - 12 players. Robert Aduddell (new)(plays at Cabin Boys Brewery- see below for address), David Subedi (new - pen holder), Randy Brooks (kinda new), Ray Pestridge, Robert Yang, David Leonard, Nestor Guzman, Sam Agbasi (switching to shake hand soon - he has bought a shake hand paddle from paddle palace), Okba Harfoush, Michael Johns, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce. 

Bixby - 10 players. Reed Kyker !, Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, John Moore, Robert Yang, David Leonard, Nestor Guzman, Dylan Garland, Sam Agbasi, Kelly Boyce.
Other news: Who is Reed Kyker?  Reed Kyker used to be a 2200 level player (when he was living in Pennsylvania) . He is the son of Bob Kyker. Reed started with the club in 1976 at the YWCA on 17th and Memorial (during the Peggy and Bob Shaha era (there are not many players left in Tulsa who remember that great era). He has not played in the last 20 years or so. Tonight was his first time back. You could not tell he was a 2200 player until he hit (ie warmed up)  with Robert Yang. Reed lives in south Tulsa now and is planning on playing again.

Carl Miller died 3-9-21 in a car accident in Kansas.
https://www.kake.com/story/43470343/driver-ran-red-light-in-fatal-derby-crash-sheriffs-office-says-2
(Below is a copy of the story from above):
Driver ran red light in fatal Derby crash, sheriff's office says
Tuesday, March 9th 2021, 1:23 PM CST
Updated: Wednesday, March 10th 2021, 2:54 PM CST
written by KAKE News

DERBY, Kan. (KAKE) - The Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office has identified the 65-year-old man who died after authorities said he ran a red light and crashed his minivan into another vehicle.

The crash happened at approximately 11:40 a.m. Tuesday at the intersection of K-15 and Meadowlark in Derby.

According to the sheriff's office, Carl Miller II, of Hutchinson, was driving southbound in a Chevy van when he collided into an eastbound Jeep Commander driven by a 29-year-old female.

Authorities said Miller died on the scene. The woman in the Jeep was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

(Anyone who played in tournaments in this region (ie Okla, Kansas, Missouri, etc) in the last 30 years knew who Carl was. Carl used to help Guy Hendrickson run the Hutchinson, Kansas tournaments (they were low key, low pressure, lots of fun). The one thing I think everyone will agree on about Carl was he absolutely loved table tennis. 

Bixby - 13 players. Francisco Gomez (new), Brandon Chow (new), Justin Masiker (these 3 players play at work together but don't get off work until 7:00 PM), Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Alex Tupas, Nestor Guzman, John Moore, Robert Yang, Michael Johns, Sam Agbasi, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce.

Update on Tom Jourdan (last time played - 9-8-20) on his shoulder problem.
He has a tear in his shoulder and surgery would fix it but he would have to wear a sling for 6 weeks and then limited use afterwards. This would keep Tom from doing his dental practice so surgery is not an option. Tom hopes, in time, the tear will heal. Not sure when he will be back.

Bixby - 17 players. Tim Kluchnyk (new - knew Okba),  Noah Lyons(new - from ORU), Jacob Guyette (new-from ORU), Tom Dreyer (new), Muzze - new (knew Okba), Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, David Leonard (playing on adrenaline only tonight - 3 nights in a row!), John Moore, Okba Harfoush, Nestor Guzman, Dylan Garland, Justin Masiker, Michael Johns, Tom Jourdan (he came out to "block" only since his shoulder is not healed yet), Sam Agbasi, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 10 players. Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, Nestor Guzman, John Moore, David Leonard, Michael Johns, Sam Agbasi, Shane Spicer, Patrick Mmuokebe, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 11 players. John Moore, Ray Pestridge, Nestor Guzman, David Leonard, Robert Yang, Alex Tupas, Dylan Garland, Michael Johns, Lewis Shanin, Sam Agbasi, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 9 players. Justin Masiker (new), Lewis Shanin (new), Ray Pestridge, Nestor Guzman (will be in Tulsa for the next 6 years! No more Venezuela ), Michael Johns, David Leonard, Sam Agbasi, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce.

From Celia at Bixby center:
I have a rental for ½ the gym on Tues & Thurs, March 2nd & 4th for the Miss Bixby pageant rehearsals from 4:30-7pm.  
I will have the curtains up to divide the gym for that week.  
Once they leave, if you want to expand into that area, you will be able to do so.

Bixby - the center will be closed today also due to snow. No table tennis.

Bixby - the center will be closed today due to 6" of snow. No table tennis.

Bixby - no play tonight either due to icy roads

Bixby - no play tonight due to icy roads

Bixby - 9 players - Robert Yang, John Moore, Michael Johns, Dylan Garland, Alex Tupas, David Leonard, Mo Luqman, Sam, Ray Pestridge.

Bixby - 13 players. John Moore, Alex Tupas, David Leonard, Okba Harfoush, Omar? (friend of Okba), Brad Balmer, Ray Pestridge, Mike Hamby, Michael Johns, Patrick Mmuokebe, Tim Pang, Lewis Shanin (new), Robert Yang. (info courtesy of Ray)

Bixby - 10 players. Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Brad Balmer, Mo Luqman, Jose Prado, Patrick Mmuokebe, John Moore, Michael Johns, Dylan Garland, Kelly Boyce

Update on 2 players (per Ray Pestridge): Tom Jourdan - he still has problems with his shoulder. His doctor says Tom needs surgery but Tom does not want it. Tom maybe back in one month.
Bob Kyker - Now down to only taking 5 milligrams for his leg medicine. Bob maybe back in one more year.

Bixby - 12 players. Ray Pestridge, John Moore, Jose Prado, Brad Balmer, Tim Pang, Robert Yang, Okba Harfoush, friend of Okba, Patrick Mmuokebe, Michael Johns, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 11 players. Ray Pestridge, John Moore, Jose Prado, Mo Luqman, Alex Tupas, Robert Yang, Dylan Garland, Michael Johns, David Leonard, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 9 players. Ray Pestridge, John Moore, David Leonard, Jose Prado, Michael Johns, Alex Tupas, Mats Johansson, Brad Balmer, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 9 players. John Moore, Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, Dylan Garland, Okba Harfoush, Michael Johns, Jose Prado, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce.
Other news: Okba is back! He will start playing more often. He said he has tried other sports in the last year or 2 and he said he likes table tennis best! 

Bixby - 8 players. Ray Pestridge, Jose Prado, John Moore, Alex Tupas, Mats Johansson, Brad Balmer, Michael Johns, Kelly Boyce

Bixby - 10 players. David Leonard, Robert Yang, Dylan Garland, Ray Pestridge, John Moore, Jose Prado, Jason and Noah Taylor, Michael Johns, Mohammed Luqman(info courtesy of Ray)

Bixby - 11 players. Jacob Raley (new!), Okba Harfoush, Brad Balmer, David Leonard, Mohammed Luqman, John Moore, Michael Johns, Ray Pestridge, Jose Prado, Alex Tupas, Shane Spicer (info courtsey of Shane).

Bixby - the next time we play will be Jan 5 - Tuesday.

Ex-Tulsa player Coach Rachid El Boubou has online tips from Butterfly:
https://butterflyonline.com/butterfly-training-tips-how-to-forehand-pivot-with-coach-rachid/
and
https://butterflyonline.com/coaches/rachid-elboubou/
(info courtesy of Alex Tupas).

Bixby - 8 players. Jose Prado (new), Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Alex Tupas, John Moore, Jason Taylor, Michael Johns, Kelly Boyce.
Other news: Jose is a Junior at TU and has been playing at TU with Mohammed Luqman. Jose entered a TU ping pong tournament and came in 3rd (behind Mohammed and some other player). 

Bixby - 10 players. John Moore, David Leonard, Alex Tupas, Jason and Noah Taylor, Michael Johns, Mats Johansson, Robert Yang, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 10 players. Ray Pestridge, John Moore, David Leonard, Robert Yang, Alex Tupas, Michael Johns, Mats Johansson, Jason and Noah Taylor, Kelly Boyce.

From Bixby center - We will be closing the center at 5:00pm Dec 21-23 the week of Christmas and Dec 28 – 31, the week of New Year.

Bixby - 13 players. Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, John Moore, David Leonard, Jason and Noah Taylor, Robert Yang, Tim Pang, Jeffery McNeal, Michael Johns, Shane Spicer, Mats Johansson, Kelly Boyce.
Other news: Jeffery is planning on buying a new paddle from Paddle Palace soon.
John Moore is experimenting with new rubber again.
Robert Yang is in between hobbies now and will be playing again for awhile.

Bixby - No play tomorrow. Table Tennis Cancelled.

Bixby-10 players. Alex Tupas, David Leonard, Ray Pestridge, Dylan Garland, Andrew Martin, Jason and Noah Taylor, Shane Spicer, John Moore, Michael Johns.

Bixby will be open Thursday - 12-3-20 for table tennis (the first Thursday of the month).

Bixby - 5 players. David Leonard, Robert Yang, Michael Johns, Patrick Mmuokebe, Shane Spicer (rainy and cold night plus Covid 19 warnings). (info courtesy of Shane)

From Bixby center - We will be closing the center at 5:00pm Dec 21-23 the week of Christmas and Dec 28 – 31, the week of New Year.

Bixby - 11 players. Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, John Moore, David Leonard, Dylan Garland, Michael Johns, Jason and Noah Taylor, Tim Peng, Darren Delaune, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - we can start playing every Thursday at Bixby starting in Dec ! (still no word from Knox Church when we can start playing there).

Bixby - 10 players. Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, Mats Johansson, Dylan Garland, Jeffery McNeal, Michael Johns, Bruno Fernandez, John Kerfoot, David Leonard, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 6 players. Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Alex Tupas, John Moore, Michael Johns, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 9 players (vote day for President). Ray Pestridge, John Moore, David Leonard, Dylan Garland, Alex Tupas, Jeffery McNeal (new), Noah and Jason Taylor, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 10 players. (big ice storm just west of Tulsa). JD (first time out), Alex Tupas, Dylan Garland, David Leonard, Bruno Fernandez, Robert Yang, John Moore, Michael Johns, Jason Taylor, Shane Spicer (info courtesy of Shane).

Bixby - 18 players. David Leonard, Michael Johns, Corey Flaugher, Brad Balmer, Sean Curtis, Noah Lyons, John Moore, Dylan Garland, Ray Pestridge, Alex Tupas, Bruno Fernandez, Robert Yang, Chris Lane, Jaesung Kim (last night - moving to Washington), Jason and Noah Taylor, Tim Pang, Shane Spicer (info courtesy of Shane).

Bixby - 19 players. Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, John Moore, Alex Tupas. From the ORU ping pong club - Sean Curtis, Noah Lyons, Daniel Chou. Dylan Garland, Mats Johansson, Andrew Martin, Tim Jones, Jason and Noah Taylor (did not play any matches - stayed 5 minutes and left), Brad Balmer, Chris Lane, Noelle Cullison (just read/browsed, did not play), Tim Pang (from Calif - here for 3 months on a job), Michael Johns, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce.

Per a text message from Brad Balmer dated 10-5-20 (Monday):
The Broken Arrow recreation dept is running a tournament next Thursday - 10-15-20 - at Neinhuis Community Center on Lynn Lane in Broken Arrow.
Starts at 6:30 PM and costs $5.00.

Bixby - 14 players. Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, John Moore, Corey Flaugher, Alex Tupas, Dylan Garland, Jason and Noah Taylor, Diego Fernandez, Bruno Fernandez, Brad Balmer, Jaesung Kim, Shane Spicer, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 9 players. Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, Alex Tupas, Corey Flaugher, John Moore, Bruno Fernandez (paid $5), Diego Fernandez, Michael Johns, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 11 players. Ray Pestridge, David Leonard, John Moore, Alex Tupas, Dylan Garland, Robert Yang, Diego Fernandez, Andrew Martin, Shane Spicer, Michael Johns, Kelly Boyce.
Other news: Diego will be moving to near Dallas in 2 weeks.
Alex and Shweta played at Nienhuis park in Broken Arrow this last weekend.

Bixby - no play tonight.
Other news: Tom Jourdan has hurt his shoulder and will not play for up to 3 months.

Bixby - 17 players. Ray Pestridge, John Moore, Alex Tupas, Robert Yang, Corey Flaugher, David Leonard, Okba Harfouch, Bruno Fernandez, Diego Fernandez, Andrew Martin, Michael Johns, Mats Johansson, Shane Spicer, Jaesung Kim, Omar Ahmadieh (knows Okba), Dylan Garland, Kelly Boyce.
Other news: Jaesung will be moving to Washington on 10-26-20.

Bixby - 15 players. Ray Pestridge, Robert Yang, David Leonard, Corey Flaugher, John Moore, Mats Johansson, Mike Fletcher (first time out), Andrew Martin, Dylan Garland, Darren Delaune , Jason and Noah Taylor, Michael Johns, Shane Spicer (paid $40), Kelly Boyce.
Other news - for more on Darren Delaune - https://www.ndnsports.com/muscogee-creek-fighter-makes-boxing-debut/

Bixby - 13 players. Ray Pestridge, Corey Flaugher, Robert Yang, Alex Tupas, David Leonard, Michael Johns, Tom Jourdan, Bruno Fernandez, Jason and Noah Taylor, Shane Spicer, Jaesung Kim, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 8 players. Ray Pestridge, John Moore, David Leonard, Alex Tupas, Corey Flaugher, Robert Yang, Michael Johns, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 10 players. Ray Pestridge, John Moore, David Leonard, Alex Tupas, Corey Flaugher, Shane Spicer, Dylan Garland, Jaesung Kim, Michael Johns, Kelly Boyce.

Bixby - 11 player. Ray Pestridge, John Moore, David Leonard, Alex Tupas, Corey Flaugher, Dylan Garland, Michael Johns, Jaesung Kim, Shane Spicer, Robert Yang, Kelly Boyce.

(from an email from Jared dated 8-22-20) Dear Table Tennis Friends,
We need your help to keep Joplin Table Tennis Club running in the future.
If you’ve had the opportunity to play at one of our Tournaments or at our Club, you know what a great facility our location, Memorial Hall, is for table tennis.  
However, Memorial Hall, needs repair and the City of Joplin is trying to determine if they should fix it or even this type of facility is needed in our community.
Joplin Table Tennis Club needs such a facility for our Club and for hosting Tournaments.  
You can help us show the City there is strong support for Joplin Table Tennis Club by completing their survey.  

Just go to  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JoplinMemorialHall  and answer 22 questions. Done!  

Your help is greatly appreciated. 

Jared Wicklund | Liberty Utilities  (Missouri) | Fuel Contracts Manager
P: 417-625-6190 | C: 417-438-1105 | E: Jared.Wicklund@libertyutilities.com
602 S Joplin Ave, Joplin, MO 64801