Larry Buell’s Winter 2012 OKC Sooner State Games Tournament Report
This year our OKC Winter SSG Tourney opened on a bright and pleasantly cool winter’s day.
There was truly an invasion of Tulsans come to compete in this tournament, including (limited only by my aging memory):
John Moore (UR), Glen Grusendorf (696), Don Tiger (UR), Mike Hamby (1304), David Correa (1308), Mats Johansson (1583), Steve Ackart (1648), Kelly Boyce (1855) , Sina Asadallahi (UR), Bob Kyker (1699), Ray Pestridge (1908), Alex Tupas (1840), Johnny McClanahan, Fernando Prato and yours truly (1687).
This was my first trip down to the new location of the OKC club in the Crossroads mall. I liked the setting, the lighting was very good, the tables well-spaced, and the footing was fine.
Action opened with both the U3000 doubles and U3800 doubles simultaneously in their respective round robins. Since I was entered in the U3000 with David, I didn’t get to see many of the U3800 doubles matches. Ray and Alex, and Sina and Bob were entered fromTulsain the U3800, and did quite well, finishing with the Bronze for Ray and Alex, and the Silver for Sina and Bob. Gold medal winners in this were Tiffany Tran and Alan Ting from OKC. I had a chance to meet and talk with Alan later in the tournament. He is finishing up his thesis (in civil engineering) and is hoping to find a job soon after graduation. Please pray for him to find a job soon, as this will enable Alan to stay inAmericawhich he very much desires.
In the U3000 David and I ran into a buzz saw in the father/son duo of Scott Barone (1987, but rated as high as 2130 in 2006), and his son Shelby (484, but played very consistently with steady returns and good serves). Both David and I had trouble with Scott’s serves, which were amongst the best in the tournament as I later observed in the Open Singles. As a consolation Scott had a bit of trouble with my serves as well, but not nearly enough 
. They had a well-deserved 3-0 win versus us, and went on to win our round robin.
David was showing flashes of his tremendous potential, with great drives/kills, and impressive range in court coverage. We managed to finish second in our RR, and went on to play Dale Goodman (1591) and
Linda Piatt (1120) in the Bronze medal round. This was a very close match, with the excellent cross-court hits (naturally far away from the receiver!) of both Dale and Linda forcing David and his aging partner to up their game to eke out a 3-2 win, 11-8 in the fifth (which David won for us convincingly with a powerful forehand kill!).
In the other U3000 RR, Steve and Mike were playing consistently, with their excellent service returns and canny ball placement setting them up to win their RR. They met Scott and Shelby in the finals, and with the powerful drives/kills of Steve, Mike’s deceptively spinney chops and lobs, and their ability to provide an answer to Scott’s serves, were victorious to bring the crown home toTulsa!
My next event was the U1900 singles. I opened against my new nemesis, Mats, who has shown wonderful improvement in his game, especially in his forehand, over the last 6 months. My power drives, normally my bread and butter, were easily neutralized by his excellent and consistent long-pips returns, and anything slightly up he slaughtered with his powerful forehand. He easily topped me 3-0.
My next and last match in our RR (there was one default, a no show) was against Terry Brecheisen, could not find on USATT ratings though Britt had him at 1737). He had a very unusual serve, which consisted of a corkscrew circular whipping motion that put very strange spin on the ball (he later said this was his most potent weapon). I finally managed to figure out how to return (wait for it to come off table and slow/low roll it back). Terry showed very good range, especially for a tall man, enabling him to return my deep shots to forehand/backhand alternating with good consistency. Terry also used anti on his BH, which we don’t see very much anymore (having been replaced in popularity by long-pips), but his used this quite well against my drives. I finally worked out a successful strategy of serving low and fast deep to his anti backhand, and then drive/killing his returns to his deep forehand. This setup a very tight match, with leads changing back and forth many times until I held on to win 11-9 in the 5th.
Mats also beat Terry, and so won our RR. In the finals, it was Kelly, Mats and a lanky lefty Mike Lauro (1709), who showed great ability to counter-drive through the games I watched him play. Our own Kelly ended up winning this event, with Mats second, and Mike third.
Tulsa’s own John Moore had a fine tournament, winning both the U1100s and U1300s. Glen placed 3rd in the U1100s, and the fast-improving Don Tiger (in his first tournament!) had a fine showing finishing with the Silver in the U1300s!
Mike Hamby, who has shown terrific improvement in spin and consistency over the past year, won the U1500s, with the high upside David Correa winning the Bronze.
I had the privilege of watching our own Mats and Steve play in the U1700 finals. This was a very close match, as they exchanged leads and games all the way to the fifth. In the end, Mats’ consistency and good placements overcame the valiant drives and kills of Steve to eke out a victory, Congratulations to them both for a well-fought finale!
My last event was the Open Singles, in which I played a very insignificant (overall) but successful (personal) role. I played the same Mike Lauro who finished 3rd in the U1900s in my opening match. I saw immediately that I could not drive with him, as he was faster and fiercer than I in this regard. However, I also found he had great difficulty returning my short, low, heavy-underspin serves to his backhand, and that if I blocked his drives low but deep to his backhand he would often overhit them off the table. This enabled me (to my delighted surprise!) to emerge victorious in a 3-0 win.
I then faced the top-seed in my RR, Jeff Johnston, a 2048 HARD BAT player fromKC.,MO.Although I had close games with him, his ability to misdirect with his body and hit to a different place than I expected, his consistent chops and drive/kills (no spin, hard to lift for me) allowed him to win our RR in a 3-0 victory.
The finals then consisted of Jeff, Scott Barone, our own Sina, and OKC’s own Winfred Addy (2248, but I overheard Britt saying he has played like a 2500+ and participated in the Olympics for his country Ghana some moons ago).
I saw two of these matches up close and personal. The first was between Sina and Scott. Scott showed incredible mobility and power, often killing Sina’s serves early in the match. They also exchanged many fierce drive rallies, which had the crowd dreaming of ever being able to perform such shots! Sina adapted as the match wore on, and especially in the 4th/5th games adjusted his serves to be shorter, lower, and with more underspin, which Scott began to have trouble returning well. Sina’s awesome backhand loop and great cross-court placements (forcing Scott to move farther and farther) eventually gave him the edge necessary to win in the 5th.
Winfred won his matches against Jeff and Scott, and Sina won against Jeff, to setup a Winfred/Sina final.
Thought Winfred started off a bit slowly (for him), he rapidly picked up steam and his lightning-fast loop/kills and very deceptive serves got the better of Sina to grant him the Gold medal. A fine performance by our very own Sina to win the Silver!
Another in a long line of well-run, efficient and enjoyable tournaments by our Brethren in OKC (Britt Salter, Tourney Director).
Afterwards, I had a brief but joyous visit with my son and his fiancé inNorman, a quiet and contemplative drive home, to a welcoming shower and well-earned repose.
God is good! -Larry Buell
|
Winter 2011/2012 SSG Results |
|||
|
Events |
Gold |
Silver |
Bronze |
|
Ping-Pong: Doubles |
John Gillette & Ronny Young (OKCTT) |
Dylan Postier & Chris Kuykendall (Enid) |
|
|
Ping-Pong: Open Singles |
John Gillette (OKCTT) |
Ronny Young (OKCTT) |
George Banu (OKCTT |
|
Ping-Pong: Over 50 Singles |
John Gillette (OKCTT) |
|
|
|
Ping-Pong: Under 18 Singles |
Nathan Schmidt (Purcell) |
Blair Brewer (Okc) |
BlaineBrewer (Okc) |
|
Table Tennis: U1100 Singles |
John Moore (Tulsa) |
Alexander Falco (AR) |
Glen Grusendorf (Tulsa) |
|
Table Tennis: U1300 Singles |
John Moore (Tulsa) |
Donald Tiger (Tulsa) |
Gary Broxterman (OKCTT) |
|
Table Tennis: U1500 Singles |
Mike Hamby (Tulsa) |
Gary Broxterman (OKCTT) |
David Correa (Tulsa) |
|
Table Tennis: U1700 Singles |
Mats Johansson (Tulsa) |
Stephen Ackart (Tulsa) |
Joshua Ford (TX) |
|
Table Tennis: U1900 Singles |
Kelly Boyce (Tulsa) |
Mats Johansson (Tulsa) |
Mike Lauro (AR) |
|
Table Tennis: Open Singles |
Winfred Addy (OKCTT) |
Sina Asadallahi (Tulsa) |
Scott Barone (AR) |
|
Table Tennis: U3000 Doubles |
Stephen Ackart & Mike Hamby (Tulsa) |
Scott Barone & Shelby Barone (AR) |
Larry Buell & David Correa (Tulsa) |
|
Table Tennis: U3800 Doubles |
Tiffany Tran & Alan Ting (OKCTT) |
Sina Asadallahi & Bob Kyker (Tulsa) |
Ray Pestridge & Alex Tupas (Tulsa) |
OLDER INFO
The Sooner State Games Table Tennis and Ping Pong Tournament will be held on January 28, 2012.
Entry information:
Entry Fees: The cost to enter is $20 for the first event, and $15 for each additional event. Due to complexity issues (mostly my limited financial ability) doubles team members will each have to pay the full event entry price, i.e. if two folks enter a TT Doubles event only, they will each have to pay $20 ($15 each if they are in other events as well.). You cannot enter two separate events starting at the same time. Please review the schedule and make sure you enter no more than one event per time block.
USATT Membership Fees: The Table Tennis events all require players to be current USATT members. Those whose membership is expired on or before the tournament (per USATT Player List) have to renew their membership or bring proof that they have done so. Memberships fees have just been incresed (by USATT – NOT OKCTT!!!), so please note the new prices. Memberships are available at the club – or membership fees can be sent with entries. Adult 1 year membership is $49, three years cost $130. Under 18 and full-time students can get a yearly membership for $25 . Juniors can get three years for $60.
USATT Rating Fees: Anyone playing in a TT Singles event (TT Doubles and all PP events excluded) must pay a $7.00 rating fee. This fee should be included with entry.
Please fill out Entry Form and Waiver and send them to (note this is my address NOT club’s!):
OKCTT Club (c/o Britt Salter)
4600 N. Tulsa Ave.
Okc., OK 73112
Payment Options:
Via Check:
Please make check out to OKCTT Club. We prefer getting one check for all fees (Entry, Extra Shirt(s), and USATT Rating or Membership (If Applicable). After the tournament, we (OKCTT) will settle up with the Sooner State Games folk.
Online Payment:
You are also welcome to pay online at the SSG Site. If you chose this, it would be helpful to let me know who you are, your rating (if applicable), what events were entered, and how to get in touch if necessary.
Give me (Britt) a call or send me an E-mail. You can call me at (405) 306 – 7227. E_Mail is “bsalter 5 at gmail dot com” (Remove spaces, change “at” to @, and “dot” to “.”)
Winter Sooner State Games General Information
The Winter Sooner Games Tournament will be held January 28, 2012. We’ll have two separate groups of events – Ping Pong (non-USATT sanctioned) and Table Tennis (USATT Sanctioned).
Ping Pong (PP) Events: We will hold the PP events early to make sure we can get all events (TT and PP) finished at a reasonable hour.
Table Tennis (TT) Events: We will hold the TT events after the PP events – except that Doubles will be concurrent with the last PP events.
Events and starting times are in table below.
| Event: | Start Time: | Code: |
| TT-U1100 | 12:00pm | TT01 |
| TT-U1300 | 10:30am | TT02 |
| TT-U1500 | 1:30pm | TT03 |
| TT-U1700 | 12:00pm | TT04 |
| TT-U1900 | 10:30am | TT05 |
| TT-Open Sgl. | 3:00pm | TT06 |
| U3000 Doubles | 9:30am | TT07 |
| U3800 Doubles | 9:30am | TT08 |
| PP-Doubles | 8:00am | PP01 |
| PP-Singles | 8:45am | PP02 |
| PP-Over 50 Singles | 9:30am | PP03 |
| PP-Under-18 | 9:30am | PP04 |
