Table Tennis Official Magazine of the English Table Tennis Association Edited by LESLIE S. WOOLLARD Published by Walthamstow Press, Ltd., Guardian House, London, E.17. Vol. 9 JANUARY, 1951 No.4 SENDING From THE EDITOR CONTRIBUTIONS HELD OVER Let t e r s, articles, anecdotes, On The Mark news, etc., are always welcome. ON'T be downhearted about losing our And y Donaldson Should be as brief as possible, titles. If you saw our young boys and girls (First English* Cham­ 1 D pion) on "Training and sent direct to The Editor : in action yon would be confident that we and Winning the LESLIE S. WOOLLARD, English"; Jack Car.­ have the potential talent to win the Swaytnling rington - "Swedish 21, Campbell Road, Bedford. Cup yet. Our greatest Hungary-beating team of National Coaching' ',-; Until increased circulation justifies Peg g y Franks ­ 1927 (Bull, Perry and Haydon) were 18, 18 and "Practice for La­ extra pages, space is limited, and some dies"; R.A.F. "FlY­ items may have to be condensed. Send 16 years old respectively and fearless as "wild­ ing High"; "Why early as possible. cats." That spirit is still alive. Some of our Affiliate," " The N.E.C. from the In­ articles are dedicated to building English world­ side," and "County A SPECIAL NOTE Associations," by Les­ beating combinations. aie Woqllard; U. S.A. Arti~les and opinions, etc., Will you please all try to sell an extra copy of Desp.atch by Reba . expressed in Table Tennis do Monness; "A m b i ­ Table Tennis? If you can all sell just one more ti::mB," by A. A. 2 not necessarily represent official cop~ Wall· Letters'· Car­ views. They may, in fact, be at vari­ a club (average) then we get 4 extra pages toon~; "Bats,' Covers ance. All articles published are the for our 6d. Let's try and make' this a, record and Grips" (Miscel­ lany) ; Photographs; individual viewpoint of the writer season for circulation. L.S.W. Official News, etc. whose name is given. Every reader has the same right of expression. Items WAS PINKIE RIGHT? under Official News are authoritative To win or to lose"gloriously, that is the question. Which is right? See and also where expressly stated. our note on page 4, col. 1. Pinkie could have probably beaten' Pritzi on a time limit. Here is her view of her heroic match. GETTING YOUR MAGAZINE " I f.elt I had a good chance against measure of my hitting, and by that REGULARLY Pritzi, as she is entirely defensive, so time I was considerably hotter than I was determined from the start to she. From then ,on it was a process Table Tennis should be readily m~ obtainable from your local h,it as nluch as I could. I knew if I of wearing down. Whatever I 3 Hon. Magazine -Secretary (in tried to play her type of game she did, the ball came back and back. England) through newsagents, or would get the better of me, and in Some people said I should have direct from the Circulation Manager: any case I think time limit games are played to win on a time linlit when GEOFF. R. HARROWER, a bad advertisement for T.T. So I I had an 11-6 le'ad in the third. decided to mix it a bit,..,~ith long and Audiences pay to see table tennis~ not 68, Gloucester Road, New Barn~t, Herts. short returns and '1'0 use a surprise hit. ping-pong, and if Betty Blackbourn To my great relief this worked so and Vera Dace have beaten her by Supscription Rates are Singles Copies well that I got the first two games. ·out and out hitting, I'm certainly not 7d. post free; Full season (9 copies) When it came to the third, however, going to be a bad advertisement for 5s. Ode post free. she suddenly began to- get the T.T. by winning on a time limit." ADVERTISEMENTS Cover Picture: Dorothea Munnings Enquiries or copy for Advert­ Lines County and Scunthorpe isements should be sent to E have been wai1ting for 12 months to give D'orothea ,the front paige 4 G. R. Harrower, 68, Gloucester honour, and she has certainly worked hard to earn it. Our very Road, New Barnet. W heartiest congratulations to her on winning the English Open Junior ,Girls and f.or her wonderful win ,over Austria's red-he:aded fury Linda Wertl. ENGLISH TABLE TENNIS Dorothea has a very steady all-round, orthodox game and has been earning ASSOCIATION, an increasing number of titles in the past 18 IffiiOlllths, all the more remarkable 5 214, Grand Buildings, because she is out of the big T.T. 'c~'~tres. Mr. Richards (of Scunthorpe) rafalgar Square, LONDON, W.C.2. prophesied a big future for her months ago. We're glad he's right, for Admin. Sec: Mrs. K. Pegg. Dorothea is the nices,t lass imaginable, undaunted in any company. Johnny Leach's U.S.A. Trophies By JACK CARRINGTON HIS month a word about T doubles tactics. The ques­ tion is often asked " Can we win doubles by pure defence?" An~ another " Should we try to attack every ball?" I had this latter theory, until the first time I played with Victor Barna, when he said: "What's the rush? Let's see if they are going to give us any points first." Since then I have often found that Photo by Peter Madge Photograph of the unique trophies won by JOHNNY LE~ACH in the U.S.A. Nationalls tip useful, but not every time, of last April, the first U.S.A. titles to come to England. Johnny and JACK C'ARRING­ course. It boils down to this: for TON ha,ve accepted an invitation to defend their titles. Good luck to both! consistent success, whether it's singles or doubles, you nlust be adaptable. In doubles, given the right partner, Candles~ you have the advantage that some­ Man of 80,000 body watching your play very closely can drop a hint to you when some­ By AUSTIN CARRIS, English Finalist, 1922 thing needs changing. Imagine how helpful this could be sometimes in GODFREY DECKER, ageless equip­ himself a great favourite with the singles! ment wizard of the E.T.T.A., retired early pioneers. It is impossible to lay down rules, from the P.L.A. last month after 40 but here is one of the secrets which years' service. ,He revolutionised lighting He was appointed Assistant Secre­ when he lns.talled a single 60-watt elec­ tary to the All-England T.T. Club in have ijelped Johnny Leach and myself tric lamp at St. Brides, and nzade this 1922-helping to organis,e the first to play smoothly together: glow into the 80,000 candle-power of Ladies' and Gentlemen's Champion­ We plan out our game on tradi­ lnodern, televised English finals. His ships at Selfridges, Oxford Street, in tional "Arsenal" lines. If we are experience is older than the Association. 1922, won respectiYely by Mrs. Scott attacking, at any given moment one is We invited E.T.T.A. Vice-President and A. Donaldson. .the half-back doing the feeding, the AUSTIN CARRIS, finalis,t of the first­ other is the centre-forward, looking ever English Open Championships and a He also helped considerably in former English International (now Hon. organising the first International for shots at goal. Secretary of the Hazards Golfing Society), Match - England v. Wales at the If we are waiting, not sure of the to remelnber this grand pioneer and London Club, Baker Street, W.l, in next developments, we are both worker. 1923. The teams were -eight a side, half-backs, hoping to attack but Mr. A. F. Carris is one of the Associa­ ready for defence. tion foundiers mentioned! in the Hi,story and he won all his eight singles. (Official Handbook). Mr. Decker was also The English team was: J. P. If we are defending, then the half­ Hon. Secretary of the E.T.T.A. for 19:32-33. Bromfield, E. Woods, J. W. Swann, back becomes the full-back, sure and G. W. Decker, T. Hollingsworth, G. steady, and the centre-forward be­ WAS first introduced to Godfrey Belsten, E. Tapper and A. F. Carris. comes the centre-half, lying back but Decker early in 1922 when he Reserves, G. J. Ross and R. H. Berry. longing to swing the game forward. joined the newly f.orm'ed All­ Now which role do we each take? I Along with your present Chairnlan, England Ping-Pong Club at Slater's And when do we decide to defend? in the Strand. the Han. Ivor Montagu, and others, It varies according to our mood As President of that Club (later he helped in the fight to change the and respective form, and the mood re-named the All-England Table name from P.P. to T.T., and was at and form of our opponents. Tennis Club) and of the T.T.A. and all times willing to play exhibitions It is by recognising the m-oods and one of the chief organisers, I soon and give tuition freely to new-comers. form of your partner, and by dis­ realised there had come into the fold Most of the outdoor and indoor ciplining your play accordingly, that an enthusiastic, energetic, self-sacri­ sports played in all parts of the world you can build yourself up as part of ficing lover ,of the game who never have emanated from our Island and a good doubles team.