Getting ready to bring their first ever full team
to the island games, Orkney’s table tennis squad are hoping to serve up their
best ever performance. Travelling to Shetland with a team of six, consisting
of four men and two women, the county’s team are focused on turning the tables
on what was a disappointing campaign in Guernsey 2003. It was Catherine
Symons and Ross Donaldson who travelled to Guernsey in 2003, and they finished
second bottom in the team event. Preparations have been ongoing ever since,
and with the help of two well renowned coaches, Orkney are in a good position
to make improvements on this performance. A demanding practice routine will
be required to cope with the challenging schedule that lies ahead in Shetland.
The event will take place in Sandwick School, which will house eight courts and
six warm-up tables in an adjoining area. Some 14 member islands will compete
in the event that will run from the Sunday to the Friday of the island games. Unlike
most sports, the team event will take place in the first two days of the tournament.
A rest day on the Wednesday will be followed by two hectic days of singles, doubles
and mixed doubles events. In a bid to cope with the demanding schedule,
the county’s squad have increased their practice sessions. A mixture
of practice and experience will be needed in the event, and according to Ross,
team manager, the squad have both. He said: “We had one person competing
in 1987, and we have been at every games since Gibraltar in 1995, which was just
one year after the Orkney Table Tennis Club (OTTC) was formed. “This
is the biggest team we will have brought to the games and it is the first time
we have had six players, and actually have a full team, so that may prove to be
beneficial. “We have been doing some extra work at the club, we are
doing our normal nights and have done some extra sessions on Saturdays and basically
just tried to fit in as much as we can. A couple of members have their own table
tennis equipment and are also doing some of their own work which will, hopefully,
show at the event.” OTTC will also
benefit from the visit of two top coaches in preparation for the games. Ross
continued: “On top of our own work, we are also hoping to have the Glasgow
coach, Terry McLernon, come up to Orkney to help us out. “Carl Prean,
who is a really experienced player, has also agreed to coach the team in Shetland
before he goes off to the junior European tournament, so it is good for us to
have his help. “He has been the defending men’s singles champion
in the island games since 1995. He is the ex-European junior champion, three times
English champion, and he has been to three Olympics. “He is immense,
and we are all looking forward to his coaching. The idea is to have him up in
June for a weekend to do some of the fine-tuning. “He will be working
on our serving and returning, that is the most important part of the game, you
need to be able to do this well and he is going to be working on this aspect of
the game.” Ross is happy to admit that Orkney are one of the smaller
teams competing in the games, and although there seems to be little medal-winning
potential, they are aiming to improve on 2003’s performance. He said:
“We finished one place off bottom in the team event in Guernsey 2003, we
are one of the smaller clubs to feature in the event. “Realistically,
if we can improve on that it will be good, having a full team may make a big difference
for us and we are hopeful of making some kind of progression. “It was
just me and Catherine who went to the games in 2003. The standard of the men’s
event is so strong and we are struggling again in this, some of the players competing
have played at the Commonwealth Games and at European level, so for us it is more
about gaining valuable experience. “Catherine is really good and she
has been unlucky in the past. Last time she beat the reigning bronze and silver
medallists in the team event, but after that it started to get a bit complicated,”
he added. “The seeding of the event worked against her, but since then,
they have changed the seeding system of the tournament so she will have a better
chance.” Without inter-county competitions with Shetland it has become
more difficult for the Orkney team to assess where they stand. This, however,
could change, and Ross is hoping to arrange a similar match with our neighbours
in the run-up to July. He said: “It has been a couple of years since
we had an inter-county match with Shetland, I have been speaking to members of
the Shetland team and we are hoping to have another match in preparation for the
games. “If it happens, it will be a good match for us to play in and
it will be yet another valuable part of our preparation for the games.” There
will be a wealth of talent at the table tennis event, and strong performances
can yet again be expected from the island games big guns. The Isle of Wight squad
stole the show in 2003, and there were also medal-winning performances by Jersey,
Guernsey, Gotland and the Faroes. Ross is very well aware of the high table
tennis standard. He said: “Some of the guys from the Faroes and Gotland
are really good. Guernsey has a purpose-built table tennis centre. This is how
big it is in some areas and it is that standard that we are trying to compete
against. The level of competition is really high, we are well aware of this
and we have a good idea of what it will be like when we get there, regardless
of what happens in Shetland. “However, we will gain a lot from competing
against these guys.” Island games representation won’t only benefit
the players currently competing in it, but it can help trigger the development
of Orkney’s future players. Ross concluded: “Some of us are going
to do coaching courses, this will be really good as it will mean that we can help
youngsters in the county coming through. “Terry will be putting some
of the guys through coaching qualifications and we hope that this, in time, will
help our young table tennis players. They are the most important and it is critical
that we work hard to develop the future of the game.” Orkney’s
table tennis team travelling to Shetland is: Graeme Christie, Dylan Da Silva,
Ross Donaldson, Susan Ferguson, Marty Flett and Catherine Symons. | 
