After yet another amazing season for London Progress, where the club picked up its ninth successive British League title and added the Women's British League title for good measure, it would seem there was little left that could possibly be said or done. Yet the conclusion of the club Summer Programme was so spectacular that a final press release for the season is in order.
July 21st saw a well attended AGM which saw unanimous support for our new coaching programme and our 2008 China initiative. Both initiatives involve working in partnership with our sponsors TTLinks/Double Happiness and both initiatives suggest the club made the right move twelve months ago when we sign our three year sponsorship deal with the world's largest supplier of table tennis equipment, DHS.
The new coaching programme will involve top level chinese players combining with our existing coaching team, providing one to one coaching to Progress members every week throughout the season. This enhanced coaching regime will culminate in a spectacular three week training camp in China which will coincide with the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The approximate cost of the three week trip is £1,400 and deposits of £300 are now being collected. Anyone interested in the trip of a lifetime, member or non-member, should email the club secretary immediately.
No sooner had the AGM finished, the London Progress Hardbat Championships got underway. After some explosive matches the final was fought out between Ashley Stokes and Jason Sugrue with the latter taking the title for the third consecutive year.
Finally, with the start of the school holidays, it was the time of our annual Summer training camp. In previous years these have been held away from the club headquaters, in locations as varied as Holland and the Isle of Wight. This year, to allow for full inclusivity, the club opted to hold the event at our Southall base. One week before the camp some six people had signed up. The omens were not good. But being Progress we resolved to go ahead regardless. Monday morning, 52 players ranging from elite to absolute beginner turned up ready for action. Throughout the week the numbers never dropped below the fifty mark and by Friday a whopping sixty participants were hard at work. It was undoubtedly the best training camp the club has ever held and full praise must go to the coaching team led by Vidal Graham and Jason Sugrue and brilliantly supported by Egle Adomelyte, Yasir Mauthoor, Bhavin Savjani, Bhuwan Limbu, Steve Archillies, Mark Kinlocke and our two guest multi-ball experts Marcia Ma and Rowden Fuller. If the training camp is any indication, London Progress are in very good shape for the coming season.
Although the club is now closed for a three week break (re-opening on the 23rd August), in fact London Progress is still at work throughout the summmer as Bhavin Savjani conducts the table tennis section of the Southall Sports Centre Multi Sports Summer Programme.
London Progress Never sleeps!.
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