SPRING 2006 TMS LEAGUE MIDSEASON REPORT
By Shashin Shodhan
http://www.norcaltabletennis.com
We are happy to say the first season of the TMS Northern California Table Tennis League in fall 2005 went well. It definitely can be improved but we are looking for ways to make it better each season. It is the highest-rated league in US table-tennis history that has succeeded. The beginning phase of the league is when it is the hardest to get sponsors as there is nothing you can show that you have done before as it is starting from scratch. We are happy to have gotten sponsors for the first year of the league as most sponsors saw it as something they thought was minor and showed support for the league. Realtor Voltaire Benedicto Team Palo Alto emerged as 2005 league champions led by Barney Reed, Jackie Lee, and Auria Malek. Preseason league favorites Sunnyvale Chevrolet Team Mountain View, led by 2-time Olympian Khoa Nguyen, lost in the finals. Barney Reed was 2005 TMS Semester Smash League MVP with a 17-1 record.
THE PLAYERS POSE FOR THE WORLD JOURNAL NEWSPAPER BEFORE THE LEAGUE MATCH BETWEEN PALO ALTO AND OAKLAND-LINCOLN. FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: VOLTAIRE BENEDICTO, SARA FU, ARIEL HSING, JAMES GUO, BARNEY REED, MICHELLE DO, KOCK LOE. (Photo by Kingston Gee)
In the spring 2006 league, 2 Olympians entered the league and 2 Olympians left the league. The two entering Olympians were 2000 Olympian Michelle Do and 2004 Olympian Whitney Ping. Khoa Nguyen and Michael Hyatt, both 2-time Olympians, had family and work commitments and could not take part this spring season. We hope to have Khoa back in the fall season and with Michael's busy work schedule where he is constantly traveling, it may be too hard for him to commit to league matches. Most of the top players continued their participation this league season. There was no league team based in San Francisco and instead, we added another team in Oakland. The Oakland Team based in Lincoln Square has had the best turnout in terms of spectators so adding that team turned out to be a fortunate situation for the league. However, we plan to have one team in San Francisco again this fall as the chairman of the San Francisco Chinatown Table Tennis Club has agreed to host one team.
MICHELLE DO IS ONE OF TWO OLYMPIANS THAT HAS ENTERED THE LEAGUE. (Photo by Kingston Gee)
We have two visiting Chinese players, Guo Xi and Fu Shu, from the Sichuan Province in China who are playing in and contributing greatly to the strength of the league. Guo Xi, whose American name is James, defeated former India #1 and 3-time Olympian Chetan Baboor, at the 2006 US Open Teams in Reno. He has also defeated Freddie Gabriel all 3 times they have played, Barney Reed, and Misha Kazantsev in local competitions. Fu Shu, whose American name is Sara, has defeated Barney Reed, Freddie Gabriel, Shashin Shodhan, Auria Malek, and Jackie Lee all in the fifth and final game. It's safe to say that she's good in the clutch. Sara also got recently sponsored by Butterfly. James and Sara have two of the best records in the league as James is undefeated at 7-0 and Sara is at 6-1 with her only loss to Freddie Gabriel the second time they played. After her loss, Sara said "Freddie has power." The surprise of the league season has been the superb play of young gun Sean Lee. He is at 6-0 with one win over Misha Kazantsev, Trevor Runyan, Whitney Ping, and two wins over an up-and-down Auria Malek. James, Sara, and Sean all play for Realtor Voltaire Benedicto Team Palo Alto and they look in very good shape to repeat as league champions as they are 6-0.
JAMES GUO HAS SERVED AND ATTACKED HIS WAY TO A 7-0 RECORD. (Photo by Kingston Gee)
Alpha Pong Team Concord looked very strong at the beginning of the season with a 1-2-3 punch of Freddie Gabriel, Trevor Runyan, and Philip Lim. However, at least one of these players has been missing in action in every league match they have played in. They are struggling to make the playoffs at 1-5 and in fifth place. The top 4 out of 6 teams will make the playoffs. There will be a one match semifinal and a 2 out of 3 final. Oakland-Lowell, led by Misha Kazantsev and Avishy Schmidt, is also virtually a lock to make the playoffs along with Palo Alto barring a late-season collapse. Oakland-Lowell is at 5-1 and Misha and Avishy are a combined 14-5. Misha had a losing record in the fall season but has rebounded in a big way this season going 8-3 and is showing the fire and fight within him that is sometimes lacking.
MISHA KAZANTSEV, SEEN HERE IN THE ALL-STAR GAME, HAS FOUGHT HIS WAY TO A 8-3 RECORD. (Photo by Kingston Gee)
Aigoprotect Insurance Team Milpitas has been led by Shashin Shodhan who has gone 9-1 to lead the league in victories. Milpitas is at 2-3 and their play in the second half of the season will determine if they will make the playoffs or not. Oakland-Lincoln, led by Barney Reed, is at 1-2 and has played the least matches as Barney has had commitments in Germany with his league team, being hired as a practice partner for the German Women's National Team before the Worlds, and being a member of the US World Championship Men's Team. He did not lose a match until the final regular season game of the regular season in the fall league but already has lost 3 matches in the first month of this spring league season. His losses to Freddie Gabriel, James Guo, and Sara Fu, have all been close 5-setters. In his 3 victories, Barney has won them all 3-0, including a win over Shashin Shodhan. Larry Hopkins Honda Team Mountain View is winless at 0-4 as the often unpredictable play of its ace Auria Malek has dropped him to a 1-6 singles record.
AFTER GOING 17-1 IN THE REGULAR SEASON AND 5-0 IN THE POSTSEASON OF THE FALL LEAGUE, BARNEY REED IS 3-3 IN THE CURRENT SPRING LEAGUE. (Photo by Kingston Gee)
The league had its all-star game this past weekend at Lincoln Square in Oakland and all the bleachers and chairs were filled with interested and enthusiastic spectators. The players present in the all-star game had the best records among available players except for 10-year old phenom Ariel Hsing who was voted into the all-star game by our website poll ahead of Auria Malek. The stars of the South Bay defeated the stars of the North Bay 4-3. We were fortunate to have received two features on CBS-Channel 5 and one on KRON4. Ariel Hsing and the all-star game were the feature stories. The largest circulated Chinese Newspaper, Sing Tao Daily, also ran two features about the all-star game and the three local phenoms Ariel Hsing, Lily Zhang, and Natalie Sun who are ranked #1, #2, and #3 in the US for girls 10 years old and younger. Lily and Natalie played a one-game future all-stars challenge match during the all-star game. Then we asked an audience member to challenge Natalie and if he won, he would win a free all-star game shirt. Natalie sent him home empty-handed!
THE ALL-STAR GAME IN ACTION AT A PACKED LINCOLN SQUARE IN OAKLAND. (Photo by Kingston Gee)
The league website is getting more and more traffic on our site as time passes and more people become aware of it. We are starting to get about 200 unique visitors to our website daily and many, many more hits. Kingston Gee, our photographer, and especially Aaron Castillo, our video guru, have contributed greatly to the website and I would like to thank them publicly here. Aaron has spent countless hours attending league matches far from his residence, taking videos, making top 10 video highlights, and putting full matches together for our league fans.
As for this fall season, sponsors, sponsors, sponsors, will be needed to give the league more importance and satisfy the players, umpires, and organizers. We are fortunate to have gotten a good amount of media coverage and now that we have a relatively stable product in the league, we can demand more for sponsorship. We are in the process of sending out hundreds of 20-page sponsorship presentations to potential sponsors for this fall league. We are crossing our fingers that some sponsors will see the league as an excellent opportunity for them.
Feel free to visit our website at http://www.norcaltabletennis.com!