Juniors take center stage

The Club, working in partnership with Crosby High Table Tennis Club, has been actively supporting the L&DTTL Junior League (JDD). Overall the two clubs working together have manged 15 out of the 20 teams that have taken part in the two divisions of JDD - see News Stories 20 November 2017. It has been a fantastic event, run at the Anfield Sports & Community Centre, and really enjoyed by the 40 or so juniors that have taken part.

Division 1 was won by Crosby High Anfield A (James O'Dwyer & Dominic Birkbeck) and CH Marine B (Finn Mason & Hugh Frediani-Bellis) were runners-up; both teams were supported by our club and finished on the same number of points. The Anfield boys getting the top spot on the basis of the outcome of the head to head fixture between the two teams. Division 2 was also won by a Crosby High team.

The junior season ended with the Bill Harris Handicap Cup, a knockout cup for teams from both divisions, played - as the name suggests - on a handicap basis. This resulted in some great competition and the final was held this week at Crosby High School featuring Anfield A (James O'Dwyer & Dominic Birkbeck) against Crosby High E (Harry Griffiths and Ciaran Lynch). As the Anfield boys had won the 1st Division they found themselves with a handicap disadvantage for the final against a pair who had not played together in the league so their merit was untested.

The final was a real feast of junior table tennis excellently supported by family and friends of the players and officiated by Paul Gittins (the JDD Organiser). Just how close this match was can be seen from the fact that in the singles all 4 boys each won and lost 2 games so that after the 4 singles sets the Crosby High boys were ahead by just 7 points (leaving aside the handicap!). But when it came to the final doubles the Crosby High boys combined well to take both games and add a further 7 points to the margin, giving them a decisive 14 point victory without the 20 point handicap awarded in their favour! There is no doubt though that the match was won by the better team on the night and although it was Ciaran & James who had the best positive points score (Ciaran with +5 and James with +4) for this reporter Man-of-the-Match goes to Harry Griffiths; his top spin was at times completely unplayable and he managed some incredible retrieving hardly missing a shot. The Crosby High doubles win giving the decisive victory. A great match with an excellent spirit.

Below you can see the two teams, on the left Crosby High E with Ciaran Lynch & Harry Griffiths and on the right CH Anfield A with James O'Dwyer & Dominic Birkbeck. James & Dom had been presented with new shirts for the match each carrying their name, tremendous support from the families.