Were you at the club last Monday wondering why there was a man filming inside the club? Well, it was
Troy Hirsch and his crew doing a segment for
Fox 5 News!
They came to do a story on our very own Paralympic hopeful,
Daryl Sterling Jr., and tell the community what he’s trying to accomplish with his training, traveling, and international competitions. If you didn’t catch it live during the Fox 5 News, you can view it online
here.
View the full story here:
http://pingponghero.com/fox5news
Our club lost an irreplaceable leader last year.
The list of Mr. Neil Smyth’s achievements is endless. From attending Yale University and being a member of the U.S. Navy, to being a Vice-President of the Las Vegas hotel Caesars Palace, he left an impact on a lot of people. Next to all this, he was a great family man. He may not be with us anymore, but the footprint he left on our lives is too big to be ignored.
It was a fall day when Mr. Neil approached and welcomed me to the San Diego Table Tennis Club. I don’t remember the details, but the truth is that very often we forget the first encounter with those we end up being close with.
I have never seen someone of that age being so good and active in our sport. He said that table tennis is the only sport where he can still beat those younger and faster than him.
He had a strange way of holding the paddle, and managed to keep it that way even though many suggested that he should change it. His serves seemed simple, but a lot of people had trouble returning them. He loved playing doubles. After a won point, he would celebrate quietly, without provoking his opponent. At the end of a won match he would just say victoriously: “That’s it!” Every won match was important to him. He would talk about these victories with people close to him, and after them he would go home satisfied. On the other hand, we knew that even if he lost, Mr. Neil would be rushing back to Balboa Park the next day ready to challenge some other people.
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I heard that he left his hometown New York and the other cities in which he lived, and moved to San Diego because of the beach and table tennis. Most likely the latter being the bigger motive. No matter how fancy an occasion, Mr. Neil always wore a table tennis pin on his coat. The love he had for the sport was enormous and many of us know this. I had the honor of being his doubles partner many times, but this was only when his favorite partner, Borko, wasn’t there.He wasn’t just respected in the table tennis world. During one of the USATT Nationals in Las Vegas, after I had lost my room key and was wondering around the hotel clueless, I luckily ran into Mr. Neil and the problem was solved. He told the security to contact some important guy of the hotel, don’t remember who, and after about a minute of explaining who he was and what he has done I received my new room key and a huge smile.
Mr. Neil was the treasurer on the San Diego Table Tennis Board of Directors. Phil Van De Wiele recalls that during the board meetings when Mr. Neil spoke everybody listened. He was the one collecting the daily fees from all the players and he always knew who paid, and who didn’t, and who needs to be charged the daily fee and who doesn’t. He was serious about it, but very respectful. His handwritten membership database was always extremely accurate and in the alphabetical order.
Mr. Neil asked Phil to run the Senior Olympics one year. Just like in picking his doubles partners and choosing which serve to serve, this wasn’t an accident. He trusted Phil as someone who will do the job right. But just in case he sent Phil “a hand written detailed description on seven pages of yellow legal sized paper covering every facet of the preparation and execution of a quality tournament.” Even though our club can’t be compared with the Navy or with the Caesars Palace, everything Mr. Neil did was in a very professional manner.
Mr. Neil was approachable to everybody. As a new member of the club Ms. Lyndelle Fairlie first talked to him about joining the club. With his kind words he urged Ms. Lyndelle to start attending the Thursday night tournaments and to play the Senior Olympics. His warmth allowed her to become a great senior athlete of our club.
Mark Adelman describes Mr. Neil in the most fitting words: “He was man of extraordinary character and integrity, with a fierce competitive instinct. He was also a man of tremendous empathy. He cared very much about his fellow men. He had an air of grace & dignity about him. That’s a rare combination for any man.” Many members agree with Mark and say that Mr. Neil’s presence will be greatly missed, but that his legacy is something that will remain forever.
The last tournament Mr. Neil played was the 2011 San Diego Senior Games. This time he played doubles with Micha Vlašić. They made it to the finals but were defeated by Aharon Shapiro and Mark Adelman. This silver medal was important for Mr. Neil especially because all of the men at the table were players younger and much higher rated than he was.
Mr. Neil did a lot in his life. He is an inspiration and an example of hard work and dedication towards the things one loves. The thought that we won’t see him at the club anymore is strange.
The end of life of those that meant a lot to us always comes as a surprise. It finds us unprepared. At first it takes away our words and later we slowly get used to the loss. We will carry the memories of our friend and mentor Mr. Neil Smyth for a long time. He will never be forgotten.
Brana Vlašić
January, 2012
San Diego Table Tennis Association
Board Meeting, 2012
January 10, 2012
7:05 PM
Balboa Park Activity Center Board Room
This meeting is open to all members of the SDTTA
Call to order by James.
SDTTA Board Members Present: Bill Chang, James Kahn, Borko Dragojlovic, Shelley Hardy, Earl Alto and Shariq Ansari
SDTTA Members not present: Ron Spencer
The approval of December 13, 2011 minutes was made by James and seconded by Borko.
Communications not on the agenda have a limit of 3 minutes.
Treasurer’s Report: Bill Chang passed out the Treasurer’s Report that has reconciled us through December 31, 2011. Bill wrote a check for the 2012 monthly SDTTA Board Meetings to BPAC. One more Board Member was needed to be on the checking account and Shelley volunteered.
SDTTA Board Member Positions were voted on unanimously by the board members present.
Chairman of the Board – Ron Spencer
Vice Chairman- James Kahn
Member Relations Director – Borko Dragojlovic
Executive Director – Shariq Ansari
Secretary – Shelley Hardy
Treasurer – Bill Chang
Public Relations Director – Earl Alto
Action Items:
- Earl came up with three possible dates to have the Smythe Memorial tournament take place which are Labor Day Weekend, Columbus Day or Veteran’s Day weekend. He will be presenting the board with more information at the next board meeting.
- 2012 SDTTA Membership Drive: Recommendations were made by the board to put up a sign that membership is due and a $5 daily fee applies after February 1st with members displaying their new membership stamps visibly while playing and having this also posted on the website.
- Shelley volunteered to look for a sign/stand to put out for all players to read about membership and fees.
- Members of the board will get together to learn how to post the members who have paid this next Fri at 6 pm here at the activity center.
New Business: There is a newly purchased table that is broken. James, Borko and Earl volunteered to check over the table to see if it can be repaired.
The next meeting of the SDTTA board will be February 14, 2012.
James made a motion to adjourn and it was seconded by Bill.
Respectfully Submitted,
Shelley Hardy, SDTTA Secretary
San Diego Table Tennis Association
Board Meeting, 2011
December 13, 2011
Balboa Park Activity Center Board Room
This meeting is open to all members of the SDTTA.
Call to order by Ron at 7:07 pm.
SDTTA Board Members Present: Mark, James, Borko, Ron Spencer, Bill, Earl and Shelley
SDTTA Member Present: Sungil, Phil Vanderlin, and Emilion
SDTTA Board Member minutes for the month of November, 2011 were passed. The motion to pass was made by Mark and seconded by Borko
Treasurers Report: Bill passed out the treasurer’s report which is reconciled through November 30, 2011.
Communications not on the agenda have a limit of 3 minutes.
Current Items:
Congratulations to the newly elected board members for the years 2012 & 21013. Bill Chang, Shelley Hardy, Borko and Shariq Ansari were elected. It was decided to vote on positions at January’s meeting.
New Business:
Ron invited SDTTA members who have experience with running tournaments to give input on hosting a 3 to 4 star Neil Smythe Memorial Tournament. The intention is to host this tournament annually. Sungil explained that we can explore different avenues to center the tournament around such as: a national champion invitational, honoring veterans, or a charity event.
The discussion included trying to determine how big of a tournament did we want. The range included a 4 star through to a 2 star.
Earl Alto was elected by the board to be Tournament Director. The motion to nominate Earl was made by Shelley and seconded by Mark.
The tournament committee needed to support Earl volunteered are:
Angie Bengston
Mark Adelman – help
Phil Van der phil – help
Emilion – promotion
Ron Spencer-sponsorship
Cameron
All SDTTA members are invited to help and are needed to help make this tournament a success.
- Equipment/membership report: Borko stated that the current membership is around 300.
- Webmaster Report/Daryl Sterling: no report
- Pewee/Jr Report/Angie- Brana-Earl. No report.
- Executive Director’s report: No report.
The next meeting is January 10, 2012.
The motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Mark and seconded by James.
Respectfully Submitted,
Shelley Hardy, SDTTA Secretary
Our very own Andre Scott, member of the 2011 United States Parapan Am team, just came back from Guadalajara, Mexico. He was there competing in the 2011 Parapan Am Games and won
two medals! First, he clinched the silver in the singles event, and a few days later captured the bronze medal in the team event! Be sure to congratulate our club super star when you see him!
You can read more details on the
Team USA website by clicking here!
San Diego Table Tennis Association
Board Meeting, 2011
November 8, 2011
Balboa Park Activity Center Board Room
This meeting is open to all members of the SDTTA.
Call to order by Ron at 7:15 pm.
SDTTA Board Members Present: Mark, James, Borko, Ron Spencer, Bill, and Shelley
SDTTA Member Present: Mickey and Earl Alto
SDTTA Board Member minutes for the month of September and October, 2011 were passed. The motion to pass was made by Borko and seconded by James.
Communications not on the agenda have a limit of 3 minutes.
Current Items:
- Jock sent an email out to all board members that due to family and work issues that he needed to resign from the SDTTA board. The first topic of the evening began with Shelley nominating Earl Alto to take his place and finish his term (which is through 2012). The motion to approve was made by Mark and seconded by James. The vote was unanimous among the board members. The board welcomed Earl and thanked him for taking Jock’s place.
- Treasurer’s Report: Bill passed out the treasurer’s report which is reconciled through October 31, 2011. Bill has purchased the 2012 membership stickers and will pass them out to the board members.
- Equipment/membership report: Borko stated that the current membership is at 298 and he will be adding two more persons. Membership drive for 2012 will start in December with the same fees as last year. Borko has purchased six more tables for the club. The board has decided not to purchase any more new Butterfly tables as there is a concern about how well these tables will hold up. The board has decided that we will not be selling the green tables until we have found the quality of tables needed for our club.
- Webmaster Report/Daryl Sterling: no report
- Pewee/Jr Report/Angie- Brana-Earl. No report.
- Executive Director’s report: No report.
Old Business:
- Picnic expenses. Ron reminded members to turn in their receipts to be reimbursed for the purchases made for the picnic and give these to Mark.
- Election preparations: The board discussed who will be running for the 4 open positions. Christian Lillieroos submitted his name for the election. Shariq Ansari introduced himself as running for the upcoming election.
New Business:
- Thursday night tournament issues. A formal complaint has been issued in writing regarding conduct of a member and people standing in the play area while the players are playing their match. These issues were discussed and submitted for review. The board members will investigate these complaints.
- Neil Smythe’s passing: The SDTTA sent flowers to his memorial service. Borko made a motion to honor Neil with calling our Thursday night round robin tournament the Neil Smythe Round Robin Tournament. The motions was seconded by Mark and passed by the board unanimously. Mark made a motion that our next SDTTA tournament be called the Neil Smythe Memorial Tournament. The motion was seconded by Borko and passed by the board unanimously.
- Earl Alto volunteered to run the Neil Smythe Memorial Tournament. He will present to us his committee of members who will help with this tournament which we will be discussing at the next Board Meeting.
The next meeting is December 13, 2011.
The motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Mark and seconded by James.
Respectfully Submitted,
Shelley Hardy, SDTTA Secretary
