We are beginning a trial Friday night Junior training and coaching program.  If you are interested and willing to dedicate time and effort to improve your game, please show up Fridays at 6:00 p.m.  Space will be limited, but we want to develop our next generation of table tennis leaders at SDTTA.  D.J. Alto our past club champion has started coaching this group. This will call for a commitment from player and parents.  We have yet to determine its cost, but are hoping to be inclusive to all.  Please inform any board members as to your interest. Our yearly Potluck Picnic with a table tennis rummage sale will be this September 27, 2014.  We will also include a table tennis equipment swap meet where you can bring in old rackets, rubber and other items for trade.  The club will provide various food and drink with some prizes.  We hope our members will bring in some interesting international foods for this day. James Kahn

San Diego Table Tennis Association Board Meeting

September 9th, 2014

Balboa Park Activity Center

  This meeting is open to all members of the SDTTA. Call to order 7:00pm by James. SDTTA Board Members Present: Bob Koch, Behnam Kazemi, John Anderson, Borko Dragojlovic, Mark Adelman and James Kahn. SDTTA Board Member(s) absent: Simon Lee. SDTTA Member(s) Present: Earl Alto. Communications not on agenda have a limit of 3 minutes. The motion was made to approve the SDTTA Board Member minutes for August 2014 by Mark and seconded by James. The Board carried the motion. Treasurer’s Report:  None. Webmaster Report/ Daryl Sterling: No report. Membership Report: Our current paid membership count is. Equipment Report: Our current table count is 30. Action Items:

1. Filling the Treasurer’s position was tabled until the Board elections of November/December.
2. The Juniors program started last Friday (Sept 5th) with a total of 7 kids attending. Bob had an idea of offering “scholarships” to individual kids to help pay for the training. The item will be brought up at the next Board meeting once it is determined if there is interest in sustaining the program. We would also like to set goals for D.J. Alto and his “team” so that certain benchmarks are achieved over the life of the program.

We will get in touch with Daryl and have him advertise the “Junior” program on our website, which will be on Friday nights starting at 6:30pm.

3. John mentioned that Isaac’s school would be interested in having us loan them 2 tables to help generate interest in table tennis. Borko will talk to Isaac and have him contact his principal to see if we should move forward on this item.
4. The potluck picnic that was scheduled for September 13th, along with the equipment swap meet, has been rescheduled for September 27th, due to the Senior Games being held at the club.
5. The first Sorrento-SDTTA club event was held on Sept 13th. It did not go as planned since one of the Sorrento teams didn’t show up, which then created an odd number. The format used, created too much waiting around for many participants, so hopefully lessons were learned and future events will run more smoothly.
6. James attended the L.A. Open recently and shared with the Board his experiences and discussions he had with the L.A. club’s president. Our club could learn a lot by the way the L.A. Club runs their L.A. Open, and they would be willing to assist us in making the Neil Smyth Tournament more successful. The L.A. club also expressed interest in teaming up with SDTTA and maybe have a southern California table tennis tournament in the future. James would like to plan a meeting with the L.A. club president to discuss any future endeavors between the two clubs.
7. The idea was presented that we should start filming the top table on our Thursday night round robins and then posting them on our website. James and Bob will look into it and see what equipment is needed and what other issues need to be overcome.

    The motion to adjourn was made by Mark and seconded by Bob at 7:51pm.   The next meeting is October  14th at 7:00pm.   Respectfully Submitted,   Bob Koch, SDTTA Secretary  

2014 Learning Tree Summer Open (Team Tournament & Rating Events) When: September 20-21 Where: Sponsored by: After School Learning Tree, Stellangie, & EATT Where: After School Learning Tree 11525 Sorrento Valley Road, CA 92121 Tournament Format:

1. All matches are best of 5 games except for the Open Singles Semifinals & Finals. The Semis & Finals of the Open will be best of 7 games.
2. Must meet any age requirements by July 19^th .
3. No prizes will be awarded for splits, dumps, default losses, or no shows.
4. Tournament committee reserves the right to modify or cancel events if there are insufficient entries.
5. Players over 2400 have free entries.
6. The Olympic Team format will be used for this tournament. Teams are not allowed to use more or less than three players.

View the entry form by clicking here.

We are having a 50+, 55+,60+, 65+, etc. tournament at the Balboa Activity Center in Balboa Park on Saturday, September 20, 2014.   The registration fee will be $45 per athlete and $5 event fee for each event.  Registration will open June 1, 2014.  Novice Singles (beginners or non-1000+ rated), Singles 1000+ Rated, Men’s Doubles, Women’s Doubles, and Mixed Doubles.    For more details, please visit the tournament website by clicking here.

New Club Shirts from JOOLA will also go on sale now. The Board has decided to sell these great shirts at $20 a piece. A Friday Night inter-club Competition is going to begin between Sorrento Valley and BPAC. We will rotate venues. If you are interested in competing please contact me, James Kahn. Earl Alto and I will be forming commensurate teams. A variety of playing levels will be matched.

San Diego Table Tennis Association Board Meeting

August 12th, 2014

Balboa Park Activity Center

  This meeting is open to all members of the SDTTA. Call to order 7:05pm by James. SDTTA Board Members Present: Bob Koch, Behnam Kazemi, John Anderson, Borko Dragojlovic, Mark Adelman, James Kahn and Simon Lee. SDTTA Board Member(s) absent: None. SDTTA Member(s) Present: Angie Bengtsson and Earl Alto. Communications not on agenda have a limit of 3 minutes. After a few minor changes to last month’s Board meeting minutes, the motion was made to approve the SDTTA Board Member minutes for July 2014 by Mark and seconded by James. The Board carried the motion. Treasurer’s Report:  None. Webmaster Report/ Daryl Sterling: No report. Membership Report: Our current paid membership count is. Equipment Report: Our current table count is at 30. Action Items:

1. Earl discussed getting the Juniors program up and running and to ensure it stays on track, that the progress of the kids be monitored and certain goals be set (ratings). Also discussed was investing in

your better players and one of the ways would be to sponsor these players to the National and 5 Star tournaments. Earl said that the “Learning Tree” has availability of equipment and people to assist us in any way possible, if we ever need them. An inter-club event was scheduled for September 6th, between SDTTA and the Learning Tree, to be played at the Sorrento Valley location.

1. Behnam did not approve last month’s Board meeting minutes because he would like a breakdown of how all members vote on any particular item. Behnam motioned to have it annotated in the minutes the results of how each Board member votes. James seconded the motion and it was passed by a 4-2-1 vote.
2. John resigned as Treasurer but wants to stay on the Board. The selection of a new Treasurer was tabled until the next Board meeting.
3. The new club shirts arrived with the SDTTA logo printed on the back. The shirts will be selling for $20 each.
4. The potluck picnic is scheduled for September 13th, along with the equipment swap meet. The event will go from 11:30am to 2:00pm.
5. It was brought up once again on how we can make Friday’s more exciting at the club. One idea was to have an inter-club competition with the Sorrento Valley (Learning Tree) club. The location of the event would rotate, between clubs, on a weekly basis. Both clubs will work out further details.
6. Bob brought up the idea of waiving the $5 fee for non-members who would like to play in the Thursday round-robin event. After much discussion, the idea was dropped.
7. We currently have 8 “new” Joola tables in storage at City College and need to go onsite and inspect the tables and release them from liability from any damage that may incur during storage.

The motion to adjourn was made by Mark and seconded by Borko at 8:30pm.   The next meeting is September 9th at 7:00pm.   Respectfully Submitted,   Bob Koch, SDTTA Secretary