Following tradition, the club held its 2023 Parent and Child Tournament on Waitangi Day 6 February in three sections, Beginner, Intermediate and Open, played consecutively on the day.   Fortunately, the heavy rain the night before cleared in good time to allow the courts to dry and the first matches to commence at 8.30 am as scheduled.   The weather was overcast and windy early in the day but finished up to be a warm afternoon.

Entries were good in the Beginner and Intermediate sections (seven in each) but only four pairs contested the Open section this year.    

Each parent (can be another relative) and child pair played three matches of 15 minutes against other pairs in the same section with the objective of accumulating table tennis scoring points;    the pairs in each section with the top two scores then contested the section final of first to 21 with no time limit.     There was an exception to this in the Open grade where the runners-up conceded the final to the winners based on the (close) round-robin result between them.

The format is competitive and ensures each pair has at least 45 minutes of match play.    The accent is on fun and enjoyment, whatever the results, and the club ran its new BBQ to provide hotdogs to the intermediate and open section players and spectators.     

The committee’s thanks go to Megan Healy, who, as in recent years, called for the entries, placed them in sections, organised the section draws, court allocations, and was Tournament Controller on the day.  

The committee’s thanks also go to Cyperus Tennis and Fitness, which provided very handsome caps and water bottles, key rings and vibration dampers for the winners and runners-up of each section.         

Further thanks go to Shelley Gardner for her delicious muffins and to Belinda Gilkison for also bringing along food to share.

Reports from participants on their experience were very favourable and the club anticipates that a good number of entries will be received next year.    

For the record, the results were as follows:

Beginner

Winners: William and Jason Familton

Runners-up: Natalia and Allister Ford

Intermediate  

Winners: Ben and Andrew Gilkison

Runners-up: Frank and Duncan Elliott

Open

Winners: Gethyn and Megan Healy

Runners-up: Jethro and Gretchen Elliott