23 Jun 2021
The Hastings Secondary College, Port Macquarie Campus Table Tennis team has finished 4th in NSW after competing at the CHS Finals at Sydney Olympic Park.
The team of Nick Rudd, Zac Morgan, Jai Lloyd-Smith, Les Smith, and Jono Smith played their best Table Tennis this year to improve on the 2019 result of 9th in the state. This result also placed our College as the highest-ranked country team in NSW. Nick Rudd was only beaten by 2 other players who are members of NSW Representative team.
Our first match was against James Fallon High (Albury) who we easily defeated 4-0. Our second round was against the tournament finalists Baukham Hills who defeated us 0-4. Kelso High (Bathurst) were easily beaten 4-0 by the boys and a crucial match against Armidale awaited to determine second place in our pool. Nick and Les won their singles matches with Les playing superbly to beat his highly skilled opponent. Zac and Jai played well but were beaten.
The boys showed that their practice and combinations paid off with Nick/Jai and Zac/Les winning both doubles to secure the path to the semi-finals.
Unfortunately, the three other teams in the semi-finals were all Sydney teams and were well-coached and skillful. Firstly we had to play Normanhurst High who beat us 0-4 and in the play-off for 3rd place we had to play Sydney Technical High. At this stage the day was late and the boys were struggling but Nick managed to keep the team alive by winning his singles match. However, Sydney Tech were too strong in the doubles and they went on to win 1-5.
The boys showed outstanding sportsmanship as always and upheld the school values while away. Jono was always positive and kept the team motivated. He also had the chance to test his skills against some of the tournament's best players via informal matches.
Well done gentlemen and hopefully we can go one or three places better in 2022!
- Team Mentor and Coach, Mr Neilson
