After a rather mixed Summer League competition POPPs are raring to go in this their 4th season in the Halifax Table Tennis League. The summer is always a bit hit and miss (literally) as higher division teams are mixed in with lower division teams and not all our players are available. This meant that both the A and B teams had quite a hard time. The A team had some success but the B team lost most matches by 0 sets to 9! But for those of us able to play it was good experience and an opportunity to play some better and more experienced opposition.

Last season the A team finished second in Division 3 with only a couple of points splitting the top 3 teams. They won all their first half matches up to Christmas but struggled a bit more against improving opposition in the second half. However, they dug deep to stay near the top and succeeded in getting a well deserved promotion to Division 2. This year’s target will be to stay up for the 2012-13 season!

Things were equally close at the bottom of Division 3 with POPPS B just managing to avoid coming last, finishing above Old Town Robins who had the same number of league points but the B team had won one more set over the season. In fact the last match of the season was against Robins and we lost 4-5. If we had lost 3-6 we would have finished last in the division below Robins. This year the B team will be a bit stronger as a couple of last year’s A team players, Derek and John, are in the squad and, like the A team, we have recruited  one or two promising new comers. The B team’s objective this year will be to finish in the top half of the division.

In addition we have started a C team. This is comprised of some new and improving players and in some respects is the POPPS Academy. This will be a shake down and learning year (aren’t they all?) and the C team’s objective this year is not to do any worse than the B team last year.

So good luck to all three POPPs teams and also (not quite as much) good luck to all our opponents. Let battle commence!