Wolmerian defends home turf

National junior champion Joel Lamm defended home turf with a fine under-19 win at the Wolmer’s Table Tennis Classic last Saturday. Playing in the school’s resplendent maroon and gold, the 15-year-old Lamm outlasted Conroy Henry 20-18, 11-4, 8-11, 11-9.

As the scores indicate, it wasn’t easy. The match was sprinkled with counter looping rallies as both players were willing to step back and swing. The first game was a thriller that extended to 20-18 but the left-handed Wolmerian ran away with game 2 11-4 before Henry, now studying entertainment management at college, played smart table tennis at the end of game three.

With the score at 9-7 to Lamm in game four, coach Sean Wallace called a timeout and gave Lamm a key piece of advice.

“We pretty much went back to the first game where he was to serve short to the forehand, mix it between topspin and backspin and then just be ready to play out the point, taking each point at its own merit,” Wallace revealed. The strategy worked.

Wallace reckons that Lamm will keep on improving.

“He’s still trying to understand the different concepts of the sport. I mean, his primary coach, who is Dale Parham, has been working with him while I’ve been trying to work on the psyche and I’m the one who guides him through the different tournaments,” Wallace explained.

He had words of encouragement for Henry who was returning to the table after a quiet period.

“Conroy is a very competitive young man, formidable opponent and with continued practice, I know that he will do a lot better. He also works with Dale Parham. So they are teammates, pretty much, or clubmates. I know he has not been playing much since the start of his tertiary journey, but he looks pretty balanced and still competitive. So hats off to him”, the coach remarked.

The under-19 girls’ final was a slugfest. Karecia Peterkin squeezed past Kayann Denton 11-8, 8-11, 11-4, 9-11, 11-8.

Denton earlier trumped her Waterhouse Table Tennis Club teammate Peterkin in the under 15 event. Mystique Sharpe and Jasmin Aston were the winners in the under-13 and under-11 categories, respectively.

Henry was back at the table within minutes for the under-21 final against Logan Royes, the Jamaica Pre-Cadet player, but had to retire early because of shoulder pain.

Lamm defeated Thompson and then Royes to reach the under-19 final.

Anthony Bird won the under-13 singles with his brother Malone taking the under-11 title.

The event was held inside the impressive Wolmer’s Boys’ School auditorium, with nine tables viewed at ground level and from an upstairs gallery. With top- class lighting, this could be a great venue for table tennis events in the future.