Hi David, well I was on at 10am and then had a 1.45hr wait until the next game! After that it was relatively quick. There were 4 people in each group. The coach was a big English chap who was excellent...it was individual on a come and go basis. You tell him what you want to improve and he had some very good practice pieces to test your ability after showing you. Really enjoyable.
Well, I played a total of five games, and TWO of them were against a person/people I did not know - not enough for 20-odd quid, I feel. There were SEVEN groups for the Social MD, and we had THREE pairs from our club in group D and three in group G (I think) - they could have split us up better... pretty annoyed about that. We took nine pairs and they could have four two twos and five ones. Also, having only one game with no setting was pretty poor - doesn't give luck a chance to even out and ANYBODY can win one game, which doesn't reflect fairly IMO. Most annoyingly, though, they were one pair short of eight for the quarter finals, so instead of putting the top scoring runner-up pair through, they gave one pair a bye right into the semis. Considering a pair paid £18 to play and a space went begging... not pleased at all. As Carl mentioned, the wait between games really dragged, but at least we could wander down to an empty court for a knock without getting shouted at. The venue was a mixed bag, but could have been excellent. Lighting was decidedly uneven - very bright on the right hand side and pretty dark on the left (where the mini-games were). I lost count of how many shuttles disappeared in the searing lamps. Half of the nets-and-posts were great (the red ones), but the other half were dreadful catenary-shaped washing line-topped things that looked like they'd been blasted with shotguns. Amazingly, the floor was the most consistent part, despite the fact that it looked like the lines were made of Wilko gaffer tape (and several running repairs were made during the day). I was amazed at how fast the shuttles flew - I'm used to big arenas like that playing slowly, but I must have hit about twenty lifts long. Despite possibly being quick, they were of decent quality. Anyway, enough about the arena and the "organization". Must admit I enjoyed the mini-games (though the smash challenge radar gun was laughably inaccurate). The in-house stringer wasn't great (being a stringer myself I couldn't switch off!). I'll sign off by saying that we had the Socal MS runner-up in our ranks, and ONE of our pairs got past the group stages. P.S. I don't think the coach was LJB - if it had been I would have missed all my games to stay in the corner!
Mark, doesn't sound very good. Suggest you email BE your thoughts. One game is a bit of a joke even for social standard. They must have made a good profit!
I agree with all the points mentioned. The standard was pretty high even in mens doubles social and we drove 4 hrs from Luton just to play 2 games as our group only had 3 teams. Only the top team in each group goes through. Was really pi55ed off that we only played to 21 as we lost the last game 21-20!! Ridiculous and only 1 set. So yea.. nearly 8 hrs driving to play 2 games is not great. Floor was surprisingly good compared to what i thought it would be. Looking forward to a better experiance in Londona and Bham.
2 games only!?!? Wow, that is terrible organisation from BE, they should be ashamed of themselves. Even small local tournaments guarantee people at least 3 games in the group stages, usually more.
Hi All Just wanted to say hi. Have entered to play in the London Tourney. Playing mixed in the social ( by the sounds of it - maybe we should have entered beginners ). Just playing for fun - Hopefully not going to be blasted off court. Hope to see you there and good luck
Hi padawanno.. Good luck in your mixed doubles matches in london. It will certainly be tough im sure but good fun at the same time. I hope your group is big and you get more than 2 games like i had in liverpool! Tbh the social standard for the mixed wasnt so high compared to the social standard for the mens in liverpool so hopefully you will be fine : ) Best of luck
Hi all I am very inexperienced in playing in tournaments. Any chance you can give me an insight, what I am to expect at the London Bonanza. I have entered to play in the Social mixed doubles. From the initial schedule, that doesn't start still 13:00. Do I have to get there very early. Is there some practice facilities to have a knock up before playing the games. If so , are there shuttles available for practice? Anyone played at sobells before, whats the floor and the lighting like. Am i correct in thinking that we will be playing with Yehlex shuttles ? If not what shuttles were played in Liverpool. Hopefully someone can answer one or a few of my newbie questions. Btw I am Pete, You will recognize me as the one in a brightly coloured bandana with the look of a rabbit caught in headlights Thanks again and hope to hear from some of you soon and see some of you folks in under 2 weeks time. Cheers
You should get there early, maybe 15-20 mins before start time, but be ready to wait around a lot between matches. Also, they may be late starting if the earlier rounds haven't finished yet. Sobell has decent lights and floors as it's a leisure centre, but nothing special. I'm hoping they will at least clean the floors for the tournament as it can get slippery when dusty. I doubt they will have a practice court. You will be given a couple of minutes before your first match and that will be it. They will be using Yehlex shuttles but probably a lower grade.
@pada - if you see a free court, nab it and do some half-court warm-up. At Liverpool they didn't seem to mind people claiming empty courts as long as they cleared off come game time. IIRC the knock-up and match shuttles were different, the match shuttles being Yehlex Tournament, I think (in a purple tube) and I found them a LOT faster than the knockers.
I'm entering the singles social and mens doubles social. Which in retrospect is perhaps a little foolhardy seeing as the singles starts at 9:30 and the doubles at 4!! Oh well. I guess it's motivation to play as well as possible in the singles!
Always have a shuttle with you if plan to get to a tournament early to knock up, but be sure to use the actual tournament shuttles before the match!
They've released the draws for the London event: http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draws.aspx?id=8CEE806E-0F5A-4ED1-B88E-7AFD06407D04 They done some ridiculous system of byes. In some of the competitions nearly half the groups get a bye!! I would have prefered a straight knock out contest in some ways. My doubles partner gets a bye in his singles. I do not. Meaning to win I have to play one more knock out match - which is bad organisation on their part IMHO.
The organisation seems crazy. They have left 30 minutes of court time for each match. The average singles match takes barely 10 minutes at our level. There's no need for people to wait until 9:15 to play their final matches. I'm regretting entering now
Not to mention an almost 6 hr wait between my mens singles and doubles!! Anyways, im looking forward to the day and playing different people finally! I dont expect to get past the group stages of either event but should be fun..We are leaving luton at 8am to hopefully get there for 9. Not sure what to do for lunch!
If you don't know the area, it's a large leisure centre, but with no canteen and it's in a residential area, i.e. no high street shops. So you will have to bring your own food. I remember they had two little vending machines but that was it. I'm gonna bring a whole picnic as I'm taking my kids with me
David thanks very much for that info. I was expecting there to be some food places nearby but obviously not! Ok will bring some sandwiches lol. Hope you and your kids have a great day.
How did everyone get on? I've entered for league standard in Birmingham.... I've played social in the past and been destroyed early on, so a bit nervous... it says no county players can enter, is this actually being enforced this year?
