Barnes Primary: Ping Champions Once Again

Jon Kaufmann – 17th January 2018

Another wonderful day for Barnes Primary students in the world of table tennis and another exciting page in the ongoing history of West London Ping. But nobody really saw this one coming.

Everybody knew that Barnes primary school had a tried and tested No 1 player in Annie Williams. Already the recipient of a fist full of regional and national medals, Ms Williams knew a thing or two about competing in the ESTTA team championships. This was to be her third campaign. Last Season, the Barnes Girls were crowned London Primary School Champions and two years ago they captured the national third place medal. And in each of those successful campaigns Ms Williams has been pivotal. But no one realistically expected this crop of highly enthusiastic but inexperienced girls to succeed, least of all their coach. Well, not for the first time, the coach was proved wrong.

Annie predictably won all her six matches and did so with imperious ease. But the real surprise of the day came from Barnes’ No2, Anna Hall who, not to be outdone, stepped up to the table and proceeded to win all her matches. That left the three newcomers, Lara, Josie and Clementine to pick up the necessary extra wins and they they duly obliged. Three schools to tackle; Fox Primary, St Thomas Abney and Greenleaf Primary, three wins and the London Championship once again belonged to Barnes Primary School.

But nothing stands still in sport. On the 3rd February the victorious Barnes girls will be travelling to Bristol to compete in the South Of England Championships. That makes this week’s National Junior League even more significant. A massive squad of seventy players will travel to the London Academy in Edgware to compete under the West London Ping umbrella and Barnes Primary will be providing twenty five of those players. Here is an important opportunity for the Barnes girls to gain some valuable tournament experience before the next round of the ESTTA championships.

Also, there is additional match practise to be gained at the Chelsea Academy every Friday evening from 4pm to 7pm. Everybody welcome including parents that might like to try their luck.

So another very satisfactory day for Barnes Primary School and its hats off to Annie, Anna, Lara, Josie and Clementine. And a big thank you to Chris and all the other parents who gave such magnificent support throughout the day. And a special thanks to Charleigh Kirby for her expert coaching.

Best regards to all. JK