Will Me On

British League Play off Weekend 24th May

Match reporting By Steve Kerns - British League Press Officer

Below an excerpt from the recent British League play off weekend in Derby by Steve Kems -:

Round three - Sycamore beat Urban Progress in 5-3 thriller

Round three produced some of the best play of the weekend with Sycamore excelling by getting the better of Urban Progress 5-3. Sean Cullen was outstanding and his 11-8, 9-11, 13-11, 13-11 victory against Tibor Kadar (just one defeat in 28 games over the Season) was amongst the best performances of the weekend. Adam Frost also played his part and his win over Zoltan Hosszu from two games down (11-13, 9-11, 12-10, 11-8, 11-8) was absolutely vital from the overall match perspective. Sam Perry had given Sycamore an early lead by getting the better of Costas Papantoniou 11-8, 12-14, 4-11, 11-8, 11-9 which proved vital as Urban Progress’s William Maybanks retained his 100 % record for the weekend by beating Kevin Dolder 11-7, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9 and Adam Frost (11-7, 11-5, 11-6). Currently ranked no. 33 nationally but training very hard in Hungary it is quite clear that William Maybanks is heading for the England top ten.

Comments : Chris Ogle

Clearly from the above Steve agrees with all of us at Team WillMeOn that Will is destined for the top, but top ten in England is not enough for Will, top ten in Europe has to be the Goal !!

For the full write up of the two days visit British League Play off weekend - day 1 and  British League Play off weekend - day 2. Urban Progress TTPro Premier Club came runner up overall but gained promotion to the Premier Division next year.  

Table tennis pro launches Watford academy at former school

4:50pm Wednesday 20th May 2009

By Michael Pickard (Watford Observer) »

A 2012 Olympic hopeful returned to his former Watford school this afternoon to launch the UK's first table tennis academy with Urban Progress TTPro.

Will Maybanks, 17, is set to sign with an Austrian table tennis team after leaving Watford Grammar School for Boys last summer to pursue his sporting ambitions.

And he put his ping pong ball skills to the test in front of a packed school hall this lunchtime after the Rickmansworth Road school was selected to help increase the sport's popularity.

The academy, based at the school sports hall, will open to pupils and the public in September Will, whose parents live in Bushey Grove Road, left Watford Boys last summer and has spent the last eight months training in Hungary. He is now set to join a team from Linz where he will play competitive matches, having competed in Belgium last year.

He started playing for Watford Jets seven-and-a-half years ago before teaming up with Urban Progress TT Pro, who will also run the academy.

Will said: “You've got to really focus (during training). It's just table tennis, table tennis, table tennis. You've got to be mad to play it but it's always what I've wanted to do and I'm happy doing it.

“Table tennis is like an addiction. It's such a rush and a lot of people, once they start playing, they play until they're 70.

“My goal is 2012. England haven't had a team in the Olympics for a good while but now it's on the way up and because it's in London, they automatically get a team. It would mean everything to be at the Olympics.”

Watford Boys' headteacher Martin Post, who took on his former pupil in several furious rounds of table tennis in front of a boisterous crowd, said: “It's opened my eyes to find table tennis players are earning €150,000 a year. It's pretty big in Europe. The aim is to make it big in this country.

“We're really pleased (to be chosen for the academy). There's quite a strong tradition here but it would be nice to make it into the next league and develop a local schools league.

“We're very proud of Will and glad he's found time to come back.”

Chris Ogle, from Urban Progress TT Pro, said the academy would be a “Centre of Excellence” for the sport.

He said: “We're very excited about this project. It's a fantastic opportunity with the Head being so positive about it.

“If we can get kids playing table tennis, there's a natural progression from seven and eight-year-olds right to international standards though the academy.

“England is not on the world stage as far as table tennis is concerned. There's an opportunity to raise the profile of the game and I hope we can put table tennis on the map.”

To follow Will's progress, visit www.willmeon.com.

Photography by Eddie Dillon of Promedia Ltd http://www.promedia.ltd.uk

More support for WillMeOn from Watford Observer

The nice people at the Watford Observer Online did us proud on Saturday by following up the earlier picture publication with this report by Filip Hnizdo

2012 table tennis hopeful takes on shoppers in his hometown Watford (click link to view report)

Just in case that link's no longer current, here's a copy of the text.

"Britain's table tennis Olympic hopeful came to his hometown to face off against daring shoppers today to win donations after the sport's funding was “drastically cut”.

William Maybanks, 17, of Bushey Grove Road, is one of the country's top table tennis players and dreams daily of competing in the London 2012 Olympics.

Will Maybanks on Watford Observer Front Page

Our thanks to photographer Holly Cant and the Watford Observer for this picture of 'Table Tennis star Will Maybanks' playing for the crowds at the WillMeOn campaign launch event happening right now at the Harlequin Shopping Centre in Watford.

 

WillMeOn launch event - William Maybanks at the Harlequin, Watford

With last minute preparations for tomorrow's WillMeOn launch event keeping us busy, we were pleased to see these 2 pieces in the local press. (Click on either to enlarge).

More information can be found on The Harlequin Shopping Centre, Watford's website.

In the words of a certain TV game show, Come on down! It's going to be a LOT of fun seeing William Maybanks show off his skills with a frying pan!

See you there! :)