View from the head table

Tony Shaw oversees North American ping pong championships

Don Fennell, Sports Editor

As one of the top table tennis officials in the world, Tony Shaw takes great pride in a role many see as thankless.

"Most people don't like it because they take all kinds of bull," the Richmond man says.

"People are always arguing with you, so why would you want to do this job?

"(Because) officiating is fun."

It's also a good way to know what's going on in the sport, see all the top players, and stay sharp, he says. And the opportunity to travel around the globe is a pretty good incentive too.

Shaw was in Edmonton last weekend as the chief referee for the North American championships, which he says was "a real honour."

Last year he was the deputy referee for the North American championships held in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and says that experience helped him this year.

As chief referee he oversaw virtually every aspect of last week's tournament - from making the draw to ensuring rules were being followed. And in a game that features several new rules, that was quite a challenge.

"It was a little complicated," Shaw explains.

For example, the matches are now a best-of-five or seven instead of best-of-three or five. And an 11-point system was used for the first time at a North American championship. Last year, the winner was the first team or player to 21 points.

"You have to watch carefully because a lot of umpires are not used to the changes," he says. "And the serve also changes every two points now whereas it used to be after every five points."

Ultimately, he says, his job is about ensuring fairness.

Shaw started umpiring games for the B.C. Table Tennis Association in the late 1980s, encouraged he says because there was a shortage of officials.

At first he umpired matches around the province, but before long was officiating national and even international games. A few years ago he was invited to officiate at the world championships in England. Ultimately, his goal is to make it to the Olympic Games - either in 2004 in Athens, Greece or Beijing, China in 2008.

Shaw, who turns 58 next month, is also a pretty good player in his own right. He began playing in his native Taiwan while in elementary school, inspired by his older brothers. But he'd like to think he's getting better with age.

"This is a lifetime sport," he says. "I would like to play in the world veterans' tournament which has an 80-plus category. That would be nice so I have to build up for that."

So far, he says his highlight as a player is simply meeting people and playing a good game. Last year he won gold in doubles and silver in singles' play at the B.C. senior championships.

"I enjoy the game because it's good exercise and when you make a good shot you feel so good," he says.

Budgies cautiously optimistic

Don Fennell, Sports Editor

The Richmond Auto Body Budgies are "cautiously optimistic" as they get ready to open the B.C. Minor AAA Midget Baseball League season Tuesday in Vancouver.

"We're fortunate because we have two third-year players back, Darius Eshrawgh and James Hatch, who are both pitchers and leaders on the club," head coach Gord Lowrey said.

Eshrawgh and Hatch are complemented by several second-year players including catcher Travis Phillips, shortstop/pitcher Mike Basford and second baseman Tyler Cookhouse who Lowrey anticipates is going to have a break-out season. He's also expecting a big year offensively from infield Aaron Kawakami.

Bantam grads Ryan Klenman, Rob Cote and Brian Chatzispiros have also impressed Lowrey and manager Gary Parker during pre-season workouts, although it's probably going to take them a while to adjust to a new league.

"We're expecting to have a pretty good team," Lowrey said of the Midget-aged team which has 62 games scheduled this season: 34 in league play and the remainder in tournaments and exhibitions. He said seven or eight of the players could provide the lifeblood for the club over the next five or so seasons.

The Midget team has two more road games scheduled at Aldergrove and Abbotsford before playing its first home game April 28 versus Penticton. The doubleheader begins at 10 a.m.

"Some of those Midget players could play close to 90 ball games this season," said Lowrey, who is going to manage the junior team. "It's great experience for them."

Devon Grewal, Paul Daniel and Jason Miller, all graduates from last season's Midget league team, form the nucleus of the Budgies' junior team along with the likes of Mark Leith, Keith Allan and Harp Badesha.

Jay Donze, player-manager of Richmond's senior league team, could see his workload lighten just a bit this season as the Budgies welcome back grads Dave Gilfillan, Chris Randall and Scott Ingram, who sat out last year. Mike Neufeld is also making the jump from junior.

The juniors begin their season May 12 at Surrey and play their home-opener versus Delta on May 22. Game time is 7 p.m. The seniors, meanwhile, also open on the road April 27 at Burnaby and host Surrey on May 2.

Air Attack a smash hit

Club volleyball program popular with local youth

Don Fennell, Sports Editor

The aim is simply to provide local youth with an opportunity to play the game.

Success just happens to be a positive by-product for Richmond's Air Attack volleyball club, whose teams are consistently striving for - and reaching - higher levels.

Take the Air Attack green team, for example.

Seeded second heading into next weekend's provincial Tier 1A Juvenile Division girls' championships at the University of British Columbia, the team (which features several athletes who played high school volleyball locally last season) is also hoping to compete at the Western Canadian championships May 10-12 in Saskatoon. They're currently fundraising throughout Richmond for the trip.

The team is coached by George Light, who also guided the Cambie Crusaders to second place at the B.C. high school championships last season. Many of the Air Attack players were members of that team, including Michelle Alblas, Carla Bradstock, Yuka Watts, Taylor Kitzmann, and Kate Szolomicki. Grade 10 student Kailee Savage, Suzanna Henry (who attends York House) and McMath students Breanne Watson and Ashley Greig are also on the squad.

The efforts of Eric Ens, who coached Cambie's junior team to a 44-0 mark and a fifth-place finish at the provincials last season, have also been instrumental in the progress of the Air Attack program. He's encouraged by the number of new players every year and the enthusiasm they bring.

"We're running 14 teams for 175 kids," he says. "But we believe in ensuring they all get playing time. Our goal is to try and put them on teams where they can compete best (in their respective age groups, Grades 6 to 12)."

"This year one of our goals is to strengthen the whole league, running teams at every level. We had four teams ranked in the top 10 in the province last year," Ens says.

Ens is proud that so many former participants are giving back to the game, noting 24 of the 32 current coaches in the program are ex-players.

Breakers' triump under-appreciated

Don Fennell, Sports Editor

The second-place finish by the Burnett Breakers at last weekend's provincial badminton championships was one of the greatest athletic achievements in the history of the Richmond high school.

But because badminton is not a mainstream sport, it didn't get a lot of attention.

"We've tried to pump it as much as we can for school spirit and (to honour) those involved," said teacher-coach Rob Laing, who replaced Al Nishi as coach when the latter retired at the start of the new year.

"But because it's not one of the traditional sports it simply doesn't have the following some others do. It's no less of an accomplishment, it's just unfortunate it doesn't have more support from the general public."

Laing previously played for the Cambie Crusaders, (who defeated Burnett in the final) and ultimately took his game to the national level. He says he hopes the recent success of the Breakers and Crusaders helps to spawn more enthusiasm and appreciation for the game locally.

There's a lot to like about badminton, Laing says.

"I love the game because it doesn't involve referees and the players are for the most part about fair play and usually great people," he says. "And the basic values around the game are quite positive."

Laing expects Burnett and Cambie to battle for Richmond supremacy again next season. The Breakers lose only two players (Karim Bhandali and Kevin Liao) to graduation, while Vivian Chu, Brenda Ng, Pamela Chu, Michelle Koo, Sara Cheng and Freda Fong (all of whom were instrumental in the team's success this season) are coming back. Tim Ma, Paklin Lam and Robin Liao are also expected to make a big impact as Grade 10s next season.

Eric Lee, who was one of the most dominant players for Burnett at the B.C. championships, winning a boys' singles final and teaming with Jeff Lam for top honours in boys' doubles, and with Vivian Chur for mixed title, is also back.