Matthew Stringer, won the Essex Restricted Junior Championship, open to non county representative U18 juniors. The competition was held at Batts, Harlow, on 7th May. Matt (Hockley TTC) won his group which included another Southend junior, fast improving Daniel Zeffie (Hullbridge) and a talented junior from Romford, Daniel Willis. Daniel Zeffie was unfortunate to fail to proceed to the knockout stages, losing to Daniel Willis in 5 close ends and Matt in 4. Matt's route to the final was tough and had close ends, losing 1 end 22-20 in the Semi final, but he dug in to win in 5 ends. The final was against Jared Chelski who is 48 England ranking places above Matt. Matt raced into a 2-0 lead but Jared fought back to level 2-2. The final end was nervy for the families and coaches but Matt overcame his nerves to win the end and claim the title. 

In the Open U18 main event, the no. 1 seed Sam Hume had withdrawn, which opened up the event slightly, but all other top Essex ranked juniors were present. Southend juniors entered were Justin Jeffery (Rawreth); Harry Small (Warehouse) and Matt Stringer (Hockley). Harry lost to Matt in the 1st round. Eventually, Justin and Matt were drawn against each other in the quarterfinals. It was level 1-1 which included fast attacking rallies,  Justin then won the next 2 ends to proceed to the Semi Finals. Justin was beaten by an in form Joe Walker who also beat Essex no 2 Jack Stockdale in the final.

Tim Pang, Junior Coach, Hockley Table Tennis Club