Fairfield Father/Son win U-1000 rating event 

L-R: Ryan and Kelly Sheppard

Son Ryan bested his dad Kelly at duece in the final game to take 1st and raise his USATT rating from 576 to 854 at the April WTTC Open in NY. Kelly ended with a rating of 761. Both were playing in their 2nd USATT sanctioned tournament after playing in our local Fairfield TTC since late 2017. 

Posted by netta_ct at 1:05 PM EST

Updated: Thursday, 28 November 2019 1:50 PM EST

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LAST SCHEDULED PLAY IN FAIRFIELD ON NOV 30 2019  

We were notified in late Nov 2019 that after 24 succesful years of weekly play there, our last authorized playing date at the  Fairfield  (Bigelow) Senior Center would be Sat Nov. 30 2019.

 This is reportedly a change of course at the Senior Center affecting programs not scheduled during normal Senior Center weekday operating hours for it's older membership.

  While many of our players are Seniors, we have been open to all ages, and operating in conjunction with the Town's Parks & Recreation Department on Weekends and Evenings to accomidate the schedules of youth, adults AND Seniors who aren't yet retired and able to yet visit the Center during it's normal weekday hours of operation.

  We are simultaneosly trying to clarify the reasons for this change of policy and any possibilities to resolve it to resume play there, or to identify and arrange a replacement facility in Fairfield, or another town in the nearby area.

   We have a group working and communicating with appropriate town officials on this. 

   If you have ideas along this line, and/or ideas for possible replacement facilities, particularly in Fairfield itself or nearby, or in Fairfield County please text or email club director Dave Strang at (203) 525-6l94 or nettadave @ aol.com (remove spaces) 

  Until we find re-establish play in, or near Fairfield, players are encouraged to join us at our Bethany TTC location, currently meeting on Sunday evenings at 630 pm, except Dec 22nd, or in cases when plowable snowfall is expected in Bethany on a Sunday. 

Posted by netta_ct at 1:19 PM EST

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Fairfield TT Players Medal in 2019 Senior Games

 Our players won most of the Singles medals in the Age categories they were eligible for in the 2019 Connecticut Senior Games Table Tennis event held in E.Hartford during April 2019. 

L to R:

Don Feltenberger Jeff VonKohorn Slava Katz Michael Lazerev 

70-74 Mens 1st         65-69 Mens 1st   75-89 Men 1st 

Don and Jeff teamed to win the Mens 70+ Doubles gold 

Posted by netta_ct at 2:50 PM EDT

Updated: Friday, 17 May 2019 6:01 PM EDT

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 Fairfield TTC Teens take high Rating Events in NY again

Congratulations to Adam and Anthony for winning expert level rating events in the October WTTC Open USATT event in New York.

Adam won his highest rating event so far in his playing career in a duece in the 5th game U-2350 final nail-biter after finishing second in the same event in September.  Anthony repeated as 2050 event champion in a convincing straight games over runner-up Alec Holst who bested Bethany and Fairfield TTC's Sam Medina 3-1 in the semi-final. 

Under 2350

F: Adam Sahar (black shirt above) def. Alex Hohl (-5,6,8,-9,10)

SF: Alex Hohl def. Kelly Liang (-8,8,8,8); Adam Sahar def. Letao Bo (-5,3,5,6)

QF: Alex Hohl, bye; Kelly Liang def. Courage Nanevie (-9,2,9,-7,8); Letao Bo def. Kim Nguyen (4,3,-9,6); Adam Sahar def. Sho Miyazaki (-11,9,-5,5,6)

 Under 2050

F: Anthony Capasso (above center left) def. Alec Holst (8,7,4)

SF: Anthony Capasso def. Ashwin Kapur (5,-14,3,4); Alec Holst def. Samuel Medina (-9,7,10,6)

QF: Anthony Capasso def. Darius Fahimi (3,14,-5,9); Ashwin Kapur def. Robert Page (8,14,4); Alec Holst def. Amir Khan (-8,11,7,5); Samuel Medina def. Konstantinos Nikopoulos (8,9,10)

Posted by netta_ct at 4:10 PM EDT

Updated: Friday, 2 November 2018 5:01 AM EDT

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Three Fairfield Players reach finals in NY tourney

  Three of our club's highest rated players each made a rating event final in the September WTTC tournament.

UCONN sophomore Anthony Capasso won the Under 2050 event, boosting his 2031 rating to 2043 with 6 wins and one loss in the tournament:

 F: Anthony Capasso def. Steven Granaturov (-8,-8,9,13,19) SF: Anthony Capasso def. Larry Bavly (-11,9,4,4)

 In the U-2350 event, Fairfield U Sophomore Adam Sahar won his first 4 matches including an upset over 2340 rated Chen Wang before meeting USATT "unrated" Agnieszka Maluszczak in the finals. Maluszczak, highly ranked in Women's play in her native Poland narowly lost (duece in the 5th) to 2491 rated Amy Wang in another event and finished the tournament with a 2357 rating in her first US tournament. 

F: Agnieszka Maluszczak def. Adam Sahar (9,8,-7,10) SF: Adam Sahar def. Cheng Wang (11,8,9);

In the 2200 event, Fairfield born tournament veteran Rich Dewitt was #1 seed with a 2199 rating, and won his first six matches in the event including over Fairfield club-mate Lei Ren and long-time friend Larry Bavly, but finished second with a duece in the 4th game loss in the finals to event winner Kelly Liang. 

F: Kelly Liang def. Rich DeWitt (-13,4,11,10) SF: Rich DeWitt def. Lei Ren (13,3,9)

Posted by netta_ct at 8:11 PM EDT

Updated: Wednesday, 3 October 2018 4:18 PM EDT

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 Emani, Liam score tournament trophies

Congratulations to Fairfield TTC players who medaled in events at the May WTTC Open in NY.

Scoring his first USATT tournament trophy, Fairfield youngster Liam Atkins placed second in the U-1150 rated event.  Liam defeated previous U-1000 event winner  Daria Fahimi (6,10,-10,8) in the U-1150 semi-final before being bested in the final by top seeded Arik Motskin (1025) in 4 games (9,3,-8,6) boosting Liam's rating from 855 to 1035.

The other local rating  event Finalist was Emani McPherson who won the U-2350 event.

Emani bested Chase Bockoven in 5 game final (9,-9,9,-9,4) after Chase had beaten Fairfield University's Adam Sahar in a nail biteing 12-10 in the fifth game semi-final (-3,8,7,-6,10). In the process, Emani's rating improved by over 100 rating pts. to 2275, regaining him the #1 position in local, and Connecticut standings from previous #!, from now #2 Adam Sahar(2244).

Rich Dewitt lost (10,7,7) in the semi-finals, to the event winner,  Benjamin Chang, in the U-2200 division, which Rich has often won.

Posted by netta_ct at 4:57 PM EDT

Updated: Wednesday, 3 October 2018 4:31 PM EDT

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NYITTC May 6th, 2018 Open  Results

Under 2100
1st: Samuel Medina; 2nd: Alec Holst

 NYITTC April 1st, 2018 Open  Results

Posted by netta_ct at 5:47 PM EDT

Updated: Wednesday, 30 May 2018 5:56 PM EDT

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Lei Ren wins NJ U-2250 event

  Recent Fairfield TT Club addition Lei Ren earned his best career rating of 2144 in the process of winning the U-2250 event in the May Princeton Pong tournament in New Jersey.

While only joining us, and the Northeastern tournament scene recently, Lei is a USATT tournament veteran, playing in 40+ different tournaments starting with a 1300 rating in Texas tournaments in 2013, and gradually building to about 1900 level before relocating here from Texas.

   Lei's Unique low-spin penhold game, using long-pips-out rubber with an occasional  shot thrown in from the usually hidden spinny sponge rubber side of his racket, originally surprised some of Connecticut's best players in area tournaments including past tournament wins over now club-mates Rich Dewitt and Adam Sahar.  

Posted by netta_ct at 2:56 PM EDT

Updated: Thursday, 31 May 2018 3:51 PM EDT

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Adam Sahar Tops Connecticut Player Ratings

  Based on 12 matches won at the North American Team Championships at the National Harbor Convention Center in Washington D.C,  Fairfield University Freshman Adam Sahar recently earned his highest career rating of 2254.

  This places Adam as the Top USATT rated active tournament player  in the state for the first time ever, as 2017 ends. With the support of his parents, clubmates at Fairfield Table Tennis Club and coaches Strang and McPherson, at 18, Adam has become the youngest player to lead all Connecticut player ratings in at least 25 years, since he joined the club as a middle school aged beginner about 5 years ago.

    Adam scored 11 of his 12 match wins over players rated over the USATT 'Expert' rating of 2000, in leading Fairfield's CT.TTA team in the 3rd Division (of 15) at the nearly 1000 player international Event. 

    The CT.TTA/Fairfield Team consisting of Adam, Emani McPherson, Anthony Capasso and Oscar Cid finished near the middle of the 3rd of the 15 (16 Team) Divisions, placing them about 35th among the over 200 teams representing North American, European and Asian Teams from clubs and leagues including the Bundasliga Europeon professional League.

  Matches pitted 3 players from competing teams playing up to 9 singles matches against each other with the first team winning 5 matches gaining the team victory. Preliminary matches on Friday placed each team in a group with teams with comparable level players.

Updated ratings for CT.TTA/Fairfield-Bethany players are available at   http://www.realtabletennis.com/Ratings/

  The Top Division consisting of top national and international level players competed for the  $25,000 in price money with trophies awarded to top teams in the other divisions. ASV Grunwettersbach defeated Team Joola in the Division one final which was streemed live and can be seen on Youtube at the USATT channel.

A full tournament write-up and video links are available at:  https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Table-Tennis/Features/2017/November/27/ASV-Grunwettersbach-Top-the-Field-in-World-Class-JOOLA-Team-Championships

Posted by netta_ct at 3:25 PM EST

Updated: Wednesday, 13 December 2017 5:35 PM EST

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Adam, Anthony reach new career tournament ratings

Fairfield TTC's Adam Sahar and Anthony Cappasso each had a great weekend with impressive upset wins to reach career peak ratings at the NYISC October Open.

  Adam had a 7-3 match record in multiple events, capped by an impressive upset win over 2417 rated Cedric Oba contributing 50 rating points towards his new 2200 rating. Adam is a freshman this year at Fairfield University.

  Anthony had a 10-4 record earning his new 2165 rating with his upset win over 2356 rated Yuxiang Li accounting for 45 added rating points. While Anthony is a freshman at UCONN this fall, he has made regular weekend trips south for club matches and practice at the Fairfield TTC with Adam and his other clubmates.

  In addition to multiple matches against NY and NJ players, Adam's NYSIC Open wins also included a tough 'duece in the 5th' win over veteran tournament player and local clubmate Rich Dewitt (2160) and a competitive but straight games match win over Anthony giving him the chance to reach the 2200 rating milestone ahead of Anthony. 

  Adam and Anthony have both developed together with about 5 or 6 years of club play and coaching since finding the Fairfield club. Anthony was previously a high school baseball player, while Adam has had years of recitals and lessons as a classical pianist.  

  Their new ratings place them 2nd and third rated in Fairfield behind 2250 rated Emani McPherson with former State Champion Dewitt now 4th locally edgeing out 5th rated Adis Medunjanin by just 3 rating points.

  Fairfield TTC players hold the #1,3 & 5 spots in current Statewide USATT ratings. With Emani's 2250 leading in Statewide ratings and #3 Adam (2200) and #5 Anthony (2165) rounding out Fairfield club players in the Statewide top 5. Non FFTTC players in the state's Top 5 are #2 E.Virgo (2211) of Hartford #4 Adnan Medunjanin (2194)- who lives in CT but trains in New York.

  Rich Dewitt, consistantly 1st or 2nd in club ratings, and also usually in the top 3 in the state, falls from those usual spots to 4th at Fairfield TTC and 7th in Connecticut for the first time in decades.   

 http://www.realtabletennis.com/Ratings/

Posted by netta_ct at 4:10 PM EDT

Updated: Wednesday, 30 May 2018 5:23 PM EDT

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Dewitt bests long-time Connecticut Rival to win Mass. tourney

   Lifelong Fairfield club and tournament player Rich Dewitt beat Hartford rival Ernest Virgo in the final of the USATT one star October "Zing!" Open tournament in East Hampton Mass..

   Both are past Connecticut Men's Champions who have also traded #1 and #2 ratings in the state for most of the last 20 years. And while Virgo has a lifetime 23-4 edge in their decades long rivalry, Momentum and perhaps age and playing styles see a shift towards Dewitt with him winning 3 out of their last 5 tournament match-ups in recent years.

   Both players, now in their 50's, are still active and highly rated players in the state and the New  England region, but were previously higher rated with Virgo reaching a peak 2330 rating in 2009 and Dewitt once briefly reaching 2445 in 2006.  

Posted by netta_ct at 5:38 PM EDT

Updated: Wednesday, 13 December 2017 5:39 PM EST

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Fairfield TTC Teens raise USATT ratings

Congratulations to two of our college-bound players, Adam Sahar and Anthony Capasso on recent wins in a recent NY tournament, bringing them higher USATT tournament ratings.

   Anthony reached the finals of the tournament's Under 2200 event, with his 7-3 win-loss record in that, and the Under 2350 event, earning him a 2100 rating.

Adam's upset win, over a player rated 2244 helped him improve his rating to a career best 2169.

   Both teens started as beginners at the Fairfield TTC as middle school students, becoming two of the States top rated players of all ages in about 5 years of weekly play.

   Adam is expected to attend Fairfield University this fall, while Anthony will attend UCONN.  They will likely provide Inter collegiate competition for a recent new FF TTC members Angus Fong and Joshua Surya of Yale in Northeast regional NCTTA events.

Posted by netta_ct at 2:51 PM EDT

Updated: Thursday, 3 August 2017 3:38 PM EDT

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Adam Sahar & Rich Dewitt lead Fairfield players in rating gains

  18 year-old Adam Sahar, a Fairfield TTC player since taking up our sport as a 13 year old, earned a USATT rating of 2162 with a 7-2 record in a recent tournament in Westchester NY. Adam's new national rating places him 3rd among Fairfield TTC players and 5th among all active Connecticut players.

Rich Dewitt, a lifetime player in Fairfield, including 20+ years at the Fairfield TTC since it began, regained the top rating in the state with a 2242 rating, passing Fairfield's #2 state rated Emani McPherson's 2236. Rich's 11-1 match record won him the U-2200 title with his only loss in the U-2300 semi-final. 

Adam beat Rich Dewitt 3 games to 2 with a dramatic last point at 11-9 in the final game in one of their many exciting weekly club matches. 

The overall level of our regular club players continues to increase, with 8 of our club's top 10 rated players over the USATT 2000 - 'expert' level, 3 of them having crossed that threshold in the last few months.

Congratulations to Adam, Anthony Capasso and Sam Medina for their progress, and to Rich and Emani for leading the state as the #1 & #2 rated players in Connecticut.

 Complete March 2017 Club Top 10 players at: http://www.realtabletennis.com/Ratings/

Posted by netta_ct at 12:46 AM EDT

Updated: Friday, 31 March 2017 2:04 AM EDT

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CT. Teen reaches rating Milestone

 17 year-old Anthony Cappasso earned a USATT rating of 2051 with tournament match and event wins recently at a December tournament in New York where he won the U-2000 event and reached the finals of the U-2050 event.

  A rating over 2000 places players in the 'expert' level of the top 5 to 10% of all active tournament players in the country. Reaching 2051 also places Anthony 7th among the top 10 players in our 2016 end of the year CTTA active club players ratings list, placing him between Club rivals & practice partners (#6) Sam Medina (2064) & (#8) Adam Sahar (1984). Adam is also a High School Senior who took up the sport in Fairfield as a 13 year old. Anthony & Adam have alternated trading the #1 & #2 spots among USATT rated youth for the last 2 or 3 years.

  Anthony also reached another goal in December with his first match wins in club play over Fairfield TTC's current #3 player, Rich Dewitt, a former Connecticut Men's Champion with a current 2158 rating.

  Anthony began club TT play in Fairfield about 4 years ago as a 13 year old. He has been trading club match wins with his coach, another former (2X) State Champion Club Director and Pro Dave Strang (2070) for the last 2 of those 4 years.

http://www.realtabletennis.com/Ratings/

Posted by netta_ct at 8:38 AM EST

Updated: Saturday, 24 December 2016 10:16 AM EST

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FALL/WINTER 2016 NEWS & SCHEDULE INFORMATION

(Updated Dec 22 to reflect the Dec-Jan 2016/2017 hollidays)

Schedule:

FAIRFIELD: 

The Fall/Winter bring a few town events  & holidays with potential impacts for our schedule in Fairfield.

SAT SEPT 24th:

   A morning and afternoon event in the building will either cancel or delay our opening.    

*********UPDATE: We wil meet SAT Sept  24th-***********  ***********Modified Hours: 2:30-6:30p***************

WED OCT.5th:

The Health Dept. has a flu shot clinic scheduled. UPDATE: We will meet for our regular hours OCT 5th.

SATURDAY OCT 22nd:

Finally, a MODEL TRAIN SHOW/SALE has been scheduled for the Gym this weekend. The show is on Sunday morning but requires set-up on Saturday. To accomidate this our weekend session in Fairfield is being moved to Friday evening Oct 21st.

THANKSGIVING WEEK:

As in past years, we will meet Thanksgiving Week, on both WED & Saturday.

Christmas  & New Years weeks

Play is also planned during Christmas  & New Years weeks this year, though Saturday play on Dec.24 will be changed to Monday night Dec.26th.  Sat.Dec 31st might also be switched to Monday night Jan 2nd - based on player preferences communicated to me by Dec 28th - (and weather forecasts). Final announcement regarding a possible change for Sat.Dec 31st ? Communicate your preferences & then check the Homepage after 6pm on Thur.Dec 30th.

 Again, recheck the homepage these weeks &/or text me your name/town information at (203) 525-6l94.

(RARELY) Very heavy &/or blowing snow or freezing rain expected during, or shortly before or after a scheduled session may cause us to change to our schedule.

  But severe winter weather is less common south of the parkway, and the more typical snow storms don't usually affect our Fairfield schedule even if they may reduce turnout somewhat.

Due to our unique scheduling and status with the Bigelow Senior Center & FF P&R, please consult this website's homepage during holidays or storms as our cancelations, holidays or schedule changes may NOT coorespond with information for other Senior Center or Parks & Recreation Programing listed on their media announcements, websites or Newsletters.

Use your own judgement based on your driving skills and area road conditions, even if we are open.

Last minute weather & road condition judgements may prevent notice on the website, so call the info message before leaving home, or text me an hour or so before a session, especially if you aren't a regular player in my cell contacts who usually gets text updates.

BETHANY :

We expect uninterupted Sunday night play in Bethany between early September, and (at least) late November. (Thanksgiving weekend likely closed, but TBD).

Bethany changes are possible, but not likely & would be added to the mainpage and/or texted to regular Bethany players who have texted me their Name & Town at (203) 525-6l94.

Join us in Bethany, on any weekends, especially if you are busy on Saturday or during any week with Fairfield cancelations. (Bethany is 30 min from Fairfield via Parkway exit 59 & rte 63 north to Peck Rd. between Naugatuck/Waterbury & New Haven)

 Christmas & New Years weekends are closed in Bethany as are most Sundays when significant/plowable snow remains or is expected on Sunday PM in Bethany.

Posted by netta_ct at 3:23 PM EST

Updated: Saturday, 24 December 2016 10:31 AM EST

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TEENS NEAR USATT 2000 Ratings

 Adam Sahar and Anthony Capasso both played in August Hartford and New York tournaments and raised their ratings into the high 1900's with wins over 2000+ players.

  Both 17 year Olds split matches with Hartford's 2018 rated Dennis Stephenson in the GHTTC August Open, and raised their ratings a little more the following weekend at the WTTC August Open in New York.

 Adam scored a win over 2109 rated New York player but fell just short of the coveted 2000 level rating, reaching a 1989 post-tournament rating after a loss to a 1998 rated player .

Anthony's win over Stephenson in Hartford gained him the U-2100 event title, with Stephenson's win  in the Open SIngles event earning him that title .

Anthony finished August with a 1952 rating, placing him 6th, just behind Adam, at 5th, among our top 10 rated list of active CT TTA Fairfield/Bethany players of all ages. They are also the top 2 currently active CT. TTA Teen players.

Both have only been playing about 3 years in our club, showing how quickly motivated kids with supportive families can become skilled and competitive players.

Posted by netta_ct at 5:02 PM EDT

Updated: Saturday, 24 December 2016 10:01 AM EST

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Congratulations to Sam Medina !

Fairfield & Bethany TT Regular Sam Medina reached a TT Milestone this spring for the first time, passing the USATT rating of 2000 at a New York Tournament, reaching 2007.

This is considered an 'expert' level, placing players in the top 5 to 10% of US Tournament players, to #5 on our most recent Rating list for our clubs, and typically among the the top 10-20 active players in the whole state. 

  Even more significantly for Sam, he was married a few weeks later in mid-May to his sweetheart Adriana.

Posted by netta_ct at 1:53 AM EDT

Updated: Saturday, 21 May 2016 2:40 AM EDT

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Fairfield Cancellation Due to Jan 23rd Storm

  Fairfield P&R has cancelled all activities, including ours, for Saturday Jan 23rd due to concerns over the East Coast Snow storm.

  We expect to play on Sunday evening, Jan 24th in Bethany and/or might make up the missed Fairfield session on Sunday afternoon or evening - or Monday evening depending on the severity of the storm and progress of area road plowing. Website update for these decisions might not occur.

 Regular players thought to be likely participants were texted on Friday evening if they had joined my text list previously by texting their name and town to my cell phone (203) 525-6l94 .

 If you didn't receive a text on Jan 22nd, please re-text me your Name and town. If you aren't a frequent or recent player, please text me anytime you are driving a distance to play at least an hour before Fairfield sessions or 1/2 hour before Bethany sessions so I can respond before I begin driving to either site myself if you have concerns about a potential cancellation. 

  I keep these to a minimum during minor storms or holidays, but decisions are sometimes made for me by the host facilities. Due to usual differences in town policies, and in the frequency and amount of snow between Fairfield and Bethany, cancellations have been less frequent in Fairfield than in Bethany in previous winters.

  In addition to texting, I update the recorded messages at the dedicated phone line for either or both clubs if a schedule change occurs as soon as I can, for those of you who wish to check, especially if you aren't a frequent participant or don't have a cell phone to receive texts.

 Calls to those numbers (listed at the website mainpage) ring a few times at my cell phone before forwarding to a message, so I may answer, or call or text you back, especially if I don't have the phone you call from in my phone contacts, or the schedule changes after you call but before the next playing session.

  The website lists schedule changes whenever I have enough advance warning to update it. But occasionally the situation may only allow me time for updating the phone messages, especially when changing weather or road conditions require cancelation on shorter notice.

  Of course driving skills, road conditions and weather can vary from town to town, so use your own judgement and caution in deciding whether to attend even if we are open, including expected changes during the scheduled playing time. 

Posted by netta_ct at 10:51 PM EST

Updated: Saturday, 21 May 2016 2:44 AM EDT

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  Due to holiday building closings in Bethany, we won't be open there on Sunday December 27th or January 3rd. We will resume Bethany play on Sunday January 10th.  (Bethany can close for plowable Sunday snow storms though, so call ahead if unsure)

  With our change to Wed/Sat play in Fairfield in October, we miss any interuptions to our schedule there during the 2015-2016 Holidays which both fall on Thursday/Friday this year. So we WILL MEET on Wed Dec,23rd & 30th and Sat.26th & Jan 2nd in Fairfield. (Snow closings in Fairfield are rare due to differences in weather & town policies there)

  Enjoy the holidays and join us when you can. Bring family and friends to play if they are interested. Since some of our players are out-of-town or busy there are often more tables available during this period and often folks, especially kids have more time off work or school during late, and we can sometimes spare a table to set up the Newgy robot during less busy playing days in Fairfield (as we usually do in Bethany).

If you want to come and play with a group of friends or family, please arrive early (or late) during the scheduled playing times if possible, since empty tables are less easily available during the middle of most playing sessions.

Posted by netta_ct at 3:35 PM EST

Updated: Wednesday, 23 December 2015 5:55 PM EST

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