THE first of the Huddersfield Table Tennis League’s handicap competitions gets under way over the next two weeks.

The Concorde Trophy will be played under a slightly different format this season with the emphasis being on the collective team handicap rather than individuals.

This has proved successful in some other local leagues, notably Bradford and Oldham.

Each player will have a handicap, ranging from 0 for the leagues’ top players to 120 for the beginners.

Teams of three will add their individual handicaps together to give a collective team handicap.

The difference between the handicaps of the teams drawn against each other will determine the target for the match.

A team of beginners could have a total handicap of 120 x 3 = 360. A top team may have a collective handicap of 20, making a difference of 340.

Players from each team play against each other over four games to 11-up with a total of 396 points at stake in each tie. So if the beginners met the top team with handicaps as above, the beginners would need to secure 57 points to win the tie.

It should make for some interesting contests, none more so than the preliminary round clash which has brought together Brooks A v Brooks B.

The league champions will be wary of the rapidly improving Nathan Spencer and his colleagues Tony Astwick and Matthew Corcoran, who are both capable of making the handicappers look foolish on their good days.

In the other preliminary round, Woodfield Park B are drawn at home to Kingsmith 200, who will be without veteran Garry Moss, who has decided to quit playing after over 54 years continuous involvement in the League.

Garry, a League vice-president, has struggled in recent years to find the form which made him a formidable opponent in his heyday.

This is in contrast to his teammate Geoff Heywood, who continues to play to a high standard in the lower divisions, having lost only one match so far this season.

The full draw is:

Preliminary Round – 1 Woodfield Park B v Kingsmith 200, 2 Brooks B v Brooks A. Completition date October 31.

Round 1 – 1 Wilshaw B v Scissett WMC A, 2 Marsh Con B v NNRBC B, 3 Woodfield Park A v Marsh Con D, 4 U3A v Golcar Lib, 5 Kingsmith Eng B v Kingsmith Eng A, 6 Marsh Con E v Prelim Round 1, 7 Prelim Round 2 b Marsh Con A, 8 NN.RBC A v Deighton LC A, 9 Scissett WMC B v David Brown B, 10 Wilshaw A v Marsh Con C, 11 Deighton LC C v Wilshaw D, 12 Shelley B v Kingsmith Eng E, 13 Kingsmith Eng F v Kingsmith Eng D, 14 Bavid Brown A v Wilshaw C, 15 Kingsmith Eng C v Deighton LC B, 16 Kingsmith PW v Shelley A. Completion date November 7.