Local league player Geoff Turner has shown his ability on the page as well as on the table, with his eBook of poetry having gone on sale on Amazon.

Geoff (pictured above) has been active in the sport for many years, having played in leagues in Wigan, Acton, Egham, Staines, Aylesbury and, most recently, Milton Keynes and Bedford.

He also writes poetry and his book Modern Poems brings together 37 of his works, including a 19-verse poem about table tennis, across 94 pages.

The works are divided into eight sections on topics ranging from home and family matters to food, sports and games and poems for children.

The subjects in those sections range from serious to humorous, from tackling The Three Peaks Challenge to the virtues of Apple Pie and Gravy, via poems about politicians, climate change, a possible cure for insomniacs and the tea made by his Yorkshire grandfather.

“I have always enjoyed reading poetry by different authors and the poems in my eBook cover a diverse number of themes,” he said.

“One of the highlights is a poem about table tennis and ping pong, which I believe will be of interest to Table Tennis England members.

“I had a number of reasons for writing this poem – firstly, I wanted it reflect my love of table tennis; secondly, I wished to correct a popular misconception that table tennis and ping pong are still the same; and my third reason was to try to ensure that some of the truly great players of both table tennis and ping pong receive the recognition which they deserve.”

Types of rubber, the knock up, different spin types, the importance of planning and good placement and bat twiddling are also covered in its 19 verses, which include this one:

So, make sure you employ good placement,
Your opponent to disjoint,
You will sometimes wish to play down the line,
Or, put the ball in the crossover point

Click here to visit the book’s page on Amazon’s Kindle store.