Table Tennis Ireland invites nominations under its Awards Scheme for the 2019/2020 season. Nominations for all the Award categories must be received on the specified form by WEDNESDAY 29th of APRIL 2020 at 5pm. Applications can be emailed to [email protected] or posted to Irish Sport HQ, Sport Ireland National Sports Campus, Blanchardstown, Dublin 15.
Please note that there will be two awards made within the Junior Player of the Year category.
Please click HERE for the Nomination Form and please click HERE for the Criteria for the Awards Scheme
Should you have any queries on the Awards Scheme, please contact by email or by phone at +353 1 6251135.
Pictured are Mary O’Connor (CEO Federation of Irish Sport), Ken Strong and Richie Gernon(EBS). The Volunteer in Sport Awards ceremony took place on Tuesday 12th of November 2019 in Farmleigh House in Dublin. At the ceremony, Ken Strong was announced as the overall winner of the Volunteer in Sport Award for Co. Tyrone respresenting the sport of table tennis. Ken has been involved in many capacities in Irish Table Tennis for 50 years, from Chairman of Tyrone Table Tennis to National Senior Men’s coach at World, European and Six Nations Championships. He has served as Chairperson, Secretary and International Director on the Board of Table Tennis Ireland, as well as on the management committee, followed recently by 4 years as President. His longevity, dedication, personal sacrifice and professional contribution continues to this day. The Federation of Irish Sport Volunteers in Sport Awards recognise the contribution of the 450,000 people who ensure sport in Ireland happens each week. It is estimated that 37.2 million hours of volunteering, across Ireland’s 14,000+ sports clubs and associations, occurs each year.
Ken Strong receiving his Honorary Life Membership award from President Tony Martin
Ken Strong has been awarded Honorary Life Membership of the Association. He has been a devoted volunteer, initially beginning as a Branch Committee member in Ulster and then at national level in the Irish Association. In addition to service in his local Tyrone County Association, Ken was Ulster Branch Secretary for 16 years, Chairman and President each for 5 years. He is a former Chair, Secretary and International Director of Table Tennis Ireland as well as Chair of the former National Training & Selection Committee.
Table Tennis Ireland Chair, Joseph A. Hickey, said about Ken’s award:
“Ken has made an extraordinary contribution to the sport over the last 50 years at both national and provincial levels. In terms of time and effort, it is without parallel in the history of the Association. The members who have observed even a small part of his incredible journey, know of his deep commitment to improving the standard of Irish table tennis, at all levels. On behalf of the members all around the country, I congratulate him on his appointment as an Honorary Life Member.”
The Award was presented to Ken at the Association’s Annual General Meeting by Irish President, Tony Martin.
Con O’Ceadiagh receicving the Joe Veselsky Award from President Ken Strong
The Chairman, Joe Hickey welcomed everyone present to the meeting and introduced the President, Ken Strong, the Finance Director, Patricia Hunter, Operations Director, Rob Cowan and the Company Secretary, Jennifer Monaghan. The Chairman addressed the meeting on the changes in the Board since the last AGM, the issues arising from same including the engagement with Sport Ireland. Various members including former Directors also offered their views. The Finance Director, Mrs. Pat Hunter outlined the Company’s Financial Report and following a number of question, this report was adopted. The Reports of the Operations Director, Robert Cowan, the Company Secretary, Mrs. Jennifer Monaghan and other reports, which had been circulated in advance of the meeting, were also adopted. Mr. Richard Butler, Chair of the Management Committee presented the reports of each of the Managers within the Management Committee.
Election of Officers:
The following were re-elected as Directors:
Chairman: Mr. Joseph A. Hickey Finance Director: Mrs. Pat Hunter Operations Director: Mr. Robert Cowan Company Secretary: Mrs. Jennifer Monaghan
President:
Mr. Kenneth Strong stood down from this position after the maximum four year term allowed under the Constitution. Rob Cowan, on behalf of the Board and the membership generally, thanked him for all his work and dedication during the 4 years. Mr Tony Martin was elected as the new President. Tony is a former Irish Secretary, Irish NPC, Leinster Branch Chair and President. He is also an Honorary Life Member and has served the Association for many years.
Vice Presidents:
These were re-elected as follows: Miss Anna Kelly, Mr. Patrick O’Brien, Mr. Tony Phillips MBE, Mr. Ivan Shorten, and Mr. Joe Finnegan
National Awards:
The annual awards were presented at the AGM. Congratulations to all as follows:
Junior Male Player of the Year: Art McLaughlin Junior Female Player of the Year: Sophie Earley School of the Year: Griffeen Valley ENTS Para Award: Colin Judge Male Player of the Year: Gavin Maguire Young Coach of the Year: Conor Mullally Coach of the Year: Alan Taylor Volunteer of the Year: Niall O’Flaherty International Performance of the Year: Sophie Earley Female Player of the Year: Sophie Earley Club of the Year: Leeside Club, Cork Joe Veselsky Award: Con O’Ceadaigh
School of the Year, Griffeen Valley ENTS
International Performance of the Year: Sophie Earley
Volunteer of the Year: Niall O’Flaherty
Disciplinary Committee & Jury of Appeal:
It was noted that new volunteers were required for these committees and the 4 Branches were invited to put forward their thoughts on suitable candidates.
The Acting Chairman Michael Scott welcomed everybody to the meeting with an introductory presentation on his own background and why he has served as Acting Chairman of the Association since April 2018, and his plans to improve the effectiveness of the Board and the numerous operational/governance difficulties faced by the Association. On his request, Finance Director Peter Graham delivered the Finance Report for the Financial Year 2017. The Report recorded a surplus for the period following the hard work by all involved during the year. In addition, the Finance Director noted that a portion of this surplus related to Paralympics underspend and would be carried forward to 2018. The financial statements, directors’ report and auditor’s report were considered by the meeting and adopted by the members following a vote, and the directors were permitted to fix the appointment of the auditors for the financial year 2018.
The Acting Chair then presented the Chairman’s Report which recorded a wide range of topics including the Corporate Governance issues faced by the Company, the various difficulties associated with events in the 2017/18 season, and the various new initiatives the Board were considering for Women in Sport and other programs. Reports were also circulated from the other Association Directors, Provincial Branches and Committees, and subsequently approved.
Directors were elected as follows:
Chairman: Michael Scott
Company Secretary: Peter Graham (Acting) Finance Director: Peter Graham
Commercial Director: Michael McGoldrick
HR Director: Lorna O’Rahilly Other Directors: Alan Strong, Conn Higgins, and Paul Dolan
ITTA/TTI Annual Awards 2017/18
Male Coach of the Year:
Philip McLaughlin
Billy Marshall Junior Award:
Sophie Earley
Para Award of the Year:
Conor Callaghan
Volunteer of the Year:
Shane O’Connor
Vivienne Barry Fair Play Award
Joey Nelson
Press Officer of the Year:
Brian Finn
Best Senior Male Player of the Year:
Gavin Maguire
Club of the Year:
Ormeau TTC
Merit Award:
Manulla National school
Best International Performance of the Year:
Colin Judge
Special Award:
EYC Cadet Boys 2017
Joe Veselsky Award for Service to Sport:
Arnold Morgan
The Club Development Officer (CDO) introduced a discussion paper on the proposed Club Affiliation scheme, which was widely debated and discussed. A range of benefits to the affiliation proposal were described, with the CDO agreeing to canvas the opinion of the clubs by conducting a consultation process.
Finally, the Ulster Branch put four proposals forward for the Interprovincial Championships. As a result, on a one-year trial basis, the event will be held over one weekend, with the Senior event on Saturday and the Junior event on the Sunday at a central venue in Dublin. The format of the team matches will however remain the same.
The Board would like to thank all Members who attended and participated in what was a constructive and encouraging day. Whilst recognizing there is much work to be done in the Association, this is an encouraging time for Irish Table Tennis and we look forward to the coming year.
Long standing servant to Irish Table Tennis Derek Hanley receives the Joe Veselskey award for his services to Table Tennis at the recent TTI Board Meeting.
Table Tennis Ireland would like to congratulate and thank Derek for all his years of hard work!
CRAIGAVON TABLE TABLE TENNIS CLUB COACH RECEIVES NATIONAL AWARD
Table Tennis Ireland President, Ken Strong and Ulster Branch Chairman, Arnold Morgan visited Craigavon Table Tennis Club during their summer training camp held in the Baptist Church Hall at Drumgor.
The purpose of the visit was to present Club coach Michael McGoldrick with the table Tennis Ireland Male Coach of the Year Award, which is awarded each year to the coach who has made the greatest contribution to the sport.
Ken said in presenting the Award: “I am delighted to present this Award to Michael in recognition of all your fine work developing the Club and the sport in the area over the last year and earlier. It is a well earned accolade and fully justified. The Association wishes you and your club members every success in the future.”
Both Arnold and Ken outlined some of the many examples of Michael’s involvement with and input to the Club which has led the Club being recognised as an example of good practice in Sport NI’s Active Clubs Project. He sees the way ahead as a strategic thinker, producing and implementing his good ideas. His coaching caters for a wide range of players across communities, ages and genders.
Rena took time out of her busy training schedule to accept her well-deserved Para Athlete of the year award from Rob Cowan at the National sports campus, sports HQ. Rob presented the award stating “Everybody in TTI is very proud of Rena’s achievements thus far, it is probably the dream of every table tennis player to reach the Olympics, and it fantastic to see that Rena has done it; we will be supporting her all the way in Rio”.
Rena, originally from Donegal but now living in Galway, is currently busy preparing for the Paralympics in Rio which starts on September 7th with the Opening ceremony. Rena’s first match is on the 8th meaning that she and coach Ronan Rooney will miss out on what is usually a tremendous spectacle at any Olympics or Paralympics. At the moment she is at a pre-Rio International camp in Lasko, Slovenia and will then leave for a holding camp in Uberlandia, Brazil, on Aug 25th, leaving from there for the final part of this amazing journey in Rio on Sep 3rd.
In Rio Rena will be in a group of 3 with 2 qualifying into the knockout stages. The draw will be done in early September in Rio but it is certain that Rena will have either the world number 1 or 2 in her group, making it a very tough task from the start. She qualified on December 31 last year by virtue of her world ranking of 7, a career high for her following a very successful 2015 that included a silver medal in the European Championships in October in Denmark.
This will be Rena’s second Paralympics, having been playing seriously for upwards of 15 years. She has participated at multiple European Championships and World Championships but it was not until she started playing full time that she really came of age. She had previously played part-time, working as a Sports Development Officer with the IWA. In the lead-up to the London Games she took leave of absence from her job and her results proved to her the benefit of focusing totally on her table tennis. Having more time afforded her the opportunity to avail of the various services offered by the Institute of Sport (such as physio, nutrition, strength and conditioning, performance management and psychology.) So since the beginning of the Rio qualification period (January 2014) she has been effectively full time.
For the past year she has been coached by 6-times Paralympian Ronan Rooney and she feels that this has also helped her performances.
Rena stated “I am indebted to so many people in getting this far…there are too many individuals to mention but I am really grateful to Sport Ireland, Paralympics Ireland, Table Tennis Ireland and IWA Sport. I am also indebted to Andrew Dennison Sports and Tibhar for providing my competition and training gear”.
Finally Rob Cowan said “ Table Tennis Ireland would like to wish Rena and Ronan the very best of Luck in Rio and I hope that Rena’s achievements will inspire the future generation of girls and women in TTI to success on the world stage“.
Table Tennis Ireland is delighted to report the news that it’s Life Honorary Member, Joe Veselsky, has been honoured at a ceremony in Trinity College, Dublin.
The 97 year old was awarded an awarded an Honorary Master of Arts Degree.
The tribute paid by the University read as follows.
At 97, Joe Veselsky is Trinity’s oldest student and was awarded an honorary Master of Arts degree. He has taken extra-mural courses in the School of Histories and Humanities every year since 2010.
He is an inspiring example of lifelong learning. His parents and elder brother were killed in Auschwitz. Having joined the Resistance, he was later decorated with the Order of the Slovak National Uprising.
Post-war his passion was table tennis in which he ranked seventh nationally and captained the Czechoslovak team, with his wife, Katarina, he escaped the Prague coup of 1948 and came to Ireland where he established his own jewellery business.
He made an abiding contribution to Irish life through sport: as captain of the Irish table tennis team for over twenty years.
He was made a Commander of the Slovak Order of the White Double Cross for outstanding achievement in sport and for his contribution to the development and maintenance of diplomatic relations between Slovakia and Ireland.
Joe’s accolade has also attracted the attention of the ITTF, as the world governing body of Table Tennis paid tribute to the achievements of the great man.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
