Photo courtesy of Paralympics Ireland
Many congratulations to Philip Quinlan and Ronan Rooney for their superb performances at last weekend’s French Open. Phillip overcame Switzerland’s Silvio Keller to win Gold in Class 1 while Ronan Rooney secured silver in the class 2 narrowly missing out to world champion Serguey Poddubnyi. For more information click the following link.
http://www.paralympics.ie/2012/06/19/irish-medal-at-table-tennis-french-open/
A focus on the good work in tt development at Down Special Olympics Club…
Background
Down Special Olympics Club was founded c.2007. It currently has 53 members & 22 volunteers. Club members (athletes) are split into two age groups – 14 to 18 & 21 plus. Members (athletes) are have intellectual disabilities but may also be physically handicapped.
The first sports offered were boccia and football. In autumn 2011 table tennis was added. Table tennis coaches were recruited from The Lecale League. Noel Breen, Jim Ritchie and Peter Doherty and others volunteered on a rota system. I joined the rota in late November 2011. Since January 2012 Mark Cullen and myself have taken on the coaching. I believe that coach continuity & a coherent programme are essential.
At present we have 8-10 regularly attending athletes. These are from the 21 + group and there is an even gender split. We are helped by three Special Olympics volunteers. We also work to develop the table tennis skills of these volunteers. We have been taking a 2 hour session on Friday evenings and a 1 hour session on Monday.
Initially the Club wanted to see if we could make progress in Table Tennis with the players we have. In March 2012 we played a friendly match against Monaghan & we emerged with 3 of the 6 available trophies- one for the skills test and two for round robin tournaments. We now want to develop the club and expand numbers. We would like to cater for younger players. To do this we need to develop the skills of the players we have, build an equipment base and a sound coaching strategy.
Our athletes
Most of our athletes come to table tennis with a very high level of commitment and a desire to succeed. Success brings unmitigated joy.
Our job is to help athletes enjoy table tennis. We are committed to helping athletes perform to the highest possible level that their abilities allow.
What we do
We celebrate the good & do not focus on the problems.
We try to identify problems & design physical games /tasks or jokes to overcome these.
We increase the length & difficulty of specific activities gradually.
We focus on learning by doing and initially try to minimise verbal instructions.
Sessions break into three parts:
a) Warm up
b) A session targeting a particular skill
c) Relaxed competition to reinforce b) above or a previously learn skill.
All but one of our players can now sustain a rally. All are able to focus and play for longer. Movement has improved. We have helped one player to lose 2 stone in weight. All players are more balanced and relaxed. This has lead to better co-ordination. Our skills test scores have improved hugely. Confidence levels are higher. We are having fun.
NOVEMBER 2011 – Beech Hill Junior Paralympic Open
Report by Rory O’Connor
Juniors from Cork, Waterford, Kilkenny and Galway attended the first ever National Junior Paralympic Table Tennis tournament to be held in Cork. The event took place at the Beech Hill Table Tennis Club. The event catered (in more ways in one – thanks to the culinary skills of the Beech Hill parents) for both Standing and Wheelchair athletes. As there were a number of new players at this event the morning session was devoted to a classification event. The main event took place in the afternoon with three events down for decision.
The event was a great success and a measure of the effort by Rena and Ronan Rooney in Galway and the Beech Hill Table Tennis Club in Cork in providing the necessary facilities, equipment and coaching expertise in order to grow the game of Table Tennis within the Paralympic community.
Beech Hill Table Tennis Club is also greatly indebted to the COPE Foundation for the use of their facilities. The working relationship between COPE and Beech Hill Table Tennis goes back to 2001 and this weekend was a further development in the long and hopefully mutually beneficial relationship.
At Beech Hill there is a great opportunity now for people with physical disability to get involved in table tennis under the guidance of dedicated coaches, while in Galway Rena is looking after Emerging Table Tennis talent. Beech Hill’s dedicated wheelchair ITTA coach, Rory O’Connor is planning a series of training camps for all Junior Table Tennis Paralympic players.
RESULTS:
In the Junior Girls event Annie O’Callaghan from the Beech Hill club took the honours from clubmate Veyda Brickley with Jessica Burke from Galway in 3rd place.
In the Junior Boys event The Honours went to Jack Colbert from Galway with Alex Hennebry and Jack Quinn from Beech Hill in 2nd and 3rd places.
The standing event was won by Paddy Vaughan from Kilkenny with Aidan Hynes from Galway in 2nd place.
In the Doubles event Aidan Hynes (Galway) and Paddy Vaughan (Kilkenny) beat Jack Quinn (Beech Hill) and Jack Colbert Galway) in final
Irish Players celebrate the 4th Of July
A Big Medal Haul from the US Open for Irish Players made the journey home all that sweeter for London 2012 hopefuls, Eimear Breathnach, Rena Mc Carron Rooney, Philip Quinlan and Ronan Rooney.
In their determination for qualification for the PARALYMPIC GAMES IN LONDON 2012 these four players travelled to the US Open in Milwaukee in an event outside of their scheduled program.
It was certainly worth the trip bringing back one of the best collection of medals for Irish players in recent years.
In The Women’s Class One/Two Event Eimear Breathnach won Gold and Rena Mc Carron Rooney Silver.
Men’s Class 1 Philip Quinlan picked up Gold to add to his collection, while team mate Ronan Rooney was very unlucky to be seeded on an extremely tough side of off the draw in Class 2.
Ronan’s disappointment was short lived as both he and Philip picked up Silver medals in the Team Class 1 / 2 events.
In the Ladies Team which consisted of Class 1-5 players, Eimear and Rena put up a strong fight against Class 5 opponents but failed to get out of there group.
The Galway Speeders Club celebrated its first birthday at the weekend by hosting a National Paralympic Novice Table Tennis Championships. The event was held at the Commercial Boat Club and was attended by competitors from Dublin, Meath, Sligo, Cork and Galway.
The event was a great success and saw the coming of age of some fine players. It is also the culmination of a year of training and practice at the Kingfisher every Saturday morning.
In total, there were five competitions. The Open was won by Christine Doyle from Meath, Silver went to Garreth Greene from Dublin while Bronze was secured by Sligo’s Aidan Hynes.
The Standing Class was won by Aidan Hynes and silver went to Rao Rapolu from Galway.
The Junior Boys Wheelchair Event was won by Galway’s Jack Colbert and Silver was won by Galway’s Mark Henderson. Bronze went to Cork with Sean Og Nash.
The Junior Girls Wheelchair Event was won by Annie O’Callaghan from Cork, while Silver went to Jessica Burke who defeated Shauna Bouquet for Bronze in an exciting match.
The Senior Wheelchair Event was won by Christine Doyle who played exceptionally well all day. There were many notable matches, in particular, Galway’s Jack Colbert lost out narrowly, 11-9 in the fifth set, in the semi-final of the Open to the eventual gold medallist, Christine.
National Paralympic Table Tennis coach Paul Dolan said that “It is really exciting to see such talent within our junior ranks and we look forward to them joining our senior panel”.
The Galway Speeders would like to thank Carnmore Brownies for ball girl duties throughout the day. We would also like to thank our sponsors, Kingfisher at NUI Galway, Galway County Sports Partnership and Galway City Sports Partnership for their support throughout the year.
Also, thank you to volunteers, parents and everyone who assisted the club throughout the year. Table tennis for athletes with a physical disability will resume in the autumn at the Kingfisher and all are welcome to attend.
See below for full results
Open Event
Gold – Christine Doyle
Silver – Garreth Green
Bronze – Aidan Hynes
Standing Class
Gold – Aidan Hynes
Silver – Rao Rapolu
Junior Boys Wheelchair
Gold – Jack Colbert
Silver – Mark Henderson
Bronze – Sean Og Nash
Junior Girls Wheelchair
Gold – Annie O’Callaghan
Silver – Jessica Burke
Bronze – Shauna Bouquet
Senior Wheelchair Event
Gold – Christine Doyle
Silver – Garreth Greene
Bronze – Gary Allen
For the third successive year the IWA National Table Tennis Championships was held in partnership with the Irish Table Tennis Association National Championships at the excellent ALSAA sports complex Dublin Airport.
Playing commenced at 9.30am with Wheelchair Men’s and Ladies Single’s as usual at any wheelchair event players were determined to prove their worth and they provided an excellent days Table Tennis of the highest standard.
In the ladies Kathleen Reynolds was looking to hold on to her title with wins over Eimear Breathnach and ever improving Christine Doyle, But it was the raider from the west in the shape of Rena Mc Carron Rooney who came through the day beating all before her without dropping a set, and take her first National Ladies Title a measure of the improvement in her game over the last year.
In the Men’s competition Michael Cunningham was there to retain his title but several of his rivals had other ideas.
In a nail biting battle semi final John Finn lost out to training partner Paul Mc Evoy in a close 5 setter. While in the other semi John Dempsey tried to contain the attacking capabilities of Mick Cunningham, Mick proved to strong and went on to meet Paul Mc Evoy in the final played on center court winning an entertaining best of 7 set match 4 nil. New recruit Gareth Greene made his debut in this event with a performance showing his potential for the future
In after noon the mixed doubles competition was held this time Mick Cunningham teamed up with John Dempsey to win this event in a top class match beating the Hungarian Open bound pairing of Ronan Rooney and Philip Quinlan.
National Coach Paul Dolan felt it was an excellent day’s table tennis with some great performances from individual players and a great preparation for squad members travelling to the Hungarian Open this week as part of their Paralympic qualification program.
NEWSFLASH – Hungary Open Results
Philip Quinlan narrowly missed out on a gold medal in the Class 1 Mens losing a hard fought final and takes a Silver medal.While in the Ladies Class 1/2 Rena Mc Carron Rooney brings home the Bronze.Rooney and partner Eimear Breatneach reach semi final ladies double on Sunday.
Participating countries included Brazil, Austria, Finland, Spain, France, Germany, Britain, Hungary, Iceland, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden and Ireland.
Ireland sent a strong team to compete at this prestigious event. Dublin was represented by Team Coach, Kathleen Reynolds, players Eimear Breathnach and Phillip Quinlan, and representing the west, Ronan Rooney and Rena McCarron Rooney.
Ireland’s ladies team, Eimear Breathnach and Rena McCarron Rooney had a very successful tournament. They secured silver in the Doubles Event and also won the bronze in the Team Event which was run Davis Cup style.
In the singles event, Eimear who has been on the sidelines for the last year, signalled her intent with a great comeback to international competition, lost the bronze place play off to Poland’s Buclaw, having defeated France’s world ranked no 7, Florence Gossiaux along the way.
In her singles, McCarron Rooney was narrowly defeated in the 5th set by Italy’s Pamala Pezzutto, world ranked no 1.
The men’s events were equally exciting. Quinlan fought his way to the last 8 defeating Hungary’s Janos Kaiser world ranked 11 along the way. He was cruelly defeated in deuce in 5th set by Finland’s Launonen, ranked no 8 in the world.
Rooney had a satisfying victory over Iceland’s Kristjansson who will be competing at the world championships in Korea later in the year, and Rooney was narrowly beaten by France’s Molliens, the eventual gold medallist.
Irlenad’s men’s team also had impressive wins in the team and doubles events.
Ireland’s coach and team manager for the tournament, Kathleen Reynolds said “she hasn’t seen the team play so well in a long time”.
This performance certainly augers well for the future.
Internacional Fekoor de Tenis de Mesa adaptado Bilbao Spain
June 24th to June 28
The team selected to represent Ireland at this international wheelchair table tennis event on this occasion was Kathleen Reynolds, Rena McCarron Rooney and Michael Cunningham. The coach who accompanied the team was Jack O’Meara.
Kathleen competes in Ladies Class 3 events and is currently ranked 18th in her class while Rena competes in Class 2 is currently ranked 11th in her class. Michael competes in Men’s Class 5.
The Irish trio competed well at this event. Michael who has just recently returned to international competition competed well and was unfortunate to loose in the 5th set on a number of occasions.
In the singles event, Kathleen also played exemplary table tennis and did herself proud by reaching the semi final stages in a competitive field and eventually finished in 4th position in her singles event.
On this occasion, it was Rena McCarron Rooney who finished in the medal position in her class singles event. She lost in the semi final to Russia’s Nadejda Pouchpacheva who is currently ranked 4th in the world ranking and who also secured the gold medal at this event on the day.
In the third place play off, Rena then faced GB’s Dzaier Neil currently ranked 9th. This match was tense and emotional at times, but McCarron Rooney kept her focus and the game plan eventually brought her over the finish line winning 3-0.
Rena was delighted with her medal and wishes to thank the team who travelled with her for their support.
Internacional Fekoor de Tenis de Mesa adaptado Bilbao Spain
June 24th to June 28.
The team selected to represent Ireland at this international wheelchair table tennis event on this occasion was Kathleen Reynolds, Rena McCarron Rooney and Michael Cunningham. The coach who accompanied the team was Jack O’Meara.
Kathleen competes in ladies Class 3 events and is currently ranked 18th in her class while Rena competes in Class 2 is currently ranked 11th in her class. Michael competes in Men’s Class 5.
The Irish trio competed well at this event. Michael who has just recently returned to international competition competed well and was unfortunate to loose in the 5th set on a number of occasions.
In the singles event, Kathleen also played exemplary table tennis and did herself proud by reaching the semi final stages in a competitive field and eventually finished in 4th position in her singles event.
On this occasion, it was Rena McCarron Rooney who finished in the medal position in her class singles event. She lost in the semi final to Russia’s Nadejda Pouchpacheva who is currently ranked 4th in the world ranking and who also secured the gold medal at this event on the day.
In the third place play off, Rena then faced GB’s Dzaier Neil currently ranked 9th. This match was tense and emotional at times, but McCarron Rooney kept her focus and the game plan eventually brought her over the finish line winning 3-0.
Rena was delighted with her medal and wishes to thank the team who travelled with her for their support.
An Irish Junior Boys selection is currently in Girona, Spain to participate in the Spanish Junior Open, which is part of the ITTF Global Junior Circuit. Sam Logue and Declan O’Brien had the opportunity to participate in a pre-event four day training camp with some of the best young players from around the World, many of whom have qualified for the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore. Joined by Irish No.1 Paul McCreery for the tournament, the team were very well prepared for this high quality event.
Today’s play started with a thrilling match against Luxembourg at 0900 hours. Declan O’Brien lost the first against Sven Hansen, before Paul McCreery beat Jim Cloos in straight sets to level the match 1-1. Logue and McCreery were defeated in a hard fought doubles match, before McCreery again levelled the match at 2-2 with a victory over Hansen. This set up a final decider and O’Brien stepped up to the plate with a fine 3-1 victory over Jim Cloos.
Following a brief break, Ireland were back in action with a match against Poland to decide who progressed to the Quarter Final of the Team event. Unfortunately, Poland had too much for the Irish, with Logue and McCreery battling valiantly but ultimately going down 3-0.
The Irish boys now have a break of one day before the singles event on Friday – check back here for full tournament review.
Paul Dolan National Coach IWA TT Reports from Lingano, Italy…
Irelands Kathleen Reynolds produced some incredible performances to take 2 bronzes at the Italian Open in Lingano, Italy.
Competing against a field of over thirty competitors in the Open Class 1-5, Reynolds (Class 3) fought her way to Bronze medal success. Reynolds, one of Ireland most decorated Paralympics Athletes added to her recent Bronze in the Team event in Poland and has also shown terrific form in recent domestic ITTA Table Tennis events.
Reynolds also competed in the team event in Italy along with partner Rena Mc Carron Rooney.
Both players are fighting hard at the last event of the European season to secure ranking points for qualification for next year’s World Championships in Korea.
