The 2023 Irish Senior Classification Qualifying Tournament will take place on the 26th/27th of August at Dublin City University.
Entries are now open through our JustGo system (see link below) and will close Wednesday 16th of August 2023 @ 23:59.
Entry Link: https://tti.justgo.com/Workbench/i/r/EventsAndBookings/details/58C391E6315BC96F386E72426EB99CAFCC12D8EE/
Any queries should be sent to [email protected]
We are delighted to announce that a Level 1 Coaching Course is taking place in Ulster beginning in August.
Successful candidates will receive a coaching certificate and will be included on the TTI Coaching database. Candidates should be aged 16 years and over.
This course will take place in Ballymena Academy, 89 Galgorm Rd, Ballymena BT42 1AJ, on Saturday 12th of August 9am-6pm and Saturday 21st of October 9.30am-5pm
The cost is being partly subsidised by Sport NI so will only cost each individual £45. All those who wish to sign up must be affiliated to TTI.
To secure a place in this course please email Ryan at [email protected]
A number of County Level Umpire Courses will held in the next few months. The first of these are scheduled for Ulster as follows;
12th Aug 2023 in Ballymena
19th Aug 2023 in Banbridge (prov).
23rd Oct 2023 in Ballymena.
These are one day course and will be followed at a later date by a practical assessment during a tournament.
It is also intended that further courses will be held in each Province and arranged to facilitate the majority of participants.
Anyone wishing to attend a course in Ulster or in any other Provinces should contact the office ([email protected]) with your name, age, area you are based and your club to book a place or to express your interest in completing the Umpire Course.
Leagues are encouraged to have a number of qualified umpires available in each club.
A successful Racquet Sports Coach Leadership Day took place on 1st July. 
Total of 10 coaches and pathway athletes attended the event, of whom 7 were from table tennis.
Communication Skills and HP Coaching workshops were delivered by Leadership Coach guest speaker Andy Burke from Blue Vista.
All participants enjoyed and benefited from the workshops and activities.
Plenty of interaction, sharing and learning among participants.
Feedback is very positive and participants feel inspired, empowered and ready to use some of the skills in their own work environment.
Well done to all!!
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The Annual General Meeting of the Irish Table Tennis Association CLG took place in the Conference Room of the Irish Sports HQ Saturday 10th June 2023 at 10.30am. Mr. Chris Kitchen, Interim Chair, chaired the meeting and welcomed the directors, representatives of the four provinces, officers, members, and staff to the meeting. A minute’s silence was held in honour of the members who had passed over the last season. Those who passed were Mrs. Lola Cooke, Mr. Ronnie Burton, Mr. Alistair Cairns, Ms Dorothy Taylor, Mr Alex Thackaberry, Mr Les Hunt, Mr Jim Walker, Tony Redmond and Barry Redmond. May they all rest in peace.
The Finance Director, Mrs. Kathy Endersen, presented her Finance Director’s Report, Financial Statements & Auditor’s Report for the year ended 31st of December 2022. These reports were approved by the members present. The auditors, OSK, were re-appointed to conduct the audit of the 2023 accounts.
The Annual Report of the Board’s activities outlined the success in achieving increased funding from Sport Ireland, and the recent allocation of funding from Sport NI was also noted. 36 members attended the meeting in person and 26 by proxy. Mr. Chris Kitchen outlined the objectives for phase 1 of the Strategic Plan (2022 – 2024).
Mr. John McKenna, General Manager and Chair of the Management Committee, presented an overview of the reports of each of the Managers within the Management Committee. This report covered the areas of Coaching, Domestic Events, Para, Participation, Women in Sport, Performance, and Umpires & Referees. The Board expressed their thanks to the 60 volunteers (approx.), contractors and staff who support the operations of table tennis across the four provinces. The Board note the contribution of Shauna Fox to the Association over the past two years and thanked her contribution to the further development of TTI. The anti-doping, safeguarding, veterans and branch reports were approved by the members present.
Elections: The following officers were elected or re-elected:
Patricia Hunter was elected President and Arnold Morgan was elected Chair.
Appointments:
Deputy Life President: Mr. Kenneth Strong
Vice Presidents: Ms Anna Kelly, Mr Pat O’Brien, Mr Tony Phillips MBE, Mr Ivan Shorten, Mr Alan Strong MBE, Mr Thomas Keenan.
Disciplinary Committee: Miss Anna Kelly, Mr Ken Nixon, Ms Louise O’Loughlin & Mr Neil Shanahan
Jury of Appeal: Mr Keith McGarry, Mr Chris Cowan & Ms Triona Leahy
Honorary Life Member
The AGM granted Mr Arthur Brett the prestigious award of Honorary Life Member in light of his work within the Irish Association. Mr Brett has been a volunteer and supporter of the Association for a long time. He started a club in Swords in 1980 from where he and his wife Tina moved to Cavan and coached in the Castlerahan Club where he coached Dane Smith and Sean Brady who became Cadet and Junior international players. He began a major table tennis centre in Five miletown where he had a major influence on Ashley Robinson and Hannah Lynch- Dawson who were very successful junior and senior international players. During his time Arthur had coached 30 junior international players. He coached Irish players at European and World Championships. As ITTA Director of coaching, he ran some ITTF courses. Arthur’s generosity was evident in so far as he used his lorries and equipment from his business to assist the Association at no cost. A fine volunteer and servant for all.
Joe Veselsky Award
This year’s Joe Veselsky Award in recognition of endeavour and achievement on behalf of the Association has been awarded to Oliver Adamson. Oliver has been successful as an administrator, a player and an organiser. A member of the ITTA Board where he was a representative of the Veterans game. Oliver led an organising committee for the 6 Nations Veterans Championships in 2006 in Belfast which ran very smoothly.
He had a successful life as a player with some 75 caps as a Veteran. He won several 6 Nations championships with Tommy Caffrey, along with other Irish Veterans ranking events including Irish Closed Doubles. During his time as Chair of the Veterans Association a proper ranking system was introduced.
Besides all the other work he was involved in, he was General Secretary of the Dublin Business Houses League from 1968 until 1977. Aided by a vibrant committee, the league became the largest of its type in Europe during his tenure. A very worthy winner!
National Awards 2022/23
Details of all winners from the Annual Awards are available on the following link:
https://tabletennisireland.ie/national-awards-announcement-for-the-2022-23-season/
We are delighted to announce that a Level 1 Coaching Course is taking place in Munster in September .
Successful candidates will receive a coaching certificate and will be included on the TTI Coaching database. Candidates should be aged 16 years and over.
This course will take place in the Terence MacSwiney Sports Hall, Cork over the course of two days. Sunday the 10th September 9am-6pm, and Sunday 8th of October 9am- 5pm.
The cost for the course is €100 per candidate. Subsidy may be available.
Please contact Eoin Kelly ([email protected]) to be register interest on this course, and for any further details that you may require about the course. Places are limited and are filling up fast, register now to secure a place.
This past weekend 23/06 – 25/06 Table Tennis Ireland hosted the Senior Schools International in the Kingfisher club, Galway. TTI welcomed teams from England, Scotland, Wales, Jersey, Guernsey and Isle of Man.
Team Ireland brought 21 competitors to the competition including: Aaditya Singh, Clifford Tan, Christopher Allsop, Toby Caldwell, Rebecca Scott, Ahna McDonnell, Aeden McGivern, Bruce Tan, Senan Sheridan, Alex Lo, Grace Looney, Niamh Mason, Lily Parke, Melissa Johnston, Caoimhe Deane, Adam Faulkner, Tom Irwin, Cillian Kirby, Ben Loughnane, Anjali Singh, Emily Flynn
Along with the following NPC’s: Tom Davis, Thuy Linh Cashman, Sam Logue, Paddy Vaughan, Erin Thompson, Claire Nelson, Ryan Farrell, Ranjit Singh, Tara Fusco, Marcus McDonnell, and team manager Gavin Maguire.
Day 1 and 2 seen competitors battling it out in the teams events. Some great performances from team Ireland resulted in bronze medals for both U18 Girls Ireland A team consisting of Anjali Singh, Emily Flynn and NPC Tara Fusco and U18 Boys Ireland A team consisting of Adam Faulkner, Tom Irwin and NPC Ryan Farrell. Well done to both teams.
On day 3 the team fought hard in the singles events. Some great matches and lots of experience gained! Well done to the following medal winners:
Under 14 Boys Plate Silver medalist – Toby Caldwell
U14 Boys Singles Bronze medalist – Clifford Tan
U14 Girls Plate Winner – Rebecca Scott
U18 Girls Singles Bronze medalist – Emily Flynn
U18 Boys Runner up – Adam Faulkner
The team finished the weekend with 1 gold,2 silver and 4 bronze. Well done and big thanks to all countries who travelled over to compete in the tournament. A big thanks also goes out to all Team Ireland coaches and umpire’s, and special thank you to Niall O’Flaherty and referee Con O’Ceadaigh who helped the weekend run smoothly
Team Ireland travelled to Prague for the Prague Grand Prix which took place 23rd – 25th June. The first day saw the team events which saw bronze for Ireland. Peadar Sheridan and Boris Bonchev were narrowly beaten 3/2 in the u 13 boys team event Semi final in Prague by Hertha Berlin losing 11/9 in the 5th set in the deciding doubles game. In the U15 category Vincent Ni and Boris Bonchev finished 9th of 40 teams while Ben Watson and Sean Loughnane finished 11th of 44 teams in the U17 category.
The next day saw the individual events where Stefan Bonchev captured the gold medal in the boys U11 final at the Prague Grand Prix. He came fromone set down to win against Remi Borok 3/1. Peadar Sheridan reached the quarter final in the U13 Singles while Vincent Ni also reached the quarter finals in U17 Singles. Boris Bonchev reached the last 32 in the Boys U15 singles while Sean Loughnane and Ben Watson were both beaten in the consolation quater finals.
Big thank you Conn Higgins and Alan Hurley who coached the team.
Take note that the Annual General Meeting of the Leinster Branch ITTA will take place at 7.30pm on Thursday 8 June 2023, Sport HQ Conference Room, National Sports Campus, Blanchardstown.
The agenda will be as follows;
1. Minutes of 2022 AGM
2. Annual Report
3. Treasurers Report
4. Election of Executive
5. Any other business
The Board would encourage all members who plan on attending the AGM on Saturday 10th of June 2023, to read the Annual Report in advance of the meeting. This is necessary to facilitate more time for questions and discussion relating to content. In order to assist with the efficient running of the AGM, and to provide members with comprehensive answers, it would be appreciated if members could submit their questions and/or queries relating to annual general meeting business to the office by Wednesday 7th of June. These can be emailed to [email protected].
We kindly request that each member wishing to attend the AGM registers using the link below before Tuesday 6th of June by 11.59pm. As we’re providing lunch for all in attendance, this deadline has been set to allow us confirm final numbers with the caterer and to inform them of any special dietary requirements.
Registration: https://forms.office.com/e/ahj9hsc3DK
Notes: Only fully paid affiliated members who are registered seven days before the date of the AGM are entitled to attend. A fully affiliated paid member entitled to attend and vote at the above‐mentioned meeting is entitled to appoint a proxy to attend and vote in his/her stead. A proxy need not be a member of the Company. This form must be deposited at the Registered Office of the Company, by email, not less than 48 hours (Thursday 8th of June 10:30am) before the time for holding this meeting.
