Mooney claims gold at Primary Schools Internationals!
Successful weekend for Table Tennis Ireland as they travelled to the International Primary Schools event in Largs, Scotland. The weekend brought much success with both our teams getting silver in the team event, Rachel Taylor finished with silver in the girls singles and Jonathan Mooney returned home the hero winning the boys singles event!
The Irish team comprised of four girls (Rachel Taylor, Ruta Miliute, Emily Flynn & Lela Lecap) with NPC Erin Thompson and four boys (Jonathan Mooney, Matthew Mooney, Tom Irwin & Sean Loughnane) with NPC Gervis Knox.
Team Event
The Irish boys started their campaign on the Friday night with a tough opening match against the favourites England. The boy’s team showed they were capable of doing some damage in this match but unfortunately this time the score did not reflect it with a 9-1 loss with Jonathan Mooney picking up a nice win against their No.2 being 10-8 down in the fifth set! Saturday morning started well for the boys as they beat Isle of Man 10-0 and Wales 8-2. The big game before lunch came against Scotland who had beat Wales 10-0. A good performance from the boys secured a 7-3 win with Jonathan again winning his two singles against their number 1 &2 player. The final game of the day came against Guernsey and the boys put in a clinical performance to win 10-0 and secure the silver medal!
The girl’s team started similarly to the boys as they faced a strong all-around English girls team. After some very good performances from the girls, they lost 9-1 with Lela picking up the girls only win. After a tough Friday night, Saturday morning brought great success as the girls beat Wales 9-1 and again like the boys faced a strong challenge from Scotland. Super performances from the girls left the game level at 4-4 with only two singles remaining. Erin rallying the girls moral got them motivated for the final singles, Emily Flynn won her game 3-1 and Lela got them over the finishing line winning in the 5th set!! The girls finished their team campaign with a strong win against Guernsey and secured silver for Ireland!
Boys Singles
For a relatively inexperienced Irish boys team the goal for Sean and Matthew was to get out of the groups and they both did this in style beating good opposition from Wales, Scotland and Isle of Man. Jonathan and Tom with more international experience, and seeded No.1 & 3, came through their groups winning good matches against Scotland, Wales and Guernsey. In the KO stages, all four boys played with great passion, hunger and fight but this wasn’t enough as we lost Tom Irwin to English No.4 Joesph Dennison 3-2 and also Sean Loughnane went down to Louis Loi (Scotland) 3-1. Matthew Mooney pulled off a massive shock in the Last 16 as he beat the Scottish No.2 Haydn Jackson in the fifth set winning 11-6! Brother Jonathan also cruised through his last 16 beating Charlie McGowan 3-0. Unfortunately for the Mooney brothers, they both met in the quarter-final stages and on this occasion older and more experienced brother Jonathan took the honours winning 3-0. Jonathan progressing to the semi-final stages met Jakub Piwowar (England) whom he narrowly beat 3-2 in the team event (saving match points). This time Jonathan was keen to up his game and put in a superb performance winning many huge top-top rallies away from the table taking the game 3-0 (3, 1 & 7). A revenge match was set up for Jonathan as he faced English No.1 Oliver Murray who beat him on the Friday night 3-1 in the team event. Again Jonathan was determined to change this scoreline and started well winning the first game 12-10 but then felt the pressure for the next two sets and lost 11-6 in both. Now at 2-1 down and 4-0 the coach Gervis called a needed time out and Jonathan still composed set out to get back in the game. Finding some rhythm and confidence he was able to win the fourth set 11-8 and now confidence back up started well in the fifth leading 7-3. However Oliver wasn’t finished there as he made his way back to 7-7… with a lot of experience in Europe Jonathan stayed composed and closed the game out in style winning 11-7, taking the Primary School Boys singles title! Massive achievement for the Ormeau player as he joins teammates Sophie and Owen winning this prestigious event! Jonathan only becomes the 5th Irish player to win the trophy!
Girls Singles
In the main event Emily and Ruta both came up against very strong opposition from Scotland and England respectively, in the last 16. Both girls fought hard in very tight matches but unfortunately Emily went down 1-3 and Lela 2-3 and 9–11 in the fifth. This left only Rachel in the main draw, who came through her quarterfinal match with ease against Bethany Ellis England, booking her place in the semis against the hotly tipped English No.1 seeded player Sophie Barcsai. Having previously lost to Sophie in the team event, Rachel kept her cool and produced a calm and focused display to book her place in the final with a score line of 3-1. This win for many in the hall was the shock of the tournament. In the final Rachel faced the Welsh No.1 Ruby Elliott and It was an eventful match with a medical timeout being called after her Welsh opponent suffered a nosebleed at 1-1! When play resumed the Welsh player came out firing and took the match 3-1. But nonetheless, this is still a great achievement for Rachel – who showed her class throughout the rounds taking out 3 of the 4 English players who won the team event with ease in the days before.
Overall an excellent weekend for both Irish Teams showing that Ireland is competing above their weight as always at the International Primary School Championships. Big thank you to our Irish Coaches, Players and Parents for an exciting and eventful weekend in Largs, Scotland!
Calling ALL Clubs!
TTI are calling all active table tennis clubs to get registered with TTI and feature on our Club Finder. Do you know a club that’s not on the list?
See Our Club Finder HERE
The Club Finder is a great tool for potential new members to find your club. Our office get calls & emails on a weekly basis about places to play and people are always referred to the club map on our website. The club map gives these potential members direct contact to you or your club and the ability to come down and get involved. Being registered with us not only provides your club with a great visual promotional tool but secondly keeps you in direct line with the National Governing Body and enables you to apply from any grants that may come up from your Local Sports Partnership along with a host of other direct benefits.
In order to register, send a simple email declaring your clubs interest to [email protected] and we will take it from there.
New Acting Chair of Table Tennis Ireland
The Board of Table Tennis Ireland would like to announce that Michael Scott will serve as Acting Chair of Table Tennis Ireland from 1 April 2018 until this year’s Annual General Meeting on 9 June 2018.
The board would like to thank the previous Acting Chair Alan Strong for all his hard work and commitment towards the running of the Association during his tenure. Alan will remain on the board as Director of Coaching.
TTI BOARD BLOG – by Alan Strong
Courageous – a word frequently used about spirited and successful Sportspeople, and it should be no different for ambitious and brave Table Tennis Players; our sport can be a lonely place as players compete in singles or doubles, needing to rely on their own initiative, tactics and mental strength in the midst of vital matches – Surely Courage comes from inner-belief, mental toughness and ‘experience of being there before’? This Courage will only mature when coaches back off, give simple advice and allow the player to test out how they handle those tense courage-needing moments!
Champions – but not as you expected! TTI needs many champions to promote and develop Table Tennis at all levels; these champions are needed by and from the ‘obvious suspects’ such as Coaches, Volunteers, and Club Administrators & Organisers. We also need Champions at national level to lead from the front with a ‘Strategic Hat on’ – advocating all that is good about TT to a range of senior Figures – Champions to promote through the spoken and written media and, most of all, take ownership and show leadership. Watch out on the TTI Website for that ‘call for Leaders’ as hinted at in the 3 B’s Blog – you can be champion!
Copy – to imitate another Person is to learn more, both good and bad. ‘(s)he who is afraid of asking is ashamed of learning’ (Danish Proverb) – your TT Game, Style, Goals, Ambitions are a collection of what you have seen, who you have copied and how much you have learned …. for every day is a learning day. Be smart and choose who to learn from, take time to watch Videos, YouTube, Read Bios of Great TT Players, Record from you mobile phone, Talk to the Champions and Select what is right for you! “Have no fear of Perfection, you will never reach it!”
Comments to me at: [email protected].
Table Tennis Ireland Organisational Management Restructure
The Challenge with the Current Structure
We know that we have a mix of volunteers’ skills available. We have table tennis expertise and we have business expertise, often volunteers have one or the other, not both. Also, some volunteers are attracted purely by the table tennis element of the sport and have little interest in the governance and business side. There are others who know that their best contribution would be in the area of Governance.
The current Board deals with Strategic, Governance, Operational and Table Tennis issues, amongst other things.There are monthly meetings by phone and in person. These meetings can have very long agendas and can run from 6.30pm to 11pm with a mix of issues being discussed. For some Board members, not all of the meeting seems relevant to their technical area. It is also difficult to focus on Governance when pressing and complex table tennis issues need to be addressed.
Some volunteers are discouraged from taking table tennis roles by governance responsibility.
There are improvements that can be made to the structure of the professional staff, but these are not the subject of this paper. Any changes to the office structure should be designed to work well with the new organisational structure discussed in this paper.
Click HERE for full proposal
OBITUARY: Steve Welch, renowned International Official
Steve had many achievements as a Referee and the pinnacle of these were as a Deputy Referee at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008 and four years later again as Deputy Referee at the Paralympics in London. He also acted as Deputy Referee at the European Championships 2007 and China Open in 2010. Other roles include being Referee at the British Para Open in 2011, Six Nations Schools Championships in 2010 and Senior Six Nations in 2014.
We pass on our deepest sympathy to his wife Margaret and his daughters at this sad time.
Kenneth Strong
President
Nationals Announcement
The TTI Board regrets any confusion or inconvenience, and has reluctantly decided to postpone the 2017/18 National Championships (Junior & Senior) to a date in September/October 2018, and the winners will be known as National Champions for this current season. The entry fees already submitted can be held over to this new date, while those who wish to receive a refund may contact the TTI Office at [email protected] or [email protected]”
Synopsis of the Ulster Closed TT Tournament 2018
Seventy entrants, 259 games and over 10 hours of top class table tennis at the Ulster Closed in Lisburn Racquets on Saturday 24th March. Congratulations to all participants and officials on a successful day. Special mention to two titanic five set tussles with Daryl Strong edging past Allen Robson in five long and hard fought sets; and Rebecca Finn’s extraordinary fight back against the extremely talented Sophie Earley, taking the fifth and deciding set 12.10 having lost the first two sets.
The winners and runners up of each event are as follows:
Masters Event:
Winner – Phil Wallace;
Runner Up – Mark McAllister.
Masters Plate:
Winner – Roy Coats;
Runner Up – Des Flanagan.
Women’s Singles:
Winner – Rebecca Finn;
Runner Up – Sophie Earley.
Round Robin event so no Plate.
Men’s Singles:
Winner – Zak Earley;
Runner Up – Thomas Earley.
Men’s Plate:
Winner – Max Skelton;
Runner Up – Pawel Sulkowski.
U-21 Open:
Winner – Zak Earley;
Runner Up – Conor Nugent.
U-21 Plate:
Winner – Lucy Craig;
Runner Up – Connor Smith.
U-18 Girls:
Winner – Lucy Craig;
Runner Up – Lucy Johnston.
Round Robin event so no Plate.
U-18 Boys:
Winner – Max Skelton;
Runner Up – Matthew Cherry.
U-18 Boys Plate:
Winner – Tom Colvin;
Runner Up – Julian Kelly.
U-15 Girls:
Winner – Lucy Johnston;
Runner Up – Lucy McIvor.
U-15 Girls Plate:
Winner: Abbie Wylie;
Runner Up – Lily Smith.
U-15 Boys:
Winner: Tom Colvin;
Runner Up – Max Skelton.
U-15 Boys Plate:
Winner – Tom Irwin;
Runner Up – Chris Minnis.
U-13 Girls:
Winner – Lucy McIvor;
Runner Up – Kia McCartney.
U-13 Girls Plate:
Winner: Lily Smith;
Runner Up – Alice Looney.
U-13 Boys:
Winner – Jonathan Mooney;
Runner Up – Joel Smith.
U-13 Boys Plate:
Winner – Matthew Mooney;
Runner Up – Aedan McGivern.
U-11 Girls:
WINNER – Alice Looney;
Runner Up – Grace Looney.
Round Robin event so no Plate.
U-11 Boys:
Winner – Daniel McFaul;
Runner Up – Aedan McGovern.
U-11 Boys Plate:
Winner – Harry Leavesley;
Runner Up – Peader Sheridan
Congratulations again to all competitors and for all the juniors remember the Secondary Schools individual championships in U12, U14, U16 and U19 takes place on the 18th April at Lisburn Racquets Club. Entry forms available through Norman McBride Ulster Schools TT Secretary. All schools must also be affiliated to Ulster Schools. Email n5mcb@btinternet for more information. Closing date for entries 16th April.
Also three regional Primary School events in April and May. Contact USTTA TT Secretary for more details at n5mcb@btinternet.
Norman McBride
Ireland Battle hard in Lisburn
All three Irish players, Ashley Robinson, Owen Cathcart and Paul McCreery were from Ulster, under the guidance of National Coach John Murphy, with Alexander Gillen and Gavin Maguire (Leinster) in reserve from the sidelines. The Ulster trio did not fail to entertain and quickly gained the vocal support of the larger band of spectators, including many friends and family.
Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council supported the event, and this was generously expressed by Deputy Mayor Hazel Legge who spoke eloquently about the value of sport to communities and the urban development. Alderman Allan Ewart presented the Lithuanian Coach Arturas Orlovas with a momento of his visit to Lisburn.
The night belonged to the Lithuanian team who ran out 3-0 winners, despite all of the encounters being hard fought and providing a vast array of talents and excellence. This Easter European side started out as favourites with a superior Euro Team Ranking, 7 places above Ireland, and two of their players having top 200 world rankings.
Tomas Mikutis was their top player and won a tantalising encounter with Irish champion Paul McCreery (Saintfield) using his exquisi8te defensive skills against attacker McCreery.
Much was expected from Owen Cathcart, the World Junior Circuit winner at aged 15 years from Belfast, and he did not disappoint building up winning leads on 2 sets against Madadras Stankevicius before losing out, and the well-informed crowd put it down to ‘more experience will help!’
Ashley Robinson (Clogher) kicked off the match rather nervously and fought back with composure but gave in at the end to Alfredus Udra.
The Ulster Quartet of McCreery, Robinson, Cathcart and Zak Wilson (Newtownabbey) jet off to the Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast with high hopes despite this bruising encounter with Lithuania, and John Murphy will again be the coach guru who has been so instrumental in Ireland and Ulster progressing rapidly up the international Ladder.
The support of the Lisburn Crowd was adequately expressed by two Presidents, Ken Strong (Ireland) and Pat Hunter (Ulster) at the conclusion of this LCCC supported event, as the GC18 side was given a rapturous send off.
