Author Archives: Chris Main

North Ayrshire Open – Playing Schedule

Saturday 25th January- Senior Events
9am – Men’s Singles & Women’s Singles
12.30pm – Open Doubles
1.30pm – Band 2 and Band 3
3pm – Band 1
4pm – Over 55’s

Sunday 26th January – Sunday Events
9am – Open Junior Doubles Round 1
9.20am – U19 Boys Singles, U19 Girls Singles, U13 Boys Singles & U13 Girls Singles
1.30pm – U15 Boys Singles & U15 Girls Singles, Junior Banded Singles & U11s Open Singles
3.30pm – Doubles Final stages

Please note that all start times are estimates and could be slightly earlier or later. Arrive at least half hour before you are expected to play your first event.

Hall will be opened from 8.20am both days with general let being called at 8.50am.

Full Draw Out Tomorrow – Wed 22nd January
Draw is being finalised due to adding two extra competition tables on the Sunday plus some late withdrawals. Full draw will be published online tomorrow Wednesday 22nd January.

North Ayrshire Open 2025 – Player List & Info

Hope everyone is looking forward to the North Ayrshire Open which is on the 25th & 26th January. We have a bumper entry with over 160 players from Scotland and the UK competing. We will have 21 competition tables set up for play.

Full draw and start times of all events will be online on Monday 20th January.

Player List for both days is attached below, list is downloadable to view in full screen. Please check your name is on the list and if its not, email billy@nattc.co.uk or jordan@nattc.co.uk.

Saturday
9am start time, general let called at 8.50am. Hall opened from 8.20am
Sunday
9am start time, general let called at 8.50am. Hall opened from 8.20am

Other Information
– Scotland v Ulster Friendly match will be on the Friday 24th January and will be starting at 6.45pm, spectators welcome.
– We will be live streaming the latter stages of the events on our YouTube channel and you can subscribe to our channel via link below – North Ayrshire Table Tennis Club – YouTube
– Butterfly R40s will be used, which you can purchase here for pre tournament practice from TeesSport – Butterfly R40+ 3*
– Canteen will be opened on Saturday & Sunday.

Competition Entry Forms – Jan – April 2025

Busy period of table tennis coming up in the next few months with plenty of competitions being held for seniors and juniors.

See list below with entry forms attached for selected competitions from January to April 2025.

WoS Schools Championships – January 19th at St Matthew’s

Entry form & info – https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScO2p9CEKKvJ1kPAWAnwOr5-rjgkolLS3nFeHy2O791t3Hmxg/viewform?usp=send_form

North Ayrshire Open – January 25th & 26th at St Matthew’s

Entry form & info – https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd0PsElPxrtPldbeRHHmO2tdOQpWUGSGa2zMbLZfQcXvPSudQ/viewform?usp=send_form

Edinburgh Banded Event – Sunday February 2nd at Bathgate

Entry form & info – https://shorturl.at/QsOxC

Scottish National Senior League – February 8th & 9th at Bathgate

Players have been sent info asking for availability

West of Scotland Open – March 1st & 2nd at Inverclyde Sport Centre

Entry form & info – https://forms.gle/7pL4cCaPy2Kr

West of Scotland Junior League – March 16th at Rose Riley Sports Centre, Stewarton

Players will contacted soon regarding availability

North Ayrshire Junior Challenge – Thursday 20th March at St Matthew’s

Junior players from our club competing in assessment style competition. Preparation for Scottish National Championships.

Scottish National Championships – March 22nd & 23rd at Inverclyde Sport Centre

Entry form for Sat senior events – https://www.cognitoforms.com/SSA2/SeniorScottishNationalChampionships2025

Entry form for Sun junior events – https://www.cognitoforms.com/SSA2/JuniorCadetScottishNationalChampionships2025

U11 & U15 Assessment – Sunday April 6th at Bathgate Academy

Entry form & info – https://stadiumtt.com/tournament/0cd997ef-e141-4dd6-a8b3-5cdf7d4aafdc

West of Scotland Junior League – Sunday April 27th at Rose Riley Centre, Stewarton

Players will be contacted soon regarding their availability

Scottish Inter League Competition – April 26th & 27th at Aberdeen Sports Village

Players will be selected by WoSTTL committee based on their performances in WoS Junior League & WoS Senior League. Players will be advised on their selection closer to the time.

NA Open 2025 – Entry Form

Entries are now OPEN for the North Ayrshire Open 2025 which will take place on Saturday 25th & Sunday 26th January at St Matthews Academy, Saltcoats. Senior events on the Saturday and Junior events on the Sunday. As always we welcome players of all standards and ages to enter and hope to get a great entry again with players from all over Scotland, England & Ireland competing.

Entry form is available here – North Ayrshire Open 2025 – Entry Form

Sat: Mens & Womens Singles, Open Doubles, Over 55’s & Banded Events

Sun: U19 Boys, U19 Girls, U15 Boys, U15 Girls, U13 Boys, U13 Girls, U15 Beginners, U11 mixed and Open Doubles.

Deadline: Monday 13th January

Prize Money: Over £900 worth of prize money and Teessport Vouchers

Each player is permitted to enter 2 singles events and doubles per day. All singles groups will be groups of 4 with the top two players going through to the knockout stages. All relevant info is on the entry form and for further info please contact Billy Main or Jordan McGinlay on billy@nattc.co.uk or jordan@nattc.co.uk

Hotels: If anyone is travelling and need a hotel for either the Friday or Saturday night, below are a list of hotel recommendations close by;

Red Squirrell Lodge by Martsons Inn – Stevenston – 5 mins drive from hall
Edenmore B&B – Ardrossan – 5 mins drive from hall
Riverside Lodge Hotel – Irvine -15 mins drive from hall
Premier Inn – Kilmarnock – 20 mins drive from hall

3 Players from 3 Towns Compete Internationally

Ryan Henry (Ardrossan), Martin Johnson (Stevenston) and Steve Morley (Stevenston) have all represented Scotland or GB on foreign soil within the last couple of weeks in major international competitions.

Ryan Henry, 24, has just returned from the French Para Open with the British Para Squad where he was competing in the Class 8 singles and MD18 doubles. In the Class 8 Singles, Ryan qualified through the group in 2nd place after winning two matches out of 3. In the last 16 Ryan lost a close 3-1 to former class 7 European medalist Westerberg (SWE). In the MD18 Ryan and doubles partner Shae Thakker won their first two matches and progressed into the QF with a 3-2 win v Cigolotti/ Jez (FRA). In the QF the boys lost in the 5th set to strong spanish pairing.

Ryan continues to train full time at the EiS in Sheffield which is the main base for British Para and GB TT squad which gives him the best possible training to improve. Ryan competes for North Ayrshire in the Scottish National League and British League.

Steve Morley is just back from competing in the ITTF Parkinsons TT World Championships which took place in Maizieres-le-Metz, France. The 3 events Steve was competing in was Mens Singles class 2, Mixed Doubles Class 2 & Mens Doubles Class 1.

Mixed Doubles Class 2 where Steve was playing with Austrian player Agnes Jan. The pairing started well winning their two opening group matches without dropping a set. With that meant qualification to the semi-final on Saturday afternoon and final on Sunday lunchtime. The semi-final was an epic match with Agnes and Steve going 2-0 up only to be pegged back to 2-2. But we dug deep and battled on to win 3-2. The final was a much more straightforward affair where Steve & Agnes won 3-0 and crowned Class 2 XD World Champions 🏆

Steve is one of the most active players who currently plays 4-5 days a week in various clubs in the West of Scotland. Steve plays at the South Ayrshire TTC, People with Parkinson’s Coached Session, Irvine TTC, North Ayrshire TT, Dunlop TTC & Drumchapel. Training with a lot of people and different playing styles is always beneficial with Steve enjoying getting tips / coaching from different coaches.

Steve updates his own website with results, training and thoughts on his table tennis and other interests.  Oh Flower of Sweden…if you didn’t laugh, you’d cry! | Ayrshire Tiger

Martin Johnson was selected to represent Scotland last month at his first European individual championships which was held in Linz, Austria. As part as a 4 player Scotland team, Martin was selected to play in Men’s Singles, Men’s Doubles with partner Danny Bajwa, and Mixed Doubles with partner Alisa Khalid.

To be selected for a competition like the European Individual Championships is an achievement in itself as its one of the strongest competitions that Scottish players can directly enter and the standard of play incredibly high. Martin competed well in his opening match v top Belgium player Florent Lambiet but went down 3-1, then lost 3-0 3-0 to top players Simon Berlung of Sweden and Perez of Spain.

Martin who is out of action just now recovery from an injury is working hard getting himself fit to get back on the table for the second half of the season.

Qualified Coaches – Andre Sonnet, Jurie Duvenage Pass L2 course, Andy Riddell Pass L1 course

Congratulations to Andre Sonnet, Jurie Duvenage & Andy Riddell who recently passed their respective UKCC coaching courses. All three coaches are active coaches within our clubs and have helped each other through their courses.

Jurie who is now chairman of Largs TT Club, continues to coach and volunteer at West Kilbride TT Club is now a L2 coach and has passed his umpires course with TTE too.

Andre, runs the weekly bat & chat session at Argyll Community Centre, passed his L2 course at Dumfries TTC. Andre is the team captain of our D team which competes in the WoS Division 4.

Andy who passed his L1 course at East Kilbride TTC, is one of the main volunteers and coaches at Irvine TTC and helps out at both our weekly bat and chat sessions.

We have a great team of coaches and volunteers who run a variety of classes and clubs in and around North Ayrshire.

If you want to see what’s on offer , please visit our classes section which details our clubs that run on a weekly basis. Link – https://northayrshirettc.co.uk/weekly-classes/

Teams for Season 24-25

As the table tennis season begins, we have seen most of our players competing for their teams in regional, national & british league. We have entered teams into WoS SL, WoS JL, SNL, BSL & BPL. Changes to last seasons entries are an additional WoS SL team in Division 5 and our Junior British League team being pulled out.

For the 2024 – 2025 season we have the following teams entered

5 x West of Scotland Senior League teams
4 x Scottish National League teams
2 x British Senior League teams
4 x West of Scotland Junior League teams

West of Scotland Senior League
The WoS League kicked off WC 16th September where we will have teams in Division 1, Division 2, two teams in Division 4 and one in Division 5. Our B, D, & E team will continue to hold their matches on a Monday night but our A & C team will hold their matches on a Thursday night at St Matthews. Time for matches is 7.20pm start.

Scottish National League
We have 4 teams in this seasons SNL, two teams in Division 1, one team in Division 5 and one team in Division 6. The first round of SNL was held at Bathgate Academy on October 12/13th. We have got a big pool of players for the league this year and hoping to keep up our good records in the SNL.

The A team will be hoping to defend their title after winning a record 10th title last season, the B team will be aiming to build on their 4rd position finish and the C & D team will no doubt be pushing for promotion in their respective divisions.

British League
We will have our British Premier team competing in the home and away format, with our first match of the season was away to last seasons league champions Brighton which resulted in a tough 7-0 loss. Our first home match of the season is against BATTS on Saturday 30th November. Our Premier League team finished 5th out of 8 last season, but with only 6 teams competing in it this year we hope to finish higher.

Our B team will compete in the A division at Halton this season after a credible 3rd place finish last season in a strong league. We have a big pool of players in this team this season and hoping to finish higher after our players gaining experience of playing in the division last season.

West of Scotland Junior League
Great to see the WoS Junior League being held at St Matthews last year and will be held between St Matthews and Dunlop this coming season. This is an important league for the development of our young players and was beneficial for all our players who took part in it. North Ayrshire had 4 teams competing in it with our A team finishing second and our C team finishing in third place in Division 2.

TT Classes – Where & When

List below of table tennis classes and sessions that are on in and around North Ayrshire. A range of clubs available in different venues across the area for all ages and abilities. Please see contact details for each club or class and if you are interested in any of the clubs below, get in touch with the relevant contact.

All the classes below will be running weekly from start of September 2024 until June 2025.

Monday
North Ayrshire TT Club
7.10pm – 9.10pm : Club Night at St Matthews Academy, Saltcoats
Contact details – billy@nattc.co.uk

Tuesday
Irvine TT Club
7pm-9pm at Portal Irvine, Irvine
Contact details – irvinettclub@gmail.com

Wednesday
Largs TT Club
7-9pm at National Sports Centre Inverclyde, Largs
Contact details – largsttc@gmail.com

Thursday
Argyll TT Club – Bat & Chat
11am-1pm at Argyll Community Centre
Contact details – billy@nattc.co.uk

Social Bat & Chat – Adults Only
1pm – 3pm at West Kilbride Community Centre
Contact details – jurieduvenage@gmail.com

1-1 coaching sessions
3-7pm at St Matthews Academy
Contact details – chris@nattc.co.uk

Performance Session OR League matches
7pm – 9pm at St Matthews Academy, Saltcoats
Contact details – chris@nattc.co.uk

Friday
Over 50s class – Bat & Chat
1pm -3pm at St Peters Church Hall, Ardrossan
Contact details – chris@nattc.co.uk

West Kilbride TT Club
7pm – 9pm at West K Community Centre
Contact details – billy@nattc.co.uk

Johnson Brothers Selected for Senior & Junior European Championships

Brothers from Stevenston Martin & Jamie Johnson continue to compete and win nationally, and in result both have been selected to represent Scotland in two major European Championships.

Martin, was selected to represent Scotland last week at his first European individual championships which was held in Linz, Austria. As part as a 4 player Scotland team, Martin was selected to play in Men’s Singles, Men’s Doubles with partner Danny Bajwa, and Mixed Doubles with partner Alisa Khalid.

Jamie, the younger of the two was selected to compete in the European Youth Championships over the summer in Malmo, Sweden. Jamie was part of the U19 Boys team, alongside Kieran Walker, Gavin Yuan & Harry Blackhall.

Martin is currently ranked no3 in Scotland and Jamie who was ranked no1 junior last year, moves up to the senior game this season where he is ranked just outside the top 10.

Both of the players continue to train hard week in week out and represent North Ayrshire TTC in the Scottish and British League.

Positive Start at SNL

A team – M Johnson, V Gorman, S Chen, C Main, J Johnson
B team – N Hogg, D Hay, H Blackhall, R Henry
C team – I Macpherson, C Duncan, A Attia
D team – P Walker, A Hughes, P Unnam, T Martin

North Ayrshire A team for the first two matches were Viktor Gorman, Sung Meng Chen, & Jamie Johnson. Injuries for Martin Johnson and Chris Main made way for Viktor and Sung who filled in brilliantly as expected. A 5-1 win v Dumfries in the morning match with Danny Bajwa defeating Sung 3-2 was the only match we lost. Convincing 6-0 win v Glasgow South A where our 3 players played well.

North Ayrshire B team was Nathan Hogg, David Hay and Ryan Henry who finished in 4th place last season. The team started well a 5-1 win over a weaker than normal Drumchapel A, and a 3-3 draw v Dumfries A in a hard fought match which could’ve went either way.

North Ayrshire C team of Ian Macpherson, Chad Duncan and Paul Walker won two matches from two to start their promotion campaign off to a good start. Paul was playing up in place for an injured Adam Attia but held his own winning 3 out of 4 matches. Ian won 3/4 singles matches and Chad won 4/4.

North Ayrshire D team of Alec Hughes, Padma Unnam and Tama Martin lost their matches to two strong teams but the matches much closer than it looks on paper. The team play Edinburgh Uni C, Dumfries C & Inverness in the next day of matches. Great opportunity for juniors Padma and Tama to compete in the SNL against experienced senior players which will give them plenty of chances for some big wins.

Tables, Fixtures and Results available to view on SNL website – Scottish National League