Category Archives: Featured

National Senior League

Good day of results for North Ayrshire on the opening weekend of Scottish National League at Bells Sport Centre, Perth. Good performances all round by our 4 teams with both our A and B teams currently joint top of their divisions.

NATTC A – 3/3 wins
NATTC B – 3/3 wins
NATTC C – 2/3 wins
NATTC D – 0/3 wins

North Ayrshire A 
Colin Dalgleish, Zak Wilson, Chris Main

North Ayrshire B 
Ryan Henry, Jamie Johnson, Ian Macpherson

North Ayrshire C
Chad Duncan, Gordon Provan, Nathan Hogg

North Ayrshire D
Naomi Provan, Jess Hogg, Alex Hughes, Jordan McGinlay

Report from Table Tennis Scotland website – Written by Charlie Ellis

Clinical North Ayrshire Top Again 

The newly expanded Scottish National League got underway on Saturday at Bell’s Sports Centre, Perth. 46 teams took part in 6 divisions, producing a lively atmosphere in the hall. With all teams playing three matches there was a lot to play for.

The top of Division 1 already has a familiar look with reigning champions North Ayrshire A on top having registered three 6-0 victories. Their team of Colin Dalgleish, Zak Wilson and Chris Main were clinical as they completed the day without having lost even one set ! (indeed only taken to deuce a couple of times). Main was unsurprising happy with his team’s performance feeling that it owed much to the extra training they been doing in order to take on the twin challenges of the Scottish National League and the British Premier League. He hopes that the same 3 players will be available for the other two sets of SNL fixtures, though Ethan Chapman will provide cover if needed. Main enjoyed the atmosphere on the day and the ‘busy, busy hall’. He was also happy to see the strong start made by North Ayrshire B as they attempt to regain a position in the top division. Main believes that Murrayfield A clearly represent the biggest challenge in Division 1, though other teams (such as South Ayrshire and Dumfries) also pose a threat.

Murrayfield A also began their campaign with 3 victories, though they were less convincing. John Hannah felt the team had performed pretty well ‘despite some lapses in concentration and lackadaisical moments’. He cited his own 12-10 in the fifth set victories against Gordon Muir of Murrayfield B as illustrating this slight lack of focus. Hannah praised Alicja Czarnomska who recovered the tough loss (to a sharp looking Ryan Docherty) in her opening match to win in her other five matches (including recovering from 0-2 down versus Dundee A’s Jason Fleming). Hannah admitted that finishing above North Ayrshire is going to be ‘very tough’ and that getting strong sides out for every match was crucial in order to ensure as many 6-0 wins as possible.

In the morning fixtures the South Ayrshire A vs Drumchapel match saw lots of fast rallies between some of Scotland’s best young talent (Harvey McDonald’s 12-10 in the 5th victory against Alisa Khalid perhaps the pick of the matches). Tony Johnson produced a good win in defeating the experienced Andy Dunlop in straight sets. South Ayrshire A’s 6-0 winning margin was a bit harsh on Drumchapel A. A new look Dumfries A team started a bit shakily against Murrayfield B, with Keir Morton forced to produce some big forehands in order to win at deuce in the 5th before Callum Morgan, seemingly in control at 2-0 up, lost to Gordon Muir. Dumfries eventually won the match 5-1 with new recruit Krzysztof Opila picking up two key wins.

In the lunchtime matches, Ryan Docherty and Chris Main produced some highly entertaining lob vs attack rallies but again North Ayrshire cruised to victory. In the match between Drumchapel A and Murrayfield A, Johannes Laute was well tested by Alisa and Zaid Khalid, while Lucy Elliott pushed Alicja Czarnomska close in a tight four setter. Despite a good win for Glyn Eggar vs Callum Morgan, North Merchiston were defeated 5-1 by Dumfries. In the closest match, Murrayfield B will feel a good chance of a draw went begging as Tony Nelson and Callum Morgan secured good wins versus Yuhuan Wang to help South Ayrshire A achieve a 4-2 win.

In the day’s final set of matches a battling display by experienced campaigner Geoff Hunter helped his side to a handy 5-1 win against Dundee A. This represented a good comeback by the Edinburgh side following a baptism of fire in their opening match back in the top division (a hammering by North Ayrshire A). In the only drawn match of the day, South Ayrshire’s Harvey McDonald found form to beat Keir Morton and then overcame Krzysztof Opila (11-7 in the 5th) to secure a point for his side to keep them alongside Dumfries on 5 points.

In Division 2 Scottish Vets A and North Ayrshire B lead the way-both winning their 3 matches. Tam Lawlor and Brian Wright both picking up 5 wins for the Vets while Jamie Johnson led the way for North Ayrshire wining all 6 of his matches. Murrayfield C are third after an impressive 6 from 6 performance from Borui Chen on his debut for the club.

Glasgow South A (keen to return to Division 2), Stirling and Scottish Vets B all produced 3 wins to sit at the top of Division 3. In Division 4 it is the two promoted sides – Edinburgh University A and Bellway West Lothian – who occupy the top 2 spots. Mae Ng led the way for the students, winning 5 of her 6 matches in convincing fashion and coming back from 0-2 down to beat Murrayfield E’s Jamie Sloan. Dundee C were the only side to achieve three wins in Division 5 (Paul Monteith and Andrew Nimmo both achieving 6 from 6). The new 6th Division is headed by newcomers Highland TTC (2 wins and a draw versus another new team Heriot Watt University) and Haddington A (for whom the passionate Rolandas Skultinas produced some handy wins).

Thanks to all who assisted, including Richard Yule for his efforts in getting the hall ready and Graham Muir for inputting most of the results.

Full tables and results available here: https://www.tabletennis365.com/ScottishNationalLeague/Tables/2019-20/All_Divisions
The next set of fixtures take place on Sunday 8th December 2019. Divisions 1-4 will play at Bathgate Academy, while Divisions 5 & 6 will play at Ward Road, Dundee.

Perth Grand Prix

Busy weekend of table tennis at Bells Sports Centre Perth, which seen North Ayrshire players competing on the Saturday in National Senior League and on the Sunday in the Perth Grand Prix.

Full day of table tennis on the Sunday with some great results posted by our players, a non stop day of action for both players and coaches resulted in the results below ;

Ryan Henry – Winner Disability Event & QF Mens Band 1
Jess Hogg – U15 Girls Runners Up
Holly McNamara – Ladies Band 1 Runners Up
Jamie Johnson – U15 Boys Semi Finalist & U18 Boys Semi Finalist
Zak Wilson – Mens Singles Semi Finalist
Chad Duncan – U18 Boys Quarter Finalist
Nathan Hogg – U15 Boys Quarter Final & Mens Band 1 Quarter Final

Full results will be posted on table tennis scotland website www.tabletennisscotland.co.uk

Senior Schools International

Six of North Ayrshire TTC’s top performing junior players are heading to Guernsey this weekend to represent their school and the Scottish Schools team in the annual Senior Schools International event.

Martin Johnson – Auchenharvie Academy
Jamie Johnson – Auchenharvie Academy
Nathan Hogg – Largs Academy
Jess Hogg – Largs Academy
Holly McNamara – Ardrossan Academy
Naomi Provan – Arran High School

Martin, Jamie, Nathan, Jess, Holly & Naomi qualified at the Scottish Schools Final which seen all players finish in top 4 of their respective age groups and seen Holly win the U14 Girls Event and Martin win the U16 Boys Event.
Guernsey Table Tennis Club will see the top national players and coaches from Scotland, England, Ireland, Wales Guernsey, Jersey & Isle of Man compete in the team event and singles event throughout the 3 days of play (Fri – Sun).

Club Treasurer Billy Main comments ‘ All the best to the Scottish Team and to our players who have  competed brilliantly throughout the season, put in the hours on the table and trained hard in recent weeks building up to this event. To have 6 players from our club up against the very best of British players is a great achievement for all involved and hope the players deservingly pick up some big wins and bring home some medals’

Results and Photos available on GTTA website – www.gtta.org.uk 

Ryan Henry Medal Haul

A busy and successful end to the season for Ryan Henry who has won several medals recently at prestigious national and international events. In the last 12 months, Ryan has been taking all the training and competition opportunities he possibly can. Competing for North Ayrshire in WoS Senior League, Scottish National League, British League and competing / training for the Paralympic GB team abroad and in Sheffield.

The rewards for his hard work and efforts have came towards the end of the season, which seen Ryan win Gold and Silver medals at the 1st Scottish Disability Championships, Bronze medal at the Mexican Open and Bronze medal at the Costa Brava Open. See below for more detailed results

Scottish Disability Championships
Mens Singles – Winner
Mens Physical Standing – Runner Up

Mexico Open 
Bronze Medal – TM8
Partner – Jamie Jara Hernandez (CHI)

Costa Brava Open 
Bronze Medal – TM8
Partner – Roy Van Der Burg (NED)

British Para Nationals
Class 8 – Semi Finals
Standing Doubles – Semi Finals
Partner – Jack Stockdale

Mexican Open – Excerpt from British Para TT Website
They lost 2-0 to the Asian Para Games team bronze medallist Takumi Shukunobe and US Open bronze medallist Hiromi Sato from Japan but secured the bronze medal with a 2-0 win against Costa Rica, Henry beating the class 8 singles gold medallist and Pan-American champion Steven Roman Chinchilla in the first singles match.

“I’m happy to win a bronze in the team event,” said Henry. “It’s been a good competition for me overall with some good wins in the singles and team events. I’m looking forward to working hard back home towards my next international competition.”

Spanish Open – Excerpt from British Para TT Website
Henry and Van Der Burg reached the semi-finals with a 2-0 win against Korea/Japan having earlier lost 2-0 to the very experienced Belgian/Italian combination of Marc Ledoux and Samuel De Chiara. After losing the doubles to Andrianus Van Amerongen and Devin Wassink, Van Der Burg levelled the semi-final with a 3-1 win against Van Amerongen and Wassink was just too strong for 18 year old Henry in the final singles, taking it 3-1 to send Netherlands into the final.

“I’m happy with how I played throughout the tournament and pleased to win bronze,” said Henry. “I had chances to win my last match and my opponent played very well. I feel I’ve learnt a lot from the last few days and know what I need to work on to achieve more in the future.”

 

New Qualified Coaches

Since January 2019, North Ayrshire  TTC have invested funding from our club and from partners the Sporting Chance Foundation in our coach education, which has seen club coaches go through Safe Guarding Children courses, First Aid courses and UKCC Level 1 courses.

A two day UKCC Level 1 course was held at the Portal, Irvine which had coaches from NATTC, Irvine TTC and West Kilbride TTC on it. Table Tennis Scotland Coach Educators, Paul Jackson and Senga Thomson delivered the course  and work with the candidates on passing the course.

Our club are delighted with the support of the Sporting Chance Foundation which has enabled a number of volunteers and junior players from the North Ayrshire area to gain their first coaching badge. Also supporting the additional courses required to attend and pass before their coaching license is obtained.

Pictured is newly qualified Level 1 coaches Ryan Henry, Owen Phillips, Martin Krus and Alex Gracie, receiving the cheque from SCF.

Sporting Chance Foundation comments below ;

Now in its 15th year, North Ayrshire Table Tennis has introduced 3000 people to a new sport with a strong emphasis on fun and participation.

We want to continue this success, by facilitating more opportunities for young people in deprived areas to get active and join this inspiring community.

Nourishing the grassroots of sport; Transforming Junior players into coaches

A new generation of young people have grown up through the club, with more than100 playing table tennis regularly at NATTC centres. This community is empowering young people to improve their lives and futures through sport however, we want to keep them involved in sport for longer.

Together with NATTC we facilitate juniors to become qualified in their UKCC Level 1 and Level 2 Coaching Courses.

Our impact means young players are feeding their talent and positivity back into the clubs and areas that supported their development. By enabling young people to attain sporting qualifications, we hope to develop the skills they need for their future.

https://www.thesportingchancefoundation.org/

WoS League & Cup Division 4 Winners

North Ayrshire C team of Jordan McGinlay, Kevin Morrison, Martin Krus, Kayser Collins and Holly McNamara had a successful season in Division 4 of West of Scotland League. The team won the league title 6 points ahead of closest rivals Croft and 10 points ahead of third place Glasgow South. The league which runs from September to the end of March, went right down to the last match, but a convincing 8-1 win v Boys Brigade meant a 6 point gap was kept to secure the title.

The team of Holly, Martin and Kevin beat Brunswick E 5-0 at Drumchapel in the final of the Divisional Cup to secure the Cup and league double. As added bonus, Kevin Morrison also won the Division 4 player of the season with 37 wins out of 39 (94.87%).

League Table –
https://tabletennis365.com/WestofScotland/Tables/Senior_2018-19/Division_4

Player Averages –
https://tabletennis365.com/WestofScotland/IndividualAverages/Senior_2018-19/Division_4

 

North Ayrshire Continue National League Dominance

North Ayrshire Continue National League Dominance.

North Ayrshire have again won Division One of the Scottish National League; their 6thtitle in 8 seasons. They did so with two clear cut wins on the final day, taking the title by a highly convincing margin of 5 points over the runners up Murrayfield A and 3rdplaced South Ayrshire. All 5 divisions of the newly expanded league were in action on Saturday (9thFebruary) with play taking place across the 19 tables at Bell’s Sports Centre, Perth.

 

Division 1 Action.

The clash between South Ayrshire A and North Ayrshire A produced a highly competitive match. The battle of the left-handers saw Zak Wilson and Dylan Curry fight it out over 4 high quality sets- with the South Ayrshire player eventually winning 3-1. Two Aberdeen based players Colin Dalgleish and Dylan Curry produced an intriguing match. A fault serve at 9-10 didn’t help Curry’s cause but a lovely sweeping backhand return help him clinch the 3rd before Dalgleish closed it out 11-5 in the 4thwith some crunching winners.

Though the match eventually finished 6-0, Yao Tang (Drumchapel A’s key player) ensured that was not plain sailing for North Ayrshire A as she took their number one Colin Dalgleish to 5 sets in an engaging match of clashing styles. Yao Tang also had a good tussle with Zak Wilson whose spectacular around the net winner was a highlight of the match and one of the highlights of the day. Two wins for Yao Tang and a good win for Zaid Khalid against Martin Johnson secured a vital draw for their side (vs North Ayrshire B) as they did just enough to finish above North Ayrshire B (for whom Ethan Chapman picked up 2 wins) and avoid relegation.

For Dumfries, Keir Morton overcame a slow start against Gordon Muir (0-7 down in the first), to win and contribute to his team’s 4- 2 victory over Murrayfield B. For Murrayfield B Faye Leggett was the clear star, producing a good win against Dylan de Silva and also taking Danny Bajwa to five sets before his big sweeping strokes on both wings helped him take the final set. Leggett also produced a good win against Ethan Chapman of North Ayrshire B and performed creditably in losing out narrowly to Andy Macpherson, as North Ayrshire B won 5-1.

A boring win?

North Ayrshire’s player-coach Chris Main rejected the idea that winning the National League had become boring, it had been a real challenge: this is ‘the season where the depth has been the greatest with strong teams throughout the top division’. While ‘in previous years the division was a bit weaker at the bottom’ this has changed. (North Ayrshire’s B team relegation backs this up-they were a highly competitive outfit and can consider themselves unfortunate to drop back down to Division 2). Even the 5-1 and 6-0 victories that North Ayrshire A gained on the final day against South Ayrshire and Drumchapel were full of tight individual matches- ‘the scorelines may look easy but they were absolutely not easy matches, with plenty of 5 and 4 setters…every single match with played this year has been super tough’.

Main picked out the contribution of Zac Wilson who had been ‘excellent’ throughout the season; he had really fitted well into the club and had been ‘a great signing’. Martin Johnson had, Main believed, also made an important contribution in winning three of his four matches when he came in to cover an absent Colin Dalgleish.  Main praised the efforts of Dalgleish (now in his seventh season with North Ayrshire) for his vital contribution to the club’s National League successes. His game has ‘now reached an excellent level’ and he is now producing ‘big big wins’ such as his recent success against Danny Reed in the British League: ‘he’s been taking two or three big scalps every season for the past few years’ and had again maintained a 100% record in the Scottish National League. Main himself went through the season undefeated and felt that he was ‘still playing decently’ and still enjoyed competing (alongside his coaching).

Winning the top division gives his club another chance of competing in the ETTU Cup and it again he’s hoping that the club can attract enough sponsorship to the club in order to bid to host matches as they did before so successfully in 2015.

Main believes that ‘because the ETTU know it went well last time…it gives us a decent chance of hosting again’.