Scottish School Finals

Congratulations to Rebecca Melrose, Martin Johnson & Jill Taylor who qualified to represent Scotland at the British School Championships. Rebecca (St Matthews Academy), Martin (Glencairn PS) & Jill (Strathclyde Uni) will only have to travel to Inverclyde Sports Centre, Largs to compete in the British School Championships as its Scotland’s turn to host the event. Jill will team up with Lucy Elliott in the under 18 girls event, Rebecca will partner Anna Dawe in under 16 girls and Martin will be alongside Danny Bajwa in the under 14 boys.

Andy Macpherson came so close to qualifing as he bowed out at the Q/F stage to Perth’s Jason Fleming. Andy finished 5th in under 18 boys meaning he will be first reserve if any call off’s occur. Other notable results came from Andy Bogle, who fought his way to the last 16, eventually losing to Justin Yang. Ryan Henry reached the semi finals of the u14 boys plate event overcoming team mate Robin Wilson 3-2 in the Q/F.

Easter Training Camp

We are running an Easter Training Camp which will run on Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday each week during the school holidays. Junior & Senior players from all clubs are welcome with all relevant information on the attached poster (http://goo.gl/Me35sP). Coaching will be under the guidance of Chris Main & Richard Main plus practise partners. Players from Edinburgh, Dumfries, Perth & Glasgow already signed up and so please contact us to book your place as each session is limited to 12 players. Email info@northayrshirettc.co.uk.

Update : Sessions are looking strong and will be a beneficial training camp for all players involved. 10am – 3pm each day and with a guaranteed 4+ hours of training, Wednesday night club night 7-9pm both weeks are available to use as practise for anyone wanting to stay overnight and practise in the evening as well.

Inter League Selections

Congratulations to the following players on being selected to represent the West of Scotland league at this year’s Inter League competition. James Kennedy (Mens team), Jill Taylor (Ladies team), Andy Bogle (Junior Boys), Robin Wilson (Junior Boys), Ryan Henry (Junior Boys), Derrin Lynch (Cadet Boys), Rebecca Melrose (Cadet Girls), Jamie Johnson (Minor Boys), Holly McNamara (Minor Girls), Eva Herrington (Minor Girls). Martin Johnson & Andy Macpherson were both selected, however can’t play due to a clash of dates with the British League. Inter League will be held at Inverclyde Sports Centre on March 28th and 29th and is a fantastic weekend of table tennis where all the regions in Scotland come together and compete against each other. We wish our players & the WoS league the best of luck.

Ayrshire School Championships

Fantastic day of results from our junior players at Belmount Academy, Ayr for this year’s Ayrshire School Championships. Players from NATTC won 5 of the 7 events with plenty of our players making their way to the latter stages of events. Adam Nicol finished runners up in U12 boys plate event, Kayser Collins finished r-up in U14 Boys plate event and Winners and runners up are as follows ;

U12 Boys – Winner – Chad Duncan
U12 Girls – R – Up – Holly McNamara
U14 Boys – Winner – Martin Johnson
U16 Boys – Winner – Robin Wilson
U16 Boys – R – Up – Ryan Henry
U18 Boys – Winner – Andy MacPherson
U18 Boys – R – Up – James Kennedy
Junior Doubles – Winners – A Bogle / D Lynch

Club Merchandise

We have got over 200 keyrings, pint glasses & wine glasses with NATTC logo on them which will be handed out to club members to sell to friends and family members as part of our fundraising initiative. We hope to raise as much as possible to help assist our junior players with training, competition & equipment costs. Thanks to Craig McLellan who has worked hard in producing these and we will be handing them out to members in the next fortnight.

Wongs Youth Open

14 players from our club competed in this years Wongs Youth Open at Bathgate Academy. A very successful day from start to finish with a number of players winning their banded events and age categories which rewards the hard work these players are putting in at training. Thanks to the parents who travelled up and supported & thanks to Chris Barclay for coaching all day. To view pictures from the event please visit http://goo.gl/09epOU

Winner u 600 – R Melrose
Winner u 650 – R Henry
Winner u 850 – D Lynch
Winner u11s – J Johnson

WoS Junior League

Impressive day of results for our 6 North Ayrshire teams at the 3rd and 4th rounds of matches of the WoS Junior League. Our Division 1 teams are currently sitting in 3rd and 4th place behind East Kilbride A and South Ayrshire. Division 2 team, North Ayrshire C, won both of their matches against Boys Brigade A and East Kilbride C 3-2 and are currently sitting in 5th place. Division 4 team of Holly McNamara, Eva Herrington & Cameron Mills are in 3rd place after a 5-4 win and 8-1 win against East Kilbride & Joe Wilson respectively. For full results and player averages visit www.wosttl.org.uk

North of Scotland Open

Jill Taylor and Chris Main made the 170 mile journey to Aberdeen Sports Village for this year’s North of Scotland Open with both players hoping to work their way into the latter stages of their respective events. Chris was top seed heading into the Men’s Singles event and worked his way through the group stages and early knock-out rounds to set up a semi final against no 4 seed Yaser Razouk. Yaser put up a great fight, however Chris managed to scrap the win 11-9 in the fourth set to meet Chris Wheeler who dispatched Colin Dalgleish in the other semi final. Wheeler played superb table tennis to beat Chris Main in straight sets to be crowned North of Scotland Open Champion. Chris and partner Colin Dalgleish combined brilliantly to win the Mens Doubles title beating Yaser & Chris Wheeler 12-10 in the deciding set.

Good start to the year for Jill Taylor who finished runners up in the Junior Girls and reached quarter-finals in the Womens Singles. Jill who was seeded 3rd in the Junior Girls event beat Hannah Robb, Alisha Khalid, Caitlin Cameron & Abigail Paterson to finish runners up behind top seed an eventual winner Lucy Elliott. In the Women’s Singles, Jill finished 2nd in her opening group and meet Lucy Elliott in the quarter finals. Lucy proved too strong beating Jill 10, 5 & 8. Full full report and pictures please visit Table Tennis Scotland’s website –www.tabletennisscotland.co.uk.

UKCC Level 1 Course

10 volunteers and players from NATTC have began their UKCC Level 1 coaching course which has been organised to take place at St Matthews Academy on Jan 10th and February 28th. UKCC and Table Tennis Scotland Coaching Director, Paul Jackson lead the course and worked through the course working on areas such as warm ups, setting up a training session, health & safety and coaching points on the basic techniques. Feedback has been great from all applicants and will be an advantage for our club to have more qualified coaches to assist with sessions and classes. The 2nd day of the course will take place on Saturday 28th February where everyone on the course will be assessed on a 20 minute training session that they will deliver.

British League

The 2nd weekend of Senior British League was held at Halton TTC, Widnes on 13th and 14th December with our team of Andy Macpherson, Chris Barclay, Jordan McGinlay & Martin Johnson up against it from the word go, playing the top 3 teams. First 2 matches resulted in 2 tough losses, 7-1 v Rotherham with Andy MacP winning the only match and 8-0 loss v Guernsey. The match versus Warrington resulted in a 7-1 defeat with Martin Johnson picking up the only win for North Ayrshire. The last match of the weekend was against home side Halton TTC which finished in a 4-4 draw. Martin & Jordan both winning deuce in the fifth set to secure a point for North Ayrshire. Next round of matches are on Sunday January 18th where we will play Bankfield and Drumchapel. For league tables, results and player averages visit Table Tennis 365 website  –http://goo.gl/2suJz8.