Success at Scottish Primary Schools

Martin Johnson, Jamie Johnson, Chad Duncan, Patric Hollywood, Grant McLellan, Cameron Mills, Ryan Watt, Eva Herrington & Holly McNamara all attended the Scottish Primary School Championships at Bathgate Academy. 48 boys and 20 girls competed where the top 4 of each category would be selected to play for Scotland at British Primary School Championships. Martin Johnson lived up to expectation, seeded no1 heading into the competition he worked his way through the groups and knockout stages to reach the final where he meet Yifie Fang of Aberdeen. Martin played top class table tennis to win in 3 straight sets, 13-11, 11-9, 11-3 to become Scottish Primary School Champion 2014.

Jamie Johnson, aged 9, reached the last 16 of the boys singles losing out to Borui Chen 3-2 in a closely fought match. Jamie teamed up with his brother Martin in the doubles event and showed that they make up a great doubles partnership. The boys overcame tough competition from Chen / Paterson in the semi finals and Fang / Woliski in the final to win the event and be crowned Scottish PS Doubles Champions. First brothers to ever win this event?

All of our NATTC players performed well and showed great attitude during the competition. Eva & Holly won several matches in the girls event and with 2 years left they will be looking to improve on their results next time around. Chad Duncan had several impressive results en route to the Consolation final where he eventually lost to a Drumchapel player in the final 3-2.

Three Towns TT Festival

Three Towns TT Festival was held at St Matthews Academy on Friday November 28th where over 25 pupils from local schools competed against each other in 3 different categories. The experienced category was a group of 8 players who have been attending the club sessions for over a year was won by Jamie Johnson (Glencairn). Runners up was Patric Hollywood (Caledonia) and 3rd place was Chad Duncan (St Anthony’s). Grade 1 event was won by Harvey Newall (Ardeer) with Declan McCoy (Hayocks) beaten finalist.

Grade 2 event was won by Zak Leith of St Anthonys with Michael Donnelly (St Anthonys) finishing in runners up. This was a great event which was the finale of our 8 week block of classes which we ran in St Anthonys, Hayocks, Ardeer and Glecairn. Hopefully we see some of these players attending the club sessions in the future and special thanks to Bruce McMaster of Active Schools for helping with the planning and organising of this event. For more pictures please visit our facebook page – http://goo.gl/nND6ds.

Silver Medal at British 6 Nations

Chris & Richard Main were both selected to play for Scotland at British Senior 6 Nations at Inverclyde Sports Centre, Largs on November 22nd/23rd. Chris competed in the team event as with Craig Howieson & Chris Wheeler where they successfully beat Jersey, Guernsey & Ireland 3-0 and got the better of a young Welsh team 3-1 to set up a Gold medal match v England. England fielded Chris Doran & David Mcbeath who both showed their class and ran out 3-1 winners. In the singles event, Richard fought hard against Ireland’s no 2 Paul McCreery but just fell short, losing 11-9 in the fourth set meaning he finished runners up in his group to progress to the last 16. Richard had another battle on his hands in the form of Welshman Ryan Oyler, Richard won 12-10 in the deciding set to meet David McBeath (England) in the quarter finals. Richard lost in 3 tight sets 15-13, 11-9, 11-8 to David but put in a good performance and can be delighted with reaching the quarter finals.

Direct Club Investment

We are delighted to announce that North Ayrshire Table Tennis Club have secured funding from SportScotland through their Direct Club Investment Programme to appoint a part time development coach for a 3 year period. This is a major achievement for us which will enable us to focus on increasing club membership for the future growth & sustainability of the club. The Direct Club Investment programme supports our ambition to encourage more people to be active and take part in sport. NATTC will be running a dedicated 32 week programme to give as many youngsters in our area the chance to be active, play table tennis and join a local club.

The new investment for the regional development posts is to ensure that there are more professional people working directly to support local sport clubs, which will help improve the overall quality of the school to club to performance pathways. This focused work enables Scottish Governing Bodies of sport to work more closely with their member clubs, and with local partners, to improve the opportunities for clubs to flourish. Using National Lottery funding, the DCI is designed to support large-scale club development projects over a two to four-year period, with a focus on either growing club membership or enhancing club environments to allow the development of high performance athletes.

North Ayrshire Open 2014

North Ayrshire Open 2014 was held at our home venue of K:A Leisure St Matthews on November 8th & 9th and what a fantastic weekend of table tennis it was. 138 competitors   played in 15 different events with a total of 570 matches being played over the weekend. We had an international entry on the Saturday for the Men’s and Women’s singles with Cheng Meng Sung (Taiwan) being top seed in the Men’s and Lynda Flaws (Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games player) topping the bill in the Women’s event. All results can be viewed below and pictures from the event can viewed through the link.  A big thanks to the players, organisers, volunteers, parents and sponsors for making this year’s North Ayrshire Open bigger and better than ever.

Notable performances from NATTC players;

* Chris Main runners up in Mens Singles     * Richard Main S/F in Doubles & Q/F in Mens Singles
* Jamie Johnson runners up in U11s.          * Martin Johnson S / F U13s & Runners Up in Doubles
* Rebecca Melrose S / F in U15 Girls.        * Andy Macpherson Last 16 of Mens Singles
* Jill Taylor S / F Junior Girls.                     * Patric Hollywood S / F u11s.
* Derrin Lynch Last 16 Junior Boys            * Andy Bogle Last 16 of Junior Boys

Day 1 Pictures – http://goo.gl/x6xtrn –  Day 2 Pictures – http://goo.gl/eqEvCJ

Saturday Events

Men’s Singles … Winner – Cheng Meng Sung –  Runner up – Chris Main
Women’s Singles … Winner – Lynda Flaws – Runner up – Rebecca Plaistow
Band 1 … Winner – Robert Toth – Runner up – Christian Fischer
Band 2 … Winner – Gavin Elliott – Runner up – Grant Williams
Vets over 40’s … Winner -Gerry Campbell – Runner up – Alan Whitton
Vets over 55’s … Winner – Derek Lundie – Runner up – Roy Claxton
Senior Doubles … Winner – S Barton /  C Dalgleish – Runner up – C Seng / Yang Feng

Sunday Events

U18 Boys … Winner – Calum Morrison – Runner up – Yaser Razouk
U18 Girls … Winner – Rebecca Plaistow – Runner up – Caitlin Cameron
U15 Boys … Winner – Calum Morrison – Runner up – Dylan Curry
U15 Girls … Winner – Jennie Yang – Runner up – Hannah Robb
U13 Boys … Winner – Zaid Khalid – Runner up – Danny Bajwa
U13 Girls … Winner – Jennie Yang – Runner up – Tessa Yau
U11 mixed … Winner – Borui Chen – Runner up – Jamie Johnson
Junior Doubles … Winners – C Morrison / K Morton – Runners up – Y Razouk / M Johnson

Wednesday Night Training

Every Wednesday from September, Li Chao (Current Table Tennis Scotland Coach) will be down at St Matthews delivering 2 hours of 1-1 sessions and a 2 hour group session.  Fantastic to have Li Chao down who has coached in England, Wales, Dubai, China & has worked with players such as Jun Muzitani (world no 9). The group session which runs 7-9pm is open to anyone from any club so please get in touch if you want to attend, spaces are limited to 16 players. All our players are working hard & benefiting and enjoying the sessions so far.

Over the past 3 weeks, Li Chao has brought along top Taiwan player “Song” who is great to have along at training who creates plenty of energy in the training hall. You can view a video of some of the multiball exercised and fitness that we do here – http://goo.gl/rN46Ce

Dumfries Pre – Season Friendly

Chris Main, James Kennedy, Andy Macpherson, Chris Barclay & Martin Johnson travelled to Dumfries Table Tennis Club to compete in a pre season friendly match with players from Dumfries, Carlisle & Penicuik TTC. First 2 hours consisted of a open training session that club coach Dylan De Silva delivered with players from different clubs all mixing in and training with each other.

The 2nd part of the day was an assessment styled tournament with 4 groups of 5. North Ayrshire players, JK, AM, MJ & CB ended up finishing 2nd in their opening groups with all the boys finishing in the top 10. Chris Main finished runners up ahead of Dylan De Silva & behind Callum Main. Thanks to Dumfries TTC for the invite and hope to hold a return fixture in early 2015.

Bronze Medal for Martin in Germany

Scottish No1 under 13 player, Martin Johnson was part of Team Scotland who travelled to Dusseldorf to compete in Andro Junior Open. The Andro Junior Open is one of the biggest and most popular tournaments in Europe with over 1000 competitors from all over Europe. Martin who teamed up with Dylan Curry (Aberdeen) in the under 13 boys team event succeeded expectations from the start. The boys worked their way to the semi finals beating 6 pairings, where they lost 3-1 to the eventual winners. Dylan & Martin are pictured receiving their bronze medal with Scottish coach Li Chao, which is Martin’s first oversea’s medal.

Commonwealth Games Equipment

As part of the Commonwealth Games Legacy Programme, SportScotland invited clubs and associations to apply for the equipment that was used for the Games. NATTC applied and successfully secured 2 tables, 50 barries, 2 nets, scoreboard and umpire table. This equipment which is stored at St Matthews Academy,  will be used when we hold National Senior League, North Ayrshire Open and other regional competitions we hold during the season.

K:A Leisure Community Games

Another successful day at K:A Leisure Community Games which was at St Matthews Academy on September 5th. Over 100 people trying out table tennis which always is the most popular of all the sports on offer. Thanks to Ross Macpherson, Ryan Henry, Joshua Griffiths, Richard Main, Ian Macpherson, Andy Macpherson & Chris Barclay for helping out and knocking with the participants. Thanks to K:A Leisure for the invite and we hope to be back at this event next year.