International Events
Senior Events:
The Irish Senior Team competed in the following events during this season.
1) Home International Championships, Sheffield, England.
2) European Men’s League Division 2, Luxembourg.
3) Women’s British League, England
4) Welsh Open, Cardiff, Wales.
5) World Team Championships, Bremen, Germany.

In addition, a party of Seniors, Juniors, Cadet and Under 12 players played in the Rosskilde Open, Copenhagen, Denmark. In the Home Countries Senior championship, the team finished in third place behind England and Wales. In the European Men’s League, the team performed well but did not qualify for the final play-offs. Our Women’s Team exceeded all expectations to finish in second place in the Premier Division of the Women’s British League.

The World Team Championships were held in Kuala Lumpur in mid-February and the Men’s Team finished in 47th place with the Women’s Team in 55th place. In the European Championships the Irish Team played in the team event only with the Men’s Team finishing in 34th place and the Women’s in 35th. Colum Slevin won 8 out of 9 individual matches.

The following players represented Senior Teams during the Season: C.Slevin, B.Fitzgerald, D.Lynch, D.Strong, A.Monks, E.Byrne, Miss M.McGreevy, Miss B.Lane, Miss A.Glover, Miss T.Bollard, Miss N.Lennon and Miss L.Mountjoy.

Brioni Lane played without success in the Olympic Qualifying Event in Greece. Jonathan Cowan was unavailable to compete.

Colum Slevin continues to play in Germany while Jonathan Cowan, now in his final year at University, played for a French Club, Amiens, both with considerable success. Andrea Glover plays for the Evreux Club in the French Women’s League. Her team finished in third place in the National One Division and she has had some considerable individual success in the French Graded and Regional Championships.

Junior Events
Junior Boys and girls teams again competed this season in the Premier Divisions of the Junior British League. Both teams were not as successful as in previous seasons and finished in last place. Teams competed in all categories in the Home countries Junior and cadet Championships held in Scotland with Conor Nolan winning the Individual Cadet Singles defeating Jonathan McCarthy in the final. Junior boys and Cadet teams will compete in the European Youth Championships in Bratislava, Slovak republic in July.

National Training Camps
National training camps were held on 6 occasions during the season and involved squads of various levels and playing standards. A further squad session is planned for early July prior to the European Youth championships. Teams also played in the Rosskilde Open in Denmark and in the Hasselt Open in Belgium. A Centre of Excellence was held during the season one night per week at St.Anthony’s Hall, where leading Senior and Junior players played on a regular basis.

Awards
Rhanbuoy Trophy: Brian Fitzgerald, ranked No. 1 in the end of season ratings, was awarded the Rhanbuoy Trophy as the outstanding Irish Men’s player of the Season.

E.McKee Trophy: this Season’s Award Winner was Michelle McGreevy, Irish National Senior Women’s Champion and top ranked Senior Player.

Jonathan McCarthy won the W.Marshall Award this year. Ranking System The Senior System has once again been kept under review by the Committee during the season. Our conclusion is that, by and large, the system has operated satisfactorily.

The junior Ranking system continues to operate on the same basis as it has for a number of years.

Thanks are due to Miss A.Kelly and Mr T.Martin for recording the results of the Senior list and to Mr P.Conneely for compiling the Junior list.

Coach Education
The Committee has continued to liase with the National coaching and Training Centre (N.C.T.C) in Limerick with regard to the Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 Awards. The Level 1 syllabus has been approved by the N.C.T.C. while Level 2 is currently with N.C.T.C for approval for some considerable time. C.Higgins and J.O’Donoghue have been assessed and approved under the Tutor Course of the N.C.T.C programme. Alan Strong has been approved as a Tutor through the Harmonisation Project. T.Fitzgerald has also been approved. The harmonisation of coaching awards between Ireland and the United Kingdom has been completed.

Budgeting
The task of budgeting for the Junior and Senior programmes for the season and of making bids to Irish Senior Management for finance was undertaken last September. The Committee, has been able to retain levies at their current level. because the World and European Senior Championships and the Olympic Qualifying Event were held this season there has been a significant additional drain on financial resources.

The Committee has continued, in conjunction with the N.C.T.C. to develop sports specific criteria for athletes.

In this season, Alan monks, Eoin Byrne, Mark White, Brioni Lane, Noelle Lennon and Linda Mountjoy satisfied the criteria. To qualify for consideration as carded athletes, players must be ranked in the Top 8 under 19 ranked players in England.

Olympic Solidarity Course
The Committee has been successful in obtaining an Olympic solidarity Grant to provide an Olympic Solidarity Course in Dublin on 17-20 august 2000. The precise format of the Event is currently being worked up.

Next Season
The outgoing Committee has not finalised this programme for the 2000/2001. However, arrangements have been made to hold a Senior Round Robin Event in late August/early September which will include the 12 leading male players in the End of Season Ranking List plus 4 players from a qualifying event. The women’s Event will involve the 8 leading players on the End of Season Ranking List. Subject to financial constraints, the Events Programme, when finalised, is likely to include a similar number of events as this season. The Committee has recommended that the 40 mm ball be used for all ranking tournaments with effect from 1 July 2000. Some leagues may possibly continue to use 38 mm ball for local competitions.

Committee
K.Strong (Chairman, Senior NPC), A.Kelly (Cadet NPC), J.O’Donoghue (Cadet NPC), A.Brett (Junior NPC), P.Nilson (Junior NPC), C.Higgins (Senior NPC), T.Martin (ITTA Sec. non-voting) A.Strong (Coach Education)