Last season saw the further developments of the Irish Sports Council, the National Coaching and Training Centre (Limerick), the new National Anti Doping Policy and the start of the second phase of the National Coaching and Development Plan, “Good Coaching Makes A Difference”. On the playing front, congratulations to our Junior Girls team who finished in 18th position at the European Youth championships, the highest position ever for any of our teams.

National Training Selection Committee (NTSC)
The NTSC under the Chairmanship of Ken Strong looked after selection (Junior & Senior), National Training Camps, ranking lists (Junior & Senior), coach education (NCTC), competitive and coaching programmes and the Technical Liaison Group.

We competed in the European Youth Championships, the Junior British League and the Junior/Cadet Home Countries Championships.

On the Senior front, we competed in the Welsh Open, EML/2, the Home Countries Championships, the Womens British League, the World Team Championships and the European Championships. Several National Training Camps were held during the season, under the tuition of Swedish coach Peter Nielson, and some players attended an International Training Camp in Denmark. Brioni Lane competed in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Greece. At the World Team Championships in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the Mens team finished in 46th position, while the Womens team finished in 55th position and at the European Championships in Bremen, Germany, the Mens team finished in 34th position, while the womens team finished in 35th position.

Since the establishment of the Dept. of Sport and the Irish Sports Council, this has brought a lot of extra work on the NTSC and myself. Several meetings with the ISC and and the NCTC in Limerick took place to monitor our progress in the National Coaching and Development Program. The Technical Liaison Group look after the needs of the following: High Performance, International Carding Scheme, Code of Ethics, Anti Doping Policy, Coach Education/Syllabus, Assimilation of Coaches.

As you can see from the above, this involves a lot of extra work, to keep pace with what the Irish Sports Council requires.

The following are the World and European ranking of our players; Colum Slevin 144(W) - 100(E). Jonathan Cowan 374(W) - 247(E). Andrew Dennison 449(W) - 286(E). Brian Fitzgerald 525(W). Daryl Strong 545(W). Brioni Lane 373(W) - 234(E). Andrea Glover 387(W) - 253(E). Jennifer Thompson 356(W). Nora Tallon 366(W).

The Irish National Championships were held in a new venue, A.L.S.A.A. Dublin, seeing Michelle McGreevy and Alan Monks winning the titles.

The Junior/Cadet/U12 Inter Pros were held in Cork, seeing Munster winning 3 titles, Leinster winning 3 titles, and Leinster winning the Victor Barna Shield for the best Province.

The Senior/U21/Veteran Interpros were held in Newtownabbey, seeing Leinster winning the Senior and Veterans Titles and Munster the U21 title. This season saw the U21 event format altered on a trial basis only, where there is only one lady player. This was introduced because three Provinces could field one lady, this is a problem that has to be tackled.

The Points Ranking system worked very successfully last season, but there are still a few alterations to be made to improve the system.

During the season the Association / NCTC ratified Alan Strong as an accredited ITTA Tutor under the Association. All future ITTA coaches courses will be accredited ITTA/NCTC courses and must be conducted by accredited tutors and support tutors. At the National Coaching Forum held in Limerick University, presentations were made to the coaches who had passed their level 1 coaching award.

The Level 1 Syllabus for coach education was approved and signed off by the NCTC and the Level 2 Syllabus is under review at the moment. One Level 1 course was held in Cork during the season. I wrote to the Provinces regarding coach Education Level 1 courses, where the ITTA would provide the tutor and the Branch to provide the coaches and the venue, but I only got one enquiry. If we are to build up our grass roots player base, we must produce more coaches in the Provinces.

Six players received grants from the International Carding Scheme under the Junior category and a meeting was held to outline to them that they have signed an agreement with the Irish Sports Council, the use of their grant money and what is expected of them by the ITTA. Because two players failed to use up all of their grant last season, the balance had to be returned to the ISC.

The NTSC selected ten potential assistant NPC’s and a meeting was held with them to discuss the terms of reference of an NPC. Following that meeting only six replied to say they were interested and two of them have conducted an U12 training camp. Mr T.Martin was appointed as the Associations Anti Doping Officer.

National Coaching Development Committee
The NCDC under the chairmanship of Ted Bollard had a quiet but successful season, where they looked after development, grass root coaching and the training of umpires.

The committee held a development weekend in Longford, having introductory coaching courses for players and officials/leaders, with a view to improving our overall affiliated numbers. Fliers were sent to all Secondary, Primary and Community Schools to inform them of the TT contact and the schools league in their Province.

Congratulations to Ted Bollard who passed his International Umpires Examination.

Olympic Council of Ireland
The Olympic Council of Ireland have awarded the Association with an Olympic solidarity course, which will take place from the 17th - 20th august 2000 in Dublin.

Irish Veterans Society.
The Irish Veterans society now in its eighth year, had one of its worst seasons since its foundation. The elected committee failed to hold any committee meetings during the season, so nothing happened. The Treasurer resigned and the Chairman was asked for his resignation by the Management Committee, which he did. Under the above circumstances, teams were selected and played in the Veterans British League and the Veterans Home Countries Championships.

The Management Committee dissolved the Irish Veterans Society and took over running of their affairs and called a Special General Meeting of all Veteran members to discuss the future and the staging of the Veteran Home Countries Championship in Ireland 2000. Following that meeting, it was decided to appoint a small Veterans Committee in a couple of months and the ITTA would stage the Veterans Home countries Championship in ALSAA Complex, Dublin on the 16th/17th September 2000. A tournament was held to select the Over 40, 50 and 60 teams for the Championship and over seventy members have paid their annual subscription.

Public Relations Officer
The PRO Ted Bollard continued to make strides in the media area, to give our sport a higher profile in the country. We were successful on TV this season, where we has an item on RTE’s RAPID program, featuring Noelle Lennon demonstrating table tennis strokes. Congratulations to Noelle Lennon on being awarded the “Sports Star of the Year” by the Examiner in Cork. There was an improvement with results from the NPCs at away events this season. The PRO’s job is a very demanding, and demoralising one and every support should be given to him from all concerned.

Calendar of Events
The Calendar of Events worked reasonably well last season, with the exception of a few minor problems. If tournaments are called off, the Secretary of the Association must be notified in advance. the Management Committee agreed a set of playing conditions for all Irish Junior Ranking Tournaments last season and were successful.

As from the 1st July 2000 in all Senior and Junior tournaments, the 40mm ball must be used and that local leagues/tournaments can continue to use the 38mm balls or can decide what balls they want to use. It was decided to have time outs in selected Senior tournaments, where the proper conditions prevail and where there are official umpires.

Home Countries Championships
Senior Home Countries Championships were held in Sheffield between England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and the Isle of Man. England were the winners, with Ireland finishing in 3rd position. The next Championships will take place in Cardiff on the 22nd - 24th September 2000.

The Junior/Cadet Home Countries Championships were held in Scotland, between England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and the Isle of Man. The Junior Girls finished in 4th position, the Cadet Girls in 4th position, the Junior boys in 4th position and the Cadet Boys in 5th position. Conor Nolan won the Cadet Boys individual event.

Equipment
Our equipment sponsor, Imperial Sports (Germany) went into liquidation during the year and we are in the process of securing a new sponsor for 2001. Just to inform you that I have been appointed onto the International Table Tennis Equipment Committee.

ITTA Strategic Plan (1999-2003)
Under the terms of the National Coaching and Development Programme, our Association is obliged to produce a Strategic Plan for 1999-2003. The ITTA Strategic Plan is completed in draft form and is ready for the consultation stage, where we will meet the Branches and its members during the coming season. Draft copies of the Strategic Plan were given out at the AGM to Provincial representatives, for them to distribute to the leagues, clubs and the members in their Province. When this is completed, we will meet the consultants again with a view to reviewing the alterations and the final product. when this is completed the Association will be in a position to present our Strategic Plan to the Irish Sports Council.

Irish Universities
The Irish Universities ran a very successful championships in Cork and it is hoped to expand the number of Universities in the coming season.

Joe Veselsky Merit Award
The Joe Veselsky Award was presented to Mr Jerry Horgan for all his years of service to Cork and Munster table tennis.

Irish Schools Association
The ISTTA staged the International Schools Championship in Dublin city University and was a tremendous success.

On a sad note, I have to report the death of former player Garreth Harmon, who was killed in a road accident. Our deepest sympathy goes out to his family.

Attendance at Management Committee Meetings
Our President Mr.E.Limberg was ill during the season and was unable to attend any meetings. We wish him a speedy recovery to health. It was disappointing that the two delegates nominated by the Ulster Branch at last years AGM, failed to turn up to any meetings. The Association is grateful to Owen Kelly for setting up the ITTA web site on the internet, where information on the Association is available.

It is with sadness and regret that I have to write the following paragraph, but I feel it is my duty as Ho.Secretary of the Association to express my feelings and opinion on a season I would rather like to forget. For me it was demoralising and dis- heartening to see players, coaches and parents bringing the game into disrepute and in some cases getting away with it. There are also individuals within our Association who seem to have their own hidden agendas, which is not healthy for the game. I work hard for the game I love, but my enthusiasm has been dampened by the above to such a degree that I could have walked away from it all. As the saying goes, when the enjoyment goes out of the game, it is time to call it a day.

Our Association is slowly but surely going downhill and if we don’t retrieve it quickly, there will be no Association here in a few years time. I am appealing to all concerned to work together as a team and retrieve the situation so that we have an Association to be proud of.

Finally, in conclusion may I say that the work load of the Hon.Secretary is getting greater every year and I would like to thank all who assisted me during the season, to make my job that little bit easier and apologise for what sins I may have committed in carrying out my job as Secretary.