Tralee TTC
A new club has burst onto the scene down in Munster, the "Green Army" from Tralee TTC put in some impressive performances at the Ballincollig Open. They have a new website at Tralee TTC and 6 tables in the club. Here is a club well worth watching in the coming years under the guidance of Tony Higgins. We at TTIreland.com wish them the best of luck.



West Cork Schools League 5/2/10: "The Saints going marching on!"
St. Fachnas De La Salle played hosts to St. Goban’s Bantry in the latest West Cork Secondary Schools League match. This was always going to be a close and tightly fought affair and it certainly lived up to its billing. Report

2010 Special Olympics Ireland Games, Limerick 9th – 13th June
1st Munster Squad Training Session will be held on Thursday 18th February at the Cope Foundation Montenotte, Cork. Training times 11.00hrs – 13.00hrs. Head Coach: Owen Kelly. Contact 028-35371. 15 players have been selected for this event to be held in Munster.

2 STIGA Munster Open titles for Goleen TTC There were major celebrations in the small West Cork village of Goleen on the triumphant return of James Kelly and Aisling Healy. James Kelly took the Under 10 title at this major National event with Aisling Healy also collecting the Ladies Doubles title. Congratulations to both players.

Munster Schools Cup 2010
A report from the West Cork website on the Munster Schools Cup and the results can be found here

West Cork Secondary Schools League Report 10/12/09
What a Blitz! Bandon Grammar, Bantry Secondary, St. Goban’s, Schull C.C. Rossa College and MICC met up for a clash, with MICC’s 2nd Divsion Team racking up 4 matches during the day. Bandon Grammar, St. Goban’s and MICC supplied the 1st Division action, while Schull Rossa and MICC tackled their 2nd Division fixtures. NEWS

WEST CORK TABLE TENNIS NEWS: DECEMBER 2009 What a weekend of table tennis! On Friday we held the West Cork Individual Primary School Championships with 9 schools competing. On Saturday I was up early to make the trip to Cork for the Munster Special Olympic Table Tennis Championships and on Sunday it was another early start as West Cork took 5 teams up to Killarney for an Invitational Junior Triad Team competition. With a major West Cork Secondary Schools League blitz on this Thursday in MICC and Richard’s Christmas Party to look forward and WCTTA Awards presented too it feels like we must be at the peak of activity, but we are hardly halfway through the season! The clubs are full, the schools are active and the coaches and players are all well motivated. If only it would stop raining! Reports on all 3 events and more are available here: NEWS

West Cork Secondary Schools League: 2nd Division 23-11-09
St. Fachnas De La Salle, Skibbereen moved from 4th to 2nd in Division 2 of the Schools League after recording a 6-4 win against Schull B in Skibbereen. See West Cork News for full report and league standings.

West Cork Secondary Schools League
Two matches were played in the league recently. Macroom hosted St. Gobans and Bandon took on Ardscoil Phobal Report

Munster Ranking Killarney
Congratulations to James Kelly who won the Munster U10 Rankings and finishing 5th in the U12 event and Tom Walsh who finished 4th in the U10 event. Also to Aisling Healy who finished 4th in the U17 girls event. A full report on the other West Cork players will be posted here soon.

West Cork Table Tennis Secondary Schools League 2009 – 2010
More news from the league as Rossa College take on Schull and St Fachnas. Report

Munster Rankings
The Second Munster Junior Classification 2009-2010 to be held on Saturday 31st October 2009. The Venue is St Marys Parish Hall, Killarney. Closing date for entries is Wednesday 28th October 2009. Entry Form

1st Munster Rankings
Results from the 1st Munster Rankings at Beech Hill are now available Here


1st WEST CORK TABLE TENNIS RANKING 2009
A great day was had by all. 60 players took part in the 1st West Cork Rankings of the season held at the Goleen Community Sports Complex. Results & Report Here

Amazing Maze European Champion
Danish table tennis player Michael Maze takes gold at the European Championships in Stuttgart Michael Maze has completed a breathtaking unbeaten run at the European table tennis Championship in Stuttgart to claim the men’s singles title. Maze also contributed significantly to Denmark claiming a silver medal in the team event. The men’s games at the championship were dominated by Denmark and Germany, with the home side nabbing victory in the team final. But the 28-year-old Maze sent triple champ Timo Bell crashing out in the single’s semi-final before securing his first European gold against Werner Schlager yesterday. Maze already holds an Olympic bronze medal from the 2004 Games and in June reached his highest ever world ranking of 11th – a rank he is likely to exceed after his victory.
‘It feels fantastic. The greatest dream I’ve had since I was a little boy has been fulfilled,’ said Maze to TV2 News after his victory, which he attributed to hard training and keeping calm during the competition.

Germany Win Senior European Team Title
Germany won another European Team Title yesterday 3-2 against Denmark. Michael Maze (DEN) defeated World No.3 Timo Boll in the match but it was not enough to defeat the reigning European Champions.

Netherlands take two in a row
The Dutch womens Team took the Women's Team Title against Poland with a number of ex Chinese players on both sides. However it was an ex Russion who beat an ex Chinese to win the title for the Netherlands.

Ireland in Europe
Ireland playing in Group J finished 2nd only loosing out to Lithuania. Ireland defeated San Marino, Kosovo, Armenia and Malta. the Irish team missed out on promotion loosing to Netherlands. Ireland finished 36th. Team: MURPHY John, MAGUIRE Gavin, HANLEY Sam

1st Irish Junior Classification.
The 1st Irish Junior Ranking was held over the weekend of the 12th/13th September at DCU. The ITTA announced that there were 175 entries for this event with 4 age categories for both boys and girls.

The ITTA press release which is available on the official site at www.irishtabletennis.com paints a glorious picture of a wonderful start to the new season. However like most “official” press releases the most significant and controversial aspects of the story have been left out. I don’t blame them for doing this as “spin” is the name of the game but it would have made a pleasant change if they had grabbed the bull by the horns and made some reference or even better some kind of apology for the numerous mistakes that were actually made. I am not going to publically go into all the various concerns individually but any coach who attended the event will probably know of players who were seriously affected and the ITTA will be under pressure to come up with some compromised solutions in order to restore some kind of credibility to this and any future events.

If the ITTA is successful in increasing entries to this and similar events they will have to look seriously into ways of dealing with any capacity issues. 6 hours per event will do nothing to increase the popularity of the sport, unfair formats, mistakes in results, size and suitability of facilities will all have to be dealt with. If you experienced any difficulties I suggest you write to the ITTA in a calm manner and not only put forward your criticisms but offer any solutions you can, they will need all the help they can get.

Irish Success at the UK School Games
The two winners of the singles events in Britain’s leading Junior event, the UK School Games which were played in Newport, South Wales 3 – 6 September, were Paul McCreery of Northern Ireland and Karina Lefevre of England North East. The winners of the boys’ event were England South West whilst the girls was won by England North East

1st Munster Ranking
The 1st Munster Ranking takes place on Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th September at Beech Hill an entry form is available to download
Here

Goleen Festival Table Tennis Tournament 2009
In its third year the Goleen Festival Tournament heralds the beginning of the table tennis season and as a curtain raiser its popularity has increased. This year there were entries from as far afield as Arizona USA, London UK, Dublin, Kilkenny and Cork joining local players from Skibbereen, Bantry, Schull and Goleen. The event provided competition for two grades of players and many who took part in the West Cork Training Camp during the week leading up to the tournament displayed their skills at the tables.More...


West Cork Social Over 50 members of the West Cork TTA from 4 different clubs travelled up together for the annual social trip. This year Trabolgan Holiday Park was the destination and there was swimming, crazy golf, orienteering, go karting, tennis, badminton, football trampolining and much more to keep everyone entertained. The weather held and new friends were made. More...

New West Cork Awards
The new WCTTA Star Awards have arrived just in time for the end of the season. Around 100 players have been assessed this season within all the clubs and schools throughout the region. a full list of award winners will be published here in the coming week.

West Cork Table Tennis Individual Junior Championships 2009
Sunday 24th May, Goleen Community Sports Centre. 10 Competitions with over 100 entries from Under 8 to U17 boys and girls. Thrills, spills and all the drama of a big day out. All the news Here

West Cork Schools League Champions 2009
Macroom De La Salle being presented with the West Cork Schools Shield by WCTTA Secretary Vicky Ridgeway. Macroom remained undefeated througout the season with Bantry Secondary School 2nd, Schull Community College 3rd, MICC 4th and Rossa College 4th.

Munster Top 8
The Munster Top 8’s is a competition for the players who reach the top 8 positions in their age group through collating points from a series of 4 tournaments held throughout the season. This season 5 West Cork TTA players qualified for this event. James Kelly (Goleen) finished in 2nd place in the Under 10 Rankings and put in a good performance to finish 3rd at this event held in Cork. James took the No.1 to a five set thriller that he eventually lost 10-12. Aoife O’Regan (Skibbereen) also finished in the top 8th at 5th position. West Cork was well represented by two players in the U12 Boys event with Cathal McCarthy (Bantry) 5th and Ruaidhri Gallagher (Skibbereen) 6th. Aisling Healy (Goleen) managed to qualify for both U14 and U17 Girls. Within the U14 Girls Aisling had a good win against the current No.1 and also played well in the U17 event. The top U12s, U14s and U17s will now await the selections for the Munster Junior Interprovincial Teams.

Final West Cork Rankings 2008-2009.
Nearly 70 turned up at the Goleen Community Sports Centre for the last in the series of 4 West Cork Rankings bringing the total to 111 individual players within the rankings this season. More...

Bantry Boys took on All Ireland Challenge
St. Finbarr’s Boys National School qualified for the All Ireland Finals in the U13 Boys category. 6 players from the West Cork Primary Schools Champions travelled up to Tyrone on Monday 30th March to take the best from the other three provinces. The boys came in 4th loosing 5-3 to St. Joseph's college (Connaught) and 5-2 to Monoghan Collegiate (Ulster). The event was won by Ballyroan Boys NS (Leinster). Congratulations to Aisling Healy (Goleen) was part of the U19 Coláiste Choilm Girls team that won the All Ireland Title.

West Cork Table Tennis Schools Cup 2009
The West Cork Schools Cup is one of the largest schools table tennis competitions in the country and is a testament to the growing popularity of the sport. With the West Cork Table Tennis Association celebrating 20 years this year’s schools cup had added significance. With 16 different competitions and 47 teams entered from all over the region this competition caters for all ages and levels of ability and even had entries from as far as Tralee. More

Bargain Bats for Beginners
I am often asked about what bat a player should get and especially from parents of players who are just starting. More...

Assessing the Player
An article by Owen Kelly on some quick and easy methods for early assessment of club players Download Here

Improving Performance ITTA Tutor Owen Kelly shares his opinion on the issue of improving performance in Ireland. "As coaches we need to expect more from our players, the players need to expect more from their coaches and as members of the ITTA we need to expect more from those who manage Irish Table Tennis and in this way together, we can expect a brighter future for Irish Table Tennis." More...

Developing Table Tennis in rural Ireland
It is the Easter Holidays and while the family is away on a shopping trip and the schools are shut I find myself with time to sit and share a few thoughts with those who check out my website every now and then. More...

DISCIPLINE IN CHILDREN'S SPORT
Discipline in sport is fundamental to sporting activity. The emphasis should be on encouraging and developing self discipline. Coaches should be aware of this responsibility and set a positive role model. Parents have an important role to play in the development of their child and this can be achieved in a number of ways. More...

A Club in Ennis
A new club has started in 2008 all standards welcome. Contact Damian on 086-8638742 or Jean Hughes on 087-2207478 for more info.

ITTF Museum
There is a museum for just about everything and low and behold there is a museum for table tennis. The ITTF Museum is located in Switzerland, in the heart of the Olympics community near Lausanne. Chuck Hoey is the Curator and he invited TTIreland to make a visit More... You can go directly to the Museum Here

Michael Cunningham - The Man in the Driving Seat
8 times Irish Paralympian Michael Cunningham his reputation as a highly skilled proponent of the game has been long established. He talks to TTIreland on our Coaches Corner about Wheelchair table tennis. Here

The Art of Table Tennis
I was given this lovely picture by a 6yr old of her playing table tennis with her brother and I promised to put it up on the site for her. If anyone else has any table tennis art they would like to send me please email me at owen@ttireland.com



Choice of table tennis rackets and correct grip
by Tihbar on Line
The choice of racket and grip is fundamental to good technique. Here is some useful information from leading equipment specialists Tibhar Artical Tibhar equipment can be purcased in Ireland from Celtic Table Tennis

Umpire Check List
With the increasing number of umpires on the scene Kiron Choudhury has updated the Umpire check list at Coaches Corner Update... and the role of the Umpire article...