Leinster Branch Secretary’s Report 2016/17
It’s been a busy season for the Leinster Branch, which saw many a new member on committee and a number of new initiatives launched.
Events:
Following on from previous seasons, five Junior Ranking Events were held in Palmerstown’s Pobalscoil Iosolde. These events generated junior rankings from which the Leinster Junior Inter-Provincial teams were picked. Four Junior Training Camps were also run with up to 34 players attending. They were received positively by both parents and players.
The committee inaugurated four Senior Ranking Events, culminating in the Leinster Championship. These events generated senior rankings from which the Leinster Senior, Veteran and U-21 Inter-Provincial teams were picked.
Notable achievements by Leinster Players during the 2016/17 Season:
· Katie McGlone: National Senior Champion, National Junior Champion and National U21 Champion
· Katie McGlone/Gavin Maguire: National Mixed Doubles Champions
· Dylan Grace: Irish U18 Season Champion
· Mia O'Rahilly Egan: National U15 Champion
· Dillon Byrne: Irish U13 Season Champion
· Leinster Junior Girls and Leinster Junior Boys both won Gold at this year’s Junior Interprovincial Championships in Athlone
Leinster Season Champions:
U18 Girls: Nga Nguyen 4920 points
U15 Girls: Tiegan O Connor 4660 points
U13 Girls: Winnie Mc Donagh 4720 points
U18 Boys: Joey Nelson 4535 Points
U15 Boys: Tommy Nguyen 4680 Points
U13 Boys: Gellert Moravscik 4900 Points
The Remaining age groups to be confirmed.
Leinster Schools’ League:
The Leinster Schools competitions continue to go from strength to strength, with 92 teams representing 31 schools spread across 20 divisions, and representation from schools in Dublin, Kildare, Laois, Louth, Westmeath and Wicklow. The League was run across four months, November-March, with the Schools Cup competition running concurrently, culminating in the Cup Finals in UCD Belfield on 12 May.
At the All Ireland Schools, the Leinster representatives were as follows;
Minor Girls Mountrath CS
Junior Girls Deansrath CC
Senior Girls Mountrath CS
Minor Boys Blackrock College
Junior Boys Blackrock College
Senior Boys Blackrock College
The Leinster Schools Cup results were as follows;
Minor Boys Champions Griffeen Valley ETNS Runners Up Blackrock College
Minor Girls Champions Griffeen Valley ETNS Runners Up St. Ronans NS
Junior Boys Champions Blackrock College Runners Up Castleknock College
Junior Girls Champions Deansrath CC Runners Up St. Tiernans CS
Senior Boys Champions Blackrock College A Runners Up Blackrock College B
Senior Girls Champions Mountrath CS Runners Up St. Tiernans CS
The Leinster Schools Division 1 Results were as follows;
Minor Girls Champions Mountrath CS Runners Up Griffeen Valley
Junior Girls Champions Deansrath CC Runners Up St. Tiernans CS
Senior Girls Champions Mountrath CS A Runners Up Mountrath CS B
Primary Boys Champions Griffeen Valley ETNS Runners Up Sandford NS
Minor Boys Champions Blackrock College B Runners Up Blackrock College A
Junior Boys Champions Blackrock College Runners Up Colaiste Eanna
Senior Boys Champions Blackrock College Runners Up Colaiste Eanna
Leinster League Report:
Our 2016/2017 season ran from October to April, with the majority of teams being Dublin-based, as well as a few just stretching slightly beyond to Drogheda, Dunboyne (Clonee), Navan and, as a new addition, a team from Wexford participating. The Shield competition started off our playing season, with a total of 32 teams: four teams competed in eight groups from October to early December. The League was the next competition and saw another team joining us, bringing our total up to 33 teams. We had six divisions comprising either 5 or 6 teams each, with the competition running from January to March. The Cup competition completed our playing season with the first round of the knock-out matches starting in March, with five divisions playing and between six and eight teams in each of them; the semi-final matches were played during the first two weeks in April, with the finals being held in three neutral clubs on three different evenings.
The weekend of 25 March saw the Annual Belfast & District League v Leinster League match take place. This year it was hosted in Belfast, and a selection of nine of our players from various clubs travelled to participate in the three divisions. Belfast won it this year 2-1 but it was a very close call with all three matches finishing 5-4.
Our season came to an end with our Presentation Evening which was held in Leinster Cricket Club on 5 May: it was a very enjoyable social evening, giving all who attended – be they players, their partners, or club mates - the chance to get together without their bats and have a good chat.
Branch Communications upgrade:
A newly established website for Leinster Table Tennis has proven to be most useful on more than one level: to simply be contactable as a branch proved important especially for many a newcomer to the sport. A new online registration process for tournaments also helped tremendously with organising ranking events, and finally, a branch members’ database was developed.
Promotional Activities:
At the request of TTI, a ‘Provincial WIS Day’ was held in Woodbrook College, Bray, which included exhibition matches, coaching sessions and a motivational talk by a sports psychologist. Valuable lessons were learned from this.
A table tennis display was organised in the RDS at the inaugural Youth Summit aka ‘Zeminar’. With an estimated 14,000 school children attending, many were taken by both the opportunity to play in an impromptu cup format for their schools, as well as being able to watch exhibition matches by Mark O’Flynn and Sam Logue, whose presence helped immensely with putting TT on the mental map of countless teenagers and their teachers.
A most valuable offer was being extended to schools both familiar with and new to table tennis: the Leinster Schools’ League organised for exhibition matches to be held in interested schools, funded via the League and offered free of charge, so as to attract new players to the sport in a manner that has proved to be highly effective in the past.
Thanks:
I would like to thank everyone who volunteered to devote their time to the running of our fine sport, be it as an unpaid NPC, a mover of tables or a maker of coffee. Thanks for fixing IT snags, for registering and transporting players, for drumming up support, making tray bakes and organising raffles, for giving advice, ordering jerseys and staying behind for a clean-up after yet another long day. Thanks to Maria and Con at the top table (without whom the province would sink into disarray), and thanks as well to every referee and umpire who supported our events, as ever with great patience and good humour.
Henrik Heckmann
Leinster Branch Secretary
22 May 2017