10/05/2026
Well folk's....... happy ending to a challenging, but productive season.
Friday night saw the annual County Antrim Table Tennis League awards presentation dinner.
For the past number of seasons, the awards were held at the Lodge Hotel in Coleraine.
However, this year we got the league awards presentation dinner brought to the Curran Court Hotel, in Larne.
Our Div 3 team and father & son pair (Jason & Seth Brown) did us proud.
1) Division 3 team (Jason, Seth & John) won the Division 3 knockout cup.
2) Jason & Seth were runner's up in Div 3 doubles tournament.
So, we ended up with some silverware at the end of the season for our endeavours.
Looking back over the season, we've made progress on a number of fronts.
1) Nice bright club venue @ Millbrook Community Centre.
2) 2 brand new top of the range table tennis tables.
3) Club numbers up, slightly.
4) Front of match shirt sponsorship raffle brought in £1000.
5) B Team did us proud.
6) Young players gave a good account of themselves and showed real potential.
7) Larne Grammar School received 2 of our old tables. So, they are of use for the foreseeable in the school. Let's hope that this helps to feed potential players from the school into our club.
8) Larne Lawn Bowling and Tennis Club also received an older stock table from us, in an attempt to keep table tennis an active part of the club and we also hope we can feed from players who get an interest in playing from our donation.
So it's been a successful season, when you throw it all together.
However there are challenges and areas of concern.
1) Retaining players and keeping development players interested once league action begins.
2) Getting club numbers up.
Going forward..... we've identified that numbers need to increase and we need to keep working hard on that.
We currently open one night a week. (Thursday nights) From September to mid- April.
So, encouraging more players to come along is essential.
We need more people to get involved in the running of the club, because on match nights numbers are low when we have a team playing away from home.
We are going to run another front of match shirt sponsorship raffle, with the target of raising £1000.
Players simply need to hit more balls. So, we aim to get a new ball-feeding club robot before the new season.
We encourage families to come along and give table tennis a try.
Table tennis is a fun, social sport.
We are an affiliated club to Table Tennis Ulster /Table Tennis Ireland.
We also have qualified and experienced coaches at the club.
Also..... Table Tennis has been identified as a sport which is a sport for life, with huge health benefits.
1) Studies have shown that table tennis is the No.1 sport for recovery from Stroke, aiding rehab and hand/eye co-ordination skills.
2) Table Tennis helps people with Parkinson's Disease.
3) Table Tennis is an all-round active sport. Playing table tennis a couple of times a week helps prevent dementia in old age, due to the fact that it keeps your brain active and you are constantly challenged to make playing decisions in a fraction of a second, as your skills develop.
4) Table Tennis is personally more active than any other sport that involves a ball..... simply because the ball is coming straight back to you. So you don't run about for a while without touching the ball. You get more ball time. So you need to be ready to receive the ball back at all times.
So, even if you want to come along and have a bit of social downtime..... feel welcome to come and join our club.
We're open for a friendly 'Bat n Chat'.
It is good for your health and it is good for you in lots of ways you would never have thought of.
If you are interested and fancy trying your hand at table tennis, just PM our club coach Alan McGuffog.
You can also contact Alan via his email: [email protected]
or you could text Alan on WhatsApp 07989059090.
Alan works for Royal Mail. So, leaving Alan a message is the best option as he is very busy through the working day. He will get back to you.
