Organised table tennis in the North-East of Scotland can be traced back to 1934 with the formation of the Aberdeen Table Tennis Association and a vibrant local league structure has been sustained since that time.
Local Championships were held from 1934 with players invited from elsewhere to compete and Aberdeen-based players would also regularly travel across Scotland to compete in other events. Aberdeen players were often to the fore at a national level, with the legendary Victor Garland, Eddie Still, and Richard Yule all springing to mind.
There is evidence to suggest that the involvement of younger players has always been encouraged and formal coaching programmes can be traced back to the early 1960s. Taking advantage of high quality coaching and adequate training facilities, local youngsters have been very prominent on the national scene and this has been a sustained feature of table tennis in Scotland since that time.
The Aberdeen Lads Club was the initial driving force and, with YMCA, they nurtured and developed the sport, locally and beyond, for a great many years. This was followed up by the ‘Triangle’ Club, as well as Ashvale through the 90’s, and the rise of the McClymont Hall and club was a shining light in ADTTA history.
Much of the ADTTA league history, past Divisional and Cup winners, can be found at
https://tabletennis365.com/Aberdeen/Pages/ADTTA_Past_Winners
In 2011, after starting successful drop-in Table Tennis session for children at Aberdeen Sports Village, the initiative was taken to expand this and develop an ASV TT Academy, with potential for players to succeed at all levels of the game.
Two former national coaches, Max Singer and Charlie Matthew, were approached and both agreed to lead the Academy for a 6-week trial period.
Now, in 2023, over 200 children have regularly attended TT Academy sessions. There have been 5 selections for European events from Academy players, 2 UK Schools Champions, and many Scottish Team selections, with Academy players often supplying 50% of entire Scottish teams. We have had, and continue to have, several No.1 ranked players within their age groups & gender, several Scottish Champions, and several Scottish Team Champions. One statistic which defines the success of the ASV TT Academy is the run of Scottish U13 Team Champions for eight consecutive years, an excellent example of ongoing player development at national level and potential for future growth.
Extract from Growing Table Tennis in the North East of Scotland, 5 year Development Plan 2023-2028, ADTTA, 17th April 2023, written by Donald Pirie.
