Newton Abbot Table Tennis Club - CLUBMARK AWARD
Although never an official club, table tennis sessions have been run at Newton Abbot Leisure Centre for over 23 years. With the Leisure Centre unable to continue to accommodate the ‘club’, and without a venue to play at, Teign school came to the rescue and the club has gone from strength to strength with great support from the school and it’s students. An official club was formed by a number of the senior players and English Table Tennis Association Premier Club status applied for and achieved. With the ETTA’s support it was agreed to go for the Sport England ‘CLUBMARK’ award which is given to clubs who can prove they meet nationally agreed standards in supporting and developing juniors. CLUBMARK status was recently achieved and ETTA’s South West Area Lead, Chris Brown came down to award the certificate to Dennis Gibbs, Chairman of Newton Abbot Table Tennis Club.
Chris Brown said ‘this award shows the commitment the club have made to offering a high quality, safe, and sociable environment for people to develop their table tennis skills, practice, and compete. CLUBMARK is the sign of a quality sports club, and I have no doubt Newton Abbot TTC will continue their growth and development with the help of Teign school.’
As well as the presentation of the Clubmark certificate, there was an exhibition match between top local players Shaun Gibbs and Kevin Nicholls, ETTA Junior Umpire Awards were presented to those students who had passed the test and a Clubmark Challenge Junior Tournament held, which was won by Teign student Gregory Bartlett who defeated Andrei Constantin in a hard hitting final.
Anyone interested in playing table tennis would be most welcome to join us on Friday nights in Teign School sports hall 6.30 – 9.30pm. All abilities welcome, and whether you want to give it a try for the first time, fancy getting better after that defeat on holiday or would like to join a league team to play competitively, it would be good to see you. We have at least 10 tables available and all equipment is provided.
For further information check out our website www.tabletennis365.com/newtonabbot
or contact secretary Tony Halse 01626 852007 or tonyhalse@hotmail.com
