North Ayrshire Table Tennis Club look forward to return of competitions

Table Tennis, like all sports, has been restricted over the past year with COVID-19 protocols stopping the sport from going at its regular, high pace intensity.

NATTC also lost access to their main training base at St Matthews Academy in Saltcoats with it being shut during the pandemic.

So the club have been running sessions at St Peter’s church hall, which is a three table venue, since they restarted in May.

They have also recently started classes at the Portal in Irvine on Tuesday nights between 7.15-9pm.

Main says he is proud of the club’s continued growth during lockdown and hopes to be able to expand further as restrictions continue to ease.

“I think we have come out of this lockdown very strong considering a lot of clubs in Scotland have been struggling with getting players back and venues.

“We are happy with what is happening since the lockdown, we are running sessions three or four days a week over at St Peter’s and we have the session over in Irvine.

“But hopefully come the start of September, we will see St Matthew’s Academy and West Kilbride back and running.”

Alongside the potential reopening and return of some training facilities next month the club are looking forward to a return on the competitive side as well.

The club has a wide variety of players from beginners to Scottish internationals and compete in regional, Scottish and British leagues.

Main says he is delighted with the competitive return for all his sides as they have a busy fixture list to take care of next month.

“The first competition that we are involved in is the British Premier League, which is going to be held at St Matthew’s.

“It is a home and away format so we are facing Fusion Table Tennis Club on September 18.

“The following weekend is the British League, which has the teams in the third and fourth division competing.

“The regional league then starts in the middle of October, so it is a lot of things kicking off which is good.”