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ITTA PRO REPORT
by Owen Kelly

ITTA PRO REPORT SEASON 2000 - 2001
This is my first report as PRO at the AGM and I hope it will not be too long or too dull. Newspapers:
I was notably inept during the early part of the season and was unsuccessful at engaging the interest of any of the papers in printing results or reports. The previous PRO had warned me of this and I proved to be even more unsuccessful at this part of PRO. I am pleased to report that the situation in this regard has improved greatly and I was able to submit and have published various articles on domestic and international events. There was good coverage of the World Championships, British Primary Schools and All Ireland Schools Finals within the Examiner, Times and Independent. Paddy Hickey of the Independent has proved to be the most obliging of the journalists.

There has been continued good coverage within local/provincial papers and Alan Strong has done a particularly good job getting regular coverage within the Belfast Telegraph.

I feel it necessary to comment that the job of PRO is made much harder by the lack of reports sent and the delay in sending results. Except for a few occasions results have been sent far too late for the newspapers to show any interest. I would like to remind organisers of the importance of sending in reports immediately. The sending of results immediately after an event is an integral part of a national event and failure to do so reflects poorly on the organisational ability of the responsible body. Newspapers are in the business of selling news and what happened two weeks ago is not news. I personally feel if results are not sent immediately after an identified Irish ranking event that the ITTA should remove that status from the tournament in question for next season. This is an area where there is obvious disagreement, as it has been indicated to me that it is the PRO's job to run around after tournament organisers pleading with them to send in results. This I feel is not an efficient or professional way to run a sport and simply I do not have the time to do. The job of PRO's of provincial branches should include this aspect, I feel it is important that each of the four provinces need to elect a PRO in order to achieve this.

The sending of reports by NPCs has received criticism in the past and the matter is still not completely satisfactory, I received very little communication from the World Championships this year and had to trawl the Internet for any results. NPC and team manager's reports to PRO are part of the responsibilities of the officers and all captains should be made aware of this.

Internet:
The subject of the Internet had arisen at the last two AGMs I attended and most of you know that this is an area of particular interest to myself. The main reasons being that it is now widely available and is a cheaper way to distribute information than a printed newsletter or magazine. I feel the internal distribution of information is a crucial part of a body with a large and widespread membership. This is an area of PRO that I feel needed to be greatly improved. This form of communication also has the added ability to accept and reply to the membership in an open and immediate way. Being the ITTA PRO I have been able to maintain the Table Tennis Ireland site, as I have been given access to up to date information when available. I would point out however that Table Tennis Ireland is an independent site and does not receive any funding other than advertising and my personal commitment and that unless otherwise stated the opinion of the webmaster is not to be regarded as that of the ITTA.

The Table Tennis Ireland site has received a number of awards and has been highly rated by various publications. The number of people visiting the site has increased to over 500 a week and over 300 people receive a monthly Ezine on website additions. The site has had an international appeal with hits from over 140 different countries worldwide and in my opinion has raised the profile of Irish table tennis both domestically and internationally. The site however does take an inordinate amount of time and effort to keep up to date and fresh during the season.

A number of other Irish Table Tennis web sites have appeared and this will increase the presence of Ireland and the sport in this form of media. I would like to personally compliment the efforts of the Eastpoint Club and John O'Donoghue for their informative site and John's work on the new Irish Schools Table Tennis site at www.istta.com A number of news based websites have also published articles/news on Irish Table Tennis.

Other Media:

  • An interview with Linda Mountjoy was published on the ENTER CD ROM. This consisted of an inter-reactive video of Linda answering questions on her and table tennis.
  • A new magazine interviewed Andrea Glover for an article on Irish women in sport.
  • Regular articles have appeared in Racket Sports Magazine and Sports Scene Magazine.
  • Eurosport Satellite channel showed the Irish women's team in the World Team Championships.
  • RTE On Line has carried a number of results on their web site as well as Unison.ie

    Other Business:
  • In conjunction with the NCDC an exhibition of table tennis was undertaken at the Mars Sports Show. A new pamphlet was published with relevant information for distribution and a number of instructive and promotional laminates were designed for the exhibition.
  • Promotional posters and pamphlets have been distributed to new clubs, schools, sports centres, & regional health boards.
  • Each table tennis competitor at the UK & Ireland Corporate Games received a pamphlet.
  • A large number of addresses, contact numbers of clubs, schools and members has been co-ordinated. Many of these have been included in information sent out to the Sport Development Officers of a number of County Councils through out the country.

    Yours In Sport
    Owen Kelly
    (ITTA PRO)