TTA Students for Training Camp in Spain September 2010

Following the established relationship between the Table Tennis Academy and the Caja Granada Table Tennis Club in Spain, Andrew Gambina and Jake Galea have attended for a two-week training camp at the Spanish Club. This experience has been made possible through the link between the TTA and the Spanish club. Both students were offered coaching sessions to suit their individual needs and were more than satisfied with the overall experience. The TTA shall be working to foster this relationship with Caja Granada with the aim of having more student exchanges in the future.

from left to right: Andrew Gambina, Jake Galea, Pedro Marcos Correa (coach)

Presentation of Awards to TTA Students at the MTTA Annual Presentation Ceremony
August 2010

Owen Kelly coaching at the Table Tennis Academy
13th to 27th July 2010

Owen Kelly from Ireland is a Level 3 qualified coach from Ireland with over 25 years of coaching experience. He mostly coaches junior players but also has experience with Special Olympic Athletes and was the Head Coach for Ireland at the last World Games in China.

He is accompanied by his son James Kelly who is 10 years old and is currently in the top 4 players in Ireland at Under 10 category.

Owen is conducting all the summer school coaching sessions during his stay at the Academy.

62nd Fisec Games, Tours - France
5 to 11 July 2010

from left to right: Marcus Portelli, Andrea Portelli and Kevan Azzopardi (MTTA JEC)

EuroKids - Lignano, Italy
May 2010

TTA students Therese Genovese and Dylan Zammit have been selected to attend for the ITTF EuroKids training camp that was held in Lignano, Italy. Accompanied by TTA assistant coach Alex Anastasi, they have benefited from this experience that will prove to be fruitful in their table tennis career.   from left to right: Therese Genovese, Brank Batinic (EuroKids Head Coach), Alex Anastasi and Dylan Zammit

Inter Schools Sports Competition - Table Tennis Event
May 2010

Under 13 Girls - 1st Place - Sascha Genovese Under 15 Boys - Winner - Andrea Portelli Under 15 Girls - Runner Up - Therese Genovese

TTA Tibhar Robot Feature on GADGETS
14th March 2010

TTA Table Tennis Exhibition at St Albert College
21st January 2010

Daniel Reed visits TTA
23rd December 2009

Daniel Reed together with the students who took part in this event

Table Tennis Academy students have been given the opportunity to meet an international top table tennis player !!

Daniel Reed a leading English table tennis player visited the TTA during the Christmas period. Daniel is currently ranked 3rd in the men's senior English Table Tennis Association ranking.

Daniel Reed held a group training session for the TTA students and has individually assessed the students offering them advice and tips. Most importantly this event has offered the opportunity for local talent to aspire to higher levels.

Annual Awards & Presentation Dinner 2009
22nd December 2009

Presentation Dinner was held at the Maritim Antonine Spa Hotel, Mellieha. The night was a huge success with the attendance of the students and their families. Many thanks go to our sponsors Mr Frans Debono of Sports Experience, Ms Maria Micallef of Powerade and Antoine Vella of Express Trailers. This year the assembly was treated to a surprise video produced by the students. [Video on YouTube]

The SPORTS EXPERIENCE SPECIAL AWARD was awarded to STEVE BUGEJA.
Other nominees were William Victor Camilleri and Daniel Vella Fondacaro.

The winners and nominees for this year's awards were:

A special token of appreciation was presented to William Victor Camilleri in recognition of his services to the TTA.

EuroKids, Buzau - Romania 24th to 30th November 2009 Andrea Portelli & Dylan Zammit, both promising TTA students, have been selected by the Malta Table Tennis Assocaition to represent Malta in EuroKids accompanied by TTA Head Coach Mario Genovese. . Largest Contingent ever with a total of 21 Teams . 51 players participating . Dylan Zammit is the fourth youngest in group and fairing very well . Andrea doing very well and is at his strongest Eurokids ever. 3rd Day Report The third day is underway as the Eurokids team gets ready for tomorrow's hot competition. 4 groups of 7 will see the boys through the first round the largest by far ever. Countries as far away as Egypt are participating and strong squads from the Czech republic, Belgium, Romania are making their presnce felt. 9 year old Mazid from Egypt is one of the best talents to be seen anywhere. The camp is in the capable hands of head coach Branca Batinic from Croatia. This morning an intensive session on service tactics is planned by Branca and TTA Head Coach Mario Genovese has been selected to do multiple ball training for the team this morning and physical conditioning in the afternoon. More later on.......from Buzau holders of the fifth Eurokids edition so far.

TTA Teams Participating in Malta National League 2009/10
01/10/2009

This season many of our Academy students have formed teams that are participating in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Divisions. Of these, 4 teams have been sponsored with Tibhar kits. These are: Top : DREAM TEAM Ryan Tabone, Dario Portelli, Olaf Magri, Miguel Balzan Middle Left : BLADE TTC Chris Attard, Rosie Geraghty, Julian Caruana & (Matthew Farrugia not in photo) Middle Right : St JAMES HOSPITAL TTC 'A' Marcus Portelli, Andrea Portelli, Daniel Portelli Bottom :St JAMES HOSPITAL TTC 'B' Frank Bugeja, Therese Genovese, Katia Mifsud, Alex Portelli

Update to TTA Star Rating System
30/09/2009

Following the major improvements by our ranked players, the need was felt to make some slight changes to the Star Rating System and also to the TTA tournament structure.

The 5 Star Group has been widened to include the Top 10 players thus giving more opportunity for those 4Star students who are bordering onto the 5 Star Group to have the opportunity to play competitively at a higher level and also to work hard to keep their place within the respective groups.

5 Star Group – 1st to 10th positions
4 Star Group – 11th to 20th position
3 Star Group – 21st to 30th position
2 Star Group – 31st position onwards
1 Star Group – non ranked players