St Bernards’ talented table tennis stars will be taking on the best in England in the national championships this weekend.

The Barrow school has three teams in the English Schools Table Tennis Association finals after a remarkable year of success.

The under-13s girls, under-13s boys and under-16s girls teams will all be eager to claim the silverware after coming through county, area and regional events to reach the national finals in Hinckley, Leicestershire.

Under the guidance of teacher Karen Griffiths and former England coach Denis Neale, the three teams have all excelled this year.

“We’re absolutely delighted for the kids,” said Griffiths, herself a table tennis player.

“They have been training and working really hard.

“Last year we managed to get two teams through to the national finals, but to get three teams through this year is a fantastic achievement.”

Neale, too, has been impressed with the success of St Bernard’s against bigger schools from larger catchment areas.

“I think it’s fantastic for a school like St Bernard’s to have three teams reach the national finals when they have been playing teams from Manchester, Liverpool and the like – where there are more than 300 schools to choose from,” he said.

“For them to have three teams there on finals day is fantastic.

“I’ve been working with them for about the past 10 weeks and Karen, being a table tennis player herself, is a big thing in bringing the kids on.

“You can’t tell the team now from 12 weeks ago. They are all really keen and they really want to do well – they have developed a lot from the beginning.”

The under-16s girls team is made up of Shannon Trainor, Emily Edwards, Adele Bassett and Anna Donohue, the under-13s girls consists of Emily Cotton, Robyn Holden, Louise Kenneally and Katie Linton, while the under-13s boys quartet is James Coward, Ross Ahern, Anton Vacca and Brendan Trainor.

The teams have all had weekly sessions with Neale at the Barrow Table Tennis Centre, and in the school, with top local coaches Mike Yardley and Duncan Crawford both also lending their expertise.

“The coaching sessions and the extra practice have been really helpful,” added Griffiths.

“The combination of the practice they are getting in and out of school is a big thing and a lot of the kids are playing four or five times a week, which is what we need to compete with the other schools.”

Neale is hopeful the strength-in-depth of the St Bernard’s teams will hold them in good stead this weekend.

“The key to success at the nationals is having good depth,” he said. “You can have the best two players in England, but if your other two are no good you can’t win.

“With the St Bernard’s teams, they can all play at the same level, which gives them every chance.”

The northern finals of the English Schools’ Table Tennis Association Championships took place in Blackburn.

St Bernard’s under-13s girls were third in England last year and hopeful of making the national finals again.

Their opening match against De Ferrers Technical College, from Burton-on-Trent, was won by a quite comfortable margin of 6-2.

However, the second match, in effect the final, was against north east champions, Northfield School, from Billingham, and was far from easy.

Robyn Holden found it hard against the top-ranking players and it was a rearguard action that brought their wins.

It looked as though St Bernard’s were going out when Emily Cotton was 2-0 down, but she fought back to gain the win.

There were further wins from Louise Keneally and, vitally, from Katie Linton that earned a draw.

The games count-back was level and the girls faced an agonising wait while the points totals were confirmed, giving St Bernard’s victory by just seven points and a place in the national finals.

Keneally was the player on top form, winning all four matches. Linton won three, Cotton two and Holden won once.

It was a great team effort and one where every point won had a bearing on the match.

Encouraged by the girls’ performance, St Bernard’s under-13s boys started their quest for a first national finals place with a resounding 8-0 win against Graham School, from Scarborough.

This put them through to the final against De Ferrers Technical College.

Again St Bernard’s showed invaluable strength-in-depth.

Top players James Coward and Brendan Trainor were both beaten by the opposition number one, but then everything went the way of St Bernard’s in a 6-2 win.

Both Anton Vacca and Ross Ahern won all their matches, with Coward and Trainor winning three from four.

St Columba’s under-11s girls played very well in the group stage with a 6-2 win against Dronfield, from Derbyshire and a 5-3 win against St Peter’s, from Nottinghamshire.

Mia Gwynne and Tyra Rushton were impressive, winning all their matches. Sophie Ridgway won twice and Jenny Williams won once.

Williams also went to five games in two other matches, a great performance by a player still only in Year 4, two years younger than her team-mates.

The final looked a harder proposition, and so it proved against Village school, from Thornaby-on-Tees.

Their number one, Megan Eden, was a very strong player for this age group.

Nevertheless, Gwynne had the opposition coach and the player herself worried. Her containing and counter-attack ploy almost caused an upset, with the match going to five games and only won at 11-9 in the decider.

Gwynne defeated the number two, while Sophie Ridgway won in straight sets for a 2-1 lead.

Despite Jenny Williams taking games in both her matches, the only other result to go the Walney school’s way was Tyra Rushton’s four-game win against Kristen Brown.

The St Columba’s girls should be proud of getting so close to the national finals.

At the parallel regional event held at Grantham, St Bernard’s under-16s girls were making it a hat-trick of national finalists.

They achieved this with two 5-3 victories.

Despite not playing league or national tournaments this year, hard-hitting number one Anna Donohue led the way, unbeaten in all four matches.

Shannon Trainor, Emily Edwards and Adele Bassett all won two matches.

Two other Cumbria teams played at Grantham, Askam under-11s boys and Dowdales under-13s boys.

Both teams achieved good individual performances, but were unable to make progress through the group stages.

Six Furness teams, largely coached by Barrow Table Tennis Club’s coaches Duncan Crawford, Mike Yardley, Denis Neale and Tristran Swan, made it through to the northern finals of the English Schools Table Tennis Association Championships after strong showings in the county and regional events.

South Cumbrian teams won six of the seven events at the county finals, held at the Barrow Table Tennis Centre, while there were three champions and three runners-up at the North West event.

The Cumbria finals saw Holy Family, Dane Ghyll and Storth in the under-11s girls qualifying group.

Dane Ghyll and Holy Family had a close match, which just swung in the former’s favour, 5-3.

Ife Bamigboye and Megan Turnough were unbeaten, while Jessica Livesey featured strongly for Holy Family with two wins.

Holy Family went down 6-2 against Storth, Livesey winning twice.

The decider between Dane Ghyll and Storth was as close as possible.

Two wins each for Caitlyn Walker and Bamigboye secured a draw for Dane Ghyll. The teams were level on countback, but Dane Ghyll won on points, 288-287.

This put them into a final group against Askam and St Columba’s.

Despite some close matches, and a win each for Walker and Bamigboye, Dane Ghyll were unable to prevent their opponents facing off in the final once more.

Wins from Mia Gwynne and Tyra Rushton put the Walney team 2-0 up, before Sophie Ridgway edged Jasmine Halcrow in a real tight affair, coming from two games behind to win for St Columba’s.

Another win for Gwynne made it 4-0, before Askam staged a fightback with wins from Katie Moncrief, Jasmine Halcrow and Robyn Halcrow.

The title was secured for St Columba’s when Rushton came to the table and beat Robyn Halcrow in three games.

In the under-11s boys event, the same two schools reached the final.

Askam knocked out last season’s champions, Holy Family, with a 6-2 win, Brandon Corrie and Luke Greenway winning for Holy Family.

Askam also defeated a St Columba’s B team by the same score, Columba’s winners Louis Rourke and Ryan Cotton.

Luke Reid won all four games played for Askam, with Keir Shepherd winning three from three, Lee Irving and James Wallis two each, and Lian Knowles one.

On the other table, St Columba’s were comfortable winners against Dane Ghyll and beat Storth 7-1. Dane Ghyll lost 5-3 against Storth, Luke Maddox, Aaron Solsby and Cameron Bell all winning.

St Columba’s top pairing of Harry Mellen and Ben O’Flynn started the final against Askam powerfully and recorded straight-game wins against Reid and Shepherd respectively. Morgan Gwynne added to the total with a four-game success against Wallis.

The next three games saw the match hanging in the balance.

Knowles gained Askam’s first win, beating Lashmar.

Then Reid and O’Flynn showed some top-quality table tennis. The St Columba’s player took a two-game lead, but the Askam number one showed his fighting qualities and drew level.

Only at the end of the decider did O’Flynn find enough to take the win.

Gwynne still needed to hold on against Shepherd, before Mellen confirmed St Columba’s as champions.

One of the most keenly-awaited finals came in the under-13s girls, where both St Bernard’s and Dowdales had reached the national finals last year.

However, while the St Bernard’s line-up had stayed the same, Dowdales had been strengthened by the addition of England Schools’ player Emily Bolton, who has moved to Year 7 from Askam School. She soon demonstrated her class with two straight-game wins.

Robyn Holden pulled one back for St Bernard’s against Ebony Miles after a close battle.

Despite this win, and Louise Keneally’s victory against Hannah Grimes, it was Dowdales who looked to have victory in sight when they led 4-2, Amy Moncrief and Miles both contributing.

But there were two further twists in the match.

Emily Cotton started a St Bernard’s revival by beating Moncrief.

In the final match, Grimes held a 2-1 lead after taking two deuce games. Katie Linton then suddenly found her touch and, with her own deuce-winning game took a 3-2 win.

This left the match score at 4-4, however, Dowdales took the Cumbria title with a superior games ratio of 16-12.

The rivalry continued in the under-13s boys event.

Both teams had comfortable victories against Dallam School to reach the final, where the strength in depth of St Bernard’s took them to the title.

Anton Vacca won both of his matches, while Ross Ahern beat Adam Brown and Brendan Trainor defeated Chris Lloyd.

St Bernard’s number one James Coward defeated Dowdales number two Jack Walker in four games.

Walker did make his mark with a straight games win over Ahern.

The star of the Dowdales team was number one Luke Walker, who finished undefeated with wins against Trainor and Coward, without dropping any games.

The final event of the Cumbria championships was the under-16s boys.

Here, St Bernard’s gained another win against Dowdales, 6-2.

Stefan Weatherburn and Dien Curtis won both their matches, while Tom Clements and Oliver Shipley both won one. The Dowdales wins came from Daniel Armstrong and Aaron Murray.

However, neither team could match the strength of the visitors from Dallam School, who only lost two matches in the three rubbers they played.

James Turner, of Millom, won one of those and proved the top Furness player, winning five of his six matches.

It was Cumbria girl power that led the way at the North West Finals against the best teams from Lancashire, Cheshire, Greater Manchester and Shropshire.

The under-13 girls teams from Dowdales and St Bernard’s gained wins against Sir Thomas Boteler High School, from Warrington, and, in very close matches, also defeated Bramhall High School.

The two teams then met for the second time this season, St Bernard’s reversing the result from the Cumbria finals to beat Dowdales.

Bolton was again the pick of the Dowdales players, while Holden showed she has returned to form with good attacking displays.

St Columba’s under-11s girls also enjoyed a good day.

They started their group with a draw against St Mary’s Preparatory School, Blundellsands.

Rushton and Gwynne both won their two matches, while Ridgway and Jenny Williams took games to give the Saints the count-back advantage.

They won their next match against Bradley Primary, from Nelson. Again Rushton and Gwynne won their matches, but there was a notable win for Williams, who is two years younger than her team-mates.

This put them into the semi-finals against Nevill Road, from Stockport, a team who always do well in the North West Finals.

Rushton and Gwynne continued their good form, however Neville Road led 4-3.

Williams played Rana Rofifah in the last match and, although she lost, she won two vital games, enough to take St Columba’s into the final on count-back.

Cumbria’s other representatives, Askam, also made progress from the group but were narrowly defeated by Bradley in the semi-finals.

This meant a replay for Bradley and St Columba’s, and in this match the school from Nelson played with more confidence.

Gwynne and Rushton remained unbeaten, but not before both players had dropped games against Aminah Daar.

Although Ridgway and Williams did not win their matches, they both won important games that meant the score was tied after count-back.

The organisers then had to calculate the total points won and St Columba’s took the title, having won four points more than their opponents.

St Bernard’s under-16s girls beat Lancashire representatives, Garstang, but then met a team they have been keen rivals with since their under-13s days, Bramhall High School.

On this occasion, the Stockport team took the win, but St Bernard’s still qualified for the regional heats.

Perhaps the most impressive performance of the day from a Cumbrian team came in the under-13s boys.

There were 10 teams from as far as Ludlow competing, with the two Cumbria representatives in different groups.

Dowdales finished as group runners-up and progressed to the semi-finals, while St Bernard’s eased through their group and gained impressive wins in both the semi-finals and final to beat Garstang and Calday Grange, West Kirby.

In the under-11s boys, the result went against the form book. Cumbria champions St Columba’s topped their group with victories against Buildwas Primary, from Shropshire, and Oldham Hulme Grammar School, O’Flynn winning all his games.

Askam also made good progress.

Although beaten by Garstang Community Primary, they won against St Mary’s Preparatory School to put them into a semi-final with St Columba’s.

This match was a completely different story to the county final.

Askam’s top two, Reid and Shepherd, showed the improvement they have made in recent weeks, while the top two players for St Columba’s showed nerves on the big occasion.

Askam raced into a 2-0 lead as Shepherd beat O’Flynn and Reid defeated Mellen.

Gwynne pulled a match back by beating Irvine, but the Askam lead was stretched with wins from Knowles and Reid, in a five-game battle against O’Flynn.

Saints rallied as both Mellen and Gwynne posted wins, but it was Irvine who won the decisive match against Lashmar in another gruelling five-game battle. The win meant Askam qualified for the regional heats despite losing for a second time against Garstang when the two met in the final.

CUMBRIA ROLL OF HONOUR

Under-19s Boys Champions (not played for): Barrow Sixth Form.

Under-16s Boys: Champions – Dallam School. Runners-up – St Bernard’s.

Under-16s Girls: Champions (Not played for) – St Bernard’s.

Under-13s Boys: Champions – St Bernard’s. Runners-up – Dowdales.

Under-13s Girls: Champions – Dowdales. Runners-up – St Bernard’s.

Under-11s Boys: Champions – St Columba’s. Runners-up – Askam.

Under-11s Girls: Champions – St Columba’s. Runners-up – Askam.

NORTH WEST ROLL OF HONOUR

Under-16s Girls: Runners-up – St Bernard’s.

Under-13s Boys: Champions – St Bernard’s.

Under-13s Girls: Champions – St Bernard’s. Runners-up – Dowdales.

Under-11s Boys: Runners-up – Askam.

Under-11s Girls: Champions – St Columba’s.

It has been a busy time for big hitting Emily Bolton as she continues to show why she is one of the biggest sporting prospects in Cumbria.

Following on from her recent England representation, Emily has gone on to win the invitational Under 11 girls National Trials at Grantham Meres Leisure centre. After winning a tough 4 set semi-final against Jayden Budworth, Emily beat Kristelle Brook in the final.

This wasn’t Emily’s only success last month as she was also in action at the 36th National Individual Championships held at the Doncaster Dome. On the day Emily impressively reached the semi-finals finishing an overall joint third behind Tin Tin Ho (Middlesex Met) and Nicole Bird (Northamptonshire).

Congratulations Emily and keep up the hard work!

YOUNG ace Ross Ahern is rising up the table tennis ladder at speed and is being tipped for big things.

The 11-year-old Cumbria County Schools Championships under-11s title after taking the tournament by storm at Kirkby Stephen Grammar School and is a great prospect.

Ross progressed through the group stages and eventually overcame his opponent 3-0 in the final to lift the crown.

The Holy Family RC primary school pupil also progressed to the quarter-finals of the under-13s tournament where he was eventually beaten by older opposition.

This success comes at a time when Ross is pushing ever-upward in the sport, with the help of regular coaching sessions at Parkview Table Tennis Centre, often under the tutelage of former England coach Dennis Neale.

“He’s been playing for three years now,” said dad Steve.

“A mate asked him if he wanted to go along to training one night. One of the coaches thought he had potential and we’ve taken it from there.”

Ross himself puts his initial enjoyment down to that first coach who came to teach him at school – Duncan Crawford.

“I really enjoy it and it was good when I started because Duncan is a very good coach,” he said.

“I like serving and hitting the ball, but I think I need to improve my backhand.

“I’ll be playing against older players next year so it will be harder.”

Following on from Ross’s success at the county event, he will represent Cumbria at the English Schools Championships in Doncaster this weekend.

Winning the tournament did not faze Ross and he left the celebrating to his parents. “He just had a laid back attitude towards winning,” said dad Steve.

“He doesn’t tend to get over excited, he leaves that to me and his mother!

“I texted all my mates and rang family members, I think I was more excited than Ross.”

Ross will continue playing the sport when he starts at St Bernard’s in September and the school already has a good pedigree within the sport.

The Dalton youngster was also invited to join the North of England under-11s set-up, following his recent success.

He trains at the table tennis centre at Parkview School where he receives top coaching from the likes of former England player and coach Neale.

As the sport looks to develop in the county, coaches have begun investing time in school sides and generating a buzz about the game as they look to encourage more youngsters to take up table tennis.

The sport has a strong following across the country and it is hoped the sport will progress in Furness.

“You don’t realise how much interest their is in the sport until you go to the national events,” added Steve.

“It’s more the southern counties that are keen on the sport but with all the distractions it’s not as popular around here.”

As Ross will be starting senior school next year he will not be able to defend his title and he will be making the step up in age groups to the under-13s and the under-16s.

The step up in age will be a new task for the youngster, but his dad is confident he will have a bright future in the game.

“It’ll obviously be a bit harder for him with the age difference,” he added.

“It just depends if he can play well on the day. We’re really proud of him.”

Article courtesy of the North West Evening Mail.

ASKAM Village School pupil Emily Bolton enjoyed great success when she was selected to represent England in the Primary School International Table Tennis Championships in Blackburn.

Bolton played eight matches and won seven, results which were particularly impressive as she was playing against the number one and two players from each country.

Her seven victories helped England emerge as overall winners of the tournament.

England’s first opponents were a strong Wales team, with Bolton’s first match against Welsh number one Beth Roberts.

In a nip-and-tuck encounter, Bolton finally came out on top of a five-end thriller 3-11, 11-5, 11-7, 9-11, 11-3.

Her next opponent, Lauren Cundy, proved less of a challenge as she dispatched the Welsh number two 11-3, 11-8, 11-7.

Bolton teamed up with England number one, Tin Tin Ho to comfortably take the doubles 11-7, 11-7, 11-5. The final match score was a 5-5 draw, with Bolton and Ho winning all their games.

Next up for England were Guernsey, with Bolton beating their number one, Chloe Le Tissier 9-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-6. Next came Naomi Priest, who Bolton defeated 11-3, 11-3, 11-4.

Again, Bolton and Ho teamed up to good effect, taking the doubles 11-0, 11-3, 11-9. The final match score was 10-0 to England.

Scotland were England’s next opponents and Bolton’s first match saw her overcome Lucy Elliott, the Scottish number one, 11-3, 14-12, 11.5.

Next came Donna Gillon and again, Bolton won three-straight, 11-5, 11-8, 11-8.

In the doubles, Bolton and Ho continued won comfortably 11-9, 11-3, 11-2. The final match score was England 10 Scotland 0.

England’s final opponents were Ireland.

Although Bolton is in her last year at primary school, her first opponent, Emma Ludlow, was 16 months older than her. She lost 7-11, 10-12, 5-11.

She was soon back on track though, with a hard-fought encounter against Irish number two Meadrh Slattery, that saw her win 6-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-5, 13-11.

Once again Bolton and Ho combined to great effect to comfortably win the doubles 11-9,

11-1, 11-9. The final match score was 7-3 to England.

This was enough to give England overall victory and they were presented with their gold medals by the mayor of Blackburn.

The following day, Bolton competed in the individual competition.

She won three out of her four group games, beating Hanneke Wiersma, from Scotland, 11-6, 11-1, 11-7, Rachel Vivian, from Guernsey, 11-3, 11-2, 11-1 and Sarah Cooney, from Ireland, 8-11, 11-9, 11-4, 11-4, but lost her last match against Laura Edward, from Wales, 11-2, 11-4, 9-11, 2-11, 7-11.

At the quarter-final stage, Bolton was drawn against the only girl to have beaten her in the team event – Emma Ludlow.

By now, the Askam schoolgirl was getting the measure of her opponent, but couldn’t quite defeat her, losing 4-11, 6-11, 12-10, 9-11.

Bolton’s teacher and coach Stephen Cairns said: “Everyone at Askam Village School is very proud of Emily and believes that with her level of dedication and undoubted natural talent, she has an exciting International career ahead of her.”

Article courtesy of the North West Evening Mail.