NEWS

Our Board member in charge of Marketing and Communications, Thorsten Gohl, visited my office in Ottawa to help TTCAN with its communications system.

While in Ottawa, Thorsten took over my office and worked intensely to prepare and propose plans to enhance our communications system and strategies, reactivate our website, and revive our social media platforms.

This is a huge task, but Thorsten is already active and has a 3-point ambitious plan that will see a total redesign of our website and enhanced branding of TTCAN to improve its image and engage our fans, players and table tennis lovers across the country.

During his stay in Ottawa, Thorsten not only played TT every night, he also produced videos of several interviews that will be posted on TTCAN’s platforms very soon. Look out for an interview with Curtis Caron, Stephane Charbonneau and Michel Legault. And if you want to know what is inside Thorsten’s head, other than a mini ping pong table, then look out for his interview as well.

Thorsten drives thousands of miles across Canada in his Table Tennis North Ford pick-up truck, equipped with a mini ping pong table, rackets and balls. Wherever he stops he plays with locals outdoor on the mini table. I was privileged to be asked to play yesterday in the Ottawa heat and hair-raising wind. I look forward to viewing the video.

I have dubbed this part of Thorsten’s promotion of our sport “Have Table Will Travel”. Those who are my age or older will remember the very popular western TV series “Have Gun Will Travel”. Thorsten is a peaceful man, so the mini table replaces the gun. “Stop the Bang Bang, start the Ping Pong” . I hope that we will have a section on our website showing photos of all those that have played on the mini table from all corners of our vast country and during all seasons.

Well, after one week it was time for me to kick Thorsten out of my office. I could only do it by punching him repeatedly. With each punch, his smile got wider. A real dedicated volunteer of our sport.

Thank you Thorsten and keep on trucking, literally.

What a nice article in the Dehcho school newspaper, about 2019 Canada Winter Games – Red Deer Team NT Table Tennis athlete Shannan from Deh Gáh School in Fort Providence.

Congratulations to Zachary Mathison for becoming Table Tennis North’s 2018 Player of the Year.

The young, 9 years old, Zachary had a fantastic year in 2018. Qualifying for the 2018 Arctic Winter Games and winning all Territorial titles that he participated in. This included the Grade 8 singles event and the High School doubles tournament.

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It was a fantastic trip for Team NT to the Yukon. An amazing start to work on inter-territorial events in the future, #TrueNorth.

It is all about coming together, being stronger together, creating opportunities and possibilities. So great to see Team Yukon Table Tennis and Team NT Table Tennis building bridges, creating partnerships and making our sport stronger.
It is all about coming together, being stronger together, creating opportunities and possibilities. So great to see Team Yukon Table Tennis and Team NT Table Tennis building bridges, creating partnerships and making our sport stronger.

Beautiful media articles

https://www.whitehorsestar.com/Sports/yukon-and-n-w-t-train-for-table-tennis?fbclid=IwAR1N06Qm7zLY5H6WuexD5L4mEHFr-8DN0haAz3HY52Z3qqR0_MHutm6u22g

Table Tennis North comes to town for training

Gallery

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Congratulations to Shari Olsen from Fort Smith in becoming a Territorial Umpire for the Northwest Territories in Table Tennis.

“I am always up for a challenge and trying new things. Table Tennis is a growing sport in the North and it seems to be the right fit. It was a great weekend and having some insight and directions from an international and experienced Canada Winter Games official was fantastic. Brian and Team Yukon were great and I am very thankful for their support.”

Shari only started with Table Tennis in 2018 but quickly learned about the sport. She officiated the Canada Games trials, the NWT School Championships and the “North of 60” challenge in Whitehorse, Yukon. Having done 100 matches in such short time, she is definitely going to be ready to umpire at the 2019 Canada Winter Games in Red Deer this February.

“We are very proud of Shari” says Executive Director for Table Tennis North Thorsten Gohl. He continuous “She is involved in so many things in the North and we are grateful having her. She has done a lot of matches in such a short time and it was so great to see all the support that she got from our athletes, coaches, teachers, parents and more. Everyone seemed to be helping out, and at the end, Shari did an amazing job.”

Brian Stewart from Team Yukon, an international umpire, had more great things to say: “Shari is a perfect example of what a new umpire should be; she listened to hours of rules and stories, she jumped right into officiating singles and doubles matches, and in a just a day she passed her exam with flying colours! I am very proud to have been part of her development and I can’t wait to meet up with her again in Red Deer this February and then again to have her come to Whitehorse in 2020. As the only active official north of 60 for many years, I find it very exciting to have “co-workers” who understand the challenges northern officials for Table Tennis have. With such a strong addition to the northern contingent of officials, hopefully we can open up more opportunities for us in the north.”

The Table Tennis event at the 2019 Canada Winter Games will be hosted in Red Deer, Alberta, from February 15-22, 2019.

https://ttcanada.ca/northwest-territories-adds-new-territorial-umpire/

Table Tennis North will be hosting two trial weekends with a total of 1 officials clinic, 4 morning skills camps and 4 afternoon tournaments.

October 12-14, 2018 – Fort Providence
November 24-25, 2018 – Yellowknife, St. Patricks

Athletes are selected in the following categories (born in 2001 or after): 
• Male (three athletes)
• Female (three athletes)

The top 3 spots will be given to the top 3 ranked players in each category.

5 points for attending each skills camp (maximum 20 points)

Points system for the tournaments (maximum 40 points)

1. 10 points
2. 08 points
3. 06 points
4. 05 points
5. 04 points
6. 03 points
7. 02 points
8. 01 point

Each athlete will need to fill out a QUESTIONNAIRE about Table Tennis and submit it prior to the first skills camp.

Athletes will to have to pass the umpire exam. This can be done ONLINE via Table Tennis Canada or on October 12, 2018 (Fort Providence).

Table Tennis rules are available HERE!

There is a fee of $100 for the trials, including all skills camps and tournament fees per athlete. That does not include food or accommodation, but Table Tennis North can help and secure the accommodation.

If successful, there will be an additional fee of $150 for the Team NT Table Tennis uniform, provided by Table Tennis North (each participant of the trials can purchase the set).

SIGN UP for the trials in sending the first name, last name, birthdate, community and contact e-mail/phone number to info@tabletennisnorth.ca by October 11th, 2018! Arrangements for accommodation can be made in Fort Providence at the school if a chaperone is present. 

HERE is the full selection policy. 

We are looking forward to seeing you in October in Fort Providence or November in Yellowknife. GO TEAM NT GO!!!

It has been another amazing year for Table Tennis in the Northwest Territories. Here are some of the highlights of 2017:

• 60 professional Table Tennis tables are now in our communities and see a lot of action.
• 15 communities have been engaged with Table Tennis.
• Our “Elders in Motion” program has been a huge success and we were allowed to speak at the NWTRPA conference this year on bringing Elders, Kids and the communities together.
• Readers’ Digest featured a full story on Table Tennis North, reaching across the country and beyond.
• 135 kids showed up to the 2017 Territorial School Championships.
• Aurora Ford has become a major sponsor for Table Tennis North.
• Table Tennis North has been back to the Canadian Table Tennis Championships since over 30 years and reached the Round of 32 in the Men’s Single event.
• Thorsten was named Volunteer and Coach of the Year by the Territorial Sport Organization. He also received the Betty Tweedy Award by Table Tennis Canada and the Contributor to Sport award by Sport North.
• Aurora Fraser and Tamara Jovic have been named the Team of the Year by Sport North.

Just some of our many highlights of this year. Every time going into a gym, cafeteria, class room or really anywhere where we find a Table Tennis Table, is a highlight. We are grateful for everyone that has been involved this year and we are excited looking forward to 2018 and the excitement that the Arctic Winter Games will bring.

It’s the last territorial champion-ship of the calendar year and was one which provided the most unlikely of results.

The NWT Table Tennis Championships were held at Weledeh and St. Pat’s Gymnasiums on Dec. 15 and 16 and Zachary Mathison of Weledeh Catholic School made sure people knew it doesn’t matter how old you are, but rather that you can play the game. And he did just that, winning the Grade 8 boys singles title. Not a big deal until you realize that Mathison is only in Grade 3. Mathison said it was a challenge, but nothing he couldn’t handle. “I wasn’t really nervous,” he said. “The kids were just bigger, that’s all.” They were a bit bigger this time because the eight-year-old won the Grade 6 boys title last year as a Grade 2 student, but thought he could pull it off again this year. “I had some easy matches, some hard matches,” he said.

Just for a challenge, Mathison decided to enter the high school event to play doubles with his older brother, Christopher, who goes to St. Pat’s, and they won that. “The doubles was a bit harder,” said the younger Mathison. “They hit a bit harder but I wasn’t nervous at all.”

Christopher Mathison went on to win the Grade 9-12 boys singles in the high school division to complete the family sweep, which helped St. Pat’s win the overall banner in that category. While Mathison was busy dom-inating Grade 8 students as an eight-year-old, there were other divisions up for grabs.

St. Joe’s ended up winning the overall championship in the junior division thanks in large part to Alex Ramsey, Raine Mingo and Gracie Brennan winning the Grade 6 boys and girls and Grade 7 girls singles titles respectively. Mingo and Ramsey teamed up to capture the Grade 6 doubles title, which helped the school lock up the banner in their first year competing as a team. The overall banners were decided based on an aggregate system where the total number of points earned by a school through its results was divided by the number of athletes a school brought to produce an average score.

Cory Taylor was the school’s coach and said it was a pretty good debut for the Huskies. “Eugene (Roach, phys-ed teacher) and I ran table tennis as part of the after-school program and we used that as our practice,” he said. “We had some kids picking up racquets for the first time and some who obviously knew what they were doing and so they were challenging Eugene and I for matches.”

Singles
Grade 6 boys – Alex Ramsey, St. Joe’s
Grade 6 girls – Raine Mingo, St. Joe’s
Grade 7 boys – Nikkilesh Gohil, William McDonald
Grade 7 girls – Gracie Brennan, St. Joe’s
Grade 8 boys – Zachary Mathison, Weledeh
Grade 8 girls – Katherine Smallwood, William McDonald Doubles

Doubles
Grade 6 – Alex Ramsey and Raine Mingo, St. Joe’s
Grade 7 – Nikkilesh Gohil and Lennox Mutford, William McDonald
Grade 8 – Colton Robertson and Luke Kotaska, William McDonald

Overall banner – St. Joe’s Senior division

Singles

Grade 9-12 boys – Christopher Mathison, St. Pat’s
Grade 9-12 girls – Shannen Bonnetrouge, Fort Providence

Doubles
Christopher and Zachary Mathison

Overall banner – St. Pat’s

Deh Gáh School in Fort Providence is hosting a Table Tennis skills clinic from November 11th until 13th. In addition we will be hosting a coaching & officials clinic on October 9th in preparation to the 2018 South Slave Arctic Winter Games. Table Tennis will be hosted in Fort Smith at JBT Elementary School from March 18-24th, 2018.

Timeline

Saturday, November 11th, 2017
Coaching & Officials clinic

Saturday till Monday, November 11th-13th, 2017
Skills Camp

Fee

$50 for food (Saturday to Monday)
$100 for two nights at the Snowshoe Inn (per person, limited space)

Accommodation & Food

Snowshoe Inn, Fort Providence, food will be provided at the school.
Possibility to stay at the school.

Table Tennis Rules

We will follow the rules of the International Table Tennis Federation. If you have any questions, please contact info@tabletennisnorth.ca and we will be happy to help you.

ITTF Rules: http://www.ittf.com/ittf_handbook/hb.asp?s_number=2

Deadline for registration is November 9th, 2017. For registration, please send and e-mail to info@tabletennisnorth.ca with the following information: First Name, Last Name, Community and birthdate.

If you have any more questions, please contact info@tabletennisnorth.ca. Thank you! We are looking forward to seeing you in Fort Providence!!!

Once again we are happy to see our articles in The Minor Hockey News! Check out the articles “What’s been happening with Table Tennis in the Northwest Territories” and “2016, the Year of Table Tennis North’s Executive Director Thorsten Gohl.”

A fun read and you will be up to date on what is happening with Table Tennis in the NWT.

Read the full articles right here: Minor Hockey News – Table Tennis