We have exciting news!!! Two Junior players have been selected as recipients of the Premier's Athletic Award and the
2024-25 season is off to an excellent start with two tournaments in the books, one on the west coast with the second on the east coast.
First lets start with the tournament updates. On October 19th over 40 athletes gathered at Jakeman All Grade School in Trout River for the Western Open. Among the twelve events played included rated singles, age events and Team NL qualifying events. There was a large junior turn out from across the province with many juniors competing in their first NLTTA tournament!
Junior Results | |
Male U11 1st: Kurtis Barnes 2nd: Jake Young Female U11 1st: Sage Butler-Barnes 2nd: Tessa Young Male U15 1st: Carter Stagg 2nd: Greyson Drake | Female U19 1st: Jayden Denty 2nd: Peishan Chen Male U19 1st: Evan Denty 2nd: Cameron Lewis |
Just a few short weeks later on November 2nd over 50 athletes descended upon the Rotary Paradise Youth and Community Center in Paradise for the Paradise Open. It was an excellent day of table tennis and sportsmanship as the athletes competed in ratings events, age events and Team NL Qualifying events. Once again there was a high Junior turnout which bodes well for the sport and we look forward to seeing the Juniors for the next tournament schedule for December 7, 2024.
Team NL Qualifying Events | |
Senior Male Team Qualifier 1st Nick Hiscock 2nd Jeremy Lehr | Male U19 1st Peter Quinlan 2nd Adam Wakely |
Senior Female Team Qualifier 1st Kathy Wells 2nd Fenelope Reyes | Female U19 1st Divine Aseo 2nd Hayley Babstock |
For complete results of these and past tournaments please visit our Tournament Results page.
Premier's Athletic Awards
Two of our rising stars were recently presented with the Premier's Athletic Awards which are presented annually by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. Divine Aseo and Peter Quinlan were recipients of the Premier's Athletic Award which recognizes athletic excellence and provides financial support to help offset costs incurred through training and competition. The Newfoundland and Labrador Table Tennis Association is extremely proud of their accomplishments and wish them the best as they continue on their table tennis journey. See below for some inside info on Divine and Peter!
Divine Aseo
How did you get into the sport? I started playing table tennis back in the Philippines when I was in fourth grade. Badminton was my original sport, but it wasn’t for me. One of the teachers in my school, the coach, and her husband, the trainer, were recruiting a new team because some of the players were graduating, and my four other friends and I decided to join. School starts early in the Philippines, from 5:45 am to noon. So, we start training from 1 pm till 9 pm. We train daily for those long hours; Sunday is the only day we don’t have practice. I enjoy every training session, especially when there are many players to train with and play with.
Personal Interests My interests include making things by hand, such as bracelets and pottery. I also like reading thriller books, walking, and thrifting.
Biggest accomplishments in table tennis My biggest accomplishment in table tennis is representing Newfoundland and Labrador in events like the Canada Winter Games in 2023 and the Atlantic Table Tennis Tournaments and being chosen to participate in the Female Coach Mentorship Program with five other amazing coaches across Canada. One unexpected accomplishment was being the number one female junior in Atlantic Canada.
What do you like most about participating in sports? What I like most about table tennis is the variety of playing styles and the people. It’s interesting to see and play with someone who plays differently from you because you can learn how to approach players like them and potentially become friends with them. People in the table tennis community are all friendly. They are very supportive and encouraging. NLTTA supports every athlete and coach in the province. Table Tennis Canada and the coaches I mentor with share our knowledge and encourage each other to make the sport safe and enjoyable for players and everyone who wants to be involved in sport, especially female players.
Name two players in the local table tennis community who have influenced/helped your development Jiaqi Mu and Peter Quinlan Sr. who are members of the Paradise Table Tennis Club who helped and influenced my development as a table tennis player. Jiaqi helped me and other players improve by sharing his knowledge and technique. Peter helped me with my thinking. He always encourages us to think positively and is happy to help new players by rallying with them and sometimes even coaching them.
What is your favorite part about playing table tennis? My favorite part about playing table tennis is the community. We can all share what we know about the sport, get to know each other, and be friends. Everyone is friendly. If you go to the club, you’ll be surrounded by good people inside and outside the table.
Short Term Table Tennis Goals My goals for the following years are, firstly, to become a coach, as I am working on that right now; secondly, to share my knowledge with other players, like young kids and even older ones; lastly, to perform well on the upcoming tournaments and have a good result.
Peter Quinlan
How did you get into the sport? I was introduced to the sport of table tennis when I changed schools to go to grade 7. There were a few tables in the cafeteria where people messed around or played king of the court matches for fun. There were some older kids with more experience and watching them play intrigued me and I was interested in playing. At home I told my dad about table tennis at school, and he told me that he used to play. This started my passion for table tennis, and I have been playing for almost seven years.
Personal Interests. I have lots of interests and hobbies. I love to play table tennis of course but I also love to go to the gym with friends and going on runs. I also spend lots of time going to local car events including car meets and car shows.
Biggest accomplishments in table tennis. Thinking of my biggest accomplishment in table tennis for me is very hard to decide upon but the three biggest things that come to my mind would be representing Newfoundland and Labrador at Canada games where I traveled and played with 3 other like-minded athletes, an experience I will never forget. Also, I represented the Avalon Region at NL Games where I managed to secure a gold medal in the individual event and with my team fought very hard to bring home a silver medal. I also qualified for the men’s team at 17 where I got to represent Newfoundland and Labrador at the Atlantic Championships where I got to play along-side some of the best players in Newfoundland and Labrador.
What do you like most about participating in sports? For me participating in sports is an amazing experience and there is so much to enjoy. I love the feeling of playing and the drive and emotion you get while playing but the best part is playing and traveling along side of some amazing people and meeting people that I'm sure will be lifelong friends, all the nights in the hotel before a tournament where the whole team is together messing around or talking about the event.
Name two players in the local table tennis community who have influenced/helped your development. Although I feel I have been mentored and supported by all the senior players in the NLTTA, there are definitely two that stand out and I give credit to for their continued efforts in training me, I wouldn't be where I am without them. I have to thank Lee Richards, before I started getting coaching from Lee I had had no prior coaching and was just kind of doing what I thought would be best for my games. Lee took me under his wing training with me every Monday night showing me different techniques. I also have to thank Jiaqi Mu for the endless days we spent at The Field House. Looking back on it now I still don't understand how we played for so long. There were times where we just did forehands or backhands for hours where almost after every rally Jiaqi would give me advice on my technique or demonstrate what I needed to do. I thank and appreciate both these guys so much and still look up to them as my role models to this day.
What is your favorite part about playing table tennis? My favorite part about playing table tennis is the constant variation and the fact that every rally is different, this makes the game interesting and never boring. The other thing I love about playing table tennis is the community that is here in Newfoundland and Labrador. Everybody knows each other and it allows for an amazing setting to play in. When you go to the club in Paradise on Monday night you know you are gonna be surrounded by lots of super friendly people.
Short Term Table Tennis Goals. My table tennis goal for this year would be to qualify for the Junior Boys Atlantic’s Team. This year I will have much less time to play as I will be focusing on my studies at university. I would love to represent Newfoundland and Labrador as a member of the Junior Team at the Atlantic Table Tennis Championships as this will be the last year I am eligible to participate as a junior.
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See Everyone In Springdale
The next tournament on the schedule is the Central Open set for December 7 in Springdale. We are very excited to be heading to Springdale as it has been a few years since we have held an event in Springdale. The tournament details and registration info can be found on the Registration Portal and be aware that the registration deadline is November 29.
Have you visited our Archive page? It is a beginning effort to capture the happenings of the NLTTA from yesteryear. If you have any documents that you would like to preserve and share with the table tennis community please feel free to pass them along.
Digitally scanned documents can be emailed to webmaster@nltta.com.
Paper copies can be passed along to Bob Hendricks. The documents will be scanned and then placed on the NLTTA website.
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