News
Manningham Make the Move to Doncaster Indoor Sports
Published Mon 22 Mar 2021
The Manningham Table Tennis Club has officially made the move to The Doncaster Indoor Sports Complex this year, after a five year search for a home venue capable of hosting more table tennis.
Club Treasurer Terry Piva said, “Prior to 2016, we played our competition at the Templestowe Leisure Centre (TLC) where we could host eight tables. However, due to a redevelopment of the basketball complex at Sheahans Reserve (Bulleen), we were unable to stay at TLC as it was needed for basketball matches”.
“Luckily for us, the Donburn Primary School allowed us the use of their Gym on Thursday nights. However, this venue was small and only allowed us to set up four tables, which has limited our ability to expand our pennant competition” he explained.
Following the redevelopment of TLC, unfortunately the club were unable to secure the venue for their favoured Thursday night slot to run their pennant competition. Luckily, the club was approached by Doncaster Indoor Sports in early 2020 about hosting table tennis at their venue, with COVID-19 delaying their move until 2021.
“As we were again unsuccessful in being able to hire two nights at a Council run venue in 2021, we decided to move the club to Doncaster Indoor Sports. We have found the owner Mr. Stephen Ayles to be very supportive of the club, and we look forward to being at this venue for a long time.” Said Piva.
Terry went on to explain the logistical benefits of the new venue, saying:
“This allows us to have all our equipment in the one venue, and at present we are looking at playing table tennis three nights a week and on weekends should demand warrant this,”
“It’s also great for club members as they no longer need to travel to different places to play table tennis. The main motivation was for the club to be based at the one venue, have a good relationship with the owner who is supportive of the club, and to be able to grow the game in the district in regard to social and competition table tennis.
“We are appreciative of the support given to the club by Doncaster indoor Sports. We can see this move as one that will be beneficial to the sport in the area in the long-term, which was always going to be an issue due to the problems we had in trying to secure a second night at our previous venue.”
It is great to see Doncaster Indoor Sports already embracing table tennis - in February social table tennis was added on Tuesday and Wednesday nights due to the high demand, which was an increase from the single night they had been offering since the end of 2020.
It runs from 6:30pm to 9:30pm at $15 per person with all skill levels welcomed and all equipment provided, stay as long or as little as you would like during the three hour session.
TTV is eagerly looking forward to seeing the Manningham TTC thrive in their new venue and continue to improve our sport in their area.
Hopefully, this will result in plenty of new faces falling in love with table tennis as well!
If you’re interested in taking up social table tennis at Doncaster Indoor Sport or joining the Manningham TTC, please follow the links below.
