Selling Table Tennis to the General Public

[MickM]

I was sitting and pondering as to the debates on the media coverage we all bang on about and how little in relation to lots of other sports Table Tennis gets, which lead me nicely into how could i sell The sport of Table Tennis to the media or the general public so they would say "yes i'm going to have a go at that" well to be honest i still havn't came up with many main selling points other than the obvious.

Fitness and the mental fitness also involved.

Good attitude building for children.

Great family bonding with involvement throught.

Any age is capable of having a go and enjoying the sport at any level.

Just a few to be getting on with but still not something that would maybe really hard sell it to the public, so what else?

[Guy]

MickM
You HAD to know somewhere in the back of your mind I was going to get into this topic.

I still contend that the reason tt does not get a lot of the general public to play is because there are no clubs that are open as a business and cater only to table tennis as racket ball or tennis club do.

Now as far as getting the general public interested, it is my opinion…. that in order to get individuals involve….It has to be FUN. In order to make it fun it has to be challenging. Once you make it challenging then it become exciting. The challenge is what brings individuals back. The excitement is overcoming the obstacle of learning to do something new and getting good at it. One word, One game “HEXAPONG”. :dance3:

I think the game of Hexapong is a good recruiting tool and a steeping stone to Table Tennis.

[SammyBoy]

The selling of any sport is a very difficult task as most people would rather play than try and promote the sport. The very fact we have few that want to do the Administrational tasks of running teams and leagues is a good example.

We as players can always do our part in the wheels of promotion, and that includes sellinng the word around, by that i mean small things such as when quite a big match between high level payers takes place why not tell the local press but does anyone, i think not but we could all do more in this area.

The sport is getting more coverage but the snowball has only started to roll with a big push needed from everyone to make it higher profile.

[Jose]

Image of the Day (on page 3 of Times2 today) would be a great way to sell the sport to the general public - almost a full page picture of Jorgen Persson at the World Team Championships in Guangzhou..... however no mention in the sports pages of how well the England teams are doing! That is just frustrating.

[Mr Wilko]

Image of the Day (on page 3 of Times2 today) would be a great way to sell the sport to the general public - almost a full page picture of Jorgen Persson at the World Team Championships in Guangzhou..... however no mention in the sports pages of how well the England teams are doing! That is just frustrating.


tt does not get any credit they would rather put darts on the tv or in papers ???


no offence to you dart players!!!!

[HarryBelafonte]

:fcb::scratchhead:darts is exciting dramatic,tense,quick games, plus its a good night out,booze good laugh a bit raucous...
when i have attended big tt events they are a bit like that..fans are mad,get dressed up etc creating atmosphere, what comes first the atmosphere or the crowd?:victory:

[Mr Wilko]

:fcb::scratchhead:darts is exciting dramatic,tense,quick games, plus its a good night out,booze good laugh a bit raucous...
when i have attended big tt events they are a bit like that..fans are mad,get dressed up etc creating atmosphere, what comes first the atmosphere or the crowd?:victory:


come on belafonte be realistic !!!!!!!!!! ha ha ha

[HarryBelafonte]

:fcb::popcorn::woho:an average of 5000,watchin the premier league live from big arenas each week,plus big viewing figures each week,
£25 for a ticket. 60,000pound to the winner,

sold out each week doesnt sound like tt to me mate...wish we could be that realistic..
think your looking at it from a physical sports point of view,as you well know its the person who has the bottle normally triumphs in the end,that what darts brings...
I know their all fat..
:fcb:come to think of it most of us have the phisique for darts...:pray:
magic darts....

[Spongebob!]

:fcb::popcorn::woho:an average of 5000,watchin the premier league live from big arenas each week,plus big viewing figures each week,
£25 for a ticket. 60,000pound to the winner,

sold out each week doesnt sound like tt to me mate...wish we could be that realistic..
think your looking at it from a physical sports point of view,as you well know its the person who has the bottle normally triumphs in the end,that what darts brings...
I know their all fat..
:fcb:come to think of it most of us have the phisique for darts...:pray:
magic darts....

Magic Darts....there's Shakespeare on 2 but you won't beat this for drama!!!

Spongey!

[HarryBelafonte]

ha ha haha..brilliant sidney:happy:

[IrishCanary]

As a director of local news/sport programs, i have spent meny years making sure that local big events were covered on our station. I was even asked if any local youngsters were training for the next olympics. As readers of my previous mails will know, my reward for this is to be threatened with a ban by the Norwich League, for playing in an unaffiliated league. As my view of the governing body has now changed you will not be surprised to learn i have stopped making the effort.

[DaveR]

As a director of local news/sport programs, i have spent meny years making sure that local big events were covered on our station. I was even asked if any local youngsters were training for the next olympics. As readers of my previous mails will know, my reward for this is to be threatened with a ban by the Norwich League, for playing in an unaffiliated league. As my view of the governing body has now changed you will not be surprised to learn i have stopped making the effort.


We need to try and balance things to make the promotion in the sport with affiliated playing, but as you mentioned unaffiliated playing isnt accepted by the ETTA.

[IrishCanary]

Dave
As they say, its there trainset lets hope they dont derail it x

[DaveR]

very true, im of the opinion the ETTA sometimes are slightly blinkered although the heart means well.

[Jose]

Has anyone read Brian Halliday's piece about tt promotion in FTT 21 ? Quite interesting!

[SammyBoy]

Where is that at Jose, so i can look at it.

[DaveR]

Well i'm being honest i certainly have not seen the article in question but would like to.

[DaveR]

I have now seen the article in question but ............

There are many issues in the mentioned newsletter / article and with so many implications, some need answers which i for one can not give outright but would say this, the ETTA have an absolute responsibility to promote the sport to its fullest in whatever means and channel they can, this is i appreciate is not always the easiest task but hopefully they are doing that..........we will see but sadly the media coverage is getting less rather than more. This could be for many reasons of which im sure we will find out in the near future.

My thoughts will remain my own until i have read thoroughly and divulged the whole item concerned, until then it would be wrong to comment on something i have only a thumbnail of at the moment.