DaveR
03-03-2008, 03:34 PM
The following is The Chairmans Feb 2008 Forum / Report and it makes for some interesting reading with the inclusion of schools increase and also equipment increases, but can we get player retention thus moving the sport into a younger and more successful era...............
I hope that your start to 2008 is going to plan. From a personal perspective the tragic loss of a number of friends and colleagues as the year starts has hit me as well as our sport both nationally and locally.
The Europe Youth Top 10 which took place at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield 25th to 27th January was a fantastic success. BBC TV from the North did a live piece for a News programme and the producers of the "Olympic Dreams" programme were present during the 3 days, furthermore, a number of media people attended the event.
The President of the ETTU, Stefano Bosi, came for the weekend and complimented the ETTA on putting together an excellent event. The Mayor of Sheffield took time out of his very busy schedule to see some of the matches and was impressed how many spectators we had watching. My thanks go to the ETTA Events staff, the many volunteers and the
Referee and the umpires who worked tirelessly before, during and after the event to make it the success it was. A number of officials from the ETTU were present including Technical, Media and Marketing personnel with the TV Streaming Company.
My only real disappointment was that England came away with just two bronze Medals, an achievement in itself against a very high-class field. Our expectations from our young players has increased exponentially over the last two to three years and we would have been jumping for joy not many years ago if we had got two medals in an event of this
magnitude. For me the highlight of the event was the skills and effort of Liam Pitchford who performed exceptionally against players who looked twice his size. Liam has come through the Local Club, Regional and Youth Development Squad structure.
It is the intention of the ETTA to run other major events up to 2012 and hopefully beyond. Negotiations with partners are continuing and ongoing, it is though essential that we receive financial support to run these events. Your Management believe that using the assets of the ETTA for these events would not be a prudent or a financially acceptable decision to make.
Our National Governing Body has relied for many years and continues to rely upon grants from our funding partners and it is essential that we have "Money in the Bank" to ensure that the ETTA can cover its liabilities should anything untoward happen. The World Team Championships will be taking place in Guangzhou China from 24th February through to 2nd March. England will be sending a Men’s and Women’s Team perhaps our youngest ever with an average age of 18. I am sure you will wish them every success in this Olympic Year.
A number of propositions, which have been posted on the ETTA website, will be voted on at the ITTF AGM and by the ITTF Board of Directors. Delegates from England will be at the AGM and I shall be one of Europe’s representatives at the Board Meeting. Any inputs or comments beforehand would be most welcome. In addition English delegates will take part in a number of planned meetings covering, Equipment, Technical, Nomination, Both the World and European Women’s Groups, ETTU Congress and the Commonwealth Table Tennis Federation BGM. Plus attendance at the
various seminars during the event as well as giving support to the England Teams.
Recent meetings with Sport England were very positive in supporting the planning process put forward by the ETTA for the Club and Coach Programme. A number of criteria have changed which will enhance the programme and assist in the submission stage and it is anticipated that funding will start to be released to us in the next few weeks. The employment of these eight Regional Coaches whose role will include tutoring and support to increase the quality and quantity of the Coaching Structure with the 20 plus full part time Coaches as part of the PESSCL project (over 10,000 young people were part of this programme over the last 12 months) and the recent appointment of a Coaching Manager clearly shows the commitment by the ETTA to this very important area of our sport. The position of VC Coaching has remained open pending the confirmation of the Club/Coach Programme and feedback from a number of areas including UKCC, The New Coaching Framework, Community Coach and Elite Coach Programmes.
Discussions are nearing their conclusion in regard to the Table Tennis Partner as part of the British Olympic Associations FT100 initiative. It is expected that a detailed announcement of the partner and programme will be released during this quarter. Ongoing meetings are taking place in our fund raising efforts and with those involved in the media, in an effort to increase our income streams and the sports exposure.
A testing document is being produced in regard to "gluing" which will be circulated to the membership and published on the website in the coming weeks. For clarification, the changes applied from the 1st January 2008 only for Cadet/Junior events not their participation in any senior competitions. It will apply for all from September 1st 2008. The ETTA will only be able to test at certain of the events on the calendar but not at grass roots level.
Proposals in regard to the use of "pimpled" rubbers will be discussed at the April National Council Meeting following inputs received during the World Team Championship with other member countries and the ITTF Equipment Committee on which England is represented. Concerns have been raised in regard to the massive increase in players wishing to participate in the ETTA Events programme, which has resulted in many events being oversubscribed.
A number of areas are being looked at to improve this situation for the future not least a Competition Review under the guidance of the Competition Department. It is not the intention of the ETTA to downgrade the level of events and the Affiliation of TTK enabling them now to run competitions in London at a 1 and 2 star level will help to alleviate the
oversubscribed situation which have impacted the 4 star Junior Circuit.
Clearly the need for more Technical Officials including referees and umpires has been a matter of concern for the ETTA for many years. A number of initiatives have been tried and others are in progress. Council will debate this issue again in April following a report submitted to them just prior to the January Meeting. Councillors and the NURC felt they needed time to reflect upon proposals made.
The ETTA has received backing from Sport England to appoint an Independent Consultant to look at many areas of the ETTA including Structures, HR, Governance and Working Practices. This will be our first one since the Genesis Report of 2000. The Management felt that with all the changes over the last few years in the way we have to operate this
process was needed. The reported interim figures for Affiliated Teams shows a decline of 4%, it gives me no pleasure that this has been similar to the reported figures for the last 15 to 20 years. As I have stated many times our real Affiliated Membership cannot be quantified, most of the Leagues who have reported via IR forms show a significant difference between the 4 players per team returns and the actual players registered in that league. One of the Local Leagues I play in lost a team this year and based upon the way we monitor our affiliated members they have 164 players yet via IR they have 208 an increase in players registered in that league. Even if you take into account the duplications due to some players playing in more that one League the League has more individual players than it reports via the affiliated teams system. They have an increase in players mainly in the lower divisions a result of many Juniors joining whose parents do not like the different days of the week they
would have to play league matches and by allocating them to teams this problem has been overcome.
The ETTA Premier Club structure reports both League and Non League Players they show that a majority of their members do not play in local leagues. The increase in applications and participation in all the British League Competition, National Cadet and Junior Leagues and the oversubscribed situation in Grand Prixs and Junior events are all positives for our sport.
It is interesting to note that TTK who are now affiliated have over 7500 young people participating in their coaching programme.
None of this deters from our determination to work with and support the grass roots and local leagues which are the backbone of play in England.
A recent report involving sport participation at Schools showed an increase for Table Tennis of over 15% which is backed by the increase in sales of TT equipment to schools. We need to ensure that these young people are given the opportunity to progress via Clubs, Leagues and Competitions to continue playing our great sport. Comments have been raised about the process of Individual Affiliation being kept simple
and that consultation with the membership takes place. You can be assured that this is
happening and the membership have been given details about the proposals and further information will be circulated following inputs received. It is essential that any new Affiliation Proposals are "user friendly" for the local volunteers who administer it.
The majority of those involved in the Membership Committee and Management are from the grass roots of our sport either playing, coaching or administrating at local league and club level, so I believe they have an understanding of concerns raised and with the inputs received will ensure the process meets the needs of local administrators.
We are nearing the finalisation of funding from the DCMS Community Club Development Programme via Sport England who will be putting in over £1.2M during the next phase to support a number of Table Tennis facilities in England. One of the cogs in one of the projects will be a presentation to a Town Council Meeting in the next 10 days to get their full approval for the project. I thank the many members who are very supportive of the work the ETTA are doing and the plans for the future, we still have some way to go together. You can be assured that them & Staff, Management, National Council and the many unsung volunteers are actively working
for our sport. From my personal perspective you can be assured that my commitment and determination remains as does my continued and increasing time spent on behalf of the sport.
If you have any questions or require a meeting please contact me via the office or on
alex@harwoodltd.co.uk
I hope that your start to 2008 is going to plan. From a personal perspective the tragic loss of a number of friends and colleagues as the year starts has hit me as well as our sport both nationally and locally.
The Europe Youth Top 10 which took place at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield 25th to 27th January was a fantastic success. BBC TV from the North did a live piece for a News programme and the producers of the "Olympic Dreams" programme were present during the 3 days, furthermore, a number of media people attended the event.
The President of the ETTU, Stefano Bosi, came for the weekend and complimented the ETTA on putting together an excellent event. The Mayor of Sheffield took time out of his very busy schedule to see some of the matches and was impressed how many spectators we had watching. My thanks go to the ETTA Events staff, the many volunteers and the
Referee and the umpires who worked tirelessly before, during and after the event to make it the success it was. A number of officials from the ETTU were present including Technical, Media and Marketing personnel with the TV Streaming Company.
My only real disappointment was that England came away with just two bronze Medals, an achievement in itself against a very high-class field. Our expectations from our young players has increased exponentially over the last two to three years and we would have been jumping for joy not many years ago if we had got two medals in an event of this
magnitude. For me the highlight of the event was the skills and effort of Liam Pitchford who performed exceptionally against players who looked twice his size. Liam has come through the Local Club, Regional and Youth Development Squad structure.
It is the intention of the ETTA to run other major events up to 2012 and hopefully beyond. Negotiations with partners are continuing and ongoing, it is though essential that we receive financial support to run these events. Your Management believe that using the assets of the ETTA for these events would not be a prudent or a financially acceptable decision to make.
Our National Governing Body has relied for many years and continues to rely upon grants from our funding partners and it is essential that we have "Money in the Bank" to ensure that the ETTA can cover its liabilities should anything untoward happen. The World Team Championships will be taking place in Guangzhou China from 24th February through to 2nd March. England will be sending a Men’s and Women’s Team perhaps our youngest ever with an average age of 18. I am sure you will wish them every success in this Olympic Year.
A number of propositions, which have been posted on the ETTA website, will be voted on at the ITTF AGM and by the ITTF Board of Directors. Delegates from England will be at the AGM and I shall be one of Europe’s representatives at the Board Meeting. Any inputs or comments beforehand would be most welcome. In addition English delegates will take part in a number of planned meetings covering, Equipment, Technical, Nomination, Both the World and European Women’s Groups, ETTU Congress and the Commonwealth Table Tennis Federation BGM. Plus attendance at the
various seminars during the event as well as giving support to the England Teams.
Recent meetings with Sport England were very positive in supporting the planning process put forward by the ETTA for the Club and Coach Programme. A number of criteria have changed which will enhance the programme and assist in the submission stage and it is anticipated that funding will start to be released to us in the next few weeks. The employment of these eight Regional Coaches whose role will include tutoring and support to increase the quality and quantity of the Coaching Structure with the 20 plus full part time Coaches as part of the PESSCL project (over 10,000 young people were part of this programme over the last 12 months) and the recent appointment of a Coaching Manager clearly shows the commitment by the ETTA to this very important area of our sport. The position of VC Coaching has remained open pending the confirmation of the Club/Coach Programme and feedback from a number of areas including UKCC, The New Coaching Framework, Community Coach and Elite Coach Programmes.
Discussions are nearing their conclusion in regard to the Table Tennis Partner as part of the British Olympic Associations FT100 initiative. It is expected that a detailed announcement of the partner and programme will be released during this quarter. Ongoing meetings are taking place in our fund raising efforts and with those involved in the media, in an effort to increase our income streams and the sports exposure.
A testing document is being produced in regard to "gluing" which will be circulated to the membership and published on the website in the coming weeks. For clarification, the changes applied from the 1st January 2008 only for Cadet/Junior events not their participation in any senior competitions. It will apply for all from September 1st 2008. The ETTA will only be able to test at certain of the events on the calendar but not at grass roots level.
Proposals in regard to the use of "pimpled" rubbers will be discussed at the April National Council Meeting following inputs received during the World Team Championship with other member countries and the ITTF Equipment Committee on which England is represented. Concerns have been raised in regard to the massive increase in players wishing to participate in the ETTA Events programme, which has resulted in many events being oversubscribed.
A number of areas are being looked at to improve this situation for the future not least a Competition Review under the guidance of the Competition Department. It is not the intention of the ETTA to downgrade the level of events and the Affiliation of TTK enabling them now to run competitions in London at a 1 and 2 star level will help to alleviate the
oversubscribed situation which have impacted the 4 star Junior Circuit.
Clearly the need for more Technical Officials including referees and umpires has been a matter of concern for the ETTA for many years. A number of initiatives have been tried and others are in progress. Council will debate this issue again in April following a report submitted to them just prior to the January Meeting. Councillors and the NURC felt they needed time to reflect upon proposals made.
The ETTA has received backing from Sport England to appoint an Independent Consultant to look at many areas of the ETTA including Structures, HR, Governance and Working Practices. This will be our first one since the Genesis Report of 2000. The Management felt that with all the changes over the last few years in the way we have to operate this
process was needed. The reported interim figures for Affiliated Teams shows a decline of 4%, it gives me no pleasure that this has been similar to the reported figures for the last 15 to 20 years. As I have stated many times our real Affiliated Membership cannot be quantified, most of the Leagues who have reported via IR forms show a significant difference between the 4 players per team returns and the actual players registered in that league. One of the Local Leagues I play in lost a team this year and based upon the way we monitor our affiliated members they have 164 players yet via IR they have 208 an increase in players registered in that league. Even if you take into account the duplications due to some players playing in more that one League the League has more individual players than it reports via the affiliated teams system. They have an increase in players mainly in the lower divisions a result of many Juniors joining whose parents do not like the different days of the week they
would have to play league matches and by allocating them to teams this problem has been overcome.
The ETTA Premier Club structure reports both League and Non League Players they show that a majority of their members do not play in local leagues. The increase in applications and participation in all the British League Competition, National Cadet and Junior Leagues and the oversubscribed situation in Grand Prixs and Junior events are all positives for our sport.
It is interesting to note that TTK who are now affiliated have over 7500 young people participating in their coaching programme.
None of this deters from our determination to work with and support the grass roots and local leagues which are the backbone of play in England.
A recent report involving sport participation at Schools showed an increase for Table Tennis of over 15% which is backed by the increase in sales of TT equipment to schools. We need to ensure that these young people are given the opportunity to progress via Clubs, Leagues and Competitions to continue playing our great sport. Comments have been raised about the process of Individual Affiliation being kept simple
and that consultation with the membership takes place. You can be assured that this is
happening and the membership have been given details about the proposals and further information will be circulated following inputs received. It is essential that any new Affiliation Proposals are "user friendly" for the local volunteers who administer it.
The majority of those involved in the Membership Committee and Management are from the grass roots of our sport either playing, coaching or administrating at local league and club level, so I believe they have an understanding of concerns raised and with the inputs received will ensure the process meets the needs of local administrators.
We are nearing the finalisation of funding from the DCMS Community Club Development Programme via Sport England who will be putting in over £1.2M during the next phase to support a number of Table Tennis facilities in England. One of the cogs in one of the projects will be a presentation to a Town Council Meeting in the next 10 days to get their full approval for the project. I thank the many members who are very supportive of the work the ETTA are doing and the plans for the future, we still have some way to go together. You can be assured that them & Staff, Management, National Council and the many unsung volunteers are actively working
for our sport. From my personal perspective you can be assured that my commitment and determination remains as does my continued and increasing time spent on behalf of the sport.
If you have any questions or require a meeting please contact me via the office or on
alex@harwoodltd.co.uk