ETTA Table Tennis Development

[Highside]

Having read the quote below from the ETTA site on development:


Aims - The ETTA vision for the sport is ‘making table tennis the most popular and successful indoor sport in England '
This statement is central to our department aim and provides a focus for our activities that are about growing the sport by increasing levels of participation and membership.
What do we do? Our role is to initiate, support and advise on the development of Table Tennis by supporting local groups (often clubs and leagues).
Our work is primarily strategically focussed. We work in partnership with other organisations to assist table tennis; on a strategic level these include school sport partnerships, local authorities, youth sector, County Sports Partnerships and the like. On a local level, partners include schools, youth groups, leisure facilities etc.

I refer to the statement "making Table Tennis the most popular and successful indoor sport in the England" has anyone seen major changes in the UK to back that up and is the youngsters coming through in your area. I mention this as the development within my West area is slow to moving backwards with many youngsters not even aware of the sports potential and fun side. The TV is certainly not showing much of Table Tennis nowadays and the ETTA i thought was trying to push the media side harder than ever, with the grants they recieve and money alloted to development is this happening at all and if so where?

[JKC]

They missed a trick the other week when they made people pay to download the National Championships. I'm sure it brought them a little revenue to put towards the 'chosen few', but who other than current players is going to pay to watch? If people can just dip in and out and have a look at our sport, they might be inclined to watch longer.

[NativeNewYorker]

They missed a trick the other week when they made people pay to download the National Championships. I'm sure it brought them a little revenue to put towards the 'chosen few', but who other than current players is going to pay to watch? If people can just dip in and out and have a look at our sport, they might be inclined to watch longer.

Im with JKC on this one they did miss a trick but the small amount raised would be only as mentioned from those who would watch regardlesly so my opinion would be to open it free and maybe stand the cost to attract others to view. The whole development issue is a big debate with that many answers its probably never going to be resolved unless it is on the TV a lot, which the Birmingham Worlds proved with lots of people wanting to play.

[Jose]

The Birmingham Worlds ... that was an event! I was working there and Alan was doing the commentary with Tony Gubba. I recall that there was more than 30 hours of tv from Birmingham and there was a good upsurge of interest in the sport afterwards. I agree ... in this day and age table tennis has to be on national television to attract interest. While a lot of new clubs have opened, with coaches going into schools in some areas, it is still not having the desired effect of attracting more people and promoting the sport as we would all wish.

[Belisar]

They missed a trick the other week when they made people pay to download the National Championships. I'm sure it brought them a little revenue to put towards the 'chosen few', ...

Who had the final say over that ? The ETTA or the company hosting the broadcast ? Not sure myself.

In terms of development it seems to me junior game is going well from a tournament perspective. Junior ranking events are oversubscribed anyway. Increasing numbers of schools are now taking table tennis into their PE curriculum.

This needs to be transposed into local league activities. But how do we best achieve that ?

[MickM]

Who had the final say over that ? The ETTA or the company hosting the broadcast ? Not sure myself.

In terms of development it seems to me junior game is going well from a tournament perspective. Junior ranking events are oversubscribed anyway. Increasing numbers of schools are now taking table tennis into their PE curriculum.

This needs to be transposed into local league activities. But how do we best achieve that ?

The way forward is in many directions with the schools display being a good tool to start with and gaining youth interest on the way. The step after is a little more difficult with the interested young players being invited to established coaching / clubs, which would hopefully move progressively through to league involvement.

[Belisar]

Do local league matches run too late for junior players ?
Should we reduce to 2 a-side ?
Should we be more accomodating and allow juniors to play their matches and leave ?
What about weekend matches ?
How do local clubs encourage juniors to participate (reduce fees etc?)

The step after does seem to be the tough one.

[DaveR]

Do local league matches run too late for junior players ?
Should we reduce to 2 a-side ?
Should we be more accomodating and allow juniors to play their matches and leave ?
What about weekend matches ?
How do local clubs encourage juniors to participate (reduce fees etc?)

The step after does seem to be the tough one.

Lets address some of the issues above............

I have played like many in a 4 a side format which was in my humble opinion to long a night, which leads me to the 2 a side. Not ever going to poo poo an idea as the format could be interesting if the teams were up for it...the problem is sometimes the older generation who like the older format....that is not in any way knocking the older players as I'm moving on there myself.

Weekend matches ............well lets look at central venues as i as a vett love the British league weekends played over the two, which is more exiting and definitely more interesting to play and watch.

Not sure on how to encourage the younger to participate.......other than involving them into a team at an early stage but not to early as to destroy any confidence there maybe.

Great points

[HarryBelafonte]

yeah,lots of points here,referring back to robstar saying we are to loud,maybe teams should play in central venues,not old church halls and youth clubs, get the leagues into schools. Surely the kids would be interested then,,,,or sports centres etc..not playing in freezing cold hushed silence,where if an ant coughs players have a diccy fit..:redcard:

[Mr Wilko]

people who play tournaments should be used to noise imagine telling everyone to be quiet while at a tornament ?????

if an ant farts its even worse harry

[Robstar]

i think people r missing my point all i am asking is for better local league players to respect the run of the mill players if there was a top premier match on the better players would go mad if us lesser mortals started runnining around the hall swearing at the bad shot we made yes people do make bad shots
if you ever played at grove you will notice the top players respect the lower teams

[DaveR]

Lets look at a short mail to FTT (Howard Middleton) From John Payne as it raises some interesting points within the development or lack of it in local areas, which obviously affect the sport of Table Tennis globally in The UK further down the line.


Dear Howard,

I have previously submitted my comments to Free Table Tennis regarding the "bigger issues" without a response. Is this because there are no chants of "kill the chairman" ?

It is no good blaming the current administration without providing solutions, so here is a simple question I posed to Alex when he first came to power, let's see if your response is any better.

If it is, you have got my support and my vote to become the next Chairman !

London is the largest city in Europe officially with 7.6 million (3 times the size of Paris) but it allegedly swells to 11 million per day. This means 1 in every 6 people in the UK are in a concentrated area, on a daily basis.

I live bang in the middle, EC1 the City of London. My nearest half decent Table Tennis venue to practice in is Fusion in SE22, approximately 6 miles away and it takes 1 hour by public transport.

Due to lack of facilities I moved my office and my staff from EC1 to Raynes Park SW20 12 miles from the city centre. Now I only travel for 5 minutes to play in Graham Spicer's Table Tennis Club in New Malden at the end of my working day. On the downside it takes me over an hour to get home.

Howard, I now give you the chance or others to say something constructive "What would you do to improve Table Tennis in London?" 11 million people are waiting for your answer.

Please do not suggest re-locating everyone to New Malden as Graham Spicer's Table Tennis club does not have enough tables to cope with that many people

Best regards,
John Payne

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Dear John

The problem of the shortage of facilities for playing table tennis, the recruitment and retention of players is a national concern and your e-mail highlights one area of the country where the population suggests that there could and should be a greater number of table tennis players and facilities.

Virtually every area of the country has fewer players and facilities than 10, 20, 30 years ago. I believe that the true drop in teams has been masked by players playing in multiple leagues. Similarly larger playing venues are replacing numerous single table venues.

I would advocate sitting down with the Development Officers, county officers and local leagues to develop a Recruitment Plan to put to the Local Councils and Sports Bodies in every area of the country.

Although the same problem exists throughout the country, I believe that the solution will vary because of local conditions.

In London, the cost of facilities exclusively for table tennis would be very expensive. Therefore we have to look at shared facilities; possibility facilities that have other uses for other times of the day such as schools or offices.

I admit that I do not know the answer but, if I were chairman, I would make it a priority to find the answer. In fact, I believe it essential that every local league and county association should make it a priority to recruit and retain facilities and players; every player, team and club should be looking to encourage new and existing players, and the ETTA officers and management committee should ensure that the system exists to maximise those recruitment initiatives.

However as Alex Murdoch claimed to recognise all the problems in his Election Manifesto, why has he not made any attempt to sort out your problem in five years?

Howard


There are a few questions in there such as "what would you do improve Table Tennis in London" the question really could be applied to a wider picture with many areas having the same problem, which i aggree sharing venues is sometimes an answer but then again most clubs do this anyway with school halls or church halls etc. Venues are critical when recruiting players they have to have a place there onwards to play !

Do other players have venue problems for example do you play 6 miles or 56 miles away or even worse!

[Belisar]

Issues as I see them.

Cost - a 3 a side match can take a good few hours. It is better to let that room out for 3 lots of aerobic sessions than 1 lot of table tennis in terms of income.

Storage space - tables do take up a fair bit of space and we all want them stored away safely, away from unsupervised kids.

Schools - Table tennis has goods and bads. We know the long list of good points but it is actually one of the more technical and difficult sports to pick up as a beginner. For kids in PE lessons it is hard work for them and the teacher.

Best chance to tie in with a school is if you have someone with some free time who is willing to run an after school club and as payback get use of the school hall.

I do think it is growing in popularity school wise but there is a lack of suitable venues for clubs.

[Kev]

I guess my question in this debate would be; Should we still be thinking about getting young players into local leagues as a priority?

Local league participation is declining at the same time as membership in Premier Clubs is increasing. Maybe local leagues are the past and its time to stop focusing on them and put all of our efforts into clubs?!

[DaveR]

I guess my question in this debate would be; Should we still be thinking about getting young players into local leagues as a priority?

Local league participation is declining at the same time as membership in Premier Clubs is increasing. Maybe local leagues are the past and its time to stop focusing on them and put all of our efforts into clubs?!

I can see where you are coming from but are you meaning concentrate on developong clubs then trying to bring the players into the clubs as a secondary measure. Personally i cant see why the ETTA cant do both with great results if it was worked hard enough on.

The process is difficult but not unachievable and as with most things hard work and coverage is the answer, not just developing things that are easy.

[TheMoose]

I guess my question in this debate would be; Should we still be thinking about getting young players into local leagues as a priority?

Local league participation is declining at the same time as membership in Premier Clubs is increasing. Maybe local leagues are the past and its time to stop focusing on them and put all of our efforts into clubs?!

Maybe you are right Kev but young players will always be needed otherwise the whole thing implodes surely

[Kev]

Maybe you are right Kev but young players will always be needed otherwise the whole thing implodes surely

I agree totally. That's what I was trying to say albeit not very well. I think young people will be more excited at the prospect of joining a big premier club with good facilities, lots of tables and lots of different sessions and activities than play in a local league.

Recruitment of young players should always be a top priority. I was just trying to give an opinion of how best to do this.

I'm sure that once players get to a competitive standard some (most probably) will then want to play in a local league, but the league should be an optional extra rather than the be all and end all it seems to be seen as at the moment.

[DaveR]

Sort of egg before the chicken but i can see where you are coming from Kev.............the thought is good and may work. Im in favour of any policy that will furthewr and improve the development of the sport.

How can we start bringing it into the limelight, maybe matches in the local press when there is a clash at the top of a division and we are sure the public would enjoy it?

What you think?

[Kev]

maybe matches in the local press when there is a clash at the top of a division and we are sure the public would enjoy it?

I think that's a good idea. We would have to play these matches at a larger venue than league matches are currently staged at though. Perhaps the Seaburn Centre if we talk about Sunderland. It would have to be done professionally too if we're going to be taken seriously. Properly staged, adequate seating etc. It could work though.

I think the best way to bring it into the limelight is through a lot more exhibitions, especially at a local level. They're incredibly popular in snooker and I can't see why they wouldn't be with table tennis too. We could have a series of exhibitions; some in schools, others in shopping centres etc. rather than just the one or two ad hoc ones we do now.

[Highside]

The local leagues tend not to make a big enough deal out of their own matches, which the general public if invited to watch would love to see some of the top players in clash matches so i think its a good idea to stage local events.

I believe in the Sunderland area a long time ago Bahrain came and played in a match or two and a display was staged as my friend went and said it was a great event which shows that these things can work if carried out professionally.