Watford do well

[DaveR]

Oriental restaurant Pin Wei is giving table tennis a boost by sponsoring the Watford Jets Table Tennis Club. The restaurant has given £400 to the club which will go towards providing branded table tennis shirts for the 75 club members.

The club, which is based at the Queens’ School specialist sports and science college in Aldenham Road, Watford, had been seeking sponsorship for some time. It runs teams in the Watford Table Tennis League as well as regular coaching sessions for adults and juniors.

Yau-Min Choy, owner of Pin Wei, said: “I am delighted that we can work in partnership with Watford Jets Table Tennis Club to support local table tennis in this way. Local sport is such an important part of any community and it’s essential it continues to get the support it deserves, particularly with such a focus now on London 2012.”

Club chairman Stuart Seaholme said: “Pin Wei is giving Watford Jets Table Tennis Club a great boost. Grass roots table tennis really does need the help of local businesses, such as Pin Wei, to encourage more people, of all abilities and ages, into this exciting and fast paced sport.”

Anyone interested in further details about playing table tennis in Watford can contact Stuart Seaholme on 020 8386 3701 or email: sseaholme@hotmail.co.uk (sseaholme@hotmail.co.uk)

[Moggy]

Well done to those who have obviously worked hard at gaining the sponsorship and good on local business for getting involved.

However, does £400 for members' shirts promoting a local business really boost the local TT scene?

At only £5+ per member shirt (all of which have be to embossed) this spreads the money very thinly - and is not such a large amount each member couldn't stump up and buy themselves and improve their club identity that way.

To my mind £400 would be better spent buying a new table, perhaps creating a new club / teams for the local league. Ok, you may have print the sponsors name on a 100 TT balls to get the money, but surely this would be money better spent?

Anyone else got thoughts on the best way to spend £400 for TT?

[Belisar]

Hard to answer that without knowing the circumstances.

Maybe they do not need another table.

Why would they want to use funding to set up another club for the local league (assuming players and a venue are even available) ?

The latter may seem selfish but small things like this can make members of a club feel they belong to something. It may also make other small businesses think of a similar deal if they see and like the club shirts.

I presume the donator wants something in return and shirts are the thing most likely to be seen by others and thus the advertising may have an effect.

Funding is such an issue for table tennis clubs and a lot of other sports at the moment, I guess they have to take what they can get. Sad to think that at a time when obesity is a concern and health as a worry that premises are either being lost of rents are being put up to a daft level.

For my local league and their junior club they would snap that hand off anyone offering this deal. Locally there is a shortage of players and venues and £400 will not help that. But some club shirts would go down well.