Hundreds of people joined a live Facebook discussion at which senior leaders of Table Tennis England answered questions on topics that matter to our members.
From ‘which is more important, mass participation or performance?’ to ‘how much money does Table Tennis England get each year and how is it spent?’ and ‘could Table Tennis England do more on transparency and communication?’ – no topic was off the agenda.
The discussion was chaired by Liam McTiernan, part of our Members’ Advisory Group and a top-40 senior player in the rankings, and comprised our Chief Executive Sara Sutcliffe, Chairman Sandra Deaton, Director of Sport Simon Mills, Technical Director Alan Cooke and Programme Manager Matt Stanforth.
The lively discussion covered topics submitted by our members in advance, as well as live questions on the night and, with almost 400 comments and more than 4,200 video views so far, engaged a wide cross-section of our membership.
If you missed the video, you can watch below – and it is still available on our Facebook page.
The full list of questions was:
0:00 Introduction
5:54 Which is more important, mass participation or performance?
10:12 How much money does Table Tennis England get each year and how is it spent?
13:30 What is Table Tennis England doing to be more financially independent?
19:33 How are we going to get the next Liam Pitchford or Tin-Tin Ho and will we have that level of player in the next five years?
31:42 What’s the plan to get more women and girls into table tennis?
38:28 Do juniors have to pay to be in the national squad and, if so, why?
46:52 What is the strategy to improve the visibility of table tennis through TV and major events?
52:59 How can we attract more spectators?
54:30 Why is it rare to see performance coaches at national events?
55:42 Why are performance roles not advertised?
58:40 Could Table Tennis England do more on transparency and communication?
1:01:40 Why can’t tournaments commence play?
1:02:44 Should Table Tennis England be doing more to support clubs?
1:08:01 What’s being done to turn Ping! players into club players?