Last week Table Tennis England announced that expressions of interest will soon reopen for the next round of BeTT projects. Ahead of this, we would like to share with you some examples of the great work that is currently ongoing as part of the project.
Be TT is about creating fantastic experiences within table tennis, whether this is creating a shorter format league or reaching out to community groups within their local area. The programme aims to help support local Leagues and Clubs in providing more opportunities for individuals in order for them to have a better experience when participating in table tennis.
BeTT in the North
Heckmondwike Table Tennis Club and Dewsbury League have established a new partnership with a local Scout group with a view to reaching out to new community groups.
Usman Umar from Heckmondwike Table Tennis Centre commented: “We have had excellent feedback from the Scout Leaders and parents about how the children have enjoyed the experience and found the sport to be a really fun and inclusive activity.
“We are hoping to extend the project to other local scout groups and eventually the project will have engaged over one hundred new participants. Hopefully a number of these will then seek play-on opportunities at our club.”
Pontefract Squash Club have had great success with their Bat and Chat sessions. Bat and Chat is designed for individuals (Over 50) to play table tennis in a more informal environment. Bat and Chat sessions are a great way for individuals to get back into the sport or to start something new.
Dennis Shaw, Press Secretary for the Castleford and Pontefract League said: “This has been an excellent turnout for the first session and much beyond my expectations. We will continue to ask the participants what they want from the sessions and hopefully in time this will help grow our local league.”
BeTT in the South
Weymouth and District Table Tennis League are continuing to grow, develop and ensure excellent opportunities for all parts of the community. Weymouth and District Table Tennis League have used BeTT to support a number of new sessions and have used member survey results to add new adult coaching sessions.
The This Girl Can group continues to be well attended and the league have also recently been successful with a postcode lottery grant to provide coaching in social table tennis to cancer survivorship groups.
The League continues to run a number of successful satellite clubs and has delivered a number of primary school tasters funded by BeTT which have encouraged associate member growth and more regular junior participation. The league are currently completing Clubmark and have new junior competitions and a 1* tournament coming up.
Bristol Academy Table Tennis Club feel their biggest success has been the College and University sessions which is growing and has seen all of the local sporting centres come together with a common goal of trying to increase participation and the level of play.
Bristol University, University of the West of England and South Gloucestershire and Stroud College all working together at training sessions. All of this is being led and driven by Nick Davidson who has developed his coaching career and recently passed the latest Level 3 course with Gloucestershire University and TTE Education programme.
Portishead Table Tennis Club has equally flourished being a part of BeTT, with the club going from strength to strength and taking up and delivering on every available opportunity. Some of their key achievements have been as follows:
- 7 new coaches being trained on the UKCC L1 course
- 1 Loop in the Community project set up with a local Youth Centre (equipment and coaching)
- £100 funding received for starter equipment pack
- Working on club development plan
- Working in setting up an after-school club
- Started the Clubmark accreditation process.
- Talk about applying for a small grant to aid club expansion
The Club have also started a Club vs Club Super Sunday evening league, and are in the process of recruiting a junior player onto their Council.
In total, there are currently 45 projects ongoing involving over 70 clubs and leagues. Expressions of interest for new projects will be opening later this month with priority areas to include shorter format leagues, women & girls and adult coaching.