Our annual Membership Survey will be released later this month, giving all our members the opportunity to provide feedback on their experience with Table Tennis England.

Among other things, we will be seeking your views on membership benefits, our communications with you, perceptions of our role within the sport and how we can make table tennis more inclusive.

Details of how to take part in the survey will be released in the coming weeks.

The Membership Survey is just one way in which we consult with our members and gather insight. This insight is then used to support our decision-making and to develop new strategies, and to support our everyday work with clubs and leagues, coaches, officials and other stakeholders.

In the past year, we have engaged in a raft of consultations with our membership, or relevant sections of it, as follows:

• Ask us Anything live discussion
• Consultation and new strategy for British League
• Formation of Competition Review steering group
• Consultation on rankings modifications
• Consultation on development of a new local league programme
• Consultation on domestic implications of change in youth categories by the ITTF
• Worked with TASS to better understand female participation and reasons for drop out
• Club survey shaped our ongoing club support and identify ‘at risk’ areas
• Performance team and Members’ Advisory Group collaborated to produce a report and action plan to build on the strengths of the Team England pathway
• Two participation surveys helped shape our support and development of initiatives to help participants keep active with support of both physical and mental well-being
• Local rankings added to TT Leagues based on feedback from league administrators and other users
• League survey helped shape our ongoing support for leagues and identify ‘at risk’ areas

Many of these consultations were supported by explanatory papers, open forums for members, key stakeholder workshops or ‘drop-in’ sessions at our events, including British League weekends last season before the pandemic restrictions came into force.

The insight we gained from these consultations supports our decision-making – for example, deciding to remain with a ‘relative’ system after the first stage of the ongoing rankings consultation.

As well as the above, we also held an Ask us Anything Development and Volunteering webinar on zoom, with 85 attendees live, and a webinar on The Future of Coaching, which included an open Q&A with the coaching team. As well as a chance to share knowledge, these sessions enabled us to seek feedback from members.

We created focus groups on disability, ethnically diverse communities and women & girls – groups from across the sport were selected to help us better understand these areas.

In addition, we have consulted British Para Table Tennis to create a disability awareness training module; county school associations to create our Schools Membership package; and 35 tutors and assessors to re-write the Level 2 coaching qualification

We are also planning on the following consultation and knowledge-sharing with members:

• Diversity action plan consultation scheduled for June 2021
• Club audit scheduled for Spring 2021
• Competition Review to move forward
• Online tournament sanctioning and entry system to move forward
• Open invitations to coaches to attend performance pathway sessions once restrictions are lifted (several coaches have already inquired)
• Further consultation on development of new local league programme
• Continuous consultation on the development of TT Leagues platform

Table Tennis England Chief Executive Sara Sutcliffe said: “One of the key things we never lose sight of is that we are a membership organisation, and that means we consult with and listen to our members as we aim to continue to provide opportunities for people to enjoy and achieve in the sport at all levels.

“The insight we get from clubs and leagues, players, coaches, volunteers and other stakeholders is invaluable in helping us to shape what we do.

“I’d urge all our members to complete the survey when the details are announced later this month and have their say on the sport’s present and future organisation.”