The Members’ Advisory Group (MAG) held its latest meeting online in May, discussing subjects including the coronavirus pandemic, recruitment of new members and engagement with the wider table tennis community, as well as updating on the projects currently being undertaken.

Engagement with the wider community is currently MAG’s top priority. All counties have been contacted via their National Councillor suggesting an online discussion to outline MAG’s work programme and to listen to suggestions about how we can best engage with counties, leagues and the wider table tennis community.

We have already had a number of responses and an on-line meeting with Hertfordshire has been arranged for later in June.

As part of our project on Clubs, we will be undertaking a similar engagement exercise.

The other projects we have been working on include:

• Volunteering – an interim report has been drafted on which comments are being sought
• Ranking – input into the Table Tennis England consultation
• Changing Perceptions of Table Tennis – a Board Working Group had been set up

We have projects in the pipeline on coaching and will be writing two project briefs, one addressing the “drop-out” rate for newly qualified coaches, and the other on how to increase the number of female coaches and coaches from minority ethnic backgrounds.

We have also submitted a project brief on IT Strategy and Systems to the Board and will update on this and all other projects after our next meeting, which will be held online in July.

Our aim is now be on completing existing projects, rather than adding new ones, but we will always be happy to receive suggestions for new projects.

Three members of MAG have stood down – Brian Keen, Raj Patel and Craig Bryant – and a recruitment process is under way. An initial announcement about the recruitment of new MAG members appeared on the TTE website in the middle of May and the formal application process opened at the beginning of June. The deadline for applications is June 19.