In 1998 Wood Green High School decided to adopt table tennis as one of its focus sports and it hasn’t looked back since a grant of £65,000 helped upgrade the school’s outdoor tables.

With help from the English Table Tennis Association and from Sports College and School Sports Partnership funding, Wood Green were able to set up a new table tennis club, which now has over 130 active members.

The school felt that table tennis had the potential to engage pupils of all ages and abilities as well as becoming a focus for sustainable community provision for all. Therefore, a sustainable partnership approach was designed that encompassed the school, the local club, funding streams and the ETTA.

By 2010, the school had this system in place and its new club, the Wood Green Table Tennis Club, has experienced unparalleled success.

Pank Patel, Headteacher Wood Green High School College of Sport, Maths and Computing said: “It is vital that we help to continue build our communities so that young people engage in activities both in and out of school time. Sport has always been a major success driver and is an excellent tool for engagement.“

The club that now operates several times a week, fields 16 teams in the local adult league and includes players aged between nine and 86 years of age.

Part of the successful programme has been the introduction of an active lunchtime strategy that has seen a number of outdoor tables help to drastically reduce the instances of poor behavior during the lunchbreak and, consequently, any fall out during afternoon lessons.

John Blackband, Chairman of Wood Green Table Tennis Club, said: “This programme has enabled young people to become more active citizens and helped develop long term benefits for the local community. It has helped focus young minds on active pursuits. It has helped develop more healthy lifestyles and built a much greater sense of community.”

Table tennis in schools is acknowledged as a sport in which pupils quickly gain success and where organisation is simple. To find out more information on how outdoor tables can benefit you visit this page: www.etta.co.uk/development/outdoor-tt-development/outdoor-tt-advice/

For additional information on sources of funding you might want to read this document: https://newsarchive.tabletennisengland.co.uk/content/uploads/2011/03/Funding-Information.pdf