New outdoor table tennis equipment is ideal for students and staff to keep fit
Students and staff at Anglia Ruskin University are having a ball keeping fit, thanks to new table tennis equipment courtesy of the English Table Tennis Association (ETTA).
Anglia Ruskin recently launched Active Anglia, a strategy to increase participation in sport over the next five years. As part of the project, Anglia Ruskin submitted a successful bid to ETTA and secured two new outdoor, all-weather tables.
Anglia Ruskin now has a total of five tables on its Cambridge and Chelmsford campuses, and with no booking required, students and staff can enjoy the sport whenever they want.
Martin Beaver, Head of Sport at Anglia Ruskin, said: “We are extremely grateful to the English Table Tennis Association for supporting the Active Anglia strategy by providing this equipment.
“The strategy will help us to achieve our goal to ensure that we provide a greater student experience for all at Anglia Ruskin. This kind of support from partners and national governing bodies is exactly what we need to succeed.’’
Emily Millar, Anglia Ruskin Sport Development Officer, added: “Table tennis is perfect as a fun lunchtime social activity with the added benefit of helping people to keep fit for free.
“We have also worked in partnership with the Students’ Union to run regular ‘Give it a Go’ sessions in which students have the opportunity to receive professional coaching.”
ETTA’s donation has come through a three-year street table tennis project called Ping! As well as providing equipment to non-profit organisations, Ping! has held city-wide events with hundreds of tables being set-up for free, public use.
John Andrews, ETTA’s Regional Development Manager for the East of England, said: “Having tables outside makes the sport much more visible and we find that wherever we put a table, people can’t wait to play on it.
“We’re happy for people to play just for fun and exercise, but we will also be working with BUCS (British Universities & Colleges Sport) and local table tennis clubs to ensure that any students and staff who want to play more seriously have the opportunity to do so.”
To read more about the Ping! project, please visit http://pingengland.co.uk/ More information about Active Anglia is available at www.anglia.ac.uk/activeanglia