GRASSROOTS
GRASSROOTS TABLE TENNIS
The English Table Tennis Association (ETTA) promotes the social aspects of the sport to encourage long-term participation
T
able tennis evolved in England during the nineteenth century, on the dinning room tables of the upper class and was originally
played under the names of Gossima and Whiff-Whaff – the latter made popu- lar in the media by London Mayor Boris Johnson, in his London 2012 statement at the Beijing Olympics that “Whiff- Whaff is coming home”! The names table tennis and ping pong joined the fray at a later date. The sport entered the Olympic move-
ment at the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympic Games and since its international recog- nition, Asian nations, in particular China, have become the dominant force – com- pelling the rest of the world to work harder at developing their athletes. Although many of the top interna- tional players are aged between 20 and
40, players within both the England and Great Britain squads are a relatively young force, with an age range from the mid-teens to late-twenties. However, the English Table Tennis Association’s (ETTA) widening promotion of the sport could lead to a fresh batch of inspired young players nipping at their heels. According to the ETTA, introducing
the sport to a wider base of partici- pants will increase the pool of players, which in time, should show an increased output at the top of the pyramid and a larger elite force of players in the future.
Developing grassroots Currently, the ETTA has three key devel- opment projects aimed at the grassroots level of the sport to encourage the general public to pick up a bat. These pro- grammes include Change 4 Life, the Social
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Media Sports Hub and Ping! Although ini- tially promoting the social aspects of the sport, these initiatives are also intended to have an impact on the competitive nature of the sport, with players being drip fed into table tennis clubs.
Change 4 Life The Youth Sport Trust (YST) has offered pupils at 800 English schools and colleg- es the choice of three sports from table tennis, handball, volleyball, fencing, badminton, boccia and wheelchair bas- ketball, with the aim of attracting young people who might be inspired by the 2012 Games to take up and participate in an Olympic or Paralympic sport. Out of those 800, 775 schools/colleges chose table tennis as one of their sports. Each school within the scheme ben- efits from a range of grants for coaching
Issue 4 2010 © cybertrek 2010
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