The Future is Bleak For English Table Tennis

jkc

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jkc

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Spoke to someone 'in the know' today and it seems that the current predicament (regarding kids being asked for huge amounts for a chance to play for their country) comes down to our sport being run by people from outside table tennis and them being extremely short sighted.

The bottom line seems to be money and the need to secure funding from Sport England. To do this we have to increase participation. TT England's strategy for this is to get their regional coaches to set up groups to attract more senior members of society into the game. This leaves pretty much everyone else out in the cold. I would love to know how much time our regional coaches (probably some of the most trained in the country) actually get to spend working with kids. Ask one and they will tell you it is almost zero.

What are we planning to do with the funding anyway? Get them to set up more groups get more middle aged/elderly players to secure more funding? Where is the future? Sadly this is the only future as there is no other funding available unless we can produce medals at major events. Are things ever likely to change if we withdraw funding from our kids?

BTW I am not against groups like this being set up in communities, but let's not waste the time of TT England's most qualified coaches on this. Get them bringing on the kids which I'm sure is much more what they would like to be doing.

Anyway, rant over.
 
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Spoke to someone 'in the know' today and it seems that the current predicament (regarding kids being asked for huge amounts for a chance to play for their country) comes down to our sport being run by people from outside table tennis and them being extremely short sighted.

The bottom line seems to be money and the need to secure funding from Sport England. To do this we have to increase participation. TT England's strategy for this is to get their regional coaches to set up groups to attract more senior members of society into the game. This leaves pretty much everyone else out in the cold. I would love to know how much time our regional coaches (probably some of the most trained in the country) actually get to spend working with kids. Ask one and they will tell you it is almost zero.

What are we planning to do with the funding anyway? Get them to set up more groups get more middle aged/elderly players to secure more funding? Where is the future? Sadly this is the only future as there is no other funding available unless we can produce medals at major events. Are things ever likely to change if we withdraw funding from our kids?

BTW I am not against groups like this being set up in communities, but let's not waste the time of TT England's most qualified coaches on this. Get them bringing on the kids which I'm sure is much more what they would like to be doing.

Anyway, rant over.

As a nearly middle aged player now getting into the 'proper' game and taking advantage of coaching opportunities and getting a lot of enjoyment from it, I can only agree with you.

I and my ilk are clearly not the future and agree with you that efforts and money need to be spent on young players and infrastructure foremost. I hope however that my small involvement / investment in some small way benefits, or at least doesn't detract from, the sport.

As you imply, table tennis does seem to have something very positive to offer older people and, at a certain level, is physically more accessible than some other sports (I realise that at higher levels it's a very physical sport but it can be enjoyed at a level below this). So it seems to be a good thing to encourage, but this shouldn't be to the detriment of youth.

I've enjoyed watching your / Fred's vids and understand some of your frustration.
 
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Ashow much I like for the seniors to play tt. Tabletennis is not only a sport for the young.
Oldest Tabletennis player in the world: Inge Herman. She is 93. ;)
As she said herself. She could not even pick up the ball when she began to play 16 years ago. But now it is no problem.

Tabletennis is a enjoyable sport for both young and old. The World Veterans Championships in table tennis proves that.


Still europe definitely needs to develop table tennis interest on younger ones. That would help to promote tt in the long way.
 
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Devlopment at all ages is crucial - to increase the amount of players
Yes, table tennis is great for the aged - both from a physical excercise/sport or even from brain/hand/eye co-ordination perspective.

But I think it is silly that your best resource is getting put into a group that is likely able to afford playing table tennis compared to the juniors who are dependent on family and/or 3rd party support.

JKC, lets say - best case scenario: TTE and you can put 1000% into Fred. You guys have politics on your side, funding on your side, sponsorship on your side etc. But will that guarantee him coming back with a world medal?
Chances are so slim as there is only so many medals up for graps and are predominantly taken from table tennis power houses

Back to reality....most countries will only invest in the sports where medals can be achieved
So until such rule/principle changes, I think we can forget about that.
Unless you are prepared to move Fred into a table tennis country and develop from there.

From TTE junior perspective...I wonder how Tin Tin Ho is getting about it and what was done to get her to her level today
I know you want the best for Fred, and when the national body fails you, you can only take things in a private approach - and this isn't impossible hey, in fact some of the top juniors in the world has more private investment in terms of development.

If Fred gets so good and beats all English juniors, I don't think TTE will drop him as he didn't pay his "training fees".
So hang in there. I'm sure there must be some sane politician left in TT that would want to fix things
 
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jkc

says You sent me the following PM which you didn't ask for a...

jkc

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TBH Tony, I don't particularly want anything for free from TT England other than for Fred to be allowed to be selected for his country for events if ever at some stage he is good enough. They can keep their training and charge what they want for it (I've never been that impressed). He only ever attended it in the past to go and meet friends and to play some different people.

I know it is highly unlikely that anyone from this country will ever win a medal at an Olympic Games or World Champs (the only events that matter with regards to the funding situation), but if that special person did turn up and they happened to live on your local council estate, would TT England even notice?
 
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TBH Tony, I don't particularly want anything for free from TT England other than for Fred to be allowed to be selected for his country for events if ever at some stage he is good enough. They can keep their training and charge what they want for it (I've never been that impressed). He only ever attended it in the past to go and meet friends and to play some different people.

I know it is highly unlikely that anyone from this country will ever win a medal at an Olympic Games or World Champs (the only events that matter with regards to the funding situation), but if that special person did turn up and they happened to live on your local council estate, would TT England even notice?

Yeah, I fully agree
You get what you call "sport genius", it is the responsiblity of coaches to identify them and to make sure they are developed properly.

I wonder what will happen if Fred is the England Cadet champ, will he not make the squad due to him not taking part in those expensive trainings?

I agree where you coming from - if paying the fees and you do get something in return, then it is worth while paying. It doesn't seen to me that you guys are getting anything in return - other than getting bullied
 
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I haven't seen much effort to develop middle aged players.
at least the kids get to train, the grown ups most times are left on their own (unless they pay for a private coach).

I think there's something wrong about the current schema where the coach most times is just standing on the side waiting for time to go by.
they will only play when payed a private coaching session.
you have probably the most knowledgeable guy in the room just standing there doing nothing because of all this private coaching stuff.
I wish they would just increase the price of membership a little and have the coach play at least a bit with every player each day.
not only play, he should also give indications and corrections.
this would be great to improve the general level of clubs.
many times players could correct other players but they don't because they don't want to look cocky.
 
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