all roads lead to Rome...

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Yes agree. It is not like table tennis needs a huge court; we are not talking about ITTF events here. At the elementary school level, the tables are be closely together. And which kid does not like ping pong? They may not be good at it in the beginning but they should have fun. And the earlier they start, the better their hand-eye coordination will be. It will be good for them.

Also, liability is basically zero. If the school has volleyball, american football, basketball, etc. program, those carry a lot of liability for the school. Kids can get injured. They can get concussion. But with table tennis? There is minimal liability. And the children can play ping pong throughout their life span!

yes, that is why in South Africa, I have been helping all coaches promote TT into schools
So many have "club only" mentality, and recruit from community.
I try to share the new idea of - get TT into 1 or 2 or 3 schools, and those can be feeding into your TT Club for proper sustainability (new learners every year)

Few suceeded, few still think it is someone else's responsibility.

 

[JJ Ng]

yes, that is why in South Africa, I have been helping all coaches promote TT into schools
So many have "club only" mentality, and recruit from community.
I try to share the new idea of - get TT into 1 or 2 or 3 schools, and those can be feeding into your TT Club for proper sustainability (new learners every year)

Few suceeded, few still think it is someone else's responsibility.

I have thought about doing it in North America. But at the local clubs, the coaches are busy coaching. traffic is bad. I don't think that they want to commute to the school to teach.

In addition, public schools have a lot of bureacracy. So maybe targeting private schools? But it is hard to convince school administrators to let less popular sports into the school. I think e-sport is even more popular than ping pong at this moment. I am like e-sport? So they just sit there and play on their computers?

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

I have thought about doing it in North America. But at the local clubs, the coaches are busy coaching. traffic is bad. I don't think that they want to commute to the school to teach.

In addition, public schools have a lot of bureacracy. So maybe targeting private schools? But it is hard to convince school administrators to let less popular sports into the school. I think e-sport is even more popular than ping pong at this moment. I am like e-sport? So they just sit there and play on their computers?

public schools are tougher to get in, but if you have some connections, ie parent in the parent teacher association, or know some teacher etc, it will be easier.

For school starting, you don't really need to be a coach (since NA coaches level are pretty high). Club members who know basics are more than technically qualified imo. Unless there is some local law that requires additional qualifications (I know USA has the safe sport thing).

Private school, it is about a business, and if you can sell the business to them and that it is a win-win for them and the kids, it is atleast a few meetings guaranteed.
as you said, cost low, liability low. It is an extra curriculum for the school to advertise and someone is running it.

One private school I started it in, didn't take it as a internal sporting code (they had they own sports), they took it on as an extra mural activity (similar to karate, ballet etc). Private school also has different branches, so once you in the one, should could potentially carry on in many other.
Sadly, I don't have the energy or time to build on that one I started to make part of there national structure (they got over 50 schools in SA)