Pardon the intrusion, but I found this discussion fascinating and I thought I'd make an observation which might help.
Being Australian, and living in Australia means I know very little about the UK's next generation of TT talent, so on that front I can't comment sorry.
However - from the way you describe it, Australian TT is in EXACTLY the same boat as UK TT, in terms of creating new talent. Here in WA we are gasping for new generations of talent to take up the sport, and the age base of people playing at community level just seems to be getting greyer and greyer. We also are losing talent to other sports, to better paying jobs, and to other professions entirely -- just like in the UK.
A few people here have commented that if they had the money, they would invest in the sector, and fund the development of the sport... and oh dear lord, how many times have I heard that said in WA over the years?? And by how many different people??? I have honestly lost count - this particular idle wish is as common as raindrops in a deluge.
On the basis of these similarities, I feel I can offer my own personal observations.They're far from impartial mind you, but they're honest (for whatever that's worth.)
So many passionate TT people say 'if they had the money, they would fund the sport properly'.
Well, the thing is -- those people DO have the money already. But they don't spend it wisely.... and by this I mean, they don't buy locally made equipment, they buy equipment from the foreign majors.
For years I used to make blades as a hobby. Now I do it as a full time activity, because I love it, and wish to spend all the remaining years of my life doing it. Note that I say I do it 'as an activity', and not 'as a living'. I would LOVE to be able to make my living manufacturing blades. But I simply don't sell enough currently to pay all the bills. So just like our best TT juniors (and yours), and our best TT coaches (and yours) I am (or more correctly was) forced to do other things on the side to help make ends meet.
In my case, I make / made ends meet by being a regular carer for someone with a disability, and by surviving on the funds the Government subsequently provides (which ain't much!!). It's rewarding work that helps people... But it's not the work I'd ideally want to do. What I want to do is make my blades full time.
Up till very recently, while caring enabled me to keep making blades, it also drastically limited my ability to do so -- I spent as much time away from my business, as I did in it, trying to grow it.
I realised however unless I changed things drastically, my business wouldn't grow, as I just didn't have enough demand for my products to warrant spending more time and money growing it. I didn't have enough time to make blades to either create more demand for them, or satisfy any increase in demand I may create.
It was a classic 'chicken and egg' situation really... And in my case, I recently decided to focus on the business of making blades, despite the fact this meant a big drop in my income. Because a product needs to exist first, before there can be demand for it. So I'm going the whole hog now, and hoping and working like hell to make it work.
Basically I had to make this jump. Unless I changed what I did, I woud be stuck forever in this vicious circle, of not having enough time to make blades, and not having enough blades to sell to make a living doing it.
To help their sport, I submit UK players need to change what they currently do as well.
When it comes to the dearth of UK juniors, you are all exactly right -- they need to have the best coaching, and enough financial support to reach the top levels. But who's going to provide that funding?
I'm guessing that currently nobody is... just like here in Australia.
Who then SHOULD be providing that funding? Or more importantly, who DOES provide that funding in the places that already have stronger development pathways?
To my mind, the logical choice is your local TT equipment manufacturing industry -- because they have the most to gain from providing those funds. More junior players equals a bigger local market, equals more potential profit for them, so investing in the next generation if players is just good business.
If you were to make a list of all the countries that have large TT manufacturers, and then make a list of all the strongest table tennis nations, I'll bet you money those lists would be identical.
But it's the equipment manufacturers who came first -- they existed before the demand did, and before the development pathways were there.
Here in WA, I am the only full time TT equipment manufacturer in the whole state -- it's an area the size of Western Europe, but with only two million residents).
And despite looking around for a while now, it seems I am also (apparently) the only manufacturer of competition standard TT equipment Australia has.
Every other Australian TT brand is stocking chinese-made equipment. Most of it is cheaply made and just not up to snuff.
The larger Aussie TT brands (and there aren't that many frankly) currently aren't investing huge money on juniors or the local TT scene, because most of these brands are either owned by supermarket chains, or by people who don't love the sport enough to grow it. They secretly want to keep all the money they make by selling their complete junk.
Developing TT juniors, and growing a sport nationally, is always a chicken and Egg situation, and everyone keeps arguing which bits of the sport need to come first with whatever meagre funds may be available.
The answer is always invest in industry first, by buying local. You need something sustainable driving continued investment in the sport over time, and for that, you need people with substantial vested interests, and substantial money to spend... as nobody without both of these is going to care that much.
Yes, governments can invest more in the sport -- but they won't, as there's so many other things they need to provide.
Yes, foreign brands sponsor local tournaments and players... But it's typically a pittance compared to what they invest locally, within their own countries, where the benefits and payoffs are usually so much larger for them.
I love my job, I love the sport, and I love helping people. Frankly I would love nothing more than to invest hugely in the sport locally, by donating loads of equipment to local schools, and by sponsoring as many promising juniors as I could possibly find.
But doing so now on a large scale with my current tiny business would quickly send me broke. The best I can currently do, is donating whatever equipment I can spare or afford to schools and juniors, as often as I can spare it... Which is nowhere near as often as I want to, and nowhere near as much as I could POTENTIALLY do, if only my business were bigger.
But everybody locally keeps buying from Butterfly, Donic, Andro and DHS.
So many people don't even bother to try my products, so fixated are they on all the marketing nonsense from the majors, or whatever it is that Ma Long currently happens to be fanning through the air.
And so the rot continues.
You want better UK juniors? Support your local manufacturers and bladesmiths, no matter how small. They're doing it for the love of the game, not to consolidate their massive market power or dominate the sport worldwide.
Find one that cares about the sport, who makes great gear, support them as much as you're able, and encourage them strongly to give back to the sport as they grow.
It's not a quick fix by any stretch, but over the long term, history suggests it's the most sustainable one.
Eggs don't lay themselves, so go breed yourself a big, fat, generously-minded chicken.
Good luck with it 🙂
