Martin Ireland Table Tennis England

Martin Ireland from Table Tennis England spoke to the committee of the East Lancashire Table Tennis League with ideas about the development of the League. We have long since considered ways of improving the League to attract more players to the League, particularly Juniors and Cadets  He spoke at some length about the "Churn" rate i.e. the number (percentage) of players who start to play table tennis but after a while, or change of circumstance they leave the game. Many go to College, University, or simply find other sports that is more suited to their needs at that particular time. There are also many calls on youngsters time these days. 

One of the suggestions made includes a different format e.g a two man team where there is only 5 matches played at any one time. This makes the evening shorter and morr accessible to younger players. Other areas include the introduction of Ladies, Vets and Veterans divisions.

The League is to complete an Action Plan which will be supported by Table Tennis England under their BeTT scheme.

Coaching is another activity that needs further development. To this end East Lancashire is holding  a Level Two coaching course to be held at Hyndburn in January and March for those who wish to develop their coaching skills, It is hoped that a Level One course will also be held in the near future.