New table tennis opportunities for the New Year

Horsham Table Tennis Club in conjunction with Horsham District Council is geared up to offer more opportunities to cater for players of all types and levels in 2020.

The New Year will see the introduction of a new one-to-one coaching service to help fast-track improvement. The details for this and other coaching session opportunities can be viewed here.

Additionally, a new starter course TTKidz, is also set to begin in early February and will be run out of the club’s satellite venue at Collyer’s on Friday nights. So parents, if you have a boy or girl eager to get an appropriately pitched and fun grounding in a fantastic and often underestimated sport get him/her signed up at www.ttkidz.co.uk

TTKidz is an entry route for youngsters into a more widely growing junior coaching and competition offer. Other sessions for older and more established youngsters are running on Mondays and Wednesdays.

The Greenway Academy based table tennis group has grown its coach and volunteer ranks significantly over the last 12 months having received great support from Table Tennis England and Horsham District Council, and its expanded team is looking to make further progress in engaging more players to one of the most accessible sports available.

Over October and November the club was one of the first to run the new governing body promoted TTKidz eight-week programme, aimed at engaging 6-11 year olds. Some 28 youngsters took up the initiative, making for the biggest initial programme in the whole country.

No bigger expression of progress can be seen than the club fielding nine National Cadet League under 15 teams and four teams entering the under 18 National Junior League, running at Sussex University, Brighton.

The club’s matchplay nights on Friday evenings at Collyer’s College continue to offer an excellent opportunity for players of all ages and abilities to compete informally in a large facility that allows lots of players to play lots of matches.

On the adult front, the club continues to be proactive with the ladies (14 years plus) coaching programme attracting a strong following. Sessions will re-start at Collyer’s College on 10 January.

An inter-business competition is being planned to run in February to raise funds for local charity Set4Success, which supports talented young sportspeople to achieve their dreams.

Local businesses wanting to engage with table tennis as a means of supporting a healthier workforce are also being encouraged to contact the Council’s sports development manager, Ian Ford, (email Ian Ford or call 07764 146338) as part of a wider plan to secure more investment in the sport’s infrastructure in the District.

Promoting good health and wellbeing is at the heart of what we do at the Council and sports programmes like this do much to support this.

“I am delighted that table tennis has taken off so strongly in Horsham.

“This sport carries many benefits and is accessible to all – it’s safe to play, relatively cheap to get started in and can be played by the athletic or the ‘fitness-challenged’.

“There’s a place for everyone in Horsham Table Tennis Club, so as a new decade opens why not give table tennis a go?”

Cabinet Member for Leisure and Culture Cllr Jonathan Chowen