Table Tennis England The Winning Edge Issue 5 | Page 10

GET
THE
JUNIOR
JOLT
A thriving youth section is vital to
the success of any sports team,
as some of the UK’s most popular
table tennis clubs can testify.

F

ar from being the mere future, growing
the youth section of your club can give
it the boost, in numbers and in spirit,
that it needs to flourish.

Of course there is no magic spell that can be cast to
generate a dozen youngsters walking through your
door at 6:30 on a Wednesday evening, but there is
plenty of groundwork that can be done to bring that
scene closer to reality.
With over 100 different players signed up – and around
20 attending every week – the St James’ Park club,
also home to Exeter City FC, is a dramatic example of
getting young players in to accelerate growth.
A key figure in this boom is Scott Walker, a player
there since he was 14 and now, aged 36, Assistant
Manager of their Football in the Community
programme. His advice is to focus on what happens at
your open sessions.
‘Our biggest achievement is to get people through the
door,’ Walker conceded. ‘All we concentrate on doing
is making sessions friendly, fun and relaxed.

‘It’s good people skills that you need more than
anything: Interact with the new faces, make them feel
welcome and secure. Never underestimate how many
people could drop in. Make a plan for each session that
can be adapted if 5-10 more people turn up than usual.’
Walker gives much of the credit to the support he’s
had from Active Devon and Table Tennis England,
which includes funding to provide sessions in schools.
The children they meet there who are enjoying it can
then be encouraged to come to St James’ Park and so
the cycle of club growth continues.
‘One thing that has really benefited our sessions is
new players getting to know more advanced ones.
That’s where someone like Penny Perry has made a big
impact. She’s an ETTA Level Two coach and is highly
ranked in the Veteran Women’s game, so for juniors to
see what she can do and feed off her experience and
enthusiasm is great.
‘With a seven–year–old and an 85–year–old here,
there’s so much to learn from each session, and so
many ways we can get people to develop – as players
and as individuals.’