Table Tennis England The Winning Edge Issue 7 | Page 16

THE
WINNING EDGE
UNITED
THROUGH
SPORT
Not every club, teammate or athlete is after trophies. Carrie Dunn assesses
how trainers cope with those players who aren’t ultra competitive.
W
hen you coach recreational table
tennis, you might not be fretting
over results. But important
challenges remain.
Bringing together a diverse group of people – and
making them a unit that plays the sport and has fun
– is not easy, regardless of the age group.
Part of Gemma Sandberg’s role is spotting the
best places to offer sessions and meeting demand
where it exists. She works with local authorities
and community sport partnerships to draw on their
knowledge, and talks to as many people in the area as
possible to ensure she understands what they want –
and where and when they want it.
‘You wouldn’t just put on a session and expect people
to go to it,’ she explains, ‘it’s about going where the
potential players are.’
She gives the example of a group of women – all
parents of children at a local primary school – who
asked for a session to run between 8pm and 9pm.
They had demands on their home life earlier in
the evening, but were keen to use their free time to
play sport.
‘It’s all demand-led,’ Sandberg emphasises, ‘and it’s all
participant-centred. It doesn’t really fit around what
we think – it’s very much what the participants want.’
She has run sessions on housing estates at lunchtime
and in the evening, with groups of women who have
English as a second language. She is very aware that
learning table tennis could be intimidating, so ensures
that every session she designs is as accessible and
enjoyable as possible.
‘We’ll do some fun games and make it very social,
to start with, so that they’re exercising but they
spend a lot of time chatting as well,’ Sandberg
explains. ‘It’s not like the gym where you’re on your
own and running on a treadmill. Then I look at what
I think those participants need, and we do a bit of
skills work.’
Sandberg is well aware that sport is not a priority for
her novice players, but she is entirely happy with that.
‘They’ll start to come very sporadically and (see)
whether it fits in with their life,’ she says. ‘After six
months they’ll be there every single week. After 10
months they’ll be going to more than one session,
then all of a sudden they’ll find this competitive edge
where they want to play in leagues.’