Watch the England Team, LIVE

One frequent comment I received from members and fans when consulting on Table Tennis United, was how much you loved watching the England team play in this country but were frustrated by the lack of opportunities.

As we continue to listen, we are delighted to confirm you will be able to get behind the team when we play two back-to-back matches as part of the qualification for the European Team Championships 2023:

• England vs. Serbia, Thursday 26 January 2023
• England vs. France, Friday 27 January 2023

The matches will take place at the K2 Centre, Crawley, West Sussex, starting at 7pm. Full details and ticket information can be found here.

We are continuing to explore bringing more live top class table tennis to our members and fans and really hope you will support these events and join us next month for what I am sure will be two fantastic matches.

I look forward to seeing you there.

Restructuring People and Departments (now referred to as Teams)

Table Tennis England does some great work with many capable people who are passionate about what they do.

In recent months, a key part of my considerations in designing Table Tennis United, has been the alignment of our staffing structure and the skills and experiences needed to deliver the pledges contained within our new strategy.

Table Tennis England requires a structure that is flexible and has the capacity and capability to deliver its strategic objectives. The reorganisation therefore that I feel best supports our ambitions has seen some roles and people retained, some people retained but offered new roles and some roles made redundant resulting in us unfortunately losing members of our team.

At a high level, I wanted to share the restructure of the teams – this is as follows:

Performance Development Team (was Talent & Performance)

• Performance becomes one integrated team across GB including England, enabling greater efficiency of resources
• Table Tennis England will place great emphasis on identifying and developing pathway players and coaches including an investment into establishing seven Pathway Development Centres (PDCs) – the Pathway must have the ability to seamlessly integrate into the Performance programme

• Coach Education will become Coach Development and move into the Performance Development team with a heavy focus on developing coaches, as opposed to simply qualifying them, in order to build the coach pipeline

Table Tennis Development Team (was Development)

• Nationally led, locally delivered – ‘Meet people where they are at’ as opposed to ‘build it and they will come’ – this approach to the way we engage and support the table tennis community, and develop the partnerships needed to grow table tennis, is a fundamental principle of Table Tennis United
• We will establish seven areas with local ‘account management’ across participation, coach development, competition and pathway development

• The Area network will each have an Area Manager, an investment budget allocated, and a local delivery plan developed alongside the creation of Area Committee’s
• The Competition and Events Team will move from sitting within the Performance Team and be incorporated into the new Table Tennis Development Team

Engagement Team (was Business Development)

• This Team will focus on data, insight and technology in order that our products, communications, services and systems are best placed to reach and engage new and existing audiences
• Membership will move into the Engagement Team where it will focus on the customer and data led with defined value propositions

Governance Team (was Governance & Operations Team)

• The first ‘G’ in ‘Governing Body’ is an important part of what we do and why we are entrusted with public funds
• With governance and integrity under greater scrutiny, we will strengthen our Governance role including further modernisation and reforms and implementing structural change including reviewing the roles of our Advisory / Standing Committees, and strengthening their respective membership
• Will strengthen on all safeguarding and disciplinary matters alongside the responsibilities we have to wider integrity issues such as anti-doping

People Team (a new Team)

• We will create a new Team focused on the development of the people who lead and deliver table tennis and establish a clear plan of action
• We have also moved our work in tackling inequalities into the new Team – equality, diversity and inclusion must be an organisation commitment

CEO Team

• In addition to the leadership and strategic oversight, the CEO Team will take the lead for constructing and developing a commercial programme
• It will also oversee the development of a Major Event Strategy (World events, WTT, Internationals)

Finance & IT Team

• There are no changes to the current responsibilities of this Team

A new organisation structure can be found here which also introduces you to members of the team.

Thank You

I’d like to conclude by thanking you all for the wonderful welcome you have given me since I joined Table Tennis England earlier this year and this update provides the opportunity for me to also wish you and your families a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Peaceful New Year.

Best wishes,
Adrian