Given that we are looking to get more women and girls into our sport and we have had some fantastic new opportunities across the country to support this, I thought it would be great to highlight one particular athletes journey into the sport from their perspective.
Rachel Isles is a talented player that has agreed to share her experiences for us. You may recognise the journey as one you have witnessed, or it may open your eyes to how we can help young girls get a better experience in table tennis. Either way, I found it fascinating to chat – read Rachel’s journey below…..
“My first experience with table tennis was when I was 8 years old. My neighbours had a table tennis table and were moving away, so they gave their table to my family. This meant I could play with my family regularly. I’ve got some great summer memories playing table tennis in the garden.
My junior school, didn’t have any playing fields or a PE teacher but it did have an assembly hall that doubled as a venue for a school table tennis club, run by a committed retired teacher.
I joined the after-school table tennis club, and loved it. There were hardly any other girls but I didn’t care because I just loved playing sport. My school club encouraged me and I made it into the team to represent the school at table tennis competitions. We did really well in the schools competitions and made it to the regional schools finals in Bristol.
The school also entered me into the Bucks schools county competition held at Cippenham TTC. This is where I first met Ken Phillips, Cippenham Table Tennis coach, as he was keeping a keen eye on all the young competitors. I won the Bucks county competition and caught Ken’s eye, so he asked if I’d like to join the Cippenham club.
My parents took a bit of persuading to commit to yet another activity, but they could tell how much playing sport meant to me
Through table tennis I have always wanted to play to the best of my ability and see how much I could improve. My motivations for joining a club was to improve my game so that I could climb the rankings and after my first year of playing at Cippenham my goal was to break into the top 10 nationally ranked girls in my age group. I set myself this goal because the top ten was achievable but required hard work.
I achieved my goals by training multiple nights a week at Cippenham and getting 1 to 1 sessions from my coach Ken Phillips. This training helped me achieve my goal of entering the top 10 and also led me to the U12 national cup. In this tournament I was ranked 5th however I unexpectedly came second which is one of my best achievements so far.
Since that time I have played in Junior British League (JBL) which is one of my favourite competitions. I like it because it has a nice team element and I’ve become great friends with my team mates. In my JBL team we have placed first or second in our league almost every year since starting.
Table Tennis is a big part of my life. I really enjoy the compeitive element and seeing if I can master a new shot, beat someone I haven’t before, or go up the rankings.
It might sound odd, but even though it is a big part of my life, table tennis helps brings me balance. My ‘A’ levels are full on and , I have a part-time job, but playing table tennis helps keep me active and gives me something to focus on.
Table tennis is like the best kept secret. It is accessible to all, there are very low barriers based on gender, disability or facilities, and yet take up is low.
I go to a large all girls state secondary school with lots of sporty girls, and yet I’ve never been able to get a school table tennis team together. Compare this to the boys school down the road, where they have a vibant lunch time club with multiple regional schools teams competing.
It feels like it’s (just) out of reach somehow, yet Table Tennis is, and should be very accessible to girls. It’s not only about the accessibility though, it’s about girls feeling confident in their abilities; it doesn’t matter if we’re not great immediately at sport; just have some fun. I think
Table tennis is like the best kept secret. It is accessible to all; there are very low barriers based on gender, disability or facilities, and yet take up is low.
I go to a large all girls state secondary school with lots of sporty girls, and yet I’ve never been able to get a school table tennis team together. Compare this to the boys school down the road, where they have a vibant lunch time club with multiple regional schools teams competing.
It feels like it’s (just) out of reach somehow, yet Table Tennis is, and should be very accessible to girls. It’s not only about the accessibility though, it’s about girls feeling confident in their abilities, it doesn’t matter if we’re not great immediately at sport, just have some fun.
I think Table Tennis is the most accessible sport in the world!”