Hello and Welcome to the April 2024 east area blog.
I sincerely hope that everybody connected with table tennis in the East region had a restful and enjoyable Easter break.
I wanted to use this blog as an opportunity to highlight the fantastic work that volunteers undertake within table tennis now that the season for many is drawing to a close. Over the past couple of months, I have been fortunate to be involved in organising the Pride of Table Tennis Awards alongside my colleague Johnathon Driscoll. The work undertaken behind the scenes culminated in the Pride of Table Tennis Awards dinner during the Mark Bates Ltd National Championships in Nottingham on Saturday 23rd March. It was a real privilege to be part of that evening and I am always blown away by the efforts that volunteers from within sport make to ensure everybody has a continued opportunity to play/compete and take part. This is often without recognition or reward and they really do deserve the title of unsung heroes.
During the dinner, our CEO, Adrian Christy, remarked that there are more volunteers in sport than individuals that work across the National Health Service, which is a staggering statistic. I’ve had the privilege of working in various professional sport development roles for 16 years and volunteers are certainly one of the motivating factors in ensuring we can support the sport as best as we can.
During March, I also had the opportunity to visit Bury St Edmunds Table Tennis Club, observing their partnership work with local schools which culminated in a two-hour table tennis competition amongst local primary schools. I also visited Highfields Table Tennis Club in Wellingborough, as they hosted a Junior British League competition.
As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, my door is always open to a conversation about how table tennis can be supported and grown in the East area and as such, please feel free to give me a call/send me a message on the details below and let’s see how we can support each other:
Many Thanks
Chris
[email protected] / (01908) 208870
