Just two weeks from today, on 26 July, millions worldwide will tune in to the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The day after, the table tennis action will begin and our sport will have its biggest opportunity since Tokyo 2020 to attract more people into the game.
Is your club ready for this? Below is a checklist of the types of things clubs can consider over the next six weeks to capitalise on Olympic fever!
- Is your website and/or social media channel/s up to date?
- Are the pictures relevant and welcoming to newcomers?
- Is it easy to find the contact details of the right person to speak with, should more information be needed?
- Could you use this opportunity to recruit new volunteers into vacant roles?
- What roles are currently vacant?
- Are there new roles that you need to introduce for example Marketing and Comms lead?
- Do you have role descriptors that you can use to entice new people?
- Could you run an Olympic-themed session for newcomers, or your priority audiences such as children under 11, or women and girls?
- Could you work with a partner organisation such as a local charity or community group to run a session for their clients/participants and create some nice content for the local media to help raise the profile of the sport and your club?
- Could you attract local sponsorship for your young players or talent programme with the hook of helping to inspire a new generation of future Olympians?
- Could you build your following on your social media channels by posting Olympic-themed content like trick shots, coaching shorts, your analysis of the matches – or reposting Olympic, Team GB or Table Tennis England Olympic content?
If you need support, and/or would like to support our Inspiring a new generation of TT Olympians Campaign to attract more under-11s into the sport, please contact your Area Manager.