Table Tennis England and Societechy are stepping up their partnership to further develop the StreetTT App following successful pilots.

The App was created by Societechy during the pandemic to enable people to connect and play table tennis outdoors and in a safe way when indoor play was not an option. It now has thousands of users around the world. Everyone who signs up gets instant access, seeing listed table tennis events and ‘meetups’ within a 100km radius. Additionally, in focus towns and cities, players can take part in a community-moderated instant messaging group, where local people can talk about table tennis, get information about where to play, organise and promote events and competitions, and share video content.

Table Tennis England has been working with Societechy since the StreetTT App was first launched and has funded targeted pilot projects in London and Birmingham alongside City Council projects in Manchester, York, Oxford and Cambridge. The renewed arrangement will see Table Tennis England have a more active role in the partnership, supporting further developments to the App and expanding the project into 10 more towns and cities, starting in the Greater Manchester area later this year.

The English version of the App will become dual-branded, and a data share agreement will mean that Table Tennis England can have direct contact with all App users in England, inviting them to access even more table tennis content through their channels and promoting other opportunities within the sport. Additionally, affiliated Clubs and Leagues, and Licenced Coaches, will be invited to join the StreetTT online community as Moderators, receiving education and training on how to create engaging content to promote themselves and invite interested players to join their activities.

Active Lives Survey data shows 222,000 people play table tennis at least twice a month – this figure was double pre-covid – with a large percentage of these using Ping! tables to access and enjoy the game. Keely Armitt, Head of Business Development at Table Tennis England said the partnership would enable greater engagement with these people and help us to offer them more opportunities to play – including a pathway into a club (or support to create one), competition, coaching and other advice relating to the sport.

Keely said: “With approximately 750 free-to-use tables in public places across the country, the Ping! project has delivered some remarkable results in its 12-year life, with tens of millions of people seeing and playing table tennis in a way and at a time that suits them.

“The challenge for Table Tennis England has always been how to engage with this transient audience so that they can be offered more.

“We are really excited about expanding our partnership with Societechy as we know that by working more closely together we can really amplify and accelerate the impact of StreetTT and, engage with a much wider and larger table tennis audience.

“Both Table Tennis England and Societechy have vast amounts of knowledge and experience of working with the recreational table tennis market and with the help of the StreetTT App we are confident we can better connect them with the traditional pathways in the sport, as well as facilitating the emergence of brand-new playing communities.

“We’ve got some amazing examples of how this project is successful through our pilots and we can’t wait to upscale this work.”

Louis Cadier, Societechy CEO and founder of StreetTT said: “We created the StreetTT App so we could play more table tennis with more people.

“We needed to develop our own tools to recruit new, existing, and lapsed players, to organise and promote events and to record our local community achievements. We are excited to now share these tools with all players and all organisers, in a free, easy to use app, and to give anyone the means to get involved with table tennis where they live, instantly.

“Players must be aged 16 years and over, although children may attend if accompanied by a parent or guardian as the app provides different event types to include everybody. Societechy is committed to guarding the privacy and wellbeing of table tennis players by providing a safe, moderated community where personal information is protected and the focus is on playing.”   

If you are a club or coach and would like more information about how you can get involved in this partnership, please complete the Expression of Interest Form below. Or, why not join StreetTT yourself to meet other table tennis players in your community, to add your local table or an event you’re hosting. Visit streettt.com for more information and to download the App.