Work with Schools

September 2007

Another school year will begin and the Club will be at Wood Ley Primary, Stowmarket for the 16th consecutive year. It will be run by our Director of Coaching, Peter Avenell. It is hoped that we can work in other schools but this is dependent upon finding more volunteers. Peter is also working with a number of schools as part of initiatives run by the Partnership Development Officer based at Stowmarket High School.

Two officers of the Club, Geoff Brook and Tony Mooney, took the lead in resurrecting the Suffolk Schools Table Tennis Association after a break of 3 years. Unfortunately, there was insufficient support to run the team event but the singles competition run in February 2007 attracted an entry in excess of 60 players. Of the eight boy and girl events Stowmarket Club players took four of the titles, although it is fair to say that some of them also play for other Suffolk clubs. Well done to all the winners, seven of whom went on to the Nationals in April to represent our county. The standard there was incredibly high but all of them acquitted themselves well.

Stowmarket Table Tennis Club won a grant of £4,252 in 2002 under the Millennium Festival Awards for All. The grant was used to purchase some special table tennis tables which can be adjusted to the size of the player - very important when used by young, and short, players. It provides the considerable advantage in that it finally makes it possible for youngsters to play strokes in a proper manner rather struggling to hit the ball when they can barely see over the top of the table! The tables are now in Abbots Hall, Chilton and Wood Ley Primary schools, all in Stowmarket and three are at the club itself at its County Table Tennis Centre at Stowupland High School.

The club worked in the three primary schools - Chilton, Abbots Hall and Wood Ley, in Stowmarket plus Bosmere Primary at Needham Market and Great Finborough Primary School. In all these schools the club has used the BT Top Sport bag, in partnership with Sport England and Mid Suffolk District Council, which contains equipment allowing youngsters to acquire many of the basic skills of the sport without the need for table tennis tables.

This project has been made possible by a grant from Sport England (Eastern) with English Table Tennis Association (ETTA) Eastern Region. The club has been running a club for Wood Ley school since 1991, now run by Peter Avenell, assisted by Tony Mooney, also an ETTA coach.

Study Support Scheme

Our club was asked by the English Table Tennis Association (ETTA) to pilot a very exciting new scheme - see below for the details in Article from Table Tennis News October 2000 by Diccon Gray, Director of Development, ETTA.

"The English Table Tennis Association has been awarded a grant from the Department for Education and Employment as part of their Partners for Study Support small grants scheme.

Study Support is activity that young people take part in voluntarily outside the normal mainstream classroom but has clear links with raising achievement, improving learning skills and enhancing motivation to learn. The number of activities that can be promoted through study support range from study and homework clubs to outdoor pursuits, creative art ventures, sporting activities and clubs catering for specific interests, such as photography, archaeology and web page design. The aim of this small grants scheme is to encourage creative partnerships between schools and a wide range of organisations to promote exciting, innovative and inspirational out-of-hours learning programmes for young people.

The ETTA was one of only approximately 150 successful applications nationally, of which only about a dozen were sport and leisure related. The ETTA proposal, entitled "Learning Through Table Tennis" aims to develop a well rounded, innovative and sustainable school - club link between Stowmarket Table Tennis Club, Stowupland High and Bacton Middle Schools. Table tennis will be used as a learning medium to engage young people in physical and social (cross-curricular) activities that include leadership as well as acquiring new "on the table" skills. Part of the scheme will involve older children researching into feasibility of outdoor table tennis in England.

A successful project will equip the young people who attend with enhanced citizenship skills, higher levels of self-esteem and motivation that will lead to more positive attitudes to school. More young (skilled) people will be introduced to the sport of table tennis and be given the opportunity to join Stowmarket Table Tennis Club, enabling them to develop a lifelong involvement in a healthy activity.

The ETTA is pleased to be working in partnership with Stowmarket Table Tennis Club, where meetings have already taken place with Secretary Geoff Brook, Development Officer Tony Mooney and Director of Coaching Peter Avenell. The club is school-based, has an excellent track record of development and a very good understanding of the education issues that relate to this project. Funding has been allocated primarily for equipment, ie. New tables (indoor and outdoor), coaching fees (to deliver a series of skills sessions), tutor fees (leadership and umpire awards), and other miscellaneous costs for the children, volunteer support, refreshments, etc.

In addition to the above, funding has been allocated for the development and production of session plans aimed at supporting Introduction level Premier Clubs where sessions are likely to be delivered by teachers or interested parents/helpers, rather than qualified coaches. Also as part of the grant, the ETTA will continue to develop the production of a competition ladder that will be able to be used by many other schools and clubs. The development of national resources will, of course, have a lasting legacy for the small grants scheme and be of benefit to many schools and table tennis clubs up and down the country.

The ETTA will monitor and evaluate this project with a view to making an application for a wider school-club link programme to the out-of-school hours learning project that is funded through the New Opportunities Fund. "