Welcome!
Welcome to the first edition of the new Regional Magazine produced thanks to the efforts of our Regional Development Officer Chris Newton in the main. Chris has now been in post for almost 6 months and he is there to offer guidance and support in your development efforts. If you have a project you are thinking about then talk to Chris first.
I am pleased to say things are starting to move again on the Development Front with the mid year introduction of the Lottery Small Grants Program which will give organisations that have the ideas and will to progress, the opportunity to attract the funding which is often so necessary.
It was a pleasure to meet so many of you at the Regional Conference in Sandwell just before Christmas and the message of that conference, that there has possibly never been a better opportunity for development of Table Tennis than there is at this time, needs to be realised and acted on by all organisations and players in the region.
We held our first meeting of the reconstituted Regional Committee in November, at that meeting we agreed that the Regional Committee would concentrate on programs to enhance both the numbers of and standard of coaches, umpires and administrators. The result of this decision should see a series of courses and seminars for these people in the coming year. Please consider taking up or expanding your activities in these areas.
Table Tennis in the West Midlands (as elsewhere in England) runs only because of the untiring efforts of a small minority of committed volunteers and that minority can only be stretched so far, if we are to see major progress in provision of opportunities for people to take up the sport then we also need major progress in the provision of people to guide those newcomers in their initial steps in the game we all love.
To close it was gratifying to see the level and numbers of juniors and cadets from all the counties within the region participating in the Regional Trials in Warwick just after the New Year. My congratulations to those who qualified for the National Trials.
Malcolm Macfarlane
Regional Chairman
An Overview of a Recent Table Tennis Conference
An Overview of Opportunities in Table Tennis Conference Haden Hill Leisure Centre located within the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell was the venue for the West Midlands Opportunities in Table Tennis Conference.
Attending on the day were representatives from many of the local leagues and counties within the West Midlands Region. Speakers included Sandra Roden (English Sports Council), Alan Ransome (Chairman of ETTA), Michel Gadal (Performance Director), Peter Hirst (Director of Coaching) and Chris Newton (Regional Development Officer).
To put a full day into a few words is a difficult objective to achieve but starting the day off was ex RDO Sandra Roden who gave the delegates an overview of the latest ESC policies and how they fit into today's climate. Following on from Sandra was Alan Ransome who gave a long but excellent and well informed presentation on all areas of the ETTA and the vision for the future.
After lunch it was the turn of Michel Gadal the newly appointed Performance Director to talk about his vision for the future of English players, this included how the National Academy was panning out and who was included in this scheme. Next to speak was the new Director of Coaching Peter Hirst who talked about the future of the national coaching scheme.
To end the list of presenters was Chris Newton the Regional Development Officer for the West Midlands who looked at his role, services and future for the West Midlands. The penultimate event of the conference was the Open Forum where all delegates were given the opportunity to ask development related questions to the panel and to conclude the day speakers remained around for an hour afterwards to discuss any other matters or queries they may have held.
To put this day into context as stated previously is a difficult task but it becomes apparent that there is a future for table tennis; for the players, for coaches and for club organisers. It might not be an easy task but it is possible to take English Table Tennis to new heights especially looking at the quality of staff currently employed by the ETTA and the support given by the English Sports Council.
Chris Newton
Regional Development Officer
