Annual Report 12/13 - The English Table Tennis Association
Annual Report 12/13 - The English Table Tennis Association
Annual Report 12/13 - The English Table Tennis Association
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Austria, Belgium, the Czech<br />
Republic, France, Germany<br />
and Italy. Stuart Sherlock was<br />
appointed referee of international<br />
championships in Brazil and<br />
the Czech Republic, and Karen<br />
Tonge was selected as referee<br />
of the ITTF Men’s World Cup<br />
held in Liverpool. <strong>English</strong> match<br />
officials played an important<br />
part in their organisation and<br />
management of the table tennis<br />
competitions of the London<br />
Olympic and Paralympic<br />
Games. <strong>The</strong> former NURC<br />
Chairman, Richard Scruton,<br />
was the Competition Manager<br />
while Stuart Sherlock and<br />
Steve Welch were, respectively,<br />
Deputy Referees of the two<br />
competitions. Three <strong>English</strong><br />
International Umpires officiated<br />
at the Olympics competition and<br />
15 at the Paralympics, with many<br />
others carrying out essential<br />
supporting duties elsewhere in the<br />
organisation.<br />
4.23.4 It was with great regret that<br />
the committee learned of the<br />
deaths of Philip Gower of Essex,<br />
an International Umpire and<br />
International Referee, and of John<br />
Hardcastle, a National Umpire and<br />
the long-serving CU Secretary of<br />
the Yorkshire <strong>Association</strong>.<br />
4.24 Tournament Organisers<br />
Qualification Delivery Group<br />
4.24.1 Work has begun to consider a<br />
review of the current Tournament<br />
Organisers qualification with a<br />
view to re-launching the scheme.<br />
A discussion paper has been<br />
produced and was tabled at a<br />
working party convened at the<br />
National Championships to initiate<br />
the debate. <strong>The</strong> meeting was<br />
attended by the widest possible<br />
cross section of competition<br />
organisers in England and it is<br />
likely that the outcome will be to<br />
develop a broad ‘Competition<br />
Organisers’ scheme.<br />
4.25 Competitions and Events<br />
Department Volunteers<br />
4.25.1 <strong>The</strong> Department uses more<br />
volunteers than any other and<br />
we would like to place on record<br />
the significant contribution<br />
these volunteers make to the<br />
Department. Indeed it is fair to say<br />
that without them the Department<br />
could not function in the way that<br />
it does. Our sincere thanks go to<br />
them all and an invite to continue<br />
to offer their time to our great<br />
sport. It is much appreciated.<br />
4.26 Staff and Events Department<br />
4.26.1 Diccon Gray has recovered<br />
extremely well from his recent<br />
illness and continues to serve the<br />
<strong>Association</strong> well. Vanda Jones,<br />
our National Events Administrator,<br />
offers considerable support to our<br />
events from the office.<br />
4.26.2 Mat Morris was appointed as<br />
National Events Officer earlier in<br />
the year and has settled in well,<br />
making a valuable contribution.<br />
Zac Ferris was also appointed as<br />
Assistant Events Officer during the<br />
year, bringing the team up to a full<br />
complement.<br />
5. Development<br />
5.1 General<br />
5.1.1 <strong>The</strong> development department is<br />
driven by its aim to make table<br />
tennis the ‘most popular indoor<br />
sport in England‘ alongside<br />
looking to increase participation<br />
by the inclusion of social table<br />
tennis working with a number<br />
of partners. <strong>The</strong> ‘Ping’ initiative<br />
has undoubtedly been a major<br />
success and is due to continue<br />
– what must happen however is<br />
the continuing development of a<br />
strong ‘player pathway‘ so as to<br />
link up with local Leagues, clubs<br />
and schools.<br />
5.1.2 <strong>The</strong> continuing development of a<br />
strong network of PremierClubs<br />
is essential as is developing ways<br />
to encourage young people to<br />
stay in our sport. <strong>The</strong> creation<br />
of a ’Women in Sport group’<br />
has looked at several ways of<br />
motivating girls, both to take up<br />
and to stay in our sport, but now<br />
needs further developmental<br />
initiatives.<br />
5.1.3 <strong>Table</strong> <strong>Tennis</strong> can be a ‘sport for<br />
life’ and indeed it is with veterans<br />
having an increasing band of 080s<br />
continuing to play competitively,<br />
and the department has linked<br />
up with ‘Britdoc’, a scheme to<br />
help the elderly with their mobility/<br />
health issues.<br />
5.1.4 ESTTA has a thriving membership<br />
of schools/competitions and it is<br />
increasingly important that ETTA<br />
continues to work closely with<br />
them.<br />
5.1.5 <strong>The</strong> department also aims to take<br />
full advantage of relevant funding<br />
opportunities to both sustain<br />
and extend all current initiatives<br />
together with the development of<br />
new initiatives.<br />
5.1.6 As is now customary each<br />
Regional Development Manager<br />
(RDM) communicates with local<br />
leagues and County Sports<br />
Partnership (CSP), offering the<br />
Departmental <strong>Report</strong>s<br />
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