Annual Report 12/13 - The English Table Tennis Association

Chief Executive’s
4
Statement
For the final time it is my pleasure to
welcome you to our Annual Report, a
document which strives to encapsulate,
record and communicate an ever
growing range of activities during the
past year undertaken by an outstanding
group of talented volunteers and a team
of dedicated professional staff.
I joined the Association in 1995 and the
ETTA Management Committee Report of
1995/6 opened with: “The season has
been one of contrasts which has seen
sustained progress in several areas of
the Association`s activities, whilst on
the other hand there have been some
disappointments. There is no doubt the
world of sport is going through a period
of massive change.” Plus ca change I
hear you say!
While the sporting landscape does seem
to have been in a constant state of flux
since 1995, the ETTA has survived the
turbulence and certain aspects of the
organisation have changed significantly
during these past 18 years. In 1995
there were 19 people employed by the
Association and annual turnover was
in the region of £500,000: last year the
annual turnover exceeded £5 million and
over 70 people were employed.
We are greatly indebted therefore to our
funding partners and colleagues from
the Youth Sport Trust, the Jack Petchey
Foundation, many local authorities and
in particular Sheffield City Council,
our sponsors and partners in the table
tennis trade, and in particular our
colleagues at Sport England for their
continuing support and investment.
Grateful thanks are also recorded on
behalf of our colleagues at the English
Schools’ Table Tennis Association and
congratulations in particular to John
Arnold OBE for his richly deserved
honour.
The highlight of our year was the
Olympic and Paralympic summer of
sport which is well documented in
this report. It was a privilege to be a
small part of this national triumph, and
I offer my congratulations to Richard
Scruton and his crack team of officials
and volunteers for delivering what is
now regarded by many as the best ever
presentation of our sport at both the
Olympics and Paralympics.
Congratulations are also in order for the
great medal success enjoyed by our
colleagues from the BTTAD and their
subsequent funding award for the Rio
cycle.
In sharp contrast our post Olympic
legacy hopes for the able bodied game
were dashed, however, when UK Sport
advised the BTTF that its funding criteria
could only support those players who
could evidence real potential to be
ranked 1-8 in the world!
As Sport England now becomes more
prescriptive about how its investment
should be spent, securing funding
for the ETTA’s high performance
programmes will be an important
challenge in the years to come. As is
the total domination of the sport by
China: table tennis is the only sport
in the summer Olympiad where one
country has won all of the available gold
medals over two Games as in Beijing
and London. China has raised the bar
so high there are now three powers in
the world game: 1) China, 2) Chinese
players representing other countries,
and 3) the other countries.
Recent attempts by the ITTF to make
the sport more attractive to the media
and spectators are not helped when the
outcome of the contest is a foregone
conclusion. Our former President,
the great Johnny Leach MBE who
recently celebrated his 90th birthday,
still regrets that table tennis is not as
attractive to spectators as it was during
his career. He was amazed to read in
an ITTF Technical Bulletin that there
were more than 650 different rubbers
and over 50 adhesives to choose from.
Too complicated or a rich diversity of
choice and opportunity The arguments
will go on but a statistical analysis
which revealed that the average rally
in many international contests was 2.8
strokes adds credibility to the Johnny
Leach point of view and is encouraging
entrepreneurs like Barry Hearn to
offer an alternative product: The
World Championship of Ping Pong, as
staged at Alexandra Palace in January
supported by expensive high quality TV
production values.
So how can we stop the seemingly
inevitable advance of China Well that`s