Innovation drives growth as Gilwern TTC continues to benefit local community
Gilwern TTC has been providing a table tennis hub for its local community for around a decade, and following affiliation to Table Tennis Wales nearly three years ago, the club has been encouraged by growing engagement.
With an overarching focus on inclusivity, the club’s ethos ensures that all abilities, ages and genders feel welcome to play, as well as those with disabilities or those using the sport to recover from injury or improve wellbeing, while still catering to more experienced players.
A key volunteer at the club, Kevin Saunders, describes Gilwern TTC as “important within our locality to allow individuals the opportunity to socialise and play table tennis in a safe environment.”
And so it has proved, with the club proving increasingly popular.
“The growth of the club has developed over the years by word of mouth and social network postings,” Kevin told us. “Our club was set up originally for seniors to meet socially and indulge in some gentle exercise. We quickly found that there were many talented individuals in our area who had not played for many years but still retained a high level of skill.
“We set up a management committee and discussed how we could develop as a club, to suit all ages and abilities and place in a safe, inclusive, environment.”
As a not-for-profit club, the opportunity to apply for Sport Wales funding since affiliating to TTW has been vital for the club, and has been pivotal to its ongoing growth and development.
Alongside a local village fund and some proceeds from club funds, a grant from the Be Active Wales Fund, supported by National Lottery funding, enabled Gilwern TTC to purchase four new tables as well as a robot, which has taken the club’s attendees by storm.
Stemming from demand, the four new tables were set up at a bigger venue, to accommodate more play, and play at an increasingly competitive standard.
Meanwhile, Kevin and other leaders at the club have taken funding opportunities to be innovative by purchasing the robot.
“The robot is a basic model but is designed to deliver table tennis balls across a table to an opponent with adjustable rate of spin and frequency to a single or double location on the table,” explained Kevin.
“It is used by the senior players when we have fewer players attend, and in each of our junior sessions. It has proved to be very popular in our junior sessions, with the youngsters queuing up to pit their skills against it!”
And the new piece of equipment has received nothing but positive feedback as it engages more and more people.
“All the players that us it feel it is a good tool to develop skills,” Kevin confirmed. “Word of mouth amongst our junior players has encouraged new members and prompted the return of youngsters we haven’t seen for a while!”
Table Tennis Wales is delighted to see such a successful use of funding, which is promoting the sport and engaging more and more people to feel the wide-ranging benefits of table tennis across Gilwern TTC’s local community.
“Table tennis keeps me fit, but also allows me to give something back to the community,” Kevin concluded.
“It allows others to play when there are fewer opportunities available due to the demise of youth clubs and other social groups.”
Find your nearest club here.
And learn more about how your club can benefit from the Be Active Wales Fund here.