Worthing Table Tennis Club is continuing to develop the next generation of table tennis officials after being recognised as a Table Tennis England Technical Officials Academy.
The club has established itself as a centre for developing officials alongside its growing coaching and playing programmes, having already hosted three Table Tennis England Technical Official courses, with more than 60 people attending across the courses.
Of those attending courses at Worthing TTC, 25% were Worthing Table Tennis Club members who have gone on to qualify as technical officials and become active officials through the club. Several of those officials have now progressed beyond the local level and are gaining experience at national competitions.
The programme has also demonstrated a strong commitment to making officiating accessible to a wider range of people. Of the Worthing TTC members who have qualified through the club’s courses, six are women and four participants with long term health condition or disability, highlighting the opportunities the club is creating for people from different backgrounds to become involved in the sport beyond playing.
The club’s growing group of technical officials has seen several newly qualified umpires progress quickly into higher-level officiating opportunities.
Juan has officiated at the Women’s British League, while Marc has umpired at the Under-21 National Cup, Holly was umpire at the Under 21 national championships and was awarded the final as the assistant umpire. These experiences are providing the officials with valuable opportunities to develop their knowledge, confidence and skills while working alongside experienced officials at major competitions.
At the same time, The club’s 2-Star tournaments give newly qualified umpires the opportunity to put their learning into practice in a supportive competitive environment. At the August 2-Star event, Nik, Margo, Mark and Matt all gained practical umpiring experience shortly after completing their qualifications.
This creates a clear development pathway within the club — from completing a qualification, to gaining practical experience at local competitions, before progressing towards larger regional and national events.
The learning does not stop once officials qualify. Marc, Juan and Holly are now also helping to mentor newer officials, sharing their experiences and helping them develop their confidence and understanding of officiating.
The pathway has also seen Worthing TTC members progress beyond umpiring into tournament refereeing.
Sally has developed her officiating career further by progressing to referee. She was the only newly qualified female referee last year to go on to become a Deputy Referee at the National School Finals in Wolverhampton, providing another example of how opportunities at the club can lead to involvement at national level.
For the club, this progression demonstrates that technical officiating can offer a genuine development pathway for members who want to become involved in different aspects of table tennis.
Rather than simply hosting qualification courses, Worthing TTC is creating opportunities for members to gain practical experience and progress into officiating roles at increasingly high levels.
These officials now play an important role in supporting tournaments, school competitions and events both locally and nationally, while also helping to inspire the next generation of WTTC members to get involved in the wider side of the sport.
The club already provides opportunities for players of all ages and abilities, runs coaching programmes for juniors and adults, hosts competitive events and supports members who want to develop their skills as coaches, umpires and tournament officials.
Matt Porter, Head Coach at Worthing Table Tennis Club, said:
“We are really proud to be recognised as a Table Tennis England Technical Officials Academy. Developing officials is an important part of growing our sport, and we want people at Worthing TTC to have opportunities to develop whether they want to become players, coaches, umpires or tournament officials.
“Even more importantly, we are now seeing people who started their journey with us progressing to national events, gaining valuable experience at tournaments across the country and supporting our sport in a bigger way.
“It is also particularly pleasing to see women and disabled members qualifying and becoming involved in officiating. We want table tennis to be a sport where everyone has an opportunity to get involved, no matter their playing ability, and officiating is a really important part of that.”
The club hopes the academy status will provide even more opportunities for members and people from across the local area to gain qualifications and experience, while helping to strengthen the pool of officials available to support table tennis events.
With Worthing TTC increasingly hosting tournaments and competitive events at its Bohunt School venue, the development of officials is also helping the club to continue to expand its player experience and run the highest quality tournaments
Worthing Table Tennis Club’s development of officials is part of its wider commitment to growing table tennis in the local community — not just by producing better players, but by giving people the opportunity to become part of every aspect of the sport.
