Back on the table! Horsham club enjoy a lockdown boom

But since returning to action in July, Horsham Table Tennis Club has experienced a mini-boom as more people from all age groups and sectors of the community seek to play a game that supports focus, enjoyment and health, and which because of the inherent social distancing involved – a table tennis table is 2.74m long – is safer than most.

The club, based at Greenway Academy, has implemented protocols laid down by its governing body, Table Tennis England.

These include cleaning equipment between sessions, increasing ventilation levels, avoiding doubles play, restricting session capacities and adults playing in bubbled groups.

All has proceeded smoothly so far and parts of the club’s programme are fully booked up.

Club Covid officer Graham Barnes is maintaining high vigilance and the Greenway school management’s support has also been instrumental in the successful return to play.

With demand high and session capacity limited the club is launching a number of new programmes open to new participants.

On a Friday night ‘Junior TT for All’ is catering for eight to 14-year-olds of all abilities and there’s an adult coaching group running to cater for anyone aged 18 and over to develop their game.

On Tuesday evenings the club is working with Horsham District Council’s Reaching Higher project to start a programme for disabled people. Contact Ian Ford on 07764 146338 or [email protected] for information on any of these.

The club’s profile in the national table tennis community was stimulated recently with Table Tennis England filming its TTKidz Awards promotional videos at Greenway and involving 14 children from the club as stars for a day - see youtu.be/F8kw2S58KwA and https://youtu.be/Ydoq5zhVAdU

Overall the club is operative six nights and generating 115-plus attendances per week. The sport is struggling is some other arenas: league play is currently on hold.

For further information visit www.horshamtabletennisclub.co.uk or contact Ian Ford - email address above.