27 What we are offering through the college is the concept of ‘come along and play’ - Alex Morrison
It would appear that one of the more unfashionable sports is making a comeback in this country. When Boris Johnson, in a typically flamboyant pre-Olympics speech said ‘I say to the Chinese, that Ping Pong is coming home’ it was all in good humour. After all, there was nothing to suggest that any of our home-grown players were going to deny China of gold. In the end all four gold medals went to China. Nonetheless, all signs point to a revival of the game in this country. Oddly, the game has suffered a slide in popularity in the UK since it became an Olympic sport in 1988. China, Japan and South Korea have gone on to dominate the world stage, with Sweden and Germany consistently fronting the European challenge. Now the game is taking off in UK cities, primarily through an increasing number of outdoor tables. The Ping Pong Parlour, a temporary table tennis café, has been launched in London and 100 tables have been installed in the capital as part of an English Table Tennis Association (ETTA) initiative. Here in Horsham, the game is set to be boosted by the launch of a new Friday night table tennis club for all held at Collyers College. The scheme is funded by a £10,000 Sport England grant, which will pay for top
quality tables. Horsham Table Tennis Club is driving it, with strong support from other clubs including Storrington and Horsham Spinners. Alex Morrison, Chairman of HTTC, said: “The perception of Table Tennis is changing but it’s a slow process. It’s really a sport that hit a peak in the 1970s and the 1980s. I used to play in London and a lot of banks had sports clubs, so there were a lot of business teams. “Here in Horsham, we had Royal and Sun Alliance and they had their own club at Holbrook club. They tended to encourage employees to participate in sport, but a lot of that business participation has faded over time and that has meant there have been fewer facilities and opportunities. “Leagues have tended to become smaller but now we want to reverse that trend, particularly after the Olympics as there is a bit more interest in table tennis. You are seeing outdoor tables– I saw several tables on Brighton marina recently and it was very popular. “We want to be able to have something going on in Horsham which is much more informal. We want to be more like a golf club -you can play as a member or you can, if you want to, just turn up and have a go without any commitment to play again. What we are offering through the college is
the concept of ‘come along and play’. “You can turn up and the organisers will take a look at your game and put you into a team of two or three and we’ll have little informal competitions. It’ll be like a league night but without the formality. It’s an easy first step into table tennis competition.” Ian Ford, Sports Development Officer at Horsham District Council, said: “Sport England have said, whether you agree with it or not, that they have improved sport participation amongst young people at primary school age, so let’s switch the focus to retaining young people in sport. “Therefore the 14-25-year -old bracket – of which colleges are right in the middle of – is now the priority. That’s where they are throwing their funding towards. We are bringing the game to them, rather than asking them to go and find it. “There is a bit of a revival for the game. Lots of people have played it in the garage or back gardens in the past and it’s getting a bit of a second wind. We want to tap into that.” Horsham Table Tennis – like the game in this country – is showing signs of improvement. It has maintained a high level at competition and continues to focus on its junior section. The club was founded in the 1938/1939 season, as an offshoot of the Horsham Lawn Tennis Club. Over the years it has played in