Elderly visitors to the Henfield Day Centre recently proved that you are never too old to enjoy the benefits of table tennis.
Coaches and helpers from Horsham Table Tennis Club supported by Horsham District Council's sports development team ran a pilot session of table tennis activity for 11 of the centre's clients in an exercise that proved highly successful.
The players ranged from 65-92 years of age were initially given instruction in the basics of grip and ball control before moving on to rally play, target games and undertaking the robot challenge. Some played from a standing position, some chose to play seated but whatever the stance the common thread was that all were actively and enjoyably engaged.
Cathy typified the 'have-a-go' spirit scoring 25 points on the archery target challenge, scoring two bullseyes from her three attempts and suggesting she had not been so active for years. John who has a learning disability was slightly nervous about picking up a bat but once he did so did not want to put it down and attended to all the challenges with great enthusiasm. Cliff demonstrated the skills which proved he once played the game at a good level and still had the touch.
Day Centre supervisor Julie Moore declared, "The session was fantastically received by the whole group. Indeed we had our two clients with Alzheimer's Disease really got into it. I'm amazed that in 90 minutes we didn't have one person drop-out and they were all going strong at the end! We're looking forward to the next instalment!"
Horsham District Council's Community Recreation Officer, Paul Taylor, was equally delighted, "The session exceeded our expectations and certainly we will be looking how to build on the success by running more sessions in the Horsham District. In the context of an aging population we're always keen to explore new ways of keeping our older residents active and happy and table tennis fits the bill well as an inclusive activity for players of all age and most physical capability levels."
The coaches also learned one or two useful lessons from the experience too. For example, Eva who has spinal problems couldn't quite lift her elbow high enough from a sitting position and had to adapt by pushing the ball with the leading edge of her bat – a challenge they will be ready to address next time it happens.
For further information about the provision of table tennis sessions for older people in the Horsham District contact Paul Taylor on paul.taylor@horsham.gov.uk or 07764-146339
Crawley's shoppers were treated to the delights of table tennis on Saturday as a team coaches and volunteers from Crawley Community Table Tennis Club set up stall in the Mall.
About one hundred members of the public ranging in age from two to 85 years were encouraged to have a go, the table tennis robot one of the two tables in action being a particularly popular attraction. A number of people also benefited from expert coaching tips and an exhibition of smash and lob play from two of the club's players attracted plenty of attention.
Head Coach, Steve Chambers, was delighted with the success of the day, "This was a great showcase for our club. We are hopeful that many of the people that took part and enjoyed their taster will now come down to our Club to have a go."
Crawley Community TTC is staging an Open Day on Saturday 26th September, 2-5pm at its Holy Trinity School, Gossops Green home. It recently purchased 16 new tables and its hall has had a lighting upgrade, so it now stands as one of the premier table tennis venues in the south-east.
The Club has recently re-started its junior and senior programmes, runs a number of teams in the local league and is building links with schools and other partners as part of its growth plan. For further information visit www.crawleytabletennis.com or call Chairman, Ian Ford, on 07764-146338
The description below is an example of a project currently being conducted in the Horsham area to improve the core net/wall skills of 4-7 year olds. For information on what core skills work is going on in other parts of Sussex contact your local school sports partnership manager (visit links page) or contact Ian Ford on 01403-215634 or Ian.ford@horsham.gov.uk for tips on how you might be able to lever similar work in your area.
THE IDEA
To improve the net and wall sport core skills of KS1 children (years R, 1+2) through a structured, high quality delivery programme. This will enable more children to successfully progress into racquet and other sport pathways in the future should they show an interest in doing so.
The project is being run by Horsham Leisure Link in partnership with the Central Sussex Schools Sports Partnership.
COACH
Head Coach for the project is Tessa Walder. Tessa is a fully licensed and highly experienced LTA Tennis Coach (Development Level) for Horsham Tennis Club, running its mini-tennis programme and is also qualified and experienced in swimming and trampoline coaching. Tessa has accumulated 20 years' experience in the leisure industry and used to work for HDC's Leisure Link team in a full-time capacity. Tessa also holds a current CRB check and is first aid qualified.
PERIOD
The project will initially run in the period Sept 08 to Easter 09. More funding is being sought however to hopefully continue beyond this period.
DURATION
Programmes can run between 5 and 10 weeks depending on the needs of the particular school.
In terms of session length we would recommend 30 minutes per session for reception and year 1 children and 45 minutes for year 2's although again there is scope for some small variation depending on each school's needs.
Minimum deployment to be two sessions back-to-back, although for outlying areas - for viability reasons - we would be asking for a minimum of three sessions back-to-back (or near back-to-back).
Maximum take-up per school to be four programmes each within the Sept-Easter period.
TIMING
Tessa has availability to fit in curricular and/or curriculum sessions along the following lines:
Mondays 11.30-4.30pm
Tuesdays 12noon-3pm
Wednesdays 9am-3pm
Thursdays 3-4.30pm
Fridays 12-4.30pm
SUPERVISION RATIOS
The aim is to run programmes to a very high quality in order to achieve the desired outcomes. We are also keen to leave a legacy of improved school staff knowledge and experience of delivery good practice and ideas in relation to this type of work.
Given the young age of the children we would require that a participating school commit a teacher or teaching assistant to assisting at each session. If group numbers were above 20 we would require that there are a minimum of two assistants (second assistant could be, say, a parent). HDC Leisure Link would be able to provide sports coach-trained assistants at the rate of £15 hour if necessary.
Note that schools may decide that rather than working with whole class groups it may be better to split groups into two halves to rotate between a teacher's lesson and Tessas' core skills session.
COST
Tessa's Head Coach service will be FREE OF CHARGE. The only staffing charge would be for Leisure Link providing assistants if they were needed.
FACILITIES
The programme is best delivered outside on a playground to gain the benefit of space but Tessa is experienced enough to adapt in the smaller indoor space of a school hall if necessary (eg because of bad weather). Classroom space however would be too limiting to run meaningful physical activity for this kind of programme. If there is no indoor cover available the sessions would need to be cancelled, preferably in advance where possible and the programme re-jigged to adapt to the loss of the session(s).
INDICATIVE PROGRAMME
Based on a full 10-week programme and subject to change based on school-coach agreement and the needs of the children in each group
Week 1 - Core Skills Assessment (Baseline Data)
Week 2 - Ball Tracking and Striking
Week 3 - Balancing Your Body and a Ball
Week 4 - Movement, Agility, Speed
Week 5 - Throwing and Catching (including Depth Perception)
Week 6 - Controlling the Power of Hitting and Throwing
Week 7 - Stability and Stretching
Week 8 - Forming Strokes
Week 9 - Taster of Badminton, Squash, Tennis and Table Tennis
Week 10 - Fun Competition (including Final Assessment)
OTHER
All equipment will be provided, although we may ask to borrow general resources like benches and hoops from time to time.
Tessa is quite happy to make a pre-programme visit to discuss each school's needs and circumstances.
