18th July 2018

Organiser’s Toolkit

National #TableTennisDay is a day to celebrate all things table tennis and an opportunity for everyone involved in the game to rejoice in its diversity and inclusivity!

It is a nationally co-ordinated, locally delivered, promotional day that takes place once a year - normally in July.

It’s your chance to be part of a high-profile, nationwide project that enthuses current players re-engages people within the sport, and shows everyone who doesn’t play what a great game it is!

The day let’s us demonstrate that it’s a sport that can be played anywhere, at any time, by anyone.

It also allows us to promote the host of health benefits it brings - from heart to head - keeping you healthy and happy!

They don’t say ‘Live Long, Play Ping Pong’ for no reason!

What is#TableTennisDay?

Welcome to the National #TableTennisDay Organiser’s Toolkit 2018.

This year, on Wednesday 18th July, we’re looking to get one million people playing table tennis in England. To help you take part and be one in a million, we’ve put together this toolkit full of ideas and activities on how to get involved – and how you can win a visit from an England star!

Message from England No 1 Paul Drinkhall“Thanks for getting involved in National #TableTennisDay! It is a great day in the table tennis calendar and a fantastic opportunity to show off our sport and get more people playing – whether it’s at work, at school, with a club, in a park or in a pub! I’m looking forward to taking part in this year’s event and being one in a million! I hope you are too!”

@TableTennisEng

Table Tennis Eng

/english-table-tennis

Table Tennis England

/TableTennisEngland

tabletennisday.co.uk

Introduction

Ideas and Inspiration for youHow you chose to celebrate #TableTennisDay is entirely up to you, but here are a list of ideas for events and activities you might like to try;

Hold a #TableTennisDay party: Bring everyone together for a celebration of all things table tennis! Here’s some ideas for some ping pong party themes; •Fancy dress World Cup•Ping Pong and Pizza•Bat and Chat•Bring a friend•Pop and Ping Pong

Provide some nibbles and even run a table tennis themed quiz! Take a look at our resources section for a ready-made quiz and some certificates for competition winners!

Hold a free coaching sessionInvite a local coach in to offer some hints and tips. Use our coach finder to help!

Hold a competition: Everyone likes a bit of friendly rivalry! It could be a;•Knock Out Cup and Plate

Competition•Robot Challenge•Keepy Up Challenge•Name your Weapon

competition or ‘can you beat the man with the frying pan’ challenge!

See overleaf for some more ideas

Get social: Get involved with the Table Tennis England social media challenges to show off your skills. Take a look at page 10 to find out more.

Enter our competitionSee page 9 for more details

Playing your part is easy - whether you’re part of a league, club, school, workplace, community organisation, leisure centre, Ping! city, Ping Pong Parlour or just a group of friends, everyone is welcome!

We’re looking for organisations and individuals to host the most inventive open days, events, challenges and competitions to make the 2018 day a day to remember!

This toolkit will provide some great ideas for your day, but if they seem a little daunting, don’t worry, there

are plenty of other ways to mark the day and to get people playing - and that’s what #TableTennisDay is all about after all!

If you’re unable to create or attend an event then you can still get involved online. We want to get as many people talking about #TableTennisDay as possible.

Make sure to tweet, like and share any #TableTennisDay stories and events you come across and let’s make this year the best event yet!

How to get involved

Target Practice

Longest Rally

Five Alive

This is a great game if there are lotsof people all wanting to get involvedand can be played in two ways; eitherplayers hit the ball and rotate aroundto the other side of the table (seeAround the Table) or players hit theball and go to the back of the queueon their side of the table.

The aim is simply to build the longestrally you possibly can, i.e. keep hittingthe ball back and forth.

Don’t forget to count the number ofshots, or time how long you can keepgoing for - you could even attemptthe world record of 8 hours 40 minutes!

It’s really easy to set up some simpletarget practice games, just gathersome items from around your club,office or school (stapler, cups, pencilcase...) and place these on one sideof the table, along with a player andbucket of balls.

One player should stand at the endof the table with the targets and feedballs into the other player, who shouldtry and return the ball to hit a target.Add points for each target and seewho can get the highest score! Aftereach go, swap places and repeat.

This can be played as singles, doubles,or in large teams, just make sure youtake it in turns to hit the ball.

Players start with five lives each, eachpoint lost equals a life lost. The matchcontinues until one player or team has

lost all five lives and all players. Thewinner carries over their remaininglives into a game against a newchallenger/team.

The new challenger/team starts withfive lives.

Ideas forFun and Games

Around the Table

Beat the Boss

This game is for 6 - 20+ players. Eachplayer will need a bat. Each playerstarts with three lives. If there are 12players to start with; six people queue up at each end of the table, and the person at the front of the queue serves, then moves round to the right.

Everyone has to get the ball over thenet and onto the other side of the table when their shot comes, then move to the right and join the queue again.

Miss and you lose a life. Lose threelives and you’re out. When it’s downto two of you, it’s alternate serves until someone’s out of lives. Last person standing is the winner!

The most important thing is topreserve the spirit of table tennis - it’snot about winning, it’s about keepngthe ball on the table and the gamegoing, so play nice!

Everyone wants the chance to beattheir boss - whether it’s a colleague,coach, school teacher, or parent. Beating your supperior is a leveller andgets life back onto a much more evenkeel.

If your boss isn’t very good then whynot challenge them using a smallersized bat, or take them on left-handed,or sitting in a chair... you decide howeasy, hard or ridiculous it becomes!

Whether your event is big or small, we would love to hear all about it!

Tell us how your event is contributing to our target to get one million playing table tennis and you could win a visit from one of the England Table Tennis squad.

Pick up some tips on technique, see how your skills stack up against an England star and hear what it’s like to play in some of the biggest sporting events on the planet – including what it was like to win medals and stand on the podium at the recent 2018 Commonwealth Games.

To enter this competition:

Register your event with Table Tennis England by filling in the ‘Register your event’ form on our website:

www.tabletennisengland.co.uk/register

Send us a picture or video of your event and the number of participants that took part to marketing@tabletennisengland.co.uk or tweet/Instagram us @TableTennisEng and use the hashtag #tabletennisday.

All entries must be submitted by midnight on July 20th 2018.

Before #TableTennisDay

On or after #TableTennisDay

Once you’ve decided when and where your National #TableTennisDay event is going to take place then it’s time to think about promoting it. Follow our simple steps below to ensure your day is a success!

Tell Table Tennis England what you’re planning - we may be able to help with your publicity & you could also win a visit from an England star! Register your event at www.tabletennisengland.co.uk/register

Tell your local newspapers, radio and television networks. We’ve produced a press release template which is available to download from our resources section.

Promote your day in as many places as possible - on your website, word of mouth, flyers, register your event on BBC Get Inspired and spread the word on social media (don’t forget to use the hashtag #TableTennisDay). We’ve produced some poster templates which are available to download from our resources section to help you spread the word.

Spread the wordabout your event

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The more people who tweet, post and share the hashtag #TableTennisDay the more likely it is to become a trending topic and therefore the more likely people are to see it.

Please help us achieve our trending goal by sharing your activities before, during & after the big day by using the hashtag: #TableTennisDay

Everyone who takes part in National #TableTennisDay and let’s us know by sharing a photo on social media with the hashtag #TableTennisDay has a chance of winning a prize!

Throughout the day we will be awarding prizes for various competitions that we’ve publicised on our website.

These include: the best selfie, the largest around the table, the most impressive improvised bat and the most artistic bat in our Bling your Bat competition. Click here to see the challenges.

There really is a chance for everybody to win! So what are you waiting for pick up a bat, get playing and share the photo proof!

Win Prizes for Participating!

Social Media Ideas

Serve YourselfCan you serve the ball legally over the net with enough spin for it to bounce back over the net to you? See this video for an example.

Selfie Challenge

Send us your best #TableTennisDay selfies.

Interesting BackdropsMost interesting location for a game – on top of a mountain, at sea, or on stage at The Albert Hall!

Trick ShotsAre you a dab hand with a bat in your hand?! #TableTennisDay is your chance to show off! Can you rival these tricks?

Here are some ways you can create a stir on social media - remember we’ll be giving out spot prizes online throughout the day so get sharing and use the hashtag #tabletennisday

Table Tennis England’s feature event is a showcase of what #TableTennisDay is all about.

We take over an area in a city for the day in an attempt to get passers-by to give it a go.

So far we’ve held events in Nottingham, Brighton and London, with special guests including Commonwealth Games medallists and Olympians Sam Walker and Kelly Sibley. The chance to take on one of the star players had locals flocking to each event – and there were plenty of other fun challenges too, including Choose your Weapon, Around the World, Bling your Bat and the robot challenge.

The day has attracted a lot of attention in the past and alongside visits from thousands of people wanting to play, we’ve also had visits from Sky Sports News and BBC.

This year we’re showing Milton Keynes – the headquarters of Table Tennis England – what #TableTennisDay is all about!

We’ll be located in intu shopping centre in central MK from 11am to 2pm, so come on down to meet some of this year’s medal winning Commonwealth Games team and play some table tennis to help us reach our target of one million people playing on one day!

Our Main Event

WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, INTU SHOPPING CENTRE , MILTON KEYNES, 11AM TO 2PM,

Table Tennis EnglandNorfolk House88 Saxon Gate WestMilton KeynesMK9 2DL

Email: help@tabletennisengland.co.ukTel: 01908 208860