Table Tennis England Annual Review 2018/2019 Type: Pdf Size
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Annual Review 2018/19 Contents Chairman’s Report Sandra Deaton We will continue to work hard on your behalf to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to enjoy and succeed in table tennis, wherever “ they play. We will also continue to be open and transparent in everything we do and to listen and respond to our members. ” t has been my honour to lead Table Tennis England through five years of significant change during which the organisation Ihas continued evolving into a highly professional National Governing Body in good standing both domestically and internationally. I was equally honoured to have recently been appointed as Chairman for a further four-year term after an open and transparent application process, including robust interviews of a number of candidates, myself included. The appointment – rather than the election – of a Chairman was one of the key governance changes which we were required 3-4 Chairman’s Report to adopt in order to be compliant with the Government’s Code for Sports Governance. 5-6 Chief Executive’s Report After these changes were supported in 2017, we in turn committed to a wide-ranging 7 Governance; Profile Governance Review and this year we have continued to implement the recommendations 8 Mission 2025 Update of the Independent Review Panel which carried out that process. 9-12 Participation and Places Central to those recommendations was the creation of a new body – the Members’ 13 People Advisory Group (MAG) – which provides strategic advice to the Board, as well as a 14-15 Performance channel for the table tennis community’s views. 16-17 PG Mutual National Championships The 12 members of MAG met for the first The National Conference was a big success and will become a time at our National Conference in March and you can read regular feature on the calendar 18-21 Competitions more about the group elsewhere in this review. I very much look forward to working with MAG and I know they will play a central We constantly re-evaluate what we do and are currently 22-23 Notable Achievements role in developing our sport in the months and years ahead. looking at our Mission 2025 statement to ensure its priorities are The creation of MAG and the fact that its 12 members are still relevant – you can see an update on progress so far in this drawn from a broad cross-section of the sport, illustrates our 24-25 Awards and Thanks review, alongside all the departmental and other reports. commitment to listening to the voices of our membership and As you will see, it has been another busy year, including the acting on their wishes where appropriate. 26-27 Who’s Who launch of the TT Kidz initiative, a hugely successful national We have also maintained the principle of our membership conference, the continued investment in clubs and leagues via 28-30 Finance being able to vote directly for three Board members and, at the time of writing, the election for the three Elected Deputy our Be TT programme, a ticketing sell-out at the PG Mutual National Championships and plenty of big performances on the 31 Obituaries Chairmen is under way and they will take office after the AGM. We are fortunate to be able to draw on the expertise of many international stage by established and up-and-coming players. talented people at Board level and through the rest of the All that is not to mention the ongoing success of our mass governance structure, with a strong representation from within participation programmes, which are financed by ring-fenced the sport alongside a smaller number of independent members. funding from Sport England and which continue to go from Editor’s note: This review covers departmental and financial matters It means we have a wide-ranging skill-set within our governance strength to strength. for the year to March 31, 2019. For competition and performance structure, something I believe is vital for a modern National We will continue to work hard on your behalf to ensure that matters, obituaries and notable achievements, the period covered is Governing Body to be able to thrive in an ever-changing sporting everyone has the opportunity to enjoy and succeed in table the 2018/19 season. landscape. continued on page 4 2 | Annual Review 2018/19 Annual Review 2018/19 | 3 Chairman’s Report Chief Executive’s Report From page 3 tennis, wherever they play. We will also continue to be open and transparent in everything we do and to listen and respond to our members. International Matters I was honoured this year to be reappointed to chair the Sara Sutcliffe ETTU Youth Committee and in that capacity I attended the European Youth Championships in Cluj, Romania, which was one of the most well organised and best attended events in which I have been involved. Without the support of Sport England and now UK Sport we could I also attended the European Under-21 Championships in Portugal early this year and it was a not do what we do, but we are indebted also to the members who privilege to be present as Tin-Tin Ho flew the English continue to support the work of the Governing Body through the flag when she won the doubles gold medal with her “ Austrian partner. membership fees, which provide vital funding for much of our work. Events such as these expose our players to a high standard of play, experiencing the necessary level of We were delighted to be presented with the award for Best ” performance that is required to compete at this level. t is my pleasure to be writing my sixth Chief Executive’s report World Cup Event at the ITTF’s AGM in Budapest The European Championships were held in Alicante in for the Annual Review. As I reflect on the past year I have also September. Away from the field of play, there was a great deal of taken some time to sit back and reflect on the journey of the concentration on the political issues concerning the remuneration of the ITTF to discuss our vision for the 2026 celebration, when I the ITTF marks its centenary with London as focal point as the last six years and to think about the exciting years ahead of us. of the ETTU President. Both our Chief Executive Sara Sutcliffe One year ago at the Annual Conference in 2018 we presented and I attended the Congress where the president achieved a high city where it all started. Sara gave an outstanding presentation which was very well received and the next stage is to conduct a the detailed findings of the Independent proportion of the votes to stay in post and continue to work with Governance Review. A strong common thread the executive board to drive European table tennis. feasibility study with the ITTF. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our friends that ran through all of the recommendations There was also a motion passed to require the executive board was the need to improve how we connect to put a proposition to the International Federation AGM to and colleagues in the International Table Tennis family for their support and respect they continue to show for English table with the membership, improve two-way consider the team World Championships returning to a maximum communication and how the membership entry of 96. tennis. I would also like to thank the UK Sport International Relations Fund for both their financial support, including funding voice can be more effectively heard and We retain an influential presence on the ETTU committees, represented. with Susie Hughes (Veterans), Simon Griew (Ranking), Mike Smith Sara’s travel to international meetings, and their continual guidance in the field of international relations. In the past 12 months we have appointed (Para) and now Paul Drinkhall (Athletes Commission) all playing the Members’ Advisory Group (MAG), important roles, while Sara remains an integral member of the designed to be a broad church representing constitutional group working towards the production of a new Thanks all aspects of our membership and providing constitution to be voted upon at the AGM in Nantes in September. I mentioned earlier the expertise and knowledge we can draw on advice to the Board on strategic matters. The ITTF individual World Championships were held in and I would like to thank all my Board colleagues for their support We held the first National Conference for Budapest in April. Sara and I attended the AGM and were over the past year. a decade in Leicester at the end of March delighted to receive the award for the Best World Cup Event on To that, I would like to add my personal thanks to all the Table with more than 110 delegates from clubs and the back of our delivery of the Team World Cup in 2018. Tennis England staff for their hard work and commitment in the leagues and this was a fantastic opportunity to As a member of the Board of Directors of the ITTF, much of my last 12 months. engage with those in the sport and discuss a time was concentrated on trying to secure the best option for the Those qualities of hard work, commitment and knowledge can wide variety of matters – as well as celebrating European nations within the new qualification system and ensure be seen across our sport, from coaches and officials to parents the contribution of our amazing volunteer as many as possible have the opportunity to reach the finals. and volunteers and in the committees which help us run the army at the Pride of Table Tennis Awards.