Horsham TTC on the Up!
25th August 2010
Things are looking good for Horsham Table Tennis Club as it reflects on a highly progressive 2009-10 season that has just passed and prepares with optimism for the next campaign to come.
On the tables the Horsham A team led by Rory Scott won the local league Premier Division for the second season in succession, a big deal for a club that has trailed in the wake of its big rivals, Crawley Community TTC, for the previous 20 years or so. A number of new, well reputed players have just joined the club so perhaps there will be more than one Horsham team looking to have a say in the destination of silverware next season.
Promoted Horsham F will also be looking forward to mixing it with higher company in the newly formulated central venue K1 division of the league. As a club Horsham has been pushing hard for the modernisation of league structures and formats in order to open up the possibility of growth.
The club’s development policy is also delivering an increased yield in its junior ranks. Rising talents such as Erik Van-Mol, Daniel Pound and Matt Van Yperen are starting to receive recognition in bigger circles – all are involved in the Sussex Junior Elite Centre having earned their invitations. Pound, Van-Mol and Mark Collins recently qualified for the Junior British League.
Horsham TTC also fields teams in the Senior British League, National Cadet and Junior Leagues. Horsham 1 finished second in National Cadet League top division in Chesham this year. Horsham’s top two U15 players Tejas Padalkar and Daniel Barna both played for Sussex cadet first team in the premier division. Padalkar won the Sussex Top 8 U15s Invitation event.
Holly Holder is currently the club’s most prominent female hope. With a gritty and committed attitude the 11 year old continues to develop well, recently evidenced by reaching the semis of the English Schools U11 individuals. She also represented the South East Region recently, as did 9-year-old Kate Cheer, another girl making great progress.
With the club’s community coach, Rory Scott, driving a network of around 320 club and school based participants strength in depth is also developing with prospects like Freddy Goodall, Sam Dallas, James Arnold, Luke Baldwin and Chris Purdy coming through as a next generation intent on ruffling older feathers.
Volunteer coaches Steve Pound and Sally Weston have also brought the experience of county level playing backgrounds to bear in the coaching mix. Nicky Jarvis occasionally runs training camps at the club’s Greenway School base – his most recent being a week long camp over the week 9-13th August.
It is not just the youngsters who are improving – veterans like Piers Van-Mol, Eve Alexander and Graeme Selwyn have demonstrated that age is no barrier in taking advantage of the club’s beginner – improver – advanced session conveyor systems that run on Monday and Tuesday nights.
Horsham District Council’s sports development team continues to be a big ally of Horsham TTC and the Central Sussex School Sports Partnership has also provided important support. The club also provides help to other nearby Premier Clubs such as Crawley and Storrington and smaller developing, non-Premier clubs with junior sections such as Steyning, Billingshurst and West Chiltington.
As well as driving local league transformation the club’s developers and organisers have also contributed to the build up a tournament competition in Sussex. In schools it is directly responsible for four annual primary school competitions per year across its catchment area and also has established annual U13 and U16 competitions that feed the ESTTA structure.
Steve Pound has pioneered the Sussex Super League. As a qualified referee and organiser Rory Scott has been behind a big build up of graded events both at Greenway and big venues such as K2, Crawley and The Triangle, Burgess Hill. Club Development Officer, Ian Ford, runs the Sussex Circuit event series that provides an initial community competition pathway for emerging juniors.
Older players have been a big focus for the club over the last year as its coaches have run five new 50+ programmes at points within its catchment area. A new, self-sustaining 50+ section of Billingshurst TTC is an example of a positive outcome resulting from this investment of time and finance. Additionally the club is also starting to run sessions for people in care homes, providing illustration of the sport’s ability to confer health and wellbeing benefits.
The club prides itself on its inclusiveness and has developed successful junior and youth disabled sections. 12 disabled young people have made great progress under the experienced eye of coach Martin Jezisek and his team of assistants and helpers. Some of the youngsters competed for the first time in April at the North Sussex ‘Play TT’ Festival in Crawley.
The club is planning to install outdoor tables in the Horsham area in the coming season as part of an effort to build an Olympic legacy in the area and, all in all, it would like to think it is playing its part in contributing to the sport’s attempt at renaissance.
Alan Shipley (Chairman)
