Building community spirit with Brighton Table Tennis Club

A new national course - “Building a Grassroots Community” - has been developed by the club to help design and collaboratively build a new model of community.

Known widely for its innovative social outreach using table tennis, BTTC has based the course on its own experience, but with the aim of sharing participant ideas and aspirations towards building resilient communities.

The course uses a modular framework with hourly sessions currently delivered online because of the COVID-19 limitations. 

The modules are as follows:

• Breaking the Mould: innovative ways of working
• Being Outward Facing: building referral networks
• Rapport, Relationships, Reflection and Retention
• What does Integration mean?
• The BTTC Axes of Grassroots and Performance

Feedback from the pilot has been overwhelmingly enthusiastic:  

“BTTC is so much more than being about table tennis and this course will help you unlock, and understand their approach which can be applied beyond sports settings. It's a course for anyone wanting to change their world from the bottom up." 

Paul Richards. Gig Buddies. 

“Totally loved the course. Engaging, inspiring, humbling and lots of fun. So great to meet other grassroots organisations with community at the forefront of their plans.” 

Sam Byford-Winter. Nam Yang Martial Arts. 

The course, supported by Sport England, will be available later in the year and is designed for leaders and senior members of grassroots organisations. 

BTTC Director Tim Holtam said: "We are absolutely delighted that Sport England have seen the BTTC model and want it shared across different sports clubs and beyond. It's really exciting to have already worked with some inspirational organisations on the first pilot and we hope many more will get involved." 

Contact BTTC for more details. 

Check out the video below to learn more about the fantastic work BTTC do.