OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Our Association is really working hard to promote table tennis in the North West of England. The Joola European nations league matches

England vs Poland (women)
England vs Israel (men)

are taking place in Preston at the Guild Hall on TUESDAY 2 MARCH AT 7.30PM - same venue as the one used for the England vs India friendly I posted about last May. On 18 Jan our Association offered to host this fixture - at that time the ETTA hadn't got anywhere to hold it. We're doing this in conjunction with the ETTA, Preston City Council and the Guild Hall.

If anyone in England is interested in watching competitive international table tennis in the North West of England, this should be a good match to go to. Tickets are available direct from Preston Guild Hall's website.

http://www.prestonguildhall.com/site/in ... &Itemid=71

Out of interest, in one of the "Wayne's World" film series there was a tag line of "If you build it they will come" or something similar. But if people never know about it, they aren't going to know to come.

Not everyone can play the likes of China or Germany etc and other sports are successful and their national team watched by thousands even when they aren't playing the top teams in the world. But in table tennis, it's almost like if it's not China, it's not good enough to watch - at least in person.

I've three linked questions:

1. If you live in England did you know this fixture was even taking place? Or if you live elsewhere, do you ever get to know of where and when your own national team are playing?

2. If your own national team were playing locally, would you go to watch?

3. If not, why not and what would it take to get you to come and watch your own national team play?

Thanks

Ed for change in link to Guild Hall & correction to facts

If this was anywhere near me, I'd certainly come and watch!

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If our national team played nearby, I would go.

Wow! If Li Qian is going to be in Preston, I hope you shoot lots of video.

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If our national team is playing in our town, I go.

The problem is, table tennis is not a huge sport in our country as basketball, football or baseball, by the time the news reach me, they are already gone.

For some players not as crazy as us, the time commitment of 3 to 4 hours is a lot. People rather spend 2 to 3 hours playing tt rather than sitting in a stadium and watch a tt match. And if they have to pay (again, how much?) to watch, it might be even tougher.

Adults £7:50 ($US 11.77), children £2.50 ($3.92) That's similar in cost to a cinema ticket for an adult and a lot less than a child ticket to the cinema. I used to think I'd prefer to be playing table tennis but for a one off I'd pass on the table tennis. Seeing table tennis live played by international players makes you realise just how hard and fast they hit they ball, how good their placement and footwork is and how much spin they put on the ball - and it's our national team playing too. If you think you learn a lot from watching the better players in your local club play, imagine watching internationals play (unless your lucky enough to have internationals who are members of your club


Not sure what the line ups will be yet but I'll find out and post them when I do.

As for the video, I think there is only one practice session planned at our centre on Monday evening - the match being on the Tuesday. I'll probably still be in work when they start and unlike last time, there are no school days planned so I won't be able to ask the coaches if they mind in advance of setting up the shoot, which is a shame. Besides, as Tuesday is a competitive match as opposed to the relaxed nature of a friendly like the India series I doubt they would want me around with my cameras.

The England Teams will be:

England men from, Paul Drinkall, Darius Knight, Danny Reed & Chris Doran
England women from, Joanne Parker, Kelly Sibley, Hannah Hicks & Karina Le Fevre.

We haven't been told who will be playing for Poland and Israel yet.

Does your club do any extra advertising , around other clubs or in your local town

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Blade Ulmo Duality| FH Tibhar mx-p Black, Dawei 388D-1 red OX
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We are working closely with Preston Council and the Guild Hall which is the top entertainment venue in Preston and hosts concerts and has hosted sports events such as the UK National Snooker championships and World Indoor Bowls Championships - both televised by the BBC. They have taken responsibility for promoting this event locally.

However, we monitor the ticket sales and the PR stuff being done and we as a league have also:
1. Had flyers designed and printed advertising the event which have been handed out to members, people who visit our social and coaching sessions and posted up in the St Augustines Sports complex (which is used by a number of Polish people in Preston) and emailed the local leisure centres with details of the event asking if we can use them to promote it too. The venue is used for a wide variety of sports and clubs too so they will have noticed.
2. All our members have received details of the event - many of our members play in different leagues in the North West as well as our Preston league so word of mouth will get about
3. Contacted local leagues in the North West advising them of the event - some say they are arranging coaches to come but we will see (KIV the VIP list for the event will include reps from the various leagues so the people involved in running these leagues should definitely know about it)
4. The council have told us they will promote the event in the local schools
5. The Lancashire Evening Post (LEP) local paper carries coverage of our fixtures and results on a weekly basis and has also published details of the international (fortunately one of our committee members works for them so he arranges excellent coverage for us)
6. We hope to get on BBC Radio Lancashire again - like we did for the India International - to talk about the international and table tennis in general in Preston and the surrounding area
7. Our website home page carries the flyer we designed as the first thing anyone visiting our site sees - http://ptta.org.uk/ and our leagues YouTube channel which I maintain also carries details on the profile page - http://www.youtube.com/user/PathfinderPro
8. haggisv kindly let me post about the event here too - again word of mouth amongst table tennis players helps

If possible we are trying to get regional TV interested in talking or at least mentioning it - actual television coverage of the event has nothing to do with us - ask the ETTA!

We review the situation on a regular basis and have tried to identify a local Polish Community Organisation as there are quite a few Polish people in Preston but talking to various people there doesn't seem to be any organisation representing them so we are stuck on that one.

We could post flyers in shops but that costs money and with the low ticket prices and other costs we have to budget for, we simply can't afford to do that type of thing. It's a catch 22 situation - if it's not publicised properly we won't sell tickets and to publicise it we have to sell tickets. To that end we are relying heavily on the Guild Centre - who should know what they are doing as this is their business and livlihood - and we give regular feedback to them about what we do or don't see happening.

As for the ETTA what they are/aren't doing to promote the fixture is another matter altogether

For the international against India there were 800 people present - brilliant for a table tennis friendly in this part of the world. But that was on a Saturday evening, we had months to plan it (as opposed to weeks for this one) and the Indian team were in the area a few days in advance so we could do school days with them etc. This time it's in Preston on Monday for a practice at our centre and the match is played on the Tuesday and then the teams are gone. Basically we are doing as much as we can bearing in mind the time and financial limits we work within - any other suggestions as to promoting this event would be gratefully received.

For an event this big, it sounds like the ETTA should be doing most of this stuff, and not leave it for your club! Are they at least promoting it on their site?

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As far as I know, they have put a banner headline which rotates with a banner headline for the English National Championships - which we requested - but which doesn't say when or where the match is taking place. There is nothing in their "headlines" about it and I can't find anything mentioned on their "events" or "news" pages. I think they've mentioned it in their "E-zine" though. Our league is in discussion with them about increasing the coverage on their own site or maybe even adding something to their YouTube channel.

This is a link to their website, see what you can find http://www.englishtabletennis.org.uk/.

This may be true that the ETTA do most of the advertising but I think what Debater is doing will get more people there ,if it has a low turn out then the ETTA could think lets go somewhere else, so the effort from the Preston TT and Community will show that they want it and can handle it and the benefit back to them will be huge

to Debater good work and good luck, the only other extra way if local papers (not advertising as much but a mini feature) and of corse local radio just a day before as we as a modern society don't plan a head as much so a reminder is good lol

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Blade Ulmo Duality| FH Tibhar mx-p Black, Dawei 388D-1 red OX
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Thanks rodderz but my involvement except on the day, is minimal. It's other people in our league who are doing all the hard work organising the event and our partners in bringing this international to Preston

Our league committee has a meeting on Wednesday and the international is on the agenda. I think we really need to keep on focusing on making the event a success for table tennis, in particular table tennis in the North West. I agree about people not planning too far ahead so the idea of appearing on the radio a couple of days before is a good one. For the India international, Jims interview was aired on the morning of the match.

I'm really looking forward to the match - and especially watching some of the practice, if the teams agree to make it an open session. And the match night should be great too.

thats great maybe on the radio idea a couple of free tickets on air ? and realy push the idea of good for all business "come on Preston come and see England's best" and "show your support", "we need you" "bring your flags" "swing low... ' hahaha "come on Poland bring your flags"

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Blade Ulmo Duality| FH Tibhar mx-p Black, Dawei 388D-1 red OX
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"best Table Tennis banner", "lucky seat" "hit the balls into the crowd with local business gift vouchers" "mexican wave" hahaha "its not what the Country can do for you..."

opps too much and wish it all goes good

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Blade Ulmo Duality| FH Tibhar mx-p Black, Dawei 388D-1 red OX
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The ETTA have told us the polish women's team should be (current world rankings in brackets):

Jie Xu (73)
Magdalena Szczerkowska (236)
Katarzyna Grzybowska (211)

The Israeli men's team should be:

Isaak Abramov (237)
Shimon Rabinovich (291)
Omri Ben Ari (545)

Looking at the rankings, Drinkhall stands out in the men and Xu in the women but the balance of the teams suggests they should be close team matches.

Regarding the promotion of the event, this is an article one of our committee members was able to get in the local regional paper http://www.lep.co.uk/otherlocalsport/Mo ... 6042250.jp.

After talking with the ETTA,
- they've put the international match on the headline collumn of the home page on etta's web site
- E-zine with direct link to the purchase tickets option - over 6700+ delivered
- Homepage button with direct link to tickets
- Etta.co.uk splash page link direct to tickets
- Facebook link to article within our fan page
- Press release announcing the team, this has been placed at the top of the list twice to ensure maximum coverage
- Twitter promotion

The ETTA have also used their contact with the BBC North West and we hope to get a promotional slot with them about the match but I've not heard anything else back on this yet.

Also people involved in the North West region such as the ETTA regional development officer, Regional coach have been using their contacts to kindly promote and push the event. Brian Kean (who is in partnership with John Hilton at their coaching ) has also helped us out using some of his contacts. With all the flyers, emails, publications etc there shouldn't be anyone involved in organising, coaching or promoting table tennis who doesn't know or been ask to pass on information about the match to their members.

Locally, we know all the schools have been sent details and flyers about the event asking them to bring it to the attention of the kids but when our coaches have been at coaching events at the schools we seem to be finding at some schools there is a difference between the schools getting the information and what they then do with it. We can only ask. Jim has also visited the Polish Priest who delivers the Sunday service for the Polish community of Preston. They said they would publish the event in their weekly leaflets and would also make an announcement at the Sunday Mass. Posters have also been displayed in the Church.

The only thing left is the local radio. Don't think there is much more we can do now. I'm really looking forward to it - starting to get that buzz. It's the second time in a year we've been able to bring international table tennis to the North West of England at the Guild Hall. Guess we'll see if the people of the North West (and sometimes further a field too) are interested / want / can afford to support international table tennis coming to the region. I hope so.


Your point is well made tatlwai and one we will be feeding back to the ETTA after the event.

There is also a possibility there will be web-streaming at the match. Last thing I heard on this was they wanted the upload speed of the line at the Guild Hall.