Four Area Chairs, who will play a key role in helping to deliver the priorities of Table Tennis United, are ready to begin their roles.

They are:

North East: Graeme Barella

West: Martin Clayton

South East: Russell Bates

South West: Chris Price

They will work closely with their respective Table Tennis England Area Manager on the next stages of establishing our Area Networks. This includes starting to pull together the Local Delivery Plans, helping recruit local people to be a part of the Local Organising Groups and understanding the local priorities.

The introduction and establishment of the Area Networks is a key priority in Table Tennis United and crucial to delivering locally the pledges outlined in the strategy.

As part of the establishment of Area Networks, each Area will have a Local Organising Group, which will be tasked with delivering against their Local Delivery Plan and work across focus areas to deliver the key priorities for the sport.

Here is what the four new Chairs had to say about joining the team.

Graeme Barella (North East)

“I’m looking forward to working with the North East Area Manager to help deliver a strategy for improving table tennis within our region.

“Together with my 20 years’ experience in the sport, I’ll be looking to call upon support from members within the table tennis community across the North East to feed into a Local Delivery Plan.

“Hopefully, we can create a region that provides opportunities for table tennis players from grass-roots to high performance, and everything in between. We have a lot of potential in this part of the country and I’m excited to being part of fulfilling that over the coming years.”

Martin Clayton (West)

“Any new initiative is always exciting, to be in at the beginning is a great opportunity to tailor the proposed aims and principles of Table Tennis United into a local action plan – no matter which part of the country you’re in, one that works for you and gives you the greatest chance of succeeding.

“The team already assembled seem completely focused on the challenges ahead and I’m delighted to now join that team.

“The strategy and key principles that lay ahead are stretching but given the flexibility within the central pledges should enable each area to work to its strengths and share best practices across the areas to grow our sport and make it fit for purpose for today and tomorrow.”

Russell Bates (South East)

“I am delighted to be the Chair for the South East local organising group and look forward to working with the Area Manager, Alan Lane. I hope that together with members of the group we can help to make a real impact on table tennis at every level in this part of the country.”

Chris Price (South West)

“I’m excited to take on this regional role in the South West, with the mission to drive the Table Tennis United strategy set out by TTE.

“It will allow, together with Stephen, to grow and enhance the sport in our region and make it accessible to all from playground to performance.”

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The appointments were made after an eight-week recruitment process. Recruitment will restart in the coming days the Area Chairs for the North West, East and London areas.

If you are interested in finding out more about this exciting role, please email [email protected] or watch out for the role description which will be published on our website.