Women and Girls

How Table Tennis England is engaging more women and girls into the sport and improving their experiences.

Women and Girls in table tennis

It is Table Tennis England’s vision to achieve gender parity in table tennis.

Women make up 51% of the population in England (Census data) but only 12% of our members, 17% of coaches and just 3% of club or league chairs are female. Therefore, we will unapologetically focus on increasing women and girls’ involvement in our sport and making table tennis a space where females feel welcomed, valued and visible and have the opportunity to progress.

Through surveys and direct contact with our female members and women involved in the sport, we have a clear understanding that, for many people, table tennis looks and feels like a space designed and dominated by and for men. This doesn’t negate that there are women and girls having fantastic experiences in the sport and that there are clubs, leagues, coaches and volunteers doing some great work to create inclusive spaces but, we cannot ignore that there are also females having very bad experiences in our sport and who are being put off playing and participating. Our insight shows that females would like to engage more in our sport and, when provided with the right opportunities, they do! So gender parity is not only important for our inclusivity agenda, but for the growth, development and future of our sport too.

Our commitment to females does not mean that male participation becomes less important – we will continue to work hard to develop opportunities for men and boys too – but we must acknowledge the disparity that exists. We are therefore wholehearted committed to #LevelTheTable for women and girls and, going forwards, a much higher percentage of our time, funding and energy will be directed towards increasing opportunities for females in our sport.

Join the W&G community on Facebook!

A Women in Table Tennis Facebook group has been set up to make an online space for women in table tennis to share experiences, ideas and promote women and girls’ participation in the sport.

Visit the Women in Table Tennis Facebook group
Top tips for starting a Women & Girls session

We’ve developed a guide aimed at helping you to plan a successful Women & Girls session in your club, league or community group, including advice about knowing your audience, volunteers and deliverers, how language and marketing play a big part, and all about the environmental factors of the session. Complete the form here to request your copy.

Download resources for Women & Girls sessions
Women & Girls webinar and panel discussion
Insight and impact
The impact of our work
Women and Girls Ambassador programme

In 2019, the Female Ambassador programme was launched to raise the visibility of women and girls in all areas of the sport.

In addition to the Ambassador programme; aspiring coaches and those wishing to take their coaching to the next level have been given the opportunity to apply for bursaries to help them access a course. 

The Be TT programme has been key to support clubs and leagues to engage more women and girls in the sport. This includes supporting women to become licensed coaches, establishing coaching sessions to support more women to feed into clubs and local leagues and girls only coaching sessions to increase junior club members.

What is the Women and Girls Ambassador programme?

The purpose of this programme is to promote table tennis, encourage more women and girls to play the game and inspire them to take up other roles within the sport. We recognise the importance of amplifying the voice of women and girls in the table tennis community and ensure that decisions are informed by the people that it will impact.

The programme is important because it allows us to provide meaningful opportunities for women and girls to develop themselves and make positive change within the sport.

The objectives are to:

  • Increase the visibility of women and girls in table tennis.
  • Celebrate the diversity of women in the sport and the roles they do.
  • Create a network of women and girls, to help to create more opportunities.
Meet our current Women and Girls Ambassadors
Erin Green
I plan to make a difference by encouraging girls to get into the sport at a young age and show them how enjoyable it can be. It is important that they love the sport so they continue to play for many years.
Sandy Nash
To anyone considering whether to get involved in table tennis I’d say a resounding ‘yes’. Like many things, you get more out by what you put in and can definitely make friendships that last a lifetime.
Juliet Bertie
My aim is to gain my coaching qualification as I really want to inspire the next generation. I want to be able to show females out there especially black females that this is an arena we can be part of and be a success.
Vienna Leigh-Clarke
I would advise any females wanting to get involved in table tennis to give it a chance and try it out. I think if I hadn’t had attended TT sessions with my mum I wouldn’t have thought about the sport because my school does not include it in PE.
Natalie Green
I would encourage anyone to get involved in table tennis, it’s a great sport for everyone to play and as well as this it can bring a lot of other important life qualities such as being part of a team/club as well as the social element.
Tilly Simms
Some advice I would give to someone who wants to get involved in table tennis is – definitely do it, table tennis is a really fun sport, and it is something everyone can do.
Interested in becoming a Women and Girls Ambassador?

Download a form below.

Downloads
Women and Girls Ambassador application formDownload

Useful links