During our Return to the Table campaign this summer, we focused on Diversity and Inclusion from September 20^th to September 26^th.

Throughout the week we asked clubs to run disability sessions to encourage Disabled People back to table tennis, or to give them their first taster of the sport.

Darlington Dolphins, in conjunction with Move More Darlington ran disability sessions for children and young adults at the Dolphin centre in Darlington.

The new sessions were open to any children and young people with any disability, and their families were also welcome. It included fun and friendly table tennis activities, along with archery, trampolining, fitness games, seated volleyball and more.

The club attracted nine children for the first session, and since then that number has reached thirteen. The participants at the sessions have been identified with autism, down syndrome and mild learning difficulties.

Leader of the sessions, David Noutch says:

“As a club we work in partnership with the Darlington Move More team, and we just wanted to give the children something that they can do in a safe environment.

“The kids have something to look forward to each week and it helps them and their parents make friends.

We as a club are enjoying running the sessions and it is great to see the children all enjoying themselves and having smiles on their faces.”

It’s fantastic to see inclusive sessions being run by table tennis clubs which is in turn opening up our sport to everyone.

Last week Table Tennis England launched its new five-year Diversity and Inclusion strategy – Level the Table. Click here to view the strategy, and to learn more about how you can help to make table tennis a game for everybody.