Table Tennis England has teamed up with Sported to help PremierClubs get more young people into the sport.

The partnership will see PremierClubs work with Sported’s regional team, opening up a huge level of support, advice and resources from the 2025/26 season.

Sported’s mission is to help local groups unleash the power of sport to transform local communities by backing those who make it happen.

Sported works with organisations which intentionally use sport to deliver a social impact. It provides free support and resources to help clubs thrive, as well as offering a range of opportunities for funding and access to Volunteer Consultants to guide and strengthen groups in their network.

Working with Sported’s team means PremierClubs will unlock expert knowledge, funding and income-generation opportunities and be able to access webinars, workshops and toolkits.

They will have access to programmes which reach out to young people, breaking down barriers to participation and helping the sport become more inclusive.

In addition, the partnership will see Table Tennis England’s Area Managers working with the Sported network who want to grow table tennis in their communities, upskilling them and bringing them into the table tennis family.

More information on how to sign up for this and make use of Sported’s resources and expertise will be contained in the club renewal information when this opens and will also be on Table Tennis England’s website when the renewals open.

Table Tennis England Director of Development, Andy Wilesmith, said: “Sported is an incredible organisation that supports community clubs to improve youth participation across sport and physical activity. This partnership is the culmination of many months of hard work.

“We share an ethos about taking sport to where people are at and supporting children and young people to be more physically active.

“Table Tennis England PremierClubs will benefit from free membership to Sported where they can access that support from the regional team and all their expertise and advice around things like funding, club support, governance, business administration.

“Similarly, we will be looking to work with the Sported network, particularly those who are looking to deliver table tennis, and how we use the sport to grow participation among children and young people.

“Together, we can start to see stronger, more resilient table tennis clubs, using table tennis as a way of getting more children and young people, particularly from deprived communities, into the sport, and supporting those community organisations and the Sported network to embrace the sport.”

Sarah Kaye, Sported CEO, said: “Working with national governing bodies like Table Tennis England is a great opportunity for Sported to help develop grassroots sports clubs and support them to grow participation and benefit their members.

“We want to help clubs and NGBs to further meet their participants’ needs and make clubs sustainable for the future through our skills, expertise and free resources, and by working in collaboration through our regional field team, this partnership will go from strength to strength.”

Helen Clayton, Partnerships Manager, added: “This partnership with Table Tennis England is a great example of how different organisations can work together on a shared aim to strengthen and develop grassroots sport.

“Through the free resources and guidance that we provide, Sported is able to complement the work of Table Tennis England to ensure that their clubs are in the best possible position to support their members.”

Table tennis advocate Steve White has worked with Sported to get people into the sport and he said: “I’ve always been an advocate for grassroots sports and Sported just had the answer and it’s just enabled me to be able to get support in all sorts of ways, whether it’s mentoring, whether it’s supporting volunteers, whether it’s getting communities, disadvantaged communities involved in sport.

“It’s been a real boon and I can’t speak highly enough of Sported and what it’s done for me personally, but also what it’s enabled me to do in the community around sport.”

Table Tennis England Chief Executive Sally Lockyer is a former Sported mentor, and said she was delighted with the two-year deal.

She added: “As a former Sported business mentor, I’m completely aware of the incredible impact Sported has on community clubs and impacting the lives of young people.

“More than 200 PremierClubs will get access to additional capacity building, advice, support – even business mentors like myself.

“We’re thrilled and excited to start this new partnership and look forward to shared values and shared objectives building capacity across table tennis.”

Click here for more information about Sported.