Designed to help develop and guide officials throughout their journey, the Technical Officials Academy is launched today. It will help steer newly qualified officials from level one qualification to officiating at events and along the umpire pathway.

There are seven regional Technical Officials Academies across England which will help lead newly qualified officials from qualification to officiating at events. Giving them the opportunity to learn and grow through CPD opportunities, officials will then have the opportunity to progress up the pathway to level two courses and further whilst honing their skills at competitions.

The seven locations for the Technical Officials Academy have been chosen to target strategic geographic areas where we have identified a need and opportunity to develop officials in line with the demand of competitions.

Creating groups of officials who will be qualified and further developed within these areas will enable Table Tennis England to support these officials and facilitate the competition environment in that part of the country.

The seven Technical Official Academy locations are:

• Middlesborough

• North West

• Derby

• West Midlands

• Wellingborough *

• Harlow – East

• Sussex (Crawley & Worthing) *

*course details awaiting confirmation

The Technical Officials Academy has been introduced to safeguard the future of the sport and competitions, where officials are essential. The Academy aims bring more people into umpiring and support them to learn and improve their skills through competitions and CPDs, growing their officiating community as well as the experience of players in local competitions.

With courses now live for sign up, it is the perfect time to take the first step onto the officiating pathway, with a number of new Level 1 courses available on TTE Hub.