National Study
Introduction
In this study I will research the development of different pathways in Table Tennis from first elite to representing your country. There are two pathways in order to progress as a performer; the school pathway or the club pathway.

The first level is to be selected for your school team (1); the school team will play in their league and star tournaments. (2) the county cup and the national cup. (3) Playing for the school team makes the player more experienced as they will be playing other schools which allow them to see how good other players are and so if they need to improve. If you’re a top player in the school your coach will direct you too etta regional competitions if you do well then you will get more known and start getting promoted to the professional ranks. District leagues are also a way of which coaches direct you to so you can improve in order to compete in high ranked competitions. (4) (6) (9)
The county (e.g. Middlesex tta) will select a team from the best players who play in their county club leagues. They will represent the league against other county leagues. (10) (5)
Case study- Premier club: Our aim is to create a national network of clubs that work together to grow participation in table tennis, support existing players to create a community from which future Internationals will emerge. We encourage Table Tennis Clubs, Leagues and Centres to join the PremierClub Programme so that this can be achieved. Premier club is mainly like a professional club. Free Public Liability Insurance with an indemnity limit of £5,000,00. An £50 discount on unlimited UKCC Bridging courses and a £30 discount on two UKCC Level 1 course. Support and advice from ETTA National and Regional Staff. An enhanced profile on the ETTA’s Spotlight Club Finder, so that people who want to play Table Tennis can find you. Opportunities to be involved in ETTA initiatives which last season included the London 2012 Ticket share Scheme, Gold Challenge and ASDA Sporting Chance. Free on marketing resources. Certificate of Affiliation. Entry into the ETTA Club of the Year Award. A Butterfly Skills Manual worth £49.A free TT Networker or Young Officials course upon completion of Club mark or reaccreditation, a saving of up to £350 for 14 candidates. An Accreditation Folder to help you achieve Club mark. Resources to help your club run more efficient. Help to access local and national funding.

Many professional clubs are home to the top players, which practice there. Premier clubs are similar. (11). these clubs provide coaching in schools but it will cost. (12). In order to gain access to the club you will have to be a very good player. There is an England national table tennis from a lot of ages, such as junior’s senior’s veterans. (13)

Talent identification:
Talent ID programmes in table tennis are known as scouts that are ETTA employees. These scouts must adhere strict rules but will go around the world watching youth table tennis to find talented players. (14). It is important to point out that they will not just be looking at results and ranking positions, but also style of play, potential, attitude, commitment etc. The purpose of the squad is to develop successful junior and senior players who can go on to win on the international scene. Players will constantly be invited to attend sessions on the recommendation of the talent scouts, who are working with their respective regional coaches. (20)

National governing body (NGB):
1. The NGB ETTA for table tennis is responsible for all areas of table tennis grass roots to the elite. (15)
2. The ESTTA are responsible for the school table tennis. (16)
The English Table Tennis Association (ETTA) is the governing body of table tennis in England, responsible for representing, coordinating, administering, regulating, promoting, marketing and developing the sport in close cooperation with related bodies such as the English Schools Table Tennis Association (ESTTA) and the British Table Tennis Association for People with Disabilities (BTTAD).
They also are developing the game and trying to make more children involved with the sport.
Funding available to players:
Table Tennis does not have funding but some schemes have funding for clubs, which the clubs direct onto their top players so they have a higher chance of becoming professional. Cash 4 Clubs Cash 4 Clubs is a sports funding scheme which gives clubs a unique chance to apply for grants to improve facilities, purchase new equipment, gain coaching qualifications, and generally invest in the sustainability of their club. Since 2008 over £100,000 has been given out in grants to 139 community sports clubs across the UK. It’s a flexible, no-fuss way to get some help for your club or team.
The Cash 4 Clubs scheme is funded by Betfair and is supported by SportsAid, the charity for sports people. Moreover cash 4 clubs have also been funding for players that are good enough, some players from schools have been funded so that they can have an education and at the same time be playing part time table tennis until they leave education.

Disabled:
Table tennis opportunities have certainly increased in the recent years, there is a more wide range of disabled Table Tennis players, and most players have a problem with themselves which classes them into different classes. (17). ETTA produced a disabled national team, which have competed in the Paralympics. (18). However in my opinion there still aren’t enough opportunities for disabled table tennis players; as when you compare the opportunities that are given to able body players.

Female: Female table tennis continues to grow now. However if you compare the overall number of female players compared to the number of male players is not close. The funding for females is not enough as some female players have not got female partners to practice with and might not feel comfortable practising with a male. In my opinion the female table tennis is growing but funding needs to increase, which will increase in participation.

Evaluation & conclusion:
From this study I conclude that club route is more effective than the school pathway. School pathways are fading as not a lot of kids are interested in table tennis and coaches have more interest in coaching in clubs as better players are opted to come there and produce professional players. Also a much wider range of disabled and women players however it’s still nothing compared to the males. Personally I think they should get the same amount of opportunity as everyone else, the etta need to consider making more opportunities for less fortunate. This relates to me as I tried to make a school pathway but now on club pathway playing for London table tennis academy.

Appendix 1. There are about 3127 secondary schools nationally. The schools listed below are some of the schools in my local area; Ash mole, Finchley catholic, Frien Barnet, east Barnet, Bishop Douglas, Mill hill county. St James, London academy, Hendon. The school teams compete in a Barnet table tennis league and Barnet champs. Some schools even enter their pupils into the Middlesex table tennis tournaments if good enough to compete.

2. Under 16 Barnet champs 2012.

This is an example of the tournament layout.

St James vs. London academy

Frien Barnet vs. TTA

East Barnet vs. St Michaels

They will have different colours such as London academy blue/green/red and will each play the other schools.

3. http://www.estta.org.uk/
The ESTTA run national competitions. Where teams start in local areas and progress into regionals and national matches. The finals of the completion are always played at ETTA the NGB this year they will be played at the ESTTA.

4. This is an example of the borough district fixture list. 1 | Stanmore 2 v Kidston 2 | Queens School - Stanmore... | Mon 24/09/2012 | 6 - 3 | 1 | Edmonton v The Good Old Boys | Edmonton | Mon 24/09/2012 | 4 - 5 | 1 | Kidston 3 v Stanmore 1 | The Kidston Institute -... | Mon 24/09/2012 | | 1 | Hadley Wood 5 v Inception 2 | Barnet Table Tennis Cent... | Wed 26/09/2012 | 8 - 1 | 1 | Hadley Wood 6 v Herts Unison | Barnet Table Tennis Cent... | Thu 27/09/2012 | 1 - 8 | 2 | Inception 2 v Kidston 3 | Barnet Table Tennis Cent... | Tue 02/10/2012 | 4 - 5 | 2 | Herts Unison v Exiles 4 | Barnet Table Tennis Cent... | Tue 02/10/2012 | 6 - 3 |

5. There are 48 counties in England, Middlesex is the one I live in http://middlesextta.org.uk/COUNTY-CHAMPIONSHIPS.php is the website for all the fixtures and results from the Middlesex matches played.

9 The dates for the regional qualifiers in different boroughs. Our one is North London

10County Club – firstly start representing your county club at the age of 16 and so once you reach u16 while playing for your Sunday league club you could get spotted and be asked to represent your county club.

11Professional clubs such as http://www.barrowtabletennisclub.co.uk are home to top players such as Darius knight.

12 Schools pay barrow table tennis club a fee to get their school a coaching programme. This features after school clubs for a period of time.

13http://etta.co.uk/nationals/ all the information on the national table tennis. See below of the veteran results.

14Talent identification Local and regional talent identification is in the hands of our ten Regional Coaches who will each try to set up a network of Regional Talent Scouts working locally. Annual Assessment days will lead to inclusion for some in Regional Squad Training and if successful it may result in an invitation to a national residential training weekend with the Youth Development Squad.

15ETTA
The ETTA is responsible for every action of table tennis such as the coaching awards. The ETTA is in sponsorship with the national lottery. ETTA invests a lot of money into grass roots table tennis about £20m. This investment comes from the national lottery. ETTA has many projects running in order to get provision more known for the disabled area. Female table tennis is growing each year. ETTA is responsible of all the national tournaments that take place.

16. The ESTTA: The objects of the English Schools' Table Tennis Association are:
To promote, encourage and improve the playing of table tennis in schools.
To encourage the formation of Local and County Schools' Table Tennis Associations.
To organise the National School Team Championships and National Individual Championships in Under 19/16/13/11 age groups for boys/girls.
To liaise with School Sport Partnerships, their Partnership Development Managers, School Sport Co-ordinators, Primary Link Teachers and Competition Managers to promote intra and inter school competitions.
To promote, with the English Table Tennis Association (ETTA) the development of schools’ table tennis as part of a unified programme for young people.
To select representative teams to play in:
The International School Sport Federation (ISF) biennial World Schools' Table Tennis Championships (Under 17) for champion school teams and selected teams.
The Annual Schools' Home Countries Invitation International Championships in under 18/16/14 age groups.
The British Primary Championships (Under 11).
The UK School Games (in partnership with the ETTA).

17. from my research: Sitting classes * Class 1:
No sitting balance with severe reduction of function in the playing arm. * Class 2:
No sitting balance with reduction of function in the playing arm. * Class 3:
No sitting balance, although the upper part of the trunk may show activity.
Normal arms, although some slight motor losses can be found in the playing hand without significant effect on table tennis skills.
The non-playing arm keeps the trunk in position. * Class 4:
Existing sitting balance although not optimal because of non-existing anchorage (stabilization) of the pelvis. * Class 5:
Normal function of trunk muscles.
Standing classes * Class 6:
Severe impairments of legs and arms. * Class 7:
Very severe impairments of legs (poor static and dynamic balance), or severe to moderate impairments of playing arm, or combination of arms and legs impairments less severe than in class 6. * Class 8:
Moderate impairments of the legs, or moderate impairments of playing arm (considering that elbow and shoulder control is very important), or moderate cerebral palsy, hemiplegia or diplegia with good playing arm. * Class 9:
Mild impairments of the leg(s), or mild impairments of playing arm, or severe impairments of non-playing arm, or mild cerebral palsy with hemi paresis. * Class 10:
Very mild impairments in legs, or very mild impairment of playing arm, or severe to moderate impairment of non-playing arm, or moderate impairment of the trunk. * Class 11:
For players with an intellectual disability. 18. From my research I have found out that the England national team have competed on the Paralympics and taking 4 medals. 1 silver 3 bronze.

19. Talent nomination process that I have found from my research.

English Table Tennis Association, Queensbury House, Hex T: 01424 722 525F:
References
http://www.estta.org.uk/ http://www.tabletennis365.com/barnets/ http://middlesextta.org.uk/ http://etta.co.uk/news/latest-etta-calendar/ http://www.barrowtabletennisclub.co.uk http://etta.co.uk/nationals/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Para_table_tennis http://www.london2012.com/paralympics/table-tennis/medals/medal-standings/ http://www.etta.co.uk/etta_website/development_docs/etta_facilities_guidance_note_2010-13.pdf