Building Grassroots Community with Brighton Table Tennis Club

A new national course - “Building a Grassroots Community” has been developed by Brighton Table Tennis Club and is about designing and collaboratively building a new model of community in action.
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Known widely for its innovative social outreach using table tennis, BTTC has based the course on its own experience, but with the aim of sharing participant ideas and aspirations towards building resilient communities.

The course uses a modular framework with hourly sessions currently delivered online because of the COVID-19 limitations.

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The first five modules cover “ Breaking the Mould: innovative ways of working”; “Being Outward Facing: building referral networks”; “Rapport, Relationships, Reflection and Retention”; “ What does Integration mean?” ; “The BTTC Axes of Grassroots and Performance.”

Youngsters at Brighton Table Tennis ClubYoungsters at Brighton Table Tennis Club
Youngsters at Brighton Table Tennis Club

The final module invites participants to share an outline of a new and potentially innovative idea, inspired by the course, to develop in their own organisation, and they receive feedback and suggestions from other course members.

Feedback from the pilot has been overwhelmingly enthusiastic: “BTTC is so much more than being about table tennis and this course will help you unlock, and understand their approach which can be applied beyond sports settings since it’s all about embedding grassroots approaches in a way that celebrates everyone’s contributions.

"We've loved being part of the 'Building a Grassroots Community' course. It's way beyond sport, a course for anyone wanting to change their world from the bottom up." Paul Richards. Gig

Buddies.

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"Advice, communication, and a great sense of community! Thank you for the encouragement to continue our journey" Christina Saunders, Nam Yang Martial Arts.

“Totally loved the course. Engaging, inspiring, humbling and lots of fun. So great to meet other grassroots organisations with community at the forefront of their plans.” Sam Byford-Winter. Nam Yang Martial Arts.

"It was an absolute pleasure and an honour to be invited to take part in the pilot of a new course: 'Building a Grassroots Community' and to learn first hand (albeit virtually) from the incredible and inspirational Brighton Table Tennis Club." Rowan Ardill, Ramsbottom Running Club and parkrun UK.

Other participant organisations on the pilot included Fight for Peace, VYD Football and Amazonas Arts.

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BTTC Director Tim Holtam said: "We are absolutely delighted that Sport England have seen the BTTC model and want it shared across different sports clubs and beyond. It's really exciting to have already worked with some inspirational organisations on the first pilot and we hope many more will get involved."

The course, supported by Sport England, will be available later in the year. The target group is for leaders and senior members of grassroots organisations, but another similar course for aspiring leaders is being designed currently by Brighton Table Tennis Club.

Contact [email protected] for more details. www.brightontabletennisclub.com