Making Connections: Table Tennis for Youth Engagement and Growth

2026-07-22

Build connections between schools and clubs to help enhance and sustain involvement from young aspiring players. Create an environment that will allow volunteer coaches to be motivated to stay involved in the club long term Player retention through teenage years Addressing common needs and priorities in the fields of education, training, youth and sport Our objectives align with our broader commitment to inclusion and diversity, with a particular focus on increasing youth participation in table tennis. This includes engaging primary school children, teenagers, and young athletes at various stages of development. One of the key challenges currently facing Table Tennis Ireland is sustaining youth engagement. To address this, we are actively building relationships with primary schools by offering taster sessions. These sessions not only introduce young people to sport but also aim to establish a coaching network among teachers, ensuring a long-term and structured pathway for player development. A major hurdle in this process is the recruitment and retention of young players, from grassroots participation through to third-level involvement. To tackle this, we aim to increase youth participation, enhance retention strategies, develop clear player pathways, and foster a sustained sense of enjoyment in the sport. In addition, Table Tennis Ireland recognizes the need to strengthen the sport at the community level by working through local branches, clubs, leagues, and schools. By doing so, we aim to attract and retain players, coaches, and volunteers, ensuring long-term sustainability and growth from the grassroots level upward. This initiative is driven by national concerns regarding high dropout rates in youth sports and the well-documented benefits of physical activity for children. The project will focus on educating and supporting coaches, clubs, and volunteers to better understand these challenges and implement innovative strategies to engage and retain young.

Ireland, Portugal, Finland

2026-02-01