St Luke's Women's Table Tennis Club

The Pitch

Problem statement

According to Sport England’s Active Lives research, there are significantly fewer women than men who are regularly active, more men do sport and physical activity than women at almost every age group, when asked, 13 million women said they'd like to do more sport and physical activity and 4 in 10 women are not active enough to ensure they get the full health benefits. There are also stubborn inequalities such as women from lower socio-economic groups and Black and South Asian communities are less likely to be active. Results of St Luke’s neighbourhood survey that took place in 2022 also showed that 80% of respondents felt they would benefit from support to lose weight and get fitter.

Solution

St Luke's Women’s Table Tennis Club targets women from minority community groups who might not traditionally engage in sporting activities. The club takes place in St Luke’s popular community centre during term time and school hours making the activity accessible to local mums. We employ a qualified coach who has experience of working with community groups and we would expect the impact of the funding to include: • Learning new sporting skills • Greater sense of wellbeing • Feeling more engaged in the community Funding will contribute to the coaching costs and replacement bats and balls. A grant of £2,800 will enable the club to deliver 40 sessions for up to 12 women per session.

Why are we best placed to deliver?

St Luke’s is committed to providing local women with access to a high quality and inclusive sporting activity which encourages both physical activity and social engagement. We employ a qualified table tennis coach who is experienced in teaching in community settings. We also have a very effective community engagement programme to particularly target women from our disadvantaged neighbourhood. To successfully engage women, we will create flyers, use social media, share details with local groups and include ‘pop up’ table tennis during our regular community events. Finally, we have excellent facilities and the women’s group will have access to our 3 good quality table tennis tables.

Focus Areas

Delivery plan

Budget breakdown

Beneficiaries

50 people

Who will benefit

Expected impact

The Women’s Table Tennis Club meets one of St Luke’s strategic aims to improve the wellbeing of local people and support those living with, or at risk of, disadvantage. The expected impact will be: - Learning new sporting skills – 100% will state they learned new skills - Improved health and wellbeing – 90% will report increased wellbeing - Feeling more engaged in the community – 100% will report increased socialising - Increased physical co-ordination – 80% will report positively on co-ordination - Gaining self-confidence – 85% will state increased feelings of confidence Expected outputs will be: - Delivery of 40 women’s table tennis sessions - Bring 'pop up' table tennis to 2 community events - Supporting 50 women to experience table tennis

Track record

Recent evaluation found 100% women felt table tennis improved their wellbeing, 80% agreed it increased their fitness and 100% agreed it was lots of fun. Quotes included "It’s a relief to not constantly feel you are being judged and underestimated as a result of being female" and “It’s been really nice to do something physical and social with my 71 year old mum."