(Pictured Councillor Sean O’Reilly, Greg Robbins, Winuk Rathnasinghe, Michael Mastromonaco, Anna Du, Connie Phisogios, Sandi Robbins, Greater Dandenong Mayor Eden Foster and Deputy Mayor Lana Formoso).

Table Tennis Victoria (TTV): What prompted you to start the new ConnecTT concept?              

Greater Dandenong Table Tennis Association (GDTTA):

Our club had recently discussed our level of female participation, with female members only being 10% of our total membership. Two of our board members recently attended the president’s forum run by TTV, and it was here that we heard about some of the successful programs being run at Mornington TTA, including their Females in Table Tennis (FITT) which has resulted in a large female membership at their club.

We wanted a similar program, so we engaged a marketing consultant to design a brochure and he came up with the “ConnecTT” concept. He also updated our Revolutionise website to incorporate the program and also making the website more appealing. We appointed some experienced coaches from our club, Anna Du and Michael Mastromonaco, and later appointed more coaches once the player registrations exceeded our expectations (Connie Psihogios, Parleen Kaur and Navik Rathnasignhe were appointed as assistant coaches, and Winuk Rathnasinghe was appointed as another head coach).

TTV: It sounds like the concept was well received by the community, did you seek any input or assistance by the local council?

GDTTA:

On the day our marketing brochure was completed, our club was requested to attend a Council meeting with all the other sports from our municipality. At this meeting, we were advised that both State government and Local government are now requiring sporting clubs to provide females with greater opportunities including equal access to sporting facilities, more female coaching and higher female representation on boards and the decision making. Sporting clubs applying for funding for stadium improvements from Council would need to be seen to be implementing programs to increase female participation, otherwise government funding and support may no longer be available.

Our club wrote to our council and all our councillors the following day, and advised them of our latest female only program, inviting all councillors to attend our first session. It was great to have our Mayor, Eden Foster, Deputy Mayor, Lana Formoso and Councillor Sean O’Reilly turn up to view our first Female Only session. The councillors also had a hit together and Lana signed up for next week’s session. TTV’s CEO Gen Dohrmann has also booked in for next week.

TTV: The ConnecTT concept also has an ‘Open’ Coaching group, what was the inspiration behind having an additional program running?

GDTTA:

With our ConnecTT female only program, we decided to run an “Open” group session for male players at the same time but in the rear of our stadium. We know there are many couples and families who play table tennis together, so we wanted to make sure there was no reason why a female player wouldn’t want to attend. We also ran our first session for free, so players could come and try at no cost. The feedback from most attendees was very good, with many saying it was better than they were expecting, and they will bring some of their friends next week.

TTV: How did the first session go? Did you have many attendees?

GDTTA:

We ended up with 41 players in week 1, the majority were female players.

TTV: What is the aim of the ConnecTT group coaching program?

GDTTA:

Not only will the new ConnecTT group coaching program help recruit females, but it is also a perfect program for new members wanting to join our club. Instead of traditionally putting players onto a pennant waiting list or trying to find them a “fill in” opportunity, we can now book them straight into group coaching, where our board members and coaches can meet and get to know them and their standard, with the goal of eventually recruiting them into our pennants and signing them up as club members.

We also believe our pricing for the 2-hour sessions (members $15 and non-members $20) will help in achieving this objective. We are taking bookings for this program, so we know our player numbers each week and can organise sufficient coaching staff.

TTV: Do you have someone from your Club who is running the program?

GDTTA:

We appointed our club member Sandi, to be the Co-ordinator for our female only program. Sandi is responsible for promoting the program, recruiting new female players and maintaining our weekly player bookings. Sandi participates in the program herself, and she ensures all our female players are enjoying themselves during the session.

TTV: What makes the ConnecTT program unique and enticing for people to join?

GDTTA:

Whilst we have plenty of individual coaches at our club who run their own coaching business (usually providing one on one coaching), our new ConnecTT program is run and owned by our club and provides a much cheaper alternative to players wanting quality coaching. The program is available to anyone, all standards, all ages, and all genders and is also a great way for females to network.

TTV: Thank you for having a chat with us and good luck with the new ConnecTT program.

GDTTA:

Thank you, we are excited to be running the program and look forward to seeing many people attend each week.

The ConnecTT program is running every Sunday from 10am-12pm with more information and details on how to book available on the Greater Dandenong Table Tennis Association website; ConnecTT Group Coaching or, check out the flyer at the bottom of the article.