About Us and Our Table Tennis Club
Club History
Blitz Table Tennis Club was founded in September 2009 by coach Paul Johnson in response to the gradual demise of local Gainsborough Table Tennis League. The first venue was the sports hall at local secondary school Queen Elizabeth’s High School in Gainsborough, with two sessions a week coached on a group basis to varying abilities. Paul entered a team in the East Midlands division of the National Cadet League, with Blitz coming third in a very successful first year. In April 2010, Blitz Table Tennis Club expanded table tennis activities into primary schools and Marton Primary School was the first school to come on board. In June 2010 the club moved premises, due to increasing costs of hall hire, to North County Primary School. The club was able to open three times a week.
In September 2010 the club supported the local league by entering three teams of juniors and seniors into the Gainsborough Senior League. Two teams were entered into the National Junior League. The club continued to expand and gained a secondary school and two more primary schools for coaching, with the main aim of trying to increase the number of children playing table tennis at school. By September 2012, the club had outgrown its venue. With a new venue and help from its very keen and active committee, the club started to expand rapidly; it had eight teams playing within the local league and three teams in the National Junior League.
The club started its own Inter schools table tennis league which consisted of 11 teams, 7 in Doncaster and 4 in Gainsborough. The club expanded its competition base in 2013 by running the Lincolnshire division of the National Cadet League. In 2014, the club was recognised on a national basis and awarded runners-up of the Premier Club of the year award at the ETTA annual awards, an achievement that the club is very proud of. In 2015 the club expanded its competitive teams where the club entered its first (Senior British League) SBL team in addition to the NCL and NJL teams. In 2016, the club developed the concept of two-person super league, where teams from the club competed against each other, a massive success for the club and bringing lots of different players county-wide to compete. This format also helped youngsters making the transition between coaching and competitive play easier, facilitated by an early finish time.
In 2016 the club ran National 2-star competitions. Players from all over the country came to compete within the nationally recognised competitions. Following the success of this, the club was then approached to run the Lincolnshire County Championships for Under 15’s, Under 18’s and also seniors. In 2017 the club was asked to hold the Cadet County Championships, where county teams from all over the country entered for the two-day event across two weekends. Whilst increasing the number of players and members intensified, development of its youngsters, developing not only local champions, but county players, county champions, nationally ranked players and a national champion, who then went on to compete for England at the Euromini Championships in France.
Paul Johnson
Paul has been coaching table tennis since 2008, when he first set up the club. Since then Paul has established himself as a well-respected coach, coaching the County squad, the Regional squad, and is now also part of the coaching team working with the England Hopes Squad (in years 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20). Paul has developed a huge number of players who have gone on to represent the county, and compete at national and international level, including national champions and some who have gone on to win national awards for most improved player within that season. In 2013, Paul also became a professional sports coach, going into the local schools providing them with multi skills sessions. Paul has got a full DBS check, emergency first aid and safeguarding and protecting children qualification.
Achievements
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Coach for England team at Six Nations in Isle of Man 2019
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Coach for England Aspire & Hopes Squad (2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20)
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East Midlands Young Coach of the Year 2013
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Level 3 Table Tennis Coach
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UKCC Level 2 Multi Skills Coach
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Assistant Coach at the University of Nottingham (2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20)
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10+ years as a Professional Sports Coach
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Twice former Lincolnshire Men’s County Champion
Amy Gittings
Amy has been coaching at the club since 2016, a former Blitz TTC player having come through our pathways and went on to represent her county, South Yorkshire. As a player herself she reached a high level nationally and is now passing on the knowledge that she learnt as a player onto the next generation. Amy has a real passion for the sport and is committed to developing all players at all levels. She has helped to develop our junior club pathway through her own experiences as a player in the club. She has a real passion for developing our youngest players and helping them to master the fundamentals of the sport at the start of their playing career. Amy is also a professional sports coach, and has been into many different schools around the area, delivering PPA cover, breakfast clubs, lunch time clubs and after school clubs. She is a real asset to the club.
Achievements
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UKCC Level 2 Table Tennis Coach
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UKCC Level 2 Multi Skills Coach
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UKCC Level 1 Dodgeball Coach
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Professional Sports Coach
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Level 3 Teaching Assistant
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Former South Yorkshire County player
Sport England helps people and communities across the country get a sporting habit for life. It also protects existing sports provision and must be consulted on any planning applications that affect playing fields in England. Sport England have provided our club with funding opportunities meaning our club has been able to offer more opportunities to get people active and playing table tennis.
Briar are the UK distributor for Joola, Tibhar and many other table tennis brands. We have a great relationship with the team at Bribar and have been trading with them for many years. They are the provider of all of our clubs equipment and we even have our very own custom table tennis bat with them! Discounts with Bribar can be provided when ordering through the club.
Table Tennis England are the governing body of table tennis in England, responsible for representing, co-ordinating, administering, marketing and developing the sport in close co-operation with related bodies such as British Para Table Tennis (BPTT). As a club we are affiliated to Table Tennis England and are one of their premier clubs.
