On Friday 11th February Bolton Wanderers Community Trust invited first team duo Jussi Jaaskelainen and Robbie Blake came along to an organised table tennis session at Bolton ST Catherine’s Academy (BSCA) in Breightmet.
Since November 2009 Bolton Wanderers Community Trust (BWCT) has been managing the Premier League 4Sport (PL4S) project across the whole of Bolton, making it accessible to all young people aged 11-16. During the past 5 months BWCT has been working alongside BSCA delivering table tennis sessions as part of the Premier League 4Sport Initiative (PL4S).
Table tennis at BSCA has a history of popularity due to one very keen Science Teacher called Ben Dudley who joined the school (previously known as Withins School) in 2004. When Ben arrived he brought with him 8 tables and lots of enthusiasm. His sessions were an immediate hit. Ben was a level 3 coach and as a result the students at the school had access to some of the best coaching in the North West and success quickly followed with the school gaining both regional and national recognition.
Before all his hard work there was no history of table tennis being played at the school. Ben used table tennis as a means to interact with some of the most disaffected students in the school, helping them to experience success and a feeling of pride. On top of his normal teaching hours Ben gave up an extra 15-20 hours of his own time each week to provide not only his students, but also the wider community the opportunity to access table tennis.
Ben sadly past away in March 2010. After his death table tennis at BSCA began to struggle. Without the benefit of such an experienced coach, the students were finding it difficult to improve their skills and table tennis started to fade within the school. Pupils from BSCA were thrilled to showcase their table tennis skills to the first team players Jaaskelainen and Blake, who were extremely keen to pick up a bat and challenge the youngsters.
Jaaskelainen and Blake spent quite some time down at the school and really got to know the young table tennis participants and it was great to also see the first team duo have a game of table tennis against our coaches, Andrea Holt and Lindsey Reynolds.
Nicol Meredith, Project Coordinator said “We were thrilled to see Jaaskelainen and Blakes involvement within the session. The work we have done with the BSCA has been extremely important to enable us to carry on the activity after the tragedy of Ben Dudley. We intend to support the school’s table tennis development for the duration of the PL4S initiative”
Rebecca Draper head of Physical Education at BSCA quotes “We would like to thank the Bolton Wanderers Community Trust for their support. Without it table tennis would probably have faded away in the academy”.