Darlington Table Tennis Academy is a community based sports club that offers table tennis sessions for juniors and adults aged from 7 years upwards for all abilities and continues to look at opportunities to increase membership providing a range of sessions available to the community on a weekly basis.
The Academy was formed in 2013 to revive Darlington dwindling participation in table tennis and help increase the number of people participation in Darlington and the surrounding areas. The main aims and objectives of the Academy are:
1) To increase participation in table tennis by establishing a club that offers affordable sessions for all ages and ability.
2) Through increased participation at all levels to increase the number of teams into the Darlington Table Tennis League.
3) To offer informal and formal playing opportunities for all ensuring the club is inclusive
4) To introduce table tennis into schools as a means of developing youngsters at the grass roots to make this sport sustainable for the future
5) To raise the level of coaches so that the Academy is able to develop the skills of our youngsters so that they are able to achieve their full potential and to compete and play at local, regional, and national level.
The Academy has achieved all of those objectives and there as valid today as they were in 2013 and continue to use these as goals for continuing improving and developing the Academy.
When the Academy was formed there were only ten teams in the Darlington league and very few junior players, today there are twenty teams in the league, another table tennis club and abundance of youngsters and adults taking up this sport.