TTNZ are developing our framework and pathways to align with Sport NZ's strategic direction as shown in this diagram above. The players are in the middle and the coaches and officials surround the players and move up the pathway according to training, education and experience.
TTNZ are in the process of building a suite of resources to support athlete, coach, official, and community development across all levels of table tennis in New Zealand. This work is being developed in alignment with key Sport NZ and High Performance Sport NZ frameworks. Our goal is to create clear, inclusive, and sustainable pathways that support everyone from grassroots participation to high-performance progression.
It is important to note that a player can move between social, competitive and performance throughout their sporting life and the framework is designed to allow for this movement as it fits into each individuals sporting aspirations.
This section is a work in progress — more content and resources will be added soon.
Following are the Sport NZ definitions for each category of the player pathway with TTNZ's position on each:
Foundation
First sport experience, focusing on enjoyment, skill development and learning. For TTNZ our TTKidz programme is for Foundation players. There is flexibility in this category for adults who are new to table tennis and learning the skills to play socially. For para players the TTNZ programme is Serve, Spin, Smash! teaching valuable skills to all those who would like to try table tennis and experience how accessible the sport is for all. Affiliated associations host open days where local community members can come and try table tennis, supported by regular players to help provide tips to get new players going on the table.
Social
More flexible, less formal formats, focusing on enjoyment and playing sport with friends. For TTNZ, any age category can be considered a social player once they have grasped the initial techniques and are playing for fun regularly. This can also include a social competitive element where players may enter fun tournaments where the emphasis is on enjoyment and connection rather than gaining ranking points. Women and Girls and Community Clubs cross over from social to competitive as the main focus is on enjoyment and participation while we do allow ranking points for those competitive players who choose to play in these tournaments. Another example is that a competitive player may play socially for fun while at other times training hard for an upcoming competition. Some players will only ever be social and play for the pure fun and enjoyment of it. Both are equally valid in this category.
Competitive
More structured, competitive formats and programmes, run at local, regional and national levels, focusing on participants and athletes who have drive, aspiration, and motivation to improve and reach their potential. TTNZ Regional squads are considered competitive. Anyone who plays in an Association Open or Closed is also in this category. We are currently working with our National Squad to bring them up to a truly international performance level. The investment that TTNZ are making in these players and their coaches will support the development of our squad to become truly performance players.
Performance
National and international competitions and programmes, focusing on the development and performance of nationally identified athletes who demonstrate the attributes, ambition and attitude to excel on the world stage. TTNZ National squad would mostly be considered pre-performance and we are working with our athletes to bring them up to the truly performance standard where they are consistently winning medals against other international countries. In many sports there is a misunderstanding of what Performance and High Performance means. When an athlete is at the level where they are competing in either the Commonwealth games, Olympics or Paralympic Games, this is considered High Performance. Our only athlete who is currently playing at this level is our Paralympian #230 Matthew Britz.