Keighley – A Lesson for Community Table Tennis in Vietnam

In the middle of Keighley, a two-story office building sits modestly by the roadside. The old paint has faded, and the small sign is not enough to attract the eyes of passers-by. But after stepping through the door on the second floor, I felt as if I had entered another world. Eight table tennis tables are arranged in straight rows, each surrounded by blue barriers, creating a serious playing space. Fluorescent lights illuminate every corner; the sound of bouncing balls is lively. If you ask me where the hidden gem is in this Yorkshire region, I would point here. Beneath the rough exterior, there is a gem no one has picked up.

Keighley Table Tennis Centre is not a high-performance academy that trains future champions. It is much more ordinary: it is a playground for workers after work, a place for local children to exercise, and an important link in the community table tennis development system of Table Tennis England. Behind this centre is Andy Bray, a man with a passion for table tennis so strong that even though he has been living and working abroad for many years, he still closely follows every activity there through video calls and trips home.

Because of that distance, Andy understands that he cannot be the only one to carry the centre. He began to seek and nurture new people. And then Steve Brunskill appeared. As the Federation's Coach Developer, Steve did not only come to inspect the facilities, but also to listen to the story of the local community. People call it luck, but I see it as a system that was waiting. For without a well-run centre and a visionary leader, no matter how good a coach developer is, it is difficult to make a change.

That meeting produced concrete results. A Level 1 coaching course (Coaching Assistant Certificate) was held right at the centre, attracting ten learners with very diverse backgrounds: some were former athletes, some had only been playing for a few years, and some had never attended any coaching class. They came from different regions, but all shared a common goal of equipping themselves with skills to teach others. This transformed Keighley from a sports club into a sports education centre.

Not stopping there, Steve also announced a plan to hold a CPD (Continuing Professional Development) session focused on serving technique. A small detail, but it says a lot. In table tennis, serving is the hardest skill to master, and it directly determines the outcome of a match. The fact that a community centre values improving its coaches in this area shows that they do not take training quality lightly. This is something that many centres in Vietnam still lack. I remember once watching a training session for children at a club in Hai Phong; their serving technique was still immature, and the instructor did not know how to correct them. At that time, I asked myself: If there was a serving CPD like this in Vietnam, would quality improve?

What impresses me most about the Keighley story is the coordination in the thinking of sports administrators. Table Tennis England has just announced a new type of membership dedicated to coaches, effective from the 2026/27 season. Coach Plus members in this group will receive special support from the Federation's development team. This means that they do not train and then abandon, but create a long-term path to retain and develop coaches. Looking at how strong table tennis nations like China, Japan and Germany operate, we see that they always have a systematic coaching structure from low to high levels. In Vietnam, we are still struggling with short-term courses and then everyone is left to their own devices. When will we have our own "Coach Plus"?

There is a counter-intuitive detail that few people notice: People often think that to develop table tennis, we need to build many arenas, install many high-quality tables, and buy many ball machines. But the Keighley story shows the opposite. The most important problem lies with people. No matter how good a table is, playing and teaching are still decided by people. You can put a child on a world championship table, but if there is no teacher to guide them step by step, they will remain an amateur player. A young player does not need the spotlight, just someone who knows how to switch on the light.

On the other hand, this very fact hides a potential risk. This centre survives on the weight of one individual, Andy Bray. If one day Andy can no longer return regularly, will the centre still stand? The answer lies in the fact that he is urgently training a new generation of coaches. They will replace him in daily work. They will be the ones to keep the flame alive when he is away. This is a quiet but crucial transition. Will Keighley do it? I believe so, if they continue to follow the path they have chosen.

Farewell to Keighley, I kept thinking about the table tennis centres I have visited elsewhere. Some are magnificent and modern but operate half-heartedly, for lack of devoted people. Some are small and shabby but full of enthusiasm, and when they meet the right open-minded person like Steve, they will explode. Vietnam has plenty of Andy Brays within our mass movements. Yet we still lack a system to connect them with our own Steve Brunskills. When will we be willing to sit down, listen to small clubs, and start building from the roots? That is a question I leave for our sports administrators to answer.

And if you ask me where the future of Vietnamese table tennis lies, I would not point to young champions holding trophies, but to humble classes like this, where the first teachers are properly trained. They will be the ones to ignite the flame for the next generation.