The first ever girls-only Cadet British Clubs League season has got under way with more than 120 players competing across four venues.
Halton (pictured above), Highfield, Greenhouse and Worthing TTCs hosted the first day of competition and 44 teams representing 25 clubs were in action.
Halton and Highfield both have three divisions and 12 teams in total, while Worthing and Greenhouse both have two divisions and 10 teams.
The pilot project came about after member consultation identified an appetite for a girls-only competition at that level, and also reflects previous insight that girls often prefer to play in a female-only environment and that a mixed environment can be a barrier to participation.
Eligibility included any girls who have already played mixed-gender Cadet and/or JuniorBCL this season, but excluded anyone rated in the top 30 of the Table Tennis England ratings as of the 25/05 list (published January 2026) as CadetBCL is specifically a grassroots competition.
Of the 122 players who competed on the first day, 62 do not (yet) have a national rating, which bears out the insight behind creation of the competition.
Neil Rogers, TTEs Head of Competition & Events said: “The main objective of this new format is to create more opportunities for girls to start playing at an entry level. It is fantastic that over half the participants are completely new to Cadet or JuniorBCL, meaning that we are successfully engaging significant numbers of new and developing girl’s players in regulated competition via this event.”
Day 2 is on June 14 (28 June at Halton), and Day 3 is on 12 July (28 June at Highfield) and if the pilot is successful, the event will be considered as a full-time addition to the programme from season 2026/27.
Creating more opportunities for girls to start playing at grassroots level supports our Table Tennis United strategy and our Level the Table diversity and inclusion strategy, which aim to increase the number of women and girls taking part in table tennis.