“I always say 10-10 in the fifth is worse than any exam you’ll do!”
That is the advice given to her young charges by Joanne Green, Head Coach at Draycott & Long Eaton TTC.
Joanne’s journey to Head Coach of one of England’s most successful clubs began when her own children started their playing careers.
Twins Connor and Anna, and older sister Erin, have all won national titles – Connor & Anna were senior Mixed Doubles national champions in 2025 and Connor won the Men’s Doubles alongside Tom Jarvis this year.
We caught up with Joanne at the Mark Bates Ltd Cadet & Under-17 National Championships in Nottingham earlier this month, where the club’s players included Cadet Boys’ Singles bronze medallist and doubles silver medallist Malek Shamakh and Under-17 doubles bronze medallist Catherine Lv.
“I played since I was eight years old and then introduced the kids to it, and I started my coaching journey when my kids got involved,” she said.
“Actually, I qualified to be an umpire and a coach at the same time and enjoyed the coaching journey better, so I did my Level 1 and Level 2 and just loved the coaching aspect of everything, the enjoyment when any kid that you’re coaching actually loves the sport and, more than winning, gets something out of the sport.
“And table tennis can do so much. I always say that 10-10 in the fifth is worse than any exam that you will ever do, so there’s life lessons all the way through, that resilience. So yeah, I love table tennis for that.
“The thrill of the win is still there even though you’re not playing. It’s really thrilling to win, but just to go on that journey with them and see them grow is fantastic.”
From group sessions to one-to-ones, Draycott is geared to helping players progress on to a competition pathway – and they also put their older Juniors through coaching courses to keep them in the sport.
Table Tennis England’s new Coaching Development Framework was launched in January, with the first Coaching Assistant qualification following earlier this month and now taking bookings – click here to find out more.
The new framework sees the previous structure of Levels 1-4 replaced by three clear role-based qualifications: Coaching Assistant, Coach and Head Coach. The emphasis is on an initial qualification which provides a coach with the essential foundation needed to contribute confidently and effectively within a coaching environment, followed by a programme of CPD designed to allow coaches to continually add skills and knowledge to apply wherever they coach.
Joanne is a fan of the new framework, saying: “It’s easy access to that first qualification and then progression bit by bit and I think that’s excellent. It’s a really nice development.
“I did the multiball (CPD) recently and I loved that. And it’s just being in a room with coaches, so it’s not just that you learn more about multiball, you just exchange all sorts of ideas and ask questions, and it was brilliant.”
Her advice to those thinking about starting on the coaching pathway is simple: “Find a club, start a club, go into a school – offer your services so that they will want you to help. And then just see the joy you can get out of it and the progression you can make.
“You’re always learning how to get through to certain people and then you’re always learning new techniques and learning from other coaches. So actually, you’re getting loads out of it.”