Newly-appointed Table Tennis England project manager Kevin Taylor excited to carry the sport's legacy on after the Commonwealth games
CARRYING on the table tennis legacy post-Commonwealth Games is the task enthusiast Kevin Taylor has been handed by the sport’s governing body.
The Stratford Table Tennis Club chairman said he is “honoured and proud” to have been appointed as project manager by Table Tennis England for this year’s Games, which run from 28th July to 8th August.
It will be down to Taylor to spearhead the ‘B22 Programme’ that aims to boost participation in the sport in Birmingham and across the wider West Midlands.
There’s no doubting that this is the prefect role for the outgoing mayor of Stratford who has done so much work to raise the profile of the sport within the community.
Herald readers will know all about his endeavours over the last four years in bringing table tennis to the masses, and Taylor hopes what he has achieved in and around Stratford in that time will bode well for his new role.
“I have worked very closely with Table Tennis England on projects in the past and I always thought there might be an inevitability that I might work for them one day,” said Taylor.
“I am incredibly honoured and proud to have a role in the sport I love.
“Having enjoyed my time as mayor of Stratford and to then be appointed as project manager for the Commonwealth Games, I am very lucky to have had two great roles.
"I’m over the moon to have got the job because, being truthful, I did not think I did very well when I went for the interview,” he joked.
Taylor will start his new role in the first week of June and from the off it’s going to be a case of all hands on deck.
The first 100 days alone will see Taylor go out and meet all the people involved in the project and the partners Table Tennis England are working with.
Specifically, he will be tasked with trying to improve three key areas that Table Tennis England have identified.
Those are increasing activity for women and girls, ethnic minorities and the disabled.
“It’s up to me to create a programme for schools, clubs, societies and community groups to follow,” said Taylor.
“I’ll be developing the B22 Programme for them and I’m looking to use some of the methods that I have used in Stratford for that.
"Here in Stratford, we have a big social media presence and done a lot of table tennis activities in the town centre.
“As project manager, it’s about presenting things in a way people will understand and when I read the actual job description for that role, I probably would have written the same.
"There’s been so much work done in Stratford and I will be looking to replicate that in Birmingham and the wider West Midlands – and hopefully it works.”
