Hi everyone,
We are proud to be officially launching our website and brand, E&J Table Tennis. E&J stands for England & Japan. The idea started after a trip to Japan for a training camp with some players I coached in 2019. To me, the country felt like heaven for a table tennis player. Amazing facilities, lots of great players and great coaches, everyone was really kind and friendly, and they were happy to practice with anyone, irrelevant of your level. The famous Japanese hospitality, or “omotenashi” as they call it, was fantastic.
During this trip I met Ayano who, as some of you may or may not know, is now my Fiancé. Ayano was the coach of the Company league team we practiced with, and had also previously been to America for 6 months coaching and learning English. It was her dream to be able to go abroad more and have new experiences, and improve her English.
Anyway, while I was there, I realised there was a lot to see and learn that I just wouldn't be able to learn in England, and so I made the decision to quit my Job coaching in England and go back to Japan. I spent several months in 2020 in Japan, watching and learning, as well as spending time with Ayano. I watched Japanese nationals, I went to different clubs, met different coaches and players, and tried to take in as much as possible.
Not only was the culture and structure of the sport very different, and dare I say it, far stronger than England, but the knowledge was also on a much higher level in general. I considered myself to be a fairly competent coach, but there was so much I didn’t know. The saying that “you don’t know what you don’t know” was very accurate here. It was a very steep, but great learning curve.
After spending a few months there and figuring out what to do, we decided we wanted to try and bring Japanese table tennis to England. Both in terms of the knowledge and the coaching, but also the culture. We want to try and create opportunities for Japanese people to come to England, and for English players to be able to experience Japanese table tennis even if they aren’t able to travel.
In addition to the actual TT, one part of table tennis world in Japan that struck me as being very different to the UK was the equipment and clothing that was available. There was a much great variety of brands, rubbers, blades, clothing, etc. One shop on a high street in Tokyo had everything you could imagine, from funky Mizuno shoes, to brightly coloured Nittaku shirts, to Wang Hao’s old shoes (see photos below). And from what I learnt during my time there, players actually used the many different types of rubbers and blades, wore different clothes etc. It allowed people to choose equipment that suits their playing style, rather than a one size fits all approach of playing with smooth rubbers. I believe this variety is also important to create diversity and develop the sport.
So in addition to the coaching, we wanted to find a way of bringing the same depth and quality of equipment available in Japan to the UK. Of course there is already great equipment here, but the styles and variety there was much greater, even in brands that already exist in the UK. And so we made a deal with Nittaku, and now we are launching our brand with Nittaku as our first official supplier. This, along with our coaching, is the beginning of trying to bring a touch of Japanese Table Tennis to the UK.
We look forward to seeing you soon!
Antony
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