Table Tennis Australia's Spinneroos Girls Only program chooses to challenge all barriers

Table Tennis Australia’s Spinneroos Girls Only program is a way for clubs to #ChooseToChallenge all barriers and stereotypes faced by girls and women in sport. 

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, which this year celebrates women's achievements and encourages people to take action for equality, Table Tennis Australia spoke with Tarneit Table Tennis Club’s Coach Anshul Thakran to hear how the club was able to develop the program and provide a safe space for girls to play table tennis and make social connections. 

The club’s Girls Only Spinneroos program sold out for Term 1 and Coach Thakran has seen the girls grow with confidence with each session. 

“The program is designed in a way that allows them to be more comfortable with themselves and around other participants,” she said.

Coaching the girls has encouraged Thakran to think outside the box and be more imaginative in answering the questions they raise. 

“The girls are very curious. Each one of them comes up with an interesting question every once in a while. If there’s one thing they’ve unintentionally encouraged me to do, it is thinking outside the box,” Thakran said. 

According to Thakran, girls and women-only programs enhance the potential of female participation in table tennis and challenge the Australian sporting landscape to adapt and become more inclusive. 

“In the long run, female-orientated sports programs such as Girls Spinneroos are creating a healthy balance and making the sport gender inclusive.

“Higher female participation is likely to develop female athletes who will act as role models for young girls, leave a legacy and be testimonials to the fact that girls can play any sport and excel in it,” Thakran said.

For Thakran personally, being a Spinneroos coach has been fulfilling in a number of ways and she was glad to see the amount of interest the program was able to generate at the club. Tarneit has been able to build its culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) community through the Spinneroos program and the benefits go further than developing physical and motor skills for children.

“I love the way the Spinneroos program attempts to eradicate bias and discrimination of all forms, by inviting people from the CALD communities to interact with one another, understand each other’s motivations to participate and offer support, no matter where everyone comes from,” Thakran said.