Table Tennis Corporate Cup returns this March after COVID-forced hiatus

Table Tennis Australia (TTA) today announced the relaunch of the Table Tennis Corporate Cup (TTCC), the successful corporate wellness program that in 2019 and early 2020 saw over 1,000 employees from more than 250 companies across Brisbane, Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne registered to play.

A social table tennis tournament where employees from some of Australia’s best-known companies compete against each other, the program was originally developed to give businesses and organisations the opportunity to engage their staff and foster a strong, wellbeing-driven corporate culture. TTCC was hugely successful in its inaugural year with more than 2,500 table tennis matches played in the first two weeks alone, as recorded through TTA’s results software. 

In March 2020 the program had to be suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite having already 50 companies signed up to the second year of the program, including multinational corporations such Google and PwC, the health and safety measures implemented to control the outbreaks meant all community sport activities had to be stopped. An attempt to resume operations in November 2020 was again halted by COVID-19 related restrictions.

A year on from the first COVID-19 cases registered in Australia, Table Tennis Australia is now ready to bring back the Corporate Cup. The 2021 edition will be rolled out in five states across Australia and events will be held in Adelaide, Canberra, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne throughout March and April.

Corporate Cup Matches will be first played at their workplace for the top spot on the internal leaderboard in March. After the internal matches completed companies enter Regional Finals in mixed-gender teams of four, held in late April 2021. All events will take place according to Table Tennis Australia’s approved COVID-Safe plan and in compliance with local health and safety requirements and recommendations.

TTA CEO Scott Houston said the last 12 months have been extremely challenging for everybody and left many people looking for new opportunities to reconnect with their communities, both at home and in the workplace. 

“COVID-19 has impacted every aspect of our lives and has put a significant strain on our physical and mental health,” Houston said.

“Whilst some people adapted well to the new environment where the option of working from home has been made more widely available, many have experienced feelings of isolation and disconnection.

“With many organisations across Australia now promoting a safe return to work and welcoming their employees back into their offices, I think it is a perfect time to give people an opportunity to rebuild those meaningful connections and rekindle that sense of corporate community which has been so hard to preserve during 2020,” Houston said.

TTA Corporate Cup Program Manager Patrick Wuertz added that sport is a fundamental part of our social interactions and table tennis can play a significant part in boosting morale and creating networking opportunities, eventually fostering a healthier and engaging culture in the workplace.

“Table tennis is an inclusive and accessible sport that gives everyone the opportunity to have a go and spend some time having fun with their colleagues.

“The huge participation numbers we had in our first year are a testament to the fact that the Corporate Cup can play an important role in engaging staff and building a healthy corporate culture. We hope that many companies will take the opportunity to register, bring table tennis to their workplace and leverage the benefits it can provide to their workforce,” he said.

Companies are encouraged to sign up for the program at the TTCC registration page. More information is available on www.ttcorporatecup.com, or by emailing corporatecup@tabletennis.org.au.