Brighton Table Tennis Club Refugee Integration Project

More about Brighton Table Tennis Club Refugee Integration Project

Brighton Table Tennis Club was established because the founders love table tennis. They are both ex-international players and they wanted to set up a club for local disadvantaged children. As the club has grown and expanded so too has our understanding of the extraordinary power sport can have. In the club, time and again we see bonds form between people from totally different social and cultural backgrounds who would probably not meet except over the table tennis table. We have seen young men, who prior to playing were expressing angry, racist behaviour but with supervision after playing together, the groups had their arms round each other, brought together over the game and mutual respect for each-others’ skills and the fun they had playing. This isn’t an isolated experiences and so we have developed a program to harness this power for the benefit of many groups living on the edges of society including refugees and unaccompanied asylum seeking children. It is a simple model but these are often the best. The most important thing is it works and we have a stronger, more united community as a result.