East Kilbride Shopping Centre to play host to table tennis pop-up

Plans for a ping-pong pop-up to get more people playing table tennis have been announced after an East Kilbride club struck a partnership with the sport’s governing body.

East Kilbride Table Tennis Club are working with Table Tennis Scotland to bring an attraction to Centre West in the town centre, either later this month or in early April.

A ‘Pop In & Play’ table tennis venue will run in the town’s shopping centre five days a week.

The venue will be supervised by local volunteers to offer shopping centre customers the chance to pick up a bat and play for free between 11am and 1pm Monday to Friday.

If the demand is there and organisers can attract a sufficient number of volunteers, there are plans to expand the offering to cover more hours and days.

EK Table Tennis Club are also in conversation with several community-based organisations to understand how the facility can be used to offer sessions and events tailored to meet the needs of the people served by those groups.

Chair and coach of East Kilbride Table Tennis Club, Brendan Faulds, has revealed the project has been years in the making and can’t wait to serve up the free sessions.

He said: “This is the culmination of over four years work and focus, which was severely impacted by the pandemic, and we are delighted to have got this over the line.

“The club has been an active part of the East Kilbride sporting landscape for over 45 years, nurturing junior players and producing some top Scottish talent during that period.

“This venue gives us the opportunity to support the community in a much broader sense as well as encouraging people to return to the sport or to take it up for the first time.

“We want to thank East Kilbride Shopping Centre for their support in helping