Northern Health's IMAGINE Community Grants provide funding to a variety of groups with projects that make northern communities healthier. Our hope is that these innovative projects inspire healthy community actions where you live! Check out the story below and read more IMAGINE Community Grant stories.
This story was originally published in Healthier You magazine.
Tyler Schwartz is the president of the Hudson's Hope Table Tennis Group, although Tyler himself will be the first to admit that it's a grand title for a relatively informal group of table tennis enthusiasts. What makes this group unique is how they worked together to formalize their group through an IMAGINE grant and a partnership with a local school; this process allowed them to include the whole community in their game play.
I recently had the chance to chat with Tyler about his group and how they came together. In his introduction to me, he started off by stating, "We're just a group of folks in town who have a passion for table tennis." And that's all they need to be to make a difference!
What was your experience like in applying for an IMAGINE grant?
It was pretty straightforward - we just happened to have the need right around the same time as the grant window was open. This really was a joint application between our table tennis group and the Hudson's Hope Elementary-Secondary School. That's where all of our table tennis tables are.
Why table tennis?
There's a good-sized group of people in town who play table tennis, but it's hard for us all to play together. We thought it would be fantastic if there were a central place in town where we could have a handful of tables that would be available for us to play and also be available for community use (and school use, as it turned out).
We wanted to get out of just playing at one person's house where 2-4 people, maximum, could play at any one time. We really wanted to bring the group together to have 10, 12, 15, or even 20 people all playing at the same time!
What has the response been like?
After receiving the grant, we had received all of the equipment late in the spring and were up and running shortly after that, but because the school closes in the summer months, we were unable to play in July and August. Right now, we are just kicking off the fall season. We participated in the community fall sign-up and had a few new folks in town who wanted to join – so we'll be starting up with even more people than last season!
Why do you love table tennis?
It's a sport that I started playing when I was a kid growing up, and I seemed to have a knack for it. It's fun – and lot more athletic than you think it might be!
You mentioned that new people have signed up to join the group this fall – who seems to be interested?
The high school students have access to the tables as a part of their lunchtime activities, during gym class, or outside of school hours. The other group is mostly adults from the community. Children under 16 are welcome as long as they're accompanied by a parent or guardian during the evening time slots. There is a wide diversity of adults who play – it spans those from their early 20s up to those who are about 70 years old, and from all walks of life.
Have you had anyone come out yet who's a first-time player?
One older gentleman who comes out said that he hadn't played since he was in the army, more than 30 years ago. He's come out and joined out group. I've lived in the community for 15 years and had never met him before – now I know his name, where he lives, and we now play a bit of ping-pong together!
One of the neat things about Hudson's Hope is that every night of the week there's at least one sport going on. They alternate because, unlike bigger cities, there's not a lot of infrastructure to host activities. We're adding a table tennis night to those selections. There's a good mix of sports available to our community and we're glad to be able to add table tennis to this offering.
Any final words you'd like to share about this grant?
I appreciated that we didn't need to be registered as a non-profit. It made it easier for us to apply to get just a little bit of money to buy these tables. We don't have directors and society rules and AGMs – we're an informal group and yet we still perform a level of due diligence on the financial side. We partnered with the school, and that lent credence to our project and application.
I'd like to send a shout-out of encouragement to passionate individuals or organizations that have ideas, or are taking on initiatives that help support healthy activities, to apply. I would encourage them to apply.
One final question… is it okay to say ‘ping-pong’?
Of course! I think the proper name is in fact table tennis – but we call it pong all the time. I don't sense folks around here are that pretentious!
What made this project stand out to the grant reviewers?
For integrated community granting lead Mandy Levesque, three elements jumped out:
- This represented a new recreational opportunity for the community.
- There was a strong partnership with the local school, including a great letter of support from the principal.
- The project was accessible - designed as a drop-in activity offered at no charge to any community members interested in participating.
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