Ping pong, whiff-whaff or table tennis? Whatever you call it began as a Victorian aristocratic parlour game. It’s now played in more than 200 countries worldwide and in the UK, it’s steadily gaining followers.

The Goodwin Development Trust is an organisation committed to improving the quality of life within the communities of Hull. Its Octagon Centre is at the heart of the Thornton Estate in Hull, providing a range of services that meets the many needs of the community and includes a state-of-the-art multi-use sports area, providing a range of sports facilities which includes floor space for the Goodwin Table Tennis Club (GTTC) to practise and play on.

Providing a suitable playing surface for the GTTC would involve a local flooring installer supplying 300m2 of top-quality flooring from international flooring specialist Gerflor. It would prove to be an ideal project perfectly suited to Gerflor’s world-renowned Taraflex® Table Tennis Floor.

Hull-based Floorcovers UK Limited specialise in commercial/domestic wall and floor coverings. They have a wealth of experience and knowledge in fitting all types of flooring and wall coverings to a high standard.

Phill Rokahr, Managing Director, Floorcovers UK Ltd said, “We became involved in the project due to our working relationship with the Goodwin Development Trust.”

Dave Randerson, Chairman Goodwin Table Tennis Club commented, “We wanted the best international table tennis standard flooring we could afford to make this new venue the best playing conditions in the town and surrounding Yorkshire area. We hoped to attract higher level table tennis matches to the venue. With the new Gerflor floor and support of the Goodwin Trust we believe we have done this.”

Many spectators may not appreciate that table tennis players exert large forces on the floor, so providing good levels of shock absorption is imperative and with table tennis being one of the quickest sports on the planet the margin for error is tiny. Therefore, the slightest slip on the floor surface could easily mean points being lost.

Dave Randerson went on to further comment, “Overall the feedback on the new Gerflor flooring has been very positive. In January we managed to attract a full Yorkshire Table Tennis Association Veterans league day programme, receiving very positive feedback and praise with one team captain saying that he felt these were the best table tennis conditions that he had played at for a long time. The new floor from Gerflor went a long way to make that possible.”

Engineered and developed in partnership with the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Taraflex® Table Tennis Floor is available in a ready to go, easy to install portable playing surface (3.7 mm thick) and a permanent format (4.5 mm or 6.2 mm thick). It provides excellent player comfort and protection with its structured embossing made for perfect footing. When playing racket sports, the floor is part of the game. It should offer an excellent compromise between slide and grip for lateral moves, accelerations and changes of direction. The Taraflex® Table Tennis Floor (6.5mm thick permanent solution) provides a P1 level of shock absorption to EN 14904 (25% ≤ P1 < 35%) and has a ball bounce value of EN 12235 ≥ 90%. Both the portable and 6.2mm thick permanent solutions come with Triple Action Protecsol® surface treatment for easy maintenance, friction-burn protection and an ‘intelligent’ sliding coefficient.

From April 29th to May 6th, 2018 Gerflor was the official partner of the IFTT Table Tennis World Championships in Halmstad, Sweden. Gerflor has been the official flooring supplier of the IFTT for nearly 15 years, and once more, the great players of this competition had the opportunity to play on a Taraflex® Table Tennis floor, proving that Gerflor flooring is Where Champions Play.

Phill Rokahr ended by saying, “This was a great project to work on due to the quality and specification required. It’s not every day you get to work on a project like this and to use quality materials such as Gerflor’s Taraflex Table Tennis flooring which has given a great finish which both club, customers and installers are all very happy with.”

Dave Randerson finally commented adding, “Having a floor to this international standard that players can rely on for good grip, so they don’t slip while playing high level competitions and having a consistent bounce of the balls is key to players performance. The Gerflor table tennis floor has delivered this high standard for us.”

Learn more about Gerflor solutions, ask for a free sample or contact us to speak to a specialist today by calling 01926 622 600, emailing contractuk@gerflor.com, or visiting gerflor.co.uk for the latest innovations