In 1960 three enthusiastic young people from Wageningen, Theo Jansen, Hans Kok and Wim Pijls, start a table tennis club and call it Shot. In the beginning it is a club with a minimal amount of members. And of course without its own building and tables. Over the years Shot grows into an association that many a Wageninger has good memories of.
Our own clubhouse
As mentioned, Shot starts with virtually nothing. As is the case for so many associations, it all starts with a home-made table in a youth centre. Soon, however, the Wageningse Meubelfabriek provided a number of real table tennis tables on loan. Every week members could play on these tables in the Roman Catholic youth centre at Bowlespark.
After having changing several times from location, in 1976 our own table tennis centre on Churchillweg in Wageningen becomes operational. The table tennis centre houses at that time 6 tables, two dressing rooms with showers, a meeting room and an attractive bar. And Shot is the owner!
In 1987 building is expanded to house 10 tables. The new extension is also higher than the existing playing area. This is to meet the international requirements for European Cup competition.
The fat years
Theo Jansen, co-founder of Shot and primary coach for 25 years, sees several of his youth players playing in the national selections.
Starting from the first-rate division Gelderland in 1983 with the players Edwin Angenent, Edy Wiggers and Rutger van Rooyen, this team makes an enormous progress. In six years time it gets through to the Eredivisie (the highest level in the national competition league).
The eighties are really harvest years for Shot. The club regularly leads the Eredivisie under the leadership of coach Bertus Keen with players such as Trinko Keen, Lindo Greve, Casper Mol, Geert Verhaegh and Hans den Boer.
The ladies also make progress. In 1984 the first ladies team promotes to the Honorary Division with Dike and Gerdie Keen and Marian Verhaegh. From then on the first ladies’ team can be found almost continuously in the Eredivisie until 1994. This culminates in the Dutch spring championship in 1993, with players Brenda Huntelerslag, Cyril Onstenk and Anja Heijnen, and with coach Kees Moers.
During that time, Shot also regularly goes on European Cup adventure.
The lean years
Unfortunately Shot does not succeed in retaining large sponsors for a long time in the 1990s. The result is that Shot could no longer retain its top players and top players. They leave for elsewhere, often abroad.
Despite this loss, Shot continues to build a strong youth section, in which trainer-coach Bertus Keen plays a major role. A lot of young Shottertjes end up in the highest youth department in the Netherlands and both the girls and the boys receive national championships.
Membership doubled
In 1987 the new table tennis center had a huge promotional effect and the then chairman Herman Angenent sees the membership doubled within a year from 70 to 150, including 70 youth members. Yet, like so many other sports clubs, Shot does not escape competition with other sports and the increased alternatives to leisure activities. As a result, the number of members is steadily declining in the 1990s. For example, the association has around 75 members on its 40th anniversary in 2000, almost as many as in 1975 just before it opened its own association building. In a 25-year period, the average age of the seniors has also risen from 33 to no less than 45 years.
2000 to present
From 2000, the number of members first stabilizes after wich the number of members grows slightly again. Slow, but steadily. For the last years Shot has about 95 members.
New location
In 2017, Shot finally moves to a new location on the Haverlanden. This relocation was very difficult to accomplish. Initially Shot would be reallocated within the Churchillweg DMP zoning plan (Diedenoort, Mouterij and Pantarijn). Unfortunately, none of this could be accomplished because of the recession, starting in 2008.
In 2016 there is a possibility for a new clubhouse by renovating and extending an existing gym. The new housing committee makes every effort to provide Shot with a nice and comparable clubhouse. Thanks to the collaboration between the municipality of Wageningen and construction company Van Swaay we now have a particularly beautiful home. The facilities are comparable to those in the previous clubhouse and the playing area now also offers space for 8-10 table tennis tables. This new accommodation is also owned by Shot.
TTV Shot currently has a healthy number of members and with that Shot continues to be one of the larger table tennis associations in the Gelre Department of the Dutch Table Tennis Association.
Literature
For the 25-year (1985) and 40-year (2000) jubilee, books have been published. You can see them upon request.