Table Tennis England has announced a 28-strong England Youth Squad geared to help the elite players of the future hit their full potential.
The line-up, which is split into a performance group of 13 players and a development group of 15, was announced after skill and fitness assessments of all the players who applied to join the squad.
A shortlist of 40 players attended the England Youth Squad Assessment Day at Lilleshall National Sports Centre in Shropshire.
The Performance Team set standards that players wishing to be considered needed to exceed. On the day, players took part in a series of fitness tests, on-the-table practice, and a short interview to look at and talk about their current training, results and table tennis ambitions.
From the players who attended, the Performance Staff selected a squad of 28 players, split into performance and development groups, who will attend all the EYS training camps this year and receive regular contact and support from one of the national coaching staff.
They have all signed an agreement which sets out their commitments to the programme, including training, fitness and behaviour criteria, and a commitment to be available for selection for certain overseas events, including the European Youth Championships, 6 Nations and French, Hungarian and Spanish Opens.
Table Tennis England’s National Talent Development Coach Matt Stanforth said: “The standard of the players on the Assessment Day was very high and it was clear that everyone had been working hard both on and off the table to give themselves the best chance to be selected.”
“These players have signed an athlete agreement in which they agree to commit to the programme we have put together which includes 10 training camps across the season as well as regular contact time between each camp. This allows us to not only work with the players more, but to also work closely with the players local coach who is integral to their development.
“Only together can we be successful and we hope this program will allow us to successfully prepare players for future senior international success.”
Performance squad: Emily Bolton (Junior), Kate Cheer (Cadet), Marcus Giles (J), Tin-Tin Ho (J), Tom Jarvis (J), Danny Lawrence (J), Sam Mabey (J), Denise Payet (C), Lois Peake (J), Alex Ramsden (C), Luke Savill (J), Maria Tsaptsinos (J), Helshan Weerasinghe (J).
Development squad: Charlotte Bardsley (U13), Ruby Chan (U11), Joe Clark (C), Harry Dai (C), Amirul Hussain (U13), Isabelle Joubeily (C), Danielle Kelly (U13), Jamie Liu (U11), Bhavika Mistry (C), Louis Moyes (U13), Mollie Patterson (U13), Darcie Proud (U13), Shayan Siraj (C), James Smith (C), Ethan Walsh (U13).