Commonwealth champions Paul and Jo Drinkhall have been inspiring staff at a multi-national company to take up table tennis.

The mixed doubles gold medallists at Glasgow 2014 spent time at the Reading Office of independent IT and business process services company CGI.

They gave demonstrations and challenged staff on the table as part of an event stemming from CGI’s sponsorship of Team England.

Staff also took on a series of table tennis-related games, with one eye on team-building and received coaching tips from leading player and coach Tom Maynard and Table Tennis England Area Coach Development Officer Aled Howell.

The event was a resounding success, judging by the reaction of staff:

• “The games with Aled and Tom in the afternoon were fun, and gave me the chance to engage with sponsored degree students I career manage in a non-working activity. It was also great seeing Paul and Jo Drinkhall demonstrate their skills from up close, and then being able to ask them some inspired questions afterwards.”
• “It’s been great to take a break from the desk for a few minutes and focus on something else – made me feel much more refreshed – especially great to combat the post lunch or mid-morning lull in productivity. It’s lovely to see teams working together, learning and having some fun, and it’s made a great change to feel like there is a bit more ‘energy and atmosphere’ in the office.
• “It was really good to get away from the desk and have a 5-10 minute break. Good to stand up too as you are sitting down looking at a laptop all day. I think this is really good to promote the well-being of our members in this office. Also – I can see this would be a great use to brainstorm ideas within a project team – gets the creative juices flowing!”