The Sports Minister, The Paralympic Table Tennis Star and Me!

Monday was a very unusual day for me this week. Normally on a Monday I get up about 7am and ride on my bike to school and do my lessons. This Monday I got up at 4.15am and got in a car with my dad to drive to BBC Radio Kent studios in Tunbridge Wells.

I tried to sleep in the car, but because I was going to be live on Radio promoting table tennis, I was too excited.

It was just getting light by the time we got there and we met Kieron Pelling, the region’s Development Officer from Table Tennis England, who had come with some facts to tell the listeners from Kent.

When I went in I was surprised how many CDs were in the studio. They had got a wooden table ready and Kieron got out an Instant Ping Pong set so we had a net. The Minister for Sport, Tracey Crouch, was also there. We all played table tennis, including the Minister for Sport. Although I did beat her she was a down to earth sporty woman. When me and my dad went in to do the first live broadcast she took photos and sent them to our e-mail.

There were 5 slots. The first was about where I come from and how I got into the sport. The next two were about table tennis. Then the 4th was me speaking to Ross Wilson, the Paralympic table tennis bronze medallist. I told him he was an inspiration and he said I was!! The last slot was about telling people to get involved.

Afterwards we said thank you to the presenters and left them with the Instant Ping Pong set and a challenge to keep playing. Hopefully some people may have listened and will try table tennis.

The bad news for me is at 9.00am we left and my dad got me to school as quick as he could! But it was a good day. When I got to school my class had listened to some of it on the radio in form time and all the teachers kept asking me about it. Maybe now I’m a Young ambassador for Table Tennis England this sort of thing will become more normal.

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