The GB Down’s Syndrome team are ready to compete at the World Championships in Madeira – and now they want to help the next generation of athletes to follow in their footsteps.
The five-strong team, which includes European Open gold medallist Harry Fairchild and bronze medallist from the same event, Jenny Turner, have so far raised £5,000 via a crowd-finding page.
That is enough for them to fly out to represent their country at the Worlds in Madeira in October.
Now they are looking to raise an extra £1,920 to pay for a year’s worth of T21TT Rising Talent coaching sessions at the Brighton Table Tennis Club. T21 denotes Trisomy 21 – extra genetic material in chromosome 21 causes Down’s Syndrome.
On the first Sunday of every month from 11am-1pm, Harry and his Brighton colleagues Chris O’Flinn and Andrew Tonkin, who are all Level 1 qualified table tennis coaches, work with between 10 and fifteen 5- 20 year olds with T21. The amount they are looking to raise would pay for venue hire for the sessions for the 2018/19 season.
They have appealed for donations on crowdfunder.co.uk, where you can read more about the appeal.