Danny Reed (England No. 4) and Dave Wetherill (Beijing Paralympian) gave a top class table tennis demonstration in front of an enthralled audience before encouraging staff at Kraft Foods headquarters to ‘have a go’ on Wednesday 27th July in Cheltenham.
The event, stage managed by the ETTA, was arranged to mark one year to go before London 2012 and to raise awareness internally with Kraft employees of the involvement of one of its headline products; Cadburys, as a tier II sponsor and official supplier of confectionery.
An introduction to how table tennis has developed from a parlour game to a dynamic Olympic and Paralympic sport preceded a personal introduction by both players who explained; how they started, what they have achieved and what their future aspirations are. A demonstration of the speed, spin and excitement of the sport followed and then employees tried their hand at returning some devious spin serves and joined in a game of ‘round the world’. The session was rounded off with an informal Q & A with both players emphasising how easy the sport is to play for enjoyment as well as it being a serious and highly competitive sport.