Exciting talent at the chocolate factory
NOT so long ago it was hard to spot a table tennis player who hadn't started life at 40.
NOT so long ago it was hard to spot a table tennis player who hadn't started life at 40. But under president Derek Webb's guiding hand, the Guernsey Table Tennis Associa-tion's response was to tackle the problem head on and, with the considerable help of their enthusiastic development officer, dozens and dozens of junior are now flooding into the ranks.
Last Friday evening saw the third round of Junior League matches played at the GTTA's now wholly-owned headquarters at the Guernsey Bowls Stadium.
The league continues all winter and ends in April.
Thirty-six of the island's best young talent have been split into evenly-matched teams of three, all bearing the names of chocolate bars: Golden Galaxy, Tremb-ling Twix, Sneaky Snickers, Flying Flakes and so on.
'It was the kids' idea,' said Rebecca O'Keefe, the sport's much respected DO, now into her second year in the island.
But the truth is you could easily have almost doubled the number of 36, such is the interest among Guernsey children.
'We are using the new influx of players as reserves, so we could have had at least 10 more teams with the new children that have started this season,' said the woman who oversees the league with Rob Vile.
The good news for the sport is that not only are 120-plus under-18s now playing table tennis regularly, two-thirds of those are under 12 and there is some cracking talent emerging.
O'Keefe can see some stars in the making.
'The progress is amazing. Some of these youngsters are already reserving in the senior league and winning in the lower divisions.'
One such player is Olly Langlois.
The 10-year-old son of former island cricketer Andy Langlois recently had the senior tongues wagging by ending the last 100% record in the senior leagues, that of the previously unbeaten Rose Powell.
Next spring, Guern-sey hosts the British primary schools' championships and it will be then that they can fully assess their progress.
O'Keefe can hardly wait for the event and has no worries.
'I'm pretty confident we will be able to compete with the other home countries.'
O'Keefe obviously commands huge respect from the youngsters, a point borne out by island fencing star Julie Dyer, whose 14-year-old daughter, Sophie, is now hooked on table tennis.
'It seems really well organised and a good environment,' said Dyer.
'Becky is absolutely fantastic with them. We are very impressed.'