My Life

I am 17 years old and I play table tennis. I train every Saturday when not in competitions at my club in Crewe, The South Cheshire Special Needs Table Tennis Club. My coach is Dennis Beech.

When I play in competitions I play for my club, the north west region and England. At the Special Olympics in Glasgow in July, I played for the north west region. I like playing table tennis – even the extra training we had to do for the Olympics, which meant all weekend sometimes.

When I am training I mainly play against Jeffrey Jarvis. He is very good and we have some good games. He is also my doubles partner and together we have won lots of games.

At the Special Olympics I won three gold medals in singles, doubles with Jeffrey, and mixed doubles with my partner Paula Latham. It was the first time that Paula and I had played together in a competition so it was a really great feeling when we won.

The opening ceremony at Glasgow was fantastic. I’ve never seem anything like it except on telly. But it is much better when you are there.

The Olympic motto is ‘Let me win but if I cannot win let me be brave in the attempt.’ That’s all we can do. My mum and dad say it’s not the winning but taking part that counts. Every sports person dreams of playing at the Olympics and I have now done it. I’m so proud.

Being at the Olympics was a wonderful experience I will never forget and I hope to see the friends I made there again. I would also like to thank the organiser for making it such a great event.