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Leaving our greatest hopes for glory (James Barker and Harry Walton) far away at Disneyland the Dane Court team set off to the Kent Schools Table Tennis Tournament at The Howard School, Rainham where a wonderful 12 table arena awaited them which was  almost the equivalent of playing football at Wembley or cricket at Lords.

First up were the four year seven boys competing in the Under 13 event where the most experienced player, Jack Walton played superbly to win both his group games to qualify for the last 16 where he gave a really talented opponent a scare in the second set before bowing out of the competition. Craig Wright and William Dillon both won one and lost one of their group games to exit the main event as did Alex Mason who fought bravely in his two defeats. Will then won through to the semi final of the consolation tournament before being defeated. So a brave effort by all four boys who were often playing opponents a year older and more used to playing competitively on such fast tables.

After lunch the Under 16 event began and both Aston Church and James Wright did extremely well to emerge as winners of their respective groups while Kallum Marlow went out with a win and a loss. In the last 16 both Aston and James were paired against top quality players and were defeated while Kallum managed to battle through to the final of the consolation competition before losing. None of our three under 16 girls could win their groups with all of them winning and losing a game but they all got through to the Semi Finals of the Consolation event where Yumeng beat Sumaiyah to set up an all Dane Court final against Emily Young which Yumeng won. So two medals were gained and as none of our Under 16 players were year elevens the experience gained will hopefully help all of them if they return next year.

The standard of play throughout the day was incredibly high and  several nationally ranked players were present in all the competitions Dane Court took part in so all in all it was a fantastic effort from our team of 10 and a really enjoyable sporting occasion. Thanks to Mrs. Van Hinsbergh for her support and taking us all in the minibus.