Grantham College may need to invest in a bigger trophy cabinet as students on the table tennis programme continue to win multiple medals at home and abroad.
From Preston to Plymouth and Stockton to Sweden, the squad has racked up a staggering haul of gold, silver and bronze this season.
Female and male players from England, Wales and further afield have contributed to the success, which spans international events as well as domestic Grands Prix, one-to-four-star events and, most recently, the Mark Bates Ltd National Championships, where Ella Pashley (pictured above) picked up Under-21 Women’s Singles silver and Mixed Doubles bronze, while Toby Ellis won Under-21 men’s Singles bronze.
The full breakdown can be seen at the bottom of the page.
We recently caught up with Head Coach Vidal Graham and asked him about the reasons behind this success.
TTE: Grantham students have had a lot of success at home and abroad. So how have you designed the programme and what is driving what you’re doing?
Vidal: “Well, basically, it’s all individual programmes, so every single athlete has their own set programme depending on their level and what they need to get to the next level.
“We have a look at our tournament schedule, and then we have a look at some of the other tournament schedules abroad and everything’s designed around the player and their needs – like if the player needs to get more international experience, or if we’re looking for teams abroad for them, a good way to do that is to go play in the tournaments abroad, do well, speak to other coaches and network.”
How does that fit into the wider performance pathway in England or GB?
“The majority of our players do play for their national teams and we do speak to their coaches – they have their idea of what is required and we sometimes fit around that, but sometimes we also have our own ideas on how it should go.
“Because we’re the everyday coaches, we talk to the players and about what we expect and what we think they need to help them along that pathway.
Do you find there is a good squad dynamic between all the players and they all support and help each other, or are they more focused on their individual goals?
“Well, it is an individual sport. When we’re at tournaments and the players tend to play each other in the later rounds all the time, sometimes the coaches don’t sit in their corners when they’re playing each other, so the dynamics can be sort of tentative at times.
“But generally when we go back after a tournament, on the Monday they have a reflection session and then we go back in the training hall.
“Everyone knows that they can’t get better without the other people in the hall, so they are quite supportive when they’re in the training hall.
“Obviously in the tournament environment, depending on how some players are doing, it can be up and down. But in general I think we have a good sort of club ethos and they do support each other at finals and so forth, yeah.”
Not being in their corner when they’re playing each other – is that good for them too, to think for themselves, without a coach there?
“Yes and no. For instance, at an event like the National Championships it would be a bit harder because obviously you want the kids to have the best experience to try and get as far as they can. And even though we don’t sit in their corner, we will say to them ‘look, if you think that you need to get a parent or another coach, absolutely fine. It’s all about them, really.
“But then when you’re going with a squad of 16 players to a tournament, it’s a bit more difficult and yeah, they have to learn to play on their own. But we get them to record all their matches anyway. So then even though we’re not in their corner, we’ll still look back at the videos during the week and dissect what’s happened.”
What’s your ideal end outcome?
“Well, I see our role as basically to help every player that comes through the door to their next step, whatever that may be.
“So if there may be a lower ranked player, maybe within the two to three years that we generally have them, the goal is to get them into National Cups and hopefully into a national team.
“If they’re at national team level already, it’s to then start trying to win tournaments abroad, either WTTs or Swedish tour events, getting them into international clubs and helping them try to get a career out of table tennis.
“In some cases, it’s just a matter of making that player be the best person that they can be. Everything’s about the individual player and no two outcomes are ever going to be the same.”
Medals won by Grantham College players this season:
Mark Bates Ltd National Championships
U21W – Ella Pashley
U21M – Toby Ellis Women’s Doubles – Ella Pashley
Birmingham 2star
U13 Singles – Ryan HollandU15 Singles – Ryan Holland
Cambridge 4 starBand 1 – Lowri HurdU19 Boys – Harry Docherty U19 Girls – Lowri Hurd
Nottingham 2 starCadets Group 1 – Ryan HollandMen Group 5 – Ryan Holland
Birmingham 1 starU19 Singles – Pablo GodoyU15 Singles – Pablo GodoyU15 Singles – Ryan HollandU13 Singles – Ryan Holland
Crawley GPU21 Men – Isaac Kingham Women’s Band 1 – Hannah Silcock U21 Women – Ella Pashley U21 Men – Joe Dennison Men’s Band 1 – Harri Docherty U21 Women – Hannah Silcock
Nottingham 2 starU15 Band 1 – Pablo Godoy U15 Band 1 – Ryan Holland
Blackpool 4 starGirls’ Team – Hannah Silcock/Anaiya AliBoys’ Team – Adam Dennison/Isaac KinghamBoys’ Team – Joe Dennison/JoeMarlorU17 Girls – Hannah Silcock U17 Boys – Isaac KinghamU19 Boys – Gabriel SchoggerU19 Girls – Hannah SilcockGirls’ Team – Lowri Hurd/ Darcey TaylorBoys’ Team – Harri Docherty/Gabriel SchoggerU19 Boys – Adam Dennison
Helsingborg Swedish Tour U13 Boys – Abraham SelladoU16 Girls – Ella Pashley U14 Boys – Abraham SelladoU16 Boys – Isaac KinghamU20 Girls – Ella Pashley
Blitz 1 starCadet Boys – Pablo GodoyCadet Boys – Ryan Holland
WTT Youth Contender Podgorica U15 Boys – Isaac KinghamU15 Mixed Doubles – Isaac Kingham/Ella Pashley
Birmingham 2 starU19 Band 1 – Gabriel SchoggerCadet Band 1 – Pablo Godoy
WTT Youth Contender Puerta Princesa U13 Boys – Abraham Sellado
Preston GPMen’s Band 2 – Joe Dennison Men’s Band 6 – Pablo GodoyU21 Men – Joe Dennison Women’s Band 1 – Aleks Titievskaja Men’s Singles – Toby Ellis Men’s Band 5 – Pablo GodoyU21 Women – Aleks Titievskaja Women’s Singles – Aleks Titievskaja Men’s Band 1 – Adam Dennison
Stockton 4 starU17 Girls – Ella PashleyU17 Boys – Isaac KinghamU17 Boys – Joe DennisonU19 Boys – Adam Dennison U19 Girls – Ella PashleyBoys’ Team – Harri Docherty, Joe Marlor, Tudor EftincaBoys’ Team – Joe Dennison, Adam Dennison, Gabriel Schogger
Home Countries International 2023 Women – Hannah Silcock U15 Boys – Abraham Sellado U19 Boys’ Doubles – Isaac KinghamU19 Boys’ Team – Isaac Kingham U19 Girls’ Doubles – Lowri Hurd U15 Boys’ Doubles – Abraham Sellado U15 Boys’ Team – Abraham SelladoU19 Boys’ Team – Harri Docherty U19 Girls’ Team – Lowri Hurd U19 Boys – Harri Docherty U19 Boys’ Doubles – Harri Docherty U19 Girls – Lowri Hurd U19 Boys – Isaac Kingham Women’s Doubles – Hannah Silcock
Chandlers 4 starU19 Boys’ Band 2 – Ryan HollandU15 Boys – Pablo GodoyU19 Boys’ Band 1 – Greg FrayU19 Girls – Ella Pashley
AOC National Colleges midlands qualifier Men’s Singles – Toby Ellis Women’s Singles – Aniaya Ali
Ulster OpenU21 Women – Lowri HurdJunior Girls – Lowri Hurd Women’s Open – Lowri Hurd
Hull 2 starU21 Men – Tudor Eftinca
Chippenham 4 starU19 Boys – Isaac KinghamU19 Boys – Gabriel Schogger
Cardiff GPWomen’s Singles – Hannah SilcockWomen’s Band 2 – Lowri HurdWomen’s Band 1 – Hannah SilcockMen’s Band 2 – Joe MarlorMen’s Band 2 – Djen BakxU21 Men – Joe Dennison U21 Men – Joe Marlor
Hereford 2 starMen’s Open – Harri Docherty Men’s Open – Joe Marlor
Batts 1 starBoys’ Band 1 – Harrison HillBoys’ Band 1 – Prithvi Menon
Birmingham 2 StarU13 Band 1 – Prithvi Menon
Huddersfield 1 starU15 Band 2 – Prithvi MenonU15 Band 1 – Ryan Holland
Welsh Team Championship Premier Division – Harri Docherty Premier Division – Joe Marlor
North Ayrshire OpenJunior Doubles – Gabriel SchoggerJunior Singles – Gabriel Schogger
English Schools regional finalsU19 Boys’ Singles – Adam Dennison U19 Girls’ Singles – Hannah Silcock U16 Boys’ Singles – Isaac Kingham U16 Girls’ Singles – Ella PashleyU13 Boys’ Singles – Adam Dennison U19 Boys’ Singles – Daniel Goitom U19 Girls’ Singles – Anaiya AliU13 Boys’ Singles – Prithvi Menon
English Schools Team regional finalsU19 BoysU16 BoysU16 Girls
Plymouth 4 StarCadet Boys Team – Abraham Sellado Cadet Boys – Abraham Sellado U19 Girls – Anaiya Ali
London Academy 2 StarU13 Boys – Ryan Holland
Junior British LeagueJBL Boys – Premier Division Team JBL Girls – Premier Division Team JBL Girls – Division 1 Team
Safir international (Sweden)U18 Boys – Toby EllisWomen’s Class 1 – Ella PashleyU16 Boys – Joe Dennison
Wolverhampton GPWomen’s Band 1 – Ella PashleyU21 Men – Joe Dennison Women’s Open – Hannah Silcock Men’s Band 1 – Adam Dennison U21 Women – Hannah Silcock U21 Men – Joe MarlorU21 Men – Adam Dennison Men’s Band 2 – Joe MarlorMen’s Band 4 – Alex Henry
St Neots 2 starU13 Boys – Ryan Holland
Nottingham 2 starCadet Group 1 – Harrison Hill
