Table Tennis England Chairperson Sandra Deaton and her daughter Nicola visited the Bridlington Table Tennis League in Yorkshire, meeting members and talking about their lives in table tennis.

They are pictured above with Bridlington local league player Delphine Kaye.

Sandra spoke about attending the recent Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, in her role as Chairperson, and both Sandra and Nicola talked about efforts to encourage more girls and women to take up playing table tennis at local league level.

Sandra also spoke about the launch of TTE.TV, our new platform showing live table tennis, including live coverage of England table tennis matches, national tournaments and the Senior British League.

Nicola Deaton spoke about her introduction to playing the sport at the age of just seven on the QE2. Both her parents taught the passengers to play table tennis and Nicola was keen to join in.

She quickly climbed through the junior England rankings and went on to play at full international level. Nicola won five National Women’s Singles titles, six Women’s Doubles titles and five Mixed Doubles titles, also competing in the Commonwealth Games and European championships, and competing for nine years in the professional league in France.

She told the audience her favourite victory was the 1997 Women’s Singles National title, and also winning the Mixed Doubles title in 1991 at the incredible age of just 13.

Nicola’s favourite inspirational music prior to an important match or final was Eye of the Tiger.

Nicola, and fellow former England internationals Alan Cooke and Kelly Sibley will visit Bridlington in March 2023 to perform an exhibition match, and they will also present the league’s team and individual trophies.