Table Tennis England supported organisers of the National Junior Games, allowing disabled children to try our sport.

The National Junior Games is an annual event that has been taking place annually at Stoke Mandeville Stadium since the 1980s.

Organised by WheelPower, the national charity for wheelchair sport, it brings together disabled children from across the country for a life-changing week of sport and activity at the birthplace of the Paralympic movement.

More than 90 children participated, 47 male and 50 female – of those, 26 were ambulant, 46 use a manual chair and 25 use a powerchair.

A total of 38 took part as individuals, while the remaining 59 came from seven schools, five of which stayed on the site for the duration.

They were able to try a host of different sports, including table tennis, and achieve their personal best scores through a variety of fun and exciting challenges. Among the other sports they could try were wheelchair basketball, tennis, powerchair football, boccia, fencing, athletics, handcycling, rowing, swimming, boccia and canoeing.

Among the officials helping and inspiring the youngsters to get involved were Dan Bullen and Amanda Worne.

Dan said: “To me, what makes these events are seeing the smile on their faces when they do well in the challenges and when they get the ball over the net for the first time.”

Amanda added: “I love being part of the Junior Games so much and it is always a privilege and very humbling experience to be involved. I’m looking forward to the Spinal Games in September already.”

Below are some of the photos from the event – click here to view more on Flickr.

Those who were at the event, or anyone interested, can fill out this form to stay up to date with table tennis news, including coaching programmes, British Para Table Tennis and more. 

Click here to find out about future events with WheelPower.