The Official Website of the British No.1 and Triple European Champion
Part 1 The Early Years and Early Success Seven-year-old Paul - three months shy of his 8th Birthday along with 11 year old brother Bryn, tries table tennis at a local church hall in Saltburn near his home in Loftus. Local league player and coach Dave Pashley is impressed with the boys ability and immediately recommends the two boys visit the nearby Ormesby Club in Middlesbrough. Paul and Bryn begin to attend coaching sessions at Ormesby Table Tennis Club twice weekly where they both make rapid progress. Head coach Carole Moore immediately identifies both boys as being very talented players and recommends to the National Association that they attend Under 12 talent identification training camps. Both boys are quickly selected to be a part of the English Table Tennis Associations plans for the future. They attend regular training camps whilst playing several hours every night at there club at home. Even at this early stage many coaches notice Paul’s exceptional feeling for the ball and anticipation skills - in addition to this his physical fitness level is well above the other players his age. After already beginning to turn heads by defeating several top ranked juniors aged 16 and above in events around the country, Paul wins his first brace of national titles ages nine when he wins the National Under 10 singles title and Under 12 doubles title at the English National under 12 Championships. In terms of technique Paul is already extremely advanced for both his age and the amount of time he has been involved in the sport. Impressed with his standard and looking to invest in the future, the ETTA send one of there staff coaches to work with Paul two nights per week - Denis Neale, the former national champion, top ten world ranked player and renowned tactician begins to reinforce in Paul the importance of hard work in the training hall that he has already learnt from his older brother, team mates and coaches at Ormesby. Aged ten years old Paul visits China for the first time with Mr Jai Yi Liu and a small team of players. He stays there for one month training at a provincial club under the watchful eve of Mr. Liu - on his return the older players at his home club notice the rapid improvement made in just one month. Later that year Paul wins his second brace of National titles, claiming the Under 11 singles title and Under 12 doubles title. By this point he is substantially ahead of the other players his age - his style of play resembles that of a last year cadet player rather than an Under 12. At this stage, ages 12 years old, Paul moves away from home to live in the National Table Tennis Academy in Nottingham with his elder brother Bryn. They train everyday with the other National team players and both make rapid progress. Paul begins to work on a daily basis with Mr. Jai Yi Liu, who will in years to come be almost solely responsible for him and his England team mate Darius Knight. Daily multi ball training results in massive improvement and by the end of the year Paul is beginning to challenge the highest ranked cadets in Europe two years his senior. |