The Greenhouse TTT
teamArchie were privileged to support Greenhouse Sports’ summer table tennis tournament last week. The tournament was the culmination of summer camps at the North Paddington Youth Centre and an incredible demonstration of the power of Greenhouse’s work with young people in one of the most deprived wards in London.
The winner of the U-19 boys tournament, finished his junior career as the 7th best player in the UK. He currently plays in a professional league in both the UK and Belgium and won two 4 Star (top level) events in the UK this year. Eight years with Greenhouse have completely changed his life and have opened him up to so many different experiences he would not have had without the support of coach Daniel.
The winner of the U-15 girls tournament has had an incredibly successful year. She has been with Greenhouse for four years and is now in the top-20 for her age group in the UK and competing all over the country. She has qualified for the nationals and won the school team event.
It was one of the under 10s though who most epitomises the impact of Greenhouse’s holistic approach. Almost immediately we arrived we met an incredibly chatty boy who was busy coaching Oscar, our partnership officer (and no mean player himself!). This boy arrived in the UK only two years ago from Iran with his parents and his sisters, they have had to go through serious struggles in order to successfully gain the right to stay in the UK. When he first came to Greenhouse he spoke almost no English and had no experience playing sport of any kind. His lack of English and shyness had made it very difficult for him to make friends and integrate into his school and local community. Daniel, Maria and the other centre coaches all worked to make sure he was included by the other kids and helped him with his English and his confidence through the medium of table tennis. Fast forward a year and he now speaks near perfect English, has a great group of friends through Greenhouse and is in the top-10 for his age group in table tennis.