Hosts Scarborough Table Tennis Premier Club shine in British League

The club won the right to host the eight-team division for the first time by submitting a successful tender earlier this year.

Scarborough’s relatively new team are flying high after starting on the lower rung of the British League pyramid. Having finished second last year they would love to top the division this year to gain automatic promotion. The team is a blend of youth and experience with the development of the team’s younger players at the heart of the club’s philosophy.

The team is coached by the club’s head coach Ashley Hodgson, who leads regular training sessions for club members.

As well as the young players in the British League team there is also an exciting crop of other younger players coming through the ranks. Many of them have national rankings and compete in ranking events around the country. Many of them also support the Scarborough Table Tennis League by playing in matches on weekday evenings.

The current British League team players are: Oliver Ho (17), Mia Longman (15), Louis Fell (16) and the vastly experienced Martin Lowe and Glenn Hodgson.

Oliver, playing at number one, is the Sunderland and Northumberland Junior champion for the past two years, and loves the competitive nature of table tennis.

Mia started playing aged nine and progressed so quickly she became Under-11 National champion in 2019. She represented England at the Euro-Mini tournament in Strasbourg and became Inter-Regional champion for U15 girls in 2023.

She also plays in Junior British League and Women’s British League and was a member of the team that won the Scarborough League title when 14. Mia likes the speed and intensity of table tennis and enjoys attacking rallies when she takes the ball early.

Louis started playing at primary school and soon started competing in the Scarborough League division three.

He quickly progressed to division two then one and was also a part of the winning division one team.

Louis played in the National Cadet League and now plays in the Junior British League. He says his best win was against Martin Lowe to win the Scarborough Men’s singles title earlier this year.

Louis was presented with the JA Cram award for most improved junior in Yorkshire last year.

He has represented Yorkshire at the National Schools Championships and inter-regionals and is excited to have been selected for the Yorkshire junior team.

Martin started playing at the age of four, and went on to represent Surrey at junior and senior level and subsequently Yorkshire after moving to Scarborough in 2003.

He has been Scarborough Men’s Champion on multiple occasions and York League champion a record 13 times, and also coaches junior players at school and the club.

Martin enjoys the mental and physical challenges that table tennis provides.

Glenn started playing aged nine while living in Eastbourne, at 16 he moved to Scarborough and joined the league.

He had a serious Achilles injury which meant he had an enforced break from 2000 to 2010. Glenn has played in leagues in Scarborough, Ryedale, York and Middlesbrough. He has also played in Yorkshire veterans league as well as the British League.

As a junior Glenn won multiple trophies in under 17 and under 19 competitions.

In this year’s British League, Scarborough team have a record of nine win and one loss.

They have defeated teams from Halifax, Huddersfield, York, Middlesbrough and Pudsey with their only loss coming against Goodwin Table Tennis Club from Hull.

Going into the most recent round of matches on Saturday Scarborough were joint top with Goodwin on 14 points with Topspin York just behind.

Topspin had a 5-4 win over Goodwin while Scarborough won 9-0 against Pudsey.

In the second match on Saturday Scarborough faced Topspin and they secured what could be a vital 5-4 victory to sit at the top of the table.

The concluding weekend of four matches for each team is not until April 6, with the first match for Scarborough against Goodwin, a massive match that could see Scarborough go four points clear or Goodwin rejoin them at the top.

League table: Scarborough 18 points, Godwin TTC 16, Topspin York 14, Halifax 12, Shiyi Ling 12, Huddersfield 4, Swerve 4, Pudsey 0.