TALENTED young table tennis players from a Crosby school are continuing to make their mark at the sport’s national level.

2 teams and three individuals from St. Mary’s College recently took part in the finals of the National Butterfly Schools Championship in Wolverhampton, one of the biggest and most prestigious events in the table tennis calendar.

Students had previously beaten off the challenge of schools across the North West in the regional finals in Widnes to reach the last stage of the competition, organised by Table Tennis England and sponsored by table manufacturer Butterfly.

The finals saw brilliant performances from the St. Mary’s girls under 19 team of Nyasha Roberts (Year 7) and Isabella Hamer (Lower 6th) who finished in silver medal position. Their only loss was to a London school with the England number 2 in its team.

As Isabella is just 16 years old and Nyasha only 12 the girls were competing against players much older than themselves, so this was an excellent result.

Meanwhile the boys under 13 team of Kaya Eryavuz, twins Archie and William Green, Thomas Locke and Deniz Berker also turned in an outstanding performance to finish an impressive 5th in the country.

Archie, William and Thomas were part of last year’s St. Mary’s under 11 team which also reached the national finals, making it a second consecutive year of competing at national level for the 3 boys.

St. Mary’s was also represented in the individual finals which saw Priscilla Dix (Year 5 Preparatory School) reach the quarter final before losing to the number one seed in the competition.

Nyasha and Isabella also took part in the individual finals at under 13 and under 19 level respectively, and both played very well to reach the knockout stages before bowing out.

St. Mary’s Table Tennis Co-ordinator, Helen Savage, commented:- “We were delighted this year because we have never had so many pupils in the national finals, spread throughout the year groups. It was a great weekend of table tennis, and the skill, determination and resilience shown by our players bodes really well for further success in future years.”