A special day for sport brings competitors from across England to Barnstaple

Special Olympics North Devon hosted a Special Olympics National Table Tennis Competition at Tarka Tennis, Barnstaple during the weekend of October 18 and 19.

Athletes from the North Devon club competed with teams from the North West, Wolverhampton and Yorkshire & Humberside. There was stiff competition from some of the other teams, but the home club acquitted themselves well.

In Special Olympics competitions, as in the Paralympics, competitors are allocated to different divisions, dependent on ability, and then compete in these divisions. Divisions are decided on the day and can vary according to the skill of competing athletes.

On this occasion, we at North Devon had no players in Division 1, but our Division 2 players ended up competing against Division 1 players in the doubles matches. Consequently, we could only manage 3rd and 4th places in the Doubles matches, but did rather better in the Singles matches, with 4 third places, 2 second places and 3 wins.

Special congratulations to Jeffrey Jarvis, Jessica Bromley and Ben Cliffe from the North West Team; also to Michael Evans from Yorkshire & Humberside; to Chris Burrell and Winsome Clarke from Wolverhampton; and to Fredrika Karlsson, Seren Morgan and Cecilia Kidson from North Devon.

These athletes all won in their singles division. Our athlete Lisa Barnett from North Devon won the Female Player of the Tournament.

The games were very friendly, many of the athletes having played against each other before. In some ways, it was like a meeting of old friends. Everyone displayed a high level of sportsmanship, which made the weekend even more enjoyable.

Delicious lunches were provided by Bramleys, and we were lucky to have in attendance Richard Allen, the District Governor of SW Lions Club International, Barnstaple Mayor Janet Coates along with her Consort, and Louise Doe, Volunteer Development Officer from Special Olympics GB, who was a great help with setting up and supporting the competition. All helped to award the prizes.

We are also indebted to Dennis Beech and his team of umpires and coaches, without whom we could not have run the competition.