One Commonwealth Games away from being a table tennis superstar

With the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games one day away, Oscar Formosa is reflecting on his first year as a table tennis player.

As one of Golden Grove Table Tennis Club’s (GGTTC) newest members, Oscar is convinced that with practice table tennis is easy to pick up.

Watching athletes swiftly manoeuvre around the table and their skilful serves during the Tokyo Olympics inspired Oscar to go looking for his table tennis set.  

“We have a table tennis set at home and I spent hours trying to find it, and I told my mum I wanted to play table tennis, so she started searching and found the Golden Grove Table Tennis Club,” he said.

Oscar described his training as ‘casual competitive’ as he combines training at home, training at GGTTC and playing with friends.

“I do practice at a little bit at home, and I am playing every Monday night for training and playing with my friends.

“I have brought some of my friends from school with me to play casually and one of my friends has joined the competition,” he said.

After playing table tennis for one year, Oscar has his sights set on being even better and more skilful next year.

“Playing in the higher division, against a lot of good players will challenge and change my game. I think it will make me play a more agile game and try different shots.”

Oscar’s coach Paul Dansie is pleased to see the clubs’ junior numbers on the rise after COVID struck.

“Oscar is part of our post COVID intake, he has been coming about a year,” Dansie said.

“We don’t push him too hard; we have been working on the basics. He has his own tactics that he likes to try but we are reinforcing the basics at the moment.”

Encouraging friends to try a new sport is part of the magic of grassroots sport. Oscar’s advice for anyone inspired by the Commonwealth Games is to just give it a go.

“Even if you don’t play in competitions, it is a great sport to play casually, so just give it a shot.”

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