19/06/2026
🏆 Some people see the award. I see the journey. 🏆
I always knew Akira was going to achieve great things.
What I look for in young players isn't just talent. It isn't even winning. What I look for is the ability to suffer disappointment, take the pain, and come back again.
I remember when Akira wasn't winning matches in tournaments. Week after week, tournament after tournament, things weren't going her way. Many young players would have quit. Many would have found excuses. Many would have disappeared.
But not Akira.
She never cried in front of anyone. Her dad would tell me that the tears came in the car on the way home. Yet every time she lost, she came back to training. She lost, she came back to training. She lost again, she came back to training. Again and again and again.
That's what I noticed.
Not the losses. Not the tears.
The willingness to keep going.
When I see that in a player, I know there is something special there. It's the same thing I saw years ago in Violet. I made promises to Violet, and I made the same promises to Akira. I told them that if they kept working, kept believing and kept turning up, good things would happen.
Today, those promises are coming true in a big way.
After finishing runner-up in the National Schools Table Tennis Championships, Akira has now been awarded 1st Place in the KS2 Outstanding Achievement Award, selected from nominees put forward by around 30 schools across the Three Rivers area.
This award is about much more than table tennis. It is about resilience. It is about character. It is about refusing to give up when things are difficult.
Akira, this is thoroughly deserved. Your journey is proof that persistence pays off.
The future is bright.
Nuff Respect.
