Kent County Championship gold medals for brothers who learned to play table tennis in their kitchen during Covid lockdown

Two brothers from Broadstairs who learned to play table tennis at home during the Covid lockdown have won gold medals at the Kent County Championships.

Ben and Ollie Willis, aged 11 and seven respectively, started playing regularly three years ago after the family squeezed a table into their kitchen as a way of passing the time.

The pair made rapid progress and earlier this month enjoyed county success in the under-13 age group when Ben won the main boys’ singles and Ollie landed the second-tier plate competition.

“They liked table tennis, and played occasionally, but we didn’t have a table tennis table, just a kitchen table that we put a net over,” said dad Russell, who took a coaching qualification so he could help the boys.

“The big difference was to get a real table during Covid and practise regularly, because you had time to practise.

“I played on one side and I’d have a foot or so behind me in order to give them as much room as possible on the other side, which still wasn’t very much. I couldn’t move; they could move a bit.

“We’d move the kettle when we played but you had to avoid the fridge.

“I saw a quick improvement in the boys.

“Like most things, if you practise something a lot, and you enjoy it, the better you get.

“We weren’t doing anything serious at the beginning, just hitting balls and having fun, but you could see the progress.

“In the early days of lockdown we were having teabag-throwing competitions to have fun, and then table tennis became a more elegant replacement.”

Since then, Ben and Ollie have trained in Japan - their place of birth and a country where table tennis is a major sport - visiting a club in Tokyo on three trips.

They also attend weekly sessions at Thanet Vikings in Margate and