WEYMOUTH'S Sophie Storey won the Young Volunteer of the Year award at the Table Tennis England Pride of Table Tennis Award night.

Storey was presented with her award at the event, which ran alongside the English National Table Tennis Championships at the David Ross Sports Village, Nottingham University.

Some spectacular table tennis saw England number ones Liam Pitchford and Tin Tin Ho take the men’s and women’s titles respectively.

The second and final day also saw the award winners announced after the nominees had been invited to enjoy the weekend’s action.

One of the nominees was Weymouth’s own Storey, who is currently having a great season playing for Budmouth D in Division Two of the Weymouth & District League.

Storey was nominated for the Young Volunteer of the Year award, which recognises volunteers under the age of 25 who have made a significant impact on their club or league over the last 12 months. To her, and her mum’s, great delight she was announced as the winner.

Storey started playing table tennis when she moved to secondary school in September 2015.

Quickly becoming interested in the sport, the following year Storey represented the school in an all-girls team in the local Weymouth & District League, with her mum also playing in the competition.

Storey has played each year since and as she has progressed she has also represented her school, Budmouth Academy, at the regional finals of the National Schools Team competition for the last two years.

Moreover, she has also represented both Weymouth and Dorset in the National Cadet and Junior Leagues and has also represented the South West at the Inter League competition.

Storey quickly realised that she wanted to give something back to the sport and has embraced many opportunities locally, immediately helping at the two after school clubs – one for girls, one for boys – teaching and encouraging younger pupils to improve their game.

This has led to her becoming an assistant coach at the league coaching sessions on Monday evenings and Saturday mornings – particularly working with younger players.

In January of this year she enrolled on the Table Tennis England Young Ambassadors programme, has already reached the 50 hours of volunteering mark and was presented with a certificate to recognise this at the awards also.

Storey has also been a very valuable member of the team running the local 'This Girl Can' sessions which have been well attended. These have resulted in a significant increase in female participation locally, playing both for fun and competitively.

In order to recognise the contribution of the local youth players to table tennis further afield – representing their schools in national competitions, their town and their county – Storey organised the first-ever youth presentation event which was attended by many of the youngsters playing locally.

This involved organising the advertising, venue and refreshments. Storey also organised the production of certificates, listing their achievements, which were presented to all those who had played in representative teams.

Storey also made presentations to the adults who have given their time to coach the increasing number of youngsters taking up the sport.

To round off the event there was a doubles event where each team consisted of a youth player and a parent.

One of the highlights of Storey's year was volunteering as a ball girl for the final of the Senior English Women’s final in Nottingham last year and a second was offering, and being co-opted, to serve on the committee of the Weymouth & District League.

With more girls like Storey we can be assured that the future of table tennis locally and nationally is in very good hands.