Facilities for people with disabilities

As part of our open club sessions on Tuesdays, the club offers sessions for those with disabilities at Stowupland High School, every Tuesday from 8:00 to 9:00pm.

People of all ages and disabilities are welcome to come and give table tennis a go. Qualified coaches are in attendance each week and it only costs £2.00. For more details, contact Tony Mooney.

National Lottery Awards for All

Mark Palmer

In 2004, the club received another grant under the National Lottery Awards for All scheme to pump prime the setting up a club for people with disabilities. To launch this, the club held a disability weekend on 6/7 March 2004 at our centre at Stowupland. On the Saturday (6th) there was a course on disability awareness run by the English Table Tennis Association for club members and those of other table table tennis clubs in the area. On the Sunday (7th), there was a "come & try" event for anyone with a disability.

Stefan Trofan

The club was privileged to welcome Mark Palmer (also a disability awareness trainer) and Stefan Trofan, two wheel chair athletes who competed in the Sydney Paralympics. Stefan is expected be in the team for Athens this year but Mark has decided to give it a miss for family reasons. They have represented Great Britain for the last 6 years and won medals at World Championships - Mark got silver in the team event whilst Stefan got bronze in another team event. Stefan lives in Sheffield with his wife and Mark lives and works in Preston where he is actively involved in table tennis, holding the office of County Disability Officer for Lancashire.

Mark and Stefan led table tennis exhibitions during the "come & try" event, which was very entertaining and showed what is possible if you try. There was also a number of qualified Stowmarket Club coaches in attendance and it was a lot of fun with a buffet lunch provided free of charge. Tony Mooney, Club Development Officer said, "There are not enough opportunities for the disabled to play sport alongside able-bodied persons and we really want this to lead to just that. When they are ready and want to do so it is intended that as many disabled people as possible will be part of the club's mainstream activities."