Table Tennis England Junior Championships Huddersfield

The 2018/2019 season has just begun, and Matthew has been given the opportunity to move to the prestigious German Bundesliga club Gruenwettersbach, to live and train there for at least one year in a professional environment with international players.

Matthew, one of the youngest players training at Gruenwettersbach, will be playing for the Baden-Wuertemberg side TTG Neckarbischofsheim, as number 3 in the team. Neckarbischofsheim are in the 5th German league – Oberliga.

Matthew, although only being there for one month, has already made significant improvements to his game. Training twice a day, 6 days a week, has been a major boost to his training, compared to the limited opportunities available to him in England. Working with the chief coach Rade Markovic (former world top 100 player from Serbia) has been demanding but has given Matthew the motivation to improve every single session.

Matthew, although living in Germany, will still participate in English and international tournaments alike. Matthew recently participated in a German competition, with other Gruenwettersbach players, where he reached the Quarter-finals, being one of the 7 of Gruenwettersbach players to make it to the last 8, although being much lower ranked than the other competitors.

Nearing his 18^th birthday, Matthew is no longer in the under 18 category in England (in which he reached England rank number 6), so in future Matthew will take part in the Senior Grand-Prix circuit. Having had a very successful end to the last Grand-Prix circuit, which saw him beat England number 26 in the Men’s category, and reach the Semi-finals in the U21 event, Matthew is very much looking forward to participating again this season.

Although Matthew is no longer allowed to participate in Junior tournaments in England, he is allowed to participate in ITTF World Junior Tournaments until the end of December 2018.