Premier League 4 Sport disability case study

Fatos is a female pupil in year 9 who attends a special school in Haringey. She has cerebral palsy and needs the aid of a walker. When Tottenham Hotspur Foundation table tennis coach, Robbie Payne-Inglis, began coaching Fatos through the Premier League 4 Sport programme, he immediately noticed that she was extremely shy, particularly with new adults. She was always more reserved and quiet than her peers, very self-conscious and afraid to try new sports.

Robbie worked closely with Fatos to make her feel as comfortable as possible by spending a lot of time interacting and talking to her, making her feel welcome and a valued member of the table tennis satellite club. Robbie helped her overcome her shyness and focused on integrating her into the group he was coaching. After 3 weeks of attending the club, Robbie noticed improvements with Fatos's confidence and it was at this point that her talent for polybat, the adapted version of table tennis, was identified.

Once Fatos gained confidence with polybat and learnt the format of the sport, she started to smile more and each day her confidence grew and she notably enjoyed attending the club and playing the sport. She took part in a community feature on BBC's Match of the Day, aired earlier this year, where she had the opportunity to try other sports but declined, choosing polybat as her favourite! Because of her obvious talent and love of the sport, Robbie recommended Fatos to enter the Pantathlon Challenge; a charity which provides young disabled people with training courses, coaching grants, free equipment and mini 'paralympic type' competitions that takes place across London.

At this competition Fatos won a gold medal, never losing a game in the process. Just encouraging Fatos to participate in any sport was unimaginable and the pride Robbie, her schools and her peers felt when she was given her gold medal was indescribable. She later informed Robbie that she thought the competition was easy, proving she has an outstanding talent for the sport. Fatos's development in polybat is being supported through high quality coaching and pathways through the English Table Tennis Association. Having achieved a gold medal, she continued to blossom and refused to take her medal off for a few days! She is now a very different child; within a few months she has become a much happier, relaxed and confident child - achieved through the Premier League 4 Sport opportunity, her natural talent and enjoyment of polybat.

Premier League 4 Sport, working with Tottenham Hotspur Foundation, allowed Fatos to succeed and flourish as a child, creating opportunities that were never previously available to her.