A new record was recently set in the North Herts Table Tennis League. Luke Walsh from Stevenage became the youngest ever player to appear in the top division of the league – at just 10-years-old! He played with his father, Jimmy, currently leading the ave

A new record was recently set in the North Herts Table Tennis League.

Luke Walsh from Stevenage became the youngest ever player to appear in the top division of the league - at just 10-years-old!

He played with his father, Jimmy, currently leading the averages in the league's top division.

Luke and his 12-year-old sister Natasha play regularly in the league and are improving at an extraordinary rate.

The siblings come from a table tennis family as their parents, Jimmy and Nicola, play for the successful Bedwell Table Tennis Club in Stevenage.

And their grandparents and great grandparents were highly ranked and successful players.

The youngsters have been awarded a grant by Stevenage Borough Council as part of their talent identification programme.

And they have both been selected for a youth development scheme run by the English Table Tennis Association (ETTA) to identify players for future Olympics.

Luke and Natasha have also recently qualified for the UK table tennis regional finals (representing East Anglia) in their respective age groups to be played in Bristol at the end of this month.

Due to their keen interest in the sport, both of their schools - Martins Wood and Nobel - are considering introducing table tennis and are looking at Natasha and Luke to help out on the coaching side.

The pair, whose ambition is to play at international level, are also entered in the Herts schools' table tennis competition this weekend.