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Date of birth: 15.04.1993
Current rankings: England: Junior no 3,
Senior no 6, Europe: Cadet no 4,
World: U18s no 46
Major achievement: Semi-final Senior National Championships
When did you start to play table tennis?
“At Cippenham Table Tennis Club at age of 4”
Style of play: Attacking both sides
Average training time per week: 30-36 hours
England debut cadet: Age 10
England debut senior: Age 13 |
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Gavin playing at the European Youths |
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Number 1 contender
Could Gavin Evans be the first ever Europe Youth Top 10 cadet boys champion? Ian Marshall provides an interesting insight into the no 1 cadet.
Technical ability and physical fitness are two essential elements in sport but it is the mental aspect that separates the masses from the champions. In this aspect one young Englishman seems to possess the necessary credentials, Gavin Evans.
At the age of fourteen, with one year still left in the cadet age group category, Gavin celebrated a decade in table tennis when he played for England in the 2007 Liebherr World Championships in Zagreb. He started to play when he was four years old, an age when just being able to see over the table tennis table was an achievement in itself. In the modern era sporting careers tend to be of a shorter span than in the past, the pressure, the intensity, the level of physical training needed, grows higher by the year. Yet Gavin just laps it up; for him, he revels in the blood, sweat and tears of sport. Mother and father both played table tennis, elder brothers Bradley and Myles followed suit as now does younger brother Scott. The family is steeped in table tennis with Gavin the star turn. Cippenham Table Tennis Club on the outskirts of west London, close to Heathrow airport, was where Gavin started his table tennis career under the guiding hand of the club’s caring coach, Ken Phillips, and with parents in total support. In 2001 the family moved north to Newark in the east midlands where they still reside, the newly opening National Training Centre in Sheffield being a one hour drive distant.
Focal point
Table tennis has been and still is the focal point in the life of Gavin; special arrangements with his school have been made to facilitate time away from home for the young man who has always specialised in beating older opponents. He has been the English national champion in the age group categories from ten to fifteen time and again, and in 2007 reached the semi-finals of the men’s singles event at the English National Championships. As a result of that feat and with a forward looking policy in action, he was selected for the England team to compete in the 2007 Liebherr World Championships, where he showed that on the senior scene he was very much at home in the cauldron of competition. The progress of Gavin has always been followed closely in England; parents and coaches have always smiled in admiration, as he became the master in the art of causing blushes on the faces of his more experienced adversaries. However, on the international scene there was one match in particular that took him to a new level; perhaps not a new level in terms of playing or technical ability but certainly in terms of mental toughness, it did him a power of good.
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Gavin showing how good his reach is
despite only being 14 years old
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Santo Domingo
In the final of the boys’ team event at the ITTF World Cadet Challenge in Santo Domingo in 2005 he beat the Czech Republic’s Tomas Tregler when the match score in the contest between England and Europe was level at one-all. It was a pivotal moment in the fixture and turned the momentum in England’s favour. It’s a match that is still vivid in the mind of Gavin who led by two games to one and 10-6 in the fourth; four match points but he lost the game before recovering to win the fifth and secure the victory. “I knew I wasn’t expected to win, I knew I wasn’t as good as him”, Gavin reminisced. “I kept trying to remember the tactics but maybe in that fourth game I started to play for the crowd.” The tactics advised by the vastly experienced coach Jia Yi Liu were working, in the fourth game he was on the brink of victory. “At the end of the game the thought in my head was how could I have possibly lost that game!” explained Gavin. “Darius Knight told me to calm down and I started the fifth game at the side I wanted to start; for some reason I had a favourite side.”
It was the mental aspect of sport that came into play, Gavin started the crucial game at the end where he believed he could play well; he made a good start and never looked back. “It was a big move forward, other than that match I didn’t have a good tournament in Santo Domingo”, said Gavin. “It was my best result ever, I’d played in a relaxed manner against Tomas Tregler and in that match I’d played well above my level.”
Refreshing attitude
Playing on the international circuit has undoubtedly helped Gavin who, with elder brother Bradley, now plays his club table tennis in Germany for Siligenstadt near Hessen. “Mentally, I’m sure I’m improving”, said Gavin. “Playing good players is really helping; they play high quality all the time.” More experienced players make few mistakes and maintain pressure on their opponents. It is a situation that motivates Gavin and is helping his mental approach to sport. His attitude is on track and technically he is becoming a better player. “I think my backhand is better, especially against backspin, I’m aware that I must keep attacking, Jia Yi Liu has encouraged me to move around my backhand earlier in the rally to play my forehand, that’s helped.”
Gavin has a refreshing attitude and it is that approach that is taking him to greater heights. “I think the key phrase is to be positive”, he explained. “Sometimes after training you want a rest”, he said. “However, after I’ve been away from table tennis for two days I miss playing and I want to get back into the training hall!”
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