Kelly Sibley Looking Ahead To London 2012

Kelly Sibley currently tops the British table tennis rankings after a great season - which saw her capture the National Championships.

While there is a bit European Championships just around the corner she admits that all eyes are on the Olympic Games that are just over twelve months away.

I caught up with Kelly to talk about her season so as well as preparing for a home Olympic Games. 

- You helped launch the Kinect Sports Summer Saturdays at Rough Trade at the weekend so can you tell me a bit about the event?

Myself and Jo Parker went to launch the X-Box Kinect and the table tennis game and we wanted to get the kids to come along and play on it, they could have breakfast there, so it was just something that they could do on a Saturday morning. 

- So how and why did you get involved?

We were promoting the table tennis game for X-Box and they got in touch with myself and Jo and we went down and we got to play against the kids and their parents so it was a really good day.

- How did you find playing table tennis on the Kinect?

It’s really good. It’s really realistic as you can do all of the shots; the topspin, the backspin and even the serve and you can get all the different types of spins that we would get on the table. It’s really good.

- It's been a good year for you so far winning the National Championships in April so how would you assess your form at the moment?

Like you said I won the Nationals, so that was a really good achievement for me - I was really pleased with that. At the moment we are all doing a six week physical camp - so at the moment we are all pretty shattered.

Our next tournament is August, which is the China Open; we will be training out there as well so we are going to be out there for a month. We are training up to the European Championships which are in October.

- So what are you aiming for at those European Championships - are you confident going into that tournament?

It’s always going to be tough but now, because we have had this really hard six weeks training camp, we will be one of the physically fittest teams.

We know that we have put all of our effort in and all of the hard work in so when we got to the European Championships we will be feeling quire confident knowing that we are ready for the task ahead.

One of our main goals would be to get promotion into the top division - at the moment we are still quite a young squad so to do that would be quite an achievement. I really believe that if we all play well and we all come together as a team then we do have a chance.

- Can you talk me through a standard week's training?

We start at 9am until about 12.30pm and then 3pm to 6.30 Monday to Friday. We have got the training sessions on the table and then afterwards we will either do sprinting, or running or agility work and weight training.

So in our physicals we do all round because we need the speed and agility but we also need the power and the strength - so that’s why we do the weighs as well.

- The Olympic Games are only 12 months away so how excited are you at the prospect of a home games?

It’s just amazing because it literally the biggest sporting event and we have the opportunity to play in it. Just to play in any Olympics would be amazing but the fact that it’s in London it really is a dream come true.

That’s what we are thinking about now when we are training and when things get tough or you get one of those days where you just want to sleep a little bit longer you just think about ’why am I doing it?’ and you think about the Olympics being in long it just spurs you on. It’s going to be amazing!!

- There was some worry about Olympic places for GB athletes at the beginning of the year is that right? But all that is sorted now?

We weren’t sure if they were going to give us the spots for table tennis - so they were worrying times because we were thinking that we had put all this hard work in on and off the table and we might not able to be participate.

But we have been given the green light so that was a good day - while that was a big deep breath but we now have to work twice as hard to prove ourselves and show that it was the right decision to put us in.

- Olympic tickets have been a big talking point over the last few weeks - how exciting is it to know that the demand has been huge for all sports?

It’s really great. We were a little worried that table tennis may not sell out but I think it has and it’s going to be amazing.

It’s going to be great chance for anyone to go and see all different types of sport, especially the minority sports to build up their profile.

- You have touched on my next question really what do you hope that the Olympic Games will do for British table tennis in getting more people into the sport?

I just think that it needs to up its profile. If you talk to anybody they have played some form of table tennis, whether it be on holiday or as a kid, it’s one of those sports that anyone can play at any age.

So I think the Olympics, especially being in London, it will be great to show what it’s all about - especially at the high level because some people think that it’s like ping pong.

I think that it’s just a great opportunity for us to show what table tennis is really all about and not just someone tapping a ball across the table (laughs).

But I just hope that people can see and that will get more kids involved - you can put tables in schools and youth clubs; or like a this event on Saturday there was a table in a record store, so you can put on e anywhere.  

- Have you already thought about what you would like to achieve at the London games?

It’s going to be tough to win a medal - obviously the dream is to win a medal at the Olympics. But being realistic the Chinese are really strong so it is going to be tough.

But I think just to go there and to prove that we do deserve a place at the Olympics and we are not just there because it’s in London, if you get me?

We just want to play the best table tennis that we can because on the day anything can happen - we have seen top players lose to players that are lower ranked. We have to go out there and be positive and anything can happen.

- Yourself and Joanna Parker are the current top two British players so how has a rivalry with her spurred you on and improved you as a player?

We are rivals but we are like sisters at the same time - we have lived together since we were 13 as we lived away from home and when we go away we always share a room.

We do spur each other on because if one if playing well it tends to help the other - especially in team events because you don’t want to let the other one down.

Plus if one is having a tough time the other is there for a shoulder or an ear if you need to talk. So we do have that good working relationship and I think it’s what we need because we are pushing each  other to out best ability - I think if you don’t have that or the rivalry then I don’t think that you are going to get very far.

- Finally what competition lies ahead for you this year and next as the Games creep forward?

We have got the China Open in August, followed by the Austrian Open in September and the European Championships, which are in October in Poland.

We have a test event at the Olympic venue in November, I’m not to sure how that is going to work yet because they are not to sure themselves, but it’s definitely going to take place in mid to late November.

I think they will try to get a GB squad to play against the rest of the world so everybody can test the venue - which will be quite cool; that will be exciting to know that this is going to be the venue and this is where it is going to be.

Also we will be playing as a GB squad for the first time as when we go to European’s or world championships we always play for England and the other play for Wales and Scotland we have never played together as GB. 

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw

Female First caught up with Kelly Sibley to mark the launch of Kinect Sports Presents: Summer Saturdays at Rough Trade East (www.roughtrade.com).

Every Saturday until August 27th, families can come down and enjoy breakfast, browse records, play on Kinect Sports on Xbox 360 and enter to win an Xbox console.

Kelly Sibley currently tops the British table tennis rankings after a great season - which saw her capture the National Championships.

While there is a bit European Championships just around the corner she admits that all eyes are on the Olympic Games that are just over twelve months away.

I caught up with Kelly to talk about her season so as well as preparing for a home Olympic Games. 

- You helped launch the Kinect Sports Summer Saturdays at Rough Trade at the weekend so can you tell me a bit about the event?

Myself and Jo Parker went to launch the X-Box Kinect and the table tennis game and we wanted to get the kids to come along and play on it, they could have breakfast there, so it was just something that they could do on a Saturday morning. 

- So how and why did you get involved?

We were promoting the table tennis game for X-Box and they got in touch with myself and Jo and we went down and we got to play against the kids and their parents so it was a really good day.

- How did you find playing table tennis on the Kinect?

It’s really good. It’s really realistic as you can do all of the shots; the topspin, the backspin and even the serve and you can get all the different types of spins that we would get on the table. It’s really good.

- It's been a good year for you so far winning the National Championships in April so how would you assess your form at the moment?

Like you said I won the Nationals, so that was a really good achievement for me - I was really pleased with that. At the moment we are all doing a six week physical camp - so at the moment we are all pretty shattered.

Our next tournament is August, which is the China Open; we will be training out there as well so we are going to be out there for a month. We are training up to the European Championships which are in October.

- So what are you aiming for at those European Championships - are you confident going into that tournament?

It’s always going to be tough but now, because we have had this really hard six weeks training camp, we will be one of the physically fittest teams.

We know that we have put all of our effort in and all of the hard work in so when we got to the European Championships we will be feeling quire confident knowing that we are ready for the task ahead.

One of our main goals would be to get promotion into the top division - at the moment we are still quite a young squad so to do that would be quite an achievement. I really believe that if we all play well and we all come together as a team then we do have a chance.

- Can you talk me through a standard week's training?

We start at 9am until about 12.30pm and then 3pm to 6.30 Monday to Friday. We have got the training sessions on the table and then afterwards we will either do sprinting, or running or agility work and weight training.

So in our physicals we do all round because we need the speed and agility but we also need the power and the strength - so that’s why we do the weighs as well.

- The Olympic Games are only 12 months away so how excited are you at the prospect of a home games?

It’s just amazing because it literally the biggest sporting event and we have the opportunity to play in it. Just to play in any Olympics would be amazing but the fact that it’s in London it really is a dream come true.

That’s what we are thinking about now when we are training and when things get tough or you get one of those days where you just want to sleep a little bit longer you just think about ’why am I doing it?’ and you think about the Olympics being in long it just spurs you on. It’s going to be amazing!!

- There was some worry about Olympic places for GB athletes at the beginning of the year is that right? But all that is sorted now?

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