England’s Cadet cohort go into the European Youth Championships (EYC) with recent successes and experiences giving then plenty of confidence.

They will be led by Alyssa Nguyen, who had her first taste of major Senior tournaments at the London 2026 World Championships in May.

Although the 14-year-old did not get off the bench at OVO Arena Wembley, she says there were plenty of positives from being around the world’s best players which will help her career going forward, beginning with the EYC in Portugal which starts on Friday.

“I think at the Worlds, because it was such a high level, it was really amazing seeing how they were playing and what I could learn from them,” said the Devon youngster.

“I think I can take some of that, like watching how they play and how they hit the ball and transfer to the Europeans and hopefully do good well.”

Nguyen and the rest of the squad have had a good preparation camp at the Elite Training Centre in Sheffield, fine-tuning their technical and tactical games.

Alyssa added: “We’ve been doing quite a lot of good preparation. We’ve been doing a lot of consistency drills and working on open-ups and stuff like that.

“As a team, we’ve been working on a lot of communication, trying to figure out the best way to play, doubles combinations and stuff. Individually, I would say just working on those match scenarios, like focusing on exactly what tactics to use.”

Check out the video below for more from the Cadet players and coaches.

Nguyen is joined in the Cadet Girls squad by Hannah Saunders and Soraya Rahmani-Walentynska – making up the same trio who competed last year.

By contrast, the Cadet Boys’ squad includes first-timers Dimitar Dimitrov and Oscar Nikolli, alongside Pablo Ramriez Rioja.

Ramirez Rioja is planning to share his experience with his two colleagues and said: “Last year at the EYC, I think I learned a lot and that experience is for sure going to help me going into this European youth Championships.

“It’s a very large event, the atmosphere is completely unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before, so it’s good to have that preparation before, and I hope I can share some of my tips I got from last year with my teammates.”

Nikolli found out about his selection when he sneaked a peek at his phone while at school – but had to keep the news quiet.

“I was actually at school waiting for the news,” he said. “I pulled on my phone during school and I saw the news that I got selected, so I was very happy, but obviously I couldn’t tell anyone because I was at school.

“When I could tell them (later), I was just extraordinarily happy and people were happy for me – my parents, my club, everyone that supported me.”

The squads are coached by Charlotte Carey and Ben Barlow, who supervised the training camp at the ETC.

Carey is hoping the girls’ team will be able to use their experience to step up from last year’s performance, when they finished equal 25th, in the second tier.

She said: “Last year for some of them was their first European Youth Championships, so I think it won’t be as daunting for them – obviously they know what to do, they know how to prepare for the matches a little bit better.

“I think they’ve played a lot more matches, spent a lot more time on the training hall. They don’t look as tired as this year in the prep camp, which is really good news. Hopefully they’re a bit fitter going into Europeans and that’ll stand with them for the event, being such a long competition.”

Barlow believes building on success at the Table Tennis Hopes Open European Games event in Hungary last month, including winning three of the four team competitions, allied to a good training camp in Sheffield, will help the boys’ team to remain in the top tier – England finished 13th last year.

He said: “We expect to build a little confidence and take that into this week and really start strong and positively. I think if we can create this sort of winning environment even in the practice hall this is a big thing for us to take into the Europeans.

“We’re under no illusions that’s going to be a tough event for us. We really want to try to stay in the top category. I think it’s a good challenge for us and the boys are up for the challenge.

“They’ve put the work in now and we’ll go and take that challenge on head-first and look to try and make that dream for these boys come true so they can then build for the next stage of their career.”