A multi-talented youngster has become a national table tennis champion.

Rory Smith, from Sevenoaks’ The New Beacon School, was victorious at the under-13 IAPS (The Independent Association of Prep Schools) competition in Watford.

The Darenth Table Tennis Club player, 12, won his Final 2-0 after coming from behind in his last-16 game, his Quarter-Final and Semi-Final.

Dad Neil said: “I saw it advertised online and spoke to Rory’s school about it - The New Beacon School - and put him in for it.

“There were 60-odd kids in his age-group. They run an under-11 and under-13 section.

“Rory is only 12, so he’s playing a year up in the under-13s. There were 60 kids there from 15 to 20 schools.

“There was another kid there from Rory’s school, who was playing in the under-11s tournament. That went on in the morning and Rory’s age group was in the afternoon.

“The opening rounds were in a little mini-league, where they all play each other and the winners of that move into the knockout stages. The rest is history.”

While Smith is making quick strides, table tennis is not the only sport the Riverhead youngster excels at.

“He’s one of those annoying or lucky kids, who is quite good at most things that he does in terms of sport,” noted Neil.

“But table tennis is the only one that he has really dedicated his time to.

"He plays football to a good level, he plays cricket to a good level, but he mainly does that because he enjoys the social element of it, hanging out with his friends.

“Table tennis was the only one that he wanted to do on his own.

"When he first started playing table tennis, we took him down to a local club, Darenth Table Tennis Club, and he didn’t know anyone there. But there was something about table tennis that captured his imagination.

“He still wanted to go to the training sessions, even though he didn’t know anyone. That was probably when he was nine.

“He has come a long way in quite a short space of time.”

Smith’s involvement in table tennis has attracted others into the sport.

His father explained: “People have got to understand that he plays table tennis and quite a few of his friends go along to the club, and the school has started up a table tennis club. They now have a table tennis team.

“That’s quite nice. I’m not sure I would use the word ‘inspired’, but his participation in table tennis has got others involved in it.

“Now it’s a social thing for him, as well as something he clearly enjoys. He’s really good at it.

“He does his coaching down at Darenth. There is an elderly couple in the nicest possible way called Janet and David Field. They do a lot of table tennis stuff.

“They do some work at some of the state schools, as well.

"They’re quite well-known in the area and they’re just a lovely old couple who love table tennis and just spend all their time either watching, playing or coaching kids of all ages.

“Rory goes there on a Monday night and a Friday night, and they run occasional Saturday sessions, as well.”

Smith has represented Kent at under-15 level and, with regular sessions with a county coach, his game appears to be going from strength-to-strength.

He got plenty of support on his route to the Final - ironically, from the nearby Solefield School.

Neil said: “I took Rory along to the competition and his grandparents came along who, by the way, are his biggest supporters.

“It was a national tournament but it was hosted in Watford, so you’ve got to be a fairly serious table tennis player to want to travel down from the outer reaches of, say, Manchester. But there was a big spread from all over the south east and the Midlands.

“Rory goes to The New Beacon School and their local rival in terms of biggest prep school is a school called Solefield.

"They’re quite heavily into table tennis and they took a team along.

“We knew a couple of the children - one goes to Darenth with Rory - and one plays football with Rory.

"They all got knocked out fairly early but they all hung around to support Rory and the teacher did, as well.

“He (the teacher) was driving them in the mini-bus and was actually encouraging the kids and the squad to stay together to support Rory because he’s a local boy.

“I thought that was a really nice touch.”

If that was a nice touch, so, too, was something that young Smith did in the IAPS Final.

Neil recalled: “He won the first set and then, very early in the second set, the other kid hit a shot and it looked like it went off the table. The ref gave it as Rory’s point.

“No one in the crowd said anything. But Rory stopped, spoke to the ref and said ‘Look, I think that grazed the side of the table - I heard it’. So, the point went to the other boy and rightly so.

“Obviously, I’m very proud of him for doing that.”

There will come a time when Smith might struggle to juggle three sports alongside his educational commitments - a day even his dad is apprehensive about.

That day might not be for a good few years yet, though.

Neil said: “As he gets more and more into his table tennis, there’s a whole myriad of tournaments that he could start to play in. He has played one or two of them.

“He’s focused mainly on the school ones for now. But we have done one or two of the ranking tournaments which, if he gets into them more and more, and I think he will do now that’s got to a certain level, he will have to start making other choices.

“That’s difficult because he loves his other sports.

“Weirdly, table tennis is a winter sport, so I think cricket will be fine. Football will be the problem and that’s difficult because all of his mates are there.

“I coach him, as well, so I definitely don’t want him to leave! He’s our best player, a centre-back, a leader and the captain.

“I would find it quite difficult if he chooses to do that. But, ultimately, it’ll be his choice.”