Originally from Vieux Fort, but now a resident of Anse La Raye, 15-year-old table tennis player Shatal Charles has big dreams. She will get the chance to take another significant step towards her goal of becoming an Olympian before her 20th birthday, when she participates in an ITTF Global Youth Training Camp in Chengdu, China, from December 3–11.
Charles, Saint Lucia’s Female Student Athlete of the Year for 2024, will travel with Leshon Francis, as two of just nine athletes from the Americas, and the only two from the Caribbean, among 42 participants. Charles and Francis were recently named MVPs as Saint Lucia won the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States men’s and women’s team titles in Grenada earlier this month.
The China camp will cap off a frenetic year for Charles. Most recently, she played unbeaten in the team competition in Grenada, and took the women’s singles silver medal, behind Antigua and Barbuda’s Stuti Kashyap, who is world-ranked as an Under-17 player.
Earlier this year, Charles won three categories in the Independence Day Classic Table Tennis Championships and Under-15 and Under-19 titles at the LQ Classic Junior Table Tennis Tournament in Grenada.
She went on to join Francis for a mixed doubles bronze at April’s Caribbean Youth Championships in Barbados, also making the singles quarterfinals. Along the way, they beat teams from Jamaica and Puerto Rico.
In August, she swept unbeaten to her third consecutive national title, then headed off to the Pan Am Youth Championships in Argentina, defeating girls from Mexico, Puerto Rico and Brazil, all before heading to Grenada for OECS.
A student of the Saint Lucia Sports Academy, Charles got into table tennis just four years ago, through her physical education teacher at Vide Boutielle Primary, Cuthbert Popo. She began working with coach Chris Wells, who helped her win Caribbean and OECS titles within her first three years in the sport.
“Table tennis is what keeps me calm,” she declared. “It makes me happy. I really love it. Trying to reach my goal, you know, setting a goal that I want to reach.”
Win or lose, constant learning and improving are key for Charles. She admits that she gets anxious competing against world-ranked players, but she’s rapidly carving out her own niche, even against much older opponents.
“Well, I feel very nervous, I must say,” she admitted. “But I go into the match thinking to execute and play how my coach taught me…. As a player, I have a very strong mentality. No matter the player I’m facing, I will not give up. I will try my best.”
Charles, who wants to become a lawyer, is also a capable distance runner, though she hasn’t been able to get in much training with her hectic schedule. When she’s not at the tables, she’s a regular teenager, occupying her time with superhero movies. She is still writing her origin story, but by all indications, her tale is going to be epic.
