It's set to be a busy season for Reading table tennis starlet Maria Tsaptsinos but the youngster says she is relishing the challenges ahead.

The 18-year-old has made the step up to senior level and faces a trip to Russia this month for the European Championships, which takes place from September 25.

But Tsaptsinos’ busy calendar doesn’t stop there as she has also been selected to represent England at the Commonwealth Championships in India in December.

The teenager had a difficult end to her junior career after suffering a shoulder injury during the European Junior Championships and being forced to withdraw.

But she says that she has come out the other side of the injury as a more mature athlete and is ready to learn from life in the senior set-up.

“Getting the injury was horrible because we were doing so well at the tournament and then my coach withdrew me,” said Tsaptsinos, who was speaking at an SSE Next Generation workshop in Reading where she got to talk to employees of the company that have helped her so far in his career.

“It was one of the worst moments of my career especially because it was my last junior event and I really wanted to give it my all."

“The recovery has gone really well though and I’ve come through it all which was a big learning curve.

“I was out for about six weeks so it was the biggest injury that I’ve had really and I guess it’s something that every athlete has to go through."

“I feel like I am much more mature after going through it and now I am ready for the challenges of being a senior athlete.”

But with such big tournaments on the horizon Tsaptsinos knows it is going to be a long and hard slog to reach the top of the tree.

“There are some really big tournaments coming up and I’m really excited about having the chance to compete in them,” she added.

“I have only ever really competed in one senior tournament before so it will all be quite new to me and the standard will be very different."

“At European level I want to be looking at competitions and thinking I can go far but I know at world level that might take a while."

“But I am learning all the time and I am sure that I will continue to develop and hopefully win a few competitions."

“The support I get is amazing and being an SSE Next Generation athlete gives me funding and mentoring that has really helped me get to this point.”

SSE’s Next Generation programme partners with SportsAid to provide financial support and training to the sports stars of the future. Keep up to date with the latest @SSENextGen