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Hi All,
I was asked to write an article for my club newsletter about the week I spent in Adelaide at the Australian Athletes With Disabilities (AWD) Table Tennis Championships, so I thought I’d it would be a good opportunity to use it to kick-start a blog here too:
From the 9th to the 15th of July I was in Adelaide for the Australian Athletes With Disabilities (AWD) Championships.
I stayed with Dave Delpratt, international umpire; Kate Juillerat and Ashley Parrott from Bundaberg Table Tennis Club; and John Juillerat, Kate’s father.
The tournament was held at Woodville Table Tennis Club, and we were staying at a house only about 5 minutes drive from the club, which meant we were the first ones there most mornings and had plenty of time for a good warm-up before each day’s play.
Adelaide was cold, but not as cold as I thought. The house we were staying in seemed to stay pretty warm. Some spectators commented about how cold the playing venue was. I guess I didn’t feel it as much as I was constantly playing matches and having warm-up hits.
After arriving on Saturday, the first experience for me was being classified. Athletes playing the tournament must be put into one of 10 classes based on their abilities. Classes 1-5 are for wheelchair athletes and classes 6-10 for standing, with 5 and 10 respectively being the least restricted whilst playing. I’d been provisionally classified a 9 before leaving QLD, so was expecting either that or an 8 in the more thorough tests. I have cerebral palsy, which affects my entire right side so Class 10 was out of the question for me as it is typically for athletes who have only one limb affected. After some discussion, the classifiers decided on a 9. As I played through the tournament, I was more convinced that it was the right decision, after playing numerous class 8s and experiencing their range of movement.
The first day of play, Monday, was the team’s event. I played in a Presidents team with Connor Johnstone, a Class 8 from WA. I was pretty excited to see that we would be playing the Victorian team of Sarah Lazarro and Melissa Tapper during the event, seeing as though they have both played at international tournaments this year, with Melissa doing especially well picking up three gold medals and quickly rising to number 2 in the world in Class 10. Unfortunately though, Sarah was sick with the flu, so they had to withdraw.
It would have been great to play against them, just to see how much extra training I’d need to get to their level. Maybe next year. Melissa and the rest of the Paralympic Preparation squad were heading to China for another tournament on the following Tuesday.
Despite missing the best team, we still had some very tough players to play starting with the other Victorian team of Barak Mizrachi and Nathan Pelissier. Nathan was the first match I played and managed to take a set despite being really nervous. I lost in straight sets to Barak but was starting to play better toward the end of the game.
The next team we played was another Presidents team of Michael Tomlinson and James Swanbury. I managed to pick up my first win against James, in the fifth set no less! I was really wanting to do well against Michael too, seeing as he was in Class 9 also, but he had a very agressive and unorthodox game, often putting a lot of sidespin on his shots, and I lost in straight sets.
Our final teams match for the day was against a team from South Australia. I picked up wins against both players and we won our first match as a team with Connor picking up his first win of the day. We were the last ones to leave the hall that day, but we were pretty happy.
Tuesday morning was pretty quiet for me as I waited for the rest of the teams matches to finish, before starting the doubles in mid-afternoon. My partner was Phillip Hurst, a Class 7 player from NSW. We managed to get through the group stage, and were getting ready for the quarter-final when we were surprised to learn that we were starting the singles event. Most players, including me, were not expecting to start the singles till the next day, so it was a challenge to get mentally ready quickly.
I was in Class 8-9 singles and had a 4-person group including Michael and James, and with the top two progressing to the next stage. I lost again to Michael in straight sets, but was still feeling pretty good about making it through. My match against James was next, and although I felt I wasn’t playing badly, I lost in straight sets and it meant I was out. I was really disappointed considering I’d beaten him the day before and thought that was the only singles event I’d play.
Wednesday came with a pleasant surprise however. After our doubles campaign ended in the quarter final, we learned that there would be another singles event. Apparently yesterday’s event was supposed to allow male and female athletes to compete against each other, which seemed a bit odd because there were no female entrants in our category anyway. We looked at the draw and it was almost identical to the last event, so the question was whether to let the results stand. After some discussion, we took a vote and decided to play it anyway. I really didn’t care if the results did stand, I was just happy to get more matches.
So the group was identical, except for having one extra player this time. Michael was once again my first match, and I lost again though this time I managed to win a set. I finished the match feeling much better about getting through this time though.
Once again though, that feeling didn’t last long. In the next match I lost in the 5th set to the extra player in the group, which felt awful because I’d beaten him fairly easily in the teams event. I really thought I was out after that. It affected me so much I almost lost the next match as well, just winning the 5th set against another player I’d beaten in the teams event.
I knew I had to recover quickly as the game against James was next, and I played what was probably my best game of the week, winning 3-1. It felt good to redeem myself after my loss to him the day before, even though I knew I’d probably been eliminated again. However, after the game, I learned that I’d made it through the group on countback! Turns out that I had to beat James in 4 sets or less in the last match to make it. Dave, who was my coach for the week, said he knew during the game but deliberately did not tell me so I wouldn’t feel the pressure. Good call Dave! I only just scraped through anyway, 13-11 in the 4th and probably wouldn’t have made it if I’d had the added pressure.
So the semi-final was next for me. I played Barak for the second time and was beaten again in straight sets, though I was happy with my play, and we had some long rallies.
So I was guaranteed a bronze medal for being a losing semi-finalist, but I played off against Michael again anyway. It was straight sets again but I got close in the 1st, losing 12-10. I came away this and my other losses with lots of notes on what to improve before next year. I also had good chats with Roger Massie and Alois Rosario, the head coaches for the Paralympic Preparation Program, and hopefully I can go to one of their training camps later this year.
Thursday was a relaxing day as I watched the finals of the respective classes, then was presented with my bronze medal at the awards ceremony, then finished with lunch. We arrived back at the house early afternoon and had a fairly early night, seeing as though our flight back to Queensland was at 6am the next morning!
A lot of the South Australian and Victorian players were saying how great it would be if the event was on the Gold Coast next year. That would certainly suit me! Fingers crossed we can get it done guys!
All in all I had a great time and can’t wait until next year. Hopefully I’ll be bringing home medals of a different colour next time!
_________________ "Despair says, I cannot hit with the speed of my opponent. Happiness says, I do not need to." Committee Member @ Gold Coast Table Tennis, Queensland, Australia Audio Table Tennis Interviews
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