Goulburn Table Tennis leaders Nicola Fraser and John Lees in front of the refurbished army hut that has been transferred into a first-class venue with an international standard playing surface and lighting. Photo: John Thistleton.
They turned a discarded Nissen hut in Goulburn into one of the best table tennis centres in NSW from where their sport is doing an even better job today rehabilitating senior players.
Those players are in their 60s, 70s and 80s, rewinding the clock inside their bodies by returning a white ball over a table tennis net. Some are so quick on their feet they’re playing at the top level, while others have a more critical goal – warding off ill health.
Forced from Bradfordville Community Hall, the players’ enduring champion John Lees approached Goulburn Workers Club for a venue in 2013. The club offered him the dilapidated hut, at the time a bird-infested dumping ground for discarded materials which was earmarked for demolition.
“John almost singe-handedly set about transforming the dilapidated army hut into the envy of every other table tennis club in NSW, really,” says Nicola Fraser, who came to Goulburn seven years ago and runs the club.
Most clubs share venues with other users which means they unpack and pack up their tables, nets, bats and balls every time they want to play. “But we are so lucky, we open the door, go in and start playing straight away. The tables are left up permanently,” Nicola said.
Now leasing the hut from the Workers Club, the players have named it the John Lees Centre in recognition of the six months he spent bringing it up to scratch with volunteers’ help, and his devotion to the sport. A former NSW representative, John is relying on the centre more as he gets back into table tennis to help deal with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He began treatment about 18 months ago and is starting to hit balls once more.
“He is using it as motivation to keep going, and to build up his strength and coordination,” Nicola said.
Welcoming players of all abilities even if they’re in a wheelchair, the club has a little robot that can return balls to the one spot on the table court slowly for a beginner, or so swiftly it will challenge a champion’s forehand and backhand and ability to handle spin.
Another player, Ronda, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2008 and following a recommendation took up table tennis in 2017. Along with her husband Michael, the couple came from Wollongong and were delighted to find such an excellent table tennis centre in Goulburn, equipped with a ball-returning robot.
Standing at the back of a table facing the robot Ronda can go through her strokes, strengthening her muscles, and remaining active in an uplifting social circle of friends.
A strong advocate of physical exercise, Doug Rawlinson has drawn many people into table tennis. He is with fellow seniors and brothers Michael and James Turner who continue to play in the A-grade competition. Photo: John Thistleton.
Among the seniors are Doug Rawlinson – who is as lethal as ever on the court despite two shoulder reconstructions – Robert McIntosh and brothers Michael and James Turner.
“Michael Turner still plays in the A-grade competition; he said to me it keeps him young,” Nicola said. “He is 70 years old and still plays table tennis like a kid.”
She said unlike games such as hockey and football, table tennis did not take a severe toll on the body and could be played through life. For example, a woman at the club in her 70s has played for the past 12 years. She had a car accident when she was 21, suffered terrible whiplash and injuries to her right shoulder and was told she would be restricted in her movements.
“She has found that by taking up table tennis her shoulder has strengthened up and reactivated muscles that she injured through that accident; she is starting to get a lot more mobility in her shoulders now,” Nicola said.
She said unlike undergoing physiotherapy that focused on one aspect, or an injured part of the body, table tennis worked on the whole body and movement within all of the body.
“It’s reactivating all the muscles and it’s a fun way of doing it; you are not actually concentrating on it,” Nicola said.
Table tennis goes back many years in Goulburn. The Goulburn Herald records a ping pong tournament at the Mechanics Institute in August 1902.
After being offered the old Nissen hut, table tennis enthusiasts assess the work required to bring an unlikely option up to scratch. In the years that followed, hard work and grants have transformed the wreck of a building into a well-used centre. Photo: Goulburn Table Tennis.
Nicola says in the early 1950s various social and church groups played table tennis. The Goulburn Ministers Fraternal organised championships in 1951.
In the 1950s and 1960s Goulburn dominated the NSW Country scene. Goulburn players contested country and regional championships and featured in fierce state rivalries with Victoria and the ACT and for Australia against visiting teams from Hong Kong and New Zealand.
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