Julie Adamson, a nationally ranked player, to bring table tennis to Te Puke

Julie Adamson, right, and her mum Lesley Gardner won silver in the B Grade doubles at the North Island Table Tennis Championships last year.

Julie Adamson is hoping to give table tennis players an alternative to travelling to Tauranga for games.

Julie, a PE teacher at Te Puke High School is, along with her mum Lesley Gardner, a nationally ranked player, and is also a representative basketball coach.

For her, table tennis is a “family thing”.

“My mum plays, my dad played, my brother plays, my auntie - and I’ve just come back into it,” she says, adding that one of the reasons her interest has been rekindled is to help younger local players.

“In Te Puke we have kids that play, but we don’t have anything here — we have it in Tauranga, but it’s poor that kids have to travel to Tauranga. So what I’m going to try and do is build a hub here.”

While she hopes the venue will be the high school, it won’t be solely for high school students.

“I want to try and promote something that’s different [to other sports] and create a safe place for them to play.”

Table tennis is an AIMS Games sport and students at several local schools have competed.

“That’s where some of the kids [who want to play] are coming from and they have nothing else [after intermediate school age] so that’s one of the reasons I want to do something.”

She realises it isn’t a big sport.

“It’s a minority sport, but it gives them something that’s fun and I like to give people fun. But the thing people don’t know is, it’s a strategy game. You still have to move, it’s a moving game, but you have to beat your opponent by tricking them really.”

Julie says people who have never played may not realise what a quick game table tennis is or appreciate the degree to which hand-to-eye co-ordination is required.

“That’s probably the biggest thing about table tennis — speed and agility.”

But it is also a sport anyone can try.

“You don’t need to be too physically fit for it and some skills will be taught.”

She says the school has plenty of bats and tables and she is happy to start small and grow. It is also a sport that is inexpensive.

“Compared to other sports — for kids to play it [costs] nothing.”

Julie is currently ranked 67 and her mum 42 among the 300 or so female players ranked by Table Tennis New Zealand.

They played at the New Zealand Masters table tennis tournament in Nelson at Easter and also teamed up to win silver in the B Grade doubles at last year’s North Island (Open) Table Tennis Championships

“Masters was really good and I won a few medals. We play all the tournaments and masters is nice for people over a certain age. People from all over New Zealand come and the Aussies come over as well — it’s like a good festival for that sort of sport and we enjoy being part of it.”

After a 20-year break, Julie started playing table tennis again four or five years ago.

“[Mum] was the one who taught me — she was the one who focused on teaching me how to play — and dad [Wayne Adamson] was also well known in the table tennis community.”