At the age of 68 John Marrable is the oldest member of intake two of the Para Sport Collective. But as the Para table tennis player and karate black belt has proved throughout his life there is no obstacle he cannot overcome.
For John Marrable his mantra for life is simple. ‘The fitter you are, the healthier you’ll be which will lead to a better quality of life.’ It is a motto which has held him in good stead for almost 60 years which he has lived up to in every way competing in a range of sports from karate, Para table tennis, Para swimming, Wheelchair basketball and Para athletics.
Yet perhaps most fascinatingly the genesis of his mantra was forged at Stoke Mandeville Hospital – the birthplace of the Paralympic Movement – when rehabilitating from serious spinal injuries back in 1967.
It was during this ninth-month period at the UK-based hospital he was introduced to Para sport and met the Paralympic founder Sir Ludwig Guttman. Despite the serious nature of John’s injuries and facing a life ahead as a wheelchair user he looks back with gratitude on his time at Stoke Mandeville.
“For me, it was fantastic because it left me with a mantra for life that I try to live up to every day, which is to try and get fitter and better than I was yesterday,” explains John.
A Karate black belt and having represented New Zealand on several occasions at Para table tennis tournaments he hopes his time on the Para Sport Collective – supported by ACC – can act as the catalyst for the veteran player to represent his country in table tennis once again. And as John has proved time and time again anything is possible.
Born and raised in Essex in southeast England, it was while on holiday in Scotland as a ten-year-old boy his life was to change forever. Based at a caravan park on the East Coast at Dunbar, close to Edinburgh – he was warned by his mother to stay away from the cliff face. John and his brother defied their mum and started to climb the cliff when a ledge gave way only for John to fall and break his spine smashing into the rocks below.
“I must have initially been knocked out, but not for long as I remember telling my brother I had split my head open,” recalls John. “He climbed down and ran to the caravan park. A man helped me walk to the golf course about 500 metres away. I remember lying on the ground and my mum rubbing my legs saying, it will be alright an ambulance will come but then I couldn’t feel anything, it was like my legs were asleep. All I wanted to do was get up and run.”
Spending ten days at Edinburgh Hospital he was then transferred to Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire. Admitting nobody told him he would never walk again he spent the first three months in bed – even being taken to the hospital school to continue schoolwork – before transitioning to the wheelchair. In his first week at the world-renowned national spinal injuries centre he had already tried Para archery before later tasting Para table tennis and Para swimming.
Reflecting positively on his experiences at Stoke Mandeville, John adds: “I grew up very quickly because I was too tall for the children’s ward, so I was put on an adult’s ward. However, in some ways, I was very lucky to have my accident at ten. I was young enough to adapt and I was also introduced to sport so early.”
It was also during his time there he met Guttman, the founder of the Paralympic Games – although John laughs at his first memory of meeting the diminutive German-born neurologist.
“I had been a fast runner pre-accident, and I used to love pushing my wheelchair fast,” he recalls. “I remember one day he was walking down the corridor, and I nearly ran him over. He really told me off for going too fast, telling me to slow down. It was funny that the father of Paralympic sport told me off for going too fast.”
John met Guttman several times at Stoke Mandeville often when he would walk around the ward with several other doctors. The Kiwi recalls Guttman had an unmistakable “aura and passion” for his work and John acknowledges the huge impact the founder of the Paralympic Movement has played in his life.
“I am privileged to have met him because it is not something everyone can say,” explains John. “I wish I had got to know him better and tried not to run him over” he adds with a laugh. “We owe him so much. I do believe he knows how much he was loved by everyone. I have so much to be thankful for because of him.”
On his return home he became fully immersed in sport. He played Para archery, Para table tennis and Para athletics through his local sports club. John claimed a host of medals and ribbons and even played darts, snooker and bowls.
Raised to live independently by his father, he feels he was equipped to cope with life as a wheelchair user and after relocating with his family to Dunedin at the age of 18 his first desire was to re-engage with sport.
His mother had reached out to Paralympian #3 Leo Close OBE to inquire about sporting opportunities in the city and in December 1974 John met with him. Fortunately, he discovered that each Tuesday and Thursday as a person with a disability he could experience a range of sports. Naturally strong he logically gravitated towards javelin, shot and discus and also competed at Para swimming and Para table tennis along with Wheelchair basketball.
A good learner, and naturally athletic in 1977 he was selected for New Zealand to compete at the FESPIC Games in Australia where he competed in a range of sports and came home with gold, silver and bronze medals in Para swimming.
For more than a decade Wheelchair basketball became a staple part of his sporting week and in 1980 he became the first Paraplegic athlete in New Zealand to complete a marathon pushing for four hours and 14 minutes to complete the Dunedin Marathon.
Intrigued by martial arts since childhood he acted on this desire when starting karate in 1976. Rising to his current status as a seventh black belt he has found great joy in the pursuit and he instructs at his own club, the Dunedin Institute of Traditional Karate three times a week and assists a friend to teach a disabled group a combination of karate, judo, ju-jitsu.
“As a senior instructor with a disability of a mainstream club I have found coaching the disabled group on Saturday’s very rewarding,” he says. “It gives them greater independence and confidence.”
Yet since first experiencing Para table tennis back at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in 1967 that sport has also remained a huge passion. During his life he has taken extended breaks from the sport – his focus switching to Wheelchair basketball and karate.
However, in 1990 when he transferred to Wellington, John picked up his bat again and started playing. When moving back to Dunedin in December 1992 he started playing for a couple of years until Wheelchair basketball became his chief sporting focus once more.
A skiing accident in 2006 unfortunately brought an end to his Wheelchair basketball career but once the injury settled down some 16 years ago, he switched his attention to Para table tennis, competing internationally for New Zealand at the 2011 Arafura Games in Darwin.
It was at this event where he first met John Tuki, coach to Paralympian #230 Matt Britz who competed at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. The pair quickly formed a coach-athlete relationship with John saying: “We had a shared interest in the martial arts, I loved his passion and desire, and we instantly clicked. He understood where I was coming from and my passion to achieve.”
As John is Auckland-based the pair communicate remotely while John Marrable also receives support from Ben Duffy – one of the leading South Island players and coaches – in Dunedin.
Nominated by Table Tennis NZ, John described it as “an honour and a privilege” to be part of intake two of the Para Sport Collective and despite his advancing years he says the programme has proved a rich source of information.
“Learning about injury prevention, especially at my age has been very important while I’ve learned so much in so many areas including having a peanut butter smoothie will allow me to cut out the caffeine and give me prolonged energy in the afternoons.”
“I still think I can be better on the table as the sharing of ideas with others has proved. I was talking to one of the Auckland table tennis players and told him how when using a table tennis robot, I set it up to shoot 300 balls and if say 100 don’t hit the net, I would pick up those balls on the floor and use them for serving practice. Just little things like that and finding ways to be a smarter player make a difference.”
Keen to increase his training and seek more international competition, the 2025 Oceania Para Table Tennis Championships in Auckland remain a key target yet whatever happens in the future he hopes to stay wedded to sport for as long as possible.
“I have met so many fantastic people in sport who inspire me,” explains John. “My hope is I can inspire others, whether it is getting out of bed to play table tennis or read a book – it doesn’t matter so long as it is something mentally and physically stimulating.”
“The fitter you are, the healthier you will be and the better quality of life you will have.”
