The selection of Paralympian #126 Tim Johnson PLY MNZM for the ITTF World Para Table Tennis Championships in Pattaya, Thailand, from 13–19 November is further proof that age is no barrier to success in Para sport.
Aged 50, Tim, a gold medallist with the Wheel Blacks (New Zealand Wheelchair rugby Team) at Athens 2004, has in recent years successfully pivoted to Para table tennis.
Combining the skills developed during his high-performance Wheelchair rugby career with admirable levels of resilience and motivation, he has made an impressive transition to a new Para sport, where he now harbours ambitions to earn selection for the LA28 Paralympic Games.
“You don’t have to be young to excel at Para table tennis,” explains Tim. “It is not like table tennis for the non-disabled, where you need that physical dominance. In Para table tennis, a lot of the game comes down to tactics and technical smarts.
“I’m just proud to put on the fern again knowing how much it means not just to me, but also my family and friends.”
A tetraplegic, Tim was a long-time star of Wheelchair rugby. He made his Paralympic debut at Sydney 2000, helping the Wheel Blacks win bronze, before playing a key role as one of the tactical brains behind their gold-medal success at Athens 2004.
At his third and most recent Paralympic Games in Beijing 2008, he helped guide New Zealand to a fifth-place finish.
After eventually retiring from Wheelchair rugby, the pathway to competitive Para table tennis was opened by fellow Athens 2004 Wheelchair rugby gold medallist Paralympian #156 Jai Waite.
Five years ago, Jai asked Tim if he would like to give Para table tennis a go. Having some experience of the sport both before and after his injury, Tim took up the offer – and quickly became hooked.
“It is a cool Para sport. It is not as physical as Wheelchair rugby, but you still need to be fit, more cognitively than physically. I was naturally quite good at it because I had played before.”
While living in Auckland, Tim gradually increased his commitment, training three to four times a week at Manurewa Table Tennis Club.
Last year, the Class 2 player’s hard work was rewarded when he earned selection for the Oceania Para Table Tennis Championships at Rosehill College in South Auckland. He went on to win bronze in the Class 1-3 Men’s Singles, an achievement that provided further motivation.
“It was a good introduction to me on the international stage,” he explains. “I was pleased with my performance, and it was good to get tough competition from the Australian and Tahitian guys.
“I had been a committed athlete, but following Oceania I decided to become a much more focused athlete.”
Part of that next step involved relocating to his native Christchurch at the start of this year.
The move has proved positive for his family, which includes three school-age children, but it has also provided multiple benefits for his Para table tennis development.
“The city is a lot easier logistically. I live five minutes away from Table Tennis Canterbury in Riccarton, where I get full training access.
“When I was in Auckland, it could take me 40 minutes to an hour to drive to Manurewa Table Tennis Club from where I lived, and I have more access to training partners in Christchurch.”
Tim has also benefited from working with Christchurch-based National Para Table Tennis coach Aarya Advilkar.
While living in Auckland, he did not have a dedicated coach, but since teaming up with Aarya, their coach-athlete relationship has flourished.
“She has been great to work with,” says Tim. “I don’t know whether it is because we are both engineers, but we have a similar mindset.
“It is very much a two-way thing. We carry out analysis together and come up with a plan that is tailored to the individual.
“Aarya will challenge me to do things which might seem very hard work, but it has allowed me to improve as a player. Extending me and pushing me out of my comfort zone has been really valuable.”
Since arriving in Christchurch, Tim’s training programme has undergone an overhaul.
He now trains five to six days a week, often up to ten sessions, with some sessions lasting between four and five hours. His training is broken into six to ten-week blocks, with every session given a very specific focus, whether that involves working on particular shots or tactical elements of his game.
Tim has also placed an increased emphasis on the ‘one percenters’.
He carefully monitors his nutritional intake and has switched to a competition chair rather than his normal day chair, allowing him to sit in a slightly higher position. Having access to quality training partners, including Class 5 Para table tennis player Grant Cleland, has also been critical.
He is equally fastidious about his fitness work and recently completed the Christchurch Marathon in April.
“I believe table tennis is a mental game, so if being physically fit allows me to be cognitively fit, then that will help improve my game.
“All the one percenters count.”
Earlier this year, Tim competed at the ITTF World Futures event on the Gold Coast. Facing the highest-quality competition of his career to that point, he reached the semi-finals and emerged with valuable lessons.
“Up until that point in my career, I was able to play a more defensive game and rely on my opponents to make mistakes,” he says.
“But competing in the Gold Coast, I realised my serves needed to be on the money. The players were much more attacking.
“It opened a different realm of tactical play. It was eye-opening.”
In April, he expanded his international experience by competing at the ITTF Futures event in Santiago and the ITTF Challenger event in São Paulo.
Although he missed out on progressing from the group stage, he took encouragement from the opportunities he created, even if he was frustrated at being unable to convert them.
Earning selection for the ITTF World Para Table Tennis Championships in Thailand was rich reward for Tim’s progress.
It will be his fifth appearance at a World Championships as a Para athlete, following four previous campaigns with the Wheel Blacks at the World Wheelchair Rugby Championships.
“It means a lot to be selected,” he says. “It is a stepping stone towards LA28, but I’m under no illusions that it is going to be tough.
“I’m going there to do the best I can. I want to leave the table knowing that, no matter what the result, I’ve played a good game.
“The goal is to go there and know that the opposition have played a guy from the Oceania region – and that he is pretty good.”
***We will continue to follow the progress of Tim and Paralympian #230 Matthew Britz on the Road to LA28, starting with the ITTF World Para Table Tennis Championships in Pattaya, Thailand from 13–19 November.
