Crete Here We Come Via Hertfordshire!

At last the final pieces are falling into place for the ITTF Parkinson’s World Championship 2023 in Crete which starts next week.

There are 73 competitors (54 men/19 women) taking part.  Perhaps lower than expected but given that PingPongParkinson held its own World Championships in Austria last month it’s not really surprising.  Considering the tournament is taking place on a Greek island rather than mainland Europe it is still a good turnout. 

The classification list has now been published and I’ve been placed in Class 1! I had expected to be in Class 2 as I was at the Scottish Open and I guess I should take it as a compliment! However we have 48 hours to appeal the decision which I have done on the basis that my symptoms have worsened since we completed the classification assessment several months ago (before I started having problems with my right arm and hand). Worse case scenario is I stay in Class 1 but even then there is always the consolation round (in football terms equivalent of playing in the Europa League instead of the Champions League!).

I’m still not sure what the situation is with the Doubles but I am hoping to at least find a partner for the Men’s doubles. The mixed doubles is more problematical as by definition there can only be 19 pairs as that is the number of female competitors meaning most of the men will not be able to take part.

The ITTF Foundation are also organising the World Table Tennis For Health Congress which will discuss the positive health benefits of playing Table Tennis.

I know I post a lot about my table tennis adventures both here and on Facebook but I do think it’s important to spread the message that there is life after a Parkinson’s diagnosis. While the disease has reduced my hillwalking exploits I couldn’t have wished for a better sport to replace it with and even better it takes place indoors – no need for a table tennis weather forecast! 

Before we head to Crete on Tuesday morning from Gatwick we are spending a few days staying with my daughter Jennifer and her fiancé David. We had an enjoyable evening last night at GSK’s Allenbury Social Club including a very impressive Halloween fireworks display. And today we also caught up with my son Craig and old school friend Nigel for a lovely lunch at the Punch House pub in Ware. A good day topped off by the Tigers winning a second match in a row lifting them into the play off places!

A Bit Of A Battering!

Last month I played in the Veteran’s Banded Tournament. At the weekend I played in the all ages Edinburgh Banded Tournament. In my group of nine players were five under 18s. In fact one was under 10 and all were ranked higher than me! I’m not sure which was worse, being beaten by 70 year olds or primary school kids!

Despite winning only one match out of eight it was still a good experience and I did win some sets. I particularly enjoyed the last match of the day against Sam. I recovered from two sets down to take it into a decider but then lost the fifth.

The results were as follows:

The subsequent impact on my rating score was a decrease of 41 from 607 to 566.

Some photos…

So just a couple more practice sessions this week before flying out to Crete next Tuesday! Tonight I played quite well at the North Ayrshire session including two close 2-1 defeats to Tamara and Bruce. Tomorrow I will have a final session in Irvine before enjoying a few days staying with my daughter Jennifer and son-in-law to be David before heading to Gatwick to stay at the Premier Inn on Monday evening for a 7am flight on Tuesday morning (meaning we need to check in at 5am!).

Tomorrow the classification list for the Parkinson’s World Championships will be published. I have to admit I am a little nervous as to which class I will be placed but we’ll deal with that tomorrow! Details will also be published of the arrangements for the doubles in which I would like to play but currently don’t have a partner in either the Men’s or Mixed Doubles. Again let’s see what tomorrow brings!

The Final Countdown…One Last Practice Tournament

Next Thursday we are travelling down to Hertfordshire by train to stay with my daughter for a few days before flying out to Crete from Gatwick on Tuesday 31 October. So less than two weeks to go before the tournament starts. As final preparation I have entered the Edinburgh Banded Tournament at Bathgate Academy on Sunday. As at last month’s Veteran’s Tournament we have booked into an AirBnB just around the corner from the venue to save having to get up early and drive over.

To give some context of the 71 players who have entered I am ranked 70 as shown below!

So it’s fair to say I have no great expectations of doing particularly well! The format is a top band of 8 players competing for a first prize of £150 and £50 for second place. There are then seven further bands of 9 players. Unsurprisingly I am in band 8!

As with the Veteran’s event I am using the tournament mainly to get some match practice for Crete but in particular I have decided to concentrate on serving using the back of the bat to throw the ball up instead of my right hand. In some ways this goes against the grain for me as I would much prefer to serve normally. However the reality is that I am finding it increasingly difficult to be able to rely on my right hand over the course of a match never mind a tournament. So rather than mix between the two I am just going to bite the bullet and accept that the effect of my Parkinson’s symptoms means that I need to adapt.

PD+5. Five Years On.

Five years ago today I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. I had actually noticed the first symptoms a year earlier in September 2017 while on holiday in Crete when my right arm wasn’t swinging as I walked. A visit to my GP and subsequent referral to Neurology followed. A year seems a long time but many people take a lot longer to be diagnosed as there is no definitive test for Parkinson’s although a Datscan can give a good indication in some cases. It may sound strange but in a way I was lucky that my Datascan was able to confirm Parkinson’s – it was better to know than be wondering what else it might be. At the end of the day while Parkinson’s obviously isn’t a good outcome it’s not as bad as other neurological conditions such as Motor Neuron Disease.

A lot has happened since 2018! I retired in March 2022. This wasn’t really on health grounds but when the chance to take voluntary early retirement arose my health was obviously a factor and it made sense to take advantage of the opportunity. Elaina has gone part-time and we are now making the most of life by going on holidays as often as we can incorporating our respective loves of cycling and table tennis.

Who know what the next five years will bring. For the first four years post diagnosis my symptoms were relatively mild but over the last year or so I’ve noticed a definite deterioration particularly in my walking and arm mobility. Hopefully both will stabilise rather than worsen over the next few years and I can continue to play table tennis and maybe even get up a small hill or two! I’ve also got a notion to start running but I’m a bit wary about the impact on my knees/shins!

Meanwhile in just over two weeks time I’ll return to Crete for the ITTF Parkinson’s Table Tennis World Championships. It would be nice to do well but it will be good just to be competing five years on from being diagnosed and six years on from that last visit to Crete!

Play To Win Or Play To Enjoy?

As I have previously posted I have been having problems serving especially when playing competitive matches. This is mainly due to timing of medication but also I suspect due to the stress of taking part in tournaments. I can offset the impact of the former by taking fast acting dispersible Co-Beneldopa booster as required between my regular Co-Careldopa tablets (7am, 12noon, 5pm, 10pm). These take around 15 minutes to kick in and work for around 45-60 minutes and are a good option in the “wearing off” period which occurs in the hour or two before my next regular dose is due. However the pressure of competition is harder to deal with. I have begun to wonder if I should place less emphasis on winning and just enjoy playing. That’s not to say I won’t want to win but more that it shouldn’t be the be-all and end-all of playing table tennis.

To try and help my ongoing issues of my freezing right arm and problems with walking I had an appointment with a Parkinson’s Physiotherapist today. I got some really good advice and a program of exercises which will hopefully help. At the end of the day I know my symptoms aren’t going to get any better but the more I can do to slow them down the better!

On Sunday 22nd October I am taking part in the Edinburgh Banded Tournament as final preparation for the ITTF Parkinson’s World Championship in Crete. This is being held at Bathgate Academy, the same venue as the Veteran’s event a few weeks ago but this time all ages are able to compete so I really don’t expect to win many games…but that won’t matter if I just play for fun!

The following Thursday we are travelling down to Ware to stay with my daughter Jennifer for a few days before flying out to Crete from Gatwick 7am on Halloween. We have made the sensible decision to travel to Gatwick on the 30th and stay overnight at the Premier Inn even though we will need to get up early to check in at the airport at 5am. The alternative would have been to arrive at the airport in the early hours and hang about the airport without getting any sleep. The good thing is that we arrive in Crete a day before the official arrivals day on the 1st – there is even a possibility of a practice session on the afternoon of the 31st assuming we arrive in good time (the flight gets in at 1.15pm and the hotel is only 15 minutes away from the airport). The tournament itself starts on the 2nd and ends on the 5th but we don’t fly back until the 7th so at least we have a recovery day on the 6th! We then have another couple of days in Ware before getting the train home on the 9th.

The deadline for entries has been extended to Sunday 15th October following which the classification list will be published placing competitors into three classes based on a combination of Parkinson’s symptoms and table tennis skills. Broadly speaking class 1 is people who have played table tennis regularly prior to diagnosis and with mild symptoms, class 2 is people who took up table tennis after diagnosis with moderate symptoms and class 3 is for people with more severe symptoms. Since I entered (around 6 months ago) and filled out the classification form with details of my symptoms/skills I feel that I was probably overly optimistic in my self assessment compared to where I am now. I am really hoping that I am not somehow placed in class 1 as to be honest even class 2 is going to be a challenge!

So a busy period coming up, let’s just hope my symptoms behave enough for me to at least enjoy the experience of my first World Championship even if I don’t win a medal!

Finally many thanks for the messages in response to my post on Facebook this afternoon – I was just a bit frustrated at not playing well. As many have said I probably just need to relax and chill a little!

Altea Adventures

We arrived home on Tuesday afternoon after a fantastic two week holiday in Altea on the Costa Banca at the Hotel Cap Negret. The hotel is around half a mile from the resort and a little further to Altea old town. Even more convenient is the tram station ten minutes walk away that gives cheap access to a range of towns from Alicante to Denia. Altea is just down the coast from Calpe where we spent a very enjoyable week in March. It’s a great area for both Elaina’s cycling and my table tennis! As well as catching up with friends from the Calpe U3A Table Tennis group I also contacted Altea Table Tennis Club who train three times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays between 8pm and 10pm. I managed five very hard but enjoyable sessions with them as well as going along to watch their A and B teams play one Sunday lunchtime.

Altea Old Town

Calpe U3A Table Tennis Group

Altea Table Tennis Club

Returning to Ayrshire has been a bit of a shock with persistent rain since we got back compared to 14 days of constant sunshine with temperatures ranging from 26 to 31 degrees Celsius! So much so that we have decided to return for a week in December just after my birthday! Usually we would book a cottage in either Yorkshire or the Highlands for a long weekend but to be honest a week away in the sun isn’t that much more expensive especially when Jet2 give you a discount code for £100!

But before then we have the small matter of the ITTF Parkinson’s World Championship in Crete in the first week of November. As final preparation I am playing in the Edinburgh Banded Tournament on Sunday 22 October at Bathgate Academy. As with the recent Veteran’s tournament I have no great expectation of winning many games but it will be a good chance to get some real match practice and test my serving. While playing in Altea I have been really trying to serve normally with some degree of success – only occasionally have I had to resort to using the bat instead of my right hand to throw the ball up.

I am unsure what to expect in Crete. As those in the Parkinson’s table tennis world know there has been tension between the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) and PingPongParkinson (PPP) resulting in two World Championships this year. By all accounts the PPP event in Austria was well attended (albeit with a large German/Austrian contingent) and I have doubts that the Crete championships will have the same number of participants especially as it isn’t as accessible as mainland Europe. On the other hand the ITTF tournament is offering a fully inclusive accommodation/transportation package which should make it easier to socialise in the evenings as most players will be staying in the same hotel. Whatever happens it will be good to play in a World Championship with other Parkinson’s players and hopefully enjoy some more sunshine!