FROM IT EXPERT TO ITTF EXPERT – STEPHEN GILLESPIE

The Australian Para Table Tennis Team made history at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games, winning 2 Gold Medals, 4 Silver Medals and finishing 2nd on the overall table tennis medal tally at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games.

As Australian players were breaking historic records at the Tokyo Paralympic Games, Australian officials were also playing a crucial role at the para table tennis events, albeit outside of the spotlight shone on players. Stephen Gillespie from Table Tennis New South Wales (TTNSW) honourably served as the Deputy Referee of Tokyo Paralympics.

                          IT Expert in 1980’s                                        ITTF Expert in 2020’s

Vice President of TTNSW, Ted Davis, stated: “The Australian Para Table Tennis Team did Australia and the Australian table tennis community very proud. TTNSW is not only incredibly proud of this glorious achievement by the team but is also very proud of Stephen Gillespie’s achievement as an official in this top-level international event.”

                                           2020 Paralympic Games, Tokyo, Japan

Director of TTNSW, Michael Li, said: “As Tournament Director of TTNSW, Secretary of TTNSW Umpire Association and Vice President of TTNSW, Stephen Gillespie is the one of two officials in NSW with both titles of the ITTF Blue Badge accredited International Umpire and ITTF accredited International Referee. He is the youngest official of three Australian officials with these two highest ITTF accreditations. It is believed that Stephen is the second official from NSW to serve in the Olympics and Paralympics since the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and the first official from NSW to serve in the Olympics and Paralympics since the 2012 London Olympic Games.”

                                               2020 Paralympic Games, Tokyo, Japan

Rome wasn’t built in a day, but Stephen was laying the bricks every hour during the past twenty years. As a sports fan, Stephen started to play table tennis and football in school, and he was also a football referee engaged at the highest division in the state.

Stephen has been a successful expert and consultant in Information Technology (IT) in several senior positions for over 20 years, dating from 1986 to 2012, specialising in the fields of Windows servers, systems integration, database management and data modelling.

Due to an unforeseen injury at a football competition, Stephen was forced to give up football but was able to rediscover his passion for table tennis. Stephen’s journey to being a top ITTF official has involved numerous hours of education, training sessions and countless competitions in Australia and overseas. The achievement has come at considerable personal cost to him as well as he had to fund his own trips to overseas competitions before he became an ITTF blue badge umpire.

                            2015 World Table Tennis Championships, Suzhou, China

Stephen has been the Tournament Director of Table Tennis NSW since Jan 2012 and has flourished in his role of 9 years. His overall responsibilities include, but are not limited to, co-ordinating activities related to hosting NSW Tournaments, National Tournaments, the Australian Olympic Qualification Tournaments and the Oceania Olympic Qualification Tournaments. It involved coordinating issues of all the stakeholders such as TTNSW, TTA, Players, Umpires, ITTF Oceania, ITTF, Sponsors and Vendors etc.

                                  2018 Commonwealth Games, Gold Coast, Australia

As a valued member of TTNSW communities, Stephen brings his skills, energy, and innovation to continually improve and grow the sport of table tennis locally, nationally and internationally. He continues tirelessly and selflessly during countless weekends to voluntarily organize tournaments of all levels (club, state, national and international level) all year around. Generally, Stephen is involved in between 30 to 40 tournaments a year and continues to contribute to the table tennis community in the officiating and administrative domains. For example, in 2019, Stephen umpired and refereed 13 international events and 2 national events, including the Commonwealth Games, ITTF World Teams Championships, ITTF World Junior Championships, ITTF World Tour Grand Final, ITTF Hong Kong Open, ITTF Australian Tour, ITTF Oceania Tour Australia, ITTF Oceania Tour Tonga, Oceania Cup, Australian Junior Nationals and Australian Veterans Nationals – to name just a few.

                  2018 World Junior Table Tennis Championships, Bendigo, Australia

Due to his selfless contribution, the Table Tennis Australia (TTA) Umpires and Referees Committee awarded Stephen the 2017 Fran Keyhoe Official of the Year. Stephen is the only official from NSW who has received this award during the last 20 years.

TTA commented: “Stephen has been a long-time contributor as an Official at international, national, state and local events. In 2017 he umpired the Oceania Championships in Fiji and ITTF World Junior Circuit at Gold Coast. He was Referee for the Fiji Open and for the Australian Junior Championships and Deputy Referee for the Australian Veterans Nationals. The scope of Stephen’s contribution extends even further; he fulfills the role of Secretary of the TTNSW Umpires and Referees Committee, he conducted Umpire Training in Fiji and inputs all results from all TTNSW tournaments. Stephen is worthy of recognition for a stellar contribution over multiple years and in particular in a very busy and fruitful 2017. Our Officials are a crucial element of our sport, yet at times they may not get the recognition they deserve. This award is the ideal mechanism to provide acknowledgement and appreciation.”

                         2019 National Veterans Championships, Adelaide, Australia

TTA CEO Scott Houston sends a big thank you on 17 May 2021 on National Volunteer Week with following link: https://www.facebook.com/TableTennisAus/videos/142525594559219/

                                   2019 World Championships, Budapest, Hungary

Stephen’s achievements over the past 20 years include, but is not limited to: 1 Paralympics, 1 Commonwealth Games, 34 ITTF events such as World Teams Championships, World Table Tennis Championships, World Junior Table Tennis Championships, ITTF Open and ITTF Junior Circuit etc.; 16 Oceania events such as Oceania Championships, Oceania Cup, Oceania Junior Championships and Fiji Opens etc.; 27 Australian national events such as Australian Veterans Championships, Australian Senior Championships, Australian Junior

Championships, Australian TTA Tour and Bennelong Cup (international events involving China, Japan and Korea), and numerous state events and club events.

Throughout the last decade, Stephen cooperated with Marie Pinkewich (International Umpire White Badge and Chairperson of TTA National Umpires and Referees Committee) and has conducted all of the table tennis rule’s education, state umpire and national umpire training courses in NSW and has successfully mentored many new umpires to progress through the ranks.

                                                      2021 TTA Tour, Sydney, Australia

As an instructor, Stephen delivered 6 Certified Umpires Courses in Tuvalu, Tonga and Fiji between 2015 and 2020. These trainings involved the active participation of candidates on rules interpretation, conduct of draws, scheduling of matches and, most importantly, role play as an official. During pre-school homework, intensive study, assignment, comprehensive written tests, practice during the training and an individual interview, candidates gained vast experience in becoming an official. The knowledge and expertise gained will benefit the entire Oceania region of officials for umpiring and refereeing.

                      2021 Table Tennis Corporate Cup - Sydney Finals, Sydney, Australia

Stephen said: “I would like to thank the strong support from our officials’ team, especially Marie Pinkewich, TTA Board Member; and I would like to thank the strong support from our table tennis communities especially from TTNSW, TTA, ITTF-Oceania and ITTF. Developing officials has been an on-going initiative by TTNSW, TTA and ITTF-Oceania to grow capacity with the aim of hosting more local, national and international events on a regular basis. As TTNSW, TTA and ITTF-Oceania continue to add events to their calendars; the need for a larger pool of umpires grows. The 2032 Olympic Games will be held at Brisbane. The organisers need qualified umpires for every match played at the event. Now is a better time than any to commence your qualification. “

                   2017 Table Tennis Australia Fran Keyhoe Official of the Year Award

Stephen emphasized: “Becoming an official is one of the best ways to be involved in our great game. Tournaments cannot run without officials and moreover, umpires get the best seat in the court. Developing officials, especially young officials and female officials, has been the high-priority task of TTNSW and TTA as we work to grow the capacity of the region with the aim of hosting more state, national and international events on a regular basis.

The 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games is not only a great opportunity for our junior players to play at this coming home Olympic Games, but it also presents great opportunity for our junior officials to umpire as well. I was pleased to see that NSW junior players such as Alice Lee and David Lee served as volunteers at 2018 ITTF World Junior Championships and 2019 ITTF World Junior & Cadet Australian Open & Arafura Games. There are great opportunities to have the best seat in the court at the biggest competitions, travel all over the world and make great friendships along the way. “

President of TTNSW, Tony Aduckiewicz, congratulated Table Tennis Australia for the great achievements by Stephen Gillespie and the Australian Para Table Tennis Team.

Tony said: “2021 is a challenging year for table tennis communities in Australia and globally, but Australian table tennis community led by TTA overcame all unforeseen difficulties and barriers and achieved Australia’s most successful table tennis medal haul with two gold and four silver medals in history – the previous record was one gold and three bronze at Tokyo in 1964. Their determination, spirit and sportsmanship inspired and encouraged Australian table tennis community and the Australian people in this hard time. It is invaluable.”

Tony continued: “2021 is also a great year for NSW table tennis community. Stephen Gillespie, as the only one table tennis official from Australia and Oceania, honourably served 2020 Tokyo Paralympics as the Deputy Referee; Michelle Bromley, as the first NSW born and grown female Olympian in Australian table tennis history, competed at 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games; and Chris Yan from NSW officially represented Australia twice in two Olympic Games in Australian table tennis history. Stephen, Michelle and Chris all made a history. Well done!”

                                         2020 Paralympic Games, Tokyo, Japan

Tony concluded: “Stephen’s successful journey from IT expert to ITTF expert is inspiring more people who are considering becoming umpires to start their qualifications. Stephen’s achievements continue the trend of Australia being well represented in the upper echelons of officiating in the top international events. Our table tennis community is looking forward to more junior players involving official roles, and we are also looking forward to seeing more youth officials and female officials in ITTF events and Olympic Games.

The 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games is just around the corner, the organisers will be determined, from a cost perspective, to ensure that Australia provides the bulk of the Umpires. Once you have qualified as an International Umpire you are in with a great chance to represent Australia at the 2032 Olympic Games. Start now, and you can umpire the world top players at Brisbane in 2032.”

David Lee and Michael Li thank Stephen Gillespie for the interview, discussion, advice and support contributing to this article, and wish to gratefully acknowledge Table Tennis NSW, Table Tennis Australia, Paralympics Australia and Australian Olympic Committee.