MARIE PINKEWICH - FROM PLAYER, ADMINISTRATOR AND OFFICIAL TO TTA DEPUTY PRESIDENT

On 20 June 2022, Table Tennis Australia (TTA) announced that Marie Pinkewich had been appointed as TTA Deputy President.  Marie joined the TTA Board in 2018, and she has been a positive contributor, playing a lead role in multiple historical projects, offering sound and reasoned judgements on all board matters, and serving as Chairperson of the TTA Umpires and Referees Committee throughout her tenure.

Marie Pinkewich – 2019                    Marie Pinkewich – 1980                 Marie Pinkewich – 2019

Marie said: “Early in 2020, TTA CEO, Scott Houston, developed the idea of identifying and recognising every OFFICIAL AUSTRALIAN REPRESENTATIVE, which was unanimously supported by the TTA Board.”

Following on from this, Marie Pinkewich then proceeded to update a backlog of records, spending countless hours sourcing information, confirming records and contacting past players to cross-check results and achievements for both the able-bodied and para OFFICIAL AUSTRALIAN REPRESENTATIVES lists.

              2000 Olympics & Paralympics, Sydney               Pfizer Officer, Sydney, 2018          

In able-bodied events, Australia competed internationally for the first time at the 1954 World Championships in London and, in para events, competed internationally for the first time at the 1960 Paralympic Games in Rome.  Since then, Australia has been a mainstay on the international scene, winning a multitude of titles and medals along the way.  To date, a total of 75 men and 68 women have represented Australia in able-bodied competitions and 73 men and 29 women have represented Australia in para competitions, making this a prestigious and exclusive club.

Marie said: “TTA feels it is important to recognise all OFFICIAL AUSTRALIAN REPRESENTATIVES to showcase our proud, rich and long history and to identify all those who have contributed to our success. TTA thanks all these athletes for their contribution to Australian table tennis and is pleased to present the complete records for all players who have officially represented Australia at the senior level in both able-bodied and para competitions.”

(Refer TTA website at: https://www.tabletennis.org.au/events2/official-australian-representatives/.)

  2015 National Veterans Championships                             Marie’s Medals (2004-2014)

Marie continued: “This historical project was not a solo effort.  I would like to acknowledge the contribution of fellow-enthusiasts from the Australian and International table tennis communities:  Arthur Wilks, Ian Marshall (ITTF), David Jackson (NZ), Roger Massie, Steven Lee and Brian James.  I would like to especially acknowledge the late Karol Javor, a most avid record-keeper, whose records provided an enormous foundation with which to commence this project.  And last, but not least, a massive thank you from me, and also from TTA, to Bob Tuckett, another avid record-keeper, who was my “partner-in-crime” and “fellow-researcher” throughout this and other historical projects”.

Marie comes from a table tennis-playing and administrative family.  Marie’s parents, Kay and Kevin Langridge, commenced playing in the early 1970s, and their three daughters, Marie, Linda and Jenny had all commenced playing by the mid-1970s.  Jenny had success as a player and coach at State and National levels and joined the OFFICIAL AUSTRALIAN REPRESENTATIVES as player number 38 in 1991.  Linda's awesome table tennis forehand holds her in good stead on the tennis court these days.

               Marie’s family in 1990                                  2021 TTA Corporate Cup - Sydney Finals      

On the administration side, both Kay and Kevin Langridge served many years between them on the committees of both the Knox Table Tennis Club and the Croydon & Districts Table Tennis Association which earned Kevin a Life Membership from both organisations and Kay a Life Membership from Knox.  Kay also worked alongside Fran Keyhoe in the early 1980s on the formation of the Friday Night Junior Pennant at Croydon; a pennant which is still running to this day, and which has seen the making of many successful players.  In addition to the local committees, Kevin also contributed significantly on many committees at a state and national level.  Kevin was a Board Member of the Victorian Table Tennis Association from 1986 to 1990 and served on the inaugural subcommittee of the TTA Veterans committee from 1990 to 1993.  A highlight for Kevin was working together with Marie on the Organising Committee for the 1994 World Veteran’s Championships held at the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne.

                                                                            1995 NSW Senior Team                                 Nikki Udal and Marie Pinkewich

                                                                                                                                                       Umpires, 2018 Commonwealth Games

Marie has been involved in table tennis as a player since 1976, and an administrator since 1982, across all the age groups from juniors to seniors then veterans and in both Victoria and New South Wales.  Marie was ranked in the Top 10 in the U16 and U18 Victorian Junior rankings in the early 1980s, represented NSW in the National Senior Championships from 1993 to 1996, represented NSW in the National Veterans Championships for 15 years, from 2004 to 2019, and competed in the World Veterans Championships from 2004 to 2016 in Yokohama, Bremen, Rio de Janeiro, Hohhot, Stockholm, Auckland and Alicante.  Marie has won 22 National Medals - 3 Seniors and 19 Veterans, which include 4 Teams Gold Medals, 6 Teams Silver Medals, 7 Teams Bronze Medals, and 5 Women’s Doubles Bronze Medals from 1993 to 2019.

Gold for NSW in the Women’s Teams Championship

1996 Australian Open Championships, Brisbane

Marie’s early table tennis administrative career (whilst still living in Victoria) included being a Committee Member and Secretary of the Knox Table Tennis Club, a member of the sub-Committee of the annual Croydon Masters Open tournament and a member of the Victorian Table Tennis Association’s Junior Tournament Committee.

                                                                            “Yeeeeeh!!” Gold for NSW in the Over 40 Women’s Teams Championships

                                                                                                       2005 National Veterans Championships, Darwin

Since 2013, Marie has been involved in umpiring and refereeing, attaining the level of State Referee in 2014 and ITTF Blue Badge in Progress International Umpire in 2018.  Marie is the only currently active female International Umpire in NSW; and is the third female official in NSW table tennis to qualify as an ITTF International Umpire since the current International Umpire qualifications began back in 1973.  Marie is the only female Referee in NSW.  Since 2015 Marie has been assisting Stephen Gillespie in the conduct of umpire and referee training courses in New South Wales and has successfully mentored many new umpires to progress through the ranks in that time.

                                             Silver for NSW in the Over 50 Women’s Teams Championships

                                                        2016 National Veterans Championships, Sydney

Marie has not only been an active player, administrator and fruitful medallist over the past 40 plus years but is also an experienced officer and administrator specialising in document control management in the pharmaceutical industry, having worked in this area for the past 25 years at such well-known pharmaceutical companies as Wyeth, Pharmacia and Pfizer.  Marie is currently enjoying working in the same field at Cyclomedica, an Australian radiopharmaceutical company.

                         2018 World Junior Table Tennis Championships, Bendigo

Generally, Marie is involved with many events in any given year and continues to contribute to the table tennis community in the officiating and administrative domains.  For example, in 2018 and 2019, Marie officiated at 5 international events and 2 national events, which included umpiring at the Commonwealth Games, ITTF World Junior Championships, ITTF Challenge Plus Portugal Open, ITTF Oceania Para Championships, ITTF Junior Circuit Australian Junior & Cadet Open and the Australian Veterans National Championships and was a Deputy Referee at the 2019 Australian Junior National Championships.

                                   2019 National Junior Championships, Wollongong 

Marie said: “The Australian table tennis community, and indeed the wider community, has lived through some very difficult times during 2020 and 2021. In 2022, however, the National Hopes Week & Challenge was successfully conducted back in April with record participation, and we now have some exciting events to look forward to with the National Championships and the Birmingham Commonwealth Games just around the corner. TTA wishes all Australian table tennis players the best of luck, and TTA is looking forward to seeing more players becoming OFFICIAL AUSTRALIAN REPRESENTATIVES in the very near future.”

David Lee and Michael Li thank Marie Pinkewich for the interview, discussion, advice and support contributing to this article, and wish to gratefully acknowledge Table Tennis New South Wales and Table Tennis Australia.