NSW JUNIOR PLAYER HONORED 2022 AUSTRALIA DAY YOUNG ACHIEVER OF THE YEAR AWARD

Table Tennis New South Wales (TTNSW) junior player Alice Lee was honored with the 2022 Australia Day Young Achiever of the Year Award by Hon Matt Thistlethwaite MP for her excellent community service on 26 January 2022 - Australia Day.

Alice made an outstanding contribution to the local community and she has done this selflessly for the benefit of others and for the benefit of the local community. It is believed that Alice is the youngest winner of Australia Day Community Service Awards in Sydney, in NSW and in Australia.

Alice has raised fund and donated pocket money to support students at a remote location school in China and the Salvation Army. Alice also raised funds to provide 4000 surgical masks to help vulnerable people in her community during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alice is a valuable volunteer and team member of state, national & international table tennis events, and she served as the field of play assistant and the social media assistant in the 2018 International Table Tennis Federation World Junior Table Tennis Championships, and the 2019 ITTF World Junior & Cadet Australian Open & Arafura Games etc. It is believed that Alice is the youngest volunteer in ITTF history.

As the youngest Table Tennis Australia Accredited Level 1 Coach, Alice contributes her time to coach junior players at local table tennis clubs and NSW state junior team training camps to improve junior players’ knowledge and skills and to create an inclusive, safe, fair and enjoyable environment for all junior players.

On 17 October 2021, TTNSW released the Juniors Yearly Top 10 Rankings for New South Wales Junior table tennis players from 1960 to 2020. 16 years old Alice is ranked No 9 of the 2020 NSW U18 Girls Junior Player.

Being ranked in the top 10 junior table tennis players in New South Wales was, is and will continue to be a significant achievement that junior players aspire to. There are hundreds of junior players who have achieved this feat over the past 60 years, many of whom went on to

become greats of Australian table tennis through their performances on the national and international stage.

Alice was selected to NSW Junior State Teams to represent NSW in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 Australian National Junior Table Tennis Championships and was selected to NSW Youth State Team to represent NSW in the 2019 Australian National Senior & Youth Table Tennis Championships.

Alice is the NSW Champions of U13 Girls Doubles, U15 Girls Doubles, U17 Girls Doubles, U21 Women's Doubles, Women's Open Doubles, the ACT Champion of U13 Girls Singles and the QLD Champion of U15 Girls Singles. Alice is ranked No 10 for National U13 Girls Order of Merit in 2018 and ranked No 8 for National U21 Women’s Order of Merit in 2019.

Alice is the winners of 2018 & 2019 Australian Federal Local Sporting Champions Grants from the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) and the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS).  Alice won 38 medals - 8 Gold Medals, 25 Silver Medals and 5 Bronze Medals during 2018 - 2020. The journey and achievements of Alice are summarised as but not limited to:

2018 Australian National Junior Table Tennis Championships: U13 Girls Team - Bronze Medal.

2018 Australian National Junior Table Tennis Championships: U13 Girls Doubles - Bronze Medal.

2019 Australian National Junior Table Tennis Championships: U15 Girls Team - Bronze Medal.

2019 Australian National Senior Table Tennis Championship: U21 Women’s Team - Silver Medal.

2018 NSW Junior Closed Table Tennis Championships - U13 Girls Doubles - Gold Medal

2018 NSW Junior Closed Table Tennis Championships - U13 Girls Singles - Silver Medal

2018 NSW Junior Closed Table Tennis Championships - U15 Girls Doubles - Silver Medal

2018 NSW Elisa Lee Table Tennis Open Championships - U13 Girls Singles - Silver Medal

2018 NSW Elisa Lee Table Tennis Open Championships - U15 Girls Singles - Bronze Medal

2018 NSW Metropolitan Table Tennis Open Championships - A Grade Doubles -Silver Medal

2018 NSW Metropolitan Table Tennis Open Championships - Women’s Doubles-Silver Medal

2018 NSW Youth & Junior Table Tennis Championships - U21 Women's Single - Silver Medal

2018 NSW Youth & Junior Table Tennis Championships - U21 Women's Doubles - Gold Medal

2018 ACT Table Tennis Open Championships - U13 Girls Singles - Gold Medal

2018 ACT Table Tennis Open Championships - U15 Girls Singles - Silver Medal

2018 NSW Junior Table Tennis Open Championships - U13 Girls Singles - Silver Medal

2018 NSW Junior Table Tennis Open Championships - U13 Girls Doubles - Gold Medal

2018 NSW Junior Table Tennis Open Championships - U15 Girls Doubles - Silver Medal

2019 Melbourne Open Championships - U15 Girls Doubles - Silver Medal

2018 Mooroolbark Open Championships - Women’s Open Doubles - Silver Medal

2018 Mooroolbark Table Tennis Open Championships - U13 Girls Doubles - Silver Medal

2019 NSW Top Ten Championships - U15 Girls Singles - Silver Medal

2019 NSW Junior Closed Table Tennis Championships - U15 Girls Doubles - Silver Medal

2019 QLD Open Table Tennis Championships - U15 Girls Singles - Gold Medal

2019 VIC Junior Open Table Tennis Championships - U15 Girls Doubles - Silver Medal

2019 NSW Open Table Tennis Championships - Women’s Open Doubles - Silver Medal

2019 NSW Junior Open Table Tennis Championships - U15 Girls Doubles - Gold Medal

2019 NSW Junior Open Table Tennis Championships - U18 Girls Doubles - Silver Medal

2019 NSW Elisa Lee Table Tennis Open Championships - U21 Women’s Singles - Bronze Medal

2020 NSW Junior Top Ten - U15 Girls Singles - Silver Medal

2020 NSW Closed Championships - Women’s Open Doubles - Gold Medal

2020 NSW Closed Junior Championships - U15 Girls Doubles - Silver Medal

2020 NSW Closed Junior Championships - U18 Girls Doubles - Silver Medal

As a young woman, Alice’s generous contribution of her time at local, national and international sports and events, she is recognized and respected locally, nationally and internationally for her community service.

Alice has displayed commitment, sportsmanship, friendship, solidarity, fair play, resilience, perseverance and grit, all the qualities Olympics' espouses. Alice acts as a role model for her team and peers and creating a ‘sense of community’ at NSW table tennis community.                     

Although Alice is very busy for her high school commitments, she still finds time to volunteer to provide community service at local clubs and Table Tennis NSW as the members of the Table Tennis NSW and Table Tennis Australia.

Alice continues to be an asset to the community and is inspiring more young volunteers to take up officiating and contribute to the sport. Alice has been a driving force to help the sport. Moreover, she is excited to be part of the team to lift the sport to the next level. She puts in endless amount of time to support the sport.

Vice President of TTNSW, Ted Davis, said: “Our junior players like Alice in a way that draws people together and allows them to feel seen and valued. After two years of pandemic-related lockdowns and challenges, these acts have done so much to ensure that our community, particularly those who are vulnerable, remains connected. Alice’s achievement is TTNSW's achievement as well. TTNSW not only delivered elite players for our nation, but we also delivered selfless and altruistic young citizens for our nation. TTNSW is proud of Alice. Well done! Alice. We’re very fortunate to have such compassionate junior players in our community and I’m so pleased her efforts are recognized and she is honored.”

David Lee wishes to gratefully acknowledge Marie Pinkewich, TTA Board Member, Table Tennis New South Wales and Table Tennis Australia.