South Island’s largest table tennis stadium revamped
A leaking asbestos-ridden roof, poor lighting, and a lack of female changing rooms are no longer problems for the South Island’s largest table tennis hub.
Table Tennis Canterbury (TTC) has completed a year-long upgrade of its Christchurch facility on Blenheim Rd that was in “dire need” of a spruce up.
Mayor Phil Mauger gave it a test run during the opening on Wednesday, playing 14-year-old Mihik Advilkar.
About 1000 players and visitors go through the 18-table stadium’s doors each week. It is the largest table tennis facility outside of Auckland, said TTC treasurer and current over-40s national champion Kris Alisch.
The redevelopment included removing and replacing the earthquake-damaged car park and asbestos roof, installing 160 new solar panels to reduce the club’s carbon footprint, new technology for keyless stadium entry for extended hours, a cafeteria, and international competition-standard flooring and lighting.
The addition of new toilets, showers and changing rooms were a gamechanger, Alisch said. “We only had one toilet, no proper changing rooms for females and when we had events there were long queues,” she said. “It's a huge change to what we had before. It’s a more pleasant stadium and much safer environment, and we had quite a few people come back from not playing because they had felt the facility was a bit old.”
The club bought the repurposed warehouse in 1999. The modern stadium would help lift the profile of the sport, said William Stewart, who has played table tennis in Christchurch for more than 40 years.
Regular player Catherine Fogarty said the no-touch bathroom hygiene features were particularly pleasant.
Seniors groups, school children, junior academy players, competitive and social players use the space.
Coinciding with the stadium reopening was the launch of a new table tennis para programme, which was co-designed with Paralympics New Zealand, ParaFed Canterbury and Table Tennis New Zealand.
The club was working with Special Olympics to create new programmes in the lead-up to the Special Olympics National Games, which will be held in Christchurch in 2025.
Alisch said people of all ages and abilities played table tennis all over the world because it is a low-impact sport.World championships include over-85 agegroups. The club’s future plans include a stadium extension to allow more tables and installing a heating and cooling system.
“It’s a huge change to what we had before. It’s a more pleasant stadium and much safer environment, and we had quite a few people come back from not playing.” Kris Alisch
TTC treasurer and current over-40s national champion