The snap of a paddle. The bounce of a ball. And a hall full of determination. At Ormesby Table Tennis Club in Middlesbrough, a simple weekly game is doing far more than keeping score, it’s giving people with Parkinson’s disease their spark back.
Julie Norris, who had to retire from her dream job as a teacher last May, says the club has been nothing short of a “lifesaver.”
“You don’t like to tremor in front of people, stammer or wobble,” she said. “But you can do that here because it’s OK, it’s who we are.”
Another player, Andy Murray, puts it even more powerfully: “This is a statement of defiance. We’ve all got this awful, terrible disease. We’re all saying we’re not going to give into this disease.”
The club’s special sessions were the idea of Lynn Tearse, who read about a Japanese study linking table tennis with health benefits for those with Parkinson’s. She took the idea to Ormesby Table Tennis Club, and the impact was immediate.
“It makes us so proud when people say the club has transformed their lives,” Lynn said.
“Your life tends to shrink with Parkinson’s,” she explained. “A lot of the symptoms can be socially embarrassing, some of the side effects from the drugs are not pretty, so people can become isolated and not want to go out.”
Now, the tables are full each week, four green ones lined up in a row, the hall buzzing with laughter, encouragement, and the sound of paddles connecting with white ping-pong balls.
Julie Norris says the club has given her confidence. And for Lynn and her partner Frank, who will soon head to Sweden to compete in the World Parkinson’s Table Tennis Championship, the sessions are proof of just how far a supportive community, and a little friendly competition, can go.
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