Table Tennis Wellington

Player Profile by Malcolm Wong

Adrian was born in 1948 in Wellington and started table tennis age 16 at the Kilbirnie RSA. As a right handed counter attacking player Adrian was very determined and very colourful, talking a lot during his games which often attracted a large crowd at tournaments, sometimes even breaking his bat after losing a match.

Adrian had a number of pet sayings that he would often shout out during his table tennis/tennis matches. These shouts often amused his opponents and spectators but they were often mystified as to their relevance to the match they were playing. One of his most regular shouts was “The Luck of the Irish!”, often shouted if his opponent had pulled off a lucky shot such as the ball clipping the table edge or hitting the net cord and dropping dead. However Adrian often also shouted the same if he won a point with a lucky shot.

Another was “Tuck it away Barrie”. His contemporaries think he heard well known Hutt Valley Tennis player Barrie Shute say that when he was not happy with his smash of a lob ball. Adrian adopted it and would often shout it if he missed a ball he thought he was going to hit for a winner or when he had it a winner and was showing self approval of the shout. Players on adjacent courts would sometimes mimic him so occasionally there might be players on different courts all bellowing “Tuck it away Barrie” for no obvious reason. It certainly made interclub entertaining.

Adrian and Brian Kennedy used to train several times a week as well as playing A Grade interclub on Tuesday nights. Adrian and Brian adopted the regular practice of arriving at 6:30pm for 7pm interclub start. So they would hit up for 20 minutes or so, then change their shirts and put on their tracksuits so they would not cool down.  When their opposition arrived they would get them to the table promptly for the allowed 2 minute hit up and then start the match. They often raced away to a big first set lead because their opponents were still cold. Surprisingly it was rare for other players to arrive early and have a decent hit up before starting interclub. In 1974 Adrian lost only 1 singles in interclub.

Brian (left in the image above) was born in Wellington (1947). At the age of 12, with his father and two younger brothers, they started playing table tennis in their garage.  Later at age 14 he started playing table tennis at the nearby Northland Community Centre (Wellington).  The same year (1961) Brian played A Reserve Grade table tennis for the Northland Club ( with Pat Williams, Colin Brydon and Phil Tessier). The team  finished 2^nd in the grade with 26 points. Just 2 points behind the winner, Municipal.  Brian was a right handed attacking and counter-attacking player. His main weapon was his forehand heavy loop topspin shot.

The next year the team was promoted to the Wellington A Grade. Brian was to be in a A Grade team until he retires at the end of the 1975 season. In A Grade Brian played for Northland (1962-3), Onslow (1964-66), Kilbirnie RSA (1967-73), Kilbirnie United Eagles (1974) and Kilbirnie United (1975). He won the club singles at the Northland and Kilbirnie RSA Club. Kilbirnie RSA won the A Grade in 1971 (Brian Kennedy, Adrian Lust, John Woodcock) and 1973 (Richard Lee, Adrian Lust, Brian Kennedy, Lindsay Ward, Boris Halama). In 1974 Kilbirnie United Eagles (Brian Kennedy, Adrian Lust, Lindsay Ward, Warren Mak) won the A Grade.

Kilbirnie RSA ( R Lee, A Lust, B Kennedy) won the inaugural Rothmans National Club Team Competition in 1973, beating Canterbury University in the final 8-3 at Newtown Stadium, Wellington.. The players invested the $100 prize into the Wellington Association new stadium fund.

Brian first represented Wellington as a junior (1962-65). His first match in 1962 was for the Under 16 Wellington Boys team (with Bruce Young, Ken McNatty, Neil Langley) against Hutt Valley (lost 5-7). In the Junior Boys he was ranked 5^th (1963) and 1^st (1965). There was no Junior Boys ranking in the 1964 Wellington Annual Report. His brother Paul was also ranked in the Wellington Junior Boys. 10^th (1965), 9^th (1966) 7^th (1967) and 2^nd (1968).  Brian won the 1963 Wellington Open Under 16 Boys Singles. In 1964 he won the Wellington Open Under 18 Boys Doubles and the Wellington Senior Secondary Schools Boys Doubles (both with Brian Gregory).

Brian was ranked on the Wellington Men’s List  10^th (1966), 9^th (1968), 6^th (1969), 5^th (1970, 2nd (1971 & 1972), 3^rd (1973) and 1^st (1974 & 1975). He was in the Wellington Men’s Team to the NZ Teams Competition (1970-75). The 1970 team was 6^th in A Grade and lost the promotion/relegaton match to Northland 2-6 to be relegated from A Grade. His Wellington Team  won B Grade in 1971 and lost the promotion/relegation match to Hutt Valley 1-5. In 1972 the team won B Grade and won the promotion/relegation match against Otago 6-0 to regain A Grade status. The team was in A Grade for the next 3 years when Brian was in the team. He was in the Wellington Team the won the Croudis Shield against Hutt Valley (1972 and 1973) and the Clapshaw Shield against Canterbury (1975). He was also in the Wellington Team that won the Lower North Island Teams Tournament (Hawera) in 1973 and 1975.